About a week and a half ago, Occupy Denver protester Tanner Spendley became the main character in a situation that could easily be a bar joke. Three days before the local group occupied the Walmart distribution center in Loveland, Spendley heard a knock on the door of his Denver apartment…
To sum it up briefly, Occupy Denver’s meeting with Police Chief Robert White this afternoon lasted less than an hour and ended without any decisions or a consensus, but the main issue remained unresolved: whether there would be a police raid on the camp to remove its built-up fort city…
If you can get past the fact that Dick Cheney’s name is spelled wrong in the title of this video, the rest of it is still confusing. On Friday, a handful of Occupy Denver protesters visited the site of the former vice president’s recent (and secretive) trip to the Brown…
Friday marked a stark contrast between the polite Civic Center Park of yesterday and its new protest version 2.0. In the center of the park, the Civic Center Conservancy held a belated birthday party for the park’s greatest supporter, former Denver Mayor Robert Speer. And in the front of the…
Shortly after Texas Governor Rick Perry invoked Tim Tebow at last night’s Republican presidential debate, followers of another candidate, Ron Paul, delivered a message to Denver-area drivers — one that may have pissed off as many of them as it inspired. Unknown Paul supporters hung banners on a series of…
Last night, at the final Republican presidential candidate debate prior to the Iowa caucuses, Texas Governor Rick Perry threw a Hail Mary — by invoking a quarterback whose passing remains suspect in some quarters despite his current winning streak. Yes, it’s true. The increasingly desperate former frontrunner attempted to hitch…
They don’t make Air Bud movies about pit bulls. There are no commercials in which a pit bull licks ice cream from a gleeful toddler’s cone of Rocky Road, and only Weimeraners seem to drive cars. In Denver, the pit bull breed is illegal, and it has been for decades…
Update, 4 p.m.: Public Works announced it is “re-evaluating” its plan to evict Occupy Denver. For the moment, Denver Public Works is backing away from its plan to remove structures from Occupy Denver’s encampment at Civic Center Park. After receiving a warning notice to remove the forts or face official…
After thirteen arrests on Monday following weeks in which no one was jailed, Occupy Denver spent last night strengthening its small fort city at Civic Center Park and preparing for a second wave of busts. Yesterday, Public Works officials served the group with a second official notice to remove all…
Update: According to the final numbers released from the Loveland Police Department, thirteen total arrests resulted from Occupy Denver’s attempt to shut down the area’s Walmart distribution center on Monday. Charges included obstructing a public roadway, hindering transportation and resisting arrest…
On Friday, the Denver Anarchist Black Cross, a collective that defends the rights of those involved in mass political and social movements, announced its intention to firmly remove itself from the arena of Occupy Denver. By the time of its decision, the twelve-person group had drawn together more than $15,000…
This week’s cover story subject, Occupy Denver protester and medical marijuana voice Corey Donahue, has cornered his role in Denver activism through strategies that are occasionally illegal and never boring. Say what you like about him, (Occupy Denver’s Twitter account called him out this morning), but the man stays busy…
Laura Lichter, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, describes prosecutorial discretion in the context of a police officer witnessing a bank robbery and jay-walking at the same time and knowing to stop the bank robber first. This is essentially the principal that is being put to work in the…
Update: Westword recently received a copy of Kilmer, Lane & Newman’s updated CORA request from investigator Christopher Dodd. The document is blunt: In it, Dodd references the existence of an Occupy movement-related U.S. Conference of Mayors conference call involving Mayor Michael Hancock’s staff and asks very specifically for any details…
This week’s federal court hearing between Occupy Denver and the city ended in a denied injunction but much food for thought. Lead plaintiffs attorney David Lane called the decision a civil rights tragedy and said Judge Robert Blackburn “ignored most of the evidence we put in front of him.” In…
This week’s feature story, “Tilting at Windmills,” profiles Corey Donahue, a modern-day Don Quixote, who keeps the cops and the courts in Denver very occupied. We featured Donahue on the cover, and in the following making-of video, art director Jay Vollmar reveals how the shot was created. Enjoy…
If you become confused by what you are about to read, you are not alone. It’s a story about confusion, about the misinformation that is so easy to spread through the Occupy movement, and it begins with a death that never happened. It ends, however, with a march: Last night,…
Update by Michael Roberts: Attorney David Lane doesn’t foresee appealing a court’s refusal to grant a temporary restraining order on behalf of Occupy Denver protesters, who claim their First Amendment rights have been systematically squelched. However, he has strong words for case overseer Judge Robert Blackburn, as well as the…
Following the announcement that Judge Robert Blackburn denied Occupy Denver’s request for a temporary restraining order against the City and County of Denver, Mayor Michael Hancock spoke — briefly — about the decision’s implications for the city. His take on the matter: Those implications are pretty darn good. Hancock calls…
At around the same time an Occupy Denver request for a temporary restraining order against the City and County of Denver was denied, the Denver Police Department released a slew of car-to-car text messages pertaining to the movement. Even Denver Police spokesman Lieutenant Matt Murray concedes that some of them…
Monday’s hearing in regard to Occupy Denver’s request for a temporary restraining order against the city and county is one indication of how far the movement has come in its short life span. In the little more than two months the movement has called Broadway its ideological home, the group…
It takes a while for Kerri Kellerman to remember the last time she had health insurance, and she laughs before she answers: 1995. It doesn’t really matter, though. Outside of her life with Occupy Denver, the 38-year-old has not seen a doctor since 1992. Outside of the occupation, she hasn’t…
