End of the line: Now that Brian Propp's resigned--by fax from Kiev--as Regional Transportation District chairman, he would have you believe he was driven out of public service by the nasty ol' press that portrayed him as an AWOL, radical anti-RTDer whose strings were being pulled by the Independence Institute's Tom Tancredo. Don't believe it. Propp really is a radical, who until his election was the chairman of the Adams County chapter of United We Stand America, Ross Perot's political organization.
The pre-RTD Propp had plenty to say and ran a lively meeting. During the United We Stand America confab at the Northglenn Library last August 25, Propp jokingly referred to RTD as "Reason to Drive" and told his cadre, "The RTD is out of control. It's just going berserk." He looked on admiringly as one of his female cell members interrupted patriot and congressional candidate Pat Miller's speech to declare, "I'm the religious right and proud of it." (Miller immediately walked over to the woman, shook her hand and cracked, "You want to run for office?") Miller also shared with the friendly group how Tancredo, while still in the U.S. Department of Education, had walked door-to-door in disguise for one of her campaigns so he wouldn't be caught violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from political campaigning.
No such stealth tactics, however, were needed when the conversation turned to Miller's liberal opponent, David Skaggs. "His mother should have had an abortion," one audience member opined. Propp himself told the group he had invited Skaggs to appear that evening, but it was the day of a momentous congressional decision. "Actually," Propp told his flock, "I was hoping to get him here to keep him from voting on the crime bill."
Okay, Brian, your fifteen minutes of fame are up.
Static cling: A bottle of Visine to the folks at Rocky Mountain MediaWatch, who managed to measure the amount of ads, news and fluff on fifty different TV broadcasts in 29 cities on January 11, 1995 (with a little help from volunteers' VCRs) for their clumsily titled study "A Day in the Life of Local TV News in America." And a bottle of aspirin to the management of KUSA-TV/Channel 9, which RMMW determined had the most commercials of any news broadcast in the country (Channel 4 came in second). Denver's own Channel 2 also took a first--for more promotional teases than any other station (but then, KWGN has that swell new set). "Denver stations should be ashamed of their greedy habits," says Paul Klite, director of Rocky Mountain MediaWatch. "Good journalism has a higher responsibility than profit."
Now, that's news.
Batter up! Two familiar names were back in the news last week--but in unexpected contexts. Mitchell Aronson, the male half of the husband-wife pair who've accused their Evergreen neighbors of ethnic intimidation and harassment, was hauled off after he allegedly slugged his wife, Candice, during an argument over their son's failure to clean up the family's private weight room. University of Colorado football player Shannon Clavelle also was nabbed by the long arm of the law, arrested after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend and sixteen-month-old child last week.
No, not that girlfriend and child. Although Kristen McCartney, daughter of Coach Mac, recently told Sports Illustrated that Clavelle is the father of her second child, this complaint was filed by Latrisha Samuels, who reportedly plans to drop the charges, according to a statement issued by Clavelle's attorney.
