Letters

The Apes of Wrath
I don't know how much Bill Gallo and Robin Chotzinoff are paid to write for you, but it can't possibly be enough.

As for Patricia Calhoun's "Once Upon a Mattress," her August 21 column about Keith Weinman--isn't he the missing link?

Thank you, Westword.
Mike Cooper
Westminster

Good work by Calhoun in her last column. Domestic violence is too important an issue to ignore. Even worse, Keith Weinman's media employers are essentially endorsing it by refusing to deal with the accusations.

Louise Smith
Denver

Ramsey Tough
Regarding the August 21 Off Limits:
I heard (on some talk show) that at least one person who doesn't subscribe to newspapers (probably gets his news from Rush) went out and bought the Ramsey Edition.

I, on the other hand, who subscribe to everything, scanned the pictures but didn't read a word of the text. I suppose I should go dig that edition out of the recycling box and save it. After this is all over, I might be inclined to read the unpaid advertisement, courtesy the Rocky Mountain News.

Dorsey Hudson
via the Internet

I want to mention one name to the grandstanding media speculators who have risked their careers on the tragedy that befell the Ramsey family. That name is Richard Jewell. One year after he was falsely accused by the FBI and dogged by "journalists" willing to entertain the wildest of speculations, Jewell is going after the offending parties in court and winning. Lawsuits against NBC and CNN have been settled, and more are pending.

Recently, KHOW's finest, Peter Boyles, ran an ad in the Boulder Camera stating that he was "angered by the Ramseys' behavior in hiring investigators, experts and lawyers" in what appears to him to be an "effort to protect their own interests rather than to find the killer." Hello, Peter--what, are you new here? The police, whose job it is to find the killer, have nothing and appear to be giving up. At least John Ramsey is doing something, anything, to find the killer. That same Sunday, Denver Post columnist Chuck Green blasted the Ramseys for not disclosing the entire note. Hey, Chuck, here's an idea: Why not blast the police for failing to disclose it?

In all your scandalous speculations, you seem to have forgotten who is supposed to be responsible for law enforcement and who the victims are. You leeches should just be counting your lucky stars that John Ramsey is more interested in finding his daughter's killer than holding you responsible for your opportunistic grandstanding.

D. Eric Maikranz
Denver

Tobacco Road
I thought that Scott Yates's article regarding our state legislators accepting very liberal travel and expense gratuities was very revealing ("The Marlboro Hombres," August 21). It seems that Messrs. Powers and Wells enjoy pandering themselves to the tobacco lobby, and it shows the present extent to which the tobacco industry and other industry lobbies have corrupted the politics of our legislature here in Colorado.

Not so long ago, this kind of activity was termed "bribery of public officials" and was prosecuted by district attorneys, with maybe the occasional "showcase/example" prosecution by the state attorney general. However, as the present situation is here in Colorado, our current secretary of state gives no guidance, our AG is "asleep at the wheel" and won't prosecute anybody/anything that isn't in her best interest, the DAs won't do anything for a variety of reasons, and our elected representatives in the Colorado House and Senate for the most part display zero/zilch/nada respect for any existing campaign finance laws--in fact, some of them, like Messrs. Powers and Wells, overtly flout the present laws and rules and spend (apparently considerable) time and effort seeking ways to "end-run/out-flank" them.

It is a sad commentary to see how much political destruction to our institutions, as well as damage to the character and respect of elected legislative representatives, has come about here in Colorado (and elsewhere) through filthy special-interest lobby money. On this issue, what are the chickens to do, when the foxes (i.e., the legislature) are elected by the chickens to run the henhouse (i.e., enacting "real" campaign finance reform)?

Gerald Naugle
via the Internet

Labor Pains
Regarding Stuart Steers's "Up the Organization," in the August 14 issue:
That Jack Hawkins is quite a guy. Tells Westword he doesn't want to "trash" Bob Greene, president of the Colorado AFL-CIO, and then proceeds to do the same. Hawkins's track record indicates that if he were ever--heaven forbid--elected leader of the labor federation, he would certainly be the head lemming guiding the rest of us out to sea.

For those who don't know, Hawkins was labor's lobbyist in 1991 when SB 218, the so-called workers' compensation reform bill, was passed. Every worker, both union and non-union, now realizes how devastating that piece of legislation has been to injured workers. Hawkins has also spent a lot of time sponsoring ballot initiatives, but he has never won any of these campaigns. In fact, the last one he sponsored was overwhelmingly defeated by the voters. Working men and women don't need more defeats, which Hawkins will certainly give them if he is elected president of the Colorado AFL-CIO.