Letters

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Letters
Life in the Fast Lane

Wow! Steve Jackson's "Live Fast, Die Young," in the November 6 issue, was really powerful. It was a great true-crime story, but also a very telling indictment of a throwaway segment of our society. How could any mother abandon a thirteen-year-old child? And then sign her over to a speed freak, no less?

Sherry Jacobs
Denver

Scum Came Running
As I vowed in my last letter, I have been continuing to send copies of your hate propagandistic articles to those you have targeted for character assassination, like Charles E. Blair, Reverend Acen Phillips, Will Perkins and James Dobson. (Focus on the Family sent me a nice letter of thanks and put me on its magazine subscription list without charge.) And I am sending off a copy of Ward Harkavy's piece of trash, "Preach for the Stars," in the October 30 issue, to James Ryle and Bill McCartney so they can see what you had to say about them behind their backs. Harkavy's slyly implying that Ryle is possibly predisposed toward numerology and having a near-homosexual attachment for God and Christ is as dirty, mean-spirited and lowdown as one can ever get. They will see for themselves what rotten journalistic scumbags Harkavy and the rest of you are. You are being confronted by a conservative Christian who dares to talk back.

John Bales
Boulder

Although I do not consider myself particularly religious, I found myself moved by Reverend Dan Strizek's letter in the November 6 issue. He put into words many of my feelings about Promise Keepers. Bottom line: They don't seem very Christian, do they?

Steve Myers
Denver

The Text Man Cometh
Regarding Chris LaMorte's "Big Brother Ain't Laughing," in the October 23 issue:

Without the complete text of Lafferty's essay, it is impossible to say whether I think it was obscene, but I stand by an instructor's right to require students to be civil in their postings to a public class list. The student could always get his own Internet service provider and write whatever he wants, but this right does not extend to an instructor-moderated Web site.

Sherwood Wang
via the Internet

Chris LaMorte's article is accurate. He had the entire online file in his possession weeks before the story ran. What he didn't say, however, is that I learned more from the experience than I ever could have from a public university hell-bent on using Gestapo tactics as standard policy. I was reamed by those screwballs at UCD, and I now fear for future generations. Does "lick a cat's butt" or "bitch" from a sarcastic student rate worse than being called "obscene," "offensive" and "disruptive" by a supposedly trained professional? Not to mention the discouraging words from the dean of liberal arts and sciences.

Sure, I'm a cynical, do-anything-for-a-laugh, foul-mouthed bastard, but I thought that was okay in the good ol' U.S. of A. Thankfully, I won't be needing CU's bullshit magazine-writing class, as I'll be published in a national magazine in February and they've already asked for a second article. Screw you, CU.

Scott Lafferty
via the Internet

Editor's note: You want context? We've got context--many of the documents at the heart of the Lafferty/UCD dispute. Check out our Web site at www.westword.com

Pirate's Treasure
Thanks to Eric Dexheimer and Westword for extending the proposition of community and pirate radio. Your article on the two Paonia radio stations, "Radio-Free Paonia," in the November 6 issue, was very well done.

I am twelve and I live in Arvada. I listen to the so-called World-Class Rock station. Yes, most of it is "world-class." But variety is lacking and the rotation is predictable. It is one of the few stations heard in Denver that combines Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, Santana, the Beatles and the Doors. But only select songs are played in an overused blend.

I am glad that you printed this article, especially since you included the cost and relative simplicity of starting a "pirate" station. Maybe this will encourage some to emerge. If Boulder and Denver pirates start, maybe we can have some real people with real souls over the airwaves. Not lime-Jell-O-brained DJs playing only songs that hit the Top 40 or close to it. Maybe someone will play "1983" or "The Soft Parade." If someone hears either of these songs over Denver airwaves, please inform me. It will be a huge evolvement, and I would love to hear it.

Lelah Simon
Arvada

No Kidding Around
In the October 30 issue you printed letters regarding Kyle Wagner's October 16 story "Hanging Out to Dry," about the kids who hang out at Skyline Park downtown on the 16th Street Mall. The snooty, yuppie comments I read were disturbing. I have worked at the Westin Hotel for a little over two years, and I have never had any of the problems these corporate jerks were talking about. These kids look out for one another and have been nothing but polite to me. Occasionally they do ask for money--if that bothers you, don't give them any.

The women who were saying that the kids shouted obscenities and threatened them are just trying to start problems. I sincerely hope that the new restaurant they are building does not try to kick the kids out of there. Most of these kids don't have anywhere else to go. The uppity corporate types who are complaining have perhaps forgotten where they came from.