Letters to the Editor

The Best of Denver 2008, March 27, 2008

First of all, great issue, as always. It's always a yearly delight poring through it and finding a few quibbles. This year is no exception.

Your Best TV Newscast — Night award to Channel 9 is just lazy. Adele Arakawa may have "outlasted" her rivals, but her hair's still stuck in the '80s. Kathy Sabine's shtick as the "Local Hot Weathergal" would mean more if she could, you know, actually forecast the weather. And Drew Soicher...well, I'd rather have elective surgery than watch his sportscast. I'll let you pick the body part.

As for Best Hair on a TV Personality — Male going to Leland Vittert of Channel 31, I can understand being impressed by his mane. He certainly works on it a lot. I met him once at a friend's going-away party, and in the 45 seconds I was around him, he checked his hair in the bar mirror three times, adjusting it each time with saliva until a photographer finally told him to cut it out. In between, he introduced himself to my fiancée twice, because he had forgotten he had done it a whopping fifteen seconds before.

Folks, if you think the people reading the news are any smarter than you, think again...
Greg Thow
Denver

Editor's note: If you missed the Best of Denver 2008, it's available online at westword.com (where you'll find not just our winners, but dozens of comments from readers). If you won a Best of Denver award, we'll be sending you a plaque in the next month or so; for details, e-mail bestof@westword.com.

"The Good Soldier," Joel Warner, March 20

Andrew Pogany has been helping my son at Fort Carson for several months now, and we are slowly making progress. Like Andrew, my son was mistreated and disrespected by his command because he tried to tell them he was suffering from PTSD or like symptoms. He was told he was nothing but a piece-of-shit soldier. My son had already completed three tours in Iraq, and they were sending him a fourth time; he felt he was not capable of going and leading soldiers as he had done in the past.

I truly hope the American public reads and takes this article to heart. Andrew is a good person with a great story to tell. Without him, my son would be in Iraq now. I have and always will support Andrew's mission, and hope he receives nothing but the best for his soldiers in need. Thank you for taking time to acknowledge Andrew and his endeavors. He is a true American hero.
Joann Taylor
Spring, Texas

To only question why the Army treats soldiers with injuries like PTSD and TBIs as if they are expendable ignores the bigger question of why, after thousands of years of warfare on earth, people continue to engage in it. When man makes war upon his neighbor, he makes war upon himself.
Anthony Gilchrist
Aurora

"Hi From Hi Corbett Field," Adam Cayton-Holland, March 13

Outstanding article! I have been a Rockies fan since I moved here in '97, going to fifteen or twenty games a year (more this year). I laughed out loud several times during the read. Keep it up!

P.S. Jay Alves is a chode!
Steve Wineteer
Arvada

Adam Cayton-Holland infiltrates Rockies spring training...and we are all the better for it. Thank you for sending this earnest young man into the locker room, onto the field and through greater Tucson. As a fan, I care about Tulo's contract, but I care more about what these guys are really like. We want our team to actually love what they do, and to play for each other...and us.

Adam set aside any personal need to be a slick, snappy patter-spewing sports reporter (that will come in time) and bared his soul and a little of theirs. We need more Rockies reports from Adam — heavy on the players' theme songs, light on the odds of us getting back to the Series.

I'll get the dry stuff from the Post.
Holly Bowers
Denver