Regarding Bill Gallo's "Thin Ice" in the January 19 issue:
I've got news for Mr. Gallo. Maybe his macho mind doesn't regard figure skating as a sport, but any intelligent individual can obviously see that it is not only a sport, it is an art form. I can clearly decipher that Bill Gallo is a sarcastic writer, but as most good writers realize, sometimes sarcasm is inappropriate. His point could have been presented equally well without bashing the sport, the athletes and even their parents. I'm sure that if some thug attacked the beloved John Elway with a crowbar, Mr. Gallo would be singing a different tune. Sorry to disappoint him, but I doubt that the two professional skaters will cat-fight at the Olympic games.
I'm not one for patriotism, but Bill needs to realize what team he's on. Instead of jinxing two of America's most promising chances of bringing home gold medals, he should be wishing them luck. Before he categorizes in his mind (and in the media) what is and isn't a sport, why doesn't Bill Gallo get out there and do a triple lutz or even a single scene of Swan Lake? My mother always taught me that if you don't have anything nice to say about someone or something, then keep your mouth shut!
Cymantha Guest
Denver
The Hack of the Bus
Patricia Calhoun's January 12 column and Kenny Be's January 19 cartoon slamming Ken Hamblin show a lack of regard for facts in this case. He will have his case in court and, as with the gays accused of the cemetery vandalism, is innocent until proven guilty. This is still America, not Amerika.
It is not a coincidence that Hamblin is accused of this just as his star is rising. He has many enemies in this town who would set him up for a fall. Perhaps this includes a certain newspaper editor still mad about the arguments she lost to Hamblin on Colorado Inside Out.
Unfortunately for those who do not wish to hear the truth, Ken Hamblin will soon have national exposure with the New York Times syndicate. I suspect, Ms. Calhoun, a case of the green-eyed monster. Once again, thank you for the incisive commentary. A lesser man would sue you for libel. However, Ken Hamblin will not stoop to your level.
Westword continues to be well worth the newsstand price.
Pat Desrosiers
Denver
Too Good to Be True
Kenny, Kenny, Kenny. Your cartoon "The Many `Hats' of Ken Hamblin" was the best! I could hug you! (But don't file a harassment charge against me.) Keep it up!
Liz Sunderland
Denver
I just want to let you know how much I love Kenny Be. I don't care who he offends. He can offend me. I think he's wonderful.
Suzanne Springs
Denver
Kenny Be, love your stuff. You are the best political cartoonist in Denver. But you are watching too much cable and ordering too much PPV porn. I know, I do the same--but I don't put it in print. Give me, you and everyone else a break and take a nap. Then wake up fresh and send us some more good stuff.
Name withheld on request
Kenny Be is the best thing that ever happened to Westword. Give the boy a raise--maybe you'll keep him. And that's from one who has been lampooned.
Erlich
Denver
True Grit Robin Chotzinoff's "Clean Up Your Act" in the January 19 issue left me amazed, amused and horrified all at once. We can study volumes of statistics and expert opinions about low-income housing, but nothing shakes our little certainties like a vivid story about people. This has a lot more grit than most "hard" news.
Mark Kjeldgaard
Englewood
I have just one word in response to Chotzinoff's tour with the health inspector: Yuck!
Mimi Martin
Denver
An Affair to Remember
Regarding Alan Prendergast's "The End of the Affair" in the January 26 issue:
Every year I look forward to the sometimes zany, sometimes enlightening World Affairs Conference in Boulder. Where else do you hear real critics of mass media such as Noam Chomsky and former CIA agents tell you what really happened in U.S. foreign policy? Westword readers should love the alternative "news." Roger Ebert comes every year and talks for an hour each day. His talk might be about five minutes of the film Casablanca, his favorite.
The conference is free and open to the public; however, the problem is finding out about it. It will be held the last week of March and the first week of April, and schedules will be available at the Denver Public Library (at the last minute). It is one of the University of Colorado's greatest assets and the least publicized.
Karen R. Ringsby
Boulder
Your article on the World Affairs Conference was appallingly bad.
Richard Adams
Denver
Falling off the Edgewater In response to Karen Bowers's "What Rhymes With `Jerkwater'?" article in the January 26 issue, this is another great case of blatant injustice involving an overload of deadwood on the Edgewater police force. Due to a lack of any serious crimes in that small area, they have to leap on any excuse, beat up the people, send them to a trial (paid for by the taxpayers) and embarrass the victims to further add to their misery (and to build up their own pitiful, shrunken egos). There is never an excuse for a man to beat a woman. There are campaigns against this daily. These women were not drunk or armed or attempting to escape. There really ought to be an investigation as to what quality of men are employed by the police department in Edgewater. Did these guys recently get out of the federal pen? Or the zoo? Or a mental institution?
Myke Johnson has been in the wholesale business for years and has many friends; her honesty and integrity have never been questioned before. Believe me, because of this indecent smear Edgewater has given her, I won't even drive through the town, much less participate at any of its shopping centers and restaurants.
Ruth Marie Wright
Denver
I first saw Myke Johnson about two days after she was beaten by the Edgewater police. I was appalled at the huge bruise on her chin. I could not imagine anything that Myke could have done that deserved such treatment. I still can't.
I blame Builder's Square as much as the police. I think it is time that Builder's Square realizes that you don't win customers by beating up respectable local businesspeople. Would this have happened in a suburban branch? I think not.
They brutalized the wrong person. Myke has plenty of friends, and we spend a good deal of money in this city. Wise up, Builder's Square.
Ken Detweiler
Denver
Buck Up Regarding Michael Roberts's review of Pat Boone's Greatest Hits, in the January 19 issue: Now come on! Whose voice and face would most people rather hear and see? What's wrong with wholesome?
Jean G. Tuthill
Denver
The Show Must Go On
The January 26 issue--another Westword without a visual arts review! Are the galleries all closed? Are the shows all that bad? Is Hart Hill on sabbatical? Please don't let another issue go by without an art review. Thanks.
Jean Smith
Denver
No Nukes Is Good News
Regarding Patricia Calhoun's January 19 column, "It Bombed in D.C.":
Thank you very much for keeping up the much-needed pressure on the nuclear-waste industry. There are a lot of us who are very concerned about what our government does in such nauseous areas, and I appreciate you keeping the pressure on them to clean up their act. And thanks, Westword, for having the guts to print my letters and for having the heart to rebuke the Denver Compost and the Rocky Mountain Blues drivel factories.
John Kusnir
Aurora
