Offensive interference: The news that George W. Bush is the Denver Broncos’ new No. 1 may have come as a surprise to kicker Jason Elam, who already wears No. 1 on his jersey. And apparently former quarterback John Elway, often rumored to be a potential candidate for elected office, didn’t…

William Henry Jackson, 1843-1942 Job before becoming a photographer: Civil War soldier, bullwhacker for a freighting company along the Oregon Trail. Beginning of photography career: Opened a studio in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1868. Moved to Denver: 1880. Name of company: W.H. Jackson Photo Co. Corporate sponsors: Union Pacific Railroad, Hayden…

By now, most of the state knows who John Fielder is. Anyone who has been inside a local bookstore, read the Rocky Mountain News, watched News4, done business with Norwest Bank, passed the Colorado History Museum or opened their Public Service Company bill has certainly come across his name and…

He doesn’t need to wear dark sunglasses and a hat. He doesn’t have to resort to a fake name or unlisted phone number in order to avoid the spotlight. And when people do recognize his face, they don’t always know his name — even in Gunnison, where he’s lived for…

It takes someone with a bit of a culinary wild side to try the appetizer of sliced buffalo tongue with caper sauce at The Fort in Morrison. Even the bay-leaf-and-black-pepper seasoning doesn’t change the fact that you are about to bite into, well, the tongue of a buffalo. But, hell,…

Act I, Scene I. The Drama Teacher: Enter stage left. Stephen Nye doesn’t mind a little drama. In fact, he welcomes it. Nye, who has taught theater at the Denver School of the Arts for three years, didn’t think twice about producing two medieval-era plays with strong Christian themes and…

Journalists aren’t that good at math. That’s why they choose to spend their careers writing instead of crunching numbers. But math is as important to journalism as crisp prose. Without it, there wouldn’t be a newspaper business, and as every good reporter knows, adding and subtracting numbers — especially numbers…

Juana Barrera was the first one to arrive. She pedaled up to the fountain pond in Civic Center Park last Friday, propped her mountain bike against the stairs and sat down to read and wait for the others — if there were any others. Finally, about twenty minutes later, Shawn…

hen the Denver Nuggets trot onto the hardwood floors at the Pepsi Center on November 2 to open the season against the Phoenix Suns, team owner Donald Sturm will be on the edge of his seat. The newly built, $165 million arena will have already hosted its first blockbuster concert…

He’s your p-a-l: Locals don’t usually expect articles on newsy topics to show up on the cover of 5280, which describes itself as “Denver’s Mile-High Magazine”; the publication generally uses its front page to tout not-what-you’d-call-hard-hitting pieces about, for instance, the city’s top doctors. But although the sixth annual listing…

The right to arm bears: No, the world doesn’t need any more Beanie-esque lions, tigers or bears, but don’t tell Virginia Davis. She has sold 2,500 Columbine Remembrance Bears from her two stores, Celebrations in Aurora and Dee’s Neat Little Store in Littleton. The adorable teddies retail for $23.98 a…

On Sunday, when Colorado returns to using its own employees to check the backgrounds of prospective gun buyers, the state will become the first to drop the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NIX) since the program began last November. The decision–made by Governor Bill Owens amid a swirl…

A Riddle runs through it: What a bargain! More free entertainment courtesy of Sam Riddle, the $250-an-hour man when he worked for the secretary of state’s office and the $200-per-bond man after his arrest July 16 for disobeying a lawful order and resisting police authority. Riddle’s not due in Denver…

Overexposure: On the 15th Street side of the Denver Dry building, a dusty Waxman’s window display showcases the city’s Kids, Cops and Cameras program, started back in 1992 by Denver police officer Steve Rickard. Working in conjunction with the photo store and the Denver Housing Authority, Rickard, then a technician…

Out of Focus: You’d never mistake Peter Boyles for a member of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family broadcasters. Although the KHOW talk-show host boringly believes we all must take responsibility for our actions–he makes no secret of the fact that he’s been sober for well over a decade–Boyles is…

Separation anxiety: Now that Ocean Journey is open, it looks like the Denver Zoo recognizes it has some competition for cute and cuddly animal stories, an area it used to have all to itself. A billboard at 15th and Platte streets–a corner that is conspicuously close to Ocean Journey, with…

Beef it up: The most recent anti-meat campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has hit stumbling blocks–or, perhaps more appropriately, cattle guards–in several beef-producing Western states, where outdoor-advertising companies have refused to rent billboards to PETA for its “Eating meat can cause impotence” messages (pictured here). “I…

Rebecca Rivera is a diminutive blue-eyed lady with fine features, teased blond hair and a sweet, almost naive voice that makes her sound younger than she is. So the guys at John Elway Ford West must have been salivating when Rivera called on April 2 to ask about the pickup…

Mr. Brown goes to Washington–not!: Brooks Brown, the Columbine student who was the subject of Eric Harris’s online threats–“All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you pricks as I can, especially a few people. Like Brooks,” read one Harris rant–was all set to join in…

Mud wrestling: Politics has taken a nasty turn in Glendale since the combative Tea Party won three city council seats last spring and proceeded to demolish the unpopular strip-club restrictions pushed by Mayor Joe Rice. Rice and the Party faithful have duked it out over taxes, lobbyists and such consuming…

When they tore it down on January 25, most people didn’t even know. Bob Hooley knew, of course, but he tried to ignore it. Mister Twister–the best ride of his life, number one on his list–had finally been reduced to a pile of lumber. “For every year that you live,…

Hell to pay: Organizers of the April 25 Columbine memorial service continue to express their dismay over complaints by liberal Christians, blacks and Jews that the service was too white and too evangelical. “There were fourteen different speakers and singers, we had the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Denver, two evangelical…