part 2 of 3 “He’s never going to be back,” said his mother. “He’s never going to be the Paul that we knew.” Holcomb had been raised in Colorado, and it was on vacations to see her family that Paul had fallen in love with the place. She and her…

Native American spiritual leader Oscar Brave Eagle, convicted last year of raping a female colleague, has been granted a new trial. Brave Eagle, a sexagenarian Lakota Indian, was granted a second chance to plead his case when a Larimer County judge agreed in March that his lawyer in the first…

part 2 of 2 Brad arrived in Philadelphia determined to keep his mouth shut and do exactly as he was asked. He knew he had been called up because the Phillies ace reliever, Kent Tekulve, was injured. Brad had no illusions about staying on the squad the rest of the…

part 1 of 2 Lisa didn’t stir when her husband slipped out of bed and walked to the bathroom. It was six in the morning, and he had to get to the ballpark. The desert dawn had already crept past the hotel curtains; outside, the Tucson air smelled of sun-warmed…

Noblet Danks loved to teach. She loved the children she taught–their energy, their enthusiasm, their eagerness to learn. In the Seventies she taught in Bolivia as a member of the Peace Corps. Back in Colorado she worked in a small Catholic school for two years. In the early Eighties she…

Ann Jessie felt fine when she reported to her doctor’s office for the results of a routine physical. A few minutes later the 58-year-old Denver woman emerged, shaken by the diagnosis that she had an incurable–and potentially fatal–disease. That was a year ago. Now, Jessie is preparing to launch a…

Lakota Indian who billed himself as a spiritual leader has been found guilty in Larimer County of raping a Boulder woman who helped him perform Native American ceremonies for a largely white clientele. The Colorado case comes at a time when Lakota tribal elders are expressing increased concern about the…

The brochure showed a lake surrounded by snow-capped peaks, with horses gamboling about in the meadow. It looked like the place Elena and Larry Crossgrove dreamed of: a little ranch of their own. They were sold before they ever stepped foot on the land. Four years later, the Crossgroves’ bank…

part 1 of 2 The rain-slick road whispered beneath the car, the windshield wipers keeping the beat as he drove south into Chicago through the gray evening. Bill Harper felt drained. Empty as a chapel. There hadn’t been much rest in the four days since the telephone call. Chris is…

part 2 of 2 Something has gone awry– How many poets have hocked their books for junk money, waiting on the poem? Curse you Burroughs! for being an exception to rules every junkie/artist’d liketa break simultaneously reminding us just how ugly the whole life gig can go down… Don’t haveta…

Bob Hornbuckle takes another drag on his cigarette and looks up from under the brim of his cap. His face looks worn and tired in the afternoon light that sneaks into the bar. A recovering junkie and, some say, the best blues guitar player in Denver, Hornbuckle has hepatitis C…

The envelope from the Bonfils Blood Center was addressed to her husband, but Valerie Sportsman opened it. The letter inside said that Dennis Sportsman had a disease, one that apparently could be contracted through drugs or sex. Valerie knew her husband didn’t use drugs, so that meant… Dennis Sportsman arrived…

part 1 of 2 The gravel crunches beneath the slow tread of Mike Lamb. Every so often, he pauses to gather his strength, then continues on up the trail that winds into the heart of the Garden of the Gods. One of his old drinking buddies is getting married at…

part 2 of 2 In 1990, Cathy, who had moved to Manitou Springs with her husband and nine-year-old daughter, went to donate blood, something she had done regularly in the past. A few days later, though, she received a call from a blood bank official who told her she couldn’t…

The new director of AIDS programs under the auspices of the troubled Metropolitan Urban League has resigned after less than a month on the job. Her departure raises concerns among activists and even the state department of health about the Urban League’s commitment to AIDS services in the black community…

Two weeks before Christmas, black, gay, controversial AIDS activist Steve Arrington finds himself running out of money and time. Broke and staving off repeated AIDS-related infections, he says he’s been forgotten by the black community he has struggled to protect. When Arrington arrived in Denver in 1981, a homosexual social…

On the evening of September 12, the blare of a fire alarm cleared the hallways and classrooms of Arapahoe Community College in Littleton. It was just a drill, but it sparked a sexual-harassment bonfire that has yet to die down. Outside the building that night, Richard Lebowitz and a male…

part 2 of 2 By 1988 the situation at Mitchell had worsened. Dropout rates had continued to climb, as had drug use and gang activities–much of which Delia blamed on the nearby apartment complexes. Kids told her they were actually afraid to come to school. She asked superintendent Ken Burnley,…

part 1 of 2 “I have received your letter and one from your unfortunate boy. I am very sorry for you.” Over the past 120 years the paper has yellowed with age and the ink has faded to a light brown that is barely legible. The author, Miss L.M. Swenson…

A popular nurse at the Denver General Hospital AIDS clinic was forced to resign last week–under the threat of being fired–for bending the city’s residency rule. The rule requires that city employees, including those at the hospital, live within the city and county of Denver. However, nurse Georgia Caven contends…

part 1 of 2 Dr. Adam Myers arrived at Denver General Hospital in 1974, following a residency program at the University of Colorado in which he specialized in hematology, the study of blood diseases such as anemia and leukemia. He was soon appointed DGH’s director of ambulatory services. But he…

part 2 of 2 The Clinic, Politics, and Wes Kennedy By the late Eighties it was clear that the AIDS epidemic could not be dealt with as other epidemics had been in the past. Polio and tuberculosis, for example, affected people in specific ways that could be addressed by a…