Tony Garcia could see the shame and anger on the faces of the men who came to the Colorado AIDS Project to ask for help. They were men who spoke little or no English, men who hadn’t yet told their families they’d been infected with HIV or whose families lived…
While the Colorado AIDS Project faces a unique struggle because of the complex changes in the AIDS epidemic, it’s not alone in its financial predicament. All charitable organizations in Colorado are now hurting as a result of the faltering economy. The National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed on November 26…
Dennis Forrester was reading the Bible inside his cell at the Denver City Jail the morning of October 23 when the lock on his cell door all of a sudden buzzed and popped open. “Basically, the lock malfunctioned,” a jail spokeswoman later reported. Forrester took it as a sign from…
Storme Aerison sits stiffly in the courtroom, his hands cuffed behind his back and his dyed blond hair woven into a ponytail, black roots showing, sideburns growing. He smiles beneath the fluorescent lights. This hearing in Colorado Springs is a long way from the sparkling waters and flashing cameras of…
On the evening of December 20, the lights will go down and the curtain will go up on the Eulipions Theater Company’s twelfth presentation of The Black Nativity. The play, written by Langston Hughes in 1961, uses the birth of Christ to build a bridge between African culture and twentieth-century…
It’s been five years since JonBenét Ramsey’s Christmas 1996 murder in Boulder rocked the known world, but even time hasn’t quelled much of the weirdness associated with this case, nor has it mellowed some of the strange and peripheral characters who got involved in the crime’s aftermath. One of the…
On December 11, the night Denver Nuggets coach Dan Issel was captured on Channel 9 videotape yelling, “Go drink another beer, you Mexican piece of shit” at Bobby Bowman, a Hispanic ticket holder, the team had passed out thousands of Dan Issel bobblehead dolls that proved to be perfect props…
He’s sat here all afternoon, talking about an awful game; One boy will not be out till June, and then he may be always lame. Foot-ball! I’m sure I can’t see why a boy like Bob — so good and kind — Wishes to see poor fellows lie hurt on…
A Matter of Degrees Lesson plan: Eric Dexheimer’s “Friend or Foe,” in the December 13 issue, was the most frightening story I’ve read in a long time. I understand that colleges need to aggressively pursue accusations of sexual assault (are you listening, University of Colorado football recruiters?), but it seems…
The Kochevar family has always been close. Even after her son Mike left for Colorado State University this past August, Beth Kochevar still counted on hearing from him every day. So when she didn’t speak with him at all in the first few days of October, she grew concerned. “Mike…
The most sweeping change in Denver growth policies in a generation will soon be considered by the city council. The plan that the council comes up with will determine what parts of the city will see the most intensive development over the next twenty years, as Denver struggles to accommodate…
For Greg Kolomitz, election “day” this year felt like it lasted forever. In actuality, it was three weeks long. But the 21-day stretch between when the polls opened in Denver’s first all-mail-ballot election and when they closed November 6 meant that politicians and political strategists such as Kolomitz had to…
The only thing that’s certain about the Central Registry of Child Protection is that it’s not clear whether it’s serving its intended purpose, according to a four-month evaluation by the Office of the State Auditor. The Central Registry was created by the state legislature more than thirty years ago to…
Movie screenings aren’t normally a tough ticket in this town. Free passes to early showings of the average flick can be snagged easily — not just by local film critics, but by anyone who knows where to go to get one. But then, The Fellowship of the Ring — the…
“Yes,” says Paul Saunders, “there is a Santa Claus!” Saunders has never really doubted the existence of the Big Red One: With a snowy beard and a bowl-full-of-jelly physique, he’s the very image of St. Nick, whom he’s been portraying this holiday season at Estes Park’s landmark Stanley Hotel. But…
Don’t bother calling Ripley’s Believe It or Not or the supermarket tabloids, because they won’t believe it either. On Sunday afternoon, a crazed computer from Morristown, New Jersey, snuck up behind a buffalo in Boulder, Colorado, and forced nonconsensual sex on the hapless beast. That’s not all. It also proceeded…
Lost and Found Miracles happen: I just read Harrison Fletcher’s wonderful article regarding the journey of the Lost Boys, “Coming to America,” in the December 6 issue. I was extremely touched by the cause of these young men who, to me, represent a forgotten type of miracle. Janine Paglia via…
They have seen so much already — the destruction of their homes, the deaths of their friends and families, deserts littered with human bones — and now, as they arrive at Denver International Airport, the three young men from southern Sudan must confront a contraption called an “elevator.” They stand…
A year before the shootings at Columbine High School, Eric David Harris already had the plan worked out in his head. He knew what time to attack the school in order to kill and maim the most students. He knew where he and fellow gunman Dylan Klebold, alias “V” or…
Last week’s dismissal of most of the lawsuits against police and school officials stemming from the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School left frustrated victims’ families contemplating a wide range of responses, from legal appeals and legislation to renewed calls for a grand jury to investigate possible police misconduct. If…
Last December, a group of activists with the Denver Justice and Peace Committee staged a protest outside the Kohl’s department store in Golden. As part of a nationwide day of action against the store chain, they chanted mock Christmas carols about the evils of sweatshop labor and human-rights abuses in…
Today, Colorado motorcyclists continue to be excluded from the state’s no-fault insurance law (“A Vicious Cycle,” July 12). But last week, Denver mayor Wellington Webb announced an effort to improve the status of bikers — as long as they’re members of the Denver Police Department, that is. Although officers who…
