part 1 of 2 One day several years ago, a young woman approached retired prison secretary Mary Jane Eaklor and asked her what she thought the chances were of making a successful marriage with her inmate fiance. Eaklor responded by telling her about a pile of rocks in her driveway…
Pressing engagements: The Rocky Mountain News’s decision to cut back its circulation area–and so its circulation numbers–and concentrate on metro Denver would have been more impressive had the January 3 edition carrying the news arrived at our downtown doorstep before 7:30 a.m. By then, of course, the story was already…
On race day, it is always the same. Aaron Harrison hangs Unruly Thomas’s muzzle over his crate, where he can see it, and talks soothingly to his charge in a voice dripping the rhythms of Muskogee, Oklahoma. At these signs, Thomas begins to get excited. And when Harrison shorts his…
Topic of Cancer Regarding Michelle Dally Johnston’s “Critical Conditions,” in the January 3 issue: Whatever happened to taking one’s word, especially a friend’s word, as justification for assurance of almost anything? Personal existence, in this case. I try and live my life by my word. When I say I will…
Last winter, residents of the Vail subdivision Booth Creek, fed up with diesel fumes filling their homes, demanded that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) close a nearby truck chain-up station on Interstate 70. “The Vail Valley is so narrow, the homes in Booth Creek filled up with exhaust,” says…
Concerned about their future and tired of what they say are inadequate resources, paramedics at Denver Health and Hospitals have been trying for months to switch city agencies and join the Denver Fire Department, where they would stand to enjoy greater clout and earn more money. Unfortunately for them, DHH…
Jack Vickers has a new interest. It’s beekeeping. It’s very profitable. Vickers, who built his vast wealth by developing such projects as the exclusive Castle Pines residential area in Douglas County (the golf course there was designed by Jack Nicklaus), keeps the bees in an unlikely place. Here are the…
As Megan Jones waited to be prepped for her double mastectomy, three people stood by her. On her left was Warren, her husband of ten years. On her right were her closest friends in America: Dianne and Gary Cushner. They were all trying to comfort the 48-year-old Australian, who just…
The last pain to Clarksburg: The people of Clarksburg, West Virginia, must be feeling pretty good right about now. After all, they’ve survived 1995, the year their town was deluged with mail from an unwanted pen pal: one JT Colfax, a performance artist who picked the town as the odd…
Ever had the living daylights beaten out of you by an eleven-year-old? It’s not that bad if the eleven-year-old doing the beating is a kid as nice as Tab Habon and the damned fool grownup learns something in the process. Watch out, though: You may still have to eat 139…
Jock Bitch Regarding Stuart Steers’s “Bowlen for Dollars,” in the December 20 issue: The Denver-Boulder turnpike began as a toll road. The taxpayers were promised that when the road had been paid for, the toll would be removed. The road was so successful that it was paid for a few…
The destruction of a historic 17th Street hotel to make way for a parking lot has many wondering if Mayor Wellington Webb’s vaunted commitment to preserving Denver’s heritage is just another blast of hot air. With Denver’s downtown real estate market heating up, the demolition of other historic buildings suddenly…
Anti-abortion crusader Ken Scott wants to save everyone else’s unborn children. He just doesn’t pay to support those he fathered personally. For years the twice-married, twice-divorced proponent of family values has been a fixture at the anti-abortion protests outside the Planned Parenthood clinic at 20th and Vine. At the same…
In honor of Congresswoman Pat Schroeder’s impending retirement next year after 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, her staff compiled a Harper’s-like list intended as a testimony to her accomplishments (e.g., hours spent working for constituents: 78,000) and integrity (political consultants hired: 0). Parts of it were published…
part 2 of 2 MEDIA Denver’s reporters did their best to find all the angles in breaking-news events like DIA. Post columnist Dick Kreck reported developing a mild case of frostbite during an experimental trek to the airport via light rail and RTD’s SkyRide bus that wound up being a…
Red in the Face The City of Aurora apologized after printing a community-services directory for Vietnamese immigrants whose cover featured the flag of the Communist government many of the same people had fled from in terror. I Found It! The Christian Booksellers Convention in Denver featured such items as Jesus…
Ben Nighthorse Campbell Occupation: Democratic/Republican U.S. senator People back in Washington knew you could always make a handshake deal with the craggy Coloradan–after all, he was a straight-talkin’, ponytail wearin’, Harley-ridin’, judo-choppin’ son of a gun from Out West. They also knew that any such deal would have about as…
part 1 of 2 Life wasn’t a bitch in Colorado this year; it was a bear. Denver International Airport opened in a snowstorm and Coors Field made its debut with replacement players, but it was a pair of cuddly polar bear cubs that really captivated the Mile High City. A…
All right, so where were you when O.J. walked? How about when Cigar ran? Or when the Big Cat struck out against Mark Wohlers? To say that 1995 was an astonishing year in sports is to understate the case. Consider. Tennis great Monica Seles emerged from a traumatic two-year retirement…
Bucking the Broncos Regarding Stuart Steers’s “Bowlen for Dollars,” in the December 20 issue: According to your article, Pat Bowlen wants Denver taxpayers to agree to the continuation of the 0.01 percent sales tax, passed to help fund Coors Field, because he believes “the tax is minimal,” “an insignificant amount…
Pat Bowlen has a problem. The multi-millionaire owner of the Denver Broncos says his team needs more revenue. And the Broncos’ public relations machine is already shifting into gear, preparing a campaign to convince taxpayers they should open their wallets and chip in $180 million to build the men in…
part 1 of 2 Last week in Westword: In March 1995, Heather Smith recognized a mug shot in the newspaper as the man who had stabbed her five times outside her home near Washington Park two years earlier. The man’s name was Thomas Edward Luther. Luther, 37, had been convicted…
