part 3 of 3 In March 1993, Heather Smith was 27 years old and working at her father’s company. She had many girlfriends and welcomed admiring looks from men attracted to her face and a body that had once made her a nationally ranked swimmer. Her friends thought Heather led…
part 1 of 2 The train pulls away from the Broadway Marketplace station with a meek oomph of acceleration, headed for downtown. It ascends above Alameda Avenue, whips through the railyards, leans into West Colfax–no rumbling, no lurching, no clacking, just that oh-so-slight push at the start, like a cat…
Photos by Heather Weiser part 1 of 3 The little girl forced herself to remain still as death. Otherwise he, the thing that waited in the dark of her bedroom, would pounce. She lay in the exact middle of the mattress, beyond reach of any hands coming from under the…
part 2 of 2 Jon Caldara lives on Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder. Every fifteen minutes or so, an RTD bus rumbles by his house. Caldara has never seen more than five people on the bus. “Usually, there’s two,” he says. “We’re talking about a bus that pollutes like a dozen…
Duty and the beast: Establishing a herd of buffalo out by Denver International Airport remains a top priority for the city (see story this page). But the animals themselves might have a beef with that. Buffalo are sensitive to noise, says Southwestern food expert Sam Arnold, and loud sounds can…
Like a lot of people living up here in Bronco Village, I used to be able to fit everything I knew about hockey on the top of an ice cube. One that had been sitting out in the July sun for a while. Listen, I’d long been trying to understand…
Making a Clean Breast of It Regarding Patricia Calhoun’s “The Body Politic,” in the December 6 issue: It is typical for Ms. Calhoun to complain when another company is responsible enough to police itself for obscenities while ignoring the smut in her own paper. If only Westword were content to…
As the train pulls into Denver’s Union Station, its massive, red locomotives are veiled in billows of smoke. Appropriately, the vaporous clouds increase rather than decrease as the engines chug to a halt and the passengers disembark. Welcome to Marlboro Country. And welcome to the “Marlboro Unlimited,” a custom-built, luxury…
Daylight inventory of the holiday items decorating the Denver City and County Building: Three miles of lights, unlit. Several hundred yards of faux-pine garland strung through green chain-link anti-vandal fencing. Six red faux-velvet bows, two lopsided. One neon angel, blowing horn. Two large, slightly listing nutcracker men supporting arch. One…
The Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Community Services Center of Colorado (GLCC) embraces all kinds. But when the GLCC hired a straight consulting firm to help run the 1996 Gay Pride festival, some people thought it was taking diversity too far. “It’s like a Jewish organization running the Black Arts Festival,”…
Denver officials are struggling to find the money to build a sixth runway at Denver International Airport. But one longtime political ally of Mayor Wellington Webb has had no problem landing her own DIA revenue stream. Wilma Taylor, a veteran political activist and Webb campaign worker, will soon be appointed…
Buck Oletski is digging carrots in the garden he’s tilled for almost 57 years. When he straightens up, he has a clear view of the house he was brought to as a baby in 1917. And whether he looks left, right or directly ahead, all he sees is Oletskis. His…
John Spearing thinks Colorado needs a parents’ rights amendment because of a self-esteem test Pueblo School District No. 70 gave his then-nine-year-old daughter four years ago. The written test, administered to all third-graders in the district at the time, asked children to answer “yes” or “no” to a series of…
The fight stuff: Whether or not Mayor Wellington Webb succeeds in stopping the “Ultimate Fight” scheduled to hit town December 16, this dueling-palookas business has plenty of politicians on the ropes. Last week, Denver City Council president Debbie Ortega worried that if the fight goes on, people will think of…
I don’t know what kind of pictures you’ve pasted into your book of golden memories in recent months, but you’re welcome to rest a while and look at mine: Here’s Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Greg Lloyd trying to decapitate quarterback Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers. Here’s Greg Lloyd with…
You’re an average guy, which is to say, occasionally you like to be tied up and whipped. But you have questions. For example: “How do Colorado’s self-defense laws apply to me if things get out of hand?” Fortunately, there is precedent. Unfortunately, it’s not very encouraging. Say that you were…
There’s a big problem with the recent selection of Jim Monaghan, Wellington Webb’s campaign consultant, to lead a study on why Denver’s seven municipal golf courses are operating at a $429,000 deficit this year: Monaghan & Associates knows nothing about golf. Then again, the current flap surrounding the courses isn’t…
The Bottom Line Regarding Patricia Calhoun’s “The Bottom Drops Out,” in the November 29 issue: Since when is one little kid pantsing another–in gym class, no less–considered a sexual assault? This sort of thing has been going on since the beginning of time (or at least the beginning of pants)…
On a chilly November afternoon, stepping into the Forney Transportation Museum may not offer the warm refuge one is looking for. The five-story building at 14th and Platte is drafty and dim, dependent on light shining in through cracked and broken windows. Worn-out red shag carpeting greets patrons, and dusty,…
What started out as an idealistic dream of employing inner-city youths to build a sanctuary for teen mothers and their children in Five Points has turned into an ugly legal battle pitting a grassroots activist against a multinational corporation. Schuller House was to be the centerpiece of Schuller International’s “community…
cartoon…
part 1 of 2 The City of Denver is about to take the plunge at its Winter Park ski resort, pledging city resources to a high-stakes real estate deal at the base of the ski runs. But finding out just how that deal will work–and exactly what risks taxpayers may…
