This Is Sick! Taking the owe out of Owens: Regarding Stuart Steers’s “In Sickness and in Wealth,” in the April 3 issue: The Owens administration’s approach to the loss of Medicaid benefits makes it the poster child of the Bush administration’s approach nationally — eliminate all entitlement programs by starving…
The Oborsh family doesn’t fit the Medicaid-recipient stereotype. The family lives on a comfortable suburban street not far from the Southwest Plaza mall. Their home is nestled next to a creekside park; large pine trees and a wooden fence give it a bucolic air. Inside, Paula Oborsh watches over her…
Jeanne Robb has no problem taking crap if it gets her elected. Early one morning, the District 10 Denver City Council candidate patrols Cheesman Park with her plastic bag and gloves. Yes, Robb has a dog, but she’s not picking up after Lily; the mixed mutt isn’t even at Cheesman…
Jean Murrell is skeptical about the changes in store at the United States Air Force Academy. She hopes they’ll be successful, but she doesn’t think they address the core problem: a culture in which upperclassmen have almost complete control over underclassmen. As a public-health officer at the academy, Murrell made…
1. With the off-season departure of broadcaster Wayne Hagin, the Colorado Rockies lost the only man: A. Who could sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in Latin. B. Credited with successfully suggesting both a mascot (Dino) and a mascot name (“Dinger”) in Major League Baseball. C. Known to have…
When asked in November 2000 to comment about the entertainment bi-weekly Go-Go, John Reidy, the man behind the landmark Denver zine known as The Hooligan, said, “If Go-Go is around for seven years, I’ll eat a turd.” The bet turned out to be a safe one: The publication shut its…
Traditionally, media companies with news organizations have shied away from taking sides on specific issues in order to project an aura of objectivity. Yet for several radio stations owned by Clear Channel, maintaining such an appearance may not be a terribly high priority. During the past several weeks, Clear Channel…
This past winter, Wendy Hawthorne stopped by the city of Denver’s parks and recreation department, as she does every year. “I’d like to rent a baseball field,” she said. “How old are the boys?” the man asked her. “It’s for women,” she replied. “Then you need a softball field,” he…
How the Best Was Won Snow job: I always look forward to your annual Best of Denver issue, but the “Denver, Why I Love Her” essays made this year’s really special. I love Denver because it can snow three feet one day, and that snow will be gone three days…
About twelve minutes past one on Sunday, February 10, 2002, Mike Morrisey found himself frozen suddenly and solidly into place. His left hand was extended up above his head, where he’d been trying to push snow away. His right hand remained down. He was sitting, seemingly on a chair, with…
Amid the sprawl that is Douglas County — the fastest-growing county in the nation in 2001 — lives the Douglas County pocket gopher. The four- to five-ounce brown vegetarian is rarely seen outside of its burrow, and when the rodent does venture out, it’s rarely farther than a body length…
John Dicke’s career has all but ended since the board that regulates Colorado psychologists accused him of inserting a dildo into the anus of a little boy he was treating and restraining the child while holding the dildo to his mouth as he sucked on it. But in a surprising…
When Anthony Rodriguez Jr. skated, he held his head up high. It wasn’t an act of arrogance or a moment of showmanship; it was because the skinny, soft-spoken eighteen-year-old found happiness on his skateboard. “He said skating was the only time he felt free. He didn’t have to think about…
1. Denver mayoral front-walker Ari Zavaras can cite this achievement in collage, er, college: A. He was named “Brother Beer Bong” of his Greek fraternity. B. He spent a year as the Wise Owl mascot. C. As chairman of the school’s safety brigade, he was named a “Junior G-Man” by…
Last fall, Breckenridge Ski Resort got hit by an avalanche of criticism over two ads it had placed in snowboarding magazines, one of which promised that “The Hill May Dominate You. But the Town Will Still BeYour Bitch.” Although the campaign was quickly yanked by Breckenridge, it dominated the 44th…
As President George W. Bush prepares to launch his own variation on the Outkast hit “Bombs Over Baghdad” (key lyric: “Don’t even bang unless you plan to hit something”), the mainstream media is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to report on the desert turmoil to come. No need to marshal forces…
Science is a beautiful thing, as any ballplayer with a snootful of ephedra can tell you. Combine the vigor of deep thinking with the dynamics of a free marketplace and there’s no breakthrough our researchers can’t achieve — from genetically altered Brussels sprouts to video games that simulate a nuclear…
The Inn Crowd Throwing in the towel: Just finished David Holthouse’s article on the Regency (“Motel Hell,” March 13). I worked at the Regency in various capacities for several years starting in 1970, so I remember how grand it was. I remember meeting celebrities, sports figures and politicians. The Oxford…
The teachers at Greenwood Elementary School are gathered in the library, waiting and anxious. It’s 8:20 a.m., and Principal Shurwood Reynolds has called them together in the hopes of setting them at ease. Today is a big day, a day of judgment for a laborious semester spent changing the way…
I was never afraid of elevators until I rode in the elevators at the Regency Hotel. There are three of them, equally spooky, lit with bare white fluorescent bulbs. Carved swastikas and gang symbols scar the wood-paneled walls. The emergency-phone compartments hold dangling wires, pistachio shells, cigarette butts, scorched pizza…
While students around the world were walking out of classes on March 5 to protest for peace, Erin Durban stayed in school. But she’s no war hawk. The nineteen-year-old political-science student at Metropolitan State College is one of the leaders of Anti-War Auraria, a coalition that has attracted hundreds of…
After six years of filming, PeaceJam is finally making it to the big screen. The documentary, produced by the PeaceJam Foundation, was selected for next month’s Taos Talking Picture Film Festival and the American Film Institute Fest later this year. But the film’s executive producer and PeaceJam president, Ivan Suvanjieff,…
