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part 1 of 2 For three years, until his death in January 1994, Gary Smith’s life was a nightmare of medication, hospitalizations, chemotherapy and pain–pain so severe that eventually even huge doses of morphine could not extinguish the fire that coursed through his cancer-riddled body. “Smitty’s” wife, Sue, found some…

As soon as Bette Handon gets foster children in her home, she starts teaching them what she calls survival skills–no matter how young they are. “You teach them how to turn on the stove without burning the house down,” says Handon. “How to open a can. How to scramble eggs…

In any discussion of Colorado’s child-welfare system, getting even the most basic information about children in state care is nearly impossible. That’s not because of statute but because of individual county policies about what gets said to whom. State law merely instructs professionals in the system to keep the identity…

Higher and higher education: Under host Howard Higman, the University of Colorado’s Conference on World Affairs was one hell of a party. When he founded the annual event in 1948, Higman’s goal was to bring the world to Boulder, throwing international notables from all sorts of disciplines–they eventually included Cold…

If I had it to do over again, I would use dry ice,” Shaun Gothwaite says. “Louie began to turn a little purple without it.” Other than that, it was the perfect wake. No one who knew Louie Aran could imagine him filled with embalming fluid or laid out among…

Sooner or later, just about every politician vows to “close loopholes.” This is important so “the rich don’t get richer” and people “pay their fair share.” But ever wonder how such holes become looped in the first place? A visit to the state legislature last week helped explain it. In…

Double Indemnity I was amazed by Eric Dexheimer’s January 31 story, “Double Trouble,” on Douglas Pichon. I knew him as Doug, a classmate and friend of mine in high school in Colorado Springs 25-plus years ago. I have not seen him since. In high school, Doug was bright, well-liked, respected…

Don’t listen to what I say. Watch what I do,” Joe Rogers said last November when he announced his candidacy for the retiring Pat Schroeder’s congressional seat. But if you had been watching Rogers in 1991, when he wasn’t a Republican candidate but merely a member of the Denver law…

part 1 of 2 Driving into Douglas County on Interstate 25, the metro area’s future unfolds before your eyes. Thousands of new homes march up the hillsides, their pastel shades glinting in the Colorado sun. “Douglas County: Where Quality of Life Comes First” says the sign that greets motorists at…

part 2 of 2 Douglas County officials believe they’ve come up with a solution to the water problem. But their reliance on Denver to help them out of their dilemma may lead to the county’s biggest battle yet. The county commissioners want to spend as much as $600 million to…

Megan Ross shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was growing impatient and leaned over to peek into the basket on the floor by her side. Someone was droning on about the status of anonymous AIDS testing. More of the same old, same old…as the agenda of these meetings of the…

Of human bondage: “No airport bonds are paid by these taxes”–that’s the word (offered in capital letters and underlined to make sure you get the point) from the Denver Department of Revenue in its form letter that accompanied tax bills sent to property owners last month. But the city’s butt-covering…

The Meter’s Running Regarding Patricia Calhoun’s “Call Me a Cab,” in the January 31 issue: What’s next for the publicity wizards in our fair city? Monitoring playground talk to make sure that no kids criticize Denver Public Schools? Spying on fans at Coors Field so that no one boos when…

Jim Deden could be a composite character invented by the U.S. Postal Service as part of a public-relations blitz. Now age 53, he has worked for the agency for 28 years as a window clerk, happily selling stamps, handling packages and generally serving the mailing public. For the past ten…

A simmering dispute between lower-downtown residents and developers may soon become a full-fledged battle. With LoDo poised for a wave of development not seen since the days steam engines huffed into Union Station, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the place where Denver was born. The controversy is over a…

When artist Barbara Jo Revelle won a $200,000 commission in 1989 to create a two-block-long mosaic mural at the Colorado Convention Center, she learned that dealing with politicians was itself an art. Revelle, head of the photography program at the University of Colorado-Boulder, spent more than a year collecting stories…

part 1 of 3 What was left of forty-year-old Jeff Dahl was placed in an incinerator, reduced to ash and poured into a modest urn. That didn’t bother Gary Watson, Jeff’s best friend. He believed that Jeff would have okayed the cremation of his remains. But Gary didn’t like Jeff’s…

part 2 of 3 Jonathan had spent most of 1990 talking about Jeff, and his conversation with Mrs. Watson convinced him that he was closer to finding his brother than he’d been all year. He thanked her, then drove to Kitty’s, where Gary was working that day. As Jonathan remembers…

part 3 of 3 At first, Michelle says, everything was perfect. Jeff displayed his sensitivity, his humor, his good-heartedness. But he was keeping a lot of secrets. She didn’t learn much about the horrors of his homeless period until months later, and she discovered only after he died that Jeff…

“I’m not very good at making a long story short,” begins Douglas Pichon. “I am, however, really good at making a long story longer.” This quickly becomes clear. The first thing you notice about Douglas Pichon, though, are his startling lettuce-green eyes, which makes it understandable why the police picked…