Letters to the Editor

The plane truth: Regarding Patricia Calhoun's "Blowing Boeing," in the May 17 issue:

Everyone in town was blowing Boeing, all right. It just never came!

Jay Brown
via the Internet

The Kreme rises: In the May 17 issue, Calhoun's column and Kenny Be's Worst-Case Scenario did a great job with on-the-money commentary about our losing the Boeing opportunity and the impending (impinging?) I-25 expansion.

They did, however, overlook a couple of key points. We lost Boeing because Denver throws itself at insignificant things: Krispy Kreme doughnuts and the media covering itself are perfect examples. A better one is how new stadium deals throw out the baby with the bathwater. In this case, Boeing was only 500 jobs and one building. Most of those jobs are administrative support, not super-salary executive positions. But this doesn't stop Boeing's execs from soaking up all the bribes, perks and frills three cities will throw at them -- that's part of the business scene we suck up to. It also doesn't stop them from picking Chicago, because Chicago offered them more of the bathwater, as in tax breaks and such. Boeing took what we gave them -- not because we needed to, but because we offered.

Denver will not put that kind of effort into many other employers bringing companies with much larger benefits to local communities: The ones that come here do so because they want to, not because Denver slashed their tax bases, sold out the other businesses and whored itself to their executives. All this means that Joe Sixpack pays the way so big business gets to buy the imports.

Kenny, you overlooked the true value of the name "T-Rex." Before other media pick up on it, you should jump on just how appropriate it is. Its voracious appetite for money will gobble up millions -- turning into billions -- of taxpayer dollars. It will captivate and swallow drivers who dare enter its territory. People will die (of old age, mainly) for going near it. It will be this looming, overpowering, unrelenting presence, unstoppable until it decides it is finished. It will leave huge piles of excrement in its wake. Just as dinosaurs were around for millions of years, T-Rex will also be around a lot longer than the projected seven years -- mark my words. And like its prehistoric namesake, it will be extinct as soon as it reaches its peak.

On both issues, we've been here many times before, or does collective memory fail? Can you spell Pat Bowlen? Can you spell Mousetrap?

Name withheld on request

Traffic retort: The Regional Transportation District should provide company-sponsored round-trip transportation from home for all RTD employees. Furthermore, larger companies throughout the Front Range that employ more than fifty people should consider providing in-house or outsourced employee transportation services. A small fleet of used vehicles donated by employees (tax-deductible) could remain at the company's facility and be used for personal emergencies or company-related activities. A company might choose to purchase the used vehicles from its employees. The employees, in turn, might donate a small portion of their savings from not having to drive to work toward a vehicle maintenance fund.

Doug Masser
Denver

Another animal entirely: The fiberglass giraffe described in the May 17 Off Limits may be a perfectly nice animal and deserving of some attention, but another famous Denver giraffe predates him (her?). His name was Leon, and he stood on top of the Sack's Fine Furniture store on West Colfax for many years. He was featured in a radio jingle that began, I think, "Leon the Neon Giraffe..."

I can't remember any of the rest. Maybe it's just as well.

Jack Farrar
Denver

A stone's throw: Thank you for Michael Paglia's May 17 "Written in Stone," a great article on local architecture and what is left of it.

There were many great buildings that were razed in order to make room for city growth back in the late '70s, and now we see that the tradition continues. I guess I would not mind so much if the building that is demolished was replaced by a building of at least equal design and quality; however, we see that the buildings are simply replaced for pure economics, with no consideration for the city and architecture.

It is a shame to lose Currigan Hall to an expansion of a fairly boring building. Despite the suggested improvements, to put another DIA roof on top of this building will not make it better -- it just shows a lack of imagination.

Name withheld on request

Honk if you love honkies: Okay, I like Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World, but I hate Derf's The City.

Making fun of white suburban males is easier than getting rid of spare change along Speer Boulevard. I miss Life in Hell and Ernie Pook's Comeek. Lynda Barry had depth Derf has never even approached.

Art Biggs
via the Internet

Are you experienced? Regarding Michael Roberts's "Old News," in the May 3 issue:

Dave Minshall was perhaps the best investigative journalist we've had in this town, and if only he'd had a push-up bra, he might have been able to stay at Channel 7 and do the kind of reports that would have exposed the Lowry Landfill scandal long before now, as well as numerous other coverups the mainstream media sleep through. Let's just hope that Minshall's new "crisis communications" firm isn't working for the Webb administration. We need Dave Minshall back where he belongs in Denver, to do the stories that are in the public interest.

Channel 7, just admit you were wrong and give Minshall his job back. Then we'll watch your news broadcasts again, in the hopes that there'll be news worth watching.

Adrienne Anderson
Denver

Our Daily dread: I was honored to see my story regarding Brittney Chambers's unfortunate death included in Michael Roberts's look at the history of the Colorado Daily , "Paper Trail," in the April 26 issue. It's a real tragedy that the Colorado Daily has lost its hallowed title as Boulder's best independent newspaper. As a former journalist for the Daily, I found it a sad and painfully ironic turn of events when it was discovered that a paper that had earned national awards for investigative journalism fell victim to a poor choice by management to hire a financial director with an out-of-control gambling problem and a criminal history.

Despite it all, the paper has persevered with some of the most talented writers in the Denver area -- Terje Langeland, Michael DeYoanna and Oakland Childers -- staying on board amid all of the uncertainty and stress. The stress has yet to end for both present and former Daily employees, largely because of how the bankruptcy has been (mis)handled. It's a shame that the employees who gave their hearts and souls to the paper have been shafted. Those who worked close to sixty-hour weeks on a salary that bordered on the poverty level are still waiting for a paycheck for two weeks worked in November. It was a largely undisclosed detail to employees that the Chapter 11 bankruptcy had abruptly been changed to Chapter 7 when the sale to Randy Miller was completed. And this particular detail could leave many former Daily employees without their hard-earned paychecks and vacation pay, since there is no guarantee that the employee claims transferred with the bankruptcy.

I'm confident that the new Daily will take advantage of the true editorial talent that has built an incredible reputation for such a small publication. I have no doubt that since Miller cleaned house and took over as publisher -- revealing his knack for the newspaper business -- that the future of the Daily will remain bright.

Amanda Hill
Federal Heights