Letters

Ginger Foster
Denver

Hello, Denver. As a former journalist who cut his teeth on the "gonzo" writing style of the early Hunter Thompson, I got a real kick out of your Year in Review feature. It had just the right combination of sass and substance--too many "alternative" writers/reporters try to create sarcastic magic on attitude alone, without first doing their reporting chores. But your features are impressive in having the t's crossed and the i's dotted. From a distance of 1,100 miles, I can feel like a witness to the events described. I don't bookmark many Web sites, and as something of a curmudgeon, I don't pass along many raves, but you folks do a nice job. Now tear up 1998.

John Dunn
via the Internet

I'm a business owner and a former advertiser in your newspaper. I want to express my displeasure with the cover of your latest issue. I think your newspaper in general is increasingly distasteful. I want to let you know that I will not be advertising in it anymore. I'd hoped that you'd be more sensitive to taste.

Name withheld on request

Your Year in Review was a hoot! I chuckled the whole time I read it. Very well done!

Ed Robb
via the Internet

"Hate State"? You got it all wrong. It's Hate World--wake up and smell the coffee.

I make it a point to talk to some of these "hate" groups, both black and white. I approach them on a friendly basis and ask if I can ask a few questions. The answers boil down to these simple statements: The blacks say, "Whitey doesn't know what's in store" for him; the skinheads say they are armed and ready.

Scary, isn't it, Ms. Editor? Try talking to a few yourself--don't take my word. Most set a date. The year 2005 will see the worst race riot this world has ever seen.

Fred Webber
Denver

In your Year in Review of sports, I noticed no mention of the Colorado Rapids making it to the MLS final in 1997. What the hell is up with that?

Chris Toney
via the Internet

I must take issue with your January 1 story characterizing Denver Post columnist Chuck Green as a "defender of children and small animals." Such unreflective words belie Mr. Green's sinister nature.

After lengthy cabalistic and astrological research--research too exacting to be described to the general reader--it has been determined that Mr. Green is, in fact, the Millennial Antichrist. There is ample corroborating speculation. Consider:

1). It is always the one you least expect. In official pictures, Mr. Green affects an innocuous, Elmer Fudd-like demeanor. But can a mere photograph reveal the inner man? I think not.

2). Mr. Green has uncommonly prescient knowledge of Good and Evil. He capitalizes these words whenever he has an opportunity to do so. Would not such a penchant for Upper Case Lettering be a cause for well-reasoned suspicion if practiced by your or my neighbors? Of course it would.

3). The words "Chuck," "Satan," "Devil," "Green" and "Jell-O" are all written with five letters. This is undeniably true, but is it a mere coincidence? Hardly.

4). The Antichrist will announce his world dominion on or around January 1, 2001 (or January 1, 2000, in odometer miles). Given current trends and a 3.2 percent rate of inflation over the next two to three years, might one not expect eventually to find such a pronouncement in Mr. Green's column?

You be the judge.
Ponder the weight of the evidence. Ponder it, I say, and be fearful. Be very, very fearful.

P.S.: Thanks for printing Marty Jones's December 18 article, "Closing Time," on the Goosetown Tavern. I'm a native of Golden and have spent my life watching Coors do stupid things to this community. It's something of a consolation to think that more people will notice this behavior.

Bill Simpson
Golden

A Matter of Coors
After reading Marty Jones's December 18 article, "Closing Time," I recall vivid memories of the smell, the atmosphere, the entire hustle-bustle of the Goosetown Tavern when my grandfather owned it. As a little girl, I would go behind the bar and help myself to a Nesbitt's Orange or Grape-ette and wonder what in the world all these people had to talk about. Tables of regulars played pinochle and ate grandpa's homemade chili, always laughing and having a good time visiting with friends and neighbors. There always seemed to be something going on in that neighborhood--at least, the neighborhood that existed before Coors started destroying it. Goldenites can read between the lines of comments made by Coors mouthpiece Jon Goldman and know that everything said are lies. I'd be curious to know what proof Mr. Goldman has that those wishing to preserve the tavern never sat and ate there.

I am proud to say the tavern was in my family from the time my grandfather and grandmother, Don and Helen Frederick, bought it in 1949 until my mother sold it to Sam Whalen in 1989. Sam rented it for years prior to purchasing it, and he ran it successfully until his death. There are times when children are uninterested or unable to deal with difficult situations left to them when parents pass on. It is most unfortunate that Sam's children did not have an adequate time frame during which they could secure investors or financing to help them maintain the tavern, thus keeping it out of Coors's greedy claws. No one in my family would have ever sold out to Coors.

The readers can and will believe what they wish, but I can positively guarantee you that Coors will never allow any talk of preservation, let alone put out any financing in a direction that would maintain the building in any capacity. They would much rather have a small piece of land on which to park a few cars. Coors is like an oil slick that slowly works its way to the shore, smothering and killing everything there. They always have and always will be more interested in destroying the beautiful fabric of Golden's rich history.

Andrea Grotte
Lakewood

Whatever Floats Your Boat
I was very disappointed in Bill Gallo's review of Titanic ("That Sinking Feeling," December 18). It seems like the minute he walked into the theater, he already had his mind made up about this movie. This movie just might be one of the greatest films ever created, and he's running every part of it into the ground. If this movie is such a "bomb," as is Gallo's opinion, I would very much like him to explain to me why, at the conclusion of this "three-hour-plus extravaganza," the entire room stood up and gave it a standing ovation.

I totally understand that Gallo is very much entitled to his own opinion, but I don't feel that he should label a movie as the greatest waste of money when his uneducated statements could very well influence an unexpecting viewer from seeing this picture.

Thank you for your time.
Amy Rutta
via the Internet

In a January 1 letter about Bill Gallo's negative review of Titanic, "Dayna" writes: "My boyfriend (a police officer and Marine) and I saw Titanic on its opening Saturday and..." blah, blah, blah.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm very skeptical of the opinion of someone who has to point out that her boyfriend is a police officer and a Marine.

John Driscoll
Denver

Watch Your Language
Regarding Michael Roberts's "Obscene and Heard," in the December 4 issue:
I loved the article about the relatively recent tolerance for previously unacceptable language on the radio. The language and behavior I hear on the radio all the time is one of the things that keeps me from listening as much as I used to. I used to be a big KBPI fan (even before it was KBPI) but was still offended by people like Willie B. Hung (my guess as to how it's spelled, although I always thought Will He Be Hung? was a better choice). It seems to me that as time goes on, entertainment turns to cheaper and cheaper thrills and tricks. It's as if everyone wants to be a Howard Stern DJ, only with a twist. Too bad.

Laura Simpson
Denver

Whining and wheedling about the "content" of JD DJs? In the "New" South, the most popular radio program regionally prides itself on the ability to call people "fags" and "shiftless" blacks. This is the most popular radio show, from the Mason-Dixon line down, with little to no complaint. How about a game called "Beat the Blonde"? Outguess the "stupid" blond woman and get a prize! Yee haw--don't burn the grits! The editorial segment consists of an old-guard Southerner who believes that women should stay home and that blacks are uppity, whining do-nothings. He's so homophobic that he speaks gladly of the day AIDS kills all "fags." They asked for it, don't you know?

Give me immature, "scat"-y DJs any day.
P. Archer
via the Internet

The Creole Thing
I read Eric Dexheimer's November 20 article, "It's My Party," about Dottie Grisby. Grisby isn't a "Cajun," as you described. Cajuns are white French who fled Nova Scotia for political and religious reasons. Cajuns are white French. Creoles are racially mixed people who live in New Orleans.

Lynn Henderson
Denver

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