C'mon, Westword. With Bill "Colorado Is Not Enough Like Texas" Owens poised to take over the governor's mansion and sign much of the legislation proposed by the Arvada/ Colorado Springs contingent of crazies, you give us endless variations on U.S. Representative Diana DeGette's alleged snub on a football podium (Off Limits, March 5) and Governor Roy Romer's kiss.
I have no doubt at all that a full slate of Republican Uriah Heeps (Tancredo, et al.) will take wing in the next election, telling us the Lord desires U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations and more frequent executions.
Perhaps Westword will then see fit to get back to some important issues.
Robert A. Ellis
Aurora
Uplifting Lifting
Regarding Robin Chotzinoff's "Power Rangers," in the February 26 issue:
Make fun of the Power Team all you want, but in today's society, they offer a better role model than a whoremonger president, a rock star who beats up his silicone-implanted wife, or "gangsta" rappers who spend most of their time behind bars instead of bending them. If this is whom American youth can look up to instead, count your blessings.
Erin McNamara
Beverly Hills, CA
Bucking the Broncos
Regarding Patricia Calhoun's "Backfield in Motion," in the March 5 issue:
This was precious. From her seat at the Denver City Council meeting last week, Councilmember Cathy Reynolds stood up, whipped out a camera and took at least one picture of the Broncos coach, players and lobbyist, who presented themselves--along with the Lombardi trophy--that night for the blatant adulation of most of the city council. I wonder if she had a football underneath her desk that she got autographed later?
Although I can only surmise what she was photographing, based on the direction she was pointing the camera, I think my assumption is reasonable. I must also admit that she did this just before the meeting was called to order.
Dorsey Hudson
Denver
The Broncos are giving John Elway $30 million, and we, the taxpayers, are asked to give the Broncos a new $500 million stadium. As a fan, I understand Elway's worth. As a businessperson, I realize the economic value of keeping the Broncos in Denver. As a citizen, I cannot fathom why our neighborhood library doors are locked on Sunday. Our priorities are mixed up--how can we afford a new stadium when we cannot afford to keep our libraries open? Let's compromise: Denver will finance the new stadium if Bowlen and Elway will finance a library fund to unchain our library branches. Everyone wins when our children have the opportunity to access the knowledge that gives them employable skills (research and reading). Not only is this responsible citizenship, it's just plain good business. Since we are investing in the Broncos' future, it is not unreasonable to ask the Broncos to invest in our children's future. Without profitable employment, how else will the next generation continue to pay the stadium taxes and buy $100 Bronco tickets?
L. Frank Hare
Evergreen
What happens when tax dollars are used to fund big-league playgrounds? Everyone knows about the proposed new stadium for the Denver Broncos. What they don't know is how much it will end up costing the good old taxpayer of Colorado. One poll has reported that 80 percent of Americans oppose the use of tax dollars for professional sports playgrounds. In the past years, elaborate plans and programs have been created to fund these multi-million-dollar projects.
These programs promise jobs, great economies and public relations for the community like you have never seen. Oh, by the way, they also promise that it will cost very little.
Major cities have allowed themselves to be played against one another by professional team owners and players wanting a sweet financial deal for their million-dollar enterprises. Communities such as Denver may get to keep a team such as the Denver Broncos, but they will pay a high price for doing so.
It has been projected that by the year 2001, communities throughout the nation will have a tax burden of more than $12 billion for the construction of new sports centers. The real winners in this game will be the team owners and the high-paid players who are all sucking off the good old taxpayers.
If you want to see a welfare system in action, look at Baltimore, Maryland. In 1992 the Orioles moved into a $268 million publicly financed center. Ticket prices went sky-high, and the franchise took in over $4 million from the skyboxes alone. Do you think the city got one dime of this? No, it did not get one dime! The so-called new business opportunities have been few, if any. Baltimore continues to build! Now a $220 million football playground has been financed by selling lottery tickets.
I think it's time that team owners start paying their own way and we taxpayers stop the sports welfare system. We do not know what a new center will cost. We only know that the Broncos want it, and they are lobbying hard for the taxpayers to pay for it, whatever the cost.
Ron Walker
Littleton
Ore Else
I read with great interest Scott Yates's article about the Rulison Nuclear Stimulation Project ("The Day They Bombed Colorado," February 26). I am currently writing my master's thesis about Wyoming's Plowshare.
Project Plowshare was a bizarre example of how government can do what it thinks is best without consulting local residents. Wyoming's first major heads-up to a nuclear stimulation in the state came on February 1, 1972. Project Wagon Wheel would have used five nuclear bombs, two more than used in Rio Blanco. Like Rulison and Rio Blanco (plus Gasbuggy, near Farmington, New Mexico), Wagon Wheel was designed to find out if it was possible to retrieve natural gas from tight formations. Wagon Wheel was opposed by a group of local residents who held public meetings, conducted a public straw vote (local ministers counted the ballots) and took a trip to Washington to meet with the Atomic Energy Commission and elected officials. The group was able to delay and eventually stop the blast by using evidence gathered from the Rulison and Rio Blanco blasts, as well as their own legwork. One example of the AEC's work the group objected to was the valuation of Boulder Dam, a local irrigation dam, at $150,000. The dam had been built less than ten years earlier in 1965 at a cost of $500,000.
Thanks for your outstanding article. It has filled several gaps in my knowledge about the Colorado nuclear stimulation projects.
Adam Lederer
Laramie, WY
Beggars Can Be Choosers
It seems like Channel 6 managers are conducting another "beg-a-thon" each month, not counting the auctions and other commercial enterprises that they are involved in. Now they want to make a profit on a piece of property that should be a park, at least (Stuart Steers's "Worse Than a Pledge Drive," February 26). Enough already!
A solution: Channel 6 and other "public" radio and television stations should tell us what amount they need--say, half a million. Then they "reward" the listeners/viewers by not continuing with the "thon" once the goal is met. This rewards all of us when the early pledgers call or write with their money and the general listening/viewer public can be spared the begging that happens during every drive.
R. Tomhave
via the Internet
Waving Goodbye
Thank you, Michael Roberts, for exposing the garbage that is Denver radio ("Dangerous Waves," February 26). Hopefully the stations will pay attention and play something other than Third Eye Blind 24 hours a day.
Nikki Biefel
Lakewood
It seems as if the quality of Denver radio has been going further and further downhill as Jacor has consolidated its grip on area stations. I used to listen to KBPI until they started playing so much classic rock. Where is the separate identity between KBPI and the Fox (KRFX) when they both play so much Led Zeppelin?
KTCL is the only station left in this area that I can stand to listen to for any length of time. The retro craze is boring beyond belief. I have already heard the songs from the '60s, '70s and '80s--can't we please move on? The swing and ska on KTCL get a bit tedious, but at least the station is willing to expand its format a bit. It will probably become more sedate under Jacor until it resembles the Peak (KXPK): alternative for old people.
This area seems to be able to handle multiple country, "alternative" and classic stations. Why can't we have at least one station that plays cutting-edge industrial, hard rock and punk? It really distresses me that the music scene, both on radio and live, has become so pathetic. I guess all of the moshers, punks, rivetheads and headbangers are too busy ripping it up in the mountains, leaving all the couch potatoes behind to control the music scene.
James Swanson
Westminster
Rave Review
You want a compliment? Okay, so I'm in New York City last weekend and pick up a copy of the Times. Thumbing through the movie reviews, I found myself reading Janet Maslin's take--Janet Maslin, for cryin' out loud--on The Real Blonde and thinking, "Y'know, she's good, but she's no Bill Gallo."
Torey Lightcap
Castle Rock
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