I have also known students who have come back from Steps Ahead in the mood of telling me how I need to turn my life around, students who need to look in the mirror. I think Steps Ahead tries to make students blind to their faults in some cases. I have seen them fall back into the same habits that they said held them back shortly after they returned from Steps Ahead. I have also seen this "enthusiasm" about themselves that Sol mentioned. It comes across in the form of conceit and sheer contempt for people who are not the same as them, for whatever reasons. I have seen these students sitting around making fun of people. I'm not seeing how this is supposed to better our community. At this point, I've given up on P.S.1. I can only take solace in the fact that I am graduating next year.
I noticed one error in the story: This is our fifth, not sixth year.
Name withheld on request
Wow! A program introduced to youth at the ripe old age of fifteen or so that encourages them to open up, let it out, leave it behind and go forward with their life. What an accomplishment!
My daughter is a P.S.1 Steps Ahead student. She is not your stereotypical "youth at risk," but a sensitive, well-adjusted young lady, as a lot of the program students are who decided to join the program for its leadership aspirations, its pride in community and its acknowledgement of individuality. The "I'm okay, you're okay" philosophy, if you will.
And what, may I ask, is wrong with that?
As we've witnessed with past tragic events, even if the teenager is not the stereotypical "youth at risk" as Jargon described, almost every teenager has issues, large or small, in varying degrees -- issues based in feelings of not belonging, not being important, not being understood and not being loved. If we can bridge the gap and head every child in the affirmative direction, as the Steps Ahead program does, where these youth, our children, embrace the value of individuality and the joy of community, then what a wonderful world this would be.
Jenni Scoggins
Denver
Tony Curcio
via the Internet
Stuart Steers's "Where the Sidewalk Ends" was very well done. The line under the headline really told the story: "Even if one community turns them down, developers always know they can get what they want from another."
Then again, Aurora wouldn't turn down the opportunity to annex a Christmas-tree lot, let alone 1,031 acres. Gartrell Investments of Monterey, California, was not and is not interested in Douglas County's rules, regulations, laws or master plans. They made that clear in front of a judge in Douglas County Court. Citizens' rights, voters' rights? Huh? Screw 'em! We'll just go to Aurora, the city that's like Mikey: "He likes everything."
What Aurora likes, Aurora takes. Actually, "I want it all" was the quote from Mayor Paul Tauer that surfaced in sworn testimony recently in response to a question about where Aurora's land grab stops.
Greed fueled by big egos and methodical plotting is what this story is all about. With regard to the Gartrell land, I feel sorry for all those unsuspecting Aurorans who are purchasing homes in the adjacent "Peaceful Adult Community of Heritage at Eagle Bend." Their introduction to Aurora citizenship will come when their own city, teamed with a pack of hungry California land speculators, slams 15,000-25,000 extra cars down their throats every day and through their brand-new, "peaceful" community, along Gartrell Road.
Aurora's own citizens are going to get screwed and don't have a clue. Some of us in Douglas County can at least see the shafting we're about to take. When Aurora's citizens discover the truth, and when Coloradans in general realize the extent of the problem your paper has so clearly identified, developers will move on to easier pickin's. For now, they're fast-tracking as much as they can while the village is sleeping.
We don't have to sit back and watch our state get destroyed by greed and politics. Let's stand and fight, and let's get rid of the "leaders" who don't even remotely meet the definition of the word.
The real Aurora/Gartrell Investments story goes much deeper, and I believe the Eagle story does, too. I encourage you to stay with it. There are thousands of us who need a voice, and I suspect there are some true Coloradans, inside the system, who are ready to talk. Thanks to Mr. Steers and Westword for firing the first salvo on the real story at the end of the sidewalk.
Rob Stuehrk
via the Internet
His political satire provides much-needed relief, and I'm delighted that he's opted to live and work here, as his wit and artistic ability qualify him to ply his trade anywhere he chooses.
Ed Halloran
Denver
At the bottom of Willy Webb's Top Ten list: Send car to circle Kenny Be's house every twenty minutes.
Name withheld on request
Yon Kyong Lew
via the Internet
Mr. Stone should open a private detective agency with Kenneth Starr and Janet Reno and retain President Bill Clinton as their spokesperson.
James Carey
Allenwood, PA
Columbine, Columbine's victims, Columbine's victims' lawsuits...when will it end? I watched the tragedy unfold before my eyes last year on April 20. I spent the entire afternoon watching, crying and praying! I, like many in Colorado and around the world, have shed tears for Columbine. Now this latest bit over the police report and lawsuits is just sickening. Columbine was a tragedy that no one will ever forget. The dead will be memorialized and the wounded will heal eventually, but they will never be the same.
Lately, however, my sympathy is for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the countless other police, fire, paramedic, etc., groups that responded to Columbine. Everyone within radius responded to Columbine. Cops who weren't even on duty showed up to help and save those they could. Would the victims' families have been satisfied if there had been several cops killed along with their family members?
Don't these people know that every person who responded to Columbine also carries scars from that day? I am sure that they wanted nothing more than to save everyone. That is their duty and honor. They choose to put their lives on the line to protect and serve. Yet not one word of gratitude has been extended to them; instead, they are being sued and criticized. Columbine's families are not the only families in the world to have lost members to appalling violence. They just appear to believe they are the only ones who matter. No one is perfect, including Sheriff Stone and his department, but I believe everyone has done the best they can with an endlessly painful situation. Must they continue to pour salt in the wounds? Columbine, place the blame where it absolutely belongs: on the shoulders of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
Shelley Repstine
via the Internet
In Alan Prendergast's April 27 "None Dare Call It Travesty," it appears another tragedy has spawned the attraction of the eccentrics. It always amazes me that in the aftermath of any mass tragedy, the word "conspiracy" is yelled, and people say it was a government plot. For every event throughout history, someone is looking for a scapegoat to blame it on -- be it government, a cult or radicals who want to upset the apple cart. We are supposed to be sane, rational people; however, think of the social fabric that denies the outpouring of anxiety or frustration until it is too late. As a deer leaves footprints in the snow, humans also leave footprints as to the potential unrational behavior that may occur. It becomes oblivious to those who are looking straight into the barrel of the smoking gun. Denial, denial: It doesn't fit the mode of acceptable social norm, so find the scapegoat.
S.J. Alexander
via the Internet
