Jailhouse shlock: I was horrified by Alan Prendergast's "Prisoners of Sex" story, in the March 6 issue. These girls are given one last chance to turn around, and what happens? They are preyed upon by the very people who are supposed to keep them safe!
I think Governor Owens should call for an investigation of this program. The sexual assaults at YOS could be as big a scandal as the Air Force Academy.
Jeanie Hadden
via the Internet
They're no angels: Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting!
"Disgusting" is the most polite word I can think of to describe my feelings after reading last week's cover story. The YOS program is a complete joke. It serves no purpose except to expose some poor defenseless girl to possible sexual assault. Does YOS director Brian Gomez have two brain cells to rub together? I wonder. While the young ladies sentenced to that program are clearly no angels, no female deserves to be treated like a prostitute.
YOS spells recipe for disaster...
Robert A. Hudson
Denver
Girl trouble: I really would like to know if anything can be done about this issue. Are the offenders really getting what they deserve? Is there anything that someone like me could do to get the program closed altogether? I cried reading this story, because of what these girls have to go through. Thank you for running this story so the issue can be out in the open.
Tia Lottie
Denver
Ashes to ashes, lust to lust: In the dictionary, "lusty" is "full or characterized by healthy vigor" -- did you really mean to use that word on the cover to describe the prison guards in YOS? "Lustful" would have been a somewhat better choice -- but "depraved," "immoral" and "statutory rapists" are words that seem to hit the nail on the head.
Kathleen Halleck
Denver
Local hero: Alan Prendergast is my hero for the two articles he wrote in the March 6 issue: the one on YOS and "Leave the Driving to Bill," on HB 1225. Bill Owens is in bed with the insurance industry and wanted to completely get rid of the PIP laws. With a high rate of people without health insurance, who would pay for the emergency medical treatment of these uninsured? The State of Colorado, of course, but the most important thing is that we saved money for State Farm.
When will people in Colorado wake up and see "Slick Willy" for what he really is?
Name withheld on request
Massaging the facts: Thank you, Alan Prendergast, for writing an article that finally tells "the rest of the story" about auto no-fault reform. I have many patients who view massage-therapy services as medically necessary and vital -- hardly alternative.
Keep up the good work.
Donald W. Kipp
Lakewood
Roadie warriors: Alan Prendergast's article on insurance was very well done and informative. As a member of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, I was surprised at Mr. Diepenbrock's remarks regarding our fine state of Wyoming. The fact is that rather than driving around a few hours to find someone to smash into, our drunks have to get home quickly to avoid being run over by drunken Coloradans who have come north of the border to buy their fireworks.
Terry W. Mackey
via the Internet
At cross purposes: Thank you so much for Patricia Calhoun's wonderful article about roadside memorials, "Shrine On," in the February 27 issue. I know firsthand how important this issue is for surviving family members when someone is killed on the road.
My mother was killed in a car crash in the Washington, D.C., area by a speeding driver who crossed the median strip and hit us head-on. I survived the crash, but my mother did not. After getting out of the hospital and during my recovery period, I called the state office of transportation to request permission to put up a roadside memorial. I was told, "If we let people do that, then the roads would be lined with crosses."
My response is: "That's the point." Perhaps if drivers were constantly reminded how many people are killed every day on our roads, then perhaps they might think twice before driving fast or recklessly and using their vehicle as a weapon.
We see memorials at sites of national tragedies. But we should not overlook that one national tragedy that continues to occur every day is right in our own neighborhoods, on our roads.
Brenda Fraser
Denver
High ideals: I had to have a good chuckle over the March 6 "Thin Air, Thin Hope," Bill Gallo's heartfelt analysis that the reason for the Rockies' annual slides into oblivion despite constant retooling is the shortage of oxygen in the air and the plethora of altitude. If only that were the case.
To claim the Rockies can't win because of altitude is wholly ludicrous. Better tell the world-class athletes and hopeful Olympians training under the shadow of Pikes Peak to throw in the towel and move to Florida. No, the Rockies are consistent in losing because the whole franchise sucks -- and it isn't the thin air. Not only are the Rox consistently out of shape, but they're out of heart, too. Pro baseball is the lethargic, overweight, overpaid reflection of its amateur self. Like golf's lame ability to lay claim as a sport, the Rockies franchise is also laying claim to being a baseball team.
"There's always next season" and the hopes of spring training are romanticisms of the game, but you'll find smarter playing, better food and kids who love to play the game at the local dirt diamonds. If only the Rox could learn how to play again like the kids swinging away at the plate down the street. Oh, but wait: Those kids haven't yet noticed that they're playing at 5,280 feet.
Bill Petersen Jr.
Namjemoy, Maryland
The Bear facts: I agree with Bill Gallo that the Rockies are hopeless as the situation now stands, but I've been wondering why, if playing baseball at 5,280 feet is such a problem, were the Denver Bears successful at this altitude? I realize the caliber of pitching and hitting in AAA ball is lower than in the majors, but since the pitchers and hitters at each level are relatively equal to each other, there must be something else besides thin air that explains why the Rockies are so dismal and why the Bears won several American Association crowns at this same altitude. Opposing pitchers in both leagues had/have to deal with less ball movement at Mile High/Coors Field, yet in the 18-15 slugfests Gallo mentions in "Thin Air, Thin Hope," the opposing pitchers beat the Rockies even after giving up fifteen runs! The Bears also had their share of high-scoring games, but they usually managed to win those at Mile High more often than not.
I believe the difference between the Rockies and the Bears is talent, pure and simple. Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan might not win Cy Young awards playing for the Rockies, but they likely would have more W's than L's at home, not to mention how well they would do when the Rockies were on the road. Given that Coors Field was/is hell for so many Rockies pitchers, why didn't/don't they win more away games?
I don't mean anything against Gallo, but all I've heard for the past ten years is how hard it is to win at this altitude. Yes, it is difficult to win here if you don't have the talent. Some pitchers can get away with marginal skill at sea level, but not at Coors Field. Thin air is merciless in exposing pitching weaknesses, just as wins and losses are merciless in exposing a team's weaknesses. While pitching is normally most important in Major League Baseball, up here the rules are different: hitting first, pitching second. The Blake Street Bombers should never have been broken up. The team could have stayed at that level of play for a number of years while developing promising young talent in the minor-league system. The Rockies forgot what the Bombers already knew, and they are now paying dearly for it.
It is possible to win up here; the Bears proved that years ago. Why all the stink about altitude when the real problem is finding/ acquiring/keeping talent suited to winning at 5,280 feet? Could altitude be an excuse for lousy management from the top down?
Rob Etherington
via the Internet
Raising the roof: I just ran across the February 6 issue with Patricia Calhoun's "The Meter's Running," and I want to say thanks for the great work exposing Denver's parking-meter debacle, as well as the pathetic actions of the Denver City Council regarding ridiculous pay raises. Keep up the good work in exposing the Webb administration's shenanigans.
"World-class city" is not spelled G-R-E-E-D!
Monty Stutzman
via the Internet
Raising the hoof: Regarding the February 27 Off Limits:
Denver sports are a very big part of the lives of Denver citizens, and so are our mascots. We love them all. I was disappointed not to see Miles, our beloved Broncos frontman, mentioned instead of an outdated, unemployed Howler.
Get your mascots straight, please. They have feelings, too.
Tavi Wolf
Denver
The more things change...: The March 6 Off Limits item about Metropolitan State College's Student Government Association reminds me somewhat fondly of my time spent as a student-government and chief judicial board member in the early '90s.
Nothing changes much, it seems! We had many of the same trials and tribulations dealing with the administration and our advisor at the time. I now clearly realize that what we failed to do was instill subtle change to build upon. No one in SGA is ever going to change the larger administration's budgets, nor its way of doing business. I was at Metro to get an education and got involved in student government. The similarities in my four-year involvement with MSCD-SGA and what happened recently are frighteningly familiar. We also held a vote of no-confidence for our advisor. Nothing happened except it excited everyone involved and wasted time and energy. We also tried to get the funds to be under our own tutelage. Nothing happened except our student body president came under closer scrutiny of the larger administrative forces. Nothing apparently is different now, and the point of being a voice for the larger student community got lost then and has now. Some things never change, apparently. The student community and those involved in campus activities are the real losers in this fight between the SGA (which, at the time I was involved, was funded by student fees, as it is now, I would imagine) and the administration.
I am only sorry that Mr. Evans couldn't see the forest for the trees in this instance and try to instill a program to establish slow change, because tilting at windmills obviously isn't going to work. What is a bigger travesty is that instead of getting an SGA checkbook, all Mr. Evans has done is waste time in getting the precious education he rightly deserves.
I found my focus, went to classes, got my education and moved on. I hope that come 2004, when Mr. Evans can again register for classes, he does the same.
Lori Wolfson
via the Internet
