by Mark Smiley | Mar 28, 2018 | General Featured
by Lisa Marlin
Patiently Waiting: Tugboat waits patiently on his leash while his owner Kyra Bebus visits with Sam Gannon, Denver Senior Park Ranger, at Cheesman Park. Tugboat is able to jump and play while safely on his leash, right.
“Rules are rules,” William McGihon of Denver said after he put a leash on his dog Liam when told to so by a park ranger on a warm March Sunday afternoon in Cheesman Park. “I am aware of the leash law, so I understood and was willing to cooperate obviously.”
The leash law forbids dogs to be off leash unless they are in a designated city dog park. The ordinance is posted on signs throughout the park system, but as outdoor temperatures rise, so does the number of people who ignore the ordinance, especially in Cheesman Park. In 2017, 20 percent of the 240 off-leash citations in Denver’s 228 parks were issued here.
“Cheesman Park has the highest number of off-leash dog issues, followed by Wash Park and City Park, probably because of its really big meadows and location,” said Denver Park Ranger Supervisor Jacob Wells. He also emphasized that leashes can’t be longer than six feet, so those retractable ones that allow owners to adjust the length beyond that are not okay.
It’s not just the parks that fall under the leash law. It goes for every public space throughout Denver’s jurisdiction that is not designated as a dog park. Last year, 576 off leash citations were issued outside of the park system, such as on neighborhood streets and sidewalks.
The citations carry a $100 fine for a first offense but that’s usually not the first course of action taken by animal control officers or park rangers. “We try to be more education-oriented than happy-handed,” Wells said, explaining that warnings are more frequently given and are dependent on the scenario. Someone playing frisbee with their dog when no one else is around might get a warning, but when the park is busy, the consequences are different. “A couple of years ago I came across a situation where someone was throwing a ball and their dog tripped someone else and broke their wrist,” said Wells.
Often when dog owners are confronted, they res
Leash Law: Denver Senior Park Ranger Sam Gannon reminds William McGihon that his dog Liam needs to be on a leash at Cheesman Park.
pond much like Liam’s owner did. “I just felt like he was under our supervision and control by voice command, so I thought that was probably an acceptable scenario,” McGihon said. Of course, he quickly learned it wasn’t when Sam Gannon, the senior park ranger patrolling Cheesman, stopped to chat with him.
“When I see violations, I tend to talk to people and remind them this is a park rule and we need you to follow it,” said Gannon. “And then we give them a reason, which is usually other people’s enjoyment of the park and safety. Once people get the reason behind the rule, we tend to get a lot more compliance.”
He explained that citations are used as a last resort to gain compliance with people who don’t heed a warning and decide they want to do it anyway, even with the $100 fine. A second offense jumps to a $250 fine and goes to $500 for a third.
With a citation avoided and Liam leashed, Gannon headed over to where 
he saw a medium-sized dog running freely about 50 yards away. But since Gannon is easy to spot in his distinctive wide-brimmed hat, gray shirt and green trousers, the dog was quickly leashed by its owner before he reached them. “When people see me and they visually comply, oftentimes I will not remind them of the rule. But a lot of times if they’re visually complying they know the rule anyway,” Gannon said.
This ended up being the case with the woman who leashed her dog before Gannon got there. Later, she shared that she is from north Boulder where leash laws are different. “I don’t know Denver’s leash laws though I assume there are some,” said Lindsey Riley who was at Cheesman with her dog Clyde as he strained on his leash to play with Tugboat who was there with his owner Kyra Bebus.
As the dogs sniffed, pawed and frolicked around each other, Bebus kept a close eye and tight hold on her pet. “I know Tugboat is harmless, but he is a one-year-old puppy that weighs 80 pounds and he can get a little excited playing and that can definitely be intimidating to people who aren’t used to that,” she said. That’s why she usually heads to dog parks in the Denver-area where Tugboat can run and jump with other dogs off leash to his heart’s content. Leaving Cheesman, she took Tugboat a short distance away to the recently opened Carla Madison Dog Park off Colfax.
Wells said this newest dog park should help alleviate some of the off-leash issues. Having more rangers patrolling should also have an impact. “We bring in most of our resources when we see more people using the parks, from about April to September, he said. “Our ranger group is growing and so with more of them in the field to spot issues, the situations go down.”
They may go down, but not away. As Gannon stood just beyond where he parked his patrol unit near the Pavilion at Cheesman Park, he browsed the surrounding lawns where people and their pets were coming and going. “There will be dogs off leash here all day,” he said. Some he’ll see as he patrols and others he’ll hear about from calls made to 3-1-1, Denver’s Help Center. He’ll talk to as many dog owners as he can and hopefully see them comply, but if a citation is what it takes, he’s ready to do that too. “It is truly an issue and we do take it seriously,” he said.
by Mark Smiley | Mar 23, 2018 | Main Articles
Police Union, Sheriffs’ Union, Latino Activists, Women’s Groups Demand Investigation And/Or Resignation Of Mayor
by Charles C. Bonniwell
Mounting Scandals: Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has been met with increasing calls for his resignation over a myriad of sex scandals including the sexual harassment of Detective Branch-Wise and being a john at Denver Players/Sugar brothel.
Accuser: Denver Police Detective Leslie Branch-Wise has accused Mayor Michael Hancock of sexually harassing her while she was on his security detail in 2011-2012.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has been inundated with sex scandals over the last month. His latest troubles began on February 27, 2018, with Channel 7 News investigative reporter Tony Kovaleski’s explosive interview with Denver Police Detective Leslie Branch-Wise who had been on the Mayor’s security detail beginning after his election in 2011.
Branch-Wise accused Hancock of sexually harassing her and provided on air texts of text messages he sent to her including one which stated:
“So I just watched this story on women taking pole dancing classes. Have you ever taken one? Why do women take the course? If not have you ever considered one and why? Your thoughts?”
“Be careful, I’m curious. LOL!”
Hancock Defense
Hancock would issue a video apology to Wise-Branch stating: “During Detective Branch-Wise’s time on the security team, we became friends, but my text messages in 2012 blurred the lines between being a friend and being a boss.” While Branch-Wise accepted the apology, she declared she has many “friends” and none of them send her salacious harassing text messages.
Branch-Wise was paid $75,000 in July 2013 by the City for unclear reasons since she never filed a complaint, and some critics have claimed the payment was simply “hush money” to prevent Branch-Wise from revealing the mayor’s actions.
In the video the mayor claimed that Branch-Wise had complained to him that Wayne McDonald had sexually harassed her and that he had him fired four days later. That statement by Hancock, however, will result in a federal lawsuit being filed “soon” against the mayor by Wayne McDonald according to McDonald’s attorney William Sultan for defamation and breach of a non-disclosure agreement.
McDonald Under The Bus
McDonald had been the best friend of Hancock. They went to school together at Hastings College in Nebraska and both had worked at the Urban League in Denver. Immediately after being elected mayor, Hancock had the city hire McDonald for an $85,000 amorphous job position which critics claim was little more than keeping the mayor company during the day.
In 2012 McDonald went to lunch at Racines Restaurant with then City Attorney Doug Friednash (an attorney from the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck [the “Brownstein Law Firm”] and the Denver Manager of Safety Stephanie O’Malley (the daughter of former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb). He was told that he could quit his job or be fired for sexual harassment against Branch-Wise. McDonald protested his innocence and demanded an honest investigation and a hearing to clear his name but they refused. The Mayor’s spokeswoman Amber Miller then went public saying he was fired for serious misconduct and sexual harassment.
McDonald sued Hancock in federal court claiming that Hancock had lied simply to hide his own misconduct regarding Branch-Wise.
In 2016, on the eve of trial, the City settled, paying McDonald $200,000 and each side agreed not to disparage the other which McDonald indicates the mayor has violated as well as failing to disclose the damning text messages to Branch-Wise and McDonald.
City Council Weighs In — Kinda
District 1 City Councilman Rafael Espinoza sent a scathing letter to the mayor’s office calling for an independent investigation to “remove the cloud forming over your administration” regarding the payments to Branch-Wise and McDonald. A day later, however, the City Council went into an executive session, therefore not open to the public, which produced a statement by Hancock ally and City Council President Albus Brooks on behalf of the City Council saying they were declining to call for an investigation in order not to “re-victimize” Branch-Wise.”
The Albus Brooks gambit failed to quiet the uproar when Branch-Wise went back on the air on Channel 7 with Tony Kovaleski to declare that no one from the City had asked her whether she wanted an investigation and she did, in fact, want one. That statement forced the Council President to scramble and declare that the City Council would look into its options on the matter.
Angry Law Enforcement And Latino Rally
Resignation Demand: Lisa Calderón of the Latino Colorado Forum along with feminist groups across the city rallied on the steps of the Denver City and County Building demanding the resignation of Mayor Michael Hancock. The Mayor was conveniently not in his office at the City and County Building that day.
In the meantime on March 3, 2018, the Colorado State Lodge – Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the Denver Sheriff’s Deputies and is the largest organization representing law enforcement in Colorado, wrote a letter to Governor John Hickenlooper demanding a change in of
fice of Mayor in Denver along with the Safety Director, the Police Chief and the head of the Sheriff’s Department.
The letter outlined eight scandals in the Police Department and nine in the Denver Sheriff’s Department during Hancock’s time in office. In the meantime the Colorado’s Police Protective Association (PPA) issued its own statements supporting Branch-Wise and castigating Mayor Hancock along with Police Chief White. The PPA had previously passed a resolution of “no confidence” in Police Chief White.
On March 7, on the steps of the City and County Building, a rally headed by Lisa Calderón of the Colorado Latino Forum was held demanding the resignation of Mayor Hancock for sexual harassment which was covered all by of the major media in Denver.
The Return Of Scottie Ewing
As if Mayor Hancock did not have enough problems, an old nemesis, former brothel owner Scottie Ewing, reappeared on radio host (710 KNUS) and Chronicle columnist Peter Boyles’ top-rated morning show. Just before the June 7, 2011, mayoral runoff Ewing charged that Hancock was a patron of the
Sugar Man: Scottie Ewing has returned to prominence with audiotapes accusing Mayor Hancock of being a john at his former brothel house in Denver.
brothel he ran at 1675 Fillmore Street called Denver Players/Sugar. Two years previously, Chief Judge of the United States District Court
House Of The Rising Sun: 1675 Fillmore Street, the former site of Denver Players/Sugar, a brothel run by Scottie Ewing that Mayor Hancock has been accused of being a john in.
Edward Nottingham had to resign his judgeship after it was revealed by Debra Sherman of Channel 7 News that he had been a “john” at that brothel.
The Denver Post and Channel 9 News, at the time, had a joint working relationship. Both agreed to hold the Ewing story about Hancock being a patron of the brothel until after the election, based on Hancock’s promise to provide proof that it was a lie based on his cell phone and bank records.
However, once Hancock had won the runoff against Chris Roemer, he reneged on the promise with his co-campaign manager Evan Dreyer declaring, “A lot has changed in a week.” In a blistering Denver Post front page story on Saturday, June 11, 2011, written by lead reporter Chuck Plunkett, it showed that Hancock’s claim that he would be “open, honest and transparent” about being a john was, in fact, a lie.
The Denver Post and Channel 9 had requested under the open records act that Police Chief Gerry Whitman produce a copy of the video of Hancock’s car parked in front of the brothel and his entering the premises, which police sources had told Debra Sherman of Channel 9 News existed.
Unscrupulous Law Firm
The Brownstein Law Firm’s managing partner Bruce James, another co-chairman of the Hancock campaign, declared that Hancock had nothing to hide and joined in the request of the police chief. But Channel 7 discovered that immediately after that request, James had surreptitiously sent a second letter in which he instructed Whitman to give all such video evidence secretly to him and not tell the public of that fact.
But suddenly on June 15, 2011, The Denver Post declared it had looked at what many believe were scrubbed records at the Brownstein Law Firm and declared that there was “nothing incriminating” about Hancock in any of the records they looked at, basically absolving Hancock.
Channel 9 refused to run Debra Sherman’s story with a prostitute identifying Hancock as her john at the brothel and Channel 9 allegedly threatened her job if she persisted in trying to promote the story. Sherman was later fired by Channel 9.
The Denver Post And Plunkett Disgraced
Rumors of a coverup by The Denver Post in return for significant financial backing by the City and County of Denver have persisted for years. The city took over all of the Post’s downtown office space relieving The Post of an enormous financial burden. While approximately 90 percent of The Post’s staff have been let go since 2011, Chuck Plunkett has not and, in fact, he was made the Editorial Page Editor, a job some claim he is manifestly unqualified for. He has been referred to by some
Dirty Journalist?: Chuck Plunkett, The Denver Post’s editorial page editor, was caught on tape proving he in fact knew that Mayor Hancock was in all likelihood a john at the Denver Players/Sugar brothel. Plunkett has been accused of covering this fact up and has retained his job at The Denver Post while 90 percent of the staff has been cut.
in the media as a “dirty reporter” who sold out his journalistic scruples in order to retain his job.
When Ewing reappeared in March of this year on the Peter Boyles Show, he brought with him audiotapes of his interaction with Plunkett and Sherman, seeming to confirm that Plu
Caught On Tape: Scottie Ewing appeared on Peter Boyles Show in March and he brought with him, audiotapes of his interaction with Plunkett and Sherman seeming to confirm that Plunkett was indeed a “dirty reporter.”
nkett was indeed a “dirty reporter” who, in fact, knew that Mayor Hancock was in all likelihood a john at the Denver Players/Sugar brothel.
An embarrassed and seemingly humiliated Plunkett wrote a defense of his actions in the March 9, 2018, edition of The Denver Post titled “The so-called Denver Post ‘Handcock’ cover-up” claiming that his and The Post’s actions “were and are defensible.” Few in the media have been convinced by his column with some calling it “sad and in many ways pathetic.”
Re-elections Chances Damaged
With Peter Boyles continuing to cover the story on his radio program, the ongoing revelations in the multiple Hancock scandals along with Mike Roberts at Westword and Tony Kovaleski at Channel 7 News, many political observers believe that Hancock’s re-election chances next spring have been badly damaged. While Hancock may not be forced to resign, it is believed that the high-density developers and others that allegedly control his actions may be looking for another candidate to back. It is believed that their favored choice as a replacement would be City Council President Albus Brooks.
