People believe the three easiest things in the world to do are grow a garden, tend bar and do a radio show. From experience at least two of them are very difficult. I never tried to grow a garden.
As a country we have come through one of the most amazing three month long periods in my lifetime as a radio talk show host, disc jockey/traffic reporter, major TV star.
Our business, the one I love so much, talk radio is about to go through the same thing that happened to Top 40 Radio in the late 1950s during what was dubbed “The Scandals.” It focused on payola, also known as pay-to-play. My mentors in this business were all what we now know as “radio guys.” They made their bones as young, almost teenagers playing top 40 radio, reading the news, doing all nights, working Christmas mornings and being in love with the business.
Talk radio’s advent begins principally with the king of talk, Rush Limbaugh. What always made Rush so incredibly successful is he is a radio guy. He jocked on the air as a guy named Jeff Christie. And notice, if you would, in all these threatened and moving along lawsuits and damage that’s being done Limbaugh’s name never comes up. He knows the line. Rush Limbaugh, with my great respect, is a radio guy.
Now we begin an era of oh, you used to be…. And now you can be a talk show host. Most of these on-airs have alternative ways to make money, alternative careers and income streams. My income comes from doing radio. When we went through the payola scandals in the ’50s lives were ruined, careers were wrecked. We’re heading into it again.
The Democrats will now control the House, the Senate, the Executive Branch. There will be a new Department of Justice and the evil empire, the Federal Communications Commission.
These people have been gunning for talk radio since Limbaugh dismantled the Clinton Administration, parody music, being syndicated clearly planted the ball in deep center field with a home run for radio.
That’s about to come to an end. We have been through this before and tragically we will go through it again. And it literally breaks my heart on this end of my illustrious career. Old five-and-dimers like me always knew the line and now I hear across the country the clarion call — bring it, as though they want to be sued. I’ve been sued three times including one time where I was told when it came back to Jefferson County and the Ramsey story, to pack a bag. All of you who have never been through it across the country, who smile and say bring it, get ready because they are going to do it. Fox News is running backwards, Newsmax is running backwards. People are shutting people off of the air now. The mask has been pulled off Sydney Powell, Lin Wood and America’s Mayor Rudy.
We’ll be damaged by this. There are already many Democrats in Congress who want more control over what we do. The First Amendment and the Second Amendment are in play. To paraphrase what Lenin once said, they will sell us the rope and hang us with it. Well, a lot of talk radio sold a lot of rope. We have been through Father Coughlin. We’ve been through Alan Freed. We’ve been through Alan Berg and now we sit here.
I don’t pretend to know the future but I sure as hell can read the past. I would never silence anybody’s voice but unless you’re a total stooge, the First Amendment has its limits. You can’t pull people into the public spotlight and then tell lies about them and then destroy their companies and force them into hiding. You can’t use the public airwaves to do those things without consequences. This is a statement of my fear of what’s going to happen to a business that’s been so wonderful to me. And to my family and to so many other people, a bunch of rookies are going to wreck it. There was a Cromwellian cry in Parliament and the voice s said, “In the name of God, just go.”
P.S. I hope I’m 100% wrong about everything I wrote in this column today. Thanks for reading.
Red rock formations at Sandstone Ranch. Photo by Jessica Hughes
With what seems like a continuous stream of high-end condos and apartment homes making their way across the Front Range, Coloradans can breathe in a breath of fresh air with Douglas County’s newest open space. As one of the largest purchases made by Douglas County, Sandstone Ranch Open Space was bought for nearly $19 million dollars. What was once slated for development is now protected land that everyone can enjoy for years to come.
Sandstone Ranch Open Space is located near the town of Larkspur, 53 miles south of Denver, providing a convenient location between Denver and Colorado Springs. In operation since the 1870s, Sandstone Ranch still runs today with a small cattle herd roaming the pastures. Remnants of the working ranch are seen throughout including, several historic buildings that date back to the original owners.
Hiking along the Juniper Valley Loop. Photo by Jessica Hughes
The ranch’s 2,083 acres rests along the slopes of the Rampart Range, opening to hillsides covered in Gambel Oak, expansive green meadows, a forested canyon, and riparian land surrounded by West Plum Creek. Met with the Pike National Forest, the land is home to a variety of wildlife including, deer, elk, bears, and mountain lions. But what takes center stage are the brightly colored rock formations. The ranch’s gigantic outcrops are the same Fountain Formation that gave rise to the Garden of the Gods, the red rocks of Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and the outcroppings at Roxborough State Park.
Historic barn from the original owners of the ranch. Photo by Jessica Hughes
The 12-mile trail system is open to hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riders. In the winter visitors can explore by snowshoeing, fat biking, or cross-country skiing.
The trail system is divided into two sections, with two main loops. At the parking lot, the trail to the left will lead you to the north end of the ranch. Here, visitors can explore the Juniper Valley Loop, the Red Rock Vista, all within a roughly four-mile walk. The Juniper Valley loop drops hikers down into a low-lying valley where juniper forests are abundant. For vista-like views of the red rock formations, take the off-shoot trail to the Red Rock Vista.
Sunset at Sandstone Ranch Open Space. Photo by Jessica Hughes
The trail to the right at the parking lot leads visitors to the wildlife overlook, the Sandstone Meadow Trail Loop, and the Ranch Overlook. The Sandstone Meadow Trail Loop is 3.7 miles, round trip, with an additional 2.2 miles to the Ranch Overlook. The wildlife overlook is anchored by two massive red rock formations and an information kiosk about how both cattle and wildlife co-exist at the ranch.
Park information
• Pets are allowed but must be on a leash.
• Open to hikers, bikers, horseback riders, snowshoers, and cross-country skiers.
• Trails are well-marked with signs.
• 12 miles of designated trails.
• Covered pavilion with picnic tables and benches.
• Benches are located throughout the trails.
• Parking is available.
• Restrooms and trash receptacles available.
• Open seven days a week, one hour before sunrise and one hour after sunset.
Directions From Denver
From I-25, north or south, take the Larkspur exit 173. Continue to Spruce Mountain Road for nearly one and a half miles. Upon reaching the stop sign in Larkspur, turn right onto Perry Park Avenue. Where Perry Park Avenue dead ends, take a left onto CO-105 E. Sandstone Ranch is approximately one half mile ahead, on the left.
Denver’s Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM) released a long-awaited report on the actions of Denver police officers during the first five days of the George Floyd Protests, saying the officers’ lack of communication, excessive force, and scant documentation are “extremely troubling.”
The report specifically addresses several gaps in the Denver Police Department’s (DPD) use of force policy, crowd control measures, and less-than lethal weapons policies which “could have played a role in command review of force while events were unfolding.”
In all, OIM made 16 recommendations, including updating DPD’s crowd control policies to track which officers are assigned the duty, issuing multiple dispersal orders before using force, and disallowing the use of rubber-ball grenades.
DPD did not respond to request for comment from the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle.
Monitor Nick Mitchell said the recommendations are the result of a six-month investigation that considered both the unprecedented size of the crowds and the injuries suffered by both law enforcement officer and community members.
“Welcoming this level of scrutiny is not easy, and it demonstrates a strong commitment to public safety and building community trust,” he wrote in a letter presenting the report’s findings to City Council, the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Public Safety, and the Citizen Oversight Board.
“DPD officer and command staff demonstrated a similar commitment by responding thoroughly to our extensive document requests, and volunteering to participate in interviews,” Mitchell said.
Documentation And Policy Gaps
Between June and November, OIM reviewed DPD policies as well as over 200 hours of video and audio recordings and 25 hours of video recordings from DPD’s helicopter. The OIM team then compared their findings with academic literature on law enforcement best practices.
However, several encumbrances arose during OIM’s investigation, according to Mitchell. A prime example is DPD’s after-action reports — which are supposed to be filed every time an officer uses force — were often vague and documented only a fraction of the incidents.
Department policy requires police officers to file timely Use of Force Reports that include a description of the incident and a detailed recounting of the officer’s observations and actions. However, the agency’s crowd control manual is silent on these matters, which could have led to the delayed and vague incident reports OIM reviewed. Many officers did not fill out reports until 12 days after a use of force incident occurred, the investigation found.
A “footage gap” also arose during the investigation because gaps in DPD’s body-worn camera (BWC) policy resulted in several officers failing to record footage during the protest. DPD policies state BWCs must be activated by officers during “any encounter that becomes adversarial.” This practice is meant to shield officers from false accusations of excessive force.
OIM was able to identify over 150 officers who were assigned to the protests from a roster created on June 1, the only roster received from DPD. Of this total, only 38 officers produced BWC video files.
That same day, DPD officers made 124 arrests for curfew violations, carrying a concealed weapon, burglary, and felony menacing, among other charges. Department policy notes the core purpose of the BWC policy is “to capture crimes in-progress” and that “all arrests/citations” must be recorded. DPD did not provide OIM with a reason why these 124 arrests were not recorded.
Similar comparisons for the other four days the report covers were difficult because DPD did not record the number of officers assigned to the protest. DPD estimated between 150-200 officers worked the protect on May 30, but when OIM asked to see the BWC footage, it only produced videos from 75 officers.
Lawmakers addressed this issue when they passed SB217, also known as the “Law Enforcement Integrity Act” on June 10. The bill requires officers to record all interactions with the public and the footage of which may be available to the public within 21 days of the incident. Officers may also be decertified for failing to produce BWC footage in court.
Denver City Council finalized the purchase of new BWCs that automatically begin recording when an officer draws their firearm on December 7.
Use Of Force Against Protesters
OIM also said DPD inconsistently documented its crowd dispersal orders and less-than lethal munition deployments. The Department could not assess the total number of munitions deployed during the protests even though it produced a pre-protest inventory of its less-lethal munitions. Instead, OIM found that DPD asked the Aurora and Englewood police departments for supplies before spending $202,431.50 on munitions. The Colorado State Patrol even flew a plane to Wyoming to pick up the munitions.
Some officers who deployed these munitions were not certified to do so, OIM found. DPD certifies officers to use pepper ball and 40mm rubber bullet launchers through a four-hour training course. However, OIM discovered reports from officers who claimed to receive training when they arrived to work the protests given the emergency at hand.
One potential reason for the documentation gaps, according to the report, is that DPD officers reacted to the protest emotionally rather than professionally. The report cites a 2018 study published in the Journal of Social Movement Studies that concludes “police tend to respond to demonstrations about police brutality more aggressively than to protests with other messages.”
“The challenges presented by policing mass protests are magnified exponentially when the demonstrations concern police conduct itself. Police must still balance First amendment guarantees with the need to protect life and property, but they must do so under sustained criticism from protest participants,” OIM’s 94-page document reads.
The report also mentions “sustained criticism” of DPD officers may have accelerated the use of force against George Floyd protesters. Given the caustic nature of the protest, OIM said DPD should have instituted tighter internal controls over its use of force policy and added stricter reporting requirements but failed to do so.
“When a protest is about the police, officers may be insulted, threatened, or even targeted with thrown projectiles or other improvised weapons,” the report reads. “This behavior will naturally provoke a more forceful response from the police.”
Mutual Aid
While DPD was the main respondent to the protests, 18 other law enforcement agencies provided mutual aid. They include local police departments from Arvada, Thornton, and Westminster as well as the US Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Colorado Rangers.
Mutual aid is common in police work. Departments regularly sign agreements with each other outlining the scope of the aid to be provided and the resistance thresholds to abide by. However, several of the responding departments neither negotiated nor signed mutual aid agreements with DPD prior to the protests.
Without an aid agreement in place, assisting officers were required to follow their own department’s use of force policies rather than DPD’s policy. Many of the assisting agencies had less restrictive policies than DPD, which “may have impacted the kinds of force used by officers and in what amounts,” the report reads.
This created a situation where assisting departments had varying levels of involvement. Some were tasked with crowd control while others were asked to manage traffic. Meanwhile, several agencies fired less-than lethal munitions at protesters, resulting in several complaints for excessive force against DPD. Internal investigations that determined complaints to be about assisting officers were rerouted to the appropriate agency.
During interviews, DPD officers expressed concerns about requiring mutual aid officers to follow DPD’s use of force policy because other officers are trained under different policies. OIM said the concern is understandable but can be overcome through joint periodic training and proactively negotiating mutual aid agreements.
Going Forward
OIM stopped short of sweepingly rebuking the department. However, it said DPD’s actions signaled it was caught off guard by the protests. Even so, the agency commended the leadership of Police Chief Paul Pazen and Executive Director of Safety Murphy Robinson for their commitment to reform and rebuilding community trust.
“We have full confidence in their commitment to learning from these events and making the changes necessary to prevent similar outcomes in the future,” the report concludes.
However, some community members aren’t sold on the OIM’s rosy outlook. The Citizen Oversight board, which is tasked with reviewing DPD’s disciplinary and use of force policies, said “law enforcement or the preservation of order should ever come at the expense of transparency or accountability.”
“These are military grade munitions being used against citizens expressing their First Amendment rights,” Al Gardner, COB Chair, said in a statement. “The OIM’s report raises important questions about what is appropriate use of force in response to protests and demands a closer look at what institutional accountability should look like in these circumstances.”
“Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.” – Mark Twain
by Luke Schmaltz
Perhaps the lowest blow Covid-19 has thrust into the guts of live entertainment is the crippling assault on the art form that thrives within kissing distance of society’s face.
Live comedy shows are casualties of circumstance, as there is too great a price to pay when large crowds of people gather in compact spaces and let loose with the explicit purpose of opening up and laughing out loud.
Comedy Works (Landmark location) is a Denver institution and a live comedy mecca; currently shuttered by Covid-19.
The essence of effective live comedy is the proximity of the artist to the audience. It’s an intimate affair, wherein spectators willingly subject themselves to carefully crafted webs of cunning that twist their wits into coils of suspense and then snap the tension with an unexpected conclusion. The result: uncontrollable laughter.
Social distancing and the complete shutdown of indoor venues has put a detrimental damper on this dynamic, placing comedy venues, promoters, managers, booking agents and the essential engine upon which the industry runs — the comedians — in peril. Currently, the world that hawks hilarity is stagnating, yet the resilient nature of the art form pushes on like a river smothered by a landslide — looking for other ways to reach its destination. And, while some do not deem laughter as an “essential” industry, those who create it think otherwise, and are reacting to 2020 in various ways.
An Unfortunate Setup
Comedy Works is widely regarded as one of the finest institutions in the live comedy business, but their business is currently paralyzed. Longtime owner/operator Wende Curtis explains: “Our downtown club closed on March 15 and has never been able to re-open. We were unable to get 50% or even 100 people in to maintain the social distancing requirements. Our south location reopened in late July but was closed again with the recent mandates.”
With no options for operating in an outdoor space, they are looking to the powers that be for assistance. “We are hoping government officials see the impact on live entertainment venues, restaurants and all businesses impacted and will appropriately accommodate us in the stimulus package,” Curtis explains.
Curtis, a universally respected comedy promoting legend, is critical of the government’s role thus far: “These venues and businesses should not have to bear the burden of this pandemic. The government should have stepped up and helped these businesses sooner. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was meant to suffice for eight weeks. It’s been nine months. Without small businesses, we [live comedy] will be a couple of ugly big box companies. A truly sad state.”
Promise Of The Real
Despite the detriments of 2020, comic Christie Buchele is still hopeful — hanging onto the idea that venues, and more importantly comedy fans, will hang on too. The relative newcomer to the jokester trade has quickly blazed a trail to the forefront of the new faces set, earning a reputation for being hardworking and fiercely funny. Staying busy during 2020 hasn’t been easy, she describes performing live after the shutdown: “My first show was a zoom show for a producer in Austin, the first week of April. I didn’t do a live show until Mid-May. We did the show in the parking lot of a brewery with tables spread out and comics all wearing masks when they were off stage. The crowd size was maybe a little smaller than average but it’s hard to tell with everyone spread out.”
Denver comic Christie Buchele is doing everything she can to keep her chops up during indoor venue shutdown.
The experience of performing under these conditions makes Buchele pine for the good old days of clubs full of patrons packed in sardine-tight. “Before COVID-19 an outdoor show felt like a real pain in the ass. Keeping attention was tough, keeping up your energy and dealing with any distractions was terrible. I do think that audience members are just so happy to have something to do that now when they go to an outdoor show, they are much more attentive and excited. And they realize we are rusty but just so excited to do comedy again.”
Buchele urges comedy fans to stay tuned and support independent venues by subscribing to streaming content and buying tickets for future shows. Of all these, she laments the temporary loss of Denver’s finest room the most: “Of all the venues in Denver, I miss Comedy Works Downtown. It’s the best place in the world to do comedy and I hate not being able to go down there every week and see everyone and have the best time onstage. I never thought I would go this long without stepping foot in that building. I imagine I will cry happy tears the first time I get back up there.”
The Show Must Go On
Ben Kronberg is a Denver comedy stalwart, having begun his performance tenure in the early 2000s with no end in sight. His straight-out-of-left-field-blink-and-you’ll-miss-it style is inimitable and unmistakable. Kronberg’s comedy blurs the line between traditional set-up / punchline joke telling and abstract mentalist conjecture, which seems to have seeped into his perception of linear events in general. When asked to compare his comedic experience post and prior to the shutdown, he says: “I have what you could call a memory blend with shows now. After doing comedy for over 15 years, all the shows seem to blend together and fade together. I have been running shows at The Denver Comedy Lounge for about a year so it [last indoor show] was one of those to be uncertain.”
Ben Kronberg has been performing in Denver and beyond for 15 years and is keeping things light.
Once social distancing regulations were in place, Kronberg adapted and kept forging forth. “We kept doing shows however we could, moving to the alley behind the lounge and trying to comply with all of the regulations. When you go to a strip club you want to be close to the performer, and comedy is no different so it gave a cold medicine vibe to the whole thing with the laughter vaporizing because of being outside. We could fit maybe 30-ish people in this situation. People who came out were receptive, but this muted version of a comedy show could be felt by all. But it was better than nothing.”
Kronberg sees virtual shows as a band-aid over an axe wound type of remedy but participates nonetheless — if only for something to do. “The most fun I had [virtually] was probably doing a zoom talent show. Most [attendees] were performers and a few pervy, lonely audience members. It was better than nothing but not a proper substitute for the real thing. Kind of like a homemade fleshlight.”
Troy Baxley is a Mile High comedy legend and may or may not see stage time again.
Give ’Em Hell
Of all the unsung heroes in the Denver comedy scene, Troy Baxley is at the top of the list, having begun performing in the 1980s and since played just about every comedy stage in North America. He ran one of the first open mics in Denver at the Lions Lair on East Colfax and, of late, has taken to mentoring an onslaught of young comics determined to get on the fast track to funny.
Baxley sees the current shutdown as a great equalizer, serving to weed out what he calls “water cooler comics” while testing the endurance and mettle of those who are truly in it for the long haul. “The thing is,” he begins, “most are crumbling under the weight because there’s no end in sight. If you’re a hacky comic, the allure of doing the same two-minute set falls away, and since you aren’t disciplined to be constantly developing new material your skills get rusty fast. With open mic nights gone [for now] you can’t just go tell a couple zingers one night and then go to work the next day announcing yourself as a comedian.”
Unfortunately, Baxley was recently diagnosed with onset Parkinson’s disease, perhaps hindering his ability to perform once clubs are open again. Yet, Baxley shrugs off the shutdown like he’s shutting down a heckler. “I can tell by a heckler’s tone how long they have before I get the room to turn on them. I can tell by Covid-19 that, eventually, things will bounce back and once we all work the rust off, we’ll be cracking wise better than ever.”
People believe the three easiest things in the world to do are grow a garden, tend bar and do a radio show. From experience at least two of them are very difficult. I never tried to grow a garden.
