My Life in Boulder

Oct

This project and website are now closed

By JannScott Posted in Boulder Jann Scott My life in Boulder, Boulder colorado, My Life in Boulder | No Comments »

The project was to write a blog every day during 2010 about “My Life in Boulder”. I made it about 210 days. OMG what an undertaking. It became an all consuming second job. Some days I just didn’t have anything to say. Other days it felt like I only had stuff to complain about. I didn’t want this blog to be that way. I wanted it to be more introspective, about my life and friends. But I can’t be divorced from bitching I found. It was hard to remove myself from the role of journalist, talk show host, commentator. Some of what I wrote upset some people here in Boulder: a few criminals, Gabe and his young social media crowd. I wrote about what I encountered and they reacted. Some of my other friends were involved with crazy people or were crazy and they didn’t like being written about. Some demanded retractions. That is a problem when you are a writer. Hemingway, Salinger, Blake, Miller and Stryon all complained about people who complained about being written about. Most reporters have that as an albatross .

Much of this 365 day project was about my life past and present….the stuff that goes through my mind. I have learned a lot about blogging, word press and the web in the process. It is where I live. I learned there are may communities in Boulder. The blog or sm community think they are the be all and end all. I learned even more about classicism and ageism directed my way by the young. Which is pretty funny considering not so long ago I was one of those insensitive children. ( see even now, I can’t drop the attitude. lol)

I have been having a hard time finding a way to close this project, but today that seems simple, because i am now opening another writing project; Jann Scotts Journal. I started that back in 2000. And I will begin it again later this month. Just google it. It is on jannscott.com right now.

I want to thank Gabe for designing this site and many of my friends who supported me during this project: Jessica, Pam, Jack, Bill, Alice and you dear reader for following along in My Life in Boulder by Jann Scott

Apr

Mom grounds son for smoking pot tells girlfriend she’s no longer welcome

By JannScott Posted in Boulder Jann Scott My life in Boulder, alcoholism | 5 Comments »

Dear Internet
I spoke to a woman today who told me she had grounded her 15 year old son for one month for smoking pot. She also, took away his phone and play station. Then she told his 15 year old girl friend she was no longer welcome in their home because the girl was an active pot user.
The boy had been hanging out with some friends who were drug users and started smoking pot with them. During school the boy plays football and baseball, but during spring break started hanging with his friends and somewhere along the way Mariguanna had showed up in his life. “He’s a good kid” she said but I wanted to nip this in the bud right away. When he’s playing sports he’s fine. He doesn’t have time to hang out with druggy kids. Between sports and school he’s busy. But I just don’t want to see it started” she said. “When his girlfriend came over I drug tested her” She showed up positive for marijuana and I told her she had to leave, was no longer welcome in our home and that I didn’t want my son going out with her any more”
You mean you drug tested her right there.? “Yep. I made her pee in a cup and tested her right in the bathroom. She knew I meant business. All of his friends now call me the “drug testing mom”, but they know I care. But I really don’t want my 15 year old boy going down that path.”

Did her son rebel? “No he knows I love him. We don’t have a power struggle over this. He knows.
Wow. That mom deserves mother of the year award. What do you think? Pretty courageous huh? I wonder if more parents used this approach , if it would cut down on teenage drug use? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

From Americas most tolerant drug using city for teens

Jann Scott

Boulder colorado

Mar

City of Boulder is correct to tax Bars, Party permits, to curb drunken excess

By JannScott Posted in America, My Life in Boulder, alcoholism, boulder city council; | No Comments »

Erika Stutzman the editor of the Daily Camera is young and inexperienced. Her editorial criticizing the Boulder city councils considering taxing bars for late night openings and charging party fees for big college parties shows just how young she is. When i say young, I mean MZ Stutzman is immature, not seasoned , not wise to the ways of the world. And the ways of the world on University hill since the mid 1990′s have been drunken, rioting, fighting, raping debauchery when the bars let out in the Spring or fall.

I have have to pay for extra cops to stand outside of Hill bars when the drunk kids come out and start fighting. I also had to pay for last weeks riot. I think the bars and Party givers should pay for extra police to protect me from them.

Stutzman also blindly noted that last weeks party and murder were not connected. Nonsense. Everyone was drunk up there last Friday night. When this trial concludes, I think we will find that all three involved in the murder were drunk and had attended the riot. They were all fueled for murder.

It had to take this tragedy for the city council to start acting like city parents and reel the college kids, their bars and partys in. The University certainly won’t do it.

Last Week LSU became newsworthy because of the school and cities commitment to high academic standards.

Jan

Alan Rufin was a WWI fighter pilot and a mentor

By JannScott Posted in America, My Life in Boulder | No Comments »

Dear Internet
Did I ever tell you about Alan Rufin? I was 16 when I met Alan. He was my age now 64. Born in 1898. Alan managed the tennis club as a retiree. He had been a top sales guy at one of the eastern manufacturing companies. But more than that , he was a Gentleman, a champion bridge player, a New England Native, a graduate of Wesleyan University and a World War One fighter pilot at the age of 19. He flew the Sopwith Camel with the British Royal Air force.

Since the USA hadn’t entered the war at all and only did late in the war, a young American adventurer had no chance to fly except for the Brits. So Alan dropped out of Wesleyan in his sophomore year, hitched a ride on the Queen Marry and headed to Briton to enter the Great War. He spent 6 months being trained and then straight to France for the air battles of WWI. He carried a picture of himself in his wallet standing with a Martini in hand, a white scarf around his neck, flight suit in front of His aeroplane. I couldn’t believe it : a real true to life WWI fighter pilot. He had fought against the squadron of the Red Barron and had seen him in action. But that’s about all he wanted to say of combat. “War is nothing to glamorize” he used to say ” it is a damn nasty stupid business . Stay as far away from it as you can.” And I did. He parroted exactly what my dad said about WWII. Ever since I have had no interest being involved in Any of Americas incursions less a world war.

But Mr Ruffin did like to talk about being on the ground, the partys, the celebrity of being a pilot. It is similar to being an astronaut. He had tea with the royal family and was an honored guest in Great Britain. To be a pilot in the British air corps in WWI , one had to be a connected, and a gentleman.

Alan or Mr. Ruffin to me was my mentor for a year . Part of his job was to teach me how to be a gentleman. “It is never out of fashion to be a gentleman ” he used to say. It was lost on me. But he did have fun trying.

Jan

Tucson Could it happen here?? It could. Here’s how to protect your self

By JannScott Posted in America, Boulder Channel 1, boulder city council; | No Comments »

Dear Internet,
With out recapping the recent political mass murders in Tucson, I want to examine “Could it happen here in Boulder?” The answer is of course yes. To prevent it is why we have Police. Police are a deterrent to violent crime. Most people think twice about the consequences of individual, passionate, personal, political or mass murder.

Police are well aware of the psychology of human beings. I have interviewed them on this very topic. Most of us don’t talk about whether or not we are capable of murder. We think about it, process it , but we never act on our thoughts. Yet we are frightened of our thoughts…even fleeting thoughts. We don’t want anyone to know that we have ever had a homicidal thought. Like killing the kids, our husband, the guy in the car in front of us, our boss, the neighbor or that idiot politician who is ruining my life.

A lot of us here in Boulder have other outlets instead of resorting to waxing our enemies. But it was not long ago, Boulder relished in Murder. We are a city with a huge mass murder heritage that no one ever wants to acknowledge let alone talk about. The history books are full of our contribution to mass murder. Who knows what incident I am talking about? I’ll give you a hint. The whole city went crazy, went to another community and killed everyone there. And no it wasn’t Longmont.

Sarah Palin, some Tea Party candidates advocated killing government officials, over throwing the government in violent takeover with guns to solve a political problem. This time it was the Republicans who were the leading edge which led up to Tucson. It usually is. It certainly wasn’t health reform Michael Moore types. The hippie left rarely lead up to violent revolution.

Okay, the rad environmentalists burn ski areas, ram fishing boats but they don’t walk into a Tea Party political rally murder 8 people and wound 18.

2nd amendment freaks argue that the reason the second amendment is 2nd is to protect the first amendment. They argue Guns are the final solution. That may have been true during King Georges rein when we needed armed militias under General Washington’s command. It is certainly not the case now. Now the radical patriot, militia tea party movement are all psycotic and actually believe the above bullshit. They are dangerous.

Some mentally ill folks like Seth Brigham who get caught up in politics are potenially dangerous. When he started walking around the city council chambers like a drunk lose cannon, it was prudent and corect for the city to make sure a police officer is at every meeting. It should have happened long ago. A good cop on his guard should be at the ready at all times. It takes only a second for a hand gun to come out and start shooting people. (my run in with a political armed gunman)

A few years back I wrote a tactical piece here about whether it would be politically expedient to shoot members of the Boulder city council for violating my first amendment rights. The argument was a standard second amendment right wing conspiracy theory presentation. ” you deny my constitutional rights I have the right to kill you with fire arms under the second amendment. TV special” And I suppose in some wild case ( like the militarization of the USA, that might be true. But today not so much)

If you remember mayor shaun McGrath and most of the city council had a fucking cow. To top that off I did a TV talk show on the same and they were even more infuriated. One small problem for them is that my writing and Tv performances were and are protected by the first amendment. They couldn’t do shit in an open and free society.

They then proceded to silence me completely. That is where I went after them all , especially McGrath with the vengenge of a pissed off Inman. Less the bombs of course.

You can pretty much do and say what you want in this country just so long as you don’t shoot anyone. You can’t threaten to kill them either. But you can write about them or TV talk about them on the internet. You can show up at their house with a TV camera. Every night of the week if you want.

Well, for me that’s enough right there. Who needs to kill them. The free press is weapon enough. Just ask Shawn McGrath. He moved out of the city and the rest of the council resigned by the time I finished with them. As they say, Politics is a blood sport. I say that metaphorically, but in Tuscon this week , it was Tea party business as usual. They brought out real guns. You have to be protected from that.

As a TV talk show host and writer, I try to aim my weapon of choice ( camera) at real criminals or political deviates. I figure the Boulder city council deserved what they got from me. After all they tried to ruin my company, cost 7 people their jobs and silence me. I fought back, as you know to ruin their personal lives. tit for tat. Fair game.

Now, there are those individuals who are not media types who actually snap and will look for an opening, a weakness if you will. That is where you need to protect yourself. I use body guards when I have entered an arena where there is a potential for violence against me. In my last visits to Boulder city council in 2007, I hired registered body guard to protect me from any eventually…be it Shaun McGrath or a trigger happy Boulder police officer. You never know where it is going to come from.

I know from my police sources that the city was doing everything they could to have me arrested or incite me to violence so they could arrest me. I don’t play that. I’ m not stupid. I am a calculated consummate media professional. I will tell you, I have had a personal security detail since 1990. I know what the risks are. I am not willing to become a victim. Plus I grew up in the talk radio business in Denver. I took Alan Bergs place as a controversial t

Jared Lee Loughner's alleged role in the Tucson shooting has left his parents "devastated."

alker. I wasn’t about to take his place in assassination. I have had perhaps 10 instances where people have pulled guns on me or attacked me so personal safety is high on my list. But it should be high on your list, too.

Protection for public figure is important. If Rep. Gabrielle Gifford had a body guard she may not hav

e been shot, and certainly there would be some dead people alive. Every public person who eminates from a controv

ersial posistion has a responsiblity to provide protection for all involved. Rep Gifford thought she was bullett proof or t

hat god would take care of her, or she wasn’t afraid or what ever she thought…. she was wrong and ill prepared. I’m sorr

y but it needed to be said.

Well, she wasn’t educated on the matters of stalkers and any discussion on trust verses prepare

dness is a dumb discussion. In Boulder Jared Polis needs a full time body guard and security detail when ever he appears in public.Who the fuck knows when Jared Lee Loughner is going to step out of a crowd and start killing people. I don’t. But I want a fighting chance when he does.

Jann Scott

Jan

My brush with a gunman during a live broadcast in 1992

By JannScott Posted in America, Uncategorized, boulder channel 1 news | 1 Comment »

Dear Internet,
It was the summer of 1992. Tom Hollar a downtown Denver businessman had been brutally murdered on Capital hill by some black gangsters. Tom and his ballerina wife were returning home from dinner when they were robbed. The gangsters attempted to abduct his wife when Tom tried to protect her. They shot him dead. The gangsters had crossed Colfax into a genteel white upper middle class gay neighborhood and committed robbery and murder. The city was in an uproar. It was front page news.

At the time I was hosting a nightly talk radio show on 710 KNUS radio. I was the only liberal voice on the station which hosted Ken Hamblin, and Rush Limbaugh on the far right. Bill Clinton was president. The right wing Militia movement was in full swing. Ruby Ridge had happened, Waco Texas had happened, and the Oklahoma bombing took place earlier that year.

I decided to do a show in the king Soopers parking lot on the murder. Governor Romer had showed up along with then DA Bill Ritter. Tom Hollars mother was there along with about 300 people. There was the governors security detail along with perhaps 5 uniformed Denver PD. We had a broadcast table set up about 30 feet from King Soopers at 9th and Corona. My back was to the building and we were facing the crowd in the parking lot. Governor Romer and Bill Ritter were sitting on my right.

Steve Widner was my radio producer and engineer at the time. He was standing at the sound board further to the right. Pete Eggen my TV producer was to my left running a video Camera. Mason Lewis a former Greeley cop was the stations program director and he was standing in front to my right. Both Widner and Eggen were armed and acting as security for for me.

I had received daily death threats by right and left wingers. We were exposed in the parking lot. While Ritter and Romer and my self were talking on air, we were exposed to the crowd. All of a sudden out came a man of about 45 years holding a 45 cal hand gun aimed right at the three of us.

Two college guys on skate boards were to his right and when they saw him they skated into him and knocked him down. At the very same time two Denver Police officers pounced on the man, disarmed him and rushed him out of the crowd. As soon as it began it was over.

Except to say we were all nearly shot that night. It never made the press to a large degree. The Denver post barely mentioned it, but to me staring down the barrel of a gun yet, again was more than unsettling. I will say that has happened more than once in my career as a talk show host and political writer.

It matters not whether the person involved is on the left or right. I have had attacks from both sides. It is when you are a public person with strong points of view, that the nuts come out and one never knows. Talk radio host Alan Berg was shot dead in 1984. I worked with many of his contemporaries. Those of us in media on TV or radio know the risk is always there. I try to be aware and safe at all times. Fans or viewers or readers who dislike us try to dehumanize us and they can create pack attack mentality.

What happened in Arizona today is really part of that scenario

Jan

Jann Scott on the state of Boulder business and the new capitalist White House

By JannScott Posted in America, Boulder Jann Scott My life in Boulder, My Life in Boulder | No Comments »

Dear Internet,
With the Republican take over of the house and the White house move to the business right during the 2nd half of the Obama administration, here are some random thoughts on the state of business here in Boulder.

Boulder represents the liberal left arm of the Democrat party to such a degree, that we are considered to have the largest percentage of liberals and leftists of any city in the USA. For the most part it works for Boulder. But the left is not going to be happy with Obamas courting of Capitalism during these next two years. His new Chief of staff Bill Daley has been on corporate boards and has deep political ties in Washington. The republicans say they can work with him.
The new speaker of the house John A. Boehner ( a business man) said yesterday he likes him and he says he will be able to do business with Obama. Gene Sperling will head the economic council. He is another wall street insider. But both Daley and Sperling are credited with turning the economy around under Bill Clinton. Liberals didn’t like it then and they won’t like it now. Obama spent his first two years going after the greed heads on Wall street. That was good. Now it is time to build our economy and turn the deficit into a surplus.

Boulder’s business is run primarily by government labs, the University, tech companies and large concerns like IBM and Ball Aero space. The new start up tech boom also has an interesting place here. The employees at these business’s are staunchly liberal because everything they earn comes not from consumers but from investment. Start ups and many new tech companies have no earnings. They are a bubble. They refer to themselves as CommuCrats or communist capitalists.

What ever. But these Boulder business types are largely liberal and can afford the luxury of coasting on their contracts.

Liberals primarily want tax money spent on helping people. Conservatives want money spent on building business and the economy. Both are good.

I like Obamas new moves. I understand them and as a Boulder business man I will benefit from them. If I benefit from them so will my company and so will the Boulder work force. Boulder has had a love hate relationship with business. But overall this is a great city to launch or run a business from. That’s because the economy is so insulated here with all of those government labs, or beautiful and scenic landscape, plus every Washington Liberal makes sure we get “Pork Barrel” dollars to the above. So really , we are a city of happy elite hypocrites. I love that too. It’s creepy, but material for my TV persona.

But Obama is cleaning up the white house. He does not want it to be seen as run by professors who have never run a lemonade stand. It is not needed right now. He has got to cut deals with Republicans and the business community in order to get legislation passed. Hes speaking at the chamber of commerce for gods sake. He cut a deal in the lame duck session which left tax cuts for the rich, but got liberal legislation passed. Good. I am all for tax cuts for the rich incidently. It’s helped me. If it helps me, it helps my company, If it helps my company, some body gets a job.

Boulder Liberals are so shrill over all of this, they are worse than the tea party. In my mind they are politically the same. But Boulder liberals see themselves and the world through rose colored glasses. One listen to the wealthy KGNU radio shows that. Younger tech entrepreneurs are much the same politically. Older business people have become more conservative and privately really don’t like the liberals at all. I see this all of the time when selling to local retailers. It was epitomized at KBCO when it was run by Bob Greenlee here in Boulder. KBCO was seen as a bastion of liberal music and liberal listeners, run by a Ronald Regan republican. Now hows that for hypocracy??

Dec

Confessions

By JannScott Posted in America, Boulder Jann Scott My life in Boulder | No Comments »

Dear Internet,
Some things you don’t know about me.
1. I once scored 147 on the MENSA test which I took live on my TV show . It was scored by two MENSA officials in 1992 on Jann Scott Tonight on Channel 36.
2. I grew up country with a little bit rock n roll. Love country western, country, western, bluegrass and hill billy music.
3. I raced stock cars all over the south west on dirt for 7 years so I am a car guy. I can build em from the ground up. I reviewed new cars on TV and print since 1968.
4. I can read 6000 words per minute and at one time read 20 books a week and interviewed the authors on live radio.
5. I drove over the road trucks for four years to all the lower 48 states. Am a CB talker, recorded hours of stories and jokes.
6. I have appeared on CNN, MTV, CBS evening news, NBC nightly news as a guest. I worked for MTV and NBC.
7. I was a wild child and ran around with country boys and girls in my teens. “You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy”.
8. I owned motor cycles as a teen ager. They included a new 1963 Ducati Diana RT, a new twin carb 1964 750 Norton and a classic 1937 Harley Davidson 1200 police bike re pleat with siren and lights.
9. I worked for the state department and CIA illegally in England as an American Journalist spy for a foreign paper International times. I was directly involved with interdicting letter bombs being sent to US senators in the early 1970′s. I also had immunity from arrest and prosecution.
10. I have been robbed at gunpoint, kidnapped, and shot at by terrorists.
11. I am a Christian and go to church on Sunday and yep Jesus is who he says he is. I’m a believer.

Merry Christmas everyone
Jann Scott
Boulder Colorado

Dec

It’s snowing for the first time

By JannScott Posted in My Life in Boulder, alcoholism | No Comments »

Dear Internet,
Christmas has struck. The snow is falling. I have a cold for the first time in a year. Sitting on the couch watching the Hallmark Channel. They have the best Christmas movies. One a day all December.

I can hear the snow plows go by on 28th street scraping away. If you listen real hard in the middle of the night you can hear sleigh bells. Slay bells. Who uses sleighs in this day an age, certainly not late at night.

Dec

The Webster brothers lived across the field in a non electric wood heated house

By JannScott Posted in America, Boulder Jann Scott My life in Boulder | No Comments »

Dear internet,
I grew up in a small New England country town where there were more dairy cows than people. Population 3,000 in 1955. 5,700 cows. A New England town is small, tidy, old and most of our dairy pastures were outlined with stone walls. My town was established in 1659 exactly 200 years before Boulder. It had a main street lined with colonial homes. Near the Mayflower Inn was a large field where Washington’s Amry had a winter encampment. George Washington himself spent the winter at the May Flower.
I grew up about a mile outside of town on West Main street or rural route 47 also known as Washington road. General Washington’s army marched down our road and had maneuvers across the street from my house.
Sitting way back in the field was a big green house. It was accessible by Linden Lane and sat by itself though now it was surrounded by some post war homes. The Webster brothers all confirmed bachelors lived there. Fred was 82 born 1873 Jim 78 born 1877 and George 63 born 1892 had lived in the house since birth. They were Yankees all. Their ancestors had fought with the blue coats against the crown. George was the only one who could read or write. He had been in WWI and fought in France. The other two brothers had not traveled further than 50 miles from our town. They had never been to Boston nor New York. They didn’t have running water, electricity or insulation on their walls. Their wooden floors were unvarnished and rough. In the kitchen was a wooden cook stove. The living room had a big pot belly stove.
Outside the back door was a hand well pump for water. Further from the house was an outhouse. They had oil lamps for light, and no motor vehicle. It wouldn’t have done them any good because none of them could drive. They had an old horse but it died several years before. So they walked or peddled a bike as did many of my 19th century neighbors.
The Webster brothers were the local grave diggers. They actually dug graves by hand with a pick and shovel.
Not far from my house was the local cemetery which had graves 100′s of years old. The Websters were the care takers. I used to see them every day on my way to school. They smelled bad too since they didn’t bath much. They all wore blue denim work shirts and dungarees and those funny old flat caps that you see in turn of the century photos. They also smoked corn cob pipes.
They kept to themselves mostly but whenever I or my friends talked to them they were always friendly. They spoke in thick country accents so it was hard to understand them. But on some summer evenings we would go over to visit them , sit outside and they would spin yarns of life in the country back in the old days. (the late 1800s and early 1900s)
One such tale was a story of “green rabbits” which lived in the near by fields and only came out at night. At nine years old I believed every word of it , but I never did get a glimpse of “them green rabbits”. But according to the story they ate from the Websters garden at night and had very big paws.
The Websters were the last of a New England long gone to me. They were simple 19 century men living their days in the mid 20th century and they didn’t see any reason to join.

Jann Scott
Boulder Colorado