Things to do in Denver When You're Dead

DENVER, Colorado - Mary and Ray Smith can't make heads or tails of a new presidential dollar coin they found last week. It doesn't have either. A week after the revelation that some of the coins slipped out of the U.S. mint without "In God We Trust" stamped on the edge, the Smiths said Tuesday they found one with nothing stamped on either flat side.
It does have "In God We Trust" on the edge. What's missing is the image of George Washington on the front and the Statue of Liberty on the back. Instead, the Smith's coin is just smooth, shiny, golden metal.

One of a group of the misstruck new presidential dollar coins (right) that has the 'In God We Trust' lettering stamped on the edge, but showing no presidential face, is displayed next to a new presidential dollar showing President George Washington, left.

Oh, you lucky people! The coin you found is a mistake. The Mint accidentally struck a George W. Bush dollar, not scheduled for production until 2021. When we will officially run out of usable land ...

WASHINGTON - Plans for a casino just outside Gettysburg were shot down last year, but the site of the Civil War's bloodiest battle is threatened by spreading home construction, a preservation group says. In addition to sites in Pennsylvania, Alabama and Virginia, the report names Civil War locations in jeopardy in Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia.

While Gettysburg's new nemesis is housing, a site in Alabama's Mobile Bay is suffering from neglect and a lack of state funding, and vast tracts of land stretching from Virginia to Pennsylvania are at risk from a planned major power line, the Civil War Preservation Trust said in its annual inventory of endangered battlefields. Suburban sprawl was cited as the most common problem. A mining company wants to rezone some 640 acres of "core battlefield" to dig more quarries at Cedar Creek, Va., while Fort Morgan in Alabama needs an infusion of state cash to reverse its decline, the group said.

Jesus, if you can't put a casino near a battlefield, I just don't know what this world is coming to! Come on - The Bloody Dice Casino. It's a natural. For entertainment, The Blue and Grey Man Group. Do I have to think of everything?

So, OK ... houses. That's the next best thing. In a poll of visitors to National Parks, they listed "seeing housing developments on the horizon" as the top reason why they attend parks.

Face it, gang, the National Parks are next. The population is expanding, houses are getting bigger and we need more roads, stores and dry cleaners to service them all. There's hardly enough room now, so imagine what it will be like in 20 years.

Slowly, less important things will be eliminated ... Trees, Wetlands areas, Flood Plains and bad soil will be the first to go, if they haven't already. Then comes your local and state parks. That should take about 10 years, until we finally reach out and touch places like Bryce Canyon and Acadia. The President will be faced with a difficult decision. I just hope it ain't another Bush.

Although, isn't it nice that we always find room for another gambling casino ...