"You mean you did not," said a local waiter sarcastically, referring to Blagojevich's refusal to admit accusations. "I do not know what he did. But he did not."
Some here will recall the main features of the crimes Blagojevich on Thursday to bring the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood neighborhood in this sprawling suburban Denver. Some know about the attempted sale of a U.S. Senate seat, others simply that he was a dishonest politician.
However, his arrival did not cause much stir.
"I do not mind anything," said Harold Topping, 85, standing outside his home near the edge of the property of the prison. "He should be in jail, the bastard. It's a Chicago thug. You should be a lot."
FCI Englewood, a campus of low buildings tanning and open fields, is located in an unincorporated area of Jefferson County about 15 miles southwest of Denver. Although called Englewood and Littleton often referred to as, is not either nearby city.
It is home to a low security prison, where Blagojevich fulfill his 14 years in prison for corruption and a prison camp for minimum security.
It backs up to homes and playing fields across the street from the school and out of a busy intersection that could be in any suburb of Chicago with its traffic congestion in the late afternoon.
A clean and tidy enclave of new homes is on the other side of a two-lane highway to the south, a statuesque guard at the entrance to Englewood visible from the quiet streets. To the east and west of the prison, there are older homes.
The snow-capped Rocky Mountains line the western horizon.
And of course, is not Colorado wildlife, including coyotes, foxes and prairie dogs that are playful in and out of the fields dusty ground near the entrance of the prison.
The neighbors interviewed this week do not seem to give much attention jail. Remember the stories of prisoners who made a run for it - although that has not happened in years, they said. Or the time that a comet exploded over the fence and was immediately returned by a prison employee.
When Penny Isenburg family moved to the area in 1972, the prison through Kipling Street was the only institution in the area.
"It was just for himself here," Isenburg said, standing in his backyard.
Since then, more houses and a school were built, he said.
The golf courses have also sprung up around the prison - so close that the players can see the inmates to exercise, said Donald Rosier, a Jefferson County Commissioner.
"It's very reflective of the people, not just Jefferson County, but in Colorado," Rosier said the feelings of their constituents about the prison. "We have a very relaxed lifestyle."
Isenburg, 50, recalled that as a child in the 1970's, his sister came home from school to find a prisoner sitting in the neighbors pitched roof. He was soon recaptured by prison officials.
"You went up the chimney," said his father, Elmer Nichols, 82. "He just wanted to look at the mountains."
Topping, who lives across the prison, separated from land by a small golf course.
A few years ago, Topping's nephew set to run around the golf course and somehow ended up in a group of runners - of prisoners.
"That was very funny," said Topping. "He said he realized everyone had the run-colored suit as well."
A whistle of a guard ended his nephew with the criminals, and was escorted off the property.
As of Thursday, Blagojevich, much of these new areas: traffic, prairie dogs running around, playing fields, golf courses and mountains - while being so close yet so far.
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