Fangs a Lot

There are suspect profiles of the Viper Militia members, then a segment noting that ATF agents had raided a third site, finding amounts of explosive materials. In the report, the camera clearly shows people outside EZ-N-Ramps conducting a transaction, then zooms in briefly on the business sign itself.

The footage, Tunstall says, ran again the next morning, and that's when he called an attorney.

A business associate, Greg Mann of Classic Vespa of Phoenix, had just recommended EZ-N-Ramps to a customer when he saw the story showing Tunstall's ramp business that night.

"It took a second for it to set in," Mann says, "and then it was, 'Oh, my God.' There was this truck out front, and I thought, 'There's the ATF guys, unloading the bombs out of EZ-N-Ramps--we tried to help this guy, and then look what he did.' And then I thought, 'Maybe these guys really are normal Joes.'"

And a friend who still works at the Department of Justice says co-workers have been asking whether Tunstall is in jail.

Contacted late July 11, KSAZ-TV assignment editor Jay Mueller said, "I basically need to refer you to management on this one." But news director Bill Berra was unavailable last Friday, and no one else returned a call seeking comment.

Channel 10 ran its first explicit correction of the Viper foul-up ten minutes into its noon newscast on Friday. Tunstall's attorney, Dave Derickson of the law firm of Burch and Cracchiolo, said he first heard there would be a retraction from KSAZ-TV attorneys last Thursday afternoon, after New Times had contacted the station.

"I've basically taken the position that, 'I present you [KSAZ-TV] with this problem; you find a way to solve it,'" Derickson says. Despite the correction, "It doesn't mean we have settled this potential lawsuit."

Even with the retraction, Tunstall says the effect of the original story on his business remains to be seen. "Our retail last month was $15,100," Tunstall says. "Right now we're at $1,000, and we should be around $4,000. The phone yesterday was completely dead. We know this has affected us."

He and Geni will decide by July 31 whether to stay open.
"You don't just step on a little business," he says. "They can't just crush us like a little bug."

Mann, from Classic Vespa, says the situation is a genuine injustice to the Tunstalls. "He and his wife were finally starting to achieve the American dream, and now it's all wiped out. Everything they've earned. Here's a guy who's basically running a service for the community, selling disability ramps for old folks' homes. I really feel bad for him. He just wants people to know he's not a bad guy.