What goes up: What a great story on a true real estate scoundrel ("Dirty Deeds," Ray Stern, May 15)! And you can see how this kind of guy could make out like a bandit because everybody was itching to make big bucks in the game.
Mark Bosworth took advantage of common greed that was sweeping the Phoenix area, and take advantage of it he did! The investors who didn't watch him like a hawk wound up on the wrong end of his stick. The outright scams that he perpetuated were monumental.
I can't wait to see if criminal charges are filed against him and his brother for all their unsavory antics. If anybody ever deserved to have the book thrown at them, it's Mark and Russell Bosworth.
Robert Lopez, Phoenix
Family affair: I'm glad to see this man and his wife exposed for what they really are. Their greed has torn so many people apart. I, for one, am ecstatic that this article came out.
This family hides behind the Mormon Church, which preaches accountability. [They're hardly a] poster Mormon family. [Most of Mark Bosworth's] family are aware of what this man has created. They work there!
Betty Moore, Phoenix
Couldn't quit while he was ahead: It's rich that a scammer like Mark Bosworth inevitably got the shit brought down on him because he just couldn't stop himself from bragging outrageously about his Ferrari sports car in Phoenix's daily newspaper.
That really pissed off his victims, and many of them started complaining to the Arizona Department of Real Estate, which lit a fire under the investigations that are ongoing. I just pray that the commissioner [Sam Wercinski] makes an example out of Mark Bosworth. What he did was outrageous!
Wonder how the Mormon Church feels about one of its own being so unscrupulous?!
Gene Dunlap, Prescott
Mark, is that you?: This is the most incredulous [sic] attack on a businessman who, like many others, has been caught by the burgeoning real estate "bubble" burst.
All one has to do is to review the tales of many, many other businessmen to realize that this is nothing to take extreme notice of. Stockton, California; Sacramento, California — both, at one time, the sites of fantastic real estate growth, now rank near the top of the United States' riskiest cities.
Many, many people profit at the expense of others. I know that Mark, routinely, out of his own pocket, paid the rent for renters who were experiencing hard times and, in one instance, assisted a gentleman whose home had burned to the ground in navigating the twisted path to insurance settlement.
Many times, in the course of an endeavor, things get messed up. Thankfully, it usually gets straightened up before anybody gets really burnt.
But more often that one would like to admit, many people get badly burnt, but it's not really anybody's fault; it's just life handing you lemons. At least Mark knew how to make lemonade.
Name withheld by request
Non sequitur of the week: Well, he got caught. How about all the other people in California, Ohio, Nevada, and the rest of the country who were caught in similar circumstances? Now he's ruined. You won't have him to complain about anymore.
How about all the people who are abusing dogs, and other such heinous crimes in this state?
Granted, some of his tactics may have been shady, and maybe even illegal, but what the hell, move on. He's not going to be a thorn in anybody's side anymore.
Name withheld by request
And that's quite a shame: The "Guru," not! Nothing short of a quick-change con artist, [along with] his followers. Mark Bosworth deserves jail time for his complete lack of integrity and honesty in all his dealings. This company is a shame to the real estate industry in Arizona!
Name withheld by request
Now shorter, and with more ass!: Hey, New Times, I could have written a much shorter story on this clown. It would go like this: "The Boz is a crook. Period." End game: He won't get jail, but he deserves to take it in the ass anyway.
Name withheld by request
DIRTY DEEDS II, THE SHERIFFING
Voters can learn new tricks: So Sheriff Joe is up to the same old tricks, only this time he's going after a big fish: Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon ("Fishing Expedition," Sarah Fenske, May 15).
As you pointed out, it's highly ironic that Arpaio is asking for all this information from Gordon and the city when his own office is infamous for refusing to comply with public-records requests.
Where does this jerk get off thinking what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander? I used to like what he was doing, but this kind of hypocrisy is turning people like me away.
Arpaio thinks he's got the senior-citizen vote locked up, but I can attest that nobody I know is voting for him. As a senior myself, I've done all I can to point out to my friends what a power-mad liar the sheriff has become.
Vote for Dan Saban in November, and maybe we can be rid of this embarrassment.
Frank Williams, Phoenix
Anybody remember the Nazis?: Consorting with Nazis and white supremacists, acting as if (because he wears a badge and a gun) he can run roughshod over the rest of us, if he so chooses?
I'm an old man, and consorting with Nazis used to be a real problem for anybody who dared do it in this country. Now, traitors to America like Arpaio can just do as they please, even when they hold public office ("Resident Evil," The Bird, Stephen Lemons, March 27).
Does anybody out there even remember what Hitler did to millions of Jews, what he did to the world? Now, our sheriff thinks nothing of using Gestapo tactics to get information out of the mayor of Phoenix. And this isn't the worst of it: He throws people who oppose him in jail, smears them, whatever he sees fit to do.
R.L. Weinstein, Phoenix
We're sick of having to write about him: This Sarah Fenske article really infuriates me! I'm sick of reading about this piece of shit Arpaio. Something has got to be done about him. Why doesn't the U.S. Attorney's Office step up? Please, somebody must take a stand against this tyrant!
Ronny Johnson, Phoenix
November and beyond?: Arpaio and his goons are so out of control it's actually becoming dangerous for all Maricopa County citizens. When does this tyrant meet his end? When does Arpaio finally pay for all the death, destruction, and lives he's destroying in his wake?
Jim Cozzolino, Peoria
Filth? Vermin? Death wishes?: Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the only true patriot we have in Maricopa County. People like Mayor Gordon are filth.
All Gordon and his kind are doing is promoting illegal activity. They are attempting to keep the sheriff from doing what the people want him to do — which is rid this county and this state of the vermin Mexicans who are sucking our economy dry.
Joe Arpaio should have his own state holiday. Maybe when he's dead, which is all people like Gordon want to see happen.
Name withheld by request
A dirty job: What about illegal in the term "illegal aliens" does Mayor Gordon not understand?! All Joe Arpaio is doing is what the citizens around here want him to do: round up illegal-alien shit-birds and show 'em the door, or jail.
I'm happy that Joe's stuck to his guns, no matter what all the liberal media have to say about him. I say, consider the source.
Name withheld by request
Don't let freedom die: Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration solution . . . It's [similar to] Hitler's final solution. We have Nazis among our politicians.
Hitler didn't need to get cloned; his spirit was implanted in our culture. Now it's the immigration situation that's the fuel. Blame it on the illegals. Don't allow them to work, rent, get driver's licenses. The Jews were Germany's scapegoats; in America, it's the illegals. It always starts by targeting someone different, this keeping the Nazi spirit alive.
Gathering them up, stopping them in minor traffic violations, deporting them, maybe even killing them, losing them in the transport so they don't return. Remember how all of Germany looked on, without lifting a finger to stop such tactics?
How many of us said it would never happen here? That is, us just standing by, as [the government] targeted a specific group, claiming it's for the good of the country.
My dad once said: Communism and Nazism will one day take over our nation. Not from without but from within. No war will be necessary. Like a virus, a sickness, a decay, another Holocaust will be upon us.
Wake up, people! Don't let freedom die!
Name withheld by request
PUPPY ON BOARD
Non-breeding all the way: I'm afraid Sarah Fenske is not off to a very good start in her quest to be a responsible dog "mother." If Ms. Fenske has the time, money, and patience to devote to a dog, she should go to an animal shelter, visit Petfinder.com, or contact a reputable breed rescue group — not a breeder ("Other Nature," May 8).
Every time a breeder brings another animal into the world, an animal sitting in a shelter loses his or her chance at finding a loving home. Between six million and eight million animals enter U.S. shelters each year; half must be euthanized. Many (about 25 percent of dogs who enter shelters) are purebred.
Animals should always be sterilized to prevent overpopulation and certain health and behavioral problems. Spaying reduces the stress and discomfort females endure during heat periods, eliminates the risk of uterine cancer, and greatly reduces the chance of mammary cancer. Neutering makes males much less likely to roam or fight, and helps prevent testicular cancer.
I encourage Ms. Fenske to read Karen's Dog Blog on www.HelpingAnimals.com for more information on being a good dog guardian.
Heather Moore, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Choices still need protection: Sarah, I envy your mom. It sounds like she is about my age. But I was much more like you then and, for me, not having the choices you have was horrible for a young woman whose expertise, interests and talents were all in the men's domain.
Women our age fought very hard to go up against a system that you yourself couldn't even imagine. It pains me that today women your age don't really grasp the backsliding into the '50s that's going on — anti-feminism, anti-abortion, anti-just about all of the difficult strides that were made. These are things that women your age must be vigilant to protect.
Your mom sounds like a peach of a person, and you were very fortunate to have her. I've lived my life feeling like I've let my own kids down because I just didn't fit the mold.
About the dog: For God's sake, do not get a dog because you think you need something to take care of to be "normal." That's just too '50s-think for me.
Name withheld by request
DIGITAL SOME MORE
A good beat, and you can dance to it: Great job finally showing some support to the best local band in Phoenix. It's nice to see good people achieve success ("Sticker Shock," Benjamin Leatherman, May 8).
They've only touched the surface. They produce songs that can grab any type of listener. I've been a supporter from the first day I heard them about two years ago. It's the type of music that current radio songs just don't have.
Brandon Hypse, Phoenix
Don't be a playa-hater-hater: I notice that you printed three letters to the editor from Digital Summer-haters ("Last name says it all," "You keep hurting us, too" "Jason, you're kidding, right?," May 15). One of the letter-writers had the name James Envy. He couldn't be more appropriately monikered.
The two, along with Jason Drew, are just angry that they aren't on New Times' cover. It couldn't be more transparent. That their bands probably suck donkey dick probably means squat to these shameless playa-haters.
T.T. Martino, Tempe