Email Author Michael Kiefer

1993 Stories by Michael Kiefer

• PARENTS' PROGRESS

  published December 22, 1993

  On the evening of December 6, Wendy Cracchiolo-Sheedy gave birth to a six-pound, 15-ounce baby girl, "who looks like an angel, teensy-tiny and... More >>

• FROM THE BIG HOUSE TO GOD'S HOUSE

  published December 8, 1993

  A smoky voice rings up to the rafters of the pink chapel at the Cathedral of the Valley in Glendale. With an otherworldly echo, it calls out to... More >>

• LOCKING DOWN IN PARADISESCHOOLS ARE CONDUCTING DRILLS TO GUARD STUDENTS AGAINST RANDOM VIOLENCE

  published November 3, 1993

  Dr. Robert McClarin has the patient and mellow air of someone who has been an elementary-school principal for 27 years. Silently, he walks the... More >>

• THEY SHOOT DECOYS, DON'T THEY?

  published October 27, 1993

  Just before dawn, with coyotes yipping from the trees across a narrow forest road just south of the Mogollon Rim, Arizona Game and Fish Department... More >>

• EIGHTY-SIXING 911WHEN STINGER COCKTAIL LOUNGE EMPLOYEES CALL THE COPS, THE MAYOR'S MOTHER GETS ANGRY

  published October 13, 1993

  It was just another Friday night at Stinger Cocktail Lounge at 19th Avenue and Camelback: September 24, and the serious drinkers were balanced... More >>

• BURNING QUESTIONSWHY WOULD ANYONE SET FIRE TO ARIZONA'S SCENIC LANDSCAPE?

  published September 22, 1993

  Peggy Rogers noticed the smoke when she was driving home from the supermarket with her daughter. It was just after lunch on June 10, a hot and dry... More >>

• DIRT CLEANERS SUE CITYSOIL-RECYCLING CENTER'S FUTURE WILL HING ON ZONING PROCESS, NOT POLLUTION OUTPUT

  published August 18, 1993

  "It looks like no man's land here," says Alisa Gray as she peers through the razor-wire fence at 21st Avenue south of McDowell Road. On one side... More >>

• CARPETBAGGING THE CANALTHE CHOICE OF A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT FROM NEW YORK HAS SOME LOCAL FOLKS GRUMBLING

  published August 4, 1993

  Until the 1960s, the banks of the canals that flow from the Salt River and fan across Phoenix were oases, de facto promenades bordered by shady... More >>

• A FATAL CAE OF GOLD FEVER

  published July 21, 1993

  On December 16, the day he would be killed, Fred Schrader got up before dawn, made a pot of coffee, turned on the TV, and sat down to watch the... More >>

• DEAF AND TAXES

  published June 16, 1993

  Last January, when Joel Coplin read the letter stating that the ramshackle art colony he manages near Apache Junction had been valued at... More >>

• WENDY'S CHOICE

  published June 2, 1993

  Wendy Sheedy wanted a baby, not in that achingly desperate way of some childless women, but it was never far from her mind. Her friends all had... More >>

• STAIRS AND GRIPES ALL THE SQUAW PEAK TRAIL LACKS IS MAHOGANY BANISTERS

  published May 19, 1993

  At midday on a recent Thursday, with temperatures in the high 90s, there was nobody on the Squaw Peak summit trail but chuckwallas and the... More >>

• A FINE MESS

  published April 28, 1993

  Unpaid traffic fines? In the event you can lay low for five years, the Phoenix Municipal Court will clear them from your record. Didn't pay your... More >>

• BOTTOM-LINE COVERAGETHE POLICY OF DROPPING SICK PEOPLE FROM HEALTH INSURANCE ROLLS ISN'T CALLED A "DEATH SPIRAL" FOR NOTHING

  published March 10, 1993

  When we last heard from Wilda Heil, she had been unceremoniously dropped by her health insurance company for having the misfortune to develop... More >>

• LOVE AS A CONTRACT SPORTWHEN BUSINESS AND ROMANCE MERGE, CUPID PULLS A CORPORATE TAKEOVER

  published February 24, 1993

  You can smell the pheromones, palpably sense the rut vibes, feel the radioactive burn of eye contact. One thousand single people, male and female,... More >>

• REFUSE TECHNOLOGY REFUSEDLANDFILLERS SEE DEVICE TO REDUCE TRASH IN THE EARTH AS PIE IN THE SKY

  published February 17, 1993

  Last summer, Don Engler of Schuff Steel took a proposal to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for a machine that reduces the volume of... More >>

• TIFFANY'S DEAL EXPOSEDTHE MAYOR AND HIS SON HAVE DIFFERENT REASONS FOR WANTING THE GENTLEMAN'S CLUB OUT OF SCOTTSDALE

  published February 10, 1993

  While Scottsdale Mayor Herb Drinkwater boldly led the fight to keep Tiffany's Cabaret from opening its second "gentlemen's club" in the former... More >>

• SON OF SPAMMEAT-PACKING HEIR GEORDIE HORMEL HAMS IT UP IN PHOENIX SOCIETY

  published January 20, 1993

  The first appearance is startling: George A. Hormel II, whom everyone calls Geordie, has a shocking cascade of gray hair that fans across his... More >>