Email Author Tom Fitzpatrick

1991 Stories by Tom Fitzpatrick

• HOISTING A STIRRUP-CUP

  published December 25, 1991

  It was an uncommon funeral service. The mourners, most wearing cowboy boots and ranchers' rough clothes, sat in makeshift pews at the... More >>

• Backed to the Wall, Snarling

  published December 25, 1991

  I arrived at the Ritz-Carlton hotel early. It was raining heavily. The inadequate parking lot was jammed with cars and trucks sent out by all... More >>

• HOW TO GET AWAY WITH RAPE

  published December 18, 1991

  Al Heinze was powerful for a while. And why shouldn't he be? Heinze was the man who made life fine and mellow for the men who run the... More >>

• NORTH BY SOUTHWEST

  published December 18, 1991

  Almost reverently, they stood in line. In their hands were clutched the oversize volumes of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North's best-selling... More >>

• Thirteen Thoughts

  published December 11, 1991

  1. Charlie Keating finally took the great fall. These days the headline writers use words like "fraud" and "bilked" in writing about him. ... More >>

• DO YOU BELIEVEIN MAGIC?

  published November 13, 1991

  It was midafternoon. As usual, CNN was playing in the background. Most of the time, when I'm home, it remains that way. A promo that Larry King's... More >>

• AS SEEN ON TV,A FAMOUS PHOENIX MURDER

  published November 6, 1991

  I have finally figured out the Redmond murder case. Since I am not extremely quick on the draw, this has only taken me ten years and a few... More >>

• THIS SPORTING LIFE

  published October 30, 1991

  There has been so much speculation surrounding the Arizona State University and Phoenix Cardinals football teams that I decided to see for... More >>

• IN THE NEWSROOM, POTS AND KETTLES

  published October 23, 1991

  Bad things often happen to good journalists. Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio and Juan Williams of the Washington Post played key... More >>

• DON'T LAUGH AT ME, ARIZONA

  published October 23, 1991

  You are J. Fife Symington III, a man for whom the ninth-floor governor's office is quickly turning into a scofflaw's tower cell. Down... More >>

• LOW TIDE IN AMERICA

  published October 16, 1991

  LATE SUNDAY NIGHT--Finally, it is over. In Washington, D.C., it is past 2 a.m. This is the hour for stealth; a perilous period when... More >>

• EYES ON THE PRIZE

  published October 9, 1991

  I went back out of curiosity. They were presenting this year's Pulitzer Prizes at Columbia University in New York City. It was... More >>

• ETHICAL ELIXIRS

  published October 9, 1991

  Michael Josephson knows all there is to know about ethics. He talks on interminably. Squat, intense and bespectacled, he keeps it up . .... More >>

• FIFE BEING DRUMMED

  published September 18, 1991

  Once again, on Sunday night, there was the irate face of J. Fife Symington III. The governor's moistened lips were pursed with aristocratic... More >>

• EVIL'S ORDINARY FACE

  published September 18, 1991

  The level of fear has risen. I don't think anyone realizes just how seriously. The murders of the Buddhist monks on August 10 have... More >>

• IRON MIKE IS OUT OF CONTROL

  published September 18, 1991

  Mike Tyson's lifelong criminal tendencies have overtaken him. His life has become the classic cautionary tale of the talented young man... More >>

• CHILD PRODIGY, ADULT STAR

  published September 11, 1991

  They sit there in growing awe. The silence of the darkened theatre is broken frequently by applause. It is billed simply as "A Tribute... More >>

• QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS

  published August 14, 1991

  "Should we assume there are violent criminals on the loose?" asked the woman reporter from Channel 12. This is what you might call a... More >>

• MARY ROSE WILCOX AND THE FLORIDA MONEY TREE

  published August 7, 1991

  Perhaps we're too quick to criticize political figures. Take the case of Mary Rose Wilcox, for example. She is now seeking a fifth term... More >>

• ACTS OF DESPAIR

  published August 7, 1991

  There was a time when people believed that Conley Wolfswinkel was the richest, and therefore one of the most interesting and talented men in... More >>

• RHODES TO INDIAN SCHOOL, SPINELESS JAY RHODES

  published July 31, 1991

  I don't know of a more astonishing failure in the present Congress than Representative John J. Rhodes Jr. Rhodes' decision to... More >>

• ROSE AND THE DIAMOND PARADISE

  published July 24, 1991

  I had forgotten how manipulative and deceitful Pete Rose can be. Rose was back on national television the other day attempting to... More >>

• THE PRINTS ON THE CAN

  published July 17, 1991

  Charles Hyder, the career prosecutor, takes his seat in the witness box. He squares his shoulders and stares directly ahead. ... More >>

• MARCHIN' THOMAS TO THE BIG HOUSE

  published July 10, 1991

  President George Bush's appointment of Judge Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court is so slick, so urbanely cynical, that it will become... More >>

• SETTLING SCORES

  published July 10, 1991

  It will be as tense a moment as anyone can ever remember in a Maricopa County Superior Court. The following words will be heard... More >>