Email Author Tony Ortega

1997 Stories by Tony Ortega

• Jingo All the Way

  published December 25, 1997

  Maria Sepulveda's father so offended her, she doesn't want anyone else from his native Chile to come to the United States. Or at least not many... More >>

• Viper Snitch Hits a Glitch

  published November 13, 1997

  Drew Nolan sets down his briefcase before he reaches out for a handshake. "Always have to have one hand free," he says with a smile. ... More >>

• Doubting Thomas

  published November 6, 1997

  Tom Bearup was once one of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's most trusted aides, a political operative who, until his fall from grace earlier... More >>

• U.S. Lawsuit Re-Alleges Abuse in Jails

  published November 6, 1997

  The federal government followed up its two-year investigation of Maricopa County's jails Friday by filing a lawsuit realleging inmate abuse and... More >>

• The Operator and the Undertaker

  published October 30, 1997

  "I call this Poseyland," city council candidate Phil Gordon says, pointing to two pink pushpins on a wall map. The pins impale... More >>

• Iceland 5, Arpaio 0

  published October 23, 1997

  Iceland's supreme court has upheld the decision of a lower-court judge who had refused to extradite Connie and Donald Hanes to Maricopa County... More >>

• Education Secondary

  published October 16, 1997

  The Paradise Valley Unified School District is learning the hard way about how state government works in Arizona. The lesson school... More >>

• Sky Writer

  published September 25, 1997

  The old man who sold paintings of cats in Balboa Park entered San Diego's Mercy Hospital on March 9, 1993. He was dying of congestive heart... More >>

• Human Plights

  published September 18, 1997

  For more than 20 years, people around the world have participated in Amnesty International's letter-writing campaigns to protest mistreatment of... More >>

• St. Peter Principle

  published August 21, 1997

  It was Sunday, and God's chosen representative to a few square miles of west Phoenix was about to address his new flock for the first time. ... More >>

• Sabotage at Sitix?

  published August 7, 1997

  This spring, a 10,000-gallon spill of wastewater and other mishaps at the Sumitomo Sitix silicon-wafer plant in northeast Phoenix worried local... More >>

• Inmates, Heal Thyselves

  published July 24, 1997

  The woman, we'll call her Anna, recently left the medical staff at one of the county's jails, and what she saw there shocked her. Anna... More >>

• Keeping 'em in Stitches

  published July 24, 1997

  Damon Dreckmeier's blood was coming out both ends of him, and it had been coming out for hours. Vomited blood ran out of his mouth, down... More >>

• Public Pays in Jail Death

  published July 17, 1997

  At least 19 jail inmates have died on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's watch. Others have been maimed. A man who is paralyzed below the waist was strapped... More >>

• Nice Land

  published July 10, 1997

  An Icelandic court has found that two American fugitives should not be extradited to Maricopa County because of the condition of Sheriff Joe... More >>

• The Great UFO Cover-up

  published June 26, 1997

  There is no doubt that something real passed over Phoenix on the night of March 13. Hundreds of people reported what they saw passing slowly in... More >>

• Questionable Characters Make Way Into Posses

  published June 12, 1997

  "If any member misuses their identification in any way, they're kicked out of the posse. That's one of the biggest no-no's," says Executive Posse... More >>

• Manny, Joe & Tat

  published June 12, 1997

  The man, we'll call him Phuong, had laid down a considerable bet on the Phoenix Suns, and the Suns had lost. Phuong followed that mistake... More >>

• The Arizona Car Denials

  published June 5, 1997

  Before Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill can move his team into an East Valley domed stadium--something he's all but demanded as ransom for... More >>

• Joe Assumes Deposition

  published May 29, 1997

  Faced with a series of trials, an Arizona official turns up the public relations machine to full tilt, launching a string of populist initiatives... More >>

• Arpaio Über Nicht

  published May 22, 1997

  Sheriff Joe Arpaio loves to point out that his fame has spread beyond the United States, but increasingly, that international scrutiny is less... More >>

• Fugitives From Terror

  published May 22, 1997

  Are Maricopa County's jails so barbaric that a foreign nation could refuse to give up fugitives bound for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's gulag? That... More >>

• Beware of the Dogma

  published May 8, 1997

  If Montini's spy is listening," John Dayl says as he opens one of his weekend radio programs, "he's going to be disappointed, because I probably... More >>

• "I've Been Had"

  published April 10, 1997

  Phoenix City Councilwoman Frances Emma Barwood says her first instinct was to call a press conference in Mayor Skip Rimsza's office and, in front... More >>

• "The Market Is Ripe for the Taking"

  published April 3, 1997

  KNXV Channel 15 station manager Michael Kronley wrote this "Competitive Profile" of the television news market for his general manager, Brad... More >>