It’s the final round at the Doral-Ryder Open, and Gary McCord is scatting. His solo begins as Peter Jacobsen, the hottest player on the PGA Tour, eyes a putt on the 12th green. “He’s in that ever-present Zone that these guys get into once in a while,” the CBS golf…
Art Amarillas peered into the spectators’ gallery of a Cochise County courtroom earlier this month. “I’ve been very sad about this since it happened,” he said to three of Ismael “Miley” Teran’s surviving relatives. “He never did anything to me. I was a very weak-minded individual, and my paranoia caused…
The handwritten birthday card seemed so sincere. “My music is an expression of my inner self,” it started. “It was a true honor and delight to share it with these incredible musicians. ‘Somewhere Along the Way’ was written as an expression of searching along the path, the Way–as my studies…
On October 6, 1992, Peoria ironworker Sabino Jayo Jr. blew out his knee while playing hacky sack in the white sand dunes of New Mexico. Two and one-half years and piles of paperwork later, the Arizona Court of Appeals says Jayo was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits as a result…
Few Arizona Republic readers will remember an August 1, 1984, story headlined “U.S. Crime Strike Force in L.A. Accused of Corruption.” The story seemed straightforward enough. Its opening sentence: “The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations of corruption and misconduct of high-ranking officials of the federal Organized Crime and Racketeering…
Hi, NBA fans! I’m Chuck Barkley, and I own this town. New Times asked me to do this guide for the folks who are pouring in to Phoenix for the big All-Star show. Hope you dig it. Party hard, and don’t spit on anyone! EAST VAN BUREN STREET For those…
The guy everyone calls Bing is bantering with the pizza man. “You get that Italian beef sandwich on your menu, you’ll have them lining up,” Bing tells Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco, a fabulous little eatery at Phoenix’s Town & Country Shopping Center. “Okay, okay, you got it,” Bianco bellows…
The teenager doesn’t understand why the prosecution of her best friend’s alleged rapist failed so miserably. “It drove me crazy,” says Sharon Singer. “I wanted to jump up in court and tell the jury, ‘That guy forced her to have sex. She’s just a kid. You’ve got to believe her!’…
Cindy Monkman opened a Gideons Bible in her La Jolla motel room. She read the verse she had turned to randomly–Psalm 39, Verse 4–then scribbled it in her journal: “Lord, make me know mine end, and what is the measure of my days; That I may know how frail I…
Attorney Richard Gierloff admits he’s had some dogs for cases during his legal career. But until a black, male chow named Gunner trotted into his life, Gierloff had never defended an actual canine in a court of law. The tale of Gunner’s recent reprieve from a date with a Maricopa…
“I think that I shall never see/A tort lovely as a tree.” Or something like that. Bill and Sherri McDowell of Scottsdale probably wouldn’t find humor in that variation on the famous Joyce Kilmer line. After all, their lawyer has told a judge that the McDowells are suffering “irreparable harm”…
Everyone’s a Critic “I made some stupid mistakes,” Eddie Basha says matter-of-factly. Once again, “chubby grocer” is his full-time occupation. During a ten-minute phone interview Monday from Bashas’ Inc. headquarters, the vanquished Democratic gubernatorial nominee employs some brutal adjectives to summarize his performance against Fife Symington–like ignorant, unsophisticated and naive…
Several victims of the Valley’s fallen “King of Probate” may get some financial satisfaction in the next several weeks. Bonding companies are expected to cut checks totaling about $800,000 to the heirs of 14 estates that were plundered by Mesa attorney Wayne Elmer Legg and his sidekick, Webber Mackey. The…
Benita Venegas shuts her dark eyes and considers something for several seconds. The 16-year-old fixes her inquisitor with a mournful expression. Suddenly, she pounds her left fist into her chest and releases a haunting, high-pitched wail. She whirls to face her foster mother, Ellen White, a Paradise Valley woman in…
Attorney Michael S. Manning sounds downright chipper in his tape-recorded telephone message. “Please be advised,” he tells his clients, “that we have closed our offices permanently. . . . We can recommend an attorney that is familiar with your case but is not associated with me. Or you can hire…
Pinal County prosecutor Sylvia Lafferty refuses to file charges against Joquitta and Cleveland Palmer for the murder of TaJuana Davidson. Lafferty claims she can’t prove within a legal certainty who inflicted the girl’s fatal injuries last November 2. Lafferty used to work in Pima County, where she earned a reputation…
On March 18, 1992, Joquitta Palmer neatly completed a handwritten application to the State of Arizona. “We want a sibling for our son,” the 29-year-old woman printed. “We know there are a lot of unwanted children and we want another one to love.” She and her husband, Cleveland, wanted to…
For a time, those in the business of putting child abusers behind bars were wondering if Hannibal Lecter was running loose in Arizona. Their concerns stemmed from a report issued by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, which is affiliated with Arizona State University. The 94-page report, titled “Arizona’s Child…
Editor’s note: Staff writer Paul Rubin followed Arizona State University’s baseball team from opening day in January until the last out at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, three weeks ago. Coach Jim Brock–who died of cancer on June 12, four days after his team’s season ended–allowed New Times…
A Maricopa County prosecutor faces demotion and a salary cut because she told a grand jury foreman to rein in jurors who had pursued their own line of questioning. County Attorney Rick Romley last month asked another agency to determine whether criminal jury-tampering charges should be filed against Sandra Canter,…
There has to be a certain amount of pride that goes into what you do. Someday, you’ll all be as old as I am now, and I don’t want you to look back and think you didn’t make the most out of this. This all goes by very, very fast…
Two friends were fishing one day when an infant floated by. One of the fishermen jumped into the water, grabbed the baby and handed it to his friend. Another infant soon floated by. The same fisherman saved her. Then, a whole group of drowning infants floated past. The rescuer again…
