The Spike has been following with great interest all the media rubbernecking at the Rodeo-Chedeski fire. While The Arizona Republic is covering one of the biggest natural disasters in Arizona history like it’s a plane crash — using half of its considerable staff to pump out relatively meaningless profiles of…
WHITERIVER — The Rodeo-Chediski fire has inflicted a blow upon the White Mountain Apache more powerful than death itself. The well-documented losses of homes and businesses suffered by the off-reservation communities strung across the edge of the Mogollon rim has been terrible. But the impact to the White Mountain Apache…
Burning Man Put it out already: I enjoyed the “Up in Smoke” interview by Robrt L. Pela in last week’s issue (Speakeasy, June 27). Enjoyed it, as in it was hilarious! Roger Egan from McDuffy’s needs to suck it up and move on. Why can’t he understand that our voting…
Gary Peter Klahr is eating. He grabs half a tuna melt in both hands and mows through it like a hamster, then shovels hash browns onto his fork with his fingers. Food falls out of his mouth as he talks, and by the end of the meal, Klahr’s cheeks and…
The road began from Highway 60 as an inviting blacktop, with the greasy coal black of new asphalt and a tight, bright yellow line down the middle. My 9-year-old and 5-year-old boys were giddy with the thought of spontaneous exploration. This is what dads do on camping trips. They provide…
Attorney General Janet Napolitano said at a hastily convened press conference on Friday that she is filing a class-action lawsuit against Southwest Airlines because of the company’s new policy of charging stout customers double the normal air fare. The airline’s intent to force fat passengers to pay twice the cost…
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating conditions at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, ADJC Director David Gaspar announced in a June 18 memo to employees. ADJC officials refused to discuss details of the investigation, but George Weisz, deputy chief of staff and crime advisor to Governor Jane Hull,…
Death-row inmate Robert Comer says he’s “regained control” of his life, an ironic choice of words in light of a judge’s decision last week to allow his execution to proceed. U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver’s ruling came almost three months after she heard testimony concerning Comer’s current mental state…
Franklin Brown, whose controversial account of being ambushed and shot on Lower Buckeye Road in July 2000 once won him honors as one of America’s “Top Cops,” is no longer with the Phoenix Police Department. Phoenix Police Sergeant Randy Force confirms that the department considers Brown to have resigned because…
Fan Mail Diamond in the rough: Thanks for the good piece about our champion Arizona Diamondbacks (“Pitcher Perfect,” Paul Rubin, June 20). It was a story back in 1999 about Buck Showalter that turned me on to “the free paper with all the advertising.” I appreciate the occasional sports piece…
Chuck Kniffin steps out of the Arizona Diamondbacks dugout into the late-morning sunshine. The team’s new pitching coach is accompanied by Randy Johnson, one of baseball’s most towering figures, physically and by way of achievement. It’s mid-May, early in the season, and Johnson wants to tweak his pitching windup, to…
Imagine the western United States without power for six months. No computers, no phones, no air-conditioning, no refrigeration, no manufacturing, no American Idol. The devastation to the U.S. economy would make September 11 look like a fender-bender. Al-Qaida likely has the technology and know-how to make this nightmare real, says…
Sexual Tension Low blow: As always when portraying a controversial figure or group, I see the New Times has apparently managed to dredge up an extreme critic of Ina Gregory’s Quodoushka workshops in the course of writing its feature article on Harley Reagan (“Sacred Orgasm,” Susy Buchanan, June 13). I’m…
The Spike was glad to see Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio take a break from busting chops last week to get his own chops roasted, albeit by a cast of political B-listers: state House Majority Whip Robert Blendu, House Speaker Jim Weiers and Phoenix Coyotes owner Steve Ellman. The purported…
Lucy didn’t pay $1,200 and fly across the country just to watch naked strangers in cowboy hats probe their anuses. A widow and business owner from the Deep South, Lucy says that, since her husband’s death, she has been fascinated with spirituality and is intent on exploring a variety of…
Years ago, The Spike went to Haiti. En route, The Spike met Sammy From Miami, who owned both a wig factory and a large villa in Port-au-Prince. Sammy was well-known in the casino at the Royal Haitian Hotel, an oasis of jet-setting opulence in the midst of a city of…
July 4. Independence Day. At Bank One Ballpark, the World Series champs will take on home-run king Barry Bonds and his San Francisco Giants in a battle of National League titans. Forty-five thousand fans, easy. Forty-five thousand suckers, easy. Suckers? What other sort of spineless sots would let their lovers…
Hidden Agenda Pickin’ problem: Gee, where were the picket signs and holier-than-thou shouts from the members of Tri-City Baptist when Dr. Ralph Stanley played at Nita’s Hideaway recently? (“Deathbed Conversion,” Darren Keast, June 6) I didn’t realize that he was a degenerate, a bad influence on me, not to mention…
Richard Mallery is a master of the art of the deal. A Fullbright Scholar and Stanford Law graduate, Mallery is entranced with the power of words and the allure of drama. “I’m a fuzzy who deals in metaphors,” Mallery says, employing a term used at Stanford to describe liberal arts…
Rebecca Kastl wraps her long fingers around a coffee mug and lifts a latte to her lips. The steaming brew fogs her glasses, for a moment obscuring her sky-blue eyes. Kastl, 34, is articulate and bookish, but she’s no geek. Currently working as a network engineer, she is serenely confident…
The Spike recently stumbled across another good reason (like we need one) to trade in J.D. Hayworth for someone who actually has a lick of sense. Turns out the Republican congressman is hawking “official” J.D. Hayworth schlock on his campaign Web site. Like the Official J.D. Hayworth T-shirt. At $15,…
Church BusinessSex, lies and the Catholic Church: Thank you for your continued excellent reporting on the past and current state of affairs in Bishop O’Brien’s office (“Blame Game,” Robert Nelson, May 30). As a member of the church, I must tell you that the depth of the continued sanctimonius deceit,…
