Church Confession Come clean: Well, well. The pope has finally made a public statement that anyone accused of abusing children is a criminal. That would also include priests. Duh! Will church leaders now release a list of all who have ever been accused of abusing children? Or will they continue…
Soon after Robert “Gypsy” Comer awakes each morning, he starts walking. Comer knows that 300 laps around his cell makes one mile, and he keeps track of how far he’s gone. He walks for hours on end, doing his time with a kind of Zen focus, trying not to indulge…
The Spike has gotten used to getting publicly patted down, probed, searched and scrutinized in the months since 9/11. But The Spike never expected extreme measures at a Blink 182 concert, where the guys like to run around naked, or nearly so, under all those tattoos. No need to frisk…
Five children lost their mother when APS serviceman John Noack, drunk and stoned, plowed into Pauline Jeffery’s Ford Escort with his 13-ton APS utility truck. The impact catapulted the economy car and its passengers into a pine tree along Highway 260, east of Payson. It took Jeffery 10 minutes to…
The United States Department of Agriculture is investigating the Phoenix Zoo following the death of Tinkerbell, an 8-year-old female porcupine used by the zoo in educational programs. The federal investigation — the second of the Phoenix facility in recent years — could result in substantial fines and, if serious violations…
One New Times staff writer was honored as the state’s top journalist by the Arizona Press Club and eight others won first-place awards for news and feature writing at the club’s yearly banquet. Amy Silverman won the prestigious Virg Hill Journalist of the Year award for a portfolio of stories…
© 2002 Bishop Thomas O’Brien continues to harbor priests who molest children. In doing so, O’Brien continues to heap anguish and injustice on the children and parents in the Phoenix Diocese who were betrayed, and forever damaged, by their parish priests. One such parent is Doris Kennedy, who contacted me…
Kids on the SkidsTeen angel, can you hear me?: Please, take the time to read this. I read your article about Christopher Camacho’s death at the Adobe Mountain facility (“Dying Young,” Amy Silverman, April 18). I am interested because I know several teens who are incarcerated at that facility, and…
For years, Capitol Police officers have arrested people without cause and harassed the homeless. They target those who hang out along the sidewalks and parking lots near state government office buildings just west of downtown Phoenix. They are lax in turning in booking information, leaving people to sit in jail…
The Spike has tried for years to get Phoenix Coyotes owner Steve Ellman to return phone calls about his wily financial maneuvers that led to the needless destruction of the Los Arcos Mall in Scottsdale. Not to mention his subsequent hoodwinking of Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs to drain the city’s…
From guest editorials in the Sunday paper to letters read to congregations across the Valley, Bishop Thomas O’Brien has been on an aggressive campaign to sell himself as a longtime progressive leader in the fight against pedophile priests. In reality, O’Brien should instead be confessing to nearly 20 years of…
Though it’s proven in the past that adversity tends to strengthen its resolve, the Phoenix Heat Quadriplegic Rugby team (“Murderball,” Susy Buchanan, February 28) found no glory in taking second at the national finals two weeks ago. At the United States Quadriplegic Rugby National Championship Tournament, held at Metro State…
Every Tuesday evening, Paul Hamra leaves his jewelry store in Scottsdale and drives across town to Si Kenig’s house in central Phoenix for his weekly Ping-Pong lesson. Paul parks his Lexus in the driveway, knocks hard and loud on the front door, then peers through the window to see if…
A boy who died in an apparent suicide at an Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections facility was locked in his cell for more than a week at a time and complained repeatedly that a staff member was touching boys inappropriately, according to internal ADJC documents. ADJC has released almost no…
The Spike took a road trip to Cave Creek and beyond recently, which meant dodging hundreds of aging fat guys who can now afford pricey, tricked-out Harleys and, apparently, a week off work for an outlaw biker rally. The motorcycle maniacs had gathered, against the wishes of town officials, as…
Clean SweepDiscriminating evidence: In your article “Cleaning House” (Susy Buchanan, April 4), what relevance does this have to the story: “Rosie Alvarez looks like a delicate little thing, with a firefly waist, full breasts and willowy limbs. Her face is tiny, too, framed by dark tendrils that match her full…
Phyllis Hansen-Day, the chief clerk of the Maryvale Justice Court, had strong ties to one of the Valley’s most lethal street gangs. The questions now facing investigators: How much did she help that gang as chief clerk? And how much did she really know about the murder in her home?…
Black HoleThe Spike has been most interested in the state’s effort to snag the International Genomics Consortium project even though The Spike has only the vaguest notion of what a genome is. Still, even The Spike has been able to grasp that this is another of those projects that requires…
City SlickerThe straight scoop: After reading the article “Exalted Ruler” (John Dougherty, March 28), I noticed that the reporter reversed two paragraphs, which distorted what I had said. To set the record straight, I would like to point out that a few years ago I did receive some complaints from…
At first glance, the group assembled at the pizza joint in a Mesa strip mall seems as docile and diverse as a citizenship class. Clustered in groups of twos and threes at bright blue Formica tables, they glance around the room conversing quietly in Albanian, Spanish, Vietnamese and English. From…
Check, PleaseThe Spike was intrigued by recent campaign finance disclosure records filed by Jan Brewer, the departed Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chair who quit that office to run for Secretary of State. It seems that more than 40 jail employees coughed up more than $5,000 in cash at a…
Department of Public Safety Sergeant Rudy Buck is truly an army of one. Buck has the impossible assignment of making sure the thousands of private security guards working in the state are properly trained and licensed. And that makes Arizona residents some of the nation’s most vulnerable people when it…
