Jimmy Doesn’t Live Here Overbearing protectors: For the third time in less than a year, New Times has courageously shed light on one of the darkest corners of any state government — the misuse and abuse of Child Protective Services in ways that destroy children in order to “save” them…
On game day, Randy Johnson’s face has more sharp angles than a Picasso painting. He’s built like the Fahrvergnugen man, sticklike arms and legs attached to a big triangle of a chest. He walks to the mound with a bouncing, stiff-legged, redneck gait. He puts his glove to his face,…
Vince Sanders sits on the edge of a bow-bottomed couch in his river-rattish bungalow, hunched over the only new thing here — a shiny Realistic microrecorder. He fast forwards, stops, plays and then pushes fast forward again.”Ah, now come on, Tony. I know your juicy words are in there.” He’s…
The state has given up on trying to save residents from Africanized killer bees that have swarmed into the state by the millions in recent years. Although the bees have killed three people — two in the Valley and one in Casa Grande — and reports of attacks by bees…
Years before anyone had ever heard of Quentin Tarantino, Blake Shira wrote the book on pulp fiction. Hooked on paperbacks at an early age by the lurid covers and titles of such long-forgotten gems as Hot Dames on a Cold Slab, Junkie and Twelve Chinks and a Girl, the free-spirited…
Anarchism Schism Freeform meddlers: The term “anarchist” has become an oxymoron on the order of “military intelligence” (“Anarchy How?” James Hibberd, May 11). Most dictionaries define the term as somebody who advocates little or no government, but all the “anarchists” I read about lately want to impose their vision of…
If You Can’t Stand the Heat . . . Ex-Valley super-chef Todd Hall has found a more captive audience for his captivating cuisine. It seems Hall, the notorious bad boy of good food, landed in the San Diego County Jail in March for forging checks. Hall is at San Diego…
Seventeen-year-old Santiago “Jimmy” Rodriguez could not walk or talk, but he enjoyed his classes at Glendale High School in the fall of 1995. The junior flirted with attractive girls. He shared a passion for rap and ranchero and Radio Campesina with the guys, and tapped out macho wisecracks on his…
“Places!” yells Susan Bendix to a room full of young dancers. “Become centered and connected.” A dozen of Bendix’s Herrera Elementary and Middle School boys and girls drift and fidget their way to their spots. Among the youngsters are an equal number of dancers from Arizona State University. The dancers…
Gilbert Jones should have been among the hundreds of Indians marching to the Fort McDowell Casino last week.The five-mile walk and Sovereignty Day celebration commemorated the day eight years ago when the Yavapai tribe took its most dramatic stand, facing off against federal agents who raided the tribe’s casino and…
Face the Music What about Bob? It always amazes me when someone picks a job he hates. Take, for example, your music editor, Bob Mehr. Funny how he works for you, but he seems to hate every minute of it. This is very apparent in his article “Had a Nice…
A word of warning, my fellow Arizonans: The Legislature adjourned last month, which means it’s high season for fund raising. The next time a candidate comes begging for your hard-earned cash, don’t just ask what he or she plans to do, if elected. Ask what he or she plans to…
Tee-Ball for DummiesAh, spring! It’s that time of year when young men’s minds turn to the whack of horsehide on ash. Bat on ball. Mandible-straining wads of bubblegum. Colorful uniforms.Okay, I’m talking very young men. I’m talking tee-ball. And very young women, too. The Flash has coached some tee-ball, and…
Tempe Butte is an island of rock in the midst of a city, a volcanic and sedimentary bump that rises barely 300 feet above downtown Tempe. Yet to an increasingly vocal crowd of locals, the Butte — also known as “A” Mountain and Hayden Butte — looms as the latest…
Two things on Tempe Butte are irritating corporate lawyer turned anti-corporate activist Randall Amster.The first is a City of Tempe sign that says “Enjoy your parks.” It’s a message on the westward side of the Butte, the section long owned by Bay State Milling that the city council quietly approved…
Ann Jardee chose to attend Grand Canyon University in part because she is a Christian. She figured she’d feel more comfortable on the campus of the self-described “Christian liberal arts university” founded by Southern Baptists than, say, in the crowded secular classrooms of Arizona State University. But Jardee was soon…
Pencil in Tuesday on your calendar. That’s the day Phoenix dies.The day will begin with a little meeting of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. By noon, news of Alan Greenspan’s radical inflation-busting rate hike will have filtered into the cars of all the hopeful young couples driving from…
Chicken Tenders Blood bother: David Holthouse’s missive on the joys of watching chickens tear each other apart was very educational (“Fowl Play,” April 13). It shouted volumes about a man who loves blood and violence.It is good to have things like this in print because it allows psychologists and sociologists…
Rev. Ev Meets Mad MaxJust when Eyes Wide Shut had convinced you that fiction can be stranger than truth, along comes truth to goose you once again. To wit: Impeached former governor Evan Mecham is finally going to prison. But it’s not for any crime. He’s going to visit convicted…
Did renowned attorney Charlie Brewer actually shoot at Earl the parrot in his old office at downtown Phoenix’s Luhrs Building? If he did, it would have been circa 1960, ancient history in a city that measures its eras in months, not decades. Whatever the truth, the relationship between man and…
Jim Kaufman, a developer who has played a key role in the revitalization of downtown Phoenix, has been credited with saving many cherished buildings: The renovated Orpheum Theatre, the art deco Professional Building just south of Bank One center, the majestic administration building on the old Phoenix Union High School…
New Times staff writer Amy Silverman was named the state’s top journalist Saturday by the Arizona Press Club. It marks the sixth consecutive year that a New Times journalist has claimed the coveted Virg Hill Journalist of the Year trophy. Silverman, 33, was honored for a 1999 portfolio of work…
