On March 23, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona hand-delivered a letter to New Times in response to written questions. The letter, signed by Chairman of the Board Berry Norwood and BFA President William Crotts, included an introductory section, which is printed here: This letter is the written response of the…
He’s Not Joking Sheriff Joke Arpaio’s crack PR staff can’t get the Crime Avenger out of the publicity tailspin of the past few months. After years of doing his cheerleading, the mainstream media have begun to portray him accurately, as a blowhard whose jail innovations are more effective at getting…
The legal skirmish between a local pro-life group and the City of Phoenix is now in the hands of a federal appeals court. Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White heard arguments about the city’s bus advertisement policy on March 12 as part of a three-judge panel of the Ninth…
Economic development. Downtown revitalization. A big league city. The Bank One Ballpark was rammed down the public’s gagging throats with the promise of this and much more. Everyone would benefit from the rain of dollars created by the $356 million stadium, from the sole proprietor to the corporate titans, promoters…
The girl is 12, but looks older. She wasn’t born here, but she’s American. She sounds like an American. She left Nigeria when she was an infant, and has no memories of the place. She attends school in Phoenix. Xaviera Makinde has a long, thin body, large eyes and a…
What’s Up, DOC? In your recent article “Custody Battle” (Chris Farnsworth, April 2), you inaccurately describe as a “settlement” the recent agreement between the Department of Corrections and attorneys representing inmates in protective segregation. It was nothing of the sort. Rather, the department and the inmates’ attorneys simply agreed to…
The bell that House Speaker Jeff Groscost rings to summon legislators back to the House floor sounds alarmingly like a door-chime rendition of the theme from Jeopardy!. At jeopardy on this particular day (some weeks ago) is the school-finance bill, and the esteemed House members are hammering out its final…
Joe Valiente, 27, professional rapper, takes a long hit from a short joint and peels back a window curtain in the rear lounge of his luxury tour bus. Ten feet away, on a grimy sidewalk in downtown El Paso, a line forms along the brick edifice of Club 101. Whooosh…
The euphoria sweeping through 50,000 fans cheering as the Bank One Ballpark’s roof retracted on opening day to unveil a crisp night sky splattered with fireworks came only after a $300,000 last-minute modification to the sensitive roof mechanism. No one with the massive construction project knows whether the latest fix…
Words Are Real Hard KNXV-TV Channel 15, dutifully participating in the colossal hype given to Bank One Ballpark last week, ran a quick story on opening day about the equitable ratio of women’s to men’s toilets at the facility. Unless the Flash’s eyes were dazzled by the beauty of anchor…
Randy Wakefield won vindication in Justice Court last Thursday, when a judge dismissed criminal charges against the veteran county prosecutor. Phoenix city prosecutors failed to convince Judge Sam Goodman that Wakefield had broken grand jury secrecy laws when he told a family member about an investigation involving his son, Craig…
Facing demolition just a month ago, the Desert Crest retirement community may be saved from razing after all. So why aren’t its octogenarian residents celebrating? The elderly renters at Desert Crest are pinning their hopes on a buyer who proposes to keep the retirement home running. But they know it’s…
Jerry’s Skids Deborah Laake’s “Our Hero” piece (March 26) on Jerry Colangelo was a masterful piece of writing. It’s the only truly objective piece I’ve ever seen on the subject. Very fair, very interesting. T. Arthur Meyers Scottsdale I enjoyed your article on Jerry Colangelo. I think it was as…
Seamus McCaffrey is a man who loves sport. He loves it so much that he once moved to another country to see a soccer team. As you read this, the Phoenix publican and noted Irishman is in Glasgow, Scotland, watching that team–Celtic Football Club–play at Ibrox Park. It’s to be…
“I’m having a terrible life,” said Colin. The two ladies who heard his lament burst into strangled hoots. Unlike some you might point to, this pair of women were not entirely insensitive to a man’s pain. One was even his mother. But Colin is only 5 years old. Naturally he…
You’d think the one place a person would be safe would be locked inside a prison cell. You’d be wrong. In 1996, a team of lawyers brought a class-action suit against the Arizona Department of Corrections on behalf of 274 inmates in protective segregation. DOC wanted to move those inmates…
Liz Renay was never married to the mob–but the former gangland party girl insists her professional prospects were certainly marred by it. “It sure knocked the hell out of my career when I went to Terminal Island,” says the Mesa-born headline grabber of the late ’50s and early ’60s. “I…
Michael Richard Logan was sentenced March 27 to three years’ probation–including alcohol and anger counseling–for assaulting Kimberly Boyden. Logan and Boyden met in the early afternoon of August 12, 1996, at a Scottsdale bar. They had both had rotten days. The two chatted and drank together, Boyden accompanied Logan to…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio won’t have to reveal how much money his posses have raised and how they spend it. Superior Court Judge Rebecca Albrecht has rejected arguments that the private, nonprofit posses are so closely controlled by Arpaio that they should be subject to the state’s open records law. In…
Web Feat This has to be the most disturbing article I have ever read (“The Internet Internist,” Paul Rubin, March 19). It is unfortunate how the money-hungry in this world can prey on the vulnerable by promising miracles through the use of drugs. I want to thank you for doing…
It’s in a labor union hall on a residential street in Tucson. The Plumbers and Steamfitters local. This cold and rainy Saturday night, no one here is plumbing or fitting steam. It’s the Arizona Democratic Party’s “Campaign-98 Kick-off,” and the hall it’s being held in could serve as a perfect…
Jerry Colangelo’s secretary is out, and so he answers her phone, even though he’s on the way to a press conference and a little late. “Bob Longhi!” he cries. Longhi, it turns out, is the owner of a restaurant on Maui that Colangelo frequents. Longhi is not one of Colangelo’s…
