For nearly a century, fiercely traditional Hopi Indians in the village of Hotevilla have struggled against the U.S. government and their own tribe in an effort to preserve their ancient culture and protect their religious beliefs. When Hotevilla was established as a haven for traditionalists in 1906, the dispute centered…
The Sun Devils Had No Clothes Arizona State University’s zeal to sign a contract requiring Nike to provide gear to all ASU sports teams left the men’s baseball team scrambling for equipment at the beginning of the season. ASU records indicate that Adidas abruptly stopped supplying gear to the baseball…
Maricopa County prosecutors want the man convicted of murdering Phoenix heiress Jeanne Tovrea on death row–and they’re posing some novel legal theories in an effort to get him there. James “Butch” Harrod faces an April 6 sentencing before Superior Court Judge Ronald Reinstein. A jury last November convicted the 45-year-old…
Justifiable Battery Your recent article “Under the Knife,” by Leigh Silverman (March 12), was a partial, nonobjective piece of crap. Nowhere in her article did she interview anyone involved in “assaults” on medical-care workers, who were not employed by these medical-care institutions, to find out just what makes them so…
It’s around 10:30 on a Monday night in Joe’s Grotto, a bar at 32nd Street and Thunderbird. It’s open-mike night, and the guy currently onstage is Christophe Leininger, former U.S. national judo champion, and Ultimate Fighting Challenge contestant. Leininger sits with an acoustic guitar on his lap, and finger-picks gently…
Ranchers are the welfare mothers of the Western economy. Everybody picks on them. They’re easy to pick on. Ranching is an anachronism. In Arizona, it’s not economically viable. Raising cattle here makes about as much sense as growing palm trees in Alaska. The Arizona Cattlemen’s Association is unable to say…
Alvin Chernov’s sister, Debbie Knight, poses the question, “Do doctors ever get prosecuted for screwing up on the job?” The answer is yes, but rarely. Physicians frequently are the targets of civil medical malpractice lawsuits and–less often–when they take sexual liberties with patients. But it’s the unusual case–probably not more…
Last week, the chair-lift conversation at Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff repeatedly turned to whether the ski area would be allowed to cut new trails through the trees on its northernmost flank, or whether a letter-writing campaign by a ragtag group of environmentalists and traditional Native Americans would bring the plan…
When Julie Vega got the call about her son at 10 minutes to 10 p.m. on March 2, she knew something was wrong. Virginia Avila, a California-based community services coordinator for the Arizona Boys Ranch, told her she needed to talk to Vega–in person–about her 16-year-old son, Nick Contreraz, who…
Inspiration of a Fifetime A Paradise Valley composer who wishes to remain Anonymous has cut a tape of a song he wrote in honor of former governor J. Fife Symington III’s impending incarceration, an event that will see the Fifester move from one gated community to another. He even put…
Friend or UFO? Great article (“The Hack and the Quack,” Tony Ortega, March 5). As an amateur astronomer (no, I didn’t have my telescope out that night, unfortunately) and an electrical engineer, I appreciate a journalist who consults experts in the field of science and engineering. When I first started…
Last September 6, a desperate Debbie Knight mailed a letter to medical authorities in Arizona. “I write this letter to you today because I need your help,” the Marysville, California, woman wrote the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners (BOMEX). “There is a doctor living in Maryland who practices medicine over…
Swoosh. Arizona State University interim basketball coach Don Newman is swept out of Tempe as suddenly as he arrived, blown to points unknown by a dust devil of dollars, courtesy of sports-apparel marketing mogul Phil Knight, chairman of Nike Incorporated. Swoosh. In comes Rick Majerus, plucked from the University of…
We must all work together to stop the violence that explodes [in] our emergency rooms. –President Clinton, State of the Union Address, January 25, 1994 The plum-colored bruises on the left side of Pauline Hanusosky’s face have healed since she was assaulted by a patient more than four years ago…
He was supposed to be a temp, try to win a few games and keep the players out of the police blotter. Then move along. That was the script handed to 40-year-old Don Newman last September 22 when Arizona State University made him coach of the Sun Devils men’s basketball…
March has gotten off to a lousy start for Maricopa County Schools Superintendent Sandra Dowling. The attorney general is investigating her office. Her school district expects a half-million-dollar budget shortfall next year. And now a disgruntled county schools employee says she will file paperwork this week to launch a recall…
Power Trips U.S. Senator John McCain ought to have a word with his colleague from that other A-state, Senator Frank Murkowski of Alaska. Murkowski is vacuuming up cash on the campaign-finance crusader’s home turf. An article by Ken Silverstein in the latest issue of Mother Jones reports that Murkowski has…
It’s beautiful, it really is. The weather is fine, and so is the irony. It’s Phoenix, a city whose explosion of uncontrolled development has been accompanied by an explosion of uncontrolled violence. All proceeds from today’s carnival are being donated to children of deceased police officers, people who died in…
Lights Out Tony Ortega’s refreshingly sober and objective investigation into the “Phoenix Lights” was in the best journalistic tradition–confronting the differences between what we would like to believe versus what the facts show (“The Hack and the Quack,” March 5). Unfortunately, the other Valley media are listening more to their…
Jim Dilettoso is playing a duet on a piano with a man who has a cross made of his own crusty, drying blood on his forehead. On Dilettoso’s own head is a mass of curly grayish hair. His mane dips and sways with the fluid rhythm he lays down, and…
“Mr. President, Mr. President, you have ignored me again.” The elderly bearded gentleman dances in the aisle like a small boy who has to pee, and he waves his hand contentiously, disrupting an already heated meeting of the Dysart Unified School District governing board. The president summons him to a…
Slots of Accusations Everyone hereabouts knows Herminia Rodriguez’s story: 64-year-old ex-migrant worker wins $330,000 on a slot at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino. Casino celebrates with her, then says it won’t pay up because the machine was broken. New Times gets the ball rolling with a story about the snafu. Harrah’s decides…
