An Interstate 17 rest stop under cloudy February skies. Tourists get out of cars to stretch their legs and buy snacks from vending machines. Others let their dogs out to squat near a scenic overlook. Nobody pays much attention to the ten militia members conferring at one of the circular…
Lombardi’s Restaurant at Arizona Center is deserted at 3:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, but David chooses a table off to the side, just to be safe. And while he doesn’t normally drink at lunch, he’s already fortified himself with a Royal and Seven. He glances around, picks up a blue…
The aggravated-assault case against 17-year-old Lynn Ivory was full of holes, not the least of which was that the Phoenix youth’s alleged victims didn’t want to testify against him. One of the victims already had recanted his original claim–that Ivory had allegedly pointed a pistol at the two men. The…
Jake Schneiker intends to defend his son’s right to self-defense, even if it means suing the Glendale Union High School District. Greg Schneiker, a 16-year-old junior at Greenway High, was suspended from school for five days in February for engaging in “mutual combat” with another student, who also was suspended…
Republic’s Memo of the Week: No, make that Memo of the Month! The author is Pam Johnson, the managing editor of the Arizona Republic. Date: March 13, 1996 To: Staff Two Metro staffers — Peter Corbett and Doug Snover fo the Scottsdale Bureau — have been suspended for one month…
Greg Swann doesn’t need Court TV. And when he takes his case to the people, he certainly doesn’t need Geraldo, Sally Jessy or Ricki carnival-barking on his behalf. That’s because Swann, a Mesa man fighting a bitter battle for custody of a child, has found a more direct way of…
Prez Release Peter Gilstrap’s column about my presidential campaign was a great contribution to progress (Screed, March 14). I sent a copy to Bob Dole and am sending copies with press releases around the country. Charles Holden Phoenix Whine Country New Times and Michael Lacey are made for each other…
Sometimes, a hole in the crotch can make all the difference. Not to mention a ragged hem, two-tone stitching, a “big E” tag, red lines or an exterior rivet. And being Japanese has a lot to do with things as well. It’s all part of the fast-moving, no-holds-barred, big-bucks world…
Jerry Wiley, outgoing town mayor and volunteer librarian, checks out books the old-fashioned way, by stamping dates onto inside covers. The library in Clarkdale, a north-central Arizona town of 2,500 cloistered at the base of Mingus Mountain, is a busy place on this springlike afternoon. Middle-aged hippies wait in line…
The name Stephen Charles Peterson Jr. is but a blip in the annals of Arizona white-collar crime. But the 54-year-old Peterson has earned a special place as a memorable crook, mostly by dint of his chutzpah. Since 1990, Peterson has used legitimate institutions–city councils, a governor’s office, a large corporation,…
The Grave Truth About Sheriff Joe Several abiding mysteries flourish in the Sonoran Desert: 1. What became of the Hohokam civilization? 2. How did saguaros evolve? 3. Why do Valley media lap up Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s fiction? Take last week’s, er, scoop about the sheriff assigning a chain gang to…
Douglas Lemon–the Arizona State Retirement System’s investment manager and a critic of policies he fears could jeopardize the $13 billion fund–has been placed on administrative leave pending his request for a “normal stress” workplace. Lemon, former executive director of the State Retirement System, says he is convalescing at home from…
John Adams is an unlikely fellow to be presiding over international assignations between lonely American men and lovelorn women from the former Soviet Union. In fact, he looks more like a guy you knew in high school–math club president, maybe–than an impresario of global capitalism trading in that universal currency,…
The legal noose has been pulled tight around Governor J. Fife Symington III’s neck. The only question is when the trap door will swing open. A source familiar with a federal grand jury investigation of Symington tells New Times that government prosecutors have built a powerful criminal case against the…
A few days ago, I stopped my car along the side of Silver Bell Road, about seven miles north of Tucson, at the site of a thoroughly dilapidated, 19th-century lime kiln. In addition to a lot of scrub brush and dirt, this is what I found: a twisted tire tread,…
Guard Rail As a hobbyist security guard, I smelled a setup in the expose concerning the treatment of blacks at Dillard’s (“Shoed From Dillard’s,” Marc Ramirez, March 7). First, the young men admitted to being dressed out of character for such an exclusive department store. Second, in an era when…
Attorney General Grant Woods and County Attorney Richard Romley collided at opposing press conferences last Wednesday, slamming together like a pair of sumo wrestlers with microphones sandwiched between their sweaty haunches. The sound from the slap of angry flesh inspired alarmed stories in the daily press and endless argument on…
Deborah Vasquez’s credibility was an issue from day one for anyone examining County Attorney Richard Romley’s investigation of alleged wrongdoing in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. It was Vasquez, after all, who made many of the claims that Romley’s office spent ten months probing. Often, those claims were exaggerated or…
Ryan Winn, in an uncharacteristic state of agitation, exploded across the backyard of a north Phoenix house where a teenage beer party was rocking and roaring. Ryan was a strapping, big 16-year-old with jug ears. He played football and basketball at Shadow Mountain High School and was friends with just…
Everything’s Okay, I Said Channel 10 reporter and weekend anchor Troy Hayden is a Bill Close Award winner. The award, named after the curmudgeonly and mercifully retired Channel 10 news fixture, is occasionally bestowed by New Times on newscasters who go below and beside the call of duty. Hayden claims…
Who epitomizes success in 1996? Captain Scott Grady, who succeeded at covering his tail for six days until someone else saved it after his F-16 got shot down over Bosnia? Barbara Bush, who succeeded at marrying a man who would be president? Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter, who succeeded in landing…
At first, Electric Ballroom co-owner David Seven thought he was just having another one of his Howard Stern dreams. “I’ve been a fan of Howard’s for years,” says Seven. “I set the alarm on my clock radio so that I wake up every morning laughing at him saying something stupid,…
