The letters “WPA” are stamped on the exterior of the buildings that make up Picacho Elementary School. That’s because the buildings date to the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program launched in the 1930s. Students at Picacho Elementary, which is located near Picacho Peak south of Casa Grande, are…
Constable Burt Alvord, who served Willcox in the 1890s, made news when it was discovered that he used the law enforcement office as a front for his other profession–robbing trains. As the story goes, Alvord left behind his partner in crime, “Three-finger” Jack Dunlap, after Dunlap had been shot. Dunlap…
Jerry Brock slowly leans over and to his right, stretching slightly to reach the candy jar stashed behind his office desk. Very deliberately, he opens the wrapper to a piece of hard candy, and precisely places the morsel in his mouth. The ritual gives him a moment to contemplate disturbing…
As the mayor of Phoenix, he pushed for a dress code in local public schools. As a candidate for governor, he called for a statewide dress code. Now Paul Johnson may finally get his wish–at least at one Phoenix public school. Shortly after his third-place finish in the 1994 Democratic…
Recently asked by a magazine writer what he wanted chiseled on his tombstone, pioneering skin-flick maestro Russ Meyer cited a quotation directed at him by Charles H Keating Jr. some 25 years ago: “More than anyone else in his time, Russ Meyer was responsible for the decay of values in…
Veteran Arizona Republic reporter David Schwartz lost his job last month after it was revealed that he impersonated Valley attorney and former appellate judge Bruce Meyerson, allegedly to impress a woman he wanted to date, Meyerson confirmed last week. Meyerson says, “Obviously, it’s outrageous. It’s an intrusion into my privacy…
From the beginning, Rich Brydle says, he heard rumors about improper purchasing procedures at the Maricopa Community College District. Brydle, a former employee in the district’s purchasing department, says memos had been written and reprimands issued to Gary Mandarino, another purchasing employee who was in charge of buying computer software…
Asasn is over where the I and the Z in “revitalization” yawn in blown-out, three-foot-tall alphabet in front of him, filling in the characters with the blasphemous Glidden spray paint provided by the friendly folks at Pioneer Ford. A splash of bright red, and he stands back, intrigued: “That’s like…
A few minutes after pulling into the dusty parking lot of a huge barn just outside Goodyear, Raimondo Fontana puts down the tailgate on his ancient Ford pickup and starts checking his roosters. He has brought four of them for tonight’s derby, two red ones and two blacks, and darting…
The teenager doesn’t understand why the prosecution of her best friend’s alleged rapist failed so miserably. “It drove me crazy,” says Sharon Singer. “I wanted to jump up in court and tell the jury, ‘That guy forced her to have sex. She’s just a kid. You’ve got to believe her!’…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Maricopa County’s massive budget deficit precipitated a series of illegal bond sales in 1993, several county officials say. While the officials refused to comment on the record, one county supervisor confirmed last Monday that an SEC investigation is under way. The…
Ruth Brown joined LA Fitness Sports Club last spring expecting to regularly exercise in the pleasant surroundings of the spacious and well-equipped fitness center. Instead, Brown has spent the past six months deadlocked in a dispute with the health club stemming from foul-ups with electronic withdrawals the club takes from…
It was a band’s dream: to play a small town in the middle of nowhere and give hundreds of local kids music they never get to hear live. Phoenix industrial-metal rock groups N-17 and Ultrapure thought they had that fantasy all lined up in Kingman for New Year’s Eve. On…
When Gary Metzler decided to unload his 1966 Plymouth Valiant last year, the artist didn’t even bother to place a classified ad. It’s probably just as well. Within the constraints of a few lines of newspaper type, how do you even begin to describe a souped-up station wagon that simultaneously…
It’s three days before Christmas, and tired shoppers–including Jennifer, a preppy young woman–are resting against a marble fountain at Fashion Square. A graduate of Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Jennifer’s home on break. She’s a junior in college. With her are two boys, both high school freshmen, both wearing baseball…
Johnny is a seventh grader at a public school somewhere in the Valley. His teachers believe he has normal intelligence, but it’s hard to tell because he’s autistic, a condition one special education teacher describes in this way: “A racecar whose engine is not hooked up.” Johnny attends classes designed…
“Toddler X, you can’t attend this preschool. We’re learning numbers and colors and getting ready to go to school. But your mommy and daddy came to this country illegally, so you’ll have to wait until you’re old enough for kindergarten and then do the best you can . . .”…
When we last checked on Dean Mark Brewer, he was sitting in Maricopa County Jail on $314,000 bail, charged with 132 counts of theft in the looting of $8.17 million from the now-closed Charter Title Agency. But Brewer didn’t gain access to the world of high finance by being a…
As the centerpiece of a high-profile investigative series, the Arizona Republic published a story suggesting Arizona Boys Ranch employees had mistreated and later murdered a troubled black teenager. The story was wrong. In compiling the story, two Republic reporters doctored quotes, failed to interview key witnesses and ignored contradictory information…
Although William Kenneth “Taz” Stoner told the Los Angeles Times that he dynamited the Salt River’s Quartzite Falls to save lives, U.S. Forest Service documents suggest that Stoner had more self-serving motives, as well: Quartzite Falls was an obstruction in the flow of Stoner’s weekend job as a river guide…
The Roadrunner Truck Stop is history. Earlier this month, more than three years after changing traffic patterns forced the gas station-cum-hash house out of business, bulldozers and steam shovels descended on the onetime truckers’ paradise located west of I-17, just north of McDowell Road. When the dust had settled over…
The two men walked into the Subway sandwich shop with their weapons hidden. Both carried large, serious knives and they demanded all the money in the drawer. One guy went into the back of the store and grabbed the woman who managed the place. Out front, the second thief held…
