When the Babbitts abandoned Arizona to pursue the White House, they bequeathed Evan Mecham and Rose Mofford to those of us left behind. Not content with this questionable legacy, the Babbitts have once again taken to the road, most recently to midwive the birth of democracy in the unlikely precincts…
The disgusting smell jolted Darryleen Kelley last June 1 when she arrived for work at the Mesa Police Department. “I said to someone, `They must have found bugs as big as rats in here,'” recalls Kelley, an investigative assistant who had been with the East Valley department for a decade…
For doctors, there’s nothing like a pop medical malady to make the big bucks. Back in the Seventies, hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, was the fad of the day. Ten years later, many a physician got that second Benz as yuppies everywhere fell prey (or thought they did) to Epstein-Barr…
And now for the Super Bowl. Bill Bidwill, inept, incompetent and insensitive, is the single clear reason Arizona has “won” the Super Bowl for 1993. After two full seasons of play in Sun Devil Stadium, it was obvious to other National Football League owners that the Cardinals franchise was turning…
They said Phoenix was done. Over. A desert flash in the pan. Worse than Houston. You know who “they” are: the eastern media guys in their fey, little bow ties from Hart Schaffner & Marx. The Valley’s decline didn’t move off the front page of the national press until Donald…
Sam Steiger strolls behind the bar. The place is Penelope Parkenfarker’s sports bar on Cortez in Prescott. This isn’t Whiskey Row. That’s a much-bawdier area on Montezuma. Whiskey Row is two blocks away, fronts the Prescott County Courthouse and is anchored by heroic drinking emporiums like the Western Bar and…
Some stories are so rich they tell themselves. So picture chapter two of the Rose Mofford, Terry and Sam Goddard show. “Goddamn it, Rose,” Sam Goddard shouts into the telephone. “Who in the hell you been talking to?” “Wait a min . . . ,” the governor sputters. “How did…
This is the kind of family I married into. My wife has an aunt named Ha Ha. Actually, her name is Charlotte, but years ago, when my wife’s sister was just learning to talk, it came out “Ha Ha.” The tragic result: a bright, attractive woman has had to spend…
Now that there is a baseball future, writers across the country are peering into their highball glasses in hopes of seeing it. This is something they do every year. These somber prognostications are often hilarious, more often pathetic, hardly ever correct. Still, the writers scrawl. Following are my predictions for…
Dave, A review suggestion: Newman’s Deli in the Liquor Barn at 36th Street and Indian School. They have a screamin’ deal from like 11 to 2–for $1.95 you get a good deli sandwich on your choice of bread or roll, a little side salad and a deli pickle. Can’t beat…
As a video camera whirred away one afternoon last June, a nine-year-old boy popped his gum and accused his mother of sexually abusing him. He said his mother, Wanda C., molested him when he was five. And he said she continued molesting him even after he’d been put in foster…
“It is the most rewarding thing I have ever done.” Does local businesswoman Marion van Rooy: House the homeless? Feed the hungry? Save the whales? Or does she sell $90, custom-fitted, computer-measured swimming suits to women in Scottsdale? “People come in a little negative, a little worried,” says van Rooy,…
The little tent pitched on the lawn at Encanto Park is quickly filling up with noisy children who have dragged their parents to yet another circus. It’s getting crowded and hot, but the kids seem only to notice that the Center Ring is so close they can almost touch it…
Lute Olson’s arrogant smirk told all you had to know. Last Sunday’s game against UCLA was proceeding according to plan. The Pac-10 tournament final was a blowout for Arizona. And so Olson, the basketball coach with the largest ego west of Bloomington, Indiana, was on his way to a soft…
Children believe that television’s Mr. Rogers is a soft-spoken friend. What I believe is that if the man in the cardigan sweater changed jobs, he’d want to drive a bus for Greyhound. Such is the faithful, comforting image all of us carry of the drivers who steward the nation’s poor,…
Drumroll, please. The excitement of the Name-the-Baby Sweepstakes is about to reach a fever pitch. As you may recall (provided you haven’t blocked it from memory), some of the, er, lesser prizes have already been announced: a phone call direct from the Dad Zone upon the kid’s birth proclaiming you…
Want something hot and spicy delivered right to your doorstep? Well, don’t call Domino’s, dial Out of the Blue, a Scottsdale-based service that’s believed to be the Valley’s (and perhaps the nation’s) first XXX video delivery service. Operators are standing by now to take your ardor. Here’s how it works…
Pedophile priest George Bredemann, currently serving a year in jail after he admitted molesting three boys, reportedly has been bounced out of the Roman Catholic priesthood. But the Diocese of Phoenix won’t comment on the strong rumors circulating around the controversial priest, and one of Bredemann’s closest friends, Fred Noll,…
Curtis Hennig arrived at Saguaro High in Scottsdale midway during his junior year, a transfer student from Minnesota who quickly made it known he wanted to play football, wrestle and raise hell. He is remembered by his athlete friends as a friendly, fun-loving kid who loved to roughhouse. When your…
Sam Steiger pulled off his coat and grinned as he collapsed onto the bench under the big tree. He was wearing broad red suspenders that matched his broad red tie. It was certain now. Steiger was in the race for governor. He would make a formal announcement in the next…
The first thing that used to catch your eye when you walked to the rear of Ed Markgraf’s Pharmacy were those life- size black-and-white photographs of Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, and James Dean. Bogart and Dean . . . movie heroes of the Fifties . . . remnants of the…
Psst! It’s me again. Burkett’s four-year-old, Matthew. Hold the cheers and applause. Dad thinks I’m playing “Super Mario Brothers” on his computer. He doesn’t know that I’ve dumped the usual load of bilge he planned to run this week to give you the real, behind-the-scenes lowdown on that “Name-the-Baby Sweepstakes”…
