Legislator Dave Carson, noting the rising bankruptcy filings, says, “As you know, we share some very illustrious company in that respect.” Two conservative lawmakers who led the tax revolt last year and a wanna-be conservative representative are fending off tax collectors outside the legislature. Representatives Don Aldridge of Lake Havasu…
Yes, I know. I said I was going to take a six- or eight-week hiatus from Dad Zoning, and here we are almost five months later. But as any parent will confirm, time flies when you’re having babies. And it positively zooms when you choose to raise them yourself, as…
The crafty old trainer watches his new kid shadowbox in front of a full- length mirror. Fifteen-year-old Chris Campbell is working out for the first time at the Tuff Side Gym on 17th Avenue and Van Buren. Sweat pours off both of them. It’s 110 degrees outside the gym and…
At 76 years of age, Robert Eggert is the embodiment of power. He flies to meetings with Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He swaps fishing gear with Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He pals around with Milton Friedman, considered one of the greatest…
Slowly, so very slowly, Kim Donaldson awkwardly points out the letters on her homemade alphabet board. “I.d.o.n.t.k.n.o.w.w.h.y.I. c.a.n.t.g.o.t.o.c.o.u.r.t.” Her mother stands over her, shoving on her reading glasses to follow the clumsy hand movements of her 22-year-old daughter. “This time you will, dear, this time you will.” It’s the kind…
The judge who once told convicted murderer Ray Girdler he should die now says Girdler probably shouldn’t have been convicted in the first place. Yavapai County Superior Court Judge James Sult has set aside the 71-year-prison sentence of the Prescott man, who was convicted eight years ago of torching his…
Editor’s Note: Publicity about the Biosphere II project–that plan to seal eight human beings in a greenhouse near Tucson for two years starting in December–is starting to crank up. Well, since the summer of 1989, New Times Science Editor Cap’n Dave has been conducting his own experiment in “environmentally self-sufficient…
Channel 10 has a “Vision” of a happier Phoenix. The station’s “Share the Vision” campaign, the brain child of Channel 10 general manager Ron Bergamo, calls for the station to act as the Valley’s dispenser of charity by providing public service programming aimed at solving Phoenix’s more pressing crises, like…
I fell in love with the car the first time I saw it, and would have bought it even if it hadn’t run. It was a 1986 Chevy El Camino, a workingman’s Cadillac, a car good only for passing other vehicles and looking cool in, a vehicle, in all other…
TELLURIDE, Colorado–There are stories so rich in converging dramatic angles that few readers are willing to spend the time to trace them to their conclusion. That had been my first reaction to the long fratricidal war waged by the children of L.S. Shoen, 74, for control of the $1.2 billion…
Ever since last October, Jennie Garvin has dreamed of the day when she could tell everyone in the world to “get lost.” Sadly, the head of the Eloy Chamber of Commerce now may never get her chance. Thanks to a labyrinth of problems, a Scottsdale developer has shelved plans to…
For years, the position of secretary of state was defined by the personality of Rose Mofford, who presided over the capitol’s executive tower as the state’s least controversial public official. The ceremonial queen of Arizona, Mofford decked the halls with kachina dolls, snipped ribbons with vigor and performed her obscure…
Candidates for Arizona’s biggest political jobs can advertise themselves for free on a worldwide hotline designed to reach millions of patriotic voters. So far during this campaign, thank heavens, only one candidate has tried it. The hotline is operated by the Pentagon to serve the American military and their families…
It might surprise you to find out that choosing a Republican candidate for governor is a lot like ordering dinner. The political menu, compiled by young GOP campaign staffers, reads this way: Sam Steiger: “He’s a lot like Mexican food, spicy and substantial. But he’ll upset your stomach in the…
“I’m always nice to Bob Corbin, because if there’s one person in Arizona who can ruin your life, it’s the attorney general.” This observation, made privately by one of the state’s most powerful politicians, reveals how much the office has changed since the days when Arizona’s attorney general did little…
Children don’t dream of growing up to be Arizona Secretary of State. In fact, you expect those who seek the job to be the kind who, as kids, were beaten up by the schoolyard bully for their lunch money: low-key, studious types who can find happiness in bureaucratic tasks that…
Two years and $100,000 later, no one can say for sure how widespread cancer is among Arizona’s firefighters. And, just as important, no one knows whether firefighters contract cancer on the job. The mystery seems so difficult to solve that even the firefighters who pushed for the study aren’t angered…
It’s true. Every hero really does become a bore at last. And now it’s Senator John McCain’s turn. McCain, Arizona’s most charismatic political figure for most of the past decade, has touched bottom. Only a war in the Persian Gulf can save his senatorial seat, which comes up in the…
It’s a battle between good and evil. At least that’s the way former Phoenix justice of the peace Roger Rudman describes the duel for the JP slot in the East Phoenix No. 1 District, where candidates are battling for a little-known judgeship with the fervor and vitriol usually reserved for…
Remember the thrashing Phoenix got from BARRON’S a year and a half ago, and the outraged reaction to the financial mag by “civic leaders” who were insulted that anyone would say our economy is in the toilet? Well, an even grimmer story appeared in the August 10 WALL STREET JOURNAL,…
About fifteen minutes into his talk to the civic group about America’s dirty secret, the uniformed deputy sheriff says, “I’ve brought a guest and his name is Tom. He’s a convicted child molester.” Tom molested his own daughter for several years, the deputy says. She’s now in a foster home…
Cap’n Dave, No one gives a damn about wineburgers. Get the picture? This one, like all of your series so far, is a big flop. Please stick to the one-shot method–that’s what you’re good at. Now stop sniveling or get a real job. Snades Phoenix P.S. Thanks for all the…
