I had Abbie Hoffman all wrong, at first. I met him back in August 1968, when Abbie was drilling protesters in Lincoln Park. It was hot and muggy, and the Democratic convention was about to start. Abbie wore a pith helmet down over his eyes. His long black curls dangled…
The mourners at last Thursday’s wake for firefighter Dale Brandt paused at a table laden with his mementoes. There were photos of sixteen-year Phoenix Fire Department veteran Brandt and his partners, a pair of aviator sunglasses, a tape of Dirty Dancing (his favorite record), an essay about him written by…
If dissatisfaction with the Phoenix City Council keeps growing, it’s safe to bet somebody’s going to suggest tinkering with the district system–the “reform” election system voters approved in 1982. And someone’s bound to suggest Tucson has a better idea. For sixty years Tucson has tried to combine the “best of…
A handsome warrior with a perfectly dashing Schwarzenegger physique creeps into a dark tunnel, where he encounters a slithering reptile-man oozing pus. Just as the monster is about to pounce upon a naked, shackled princess, the warrior slashes off the reptile-man’s noggin with a mighty stroke of his scimitar. Then…
Has it been only one year since Evan Mecham was booted out of the governor’s office? Here’s a look at some of the key characters in Arizona’s most spectacular political drama: DONNA CARLSONTHEN: The former GOP legislator became an executive assistant to Mecham upon his election in November 1986, but…
Proposition 200 is a bust, no matter what you hear. Two weeks ago, the head of Arizonans for Campaign Ethics called a press conference to claim that the contribution limits enacted by voters in 1986 kept down the cost of last year’s legislative races. That was followed closely by a…
Months before the ValTrans campaign started, publicist Bill Meek–the guy who was supposed to promote it–came up with some embarrassing questions. “It occurred to me we were about to embark on a fairly major charade,” recalls Meek, who had dug through an avalanche of material from the Regional Public Transportation…
First he lost the governorship. Then he lost the dealership. Now EVAN MECHAM is having big problems with the potteryship. Last month, UNITED POTTERY of Glendale filed Chapter 11 papers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, listing liabilities of more than $1.2 million and a cryptic reference to an “E. Mecham.” “I…
They will sentence Kareem Abdul-Jabbar within the hour. The courtroom is in the old Phoenix Union High School. “Where can I find Kareem’s courtroom?” I ask. The receptionist on the main floor doesn’t have to check her chart. “You mean that basketball player?” she asks. I nod. “Down the stairs…
As the debate has raged over the latest beast on the ASU campus, the looming lavenderish hulk of the new Fine Arts Complex, it’s become clear that Tempe might be a difficult spot for a normal person to find somebody to like–seeing as how the available cliques harbor only lugheads…
The human brain is a thing of mystery. It can get us to the moon, cure diseases, and solve equations of enormous complexity. Yet all you need is one loose mental connection to qualify as a slack-witted, dim-sighted, dead-from-the-neck-up and dead-from-the-neck-down simpleton. Take me for an example: I’m a smoker…
No one knew what U-Haul founder L.S. Shoen had in mind at his “Celebration of Love and Respect.” L.S. was as unpredictable as a desert storm. I’m a 180-degree guy, he often said, and I’ll change direction before you blink if I think it’s right. He had started U-Haul with…
Sure, Arizona has the world’s largest land gorge (the Grand Canyon) and the world’s smallest rodent (the northern pygmy mouse) and the country’s oldest town (838-year-old Oraibi on the Hopi Reservation) and more species of hummingbirds than any other state (14). We’ve got the world’s biggest cacti (saguaros with arms…
Terry Franks admitted shooting two people to death and seriously wounding two others. That part was cut and dried. What was his defense? Insanity. Uranium-related temporary insanity. Gamma rays on the brain, so to speak. The 25-year-old Navajo has certifiable brain damage that left him with an IQ of about…
Howard Keim, the developer hired to run Scottsdale’s Horseworld project, has been criticized for the sluggish financial performance of the multimillion-dollar playground for pony people. Now he’s named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit accusing him and several other people of defrauding investors in another equestrian park near Santa…
It wasn’t the fault of Arizona Public Service Co. customers that the Palo Verde nuclear plant wound up with a badly designed pump. But the bean counters hired to look at expenses at the $9.3 billion plant think the customers should pay big bucks because of it. To no one’s…
Let’s get to the moral of this story right up-front: Valley National Bank thinks a happy employee is a puzzled employee. The behemoth of local banks is trying to get its 7,000 employees’ attention by giving them puzzles–jigsaws, Rubik’s cubes and the like. The idea is tied to their prize-winning…
Is Rose Mofford hiding something? The bouffant-coiffed occupant of the ninth floor of the capitol tower doesn’t think it’s any of the public’s business with whom she is meeting and consulting before making decisions. It seems that somehow letting the public know who is bending her ear might, in her…
Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick: I really resent being called stupid and insensitive for my service as a juror on the Martin Mix case. I would like to point out that just because the evidence indicated there had been sexual intercourse between the parties does not always mean the conclusion should be…
As a kid I suspected that environmentalists did not enjoy life very much. I mean, no one would ever pay cash money to watch Jacques Cousteau dance. Every ecological advocate I saw looked and acted like some weedy refugee who’d fasted a tad too long on groatcakes and carrot juice…
Warning: If you aren’t a parent and have no intention of becoming one, read no farther. The following contains information you don’t want to know, wouldn’t understand, and are in no way equipped to stomach. There. Now that the pantywaists among you have moved on to the Puzzle page, we…
Easter Sunday morning. Slowly, you walk into the alley south of Madison Street. It’s still partially dark. It’s 6:35 a.m. A steady rain falls. It’s been raining all night. On the radio, they talk of flash flood warnings. The fat copies of the Sunday Republic make a last-ditch effort to…
