Editor’s note: Hours before this story went to press, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office informed New Times that the subject of this story, Stephen Charles Peterson, was arrested at his Scottsdale office Tuesday morning on suspicion of fraud and theft. Peterson’s wife, Mary, also was arrested on the same charges…
Phoenix resident Pearse Cullinane is a gifted and prolific hand-drawing animator. It’s a painstaking job he perfected in an era when most animation companies, including Disney, were looking for shortcuts and ways of making feature-length animated film as cheaply as possible. An amiable, self-described hippie from Cork, Ireland, Cullinane had…
Assistant head football coach Sanford Lee Rodgers didn’t like what he was seeing during practice on the hot afternoon of August 14 at Scottsdale Community College. Running back Jamie Warren and defensive lineman Curtis Robinson were arguing and fighting, disrupting the practice. Rodgers already had a beef with Warren –…
For years, Bishop Thomas O’Brien has stood solidly behind the Reverend Saúl Madrid in the face of escalating complaints from parishioners. Last week, the bishop took the rare step of publicly criticizing Madrid, but he only succeeded in further angering and frustrating Madrid’s detractors, who considered the bishop’s statement nothing…
Plaza Sweet Boondoggle in waiting: Thanks for your article on the Phoenix Civic Plaza (“Convention Hysteria,” Jeremy Voas, August 31). Allowing for cost overruns and mistakes, which are quite common where the City of Phoenix is involved, this could conceivably end up being a billion-dollar boondoggle.It is not just the…
Helen Brock momentarily ponders poet Ogden Nash’s Song of the Open Road, then, in a soft Oklahoma drawl, repeats it haltingly. “I think that I shall never see A billboard as lovely as a tree. Perhaps unless the billboards fall, I’ll never see a tree at all.” For the past…
Jason Ayers sat in the VIP lounge of New York City’s premier techno club, marveling at his luck. On any other Friday night, Ayers would be working in his cramped, rented bedroom in Tempe, or maybe minding his budget at a nightclub. But 48 hours ago, he got on a…
Usually it’s the special interest group that has trouble getting face time with the elected official. Not so when it comes to cats and dogs, according to Bill Lally, executive administrator to Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock. Lally says he and his staff have spent the past six months trying…
With less than a week to go before the primary, the hottest local story of this campaign season is one wholly created by the media. Last week, the East Valley Tribune ran an exclusive front-page, top-of-the-fold story reporting that one congressional candidate’s investigation into the personal finances of another candidate…
In the quest to be noticed — and, ultimately, elected — some candidates hand out the strangest things. Two campaign seasons ago, the well-coifed and ultimately unsuccessful Steve Owens, a Democrat, handed out combs to potential constituents in the Sixth Congressional District. This year, CD1 GOP hopeful Tom Liddy is…
Badge of Scourge Joe must go: “Posse Galore” by Robert Nelson (August 24) was a great article. Perhaps the reason Sheriff Joe Arpaio stays away from New Times is New Times’ depth. Though “legal” by law, I think the “double-dipping” by David Hendershott clearly shows that Joe Blow could not…
Truth Be ToldThe Millennial Arizona Republic has taken journalistic activism to a new low with its offer to pay for polygraph tests for two congressional candidates accused of mudslinging. Wait. Perhaps activism is the wrong word. Self-absorbed meddling is a better description.The two District 1 candidates — Tom “Tom” Liddy…
Let us agree that reviewing Golden Lies, the first Meat Puppets album in five years — and the first to present Curt Kirkwood without brother Cris and Derrick Bostrom — is a fool’s errand for a Phoenix-based writer. Only a certified masochist accepts that responsibility. Let us agree to that,…
On September 15, certain citizens of Arizona expect to be lifted bodily into the air and swept into heaven. If it doesn’t happen, there could be hell to pay.To prepare for this “lifting up,” leaders of the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints in Colorado City, Arizona, have ordered parents to keep their…
Juris Imprudence Docket delays: Regarding the article titled “Docket Science” in the August 10 issue: While the writer, Amy Silverman, did a good job of explaining the problems at Maricopa County Superior Court, some additional comments are necessary to clarify the true nature and extent of the problems caused by…
The Phoenix Civic Plaza is a tax rat hole. In 1998-99 alone, it cost nearly $30 million to operate, yet took in about a third of that. The $20 million operations deficit was made up by unsuspecting local taxpayers. They ponied up the equivalent of 30 bucks apiece for every…
One of the special privileges of Flashdom is having a window onto a world few people see. You see, most correspondence generated in America today gets copied to the Flash. This keeps this Burst of Light extremely busy and extremely entertained. The Flash sees travails. The Flash hears the most…
Lisa Stevens hadn’t a clue what was happening with her child-custody case. “I just needed an answer from the judge about where my son was going to live during the new school year,” says the 32-year-old single mother who lives in Phoenix. For sure, Stevens didn’t know until recently that…
All the goofball publicity antics of “America’s Toughest Sheriff” would be really funny, all the strange, mean, paranoid maneuvers in this cage match of a sheriff’s race would be really funny, if amid all the madcap mayhem you didn’t have to read letters like this one from Catherine Smith: “I…
Metalheads News from downtown: The Flash’s sources say we can expect the Phoenix Downtown Partnership to sharpen its identity and spiff up its image by dubbing its area of influence the “Copper Square.” The partnership is dedicated to boosting business, development and redevelopment in the downtown core.And, of course, keeping…
For Frank Baranowski, the trouble started when he was 8 years old. Until then, Baranowski, the 57-year-old host of KTAR’s weekend paranormal showcase “Mysteries Around Us,” was just another blue-collar Polish kid growing up in the hayseed town of Michigan City, Indiana. But Baranowski says at the age of 8…
When U.S. military officials recently admitted the mandatory anthrax immunization program was in trouble and could be shut down due to supply problems, many who had fought against the program were heartened. But for Jeffrey Bettendorf, 27, the first serviceman to face a court-martial over his refusal to submit to…
