Rite Guard Re: possession: Paul Hernandez’s belief in demons is yet another example of how the Catholic Church has failed our most forgotten — the seriously mentally ill (“The Devil and Mr. Hernandez,” Gilbert Garcia, February 8). In a terribly morbid sense, we are all possessed with the spirit of…
Last August, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. announced it was recalling millions of potentially flawed tires, many on the super-popular Ford Explorer. It was the first nationwide warning by the company that tread could separate from the tires at high speeds, a defect that may be linked to hundreds of accidents and dozens…
Paul Hernandez sits in a dimly lighted two-room apartment on the west side of Phoenix and prepares for battle. Hernandez has no accomplices. He brandishes no firearms, no blunt instruments. His only weapons are a wooden crucifix, a bottle of holy water on a corner bookshelf, and a hardbound prayer…
Rod Beaumont comes bustling in to a small Prescott conference room, a few minutes late for a scheduled visit. He looks somewhat stressed, as if he has been terribly busy but will interrupt his work as a courtesy. His hair is longer and his build stockier than a publicity picture…
One morning last week, as he’s done for a quarter-century, Eddie Haramina set up shop in front of the county courthouse in downtown Phoenix. He didn’t appreciate that it was a blustery day — the wind kills his business, he said.Eddie took a hand-painted sign and leaned it against a…
Dan Willoughby, the Gilbert man accused of killing his wife in a sensational Rocky Point murder 10 years ago, wants out of jail. His attorneys want to exhume the victim’s body again. And the Coconino County Attorney’s Office is taking over the case.Those are some of the latest twists in…
Winging It Bird brain: Thank you for printing the article about Jerry Ostwinkle (“Raptor Rapture,” Jennifer Markley, February 1). It shows us just how out of control the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Kamile McKeever and others in her department have become. It makes me feel like one of the…
The news that Rick Romley is a candidate to become the nation’s next drug czar is vivid evidence that irony is alive and well.Romley — the Maricopa County attorney since 1989 — would set all kinds of new precedents for drug czardom. He would be our first drug czar who…
The Price of News The ads on the front page of the Millennial Arizona Republic get more garish every day.And the Republic’s editors stray farther onto dangerous ground. They create memos like the one by Venita James, senior editor for suburban news, dated January 22 and headlined, “REVENUE POSSIBILITIES/Community editions.”…
When David Grossman came to on the hospital bed, he thought he’d suffered a heart attack. That’s what it felt like, that pain and shortness of breath. If it weren’t for the cabby, he never would have made it to the hospital. Most likely he’d be dead. Things are messed…
The San Carlos Apache Tribal Council, famous throughout Indian country for the frequency of its political meltdowns, has apparently started the new year with yet another battle threatening the tribal government’s ability to operate.In December, New Times documented the vicious and apparently illegal removal from the council of reformer Margarite…
When retired safecracker Andrew Forkes first did lock-down time, bathtub gin was the libation of choice. By his 18th birthday in 1925, he had five years of reform school under his belt, the consequence of a childhood in Ohio spent burglarizing and running away from home. “Never thought I’d make…
Jerry Ostwinkle glared out his front window across the street at the green trucks with white government license plates that had staked out his home for the past several days. It wouldn’t be long before three federal wildlife agents would be walking up his driveway. The knock came, and seeing…
In September, Crystal Todd happened to catch a television documentary that surprised her. The program, on the health effects of water damage and mold in homes and buildings, could have starred Todd and her 8-year-old son.For five years, Todd and her son, Connor, lived in the Vista Montaña Apartments on…
Firing Line Editor’s note: New Times’ exclusive interview with the arsonist responsible for a string of fires on the edge of the Phoenix Mountains Preserve has sparked a firestorm of controversy over the paper’s handling of the interview (“An Exclusive Interview With the Preserves Arsonist,” January 25). Staff writer James…
There’s a subpoena on my desk. I’m not named in it, but one of my colleagues, James Hibberd, is. He’s the journalist who interviewed the Mountain Preserves arsonist, then wrote a story about it. [read the story] Hibberd met the arsonist because he and his editors believed the guy might…
The arsonist remembers the day it began. He was mountain biking when he first considered burning down somebody’s house. He had no prior experience with arson, he says. “Hell no,” he exclaims, somewhat offended at the very idea. “I had never committed a crime, period.” And why would he? He…
The man claiming responsibility for the Mountains Preserve arsons provided details proving he is a member of the CSP and demonstrated knowledge about the fires that was authenticated by authorities or subsequent events.Such details include: • The unpublished contents of CSP communiqués sent to several publications. • Previously unreported facts,…
Celia “CeCe” Margaret Doane is best known for her 1971 Miss Arizona title and the Rolls-Royce she drives around Paradise Valley, but the town’s police also know her for her frequent calls — sometimes to 911, often to Police Chief John Wintersteen on his cell phone or at home. When…
ASU’s Manzanita residence hall is a 15-story salute to the wondrous versatility of duct tape.The tape is two and three layers thick on ducts located in the bowels of this 37-year-old modernist nightmare. Electrical and plumbing machinery and conduits are cobbled snarls of gray tape, red rust and black muck…
The beagle puppies used in Dr. Michael Berens’ controversial brain tumor research project (“Screwing the Pooch,” January 4) have been quietly adopted out. Barrow Neurological Institute released the dogs from a Tucson kennel several weeks ago, even though representatives told New Times the dogs were unfit for adoption and would…
Torcher ChamberMatch game: I am reading the article “Burn, Baby, Burn” (James Hibberd, January 11) and I am shaking my head in disbelief over the casual attitude that so many people have toward the arsonist, who feels he is justified in doing this crime to make a point.I do not…
