Cutting It Close Unified Conspiracy Theorists will love this one, which the Flash is not making up: Ron Bianchi, a former magazine publisher and columnist for the Phoenix Gazette, was murdered in September 1999. His bullet-riddled body was found in the woods near Payson. Bianchi apparently had some financial problems…
Brew Ha Ha Let me preface this letter by stating two things: 1) I think New Times is a fantastic publication, and 2) I am a reluctant Republican who loathes Senator John McCain. Having these disclaimers in place will help qualify what I wish to convey. I want you to…
The first time I saw Salvatore Gravano, the infamous mob assassin and, if the police have it right, local drug lord in the making, was a Friday night in July 1997. It was at the Gold Bar coffee house in Tempe. I watched Gravano sit with his back to the…
By the time you read this, Super Tuesday will be history, and the pundits will be gumming the results. Democrat Bill Bradley likely will say farewell by week’s end. But on the other side of the aisle, things are far from finished. Even if John McCain blew it in California…
Giant Sand Chore of Enchantment (Thrill Jockey) Calexico Descamino (Quarter Stick) Giant Sand main man Howe Gelb once quipped to me that much of his work falls into the “that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” category. So his new album is striking, as much for its magisterial sonic…
Two weeks ago, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt slipped into Phoenix to talk to Governor Jane Dee Hull about a land trade proposal that could fundamentally reshape the escalating debate between developers and conservationists over unbridled urban sprawl. On the same day that legislators were duking it out over…
“Bar’s loaded!” yells the referee. Powerlifter Tim Isaac now has 60 seconds to begin his lift. He takes a deep whiff from a bottle of ammonia to increase the oxygen in his blood, then approaches the bench. As he walks, his tightly strapped bench-press jacket forces his arms straight out,…
With its crude lettering, sloppy punctuation and juvenile doggerel, the ramshackle signage looks like something you’d expect to see outside Spanky and Alfalfa’s clubhouse, not in the front yard of a home in the heart of one of the Valley’s more exclusive neighborhoods. But for more than three weeks now,…
Many of the 13,000 investors left penniless in the contrail of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona’s $640 million bankruptcy have long blamed Arthur Andersen LLP, a major multinational accounting firm with offices in Phoenix, for their troubles. If the accounting firm had told the truth and had not given BFA…
Alice in 1984 When you run the best-managed city in the universe, you will stop at nothing — including surreal bookkeeping — to maintain the image. Such is the case with Phoenix bureaucrats, who decided to nip the costly Celebration 2000 embarrassment in the bud(get) by cooking the books and,…
“I feel a bit sorry for us here in America, where presidential campaigns have all the depth and verisimilitude of one interminably long infomercial…” John Highsmith McCain’s Gravy “Haunted by Spirits” (John Dougherty and Amy Silverman, February 17) is a fascinating and expertly written piece. As a McCain supporter, I…
This classroom lecture could be titled “Finding your inner predator.” Its premise is that carrying a handgun and training to use it are virtues that are too often neglected, like dental care. “Good people get killed and raped all the time because they fail to accept this basic responsibility of…
For much of his 36 years, suspected racketeer and former Arizona Corporation Commission executive secretary Jack Rose has “felt deeply ashamed and unhappy about my family and about who I was.” His Ivy League banter implies that he was born into a patrician world, but Rose grew up dirt poor…
In the words of Ebonics-spouting female horndog Clarissa Jenkins, “Necessity be da mutha of invenshun, baby. Know what ah’m sayin’?” Thanks to DJ Steve Tingle, father of this comic creation, fans of the Valley’s premier trash-talkin’ radio floozy know only too well. Just ask anyone who’s ever tuned in to…
A rusty sign reading “Cactus Garage” marks the only remnant of what was once Cactus, Arizona. Make that one of two remnants. Eighty-year-old desert rat Larry Jany is the oldest resident of Cactus, which sprang up as a stagecoach stop between Cave Creek and Phoenix. When Jany moved here 50…
The Joke’s on You Could Joke Arpaio find himself living in a tent soon? It could happen, unless the Maricopa County sheriff and Tent City overlord has the funds to pay off a debt of $195,000. Or unless it comes out of the public purse. A jury last month awarded…
Candidate With Destiny I am a Republican, and I appreciate all your efforts to uncover the real story behind John McCain (“Haunted by Spirits,” John Dougherty and Amy Silverman, February 17). I am sending your article to everyone I know. I appreciate that not everyone in journalism is so politically…
Gary Tredway is Howard Mechanic. We know this after the man was ratted out in the wings, then stripped of his mask on center stage. Mechanic has stood there since, lashed to the media’s whipping post, competing for attention with a dismembered torso. Mostly, he’s won. Mechanic is more fun…
Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control could charitably be described as lax when it comes to enforcing state liquor laws. Despite repeated violations of state laws — particularly selling beer to unlicensed businesses — the department has levied only one fine against Hensley & Company in the past 30…
This story is about the interests of justice in Maricopa County, about the kind of man they protect, and the kind of man they don’t. If I were a country balladeer, I’d call this tale “The Pistol Whippin’ Rancher From Cave Creek.” That would be Tom Rose, 53, an ex-cop…
During a recess in the final week of his monthlong murder trial, David Brackney turned to his friends and family members in the gallery and softly said, “It looks like I’ll be bringing cookies to church soon.” Brackney, 47, and his attorneys were convinced they had cause for such optimism…
Story Weaves Bizarre Web There’s a telling quote from a spokesman for Senator John McCain in the February 6 Millennial Arizona Republic. It’s in the story on Humble John’s non-role in a murder, and his non-dalliance with faded starlet Connie Stevens. The campaign flack, Dan Schnur, warned Republic editors and…
