Finally, A Solution Phoenicians know how to handle a panhandler; pat your pockets as if searching for change, smile apologetically, then say, “Sorry, pal,” as if fresh out. It may or may not be true, but, hey, at least it looks like you made the effort. But for those who…
For the past two weeks, Jose Antonio has raced home from whatever job he could find that day, usually busing tables or washing dishes in one of the tony downtown Phoenix eateries. Once home, he turns on the old black-and-white television in his run-down central Phoenix apartment. He wonders if…
Puppet Tears This is the very first time I have ever felt compelled to contact a writer or publication in response to an article. David Holthouse’s very sad story on Cris Kirkwood (“Shooting Star,” November 12) is an excellent piece of journalism, in my opinion, and unfortunately seems to be…
The two men face each other in an interview room at the Phoenix Police Department. It is 1:53 a.m. on January 17, 1997. Veteran detective John Norman introduces himself to Scott Louis Falater, who is seated in a corner of the little room, his back literally against a wall. Norman…
The marquee is lighted and the front door is open, but the lobby of the Valley Art Theatre is empty. Outside, Mill Avenue is alive with the modest bustle of a Thursday evening in downtown Tempe. College kids, yuppies, panhandlers and cops are about their business. But with the possible…
The phone is no friend of Curt Kirkwood’s. Too often, the tidings it bears are foul. He calls them “incomings from Tempe.” They go like this: Your brother’s wife overdosed this morning; she’s dead. Your brother got busted again last night, and he told the cops he was you. Your…
Ballots, Not Bullets Okay, okay. The Flash knows that ruminations on the November 3 general election might seem a bit moldy. But what’s a gossip monger to do? You see, dear Flashites, the Flash’s drop-dead deadline is Tuesday afternoon. Last week’s edition was being printed as the election results began…
The primary contractor for Bank One Ballpark is expected to file a lawsuit this week seeking $34 million in damages from the Maricopa County Stadium District, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the stadium’s architects and construction manager. The suit, which is to be filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, culminates months…
Former governor J. Fife Symington III, who once lambasted the courts for protecting “all manner of antisocial behavior,” now awaits his own ruling from a trio of federal judges. Last week, the panel heard his appeal to overturn his September 1997 conviction on six counts of bank fraud. As Symington…
Nearly 300 rank-and-file Department of Public Safety officers have won a major court victory in a bitter, three-year struggle with DPS managers over overtime pay. In a decision that likely will cost the state millions of dollars, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Cates ruled last month that DPS…
Jerry Solomon went to court last Friday hoping to get out of prison in a year or two. He went back to his cell with a good possibility of dying behind bars. That’s because the 58-year-old Scottsdale man, already in jail for conspiring to kill his girlfriend’s husband, tried last…
The Crime of Punishment Two years ago, while a visiting third-year law student at Arizona State University, I had the pleasure of meeting, and briefly working with, Dale Baich. Barry Graham’s column “Near-Death Experience” (October 29) did an excellent job of portraying Baich. How Baich can do the work he…
Spur Cross Ranch must’ve looked as good to John McCain as prickly-pear fruit does to a hungry javelina. Last year about this time, Arizona’s senior senator toured the 2,250 acres of pristine Sonoran desert on the northern end of Cave Creek abutting the Tonto National Forest, home to endangered wildlife…
Martin Shultz’s associates say that he has never been shy around power. A member of the Phoenix Comm- unity Alliance (PCA), a private group of downtown corporate and business leaders, and for the past 20 years the director of governmental relations at Arizona Public Service Company, he cut his political…
Early and Often The Flash was button-poppin’ proud to do patriotic duty in the polling booth on Tuesday. Actually, it wasn’t a polling booth; it was more like a polling kiosk. This Burst of Light developed writers’ cramp while once again voting to turn out all the judges–and also found…
There are millions of Mexican nationals living in the United States–legally or illegally–a fact that has not escaped some Mexican politicians who will begin debating later this month whether to let that sizable expatriate community vote in Mexican national elections. Mexican politicos on the stump in Arizona? Mexican voting booths…
How does a mile-deep hole in the desert become a cultural icon, a mystic symbol and the world’s biggest tourist attraction? That’s what Arizona State University professor Stephen J. Pyne set out to explain in his new book, How the Canyon Became Grand. “The simple view is that here’s this…
The long cookie bake-off is finally over for Granny Hull. Here is what she’s been camera-mugging, sweet-talking and publicly patting small school children on the head for throughout the past year. In this, her moment of truth and reconciliation with the people of Arizona, Governor Jane Dee Hull finally can…
This week, let’s talk about adultery. About illicit blowjobs. And about perjury. Better yet, let’s talk about a guy who does all of those things. Let’s pick a guy who not only cheated on his wife by getting multiple blowjobs (so he could say he hadn’t “had sex” with the…
Squat’s Up I totally disagree with Tempe’s proposed ordinance to prevent homeless kids from sitting on sidewalks (“Crusty Crackdown,” David Holthouse, October 22). I think it is wrong and should not be accepted. I am an upper-class white male, and feel sorry for the bums on the street. They have…
Proposition 200, the Citizens Clean Elections Act, would give candidates for statewide and legislative offices the opportunity to opt for nearly complete public financing. They’d be allowed to raise a small amount of private cash for exploratory committees. The rules would not apply to candidates for federal or local elections,…
Giving Moods While Arizonans debate the idea of getting big money out of state political campaigns, four Arizonans have been giving big money to federal campaigns. The quartet made the new list of political fat cats put out by Mother Jones magazine–the MoJo 400. Altogether, the foursome accounted for $172,109…
