The man, we’ll call him Phuong, had laid down a considerable bet on the Phoenix Suns, and the Suns had lost. Phuong followed that mistake with another. When the bookmakers he’d placed the bet with arrived to collect their money, Phuong told them to collect the money from a friend…
Terry Lynam, one of Governor J. Fife Symington III’s defense attorneys, sauntered down the federal courthouse steps wearing a big smile. He was delighted because the defense had scored what he believed were significant points during another round of mind-numbing testimony at Symington’s criminal trial. The testimony had centered on…
In the Hole With Quayle It seems that Veep turned American Graduate School of International Management professor Dan Quayle is not a big favorite on the golf links–at least not among the caddies. Pete Sager, who has caddied for Quayle “about 15 to 20 times” at Paradise Valley Country Club,…
Arizona is supposedly booming, a happening place. But for some seriously ill people, all that’s happening is the abuse and neglect they’re suffering from the people charged with taking care of them. Beci Johnson is 21 years old. She’s been having anxiety attacks since she was 16. Symptoms include agoraphobia,…
Service Men Behaving Badly I read the article “Casualty Sex” (Howard Stansfield, May 29) with great interest. During my 23 years of active duty with the Air Force, I have seen many abuses committed by members of the active forces who considered themselves above all others, as was possibly the…
A recent article in the Arizona Business Gazette announced that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio would address a Chamber of Commerce breakfast and “share his secrets of self-promotion.” Arpaio apparently believes he deserves some of the credit for Phoenix’s robust economy. He told the ABG, “I equate crime, publicity and…
For 15 years, Arizona Republic editorial cartoonist Steve Benson has vigilantly policed Arizona politics, unleashing attacks on fat cats, sacred cows, snowbirds and whale-savers. In 1993, he won a Pulitzer Prize. Since then, he’s broken with the Mormon church (his late grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson, was president of the denomination),…
Kids, Just Say No–to Biker Cults! Gilbert-area residents, be on the lookout for dangerous cultists who are roaming quiet neighborhoods “seeking whom they may devour.” They are suspiciously clean-cut (they prefer black trousers and white shirts, with narrow black ties) and usually travel in twos, on bicycles. Do not approach…
Maestro Hermann Michael, the new music director for the Phoenix Symphony, is a natty man who wears two-tone shoes and layers sweater vests over short-sleeved shirts, even when temperatures outside reach 100. He beams and beckons his way through rehearsals with the orchestra, slashing out perfect Nike swooshes with his…
Government prosecutors face a dilemma as the Symington criminal trial moves into its fourth week. Prosecutors know they must present overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing to win a conviction; they realize that no jury is likely to slam a sitting governor for making a couple of mistakes. But, at the same…
Phoenix-based Interwest Management, Inc., the firm hoping to land a $360 million contract to build and operate the South Mountain Toll Road, may be forced to shed its president, Richard Lloyd Carr, if it hopes to do business with the state. Carr, whose most recent public-private improvement is a $32…
GOP Losing Lust for S&M Going to trial on 22 criminal counts of fraud and attempted extortion can, in fact, take a toll on one’s political influence. For those keeping score, the Symington-McCain team (S&M) has struck out once again in its campaign to punish Republicans who’ve displeased the royal…
Rick Diomede and Bruce Brogard sound many common themes when they talk about their neighborhood, the FQ Story Historic District. They talk about crime, media attention and property values. They talk about efforts to clean up the streets and the concerns of their neighbors. It almost seems they have the…
Before Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill can move his team into an East Valley domed stadium–something he’s all but demanded as ransom for keeping the Cardinals in town–he’ll need plenty of assistance. Not only from an army of engineers, planners and lawyers, but also the backing of local politicians, the…
On one of their first dates, Ann Olin Pritzlaff and J. Fife Symington III watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a movie about the escapades of two rogue bank robbers who are aided and abetted by a mousy schoolmarm named Etta Place. Has former schoolteacher Ann Olin Pritzlaff Symington…
J. Fife Symington III’s former secretary, Joyce Riebel, offered the Rosemary Woods defense in court last week. Riebel poleaxed court observers by claiming the governor’s crooked financial statements were partly the result of her typing errors. She added that her word processor caused the banking fraud. Riebel claimed that when…
Ire and Brimstone The article “In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Wholly Owned Subsidiary” (Terry Greene Sterling, May 22) was very slanted and misleading. I am an heir to the equity of my mother’s life estate, which she knowingly purchased in 1985 from the Conservative…
Randy Setzer pads out of the bedroom in his stocking feet, plops down onto a couch, tucks his camouflaged battle-dress uniform into his boots, zips them up and stands. Suddenly, he’s a soldier again. “It feels sorta weird putting this on,” Setzer says of his fatigues. “It’s been a while.”…
An examination of the Amber Bass case by New Times indicates it’s possible prosecutors could file charges under Arizona’s child-abuse laws. The crime? Hastening Amber’s death by failing to monitor and administer the child’s heart medications. To prove that occurred, prosecutors would have to follow the lead of county medical…
Santa Rosa We will not be fainthearted in our search for the truth. I shall plant a rosebush of gentle radiant amber. I will patiently care for it until we find out what happened. For now the answer is denied by guilty silence. –Tascha Boychuk, 1996, on the unsolved death…
What follows are excerpts from Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s April 21 deposition. Joel Robbins: In terms of your knowledge of the jails and the violence that goes on there, you don’t have any knowledge of it independently of your staff, correct? Arpaio: Well, I’m probably the first sheriff in history around…
Faced with a series of trials, an Arizona official turns up the public relations machine to full tilt, launching a string of populist initiatives meant to soften his image. Governor J. Fife Symington III? No, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In recent weeks, Arpaio has announced such innovations as a…
