Jose Rodriquez died just before noon, curled up on a mattress on a concrete floor, his head resting in his own vomit. For days before his death on March 26, Rodriquez, 39, could barely stand or sip from a cup of water. He was emaciated, feverish, dehydrated, twitching–classic signs of…
In an unexpected move, the state Water Quality Appeals Board has delayed deciding whether the Phelps Dodge Corporation can build Verde Valley Ranch, a housing development surrounding a golf course that would be built on several acres of toxic mine tailings. The tailings are now contaminating groundwater seeping into the…
Did Speeds Kill? The driver of a pickup truck that slammed into the car driven by Phoenix accountant John Yeoman may face negligent-homicide charges, Phoenix police say. Yeoman was killed April 5 at the entrance to the Pointe Hilton at Tapatio Cliffs on Seventh Street after turning his Ford Escort…
Although Governor J. Fife Symington III and his wife, Ann, claim to maintain separate assets, Arizona’s first couple frequently commingled finances when paying everything from mortgages to credit-card bills. The repeated mixing of the couple’s routine expenses was revealed during Ann Symington’s May 20 sworn deposition, taken as part of…
That’s Not Italian To my dismay, Marshall W. Mason’s review of Italian Funerals & Other Festive Occasions was dead on (May 16). Where were the festive occasions noted in the very misleading title? The characters and accents were about as Italian as Chef Boyardee. I guess joking about your mother’s…
The head of Wilhelm Richard Wagner is cracked in many places. There are bulging veins of yellowed glue across his cranium, and a hole gapes in his right temple. Also, the head is no longer attached to the upper torso. But wounds like these are to be expected when you’re…
On May 22, as he fielded questions on KFYI radio, Sheriff Joe Arpaio scoffed at accusations that his Tent City jail is inviting catastrophe. “I haven’t had any riots, I haven’t had any problems with the tents or the jails. Where are my riots?” Arpaio said. Judy Flanders couldn’t believe…
Luis Sharpe contacted New Times staff writer Paul Rubin several weeks ago from the Maricopa County Jail. The ex-Arizona Cardinals star said he was ready to talk about his demise publicly and unconditionally. The pair spent more than 12 hours in jailhouse sessions between May 13 and May 22, when…
At this very moment, someone somewhere in the Valley–a man, a woman, a child, even a parrot, maybe–is undoubtedly mimicking the maniacal mantra that has catapulted an obscure Israeli pager salesman into the forefront of the local pop-culture firmament. “I’m JJ! I’m the owner! I’m the King of Beepers!” For…
Like the calm in the eye of a storm, like a tornado that rips the roof and walls off a house without disturbing a breakfront full of fine china, the forest clearing where the Lone Fire started on April 27 is strangely unburned. The oaks and pines bordering the trail…
Like many people with the AIDS virus, Nancy Williams is trying to educate the public about the dangers of HIV/AIDS. During the past two years, Williams frequently has spoken to high school students, urging them to practice safe sex and answering their questions about the disease. But last year, Williams,…
What used to be the football field at George Washington Carver High, the “all-colored” school during Phoenix’s era of segregation, is now an asphalt parking lot where giant trucks are stored. Fees paid by the truck owners help defray operating expenses for the newly opened Carver-Phoenix Union Colored High School…
Grand Jury in Overdrive The federal grand jury investigating the finances of Governor J. Fife Symington III is meeting more frequently, suggesting that more indictments may be imminent, sources close to the investigation say. “We are not long away,” says one source, dramatically. For at least a year, the grand…
Governor J. Fife Symington III was backed into a corner. Confronted with evidence that he deceived his lenders–and Arizona voters–about his record as a businessman, Symington gave an explanation that can only be described as delusional. Shown documents that indicate he grossly inflated his net worth to obtain a $10…
Clouds of dust and grit in waves of wind the size of nightmares blew in across the lake bed, where water had not been an option for at least 1.8 million years, while the sun moved in so close that human life was barely able to survive. And that is…
Like many other embarrassing elements of recent Arizona history, Kemper Marley’s link to the state’s most famous assassination is not addressed in the state’s newest history museum. Officials of the Arizona Historical Society, a state agency, are extraordinarily proud of the gimmicky, $10 million Marley Center museum, which focuses on…
It played last July like a typical page-three scientific discovery, the slot where daily newspapers normally run the disease of the week or the story about the gene that causes obesity. The scoop: Phoenix resident and average guy Tom Bopp–truck-parts buyer for a cement company–discovers Comet of the Century. But…
Lake Havasu City did not exist in 1912, and Teddy Roosevelt did not visit a Phoenix opera house in 1902–even though exhibits at the Marley Center suggest those events did occur. And those two faux pas are hardly the only factual inaccuracies at the new state historical museum, according to…
It would be an understatement to say that Arizona U.S. Attorney Janet Napolitano doesn’t see eye to eye with ABC’s 20/20. Napolitano, her staff, her supporters–and even a few of her detractors–say she was smeared by the news show in a May 10 report about child pornography called “Caught in…
It was a tired and hoarse group of fellows that boarded an early evening Southwest Airlines flight from San Francisco to Phoenix a few Sundays back. And a happy group, to boot–even though one of the men had lost a couple of airline tickets earlier during an ecstatic celebration, adding…
A recent New Times cover story relied on deputies’ accounts and public records to document how a massive shift of resources to the posse program had taken its toll on morale, as well as law enforcement, in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. After the story ran, Sheriff Joe Arpaio denied…
A Million Here, a Million There . . . Governor J. Fife Symington III’s penchant for creative accounting knows no bounds. When it’s time to borrow money, he’s worth a fortune. When it’s time to repay loans or pay taxes, the property is squalid. Symington’s varying valuations of an office…
