The name Stephen Charles Peterson Jr. is but a blip in the annals of Arizona white-collar crime. But the 54-year-old Peterson has earned a special place as a memorable crook, mostly by dint of his chutzpah. Since 1990, Peterson has used legitimate institutions–city councils, a governor’s office, a large corporation,…
The Grave Truth About Sheriff Joe Several abiding mysteries flourish in the Sonoran Desert: 1. What became of the Hohokam civilization? 2. How did saguaros evolve? 3. Why do Valley media lap up Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s fiction? Take last week’s, er, scoop about the sheriff assigning a chain gang to…
Douglas Lemon–the Arizona State Retirement System’s investment manager and a critic of policies he fears could jeopardize the $13 billion fund–has been placed on administrative leave pending his request for a “normal stress” workplace. Lemon, former executive director of the State Retirement System, says he is convalescing at home from…
John Adams is an unlikely fellow to be presiding over international assignations between lonely American men and lovelorn women from the former Soviet Union. In fact, he looks more like a guy you knew in high school–math club president, maybe–than an impresario of global capitalism trading in that universal currency,…
The legal noose has been pulled tight around Governor J. Fife Symington III’s neck. The only question is when the trap door will swing open. A source familiar with a federal grand jury investigation of Symington tells New Times that government prosecutors have built a powerful criminal case against the…
A few days ago, I stopped my car along the side of Silver Bell Road, about seven miles north of Tucson, at the site of a thoroughly dilapidated, 19th-century lime kiln. In addition to a lot of scrub brush and dirt, this is what I found: a twisted tire tread,…
Guard Rail As a hobbyist security guard, I smelled a setup in the expose concerning the treatment of blacks at Dillard’s (“Shoed From Dillard’s,” Marc Ramirez, March 7). First, the young men admitted to being dressed out of character for such an exclusive department store. Second, in an era when…
Attorney General Grant Woods and County Attorney Richard Romley collided at opposing press conferences last Wednesday, slamming together like a pair of sumo wrestlers with microphones sandwiched between their sweaty haunches. The sound from the slap of angry flesh inspired alarmed stories in the daily press and endless argument on…
Deborah Vasquez’s credibility was an issue from day one for anyone examining County Attorney Richard Romley’s investigation of alleged wrongdoing in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. It was Vasquez, after all, who made many of the claims that Romley’s office spent ten months probing. Often, those claims were exaggerated or…
Ryan Winn, in an uncharacteristic state of agitation, exploded across the backyard of a north Phoenix house where a teenage beer party was rocking and roaring. Ryan was a strapping, big 16-year-old with jug ears. He played football and basketball at Shadow Mountain High School and was friends with just…
Everything’s Okay, I Said Channel 10 reporter and weekend anchor Troy Hayden is a Bill Close Award winner. The award, named after the curmudgeonly and mercifully retired Channel 10 news fixture, is occasionally bestowed by New Times on newscasters who go below and beside the call of duty. Hayden claims…
Who epitomizes success in 1996? Captain Scott Grady, who succeeded at covering his tail for six days until someone else saved it after his F-16 got shot down over Bosnia? Barbara Bush, who succeeded at marrying a man who would be president? Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter, who succeeded in landing…
At first, Electric Ballroom co-owner David Seven thought he was just having another one of his Howard Stern dreams. “I’ve been a fan of Howard’s for years,” says Seven. “I set the alarm on my clock radio so that I wake up every morning laughing at him saying something stupid,…
When Charles Holden first walked the halls of the White House, he was wearing an imitation Alpine mountaineering hat with a huge ostrich feather sticking out of it. That was in the spring of 1964, and he was in from New Jersey on his eighth-grade class trip. A government official…
1984 Plus 12 I want to commend New Times on its March 7 issue. It was the best issue of New Times I’ve seen in ages. Every member of the Arizona press corps should read “Trial by Media” (Michael Lacey). Not only did it show the kind of deep research…
From the beginning of his public career, Fife Symington has managed to survive amid a morass of white-collar-fraud allegations. Though they tarnished him, all of the scandals came with bravura denials from Symington that inspired the faithful. There was always an excuse and, in the case of Richard Romley’s investigation…
Deborah Vasquez recently gave a television reporter the transcripts of a tape recording made during an undercover investigation by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Vasquez had quit her position as secretary to first assistant attorney general Rob Carey in a hotly contested dispute last May. Since then, she has been…
The intersection of Seventh Street and Southern Avenue in South Phoenix is busy at dusk. Drivers race to get home to dinner and leave the problems of the workday behind. This particular Wednesday in February is no different, except for the cars filling the lot at the headquarters of the…
Marsell Ector just wanted to buy a pair of Timberland boots at Dillard’s in Mesa. But according to Ector and several witnesses, a security guard at Dillard’s Fiesta Mall location gave him a boot of a different kind–right out of the store. Ector, 24, says he was hounded, harassed and…
Tolleson Justice of the Peace Joe Guzman says Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox personally delivered a message to his office last November 20. It concerned her brother-in-law Danny Wilcox, an elected constable assigned to Guzman’s court. Guzman says the message was direct: “Mrs. Wilcox informed my assistant that Constable…
Tensions ran high March 1 during the normally placid monthly meeting of the Arizona Solar Energy Advisory Council. Instead of discussing new ways to promote the use of solar energy, the council unexpectedly found itself fighting for survival. Days earlier, the Arizona Senate had voted to eliminate the council after…
Big Flack Attack The following exchange occurred March 4 between a New Times reporter and Don “Don” Harris, former Arizona Republic reporter turned state Department of Commerce public information minister and obstructionist. Harris projects information like Bob Dole projects warmth. We join the conversation in progress, with New Times asking…
