The coroner’s report said it all; Ric Rankins’ death on July 10 was a “homicide.” A scrawny 144 pounds, Rankins had his voice box crushed by a choke hold. Unnamed employees of Smitty’s grocery chain killed the 43-year-old black man in a west-side parking lot. Three days later, the Arizona…
Nelson Mandela may not be welcome to visit the Navajo Reservation because he is a “Communist.” On the other hand, the black South African leader may be embraced with open arms as a respected civil rights leader. It all depends on which of the leading candidates for tribal president is…
Cable television is coming to the Westward Ho. A tentative deal has been reached with Dimension Cable that’s leaving smiles on the faces of the 300-odd residents who live in the once-ritzy downtown hotel that’s been converted into a government-subsidized home for the aged and infirmed. As New Times first…
For a while there, you could scarcely pick up a magazine without seeing Lloyd Cole hawking high-priced liqueur in his series of “Amaretto di Cole” ads. One of the recent slick endorsements was set against a neon-lighted New York backdrop and had the singer-guitarist brooding into a cigarette while slumped…
State environmental officials, whose current tests of the popular Salt River tubing area can’t detect a deadly bacteria that cost a young Phoenix man his leg, say they plan new tests this summer to seek out the bacteria. First, officials say, they will try to determine if it was an…
The contents of the letter left George Coppock trembling with fear and anger. “We have received a report that Michael has possibly been abused,” the curt note from the Arizona Department of Economic Security started. Coppock recalls feeling helpless when he read those words three years ago. “Here you are…
The Arizona Supreme Court now tells us that Evan Mecham is once again free to become our governor. How ridiculous can you get? I always presumed that judges were appointed to the Supreme Court because they were strong and independent enough to make an unpopular decision when called upon. I…
Earlier that evening, J. Fife Symington III went on television. He seemed superbly confident as he quipped that Evan Mecham was like a schoolyard bully who needed a punch in the nose. Leon Woodward, one of Mecham’s staunchest supporters, was startled by Symington’s boast. Woodward picked up his phone a…
Jerry Foster, the former Channel 12 helicopter pilot and weather forecaster, is famous statewide for his flamboyant flying, daring live-at-five rescues, numerous appearances with Valley schoolchildren and an occasional brush with the Federal Aviation Administration. In the Maricopa County process servers’ office, though, he’s famous only for his bad attitude…
A week before Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien admitted that yet another Catholic priest in Phoenix is being investigated for sexually abusing children, the bishop issued the local Diocese’s first policy on how to handle such allegations. In a June 22 cover letter that accompanied the ten-page document, the bishop, who…
If you’ve never boiled over at the incompetence of state and county environmental offices, now’s the time. If you’ve never been frightened that their lazy attitude could endanger your life, now’s the time. Just ask Ed Whitehurst. He’s an ordinary Arizona guy who did the most ordinary thing to seek…
It seemed odd to be talking about paid sex on our honeymoon. But the conversation in this water-drenched Jamaican bar had decidedly taken a turn. Sometime during the continual drumbeat of nine hours of rain, the talk had proceeded from a failed snorkeling trip for newlyweds to the island’s thriving…
Young is an idyllic little village perched in the central Arizona highlands just below the Mogollon Rim. It’s almost too idyllic–just the quiet, cozy sort of place Alfred Hitchcock might have used to make a scary movie about, say, grasshoppers driving the villagers mad. Well, last summer in Young, grasshoppers…
To local historians and preservationists, it’s a valuable piece of Tempe’s past making a last stand. To city officials, it’s a hulking mass of decaying concrete, the cork blocking the city’s plans to pour $440 million worth of sparkling development into the dry Salt River bed. At issue is the…
“It is the policy of the Diocese that the abuse of a minor, including sexual abuse, by persons employed by or volunteering services to the Diocese is contrary to Christian principles and is not tolerated. All personnel must comply with applicable state and local laws regarding incidents of actual or…
Coby Perkins is talking about the days when he could play his bluegrass banjo like a champ. “I loved to play,” the nineteen-year-old says in a sluggish monotone. “I was fast. I was good. I played `Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ and `Cripple Creek,’ all of them. I played with Bill Monroe…
The best thing about Prescott’s 102nd annual Frontier Days parade last Saturday was the cowboy groups like the Bill Williams Mountainmen and the Wild Bunch from Prescott. In the worst category, it was a tossup. First, there were the Shriners in their tiny cars, behaving like spoiled children trying to…
Now it comes down to courage. This is no time for the summer soldier or the sunshine patriot, as Thomas Paine once wrote. It’s all on the line, now that a suit has been filed to throw former Governor Evan Mecham off the primary ballot. Dennis Ingram, who signed the…
Ed Whitehurst still can’t believe it, even when he looks down and sees only bandages marking the spot where his left leg used to be. “Sometimes it seems like a dream,” says the 33-year-old waiter. “I take a day off to go tubing down the Salt River in the sunshine…
Dennis Steinberg left the Pinnacle West Corporation annual meeting a happy man. He knew his campaign was working–the ads, the guest appearances and private meetings, all executed with the precision of a chess game in the weeks leading up to this day. He could see the impact in the faces…
Keith Turley, ex-magnate, is about to receive a tribute befitting his accomplishments, courtesy of Dennis Melgreen. Everybody knows Turley; he’s the guy who led Arizona’s biggest utility, Arizona Public Service Company, to the brink of bankruptcy in two short years of ill-considered diversification. But who in the heck is Dennis…
“Think Indian” and “I’m Indian and Proud of It” shout the bumper stickers on the back of a shocking-pink Ford station wagon. A large animal-hide drum protrudes from the back of the car. As we suspect, two Native Americans sporting long braids occupy the front seat. This may be a…
