In a strongly-worded letter dated November 6, Phoenix attorney Mike Manning demanded that all of the players in the arrests of New Times founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin not destroy any documents related to the case. Addressed to Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Pinal County Attorney James…
Let the doves fly and church bells sound, the battle over the banos at Anderson’s Fifth Estate is officially finito! Now transgendered folk — including activist Michele de LaFreniere — are free to pee standing up, sitting down, doing handstands or any dang way they please in the newly christened…
Where’s the fiesta, hombres? On the sidewalk outside of Pruitt’s, every Saturday. PHX’s M.D. Pruitt’s Home Furnishings, the site of the ongoing day-laborer squabble, smells like cow caca. For real. Owner Roger Sensing recently had fresh manure laid down on his side of the sidewalk, next to where Salvador Reza…
Carol Gotbaum with her youngest child Tobias, 3. The results are in on the autopsy of Carol Anne Gotbaum, the 45-year-old mother of three who died September 28 in police custody at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. In the opinion of Maricopa County Medical Examiner Ann L. Bucholtz, Gotbaum expired “as…
Since I penned the entry below, the Arizona Republic has made several major corrections to Ruelas’ story, including the fact that De LaFreniere has not had “sexual reassignment surgery,” and is therefore still in possession of her taliwacker! Here’s the full retraction, which ran on page 2 of Section A…
TOUGHEST BOUT Its a shame about Michael: About “Brother’s Keeper” (Paul Rubin, November 1), I was a big big fan of Michael Carbajal’s and remember all of Rubin’s great stories on him and his family from way back when. I also read Rubin’s story a few years ago about the…
I like to think that Im an open-minded sorta guy for a teenager. I fervently oppose racial stereotypes, though I do think that theyre good for a laugh or two sometimes. I have several Mexican friends, and none of them lives up to the “Mexican standard” of lawn mowing, stupidity,…
The conference table in Fred Unger’s office is cheap. The walls are papered with photos and magazine spreads tacked into drywall — there’s none of the mahogany and marble typical of multimillion-dollar developers. Unger has spent the past 10 years obsessing over these thumb-tacked pictures. One shows a table next…
In a city where everybody is nice, where conference tables in fancy law firms take the place of the proverbial smoke-filled room, Michael Levine is something else. He is not particularly nice. Nor is he a law firm kind of guy, or even a conference table kind of guy. (“Michael…
In August 2005, Nathan Thinnes sold his house. It must have been a relief. Coming home from work one evening, just days before the closing, Thinnes heard his dog whimpering in the backyard of his small home near Arcadia. You can see Camelback Mountain from the yard, but Nathan Thinnes…
See more and better reproduced Maakies strips, here. Tony Millionaire’s sort of the Charles Bukowski of comics. That is, if Bukowski’d been obsessed with Patrick O’Brian novels, French shipbuilding, and eating monkey brains. Millionaire, 51, is the creator of the world’s greatest comic strip, the Maakies, which runs in alternative…
ACLU attorney Dan Pochoda with his golden retriever Blu. Park in the wrong place in Maricopa County and you get jailed for misdemeanor trespassing. Well, at least if Sheriff’s deputies are on site, and you happen to be a persistent critic of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. ACLU legal director Dan Pochoda…
A unisex loo is now an option for you and yours at Anderson’s Fifth Estate. Well, it ain’t over till the fat lady with the weenie sings, but there’s been a break in the battle over who gets to use which bog over at Anderson’s Fifth Estate. The club’s owner,…
Carol Gotbaum with her three children Ella, Nathaniel and Tobias. The PHX PD released a doorstop doc on the Carol Gotbaum arrest yesterday, as has been reported elsewhere. There were a few revelations. Gotbaum was on meds for depression. An airline attendant said Gotbaum purchased and drank a bloody mary…
Michael Carbajal faced a crowd of about 3,000 on a chilly afternoon in the village of Canastota, New York. It was June 2006, and Arizona’s best-ever pugilist was about to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Never much of a talker, Michael spent most of his short…
Disgraced “special prosecutor” Dennis Wilenchik responded last week to critics with a talking-in-tongues defense reminiscent of Robert De Niro’s divine delirium as he sank beneath the waters in Cape Fear. Wilenchik dispatched a press release filled with astonishing and devious assertions. What Wilenchik lacked in clarity he compensated for with…
As if you needed another example of how Maricopa County’s run like a banana republic, there’s the case of this catbird’s colleague Ray Stern. You see, Stern also got a knock on the door by MCSO thugs on the same night that Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were busted. Reporter…
If a child is kidnapped, or simply disappears, the police call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. But what if that missing child isn’t exactly a child? What if she’s 45, or even 85? What if she turned 18 just one day before her disappearance? If that’s the…
RAVE RANTS Disgruntled deputy?: The most interesting part of Sarah Fenske’s article on that [sex offender’s] downtown rave scene was that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department let it go on right under its nose (“The Party’s Over,” October 25). I’m ashamed to say that I work for Joe Arpaio (but…
How do I go to the Mexican grocery store and bakery to buy supplies for our Día de los Muertos party without looking like I’m doing the kitschy-goofy thing I’m doing? I walk up to the register and smile ingratiatingly, saying “Gracias” as usual — but a basketful of sugar…
Below is a new snippet of video released on Friday from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport of Carol Gotbaum’s arrest. Though the video seems of slightly better quality and closer-in than previous footage, it only shows Gotbaum being dragged through the concourse, and does not show her being taken down by…
The Anti-Defamation League has a new report out on anti-immigration nutbars entitled, “Immigrants Targeted: Extremist Rhetoric Moves into the Mainstream.” Naturally, AZ was well-represented, with Minuteman Chris Simcox and Rusty Childress’ United for a Sovereign America getting mentions, and urban cougar Michelle Dallacroce scoring a whole section to herself. Of…
