The longtime attorney for the Arizona Veterans Service Commission is calling it quits, saying serious mismanagement and shoddy leadership have destroyed the agency’s credibility and its ability to serve veterans. Harold Merkow is attaching a scathing letter of resignation to court papers involving dozens of veterans to support his claims…
The Arizona Boys Ranch is back in business despite concerns over the death of a 16-year-old in March at the campus near Oracle. The state Department of Economic Security pulled the license of the controversial juvenile boot camp in August. But state officials and ranch operators reached a settlement last…
Quayle to the Rescue With the race for attorney general a dead heat, Democrat Janet Napolitano and Republican Tom McGovern are looking for cash–and cachet–wherever they can find it. McGovern sort of scored on both fronts when he snagged former veep and current Paradise Valleyite Dan Quayle as the main…
Chicken Chronicle I must say I am shocked by the laughable one-sidedness and aggressive tone of the cockfighting cover story (“Out, Out, Damn Sport!” October 8). And shame on David Holthouse for going to such great lengths to portray this as a question of socioeconomic class rather than one of…
Big Red is back. Governor Jane Hull shed her Granny Hull get-up and came out swinging last week after her Democratic challenger, Paul Johnson, accused her of taking campaign cash from Nevada developers thirsty for Arizona’s water. Hull has a 30-point lead in the polls. She could have scoffed at…
The referee takes half a fresh lime, pushes it between his fingers to bring out the juice, then runs the pulp along each blade to make them shine. They’re called Mexican short knives. One and a half inches of finely honed steel, curved like a scimitar and leather-strapped to the…
A pungent, ardent yearning permeated the big theater at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch one balmy evening in July. It felt like artistic homesickness. Walter Murch–the renowned film editor and sound designer–was making an audacious presentation to a few dozen filmmakers, journalists, broadcasters and trusted friends. George Lucas himself took time…
Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley stood at a podium Monday afternoon and assumed his most determined prosecutor’s face. The television cameras caught the moment for the 5 p.m. newscast, as Romley announced the arrest of Elizabeth “Shannon” Whittle, 24-year-old mother of the battered Avondale quadruplets. On a hot local news…
In 1986, residents of the Kingdom of God–better known as Colorado City, Arizona, the headquarters of a fundamentalist Mormon religious cult that practices polygamy–received disturbing news in the mail. In a nutshell, a massive mailing from Rulan Jeffs, a cult leader, said that dissident cult members could get evicted–without compensation–from…
At first glance, Proposition 202–the IRS Elimination Pledge Initiative–looks like the worst kind of amateur, copycat Contract With America drivel. If passed, the ballot measure would force candidates for federal office to choose between pledging or not pledging to support the elimination of the federal income tax and Internal Revenue…
The Hull Shebang Hooray! I’d like to celebrate New Times and Amy Silverman for the expose on Granny Hull and her evil child, Mike Hull. In “Silent Running” (Wonk, September 24), Silverman squarely hits an issue that has been bothering me for some time–Mrs. Hull’s refusal or inability to speak…
On Art Hamilton’s first day in the Arizona House of Representatives, as he tells the story, the speaker of the House, Stan Akers, looked straight at him, leaned to his microphone, and started whistling “Dixie” over the House sound system. Hamilton was watching from the gallery, not from the floor…
“I’m here every day,” the guy says. “Well, every day except Sunday. Sunday is for family and God.” The guy is Mexican, handsome, in his 30s, with a mustache and a smile like sunlight. He has a taco stand on Van Buren near 17th Avenue. The stand has been there…
An Imperfect 10 The mo-rons at Channel 10 are at it again. In the wake of last week’s New Times story about the Avondale quadruplets, Channel 10 rushed onto the air with breathless reports of a criminal case in jeopardy. New Times’ story was based on the Avondale police department’s…
Michael Poland is in the rare situation of asking to be sent back to federal prison. But almost anything would be an improvement over where he is now. Poland is on death row, set to be executed by the State of Arizona in less than a month. But his lawyers…
Commercial Brake As a several-times judge of the Associated Press news competition for members in California, I believe your Fife Symington coverage was worthy of first place statewide, and am equally impressed with your September 17 takeout on Arizona State University’s “commercialism” (“The Selling of ASU Football,” John Dougherty, September…
You may not know that you’ll be deciding the fate of the Arizona State Lottery on November 3. You’ll be asked to vote on Proposition 304. Vote yes, and the Arizona Lottery will be extended until 2003. Vote no, and you’ll have played your last PowerBall in this state, come…
“No turning around, ladies,” says a beefy detention officer to the seven women slumped in plastic chairs. Behind them, 30 disheveled, sleepy men file into a bleak chamber hidden in the bowels of Madison Street Jail. They fall into rows of more plastic chairs, then all stand briefly as Commissioner…
Just before dawn on April 6, a Phoenix woman we’ll call Susan Johnson told a nurse about a conversation she’d just overheard at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. According to a sealed Avondale Police Department report–a copy of which New Times obtained–Johnson said she’d heard another woman tell a man, “I think…
Finally, the ultimate sport utility vehicle, the kind of ride that says, “I’m from Scottsdale.” The Humvee limo. Thirty-five feet of sleek seats of black leather, glowing neon strips and an overhead array of pinhole stars in a body that looks like a troop carrier. Two bars, one at each…
A doctor thumbcuffs his wife to the steering wheel of the family car during a domestic dispute, holds a gun loaded with hollow-point bullets to her head and threatens to kill her. He’s convicted of a felony and serves six months in jail. But that doesn’t mean he should lose…
Ad Nauseam I would like to congratulate you on your piece concerning the commercialization of ASU football (“The Selling of ASU Football,” John Dougherty, September 17). I’ve been to college football games all over the country, and have never had the sad experience at one like I did here. We…
