I have no faith in the ability of Maricopa County to conduct fair and accurate elections. It’s now appallingly apparent that County Attorney Andrew Thomas is skirting the serious problems gripping the Maricopa County Elections Department. I had hoped Thomas would conduct a thorough investigation of the elections department, part…
Food Fight Let the poseurs beware: Loved the “Reality Check” review by Stephen Lemons (Cafe, June 30), because there’s nothing I love more dearly than seeing the mighty taken down. I’ll bet Christopher Gross is screaming bloody murder to everybody who will listen about Lemons’ being a hack who wouldn’t…
Ever been to one of those Vietnamese nail salons and wondered if the woman pumicing your heel is talking about you to the other nail techs? She probably is, and she’s probably not complimenting your dainty, fragrant feet. Life imitated Seinfeld on a recent Monday morning at K Desert Nail…
It’s 100 degrees at midnight, we’re chokin’ on smoke from the nearby wildfires, payday is a week away, and the streets are infested with crazed po-po who’re actin’ like the world doughnut supply has just been reduced to zero. So what the eff do you think the Jettster and I…
Police Story Evidence, schmevidence: It was so brave of Paul Rubin to write the story of Sally Carbajal’s murder and her disputes with her ex-husband, Danny (“Family Secrets,” Paul Rubin, June 23). I mean, how much more evidence do the cops need to make arrests? I hope this story pushes…
It is 1988 in McAllen, Texas. Irene Garza’s portrait hangs in the living room of her aunt’s home. The fair-skinned girl is hauntingly beautiful. Another family member stops by the house for a visit. Noemi Ponce-Sigler happens upon the portrait and looks into the eyes of the girl. She gets…
Wake up. Roll out of bed. Grab the newspaper and head to your own personal library, where the only seat in the house is made out of porcelain. Plunge the handle and your day has officially begun. As you step into the shower, what you sent down the toilet begins…
Donna Hesketh wants to sell her house. Who could blame her? Standing in her driveway, she looks at the dead trees in her yard and wonders whether they’ve been poisoned. When she gets a cold, she worries that she’s breathed in bacteria. She can barely walk through her house, where…
Where’s the airplane? The airplane I’m talking about is the infamous Cessna P210 purchased in late 2002 by fundamentalist Mormon polygamists who control the 350-student Colorado City Unified School District. The $220,000 aircraft hasn’t been seen in more than four months. Neither has accused pedophile Warren Jeffs, the self-proclaimed prophet…
Casting a Smell Something’s fishy: I read John Dougherty’s column about the purchase by Mary Rose and Earl Wilcox from APS of a parcel of property across the street from their [El Portal] restaurant in south Phoenix. According to Dougherty, the property was sold by the APS to Maricopa County…
As the sun reaches its highest point in the sky this week with the passing of summer solstice, I’m amazed that Arizona regulators are retreating from the state’s modest commitment to develop a solar energy industry. It’s not as if Arizona is busting its budget on solar. Instead, the state…
At a time when Phoenix’s downtown art scene is finally beginning to flourish, one of the city’s first significant galleries is closing. After months of rumors of its demise, Studio LoDo/Phoenix Center for the Contemporary Arts will shut its doors for good June 24. “We had a good four-year run,…
Mean Streets Be very, very afraid: This is regarding Michael Lacey’s story (“Thunder Road,” June 16): Many years ago a book was published telling us about the 100 things to be most frightened of in America, and the Houston Police Department made the list (after taking a suspect for a…
An unfolding television crime story on the morning of last February 25 grabbed the attention of Estela Sanchez. Phoenix police were investigating the pre-dawn shootings of a man and woman just outside the Coconut Groves apartments at 2028 West Indian School Road. The detectives seemed focused on a lime-green taxicab…
Driving defines Phoenix the way surfing shapes Venice Beach. Here, in this blacktop desert that stretches to the horizon, we all share in the drive. Behind every steering wheel slumps a stranger. You look through anyone else’s windshield and a driver’s character is no more distinct than a smudged fingerprint…
The Arizona Public Service Company’s sale of a one-acre paved parking lot to Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox and her husband smells like trout left rotting in the Phoenix summer sun. APS sold the land to the supervisor and her husband, Earl Wilcox, at a price several hundred thousand…
A masterpiece of meat-puppetry, that’s what Jett and I are watching, along with hundreds of other corset-and-chaps-wearin’ sensation seekers as the clock clicks past 10 p.m. or so at The Sets in Tempe. The occasion is the June 4 Arizona Fetish Ball, dubbed the “Fetish Prom” for theme’s sake, and…
Slammer Time Below-average Joes: Paul Rubin’s story is hard to believe. No, I guess it really isn’t, in that Steve Cervantes died while in Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s custody (“Assisted Suicide,” June 2). What else is new, right? What I liked about the story is that it portrayed not…
“Kreme,” sighs the Jettster via phone as we consult on our next nocturnal escapade. “I need a lap dance.” I’d only just gotten through to the J-unit at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, following a series of phone calls trying to locate her sorry ass so we could sketch out…
Range War No-good crooks: I just got done reading Sarah Fenske’s excellent article on the old cowboy who beat the liar environmentalists (“The Rancher’s Revenge,” May 26). Bravo to that guy, and bravo to New Times for stepping out of its liberal mold and telling the truth for a change…
It’s late on a warm Thursday night in April, and William Windsor heads to the checkout stand at the Fry’s supermarket at 20th Street and Highland Avenue, in central Phoenix. Customers and cashiers stare at the 5-foot-11, 180-pound man, who is dressed in a pink bonnet, pink shorty dress, and…
My 15-year-old son jolted me out of my morning trance the other day with a question that sent my mind reeling. “Dad, did you know that high schools are providing the names, addresses and phone numbers of students to military recruiters without permission?” Looking up from my coffee, I replied,…
