I was ecstatic when the press release arrived on my desk two weeks ago. It meant I didn’t have to run for sheriff of Maricopa County. Instead, the release said, W. Steven Martin would be doing this desperately needed civic duty for me. Martin, the longtime king of country music…
Bert J. Martinez didn’t bring a toothbrush to court on June 2, but it would have been a good idea. At the end of a contempt hearing, Superior Court Judge Michael Jones sentenced Martinez to 48 hours in jail, to be served immediately, and fined him $450. Jones ruled Martinez…
SWAT Shop For all you do, this one’s for you: Thanks for the great article “Blue Crush” (Patti Epler, June 5). I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article and found it really interesting. I give the people in the SAU great respect and admiration for what they do. Unfortunately in our…
Every two weeks, on average, a Phoenix police officer intentionally fires a gun at a person. About half the time, someone is killed. That’s a lot of police shootings. The obvious question is why. Is there something wrong within the Phoenix Police Department? A New Times review of officer-involved shootings…
Newspapers are notoriously short of institutional knowledge. Writers, typically wandering iconoclasts inclined toward the negative, usually grow weary of a city after a few years and soon go searching for newer pastures. I had been at New Times only two years when executive editor Mike Lacey, who started this paper…
The first time Rexann Dees tried to kill someone with her car, nobody — not even Dees herself — disputed the fact that she was mentally disturbed. Her mental illness was significant enough for a judge to find her incompetent to stand trial, and dismiss the felony assault charges filed…
In a blow to the powerful fundamentalist Mormon church that controls most of the land in Colorado City, a Mohave County judge has ruled that religious dissidents Milton and Lenore Holm cannot be forced from their home without just compensation. “I feel like Colorado City really is part of America,”…
Fear Factor Death to the death penalty: Ray Krone’s story (“Death Road,” Robert Nelson, May 22), as disquieting as it is, certainly is not surprising. It is yet another glaring example of why we need a moratorium on the death penalty. Sadly, we live in a society where being “tough…
The steel bars on the outer door of the suspected drug house were no match for the special squad of Phoenix police officers stacked up on the porch. A large pry bar did the trick. The inner wooden door popped open with a single blow of their battering ram. No…
Arizona State University president Michael Crow rolls across the conference room floor in a chair, grabs a potted plant and begins a lecture on his vision for ASU to become the world’s leader in biodesign. “This plant is biodesign,” he says. “Nature, evolution, designed this plant. This plant can convert…
A Phoenix hazardous-waste company fired at least two of its “rent-a-patient” employees last week, after revelations that the pair and others at the firm had been part of a sprawling insurance-fraud scheme. A top official for Onyx Environmental Services, a national hazardous-waste treatment, recovery and disposal firm with a plant…
Evelyn Garcia stood behind her half-open door holding her two-month-old daughter Yanel as she answered my questions. She said she hasn’t let her baby out of her sight since the tragedy across the street. Her father would be returning soon from a trip to Home Depot. He was off buying…
On Your Knees The Valley boasts companies that manufacture a wide variety of products, from computer chips to satellite rocket boosters. But a recent and risqué entry into the “Did you know this is made here?” category is making folks blush all over the country, and the world. Recently profiled…
Begging Your Pardon Fife drummed: Just finished your column on Fife Symington (“Criminal With an Asterisk,” Rick Barrs, May 15). Congratulations. I couldn’t have written one any better. What a shame this state has to put up with trash like that. Keep up the good work. John J. O’Connell Glendale…
New Times columnist Marnye Oppenheim passed away May 14 after a brief illness. Marnye wrote “Bite Me,” a unique question-and-answer session with local restaurant patrons. The column debuted in New Times Los Angeles in early 2001 and soon became one of the paper’s most popular items. Marnye brought “Bite Me”…
“Destroy ’em down! Destroy ’em all! Downstroy!” It’s a chilly Easter Sunday night in Vancouver. Max Cavalera and his band Soulfly are onstage churning out a massive wall of heavy metal thunder that, if not exactly powerful enough to raise the dead, is certainly packing enough punch to roll away…
Good News Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s legal attempt to block attorneys from releasing information to New Times regarding the jailhouse beating of Jefferson Davis McGee has been shot down by a federal court judge. Federal Judge David Duncan denied a request from Arpaio’s attorneys that would have barred McGee’s attorneys from…
Ray Krone is nervous about spending much time in Arizona. He admits he might be a bit paranoid, but he’s concerned that when he comes back for visits, cops and prosecutors might follow him and try to pin some sort of trumped-up charges on him. But if anyone has a…
KINGMAN — A simple eviction trial in Mohave County has evolved into a battle over the scope of power a religious group can exert to control its members including their behavior, their relationships and even where they live. The leaders of a fundamentalist Mormon polygamous sect could have kicked Milton…
My good friend Sabrina asked if anyone planned to wear a swimsuit to the end-of-year pool party considering that we wouldn’t know any of the people who’d be there. She refused to wear one, insisting she was too fat. I had seen a poll on Oprah or someplace that said…
The sanitizing of Fife Symington was going so incredibly well. He had enjoyed an April 23 spread in the Arizona Republic’s “Food & Drink” section, in which he was pictured grinning over the “Governor’s Cake” he’s created in his new role as pastry chef at Franco’s Italian Caffé in the…
There was a public service advertisement on TV as I walked out the door at noon to do some lawn work. Something about the summer heat beginning in the Valley, about the importance of wearing hats, drinking lots of water, wearing sun screen, taking lots of breaks. A couple hours…
