Stifle Tower I really appreciate your story about the Babbitt growth plan (“Babbitt’s Secret Growth-Control Plan,” Michael Kiefer, March 2). It is a very important topic, even though it must be a dry read for many. After I read it, I could see that all three plans you presented could…
Agua Prieta, Sonora Six months ago, when Xavier first arrived in Agua Prieta, he would spend his days sitting on a corner, four blocks from the border fence, plotting a new way to sneak into the United States. Now he sits on the same corner, plotting a new way to…
Maricopa County schools chief Sandra Dowling has been on a power trip for 11 years, and only two groups can stop her: the Arizona Legislature or the electorate. I hope someone is successful — and soon. But if history is an indication, Dowling will continue on indefinitely. In her three…
The hockey fans at Tucson Convention Center are getting what they’ve come to expect. The University of Arizona Icecats look like they’re about to administer their umpteenth butt-kicking to the Arizona State Ice Devils. On this February night, Arizona quickly jumps to a 2-0 lead in the first period, and…
Governor Jane Dee Hull says she’s not interested in a proposal by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to federalize nearly 200,000 acres of state trust land to protect it from developers. In a March 7 letter to U.S. Senator Jon Kyl and other Arizona congressional representatives, the governor says she instead…
As an employee of the Arizona State Parks Department, Matt Chew first entered Kartchner Caverns through a shaft drilled for access to the southern Arizona wonder. He left the Parks Department last week by shaft as well, fired because of an opinion piece he wrote for the Boston Globe that…
Opponents of a controversial Pentagon program that is forcing all members of the military to be inoculated against anthrax have a new unlikely ally in U.S. Senator John McCain. McCain, whom anthrax opponents say has never returned their calls or letters seeking his support, has called for a suspension of…
Crime of the Millennium Nothing makes the Flash’s day like being accused of a crime. Especially when the accusation comes from a lawyer. Especially when the lawyer is a former editor of New Times. Strange but true. The mail brings a sniffly protest from First Amendment sharpie David Bodney, who…
Bully-ish on Music When I was about 10 years old, some buddies and I were hanging around a canal ditch, having fun, looking for crawdads. Some older neighborhood kids came around on their bikes and started circling us and teasing us. I chose to ignore them and was bent over…
It’s 2 a.m., and the Chute is packed. The 50-space parking lot behind this gay sex club in central Phoenix is nearly full, and there’s a line forming beyond the tinted glass door that serves as the Chute’s main entrance. Inside, a young, muscular, topless man wearing a bondage harness…
The Mollys Only a Story (Apolkalips Now) Calling the music of Tucson’s Mollys eclectic is a bit of a disservice. While the statement is intrinsically true, the subtle distinctions are easily lost. The band does more than simply throw a handful of styles together in an attempt to sound worldly…
The central idea behind Brian De Palma’s new space epic Mission to Mars — that the red planet is the source of all earthly life — is being treated in the ads like a revolutionary, provocative sci-fi concept. Yawn. Hardcore enthusiasts of ’50s-era arcana have been there and done that…
Seventeen-year-old Jose from Culiacán, Mexico, sits handcuffed to a metal folding chair, looking as though he just dropped his ice cream cone in the dirt. He speaks no English and has only been in Phoenix for two months. Still, he knew Van Buren Street was the place to pick up…
Next time you’re sitting in traffic, look up. Opponents of a proposed Phoenix mass transit system would like you to picture their own pie-in-the-sky people-mover — an overhead sky-rail system, where a computerized chauffeur zips you along at 100 mph in your private SkyTran vehicle. No unnecessary stops. No congested…
If you build a stadium, people will come,” says William Garrard, former owner of Coyote Springs Brewing Company. But he adds, “It’s a quickie effect.” And when Bank One Ballpark opened its roof in downtown Phoenix, people did come — more than 3.6 million fans in 1998 and 3 million…
Silver City, New Mexico Dave Parsons approached the microphone, silencing the raucous crowd jammed into an auditorium at Western New Mexico State University. Parsons’ turn came more than an hour into a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hearing that saw one speaker after another use their allotted two minutes to…
Cutting It Close Unified Conspiracy Theorists will love this one, which the Flash is not making up: Ron Bianchi, a former magazine publisher and columnist for the Phoenix Gazette, was murdered in September 1999. His bullet-riddled body was found in the woods near Payson. Bianchi apparently had some financial problems…
Brew Ha Ha Let me preface this letter by stating two things: 1) I think New Times is a fantastic publication, and 2) I am a reluctant Republican who loathes Senator John McCain. Having these disclaimers in place will help qualify what I wish to convey. I want you to…
The first time I saw Salvatore Gravano, the infamous mob assassin and, if the police have it right, local drug lord in the making, was a Friday night in July 1997. It was at the Gold Bar coffee house in Tempe. I watched Gravano sit with his back to the…
By the time you read this, Super Tuesday will be history, and the pundits will be gumming the results. Democrat Bill Bradley likely will say farewell by week’s end. But on the other side of the aisle, things are far from finished. Even if John McCain blew it in California…
Giant Sand Chore of Enchantment (Thrill Jockey) Calexico Descamino (Quarter Stick) Giant Sand main man Howe Gelb once quipped to me that much of his work falls into the “that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” category. So his new album is striking, as much for its magisterial sonic…
Two weeks ago, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt slipped into Phoenix to talk to Governor Jane Dee Hull about a land trade proposal that could fundamentally reshape the escalating debate between developers and conservationists over unbridled urban sprawl. On the same day that legislators were duking it out over…
