An overloaded camper stumbled off Interstate 40. Furniture and other items were piled inside and on top, along with five kids and their parents and their dogs and grandma and gramps besides. The vehicle coughed its way onto historic Route 66 in Kingman after a journey that had begun in…
Last week, Governor Fife Symington told the howler monkeys who listen to KFYI talk radio that he was the victim of “a legal ambush” in bankruptcy court. From the governor’s tone of shock, you’d think the bankruptcy lawyers sprang upon him during his morning shower. In any case, the question…
Governor J. Fife Symington III’s personal financial statements submitted during his sworn debtor’s exam October 31 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court are so jammed with inconsistencies that a legal challenge by creditors is virtually assured. The conflicting data should provide ample evidence for Symington’s primary creditor, a consortium of union pension…
There is one line that Bob Dylan left out of his immortal ballad “Blowin’ in the Wind”: How many fecal violations does it take/ For a sewage treatment plant to qualify as having the second-best operations in the land? The answer, my friend, is one. And the plant at 91st…
The Beaten Path I was amazed at the ugliness of the people who run The Open Door Shelter for battered women, but mostly I was shocked to discover that someone has the nerve to call a battered woman “scum” (“Shelter Skelter,” Amy Silverman, October 26). That statement was a clear…
Peggy Dyer grew up in Texas, and three years ago, after she bought a house and land in north Scottsdale, she decided to buy herself a longhorn cow to decorate it. So she and the man who is now her husband, Keith Brock, drove to Texas and picked out a…
There is no receptionist to greet a visitor venturing into the Law Offices of Bybee and Shaw. In fact, the law office lacks virtually all of the staff and amenities one would expect to find. There is no secretary, no paralegal, no copy machine, no art on the walls, no…
Woods in Romley’s Cross Hairs Two highly placed sources say Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and his “ITeam”–which has left no stone unturned in search of wrongdoing by Arizona’s first assistant attorney general, Rob Carey–are drawing a bead on a new target: Attorney General Grant Woods. The sources say Romley…
Debt has long been an addiction of Arizona Governor J. Fife Symington III. Symington’s fondness for borrowing dates back more than 23 years, when his first marriage ended with Maricopa County divorce records stating that Symington had accumulated heavy debts and wasn’t “gainfully” employed. More recently, Symington has relied repeatedly…
For the first time, a federal official has publicly confirmed that the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System is under investigation by at least two agencies. Vicki Shepard, the regional inspector general for investigations at Health and Human Services in Santa Ana, California, said that for several months, her office…
Thinking of dropping off a stray dog at the Arizona Humane Society? Sorry, these days you’re barking up the wrong tree. For 37 years, Valley residents had the option of taking stray dogs and cats to either government-funded and -operated Maricopa County Rabies/Animal Control shelters or the Arizona Humane Society,…
It is a showdown the likes of which Arizona has probably never seen. The two teams have been hand-picked, with money seemingly no object, from the cream of the Valley crop. The rosters read like a Who’s Who of Arizona business hotshots–engineers, lobbyists, public relations flacks. Consultants of every stripe,…
Their marriage was on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Their divorce was on Hard Copy. Joe Hrudka is a self-made man. He came out from under the hood of a car andcreated the Mr. Gasket auto-parts empire. Denise Hrudka, a former beauty queen, moved from her parents’ house into…
Nobody needs to convince Scottsdale boutique owner Marcia Scardigli that it pays to advertise in the Yellow Pages. Unfortunately, she’s not in the business of selling what most of her callers seem so eager to buy. For that, Scardigli can thank a foul-up inthe latest edition of the Scottsdale/Paradise Valley…
Is the meanest sheriff in America going soft? Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is known for locking up as many people as possible and making their stay miserable. He’s gained notoriety for putting inmates in tents, taking away their cigarettes, coffee and girlie magazines, and feeding them baloney sandwiches and…
It’s easy to see why Andrea Zuhri-Adams’ new restaurant east of America West Arena is dying. The answer is right outside the door of her establishment, All That Jazz. Her lunch customers on a recent afternoon–all four of them–have just left the restaurant, which is located in commercial space inside…
The prospect that Governor J. Fife Symington III could face criminal charges looms larger every day. The Flash has obtained evidence that the governor and his efficient staff have made contingency plans, going so far as to draw up a to-do list for the dreaded Indictment Day. October 31, 1995…
Once a month, health permitting, the 12 aging members of Arizonans for Economic Justice gather to talk strategy at Wayne Wuertz’s place in Casa Grande. There’s passionate talk about taxes, land and politics, but the main topic of conversation is the fortune of the late John C. Lincoln, and what…
Learning Curb As an ex-homeless Grapevine vendor, I want to thank those people responsible for such papers on the streets today (“Median Income,” Marc Ramirez, October 12). Lest we forget, a person who is homeless and surviving on the streets is still a human being–a fact that will be with…
Lord Mikolaj Alexis Vasilko looks as if he’s going to vomit. He’s fallen to his knees after getting hit in the crotch with a rattan sword, and his face turns several shades of red before he finally collapses in a heap on the grass field. A small crowd gathers to…
To retain its nonprofit status, The Open Door Shelter is required to report its income and expenditures to the Internal Revenue Service every year. Beyond that, the organization has no accountability to anyone except its board of directors. And that can be dangerous, charity watchdogs warn. Rick Moyers, a spokesman…
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, The Open Door Shelter must be a rest stop along the way. It’s supposed to be a place where battered women and their children can find safe haven. Instead, the Phoenix shelter, which raked in $417,000 in donations in 1994,…
