James J. Dilettoso stomps bandy-legged through a field in South Phoenix. The sheer volume of his graying ponytail seems to bend his whole body forward as he puffs furiously on a cigarette. The field has been recently plowed under; there’s not a blade of grass clear down to the canal…
Six weeks ago, Governor Fife Symington said he would “embrace whatever the result is” of a referendum drive by Arizona Indian tribes to overturn a bill Symington rammed through the state legislature to ban casino gambling. Now, as it becomes clear that petition circulators will easily gather enough signatures to…
You want action, baby? Arizona’s got it. From Prescott to Tucson, suckers are throwing their money away on slots, cards and high-stakes bingo. Some of the casinos operate round-the-clock. Others attract rotating hordes of bingo addicts from lunchtime til deep into the night. All are located on Indian land, just…
Perhaps it has finally ended. I have some irreverent and possibly unprofessional things to say about this haunting murder trial: All during Max Dunlap’s trial for the murder of Don Bolles, the Arizona Republic gave more space and more enthusiastic coverage in its news pages to the Rodney King case…
This is the silent season for Suns fans. It is a time for gnawing doubt and fear. Charles Barkley’s shoulder injury has revealed more than Suns loyalists ever wanted to know about their team’s limitations. Here’s what it comes down to. Remove Barkley from the lineup, and the Suns are…
There is a new, Phoenix-produced television show that is witty, informative and, most surprising of all, telecast on KAET. The Valley’s PBS outlet, Channel 8, has long been recognized for its local lineup of dull talking heads. Is there a sauna bench in any YMCA more stultifying than KAET’s Horizon…
By Arizona’s geologic standards, the Salt River gorge in Tempe isn’t much. In fact, few people even notice it is there. Flanked by the red-rock outcrops at Papago Park to the north and the twin buttes embracing Sun Devil Stadium to the south, the shallow gorge marks the narrowest point…
Phoenix bus driver Charles Spencer is a driven man. And for the past four years, in his spare time, that drive has led him to spend hundreds of hours searching for the treasure rumored to be hidden in the fabled Superstition Mountains. But unlike thousands of hapless treasure hunters who…
The Valley’s premier rock-climbing club is scrambling to recover from an internal struggle that had officers and members climbing all over each other. A trickle of charges against Arizona Mountaineering Club’s ex-president, Paul Diefenderfer, has turned into an avalanche of lawsuits and countersuits that have rocked the 30-year-old club and…
:I, for one, am going to miss Fife Symington. When he’s gone, there will be so many priceless and amusing incidents to remember. Take the latest tale, the one about the governor’s surprise birthday party. It was thrown for him by his wife, Ann, and his staff. It was set…
Claudia Webb can’t forget the day her late husband was betrayed by his union. Reed Webb was a new salesman for the U S West Direct Yellow Pages in Phoenix. In 1991, his second year, Webb’s sales were near the top of the highly competitive 30-member staff that sold the…
Delores and Julian Atencio never sat on the board of a failed savings and loan, but they know how it feels to bear the brunt of the powerful Resolution Trust Corporation, which was established to dispose of what was left of the nation’s plundered thrift industry. The Atencios’ problems started…
Late last year, it was an outraged Native American versus Squaw Peak. Earlier this year, it was an African American who claimed that Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s Terminal Four contained subliminal endorsement for the Ku Klux Klan. And the unlikely scene of the Valley’s latest p.c. controversy? A grade-school…
But most amazing of all: the expression on people’s faces as they look toward the press box in the middle of the seventh and watch the man sing the song. Remember the look of wonder, then the smile on Richard Dreyfuss’ face when he saw the actual aliens at the…
For almost a dozen years, arguably the finest independent bookstore in town has been Dushoff Books Ltd. in the shopping center at 32nd Street and Camelback. Last week a sign with a dreadful message appeared on the empty magazine rack near the front door. It informed Dushoff’s many faithful customers…
It’s said that Sam Coppersmith surprised even himself the night he snatched Arizona’s First Congressional District from an incumbent Republican who seemed much better suited to the conservative East Valley district. It was called the upset of 1992, a race so close that Coppersmith, a pro-choice Democrat making his first…
Vernon Bauldry has a neighbor problem. The same goes for Alan Goff. When they eye each other from across the street, they see the enemy. The two men have complained to the police about each other, hired lawyers and battled in court. Bauldry, a retired carpenter and heart patient, stands…
When Clyde Kunz, an average citizen, wrote to his state legislator, he may have anticipated a run-of-the-mill response. What he got instead, from Republican Representative Tom Smith, who serves District 26 in northeast Phoenix and Paradise Valley, was a very remarkable letter. Kunz himself had set a respectful, formal tone…
Has Governor Fife Symington, who campaigned for governor on his business prowess but has since watched his financial empire crumble, now stiffed his wife and mother for hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of campaign loans? Apparently so. With his three campaign committees operating in the red, no repayments on…
We proceed along the downhill path to wisdom. Already, the triumphal march upon Philadelphia is behind us. Renowned as the Bad Boy of the NBA, Charles Barkley was supposedly hated in the City of Brotherly Love. Instead, he was treated by his old fans as though he were General Charles…
Felix Solis steps down into the hole with a tiny pink box. Clutching it close to him, he closes his eyes and prays aloud. “Lord, I hope you will accept this baby into Heaven, where things are better than they are here,” Solis says, his voice cracking. “Please watch over…
Fifteen months ago, after the federal government accused Governor Fife Symington of “gross negligence” in his role as a director of the failed Southwest Savings and Loan, Symington denounced the Resolution Trust Corporation’s lawsuit as nothing more than a baseless, political smear campaign. He predicted that the RTC’s suit–which focuses…
