Community Relations Cult fiction: I would like to thank Susy Buchanan for her probing and factual article “A Path Divided” (January 10). It is about time that someone told the truth about the American Sikhs, 3HO and Yogi Bhajan. I am an ex-member of that organization and I can say…
For more than a year now, Kim Carroll has been wondering where her father is. The last time she saw him, he was dead, left in the care of a Valley funeral home. Now she’s the one who can’t rest in peace. It began in November 2000, when a blood…
Two million dollars can buy a lot, especially when it comes to city services or staff.But not in Phoenix, where city prosecutors instead have decided to offset as much in criminal charges in exchange for running a Valley property manager and his financial partners out of town. That’s the strange,…
This is a story about three camouflaged hunters, two big guns, two dead cows, one bear, and a stray bullet.It happened on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, about 200 miles from Phoenix, and is now being told in Maricopa County Superior Court. A jury has been asked to decide…
Seeking EnlightenmentStaying on the path: Regarding the Sikh community in Phoenix, I feel there are a few points you failed to bring forward in your recent story (“A Path Divided,” Susy Buchanan, January 10). I have been involved with Sikh Dharma for 20 years, and I have seen many people…
The life of Balbir Singh Sodhi began in the Punjab Province of India in 1949. But the story of his death began on September 11, 2001, four days before he would draw his last breath. That morning, Balbir watched with horror and fear as the World Trade Center came crashing…
“And now, a word from our sponsor: Haaaayyyyyaaaayiii!” Phoenix’s newest DJ DC Thomas erupts into the mike with a barrage of high-pitched ninja screeches. His hair is cropped into a bristly buzz, his wiry frame clothed in black tees and patched pants, the back of his neck tattooed with an…
Post Season FalloutThe ’01 World Series has been history for months. But word is only now starting to trickle down to water coolers in the non-sports departments of the Arizona Republic about a story the paper published right before the series and its remarkable resemblance to a piece that appeared…
Bad VibesCritics are the losers this year: I used to look forward to the best of music year-end edition with as much anticipation as any other edition of the year (“Pretty Vacant,” January 3). This year, I feel entirely let down. In years past, the critics seemed as versed in…
Last spring, the Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church in west Phoenix seemed ready to implode. Families and friends — most of whom had fled the oppressive Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu in the 1980s for a new life in the States — had become blood enemies. Elim’s controversial pastor, Dorin Druhora,…
It’s that time of year, the season for journalistic sharing, when all good reporters feel compelled to pontificate on the previous year and tell you, the reading public, what we think you should have paid attention to. Top 10 story lists, dubious achievement awards, even cleverly thought out “gifts” to…
Kids on the SkidsTime bomb: Amy Silverman’s article “The Kids Are Still Not Alright” (December 20) featured my son’s physical assault (documented by hospital medical records) at the hands of an Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections staff member. The only correction I would make to that article is to the…
DJ Logic — Cajun House, Scottsdale: Extremely focused and fresh live band infused with late-Miles sensibilities mixes and matches seamlessly with spinmaster Jason Kibler (he’s Logic). Jill Scott — Celebrity Theatre: Philadelphia soul sister wowed the packed house at this venerable theater-in-the-round, saucy, sultry and sunny all at once. And…
Machine-gun nests manned by teenage Indians in Mexico’s army confront the eco-tourist intent on whale watching in today’s Baja. The soldiers are there to search you and your sports utility vehicle for drugs. In Canada, interdiction dogs sniff for, of all things, pirated abalone. You may yearn for what Henry…
Wandering through a Riverside, California, thrift store with her sister, Amy Knox stopped to shuffle through a bowl of assorted photographs from years gone by. As she looked at the faded images of nameless people, of forgotten lives captured in an instant, something nearby caught her eye.An open, antique book…
Slammed DunkDelinquent reporting: I wanted to respond to your article commenting on our education programs (“Learning Disorder,” Amy Silverman, December 13).Given the negative tone of your article, it is important to note the great improvements that have been made in education programs. While this process began with the Johnson v…
TUCSON — First there was a Harvard, then came a “Harvard of the South,” a “Harvard of the Midwest” and a “Harvard of the Plains.” Indeed, great statesmanship in expansionist America was often defined by how quickly the local hayseed college could, without widespread snickering, be deemed the “Harvard of…
Editor’s note: The names of juveniles have been changed to protect their privacy. Last January, Gail Edwards got a message on her answering machine from a nurse at Adobe Mountain School, the state juvenile detention facility in north Phoenix where her son Scott was then living. “Your son was in…
In April 1999, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael McVey sentenced Lucia America Diaz to five years intensive probation on charges that she stalked her onetime gynecologist and fired bullets into his Glendale office. The judge could have sent the Mesa woman to prison for 12 years, but at the…
Adoption OptionsUnfair to family: “For the Love of Jamie,” by Amy Silverman (December 6), was a well-written, informative and flowing article, up to the last sentence. One reason editors get paid is to save writers from themselves. It was mean-spirited. Writers do not have crystal balls. Silverman does not know…
When Kirsten turned 16, a counselor at Black Canyon — the state’s detention school for girls — asked her to make a list of all the things that had happened in her life. “3 or 4 years old — Uncle molesting me.” “4 years old — Mommy was murdered.” “9…
It’s my rule not to write columns based on my mail, because I write only 40 columns and a handful of cover stories annually, and within that limitation cannot possibly squeeze in all the bad deeds and selfish plots afoot among the power brokers. So I don’t use my precious…
