Archives

16 June 2004

Credibility of the officers and the tactics they used are so abhorrent that we believe the likelihood of conviction has disappeared

County attorney Rick Romley and Sheriff Joe Arpaio square off at eachother again, this time over undercover officers who crossed the line and used investigative techniques that "undermined prosecution", in a prostitution sting crackdown.
Records detail instances in which deputies or posse members fondled the breasts and genitals of the women and allowed the women to touch their penises with their mouths and hands — all in the hopes of convincing the women they were not law enforcement officers.

Officers going nude is unacceptable, said Barnett Lotstein, special assistant county attorney. Participating in sex acts is that much worse.

"This behavior is not appropriate. We don't approve of it and we never authorized it. I want to make that clear," Lotstein said. "I have never read a report where a law enforcement or a representative went as far as these people did."

Another colossal waste of taxpayer resources that Sheriff Joe has foisted on a duped Arizona public. And it seems to me that the officer behavoir was indeed criminal, and Mr. Romley should pursue charges against those individuals for solicitation.

Arpaio's reign is a disgrace and it's really time for him to go.

13 June 2004

B.S. Enterprises

Former KFNX news director is arrested again.
Tom Simon (Avila, on the air at KFNX) is an experienced criminal whose record in other states goes back two decades and includes arrests for forgery, grand theft, obstruction of justice and assault on a peace officer. He moved to Arizona just after being paroled from an L.A. county prison last June and immediately embarked on a very busy schedule.

Although he's been in Arizona less than a year, Simon managed to fall in love in July, marry in September, lead police on a high-speed chase in November, get popped on 14 felony counts of forgery in December, reinvent himself as a journalist in February, get fired at the beginning of April, and arrested on 20 new felony counts by the Phoenix Police Department by the end of April.

How does an experienced criminal just walk in to a metropolitan radio station and become a news director?

9 June 2004

Ouch!

Some useful advice if you ever happen to stumble into a hive of killer bees.
We have Africanized killer bees out our way. In fact, several years ago some poor guy in Carefree was cleaning his pool and inadvertently bumped a hive in his back yard and when they attacked he jumped in the pool and dove under water. Big mistake. The bees, who have some peculiar rod and cone deal going, could see him perfectly, and massed above his head waiting for him to surface. When he couldn’t hold his breath any longer and surfaced, the killer bees nailed him in the eyes, nose, mouth and ears. In short, they killed him.

This is always on my mind (he lived five miles from my house!) when I walk to the creek, like this morning. I hear the bees in the blooming palo verde trees and as I walk by I’m always walking very lightly and looking for an escape route at the same time.

The official advice goes something like this: bees can only fly fifteen miles an hour and if you can run 16 miles an hour and zig-zag through the brush, you’ll easily lose them. So, I’m always alert and looking for the path of most resistance.

Imagine my horror this morning when I read in the Arizona Republic that a 20-year-old Mesa man backed into a hive Tuesday morning while using a leaf blower. He was immediately attacked by a killer swarm and started to run. So far, so good. Unfortunately, he ran into the street and was hit by a Salt River Project truck. He didn’t die but he has a fractured skull and compound fractures on both legs. The article didn’t say if they dispersed the bees, or not.