Phoenix News Blog

Image: Ray Stern

Demonstrators in front of the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix

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Wells Fargo informed Maricopa County in a recent letter that the Sheriff's Office needs to vacate the office space it has inhabited in the bank's downtown Phoenix building since 1998.

One of our trusted sources read us the letter this evening -- we
don't have it yet, but we'll post it here as soon as we do. Here's what we can tell you in the meantime:

The letter to Dennis Lindsey, county real estate manager, from a Wells Fargo vice president, Leo Bauman, states that the bank needs the space for its own use, says our source. We're not sure of the timeline -- the letter refers vaguely to details already discussed -- but Bauman says the bank will waive the contract's penalty fee of 12 months' worth of rent for early termination. Ain't that sweet of them?

The five-year contract, which was renewed two years ago, should have run through September 30, 2013. But the bank's been the target of protests for more than a year: Anti-Arpaio demonstrators have been staking out the corner of 1st Avenue and Jefferson in earnest since September of 2008.

Looks like Wells Fargo finally caved. It seems like a significant blow to Arpaio, marketing-wise, and the sheriff's supporters aren't likely to be amused. Why does Wells Fargo need all that space, all of a sudden, anyway?

When we contacted the bank this evening, here's what we heard from spokeswoman Marjorie Rice:

​In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries:

Feathered Bastard:
Tucson Missionary Robert Park, and What Kim Jong-il and Uncle Sam Have in Common

Up on the Sun:
George Strait, Raves, and Modified Arts Over the Weekend

"Who" Cares? Super Bowl Halftime Debacle

Chow Bella:
Now Open: Robbie Fox's Public House

New in Tempe: Lobbys Beef, Burgers, Dogs

Valley Fever:
Naked Guy Arrested After Running Through Sky Harbor in the Buff

Andrew Thomas Defends RICO Lawsuit -- Still Thinks Dubious Claim Has Merit

"Spiritual warrior" James Arthur Ray

​The prosecutor in the James Ray sweat lodge fiasco has asked a Yavapai County Superior Court judge to issue a gag order for those involved with the case.

The move is probably to prevent Ray's lawyers from polluting a potential jury pool by making the rounds on the talk-show circuit.

Ray was arrested last week and charged with three counts of manslaughter for the October deaths of three people in Sedona. After his arrest, Ray's attorney Brad Brian went on Larry King Live to dispute the prosecution's claims.

Check out the interview here.

www.icanhazcheezburger.com

​A Green valley man was arrested yesterday after he left nearly two-dozen of his own dogs to starve in his house about two weeks ago.

The Pima County Sheriff's Office arrested 34-year-old Raymond Quintero after an anonymous tipster called authorities to report that Quintero had disappeared for about two weeks and his 23 pit-bull/ boxer mixes were left alone with no food or water.

The dogs all lived, but authorities at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona say the pooches were in pretty rough shape.

www.nodaddy.com

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If there is any doubt that Super Bowl ads are worth the hefty price-tag, just ask the folks at Scottsdale-based Go Daddy.com.

Go Daddy is known for its edgy ads, where chestically blessed women come to the brink of toplessness before the ad cuts out and a voice advises viewers that if they want to "see what happens next," they have to go to the company's Web site. During Go Daddy's Super Bowl ads, people did exactly that.

Take a look at the company's Web traffic chart determined by content delivery provider Akamai.

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A woman who took a 3-year-old neighbor boy to the store and bought him a Tootsie Roll faces a charge of custodial interference after sparking fears of a kidnapping.

Cops scoured the streets near 32nd Street and Indian School for more than a half an hour on Friday evening, trying to help a panicked mother whose toddler went missing. Police say the boy's mother had been in her apartment, caring for an infant and glancing often out her open door at the grassy courtyard outside, where her little boy and other children were playing.

About 6:30 p.m., she suddenly realized the child had vanished. When the other kids told her that a woman had walked off with the boy, she punched 911 on her phone.

 

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After a brief, but intense, search, police found Ronda Williams, 50, (above) walking in the parking lot of a nearby strip mall. The kid had a Tootsie Roll she had bought him, police say.

 Phoenix fire Captain Willie Nelson, a dogged sleuth who knows how to tell arson from accidental, has been named the department's top investigator for 2009.

​Nelson (alas, no relation to the famous country crooner pictured in this long-ago photo) has been with Phoenix Fire since 1986 and a captain since 2004.

He also is a certified police officer, which enabled him to serve in New York City after the World Trade Center attacks and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

 

Captain Nelson was honored for his body of work. However, his supervisor, arson chief Jack Ballentine, listed three specific investigations in nominating him for the honor.

 

www.youtube.com

​The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office's latest stab at reality TV is set to premier on February 25, says the show's network, TLC.

Police Women of Maricopa County is the followup to TLC's first chick-cop reality show, Police Women of Broward County.

The show follows four MCSO lady-cops as they peruse the county and "kick some ass."

It's not just a few babe-cops being all bad-ass, of course, it's a reality show, and as one of the women points out in the show's trailer, "We get our nails done, put on makeup, do our hair, and still kick some ass." Check out the trailer here.

The soon-to-be celebrity members of Sheriff Arpaio's goon squad include Detective Deborah Moyer -- the wily 19-year veteran who is "never one to back away from a challenge," Deputy Kelly Bocardo, described as a feisty, tough, "no-nonsense Latino," who loves "hunting down criminals" as much as she loves her 2-year-old daughter; Deputy Lindsey Smith, who loves her two boys but won't hesitate "from chasing illegal immigrants in the desert;" and the "organized and even-keeled Deputy Amie Duong.

www.lyricsmusic.com

Country music star Jimmy Wayne

​On New Year's Day, country music hunk Jimmy Wayne set out on a cross-country charity walk to help raise awareness of homeless children. At the time, Wayne vowed to essentially live on the streets like a bum as he walked from Nashville to Phoenix. The cold weather and icy conditions, however, seem to have changed the country star's tune.

Before his journey, Wayne said in a statement, "It's going to be cold, rainy, and maybe even snowing, and that ground I sleep on at night is going to be really hard. But that's what the homeless are dealing with each and every winter they go without a home of their own."

As we pointed out in a previous post, you could throw a dog, a divorce, and some cheap beer into that scenario, and you got yourself the recipe for a hit country song. Wayne, however, opted to throw an RV into the mix, making his self-promoted, common street-kid image a bit lame.

According to reports in Nashville's Tennessean daily newspaper, Wayne is now sleeping in a donated RV rather than the hard ground he had mentioned before his walk.

Andrew Thomas thinks his stupid lawsuit might be "the most factually detailed federal civil RICO claim ever filed in Arizona."

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For those of us who don't stand accused of being criminals, or literally face felony charges simply for doing our jobs (see: Donahoe, Gary), it's been something of a hoot to read the filings by Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas in his conspiracy-fueled attack on other county officials.

Of course these aren't laughing matters. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on lawyers; county business isn't getting done; reputations are being destroyed by whisper campaigns and unproven assertions in court filings.

But the logic displayed by Thomas and his minions as they attempt to execute their attack is, in fact, laughable. One lawyer noted at a rally last month that the "probable cause" statement Thomas' office filed in the case against Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe reads like a letter to the editor -- and that seems about right. These filings are so full of bombast and so short on legal theory, we're still not sure what Thomas' endlessly cited "criminal enterprise" was supposedly up to: There's never been so much as an allegation that anyone has profited one penny from their alleged criminal acts.

That said, Thomas' latest filing in his racketeering case against numerous county officials -- the stupid RICO claim that alleges county supervisors, judges, and their lawyers are part of a criminal conspiracy -- is hilarious. Why? Even though every lawyer in town who's read this thing has been horrified by its absence of fact, Thomas is still convinced it's a gem.