Email Author Kirk Semple

1993 Stories by Kirk Semple

• Anything but Retiring

  published December 29, 1993

  "You did what with Blaze Starr?" Michael Somberg, the police planner for the Miami Beach Police Department, leans across his desk toward the large... More >>

• This Space for Rent

  published December 15, 1993

  Joe's Stone Crab, that hub of Miami Beach hubbub, was crackling with more excitement than usual this past June 16, the opening night of Thomas... More >>

• Crossing the Bar

  published December 8, 1993

  Perhaps no one really believed the issue would lie dormant for long. Too much politics, too many passions. Indeed, the heated debate surrounding a... More >>

• Toxic Runways

  published December 1, 1993

  Amid the usual cacophony of midday airport sounds, passengers who happened to have heard the explosion probably didn't think much of it. A brief... More >>

• The Case of the Grammar School Grafter

  published December 1, 1993

  This past September brought bleak news to the parents, students, and teachers at a northeast Dade grade school. Rumor had it that an Oak Grove... More >>

• Bye Bye Birdie

  published December 1, 1993

  Fear and temerity commingle in the voice of Alex Daoud, phoning the New Times offices to announce that he is finally on his way to prison. ... More >>

• The Great Barrier Beef

  published November 10, 1993

  On the question of whether the recently opened Federal Justice Building downtown should be named after Senior U.S. District Judge James... More >>

• Edifice Rex

  published October 20, 1993

  The old man doesn't have to wait long to prove his point. Where upward-flaring, stainless-steel columns once graced the grand, sweeping... More >>

• Design of the Times

  published October 20, 1993

  During his long career, Morris Lapidus worked on hundreds of architectural projects, including stores, hotels and motels, apartment buildings and... More >>

• H.T. Under th Collar

  published October 20, 1993

  Few black South Floridians enjoy the name recognition and high profile of Miami attorney H.T. Smith. A perennially rumored candidate for political... More >>

• Life's a Bitch

  published October 13, 1993

  Evenings, when the sidewalks of South Beach become a pedestrian mall of boozing and buying, Michael Hernandez's pitch might be mistaken for just... More >>

• Daud Descending

  published September 29, 1993

  Had his charmed life endured, 50-year-old Alex Daoud might still be mayor of Miami Beach, spending this late-summer evening holding forth at some... More >>

• Taint Misbehavin'

  published September 8, 1993

  On August 28, when state and local officials discovered that Miami Beach's drinking water supply was contaminated, they jotted down a notice on a... More >>

• This Means Lore!

  published September 1, 1993

  On the day he was scheduled to die, Giuseppe Zangara pushed past prison guards and entered the electrocution chamber of Raiford State Prison. He... More >>

• The Flap Over Flipper

  published September 1, 1993

  There's nothing like the threat of a tourism boycott to rattle a small tropical island dependent on a steady influx of dollar-toting visitors.... More >>

• If We Could Talk to the Animals...

  published August 18, 1993

  If you listen carefully as you lie in bed tonight, and if the wind is blowing just right, you may be able to hear an extraordinary chorus of... More >>

• Male Order

  published August 18, 1993

  Does the pantheon of civil rights pioneers have room for an earnest, pasty-faced nurse who wants to work hard and save lives? Will MLK, the Woman... More >>

• Sweet Charity, Part 2: Benevolent Boobs

  published August 11, 1993

  What a glorious day to take the kids for a motorcycle ride to the park! The sun was high and the sky clear of the thunderous rain clouds that had... More >>

• The Eyeful Tower

  published July 28, 1993

  It isn't unusual for total strangers to stroll unannounced into Stephen Larue's workplace and take off their clothes right in front of him,... More >>

• Tough Guys Die Hard

  published July 21, 1993

  Innocence wasn't an issue. Of course he was innocent. The question, in his mind, was how best to exact his revenge, and on whom. This nightmare... More >>

• The Man with the Biodegradable Balls

  published July 7, 1993

  What drives seemingly intelligent and enlightened human beings to whack golf balls off the fantails of ocean liners? A momentary feeling of... More >>

• A Tale of Tent City

  published June 23, 1993

  Most human beings prefer to think of nature as a cyclical process, a perpetual revolution of destruction and renewal. In the face of forces... More >>

• Married to It

  published May 26, 1993

  Does Dade County's film czar talk in her sleep? If so, does her husband listen? These ostensibly private questions have become matters of... More >>

• The First Picture Show

  published May 19, 1993

  No matter how hip South Beach residents think they are, they have for years suffered from a major case of cultural deprivation: no first-run... More >>

• Mano a Mano

  published May 19, 1993

  For two years, a Mano was one of a handful of bright stars in the dim constellation of local eateries. Ensconced in a corner of the Betsy... More >>