Lead Stories *In May a Plainfield, Connecticut, religious sect called God’s House filed a $200,000 lawsuit against the state’s Department of Children and Families for sending the young daughter of sect leader Sister Rachael to foster care. The little girl is very important to the sect: She is considered to…
As a former fighter pilot, Daryl Jones knows about rocky landings. During routine exercises several years ago, Jones twice in one day scraped the tail of his F-16 along the runway at Homestead Air Force Base, causing thousands of dollars in damage to his aircraft. On another occasion, Jones lost…
Lead Stories *In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in May, housepainter David Maas, age 31, was arrested and charged with the theft of eleven statues and figurines from several churches and is suspected of having taken eighteen others. According to police, he said he wanted to furnish a new version of Noah’s ark…
Claudette to the Big Man: You’ve Got an Angel Down Here, Sir Thanks for Robert Andrew Powell’s article about our local hero Brett Perriman (“His Brilliant Career,” June 11). As a former Miami Northwestern High student and a classmate of Brett, I am happy to say he is one of…
The Ballad of the Oppressed Is Not Sung to the Rhythm of the Oppressor Judy Cantor’s article “Isla de la Musica” (May 28) is both misleading and myopic. It subtly attempts to obscure the fact that the isla is grossly deficient in basic civil liberties owing to the rule of…
Lead Stories *While Joe Camel-type ads lose favor in cigarette promotions in the United States, ads in other countries are stepping up their use of distasteful sales images, according to an April San Francisco Examiner report. A Marlboro ad in Cambodia features girls around eight years old; in Poland, the…
Poring over the transcripts of the secret tape recordings compiled by the Dade State Attorney’s Office as part of its criminal case against former Miami city commissioner Humberto Hernandez, three things became clear: First, Hernandez’s former chief of staff, Jorge De Goti, has a vivid, albeit limited, vocabulary. Second, Evelyn…
The Music Will Blow You Away I would like to comment on Judy Cantor’s cover story “Isla de la Musica” (May 28). I really enjoyed reading it and thought it accurately depicted the way the music business operates in Cuba. I also read her previous article “Bring on the Cubans!”…
Lead Stories *In May Walter Scott Knieriemen, who admitted breaking into a woman’s home in Wheeling, West Virginia, was acquitted of burglary charges after a jury apparently found that he lacked criminal intent. A psychiatrist testified that Knieriemen suffered from a childhood-based sexual dysfunction that compelled him to grab a…
Last week I chanced upon Humberto Hernandez in the parking lot of Miami City Hall. After some small talk, the commissioner began complaining that he and his allies were being singled out by state investigators. Plenty of politicians engage in sleazy election tactics, he huffed. Why doesn’t the State Attorney’s…
Lead Stories *In April a federal judge in Hartford, Connecticut, threw out the defamation lawsuit against Princeton University filed by disgruntled would-be medical student Rommel Nobay, who claimed that Princeton’s having bad-mouthed him for lying on his application discouraged other schools from accepting him. Nobay admitted to having fudged certain…
In Tallahassee he is known as El Mudo — the mute. When he does speak, his voice barely rises above a whisper as he struggles to piece together sentence fragments into something coherent. It’s not a speech impediment or a language barrier that prevents him from articulating his thoughts. It’s…
The Avenue Don’t Get No Respect I would like to thank John Lantigua for his objective coverage of the Washington Avenue nightclub problem (“Conflict in Clubland,” May 21). I think the article presented a fair picture of the issues that confront us here, and even touched on their causes –…
Lead Stories *Doug and Veronica Wright celebrated their first wedding anniversary on the U.S.-Canadian bridge at Niagara Falls because it’s the only place they can meet. Doug, an American, is barred from Canada because of a criminal record that includes illegal entry into the country; Veronica is barred from the…
Was Miami City Commissioner Art Teele charged with wire fraud last week? Only a few prosecutors know for sure, but there are strong indications that Teele, along with former seaport director Carmen Lunetta and California financier Calvin Grigsby, was secretly indicted on charges stemming from an $85,000 loan that Teele…
Our Bodies, Our Shopping Malls As Jacob Bernstein’s article “The Final Harvest” (May 14) detailed, developers, speculators, environmentalists, politicos, residents, and farmers all have an interest in the last major agricultural area of Dade County. But one major issue was not covered by even as much as a single sentence:…
No one knows better than Mario Pons what a glorious document is the U. S. Constitution. Last month the public works employee for the City of Miami showed his appreciation by invoking his constitutionally guaranteed Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 266 times during a two-hour deposition. Attorneys for Dade County…
So You Don’t Like Our Programming? Start Your Own Damn Radio Station Perhaps one of the reasons the listenership of WLRN-FM has gone flat, as Kirk Nielsen reported, is the arrogance of program director Joe Cooper (“Static,” May 7). Consider the following: A few years ago the station announced that…
Lead Stories *Tape recordings played in March at the Detroit trial of an organized crime gang exposed two alleged soldiers as somewhat less than “wise” guys. FBI bugs planted in their cars and homes revealed, among other comical exchanges, that they got lost trying to find an expressway after shooting…
Lesnik: Longing for the Lap of Luxury? Mike Clary’s article “Miami’s Man in Havana” (April 30) was mistitled. It should have been “Havana’s Man in Miami.” Max Lesnik is proof that Cubans in Miami are a tolerant people. We need him here in order to see, in the flesh, one…
Here’s a riddle. Why is the criminal investigation of a little-known Broward-based insurance company by the statewide prosecutor in Tallahassee causing so much anxiety in the offices of Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas? One reason: The target of the investigation, David Sanz, was a significant contributor to Penelas’s 1996 mayoral…
Lead Stories *When farmers leave for the day, pigs start to party, say agricultural researchers in Reading, England, who were interviewed by the London Daily Telegraph in April. The pigs eat, drink, and roughhouse until about midnight before retiring for the evening, at least in buildings that are well-lit. Farmers…
