Lead Stories *Several news services reported in October on the growing number of “telephone clubs” in Tokyo in which men (mostly middle-age and older) talk sex with junior high and high school girls. According to the Wall Street Journal, perhaps eight percent of schoolgirls participate at least occasionally. Many of…
The arena war is over. No more obnoxious commercials. No more slick brochures in the mail. No more annoying telephone calls asking for your support. A surprise pact between Miami Heat owner Micky Arison and Dade Mayor Alex Penelas goosed up voter confidence enough that the project enjoyed an overwhelming…
A Corrupt City, a Faltering Newspaper On Saturday, November 9, Miami made the front page of the New York Times for the corruption that marks our city like the wine stain on Gorbachev’s forehead. (The article was titled “Corruption and Money Woes Divide and Anger Miamians.”) This bashing — you…
Stierheim: A Target for Friends of Odio Regarding Robert Andrew Powell’s interview with Merrett Stierheim (“The Stierheim Report,” October 31), the Cubans are maligning an honest public servant who is Miami’s friend. He is not deserving of the racist comments by a few people who are friends of Cesar Odio…
Lead Stories *Right place, right time: In Pittsburgh, during the Steelers-Ravens football game in September, Allen E. Adams was picked up on a previous arrest warrant when a police officer recognized Adams’s name as a winner in the halftime field-goal-kicking promotion. And a few days later, in Victoria, British Columbia,…
Chief Warshaw’s Invitation: How Ironic I just finished reading Elise Ackerman and Michelle Mayer’s article “Policing the Police” (October 24), and found Miami Police Chief Donald Warshaw’s sentiment (“The police department … invites citizens to complain … in order to foster community confidence in the department”) to be rather ironic,…
Lead Stories *Overcoming disabilities: In September wheelchair-using men in Frankfurt, Germany (no legs), and Pompano Beach (missing part of a leg and one eye) attempted bank robberies but were thwarted when a customer and a cop, respectively, rushed in and tipped over the wheelchairs. Also in September, police in East…
Sometime this week Judge Robert Kaye is expected to rule on a lawsuit this newspaper brought against P. Anthony Ridder, chairman of Knight-Ridder, Inc. As we all know, Knight-Ridder owns the Miami Herald (and more than two dozen other newspapers). Tony Ridder, one of the nation’s top media executives, unceremoniously…
The Miami Heat has placed me on waivers. In their eyes I am the Rex Chapman of writers. The Rony Seikaly of columnists. The Alan Ogg of newsmen. Juwan Howard showed more loyalty to this team than I have, and as a result, I am about as welcome in their…
More than an hour after sunset the temperature inside the gym at Booker T. Washington Middle School is still over 90 degrees. Trapped like most everything else in Overtown, the air is heavy and damp. On the floor, two dozen teenage boys race up and down the basketball court, running…
Odio: Enough of the Pointless Poor Taste! I am tired of your unrelenting coverage of Cesar Odio. I thought your article on his family (“Dynasty,” October 10) was pointless and in poor taste. Please write about someone or something else. Enough already. Barbara De Leo Hamra Miami Odio: New Times…
Lead Stories *Dangerous minds: In the same week in September, Southwest Elementary School in Lexington, North Carolina, suspended a six-year-old boy for kissing a girl on the cheek (“sexual harassment”), and the New York Supreme Court disallowed the suspension of a fifteen-year-old boy who was carrying a loaded gun at…
The Odio Clan: Lowly, Stupid, and Vile After reading the unsigned article about Odio family members (“Dynasty,” October 10) in which you made fun of their history, their family, and made jokes at their expense for your own gain, I was struck at how little you must know about the…
Lead Stories *Conspicuous getaways: Armed with descriptions of the perpetrators, police made arrests fairly quickly in robberies in Chicago and Oshawa, Ontario, because thieves were unable to blend in with the crowd as they walked away with their loot. According to police, Jude Bradshaw was still wearing the green hat…
Hello, registrar’s office.” “Hi, is this the registrar’s office at Columbia University?” “Yes, it is.” “Well, I was hoping you could help me. I’m calling from Miami and I was trying to track down some information about a former Columbia professor, Alex Cooper. I believe he taught bullshitting.” “Excuse me?”…
Want Not, Save Not I was so surprised to read that an average of only two people on every flight abstain from the famous airplane food (“Getting Wasted at 35,000 Feet” by Kirk Semple, September 26). I was expecting something like only two people would take it from every flight…
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Him I enjoyed reading Sean Rowe’s article “Gimme Subterranean Shelter,” (September 26) but I must clarify one or two things. My wife, three cats, and I lived in the bomb shelter on Hibiscus Street from April 1993 to June 1994, and…
Lead Stories *In Chicago transportation analyst Steve Lewins, using the stationery of his employer, the investment firm Gruntal & Company, said he had information on alleged federal government complicity in the crash of TWA Flight 800 and the explosion of the Challenger. He said he deals with death threats against…
Lead Stories *Singapore began a clean-lavatories campaign in August. Officials said the measure of a nation’s social progress is the cleanliness of its public restrooms and its appreciation of music. And in April, the government of Shanghai, China, opened several “hotel-grade” public restrooms, charging about two cents per visit, that…
Otherwise Kathy Thanks You I very much enjoyed Kathy Glasgow’s entertaining and informative story about the coterie of Cuban boxers who now call Miami their home (“Freedom Fighters,” September 19). It was another example of what makes this such an interesting city and what makes New Times such a valuable…
This past Sunday Rev. Cleo Albury, Jr., of the Bible Baptist Church in Liberty City, exhorted his congregation to believe in the power of prayer, and he used the parable of Daniel in the lion’s den as an illustration. Daniel, the pastor reminded everyone, was a servant of the Lord…
Info:Correction Date: September 26, 1996 Letters The Jean Rich Story, Getting Richer I would like to congratulate and personally thank New Times for having the courage to publish the article regarding my family name and Rich International Airways (RIA), a subject that appears to be taboo for the Miami Herald…
