Quit Pickin’ on My Friend Fraind The recent article by Paula Park smearing [school district deputy superintendent] Henry Fraind was anything but amusing (“Not Just Another Pretty Bureaucrat,” January 29). I suggest that Ms. Park or anyone else writing about alternative education (a.k.a. “distance learning”) might want to educate themselves…
An opera in four acts. Music by Giuseppe Verdi with libretto in Italian by Giacomo DeFede, based on depositions taken by Miami-Dade County officials. OVERVIEW While operas based on contract disputes are relatively rare, Il Signatore, or The Signature, seeks to bring the excitement of bureaucratic governmental wrangling to a…
Havana Spared Most of the Worst I read with interest Paula Park’s article “The Quintana Plan” (January 22), about architect Nicolas Quintana and his ruminations on the development of Havana. I feel a sense of consternation over the many vicissitudes he had to endure thanks to Fidel Castro. I am…
Lead Stories *Vincent Morrissey’s police brutality lawsuit went to trial in New Haven, Connecticut, in December. Ofcr. Ralph Angelo took the witness stand and claimed that Morrissey had provoked the encounter by swinging at him. Morrissey’s attorney, skeptical of the testimony, asked Angelo to demonstrate to the jury how hard…
Although the corruption charges against James Burke, Calvin Grigsby, and Billy Hardemon had been expected for nearly a year, the days and weeks leading up to the federal indictment played out behind the scenes like a high-stakes poker game. The principal source of tension: Howard Gary. The former Miami city…
Lead Stories *In December nationally known Emory University business school professor Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, age 43, abruptly resigned, according to several news reports, because the university had recorded him on a surveillance tape vandalizing a wall. He was also suspected to have previously gouged doors, woodwork, and furniture in the…
Munching on Manny I barely crack the pages of the January 15 issue and I see pictures of a guy with an alligator and a shark. The second paragraph of Kirk Nielsen’s story (“Do Not Try This at Home!”) describes Manny Puig “finding a nice big gator, looking the beast…
For the past month Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez has been inviting members of the media to meet with him in an effort to improve his rather strained relations with the press. So far he has met with reporters and editors from the Miami Herald and executives from local television and…
Lead Stories *The New York Times reported in October about the secret life of a 25-year-old British-born daughter of Pakistani immigrants living in Bradford, England, who has changed residences nineteen times in the last five years just to avoid death threats from her own father and brother. They’re angry that…
Our Promise: Leave No Perverted Agenda Unexposed Jim DeFede’s piece on Alex Penelas was great (“Style: 10, Substance: 0,” January 1). But he was a bit too kind. Penelas is less qualified to be Miami-Dade County mayor than was the late rag popper Doctor Cool. Please continue to expose local…
The INS’s Civil Wrongs I want to commend Jacob Bernstein on his excellent investigative article “Welcome to America. Now Go Home” (January 1). What type of society have we become that defenseless people can be so badly treated? I think it is important to encourage readers to write to their…
Lead Story *In November in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Kenneth J. Nowicki, age 34, was formally charged with disorderly conduct. According to the police complaint, Nowicki picked out three kids in a park, left them candy and a cup, and asked them via typewritten instructions to spit into the cup after eating…
Whenever Paul Philip’s name is mentioned, I recall the scene earlier this year in front of the Miami Beach houseboat where Andrew Cunanan killed himself. Metro-Dade police raided the floating home just before dusk and found Cunanan’s body in one of the upstairs bedrooms. A communications snafu initially caused Miami…
Lead Stories *The Court of Appeal in London ruled in November that a convicted rapist who continued to call and write his victim and her husband from prison could sue the victim for libel because of what she wrote to the police when reporting the harassment. The rapist, David Daniels,…
Todd Talks Back to the Idiot Box As a former editor at a local TV station, I take responsibility for two of the pieces mentioned in Robert Andrew Powell’s “Sweeps Unchained” (December 18). After nearly five years, I recently quit over what I considered to be insensitive and often offensive…
Lead Story *Allegheny High School in Clifton Forge, Virginia (which is seventeen percent black), suspended two boys and a girl (all white) who wore Ku Klux Klan outfits to school as their Halloween costumes. In Saybrook, Illinois, however, the Lions Club awarded its prize for best schoolkid Halloween costume to…
Jockey Club Bad, Jockey Complex Good It was with great dismay that we read Ted B. Kissell’s article about the Jockey Club (“The Jockey Club’s Wild Ride,” December 11). The first question that came to mind was “Why?” What was the purpose of the article? Sensationalism? Gossip? While Mr. Kissell’s…
For nearly a year Miami-Dade County Commissioner Bruce Kaplan has been under criminal investigation by the State Attorney’s Office for allegedly providing false information on an application for a home mortgage. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle last week confirmed the ongoing probe but said she couldn’t provide any specific details…
Lead Stories *In November Denver school board candidate Lee McClendon lost his race despite a vigorous campaign promising to improve kids’ performances in reading, writing, and basic math. The loss might have had something to do with his 1984 guilty plea for attempted sexual assault of an eight-year-old boy, a…
Burke, Gersten, and the Power of Political Connections In Jim DeFede’s article “The Waiting Game” (December 4), Commissioner James Burke wonders, “I know that Joe Gersten was investigated, but I never heard of any attempt at a sting operation involving him. I don’t think the level of scrutiny is the…
Packed into the conference room of Sen. Bob Graham’s downtown Miami office, Miami-Dade County officials gathered two weeks ago for a meeting with attorneys from half a dozen federal agencies overseeing the transfer of Homestead Air Force Base. Among those present: Mayor Alex Penelas and several members of his staff,…
Lead Stories *Kenneth Curtis, age 32, was arrested in November in Hartford, Connecticut; state prosecutors will again attempt to bring him to trial for the 1987 murder of a former girlfriend. Curtis had avoided trial earlier because of mental incompetence — he sustained a brain injury after shooting himself in…
