Email Author Michael Freedman

1998 Stories by Michael Freedman

• My Son, the Porn Advocate

  published December 24, 1998

  Day after day two leggy twentysomethings in hot-pink thong swimsuits stood on the side of Yamato Road and sold hot dogs to businessmen on lunch... More >>

• The Little Paper That Couldn't

  published November 26, 1998

  The night before Hurricane Georges was due to hit South Florida -- with memories of Hurricane Andrew's destruction still fresh in the minds of... More >>

• R U Down Wit' Granny Rapp?

  published November 12, 1998

  Shirley Pearlman is a short, white Jewish woman with your grandmother's figure. She's also the most successful 75-year-old rap musician in... More >>

• A Real Wheeler-Dealer

  published November 5, 1998

  Judah Feldman was dying a slow and painful death. He was only 56 years old, but he looked 80. His beard was gray and stringy, his sunken eyes... More >>

• A Southern Belle in Black and White

  published October 15, 1998

  The last vestige of the Old South may be an ability to ignore racism when its presence is about as clear as Kentucky moonshine. And, perhaps, as... More >>

• Bikini Thrill

  published September 24, 1998

  On a sweltering summer afternoon at a Fort Lauderdale waterfront bar, DJ Crash blasts testosterone-driven rock 'n' roll through the PA system, in... More >>

• The Brat PAC

  published September 3, 1998

  More than 100 people showed up for the first-ever candidates' forum sponsored by PAC-PAC, Broward County's new gay political force. The guest list... More >>

• Definitely in My Back Yard

  published August 20, 1998

  Willie Thomas' morning starts at 8:30 a.m. with a jolt so powerful it shakes the foundation of his house. Sometimes it seems like it happens even... More >>

• Removing the Unity From the Gay Community

  published July 30, 1998

  The gay-pride parade is long over. But any appearance of unity displayed at last month's march through the streets of Fort Lauderdale has mutated... More >>

• Weird Science

  published July 23, 1998

  Even though there's nothing wrong with him, Gary Prater swallows approximately 100 pills a day. In the past ten years, he hasn't even had a cold.... More >>

• With Election, Casino Boat Foes Cry, "Chips Away!"

  published June 18, 1998

  For the first time in years, when Steve Welsch awoke last Wednesday morning he saw sunshine in the future of his North Beach neighborhood. ... More >>

• Infuriating the Joint

  published June 11, 1998

  Greg Scott cannot be rehabilitated. He is an incorrigible outlaw who regularly flouts the law and commits a drug-related crime as often and as... More >>

• The Politics of Pop

  published June 4, 1998

  When a visitor arrives, West Palm Beach City Commissioner Jeff Koons drops the newspaper he's been reading, stands up, and shakes hands like a... More >>

• Bearing Witnesses

  published May 7, 1998

  To the Rev. Isaiah Clark, the facts were as clear as a church bell chime. If the city of West Palm Beach sold the Municipal Auditorium to the... More >>

• Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

  published April 30, 1998

  White tigers, blinking neon lights, dancing showgirls, Siegfried & Roy, a tower or two emblazoned with the name "Trump" -- you're not going to... More >>

• Man Your Battle Stations

  published April 9, 1998

  Aside from the usual component of offering a free tote bag, WXEL's recent on-air message to listeners had all the trappings of a traditional... More >>

• Enough to Make You Sick

  published March 26, 1998

  In an empty lot littered with bits of broken glass and fast-food refuse, a man hunches over and pulls apart the weeds as if searching for a lost... More >>

• Badge of Dishonor

  published March 5, 1998

  Throughout her 24-year tenure as a police officer with the Village of North Palm Beach, Lt. Cynthia Hawes has heard dozens of accounts and read as... More >>

• Bait and Shackle

  published February 26, 1998

  It is the height of the ballyhoo season, yet fisherman Everett Hobby frets over an expected cold front about to blow in from the west. He worries... More >>

• Excessive Farce

  published February 12, 1998

  By the time Nina Chamberlain tried to restrain the student at Boca Raton Middle School, he'd already punched a teacher so hard that he caused... More >>

• A Do-or-Di Cameraman

  published January 22, 1998

  It was just eleven days after Princess Diana tragically died while fleeing the paparazzi in Paris that news photographer Brent Strange found... More >>

• Conspiracy, She Wrote

  published January 15, 1998

  On the evening of his retirement party, October 31, 1990, Delray Beach Police Chief Charles L. Kilgore pulled out a pistol, and without much... More >>