Kristy Murphy walked out onto the beach at Sebastian Inlet and surveyed the scene. A logo-enhanced (Billabong Girls, Roxy, Rip Curl, Surf Diva) army had set up camp. More than 100 female combatants swathed in wet suits, stocking caps, knit scarves, sweatshirts, sweaters, blankets, and heavy winter jackets huddled together…
One night ten years ago, Yelena Pawela was studying in her dorm room at Moscow’s Timiryazev Agricultural Academy when there was a knock at the door. Thinking it was a friend, Pawela opened the door to find five men dressed in heavy winter clothes, their hoods drawn around their faces…
Tim Smith is a short, compact man with a quick boyish smile and the watchful, hungry look of a salesman prowling the front of a car lot. On Election Day last week, he arrived at his neighborhood polling place, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center, promptly at 8:30 in the…
An old opponent piles on: This is in response to Bob Norman’s February 13 article, “Burn, Oliphant, Burn.” There are some things in this article that I believe need to be straightened out. Everything done by Commissioner Lori Parrish, including the Swerdlow deal (which I am personally not happy about),…
A cold breeze rustles the thicket of cypress trees overhead as Octavio Ferro leans against a metal horse trailer, props his foot up behind him, and puts his hands into his pockets like a Ralph Lauren model. With carefully tousled blond hair, a chiseled chin, and clothes that make him…
It’s a blessing to live in a county where all elected officials but one are so good and wholesome. Great to breathe the same air as politicians who are as clean as Britney Spears’ teeth and who can root out evildoers in a way our great warrior president can only…
Of the hundreds of South Floridians who recently auditioned for CBS’ Survivor at Fort Lauderdale’s Swap Shop Circus, one seemed to set a standard for sheer audacity in her allotted two minutes. Wearing shorts and a tank top, the young woman removed a dead raw fish from a container and…
Remember, Miriam is downstairs: It isn’t just the Rev. Dozell Varner Jr. who feels that Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant has been targeted by those who are of questionable character or ethics (“Miriam for President,” Susan Eastman, February 6). It isn’t just a borderline economic issue in the minority…
Near the end of a barely paved road in Fort Pierce, at the end of an unpaved driveway, a country-style house described by its owner as “Smurf blue” rests on an overgrown lot. High crabgrass and weeds in the front yard have overtaken a wrought-iron furniture set with rust peeking…
Dozell Varner Jr. hadn’t seen the op-ed piece he penned for the Sun-Sentinel this past January 24 until New Times gave him a copy. That’s because the assistant pastor at Mount Bethel Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale refused to spend 35 cents on the newspaper. And though he accepted the…
Smack in the middle of Broward County’s construction megaboom, a red Porsche convertible pulls up to a ramshackle drive-in on a dazzlingly bright early morning. Blond, attractive, and obviously wealthy attorney Jill Friedman requests four pounds of freshly roasted coffee — crème brûlée, maple pecan, brownie crunch, and vanilla nut…
Schooling New Times: Upon sharing Eric Alan Barton’s article “Farewell to the Fighting Pianists” (January 16) with Heather, the girl you pictured in the lower left corner, her surprise nearly surpassed mine. Why, you ask? Well, maybe someone’s expert on journalistic integrity forgot to remind Mr. Barton that in order…
Wearing dark sunglasses that masked his eyes, Seminole Tribal Councilman David Cypress strolled to the witness stand in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on December 13 and for the next five hours astonished observers. On trial were three former Seminole employees charged with embezzling millions of dollars. The trio’s defense…
Nestled among the boutiques and restaurants of the prefab wonderland of Weston City Center, on this beautiful sunny Wednesday, trendy Gen Xers are sucking frothy frappuccinos through straws while chatting with friends at the dozens of café tables outside Starbucks. In the midst of it all, Danny Dickey sits coolly…
John Edwards has all the gravitas of John Boy and is almost as proven as a national leader. John Kerry has no presidential legs, but he’s got effete. Joe Lieberman combines chronic charisma deficiency with a serious identity problem — is he Democrat, Republican, or Likudnik? And Dick Gephardt… well,…
Bob can’t see the forest for the sleaze: Reading Bob Norman’s pop psychology about the Broward State Attorney’s Office (“Corruption and Nothingness,” January 27) was both amusing and frustrating. Somehow he chose to leave out the following facts that didn’t support his hypothesis: From 1977 through 2001, this office presented…
William Boatwright argued with his wife, Wendy, late into the night on November 13, 1988. Around 4 a.m., William put a gun to Wendy’s head and pulled the trigger. Half an hour later, he called for help. Police found the 28-year-old woman lying in a blood-soaked bed, dead from a…
Kingsley Barham seems an unlikely candidate for king of crass. The once-handsome, now-haggard 56-year-old sleeps on a sofa bed in a ramshackle Delray Beach home from which he barely escaped eviction in 2001. The State of California is after him for more than $75,000 in back taxes. And creditors have…
Broward State Attorney Michael Satz, whose bald head and square jaw could have been chiseled from stone, refuses to admit defeat. Sitting in a conference room near his office on the sixth floor of the Broward County Courthouse, wearing a crisp blue dress shirt and a tightly knotted yellowish tie,…
He’s awful: “Wake Up and Smile” by Bob Norman (January 9) was a great story. Rick Sanchez is probably the worst TV newsman I have ever seen. I unfortunately had the opportunity to watch WSVN-TV (Channel 7) while growing up in South Florida. I only saw it briefly because of…
Dear Augusta National Golf Club Members: We know you’re nervous. We know you’re sweating. We know the hair in your ears positively curls with thoughts of what might happen to Augusta. Let’s face it, it’s a bad year to be perceived as any sort of elitist, especially after that whole…
Soccer Coach Tom Ruth’s cleats make a rhythmic clicking in the hallways of the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts. The sound is foreign to this West Palm Beach public school for aspiring performers. The quiet patter of ballerina slippers, now that’s familiar. But cleats in the hallways…
