Editor’s note: This is the third and final installment of Pulp Nonfiction. Read the first and second installments online. Pulp Nonfiction isn’t your standard Hollywood fare. Sure, it’s loaded with violence and betrayal. And my film project’s “love your children” theme might sound studio-friendly. But here we’re dealing with two…
New Times is mighty proud to announce that columnist Bob Norman is the recipient of the 2001 Livingston Award for national reporting. The competition honors America’s best journalist under age 35. NBC anchor Tom Brokaw presented Norman with a certificate and a $10,000 check at a ceremony Monday, June 3,…
Caution, E-Yente ahead: In regard to Wyatt Olson’s May 23 cover story, “Mismatch,” thank you for a well-written and, in my opinion, balanced, sensitive, and fair article. His reporting coincides with my experience with Helena. I am, like a man mentioned in the article, someone who simply answered an ad…
From deep in the land of the hanging chad, where a tabloid empire made tabloid-like headlines when anthrax was discovered in its Boca Raton headquarters, where terrorist cells have standing orders for submarine sandwiches, a voice cries. Not in the wilderness exactly. It cries in Palm Beach County, on the…
At first glance, Czeslaw Bobryk’s central Palm Beach County apartment is an enigma. His sofa and easy chair face a squat television stand that is obviously designed to hold a jumbo set. But there’s no TV on it. To its right is a multishelf entertainment center. But precious little in…
Editor’s note: Last week, Bob Norman told the story of Tony Tarantino (the famous director’s father) and Tarantino’s movie project, called New Horizons. Trying to raise money, Tarantino met with members of a Broward County family called the Rubbos, whom he apparently didn’t know were under investigation for boiler-room scams…
Distinction, oh yeah: On behalf of ME Productions, I extend a heartfelt thanks to New Times for its selection of ME Productions as Best Party Mavens (Best of Broward-Palm Beach, May 16). It was truly a wonderful honor to be acknowledged with this title of distinction. We will proudly display…
How can I hope to make you understand Why I do what I do? — Fiddler on the Roof Sitting in the waiting room of Helena Amram’s plush Boca Raton suite, you can learn a great deal about the woman before she ever steps out of her office. The walls…
At 9 o’clock on the morning of May 8, 82-year-old George Wackenhut transferred ownership of the United States’ largest security conglomerate to Group 4 Falck of Denmark. The deal confirms Group 4’s Jorgen Philip-Sorensen as owner of the second-largest such outfit in the world. Indeed that entire business is now…
Some of the best Hollywood movies are about making movies in Hollywood; Get Shorty and The Player are two that immediately come to mind. The one I’m working on, however, is true crime of the seediest South Florida kind. My film — no, call it a movie event — is…
But if you must, avoid acronyms: I enjoyed reading View 02 Best of Broward-Palm Beach (May 16), but I take exception to one of your categories: “Best Movie Place to Take the Kids (and a Six-Pack).” I do agree that the Swap Shop is a great place to take the…
On the day the music died for South Florida’s classical fans, headaches began for one radio station’s general manager. Not Mike Disney, new GM at Party 93 (WPYM-FM), the once venerable WTMI-FM (93.1) that on January 1 went and floozied itself up as a dance-music outlet to woo a younger…
Is the good Rev. Kennedy, well, you know…? I just wanted to say Ashley Fantz put together a great story about Richard Murphy defense of homosexual rights against one of the most powerful homophobes in today’s world of televised evangelism, the Rev. James Kennedy (“Cross Purposes,” May 2). It’s amazing…
A half century ago, before the arrival of mega-toy emporiums Toys “R” Us and FAO Schwarz, the Sears, Roebuck and Co. Christmas catalog fed the fledgling consumer fantasies of American children. Hefty in size. Usually an image of jolly red-suited Santa Claus on the glossy cover. And filled with all…
It was a fine curiosity on a late and lazy, coffee-sipping Saturday morning. Looking over the usually surprise-free Sun-Sentinel weekend entertainment rag, Showtime, I happened upon the “Family Filmgoer” column by syndicated Washington Post critic Jane Horwitz. Her first review in this, the April 5 issue, was of Clockstoppers, a…
And fishing Horan from the drink: On April 25, New Times printed a letter from Mickey Baker chastizing columnist Bob Norman for a biased column and Mike Horan, the subject of Norman’s column, for being a sore loser in a lawsuit. I am a 25-year resident of Pompano, a lawyer,…
Sean Cononie sits in a jumbled office on the second story of the former Haulover Inn in Hollywood. The new headquarters of the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) Foundation — three rooms connected by wide doorways — looks the way one would expect a place to appear shortly after…
The white steeple of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church looms over Federal Highway, casting a cone-shaped shadow across the church’s football-field-sized grounds and onto cars stalled in the evening rush. On this Good Friday, the day Christians observe the Crucifixion of their Lord and Savior, the church’s 303-foot-tall unintentional sundial reminds…
Monday afternoon. Mid-April. And it’s already blazing hot. In these brief hours of freedom between the last school bell and suppertime, black children in northwest Hallandale Beach hop on bikes, chase one another, throw on skates, and glide down neighborhood sidewalks. Some make the mile-long trek across busy, six-lane Hallandale…
As Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents begin their review of the problematic 1990 murder case of Broward sheriff’s deputy Patrick Behan, they should keep in mind the chief target. It’s not Andrew Hughray Johnson, who boasted last year to undercover agents that he killed Behan. Or Tim Brown, who…
Emilio was first, tu perro!: How sad to learn that Vicente Lopez (“El Béisbolista,” Gaspar González, April 18) failed to remember the man who laid the groundwork for him to start his baseball academy. Ask Carlos “Patato” Pascual, Sandalio Consuegra, and anyone else from that era. Lopez knows this all…
It seemed that the Broward Sheriff’s Office had neatly arranged Keith King’s future date with the State of Florida’s electric chair. Detectives had built a case against the teenager for the murder of one of their own, Deputy Patrick Behan, who was gunned down in 1990. Homicide-unit investigators had a…
