Rusty Feder sits behind a steel-encased pane of soundproof glass, his deep blue eyes flashing. He says he hates living with 43 other guys on a piece of tiled floor about the size of a single-family home. Corn flakes and bologna are getting old. Feder used to have a strict…
That Rowe Stamp of Quality With Sean Rowe’s departure (Undercurrents, January 28), we are losing one of the most thorough reporters and skilled writers in South Florida. He is also one of the best people you’ll ever meet. Whenever I saw his name on a story, I knew I was…
Not so long ago, the international rock star Marilyn Manson played local dives such as the now-defunct Plus Five in Davie. Launched in 1990 as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, the band evolved from an obscure novelty act with adolescent stage names to a wildly popular novelty act with…
Look it up in the dictionary,” sighed the anonymous woman in the back row, her voice flavored with a trace of contempt. Her timing was perfect. For two tedious, temper-fraying hours last week, the nine-member multicultural committee of the Broward County HIV Health Services Planning Council had been arguing, of…
Warning to journalists: Don’t mess with Ilene Lieberman, the Broward County Commission’s new chairwoman. She knows libel law and isn’t afraid to brandish it. In a get-acquainted interview, a brand-new New Times reporter asked her whether she favors tougher ethics rules for commissioners. Her face tightened into a scowl. “You…
You May Want to Start Checking the Want Ads, Robin Today I am shocked to find myself writing a letter of complaint for the first time in my long but happy life. I couldn’t let my feelings of disappointment go without somehow confronting the offender. I recently came across the…
In your column on Chinese foot-binding [October 22], you mentioned that small feet have been prized in many cultures, using as an example “Cinderella’s tiny glass slipper.” While your point is well taken, you missed a chance to mention the story behind Cinderella’s unusual footwear. In the original folktale, Cinderella…
Looking west from this tiny airstrip tucked into the northwest corner of Palm Beach County, the horizon appears as a long, flat-topped ridge stretching north and south as far as the eye can see. At its closest, it approaches to within three-quarters of a mile of the airstrip’s lone runway;…
Start rifling through desk drawers for that bill of sale you got when purchasing a bicycle ten years ago, because the City of Fort Lauderdale is now demanding proof that you own your bike. If you can’t find the receipt, the city will confiscate your two-wheeler and sell it to…
The cuffs of Thomas Baron’s green shirt are buttoned, but he seems to be mentally rolling up his sleeves. His eyes flash indignation, his speech quickens, he leans forward. Baron is ready to do legal battle with Big Brother. Actually, the defendant named in the lawsuit Baron is expected to…
Not Coy About Her Praise For Pastor Bob The article on Pastor Bob Coy was a very accurate description of what he is all about (“Channeling Jesus,” Paul Demko, December 31). I will admit I had some doubts. After all, how could a man who had such a life of…
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) has become the new, ugly epidemic in this country, but it’s not showing up in the headlines. What’s up with that? There are 3.5 million Americans chronically infected with HCV. At least 80 percent of the cases are blood-borne. The experts seem uncertain about the…
Aaron Sanchez, sitting in his office on the second floor of the Miami FBI office, ordered Supervisory Special Agent Jerry Sullivan to show him the money. All $129,324 of it, along with the records detailing where it had been. Nine months had passed since the cash was seized from a…
In the courtroom of Judge Robert W. Lee sit the past six presidents of the International Village Association. They are all gray-haired and a bit stoop-shouldered. They are mostly transplanted Jewish northerners. They all talk a tad too loud. They have a combined age of close to 450. Yet all…
We always shudder when the question of good taste is left in the hands of promoters. Marketability inevitably reigns over innovation. And so it was at the recent Las Olas Art Fair. As far as being a “fair,” it certainly was a draw; crowd estimates were put at 100,000 people…
Sidney Maurer’s hair is thinning, his face deeply lined with wrinkles, his eyes heavy with age. He lives on the third floor of a nondescript Pompano Beach high-rise overlooking golf greens and fairways. His heart is faltering, and his hearing is not what it used to be. He could be…
What’s the Opposite of a Stool Pigeon? Arthur Jay Harris’ article about the murder of Stanley Cohen (“Hit or Mrs?” January 7) was a great story. It’s clear, however, that the wrong people are locked up. As morally corrupt as Frank Zuccarello and his gang appear to be, television reporter…
I’ve always wondered about stories of Western women being kidnapped and sold to sheiks in the Mideast, a practice that supposedly ended sometime in the last century. It stretches credulity to believe that a young woman from, say, England or France could be snatched off a boat or a train,…
As its appetite for reinvention has grown, the City of Hollywood has developed discriminating taste. It appears that body piercing, tattooing, and tanning businesses don’t have the look this ambitious municipality wants in its “better” neighborhoods. The services and clientele of these legal businesses are considered “detrimental” to the upscale…
Sitting in custody in the Broward County Jail the night of March 11, 1986, 21-year-old Frank Zuccarello was scared. Although he’d been arrested before, he was now facing the most serious charge of his life — accused of a home-invasion robbery in Fort Lauderdale. He also knew that charge was…
Tat-a-tat-tat. Herman Klurfeld taps his coffee table with the tips of his shoes, an audible punctuation that mimics the famous ellipses he and Walter Winchell used to separate items in nationally syndicated newspaper columns more than 30 years ago. Winchell — arguably the most popular and influential journalist from the…
Full of Haiti My immediate reaction on seeing “Identity Crisis” by Jay Cheshes in the December 24 New Times was “Who gives a damn?” Certainly not the majority of your publication’s white readers. Their primary interest vis-a-vis Haitians would much more likely be “How can we send the Haitians who…
