Phxated

More on the hate crime in Fountain Hills

Turns out the ugly racial incident in Fountain Hills—in which some black residents had their cars vandalized with racial and sexual insults—is part of a series.

The Arizona Republic story on the issue is a bit unclear about what exactly has happened in the town. The resident, Michele Jabar, is quoted saying there have been “several” racial incidents. We then read:

Jaber was referring to a prior incident in Fountain Hills in which vandals sprayed more than a dozen cars with swastikas and graffiti of male genitalia.

Note the word “incident.” But then comes this news, a graf or two later, emphasis added:

Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies are investigating several cases as possible hate crimes, including an incident in which someone wrote the word “Jew” on another car in Fountain Hills, law-enforcement officials said.

The town is having a meeting to support the Jabars, but she, for one, is saying she might leave town:

Jaber plans to attend tonight’s service. She hopes residents will rally together to champion more racial and cultural tolerance in the community.

“I just wanted people to know that you can wash off the cars, but you can’t wash off the hate,” Jaber said. “Hate starts at home.”

The story doesn’t mention another anti-Semitic incident that occurred in Tempe on Friday night—a demonstration outside a synagogue. (“The anti-Semitic demonstration in Tempe no one’s talking about.”) The protesters, who according to an eyewitness held signs saying “Kill the Jews,” however, were from out of town.


Who's writing what at the Arizona Republic?

Yesterday, the paper had a big spread on long-gone Phoenix landmarks—everything from Legend City to the Cine Capri to Caf’ Casino.

The byline? There was none. Just “By The Arizona Republic.”

In the Calendar section was a big full-page review of the new movie 9. The byline? There was none.

I assume it was Bill Goodykoontz, but what’s up with that?

p.s.: And why, after the paper has just printed a story about something called “Caf’ Casino,” does a search for the phrase “Caf’ Casino” not produce the story in the AZCentral.com search engine?

Ditto for “Legend City.”

And ditto for the “Cine Capri.”

And why, oh why, is the damn thing immediately accessible in Google News?


The speeder in the monkey mask

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The AP picks up on the story and goes into it in relative depth; it’s on the NYT site, though I didn’t see it in the paper.

The Republic says the guy with the mask, Dave VonTesmar, drives 30 miles to Sky Harbor Airport for work. Here’s a guy who wants his big north Phoenix house (which means he’s on the road an hour or more spewing car exhaust into the air, creating a problem the government has to deal with) and wants to drive on the roads the state builds for him to do so, but doesn’t want to follow the posted rules. And he calls it “a peaceful act of resistance.”

It’s actually “a douchey act of hypocrisy.”

If he doesn’t like the rules on the 51, he can take surface streets.

VanTesmar also calls the radar essentially a tax on speeders, which I think is a mot rather than an argument. (What is jail but a “tax on murderers”?) Why do so many Arizonans throw around all those defiant American tropes, but don’t follow basic rules in their own lives?

And calls the act “resistance,” to boot. Really, Dave? “Resistance”? Like, against apartheid?

Finally, what the state should be doing is cracking down on the other douchey folks who have their license plates covered with plastic to make the numbers hard to read. It’s in everybody’s interest to have cars readily identifiable.

By the way, the AP story called the guy VonTesmar; the Republic’s been calling him “Vontesmar.” I’m going with the AP.