Lead Stories *In May Walter Scott Knieriemen, who admitted breaking into a woman’s home in Wheeling, West Virginia, was acquitted of burglary charges after a jury apparently found that he lacked criminal intent. A psychiatrist testified that Knieriemen suffered from a childhood-based sexual dysfunction that compelled him to grab a…
Last week I chanced upon Humberto Hernandez in the parking lot of Miami City Hall. After some small talk, the commissioner began complaining that he and his allies were being singled out by state investigators. Plenty of politicians engage in sleazy election tactics, he huffed. Why doesn’t the State Attorney’s…
Lead Stories *In April a federal judge in Hartford, Connecticut, threw out the defamation lawsuit against Princeton University filed by disgruntled would-be medical student Rommel Nobay, who claimed that Princeton’s having bad-mouthed him for lying on his application discouraged other schools from accepting him. Nobay admitted to having fudged certain…
In Tallahassee he is known as El Mudo — the mute. When he does speak, his voice barely rises above a whisper as he struggles to piece together sentence fragments into something coherent. It’s not a speech impediment or a language barrier that prevents him from articulating his thoughts. It’s…
The Avenue Don’t Get No Respect I would like to thank John Lantigua for his objective coverage of the Washington Avenue nightclub problem (“Conflict in Clubland,” May 21). I think the article presented a fair picture of the issues that confront us here, and even touched on their causes –…
Lead Stories *Doug and Veronica Wright celebrated their first wedding anniversary on the U.S.-Canadian bridge at Niagara Falls because it’s the only place they can meet. Doug, an American, is barred from Canada because of a criminal record that includes illegal entry into the country; Veronica is barred from the…
Was Miami City Commissioner Art Teele charged with wire fraud last week? Only a few prosecutors know for sure, but there are strong indications that Teele, along with former seaport director Carmen Lunetta and California financier Calvin Grigsby, was secretly indicted on charges stemming from an $85,000 loan that Teele…
Our Bodies, Our Shopping Malls As Jacob Bernstein’s article “The Final Harvest” (May 14) detailed, developers, speculators, environmentalists, politicos, residents, and farmers all have an interest in the last major agricultural area of Dade County. But one major issue was not covered by even as much as a single sentence:…
No one knows better than Mario Pons what a glorious document is the U. S. Constitution. Last month the public works employee for the City of Miami showed his appreciation by invoking his constitutionally guaranteed Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 266 times during a two-hour deposition. Attorneys for Dade County…
So You Don’t Like Our Programming? Start Your Own Damn Radio Station Perhaps one of the reasons the listenership of WLRN-FM has gone flat, as Kirk Nielsen reported, is the arrogance of program director Joe Cooper (“Static,” May 7). Consider the following: A few years ago the station announced that…
Lead Stories *Tape recordings played in March at the Detroit trial of an organized crime gang exposed two alleged soldiers as somewhat less than “wise” guys. FBI bugs planted in their cars and homes revealed, among other comical exchanges, that they got lost trying to find an expressway after shooting…
Lesnik: Longing for the Lap of Luxury? Mike Clary’s article “Miami’s Man in Havana” (April 30) was mistitled. It should have been “Havana’s Man in Miami.” Max Lesnik is proof that Cubans in Miami are a tolerant people. We need him here in order to see, in the flesh, one…
Here’s a riddle. Why is the criminal investigation of a little-known Broward-based insurance company by the statewide prosecutor in Tallahassee causing so much anxiety in the offices of Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas? One reason: The target of the investigation, David Sanz, was a significant contributor to Penelas’s 1996 mayoral…
Lead Stories *When farmers leave for the day, pigs start to party, say agricultural researchers in Reading, England, who were interviewed by the London Daily Telegraph in April. The pigs eat, drink, and roughhouse until about midnight before retiring for the evening, at least in buildings that are well-lit. Farmers…
The show wouldn’t begin until 10:30 p.m., but the television remote trucks were there three hours early. Clearly, someone was expecting action. Maybe even hoping for it. Screaming protesters, after all, make for great visuals. And nothing in Miami attracts protesters like musicians from Cuba. So the appearance of that…
Lead Stories *Former Maryland accountant Scott Lewis Rendelman, age 42, was convicted of emblezzling clients’ money in 1986 and sentenced to four months in prison. Lewis has managed to compound that sentence into more than eleven years and counting because he will not stop sending threatening and sexually offensive letters…
Strolling into the press room at county hall last week, the lobbyist had a news flash. “It’s going to be Thursday,” he said confidently. “I just talked to Tallahassee.” The two Miami Herald reporters in the room stared back without saying a word. No one needed to translate this information…
New Times Sleeps While Miami Rots “If You Indict, They Will Come” (April 16) was a nice showcase for your graphics department. I’m also happy to see two full pages of strip-club ads join the wonderful assortment of cosmetic surgery, lingerie, bikini, and soft-porn ads you folks litter the streets…
And Don’t Forget Fake Ski-Accident Injuries! Regarding Robert Andrew Powell’s “Bringing the Mountain to Miami” (April 16): What a concept! Now we’ll have a fake mountain on Watson Island with fake snow and fake surf to go along with our fake mayoral election and the fake hold on Jimmy Johnson’s…
Lead Stories *In March two Missouri legislators proposed a law to have the state give $1000 to any married couples over age 21 who do not have sexually transmitted diseases, who had no children before marriage, who have not aborted a fetus, and who were not previously married. The law…
Rancor, a Time-Honored Religious Tradition It’s too bad John Lantigua’s article “Holy War, Inc.” (April 9) on Florida’s Santeria community chose to focus on name-calling and infighting — which all religions suffer from — rather than on why thousands of people follow the ways of this beautiful tradition to uplift…
Lead Story *In March testimony began in Lesli Szabo’s $1.7 million lawsuit against a Hamilton, Ontario, hospital for not making her 1993 childbirth painless. Physicians said that painless childbirth cannot be achieved without the child being endangered by anesthesia, but Szabo said she expected enough comfort to be able to…
