text
string | date
string | type
string |
|---|---|---|
``I can't even describe my feeling,'' she said about getting the dog tags from Gray Mountain, ``knowing it was the last thing that he touched.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
Begay's husband, who'd just come home with the horses, caught one for Begay's mother and told her to ride to the trading post and tell what happened.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Later, tragedy would strike again when Charles Jr., who had grown up and joined the Air Force like his father, died in a car accident.
|
20010701
|
story
|
THE PHONE CALL
|
20010701
|
story
|
c.2001 The Arizona Republic(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
``It was a great big plane. We couldn't see anything. I wish I could tell you more, but my voice isn't strong and I'm weak.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
At one point, noticing something wadded up and covered with brush, Brandt found an airman's jacket. In one pocket was a roll of black electrical tape; in the other was a chain with dog tags and a medal of St. Anthony, patron saint of lost things.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Brandt knew that bigger planes often meant more remains, but the mountain had preserved even more than he could have hoped for. The wreckage is strewn along the mountain's southeastern face, the haunting remains of a routine flight turned tragic. Parachute rip cords, ration kits, fire extinguishers, a ladder, headlights, springs, tie-down straps.
|
20010701
|
story
|
By ANGELA CARA PANCRAZIO(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
The sun had not yet risen over Walker Air Force Base in southern New Mexico that day in 1957 when Charles Darwin Dees awoke with a stomachache.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Lots of flights, however, meant lots of crashes, especially given the furious pace of pilot training during the war. Airplanes went down. Lives were lost, often in the middle of nowhere, where the remoteness hindered rescue teams from removing much of the debris.
|
20010701
|
story
|
``I remember telling my mom, `Mom, it sounds like that plane is too low,'' Begay says. ``All of a sudden we heard the impact of the crash, and we heard rocks rolling down, and I told mom, `Mom the plane crashed, it sounds like a plane crash.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
``We were outside,'' Begay says. ``We could see the fog all around us, up to the mountain; about halfway up the mountain it was foggy, and we heard an airplane.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
Reach the reporter at angela.pancrazio(a)arizona
|
20010701
|
story
|
Warring feelings rushed through her. No longer would she wonder if, just maybe, Charles had parachuted out before the crash, suffered amnesia and gone to live somewhere with another family until, one day, he would remember his past.
|
20010701
|
story
|
With four engines, each about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, it was easy to hear the rumble of the Air Force KC-97G, a refueling tanker that had taken off in New Mexico on a classified survey mission. From nose to tail the plane stretched 110 feet; from wing tip to wing tip it spread 141 feet, nearly half a football field.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Of course Doris knew it was impossible for anyone to have survived. Still, she kept hope.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Charles kissed Doris, who was five months pregnant, and 21-month-old Doris Deborah. He left in the darkness.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Rings come and go; love stayed with Doris and Charles, who first met at Chadbourn Negro High School in Chadbourn, N.C. At first, Doris knew, he was more interested in her than she was in him. Gradually that changed, forever.
|
20010701
|
story
|
A month ago, Doris Dees had just fallen asleep when her phone rang in Chadbourn, N.C. She listened to a young man from Arizona saying he'd found her husband's dog tags. It's some sort of joke, she thought, as she lingered in the vague space between waking and sleep.
|
20010701
|
story
|
``I didn't like him (at first),'' Doris says later of her long-dead husband. ``He always liked me. He loved me more than I loved him, at least he was more interested than I was.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
The dry air has preserved the nearly 1,000 sites of air crashes scattered throughout Arizona, most of which occurred during World War II training.
|
20010701
|
story
|
He grabbed his movie camera, which he brought with him whenever he flew. He put on his wedding ring, not leaving it on the dresser as usual, maybe because he lost the first one. Doris had gone out and bought him another, a simple band inscribed with his initials, CDD.
|
20010701
|
story
|
That changed. ``I loved him more than life itself.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
`WRECK-CHASING'
|
20010701
|
story
|
The fiery crash left little to be identified. There was only one coffin for her husband and four other airmen buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Thus emerged a regional hobby called wreck-chasing, which draws out hikers, armed with maps, old crash reports and other data, in search of a bit of history. Books have been published and Web sites created to guide chasers to sites and, hopefully, to set ethical standards for those who visit them.
|
20010701
|
story
|
CRASH SITE DISCOVERY STIRS WIDOW'S MEMORY(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
World War II was long over on that chilly fall day in 1957. But the Cold War was in full swing, and missions like co-pilot Dees' were common, especially in the Southwest, where the climate was perfect for aircraft training.
|
20010701
|
story
|
(For use by N.Y. Times News Service clients)(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
It was no joke.
|
20010701
|
story
|
``You get set in your ways,'' she says. ``Trying to find a husband, a person like I had before - impossible. No two people are alike.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
``She saddled her horse. And she rode all the way to Gray Mountain to report it,'' Begay says of that day half a lifetime ago.
|
20010701
|
story
|
(GRAY MOUNTAIN, Navajo Nation) - The sun sets behind Gray Mountain.
|
20010701
|
story
|
republic.com or (602) 444-8126.
|
20010701
|
story
|
That's why Trey Brandt, 30, a Valley stockbroker, found himself hiking up Gray Mountain last month, the Painted Desert to the east, San Francisco Peaks to the south. He'd gotten map coordinates for the crash from a fellow hobbyist and was out seeking traces of what Loretta Begay heard 44 years ago when the KC-97G slammed into the mountain, killing all 16 crew members.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Early on that October morning, radio operator James E. Hicks, 26, kissed his 4-month-old baby daughter goodbye.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Ruth Clark Noel buried her son, Tech. Sgt. Richard Wilton Noel, in Virginia Beach, Va.
|
20010701
|
story
|
FAMILIES OF CRASH VICTIMS RECEIVE FRESH REMINDERS OF LOSS(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
``I had something in my hand that my brother had around his neck.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
(GRAY MOUNTAIN, Navajo Nation) - There were other dog tags on Gray Mountain.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Schardong is 54 now and has planned a trip up Gray Mountain. Brandt will lead him to the place where he found a wadded-up flight jacket with Maj. Schardong's dog tags linked to a medal of St. Anthony, patron saint of lost things.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Brandt did not find any of Hicks' tags, but came across Boyd's posting on a Web site and told her of the crash site.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Other young lives lost, other families haunted by grief.
|
20010701
|
story
|
``She was never healthy enough after that. She just grieved over it so much. Of course, she would have done that for any of her children. But that was her baby.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
John Schardong Jr. never said goodbye to his father.
|
20010701
|
story
|
``It was almost like I could see that very spot. I know I couldn't. But to me it was like, `That's it, it's right there.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
c.2001 The Arizona Republic(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
By ANGELA CARA PANCRAZIO(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
John Jr. remembers little about the crash, only the commotion when his father didn't return. It's never gotten any better.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Maj. John Schardong, a flight navigator and veteran of World War II and the Korean War, left while his 10-year-old son slept on Oct. 29, 1957.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Three years ago, Boyd and her family drove past Gray Mountain en route to the Grand Canyon.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Today, Gina Boyd, married with four children, wants to meet someone who knew her father.
|
20010701
|
story
|
``She lost her will to live,'' Helen Noel said of her mother's death.
|
20010701
|
story
|
But Division of Developmental Disabilities officials say more and more developmentally disabled people are essentially living in hospitals because of a lack of alternatives.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Court records tell a different story. In November 2000, ValueOptions asked that Espinoza be transferred to the hospital because he was hitting people and yelling at them at the nursing home in which he was staying. Six months earlier, he had threatened a doctor at the hospital, according to court records.
|
20010701
|
story
|
c.2001 The Arizona Republic(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
``We're stepping back a notch to make sure that we're not missing anything.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
Espinoza was killed at a Dobson Ranch group home Monday after he threatened others with a knife and then lunged at police officers.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Dr. Glenn Lippman, chairman of Maricopa Medical Center's psychiatry department, said he became concerned about a group of people who ``got locked here'' for up to 16 months. He asked attorneys to prod the various state agencies and firms responsible to find alternatives.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Still, the family remained firm about one thing: ``That was something that was really clear, that he needed 24-hour care,'' she said.
|
20010701
|
story
|
State mental health agencies' unwillingness to take on more difficult cases.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Espinoza was under the care of both the division and ValueOptions, the private firm that contracts with the state to provide mental health services. Michael Zent of ValueOptions would not comment on Espinoza, citing confidentiality policies.
|
20010701
|
story
|
A low number of existing group homes with available beds or compatible residents.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Raymundo Espinoza, 52, who suffered from mental retardation, schizophrenia and epilepsy, died of wounds from police bullets and, in a sense, from the illnesses that had ravaged him since birth.
|
20010701
|
story
|
``All of us have a need for privacy and an opportunity to make lots of choices. And a hospital isn't a home.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
Low reimbursements from the state Medicaid agency.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Nonetheless, Espinoza was discharged on June 8 to a group home in Dobson Ranch, where he lived with two other men and a caregiver. Seventeen days later, he began threatening the caregiver and other residents with a knife. The caregiver called police, who first tried stopping Espinoza with non-lethal beanbag rounds.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Pacheco and other family members say they now wonder if the Dobson Ranch home was equipped to care for him. Both Zaharia and Lippman said the process of discharging a patient can take several months, but Espinoza was discharged in about a month.
|
20010701
|
story
|
One teenager, for example, was sent to a hospital because neither his parents nor the school system could control him.
|
20010701
|
story
|
The records also say Espinoza didn't even think he was at the hospital because of mental health problems; he thought he was there for epilepsy. He had only three years of schooling, never had a paying job and couldn't remember that 911 was the number to dial in case of emergency.
|
20010701
|
story
|
By SUSIE STECKNER AND JODIE SNYDER(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
In April, an advocacy group threatened legal action on behalf of developmentally disabled patients, who can suffer variously from epilepsy, autism and mental retardation as well as mental illness.
|
20010701
|
story
|
(PHOENIX) - A mentally ill man shot dead by Mesa police last week had just been discharged from a hospital, despite his family's misgivings, by officials who were under pressure to clear out patients.
|
20010701
|
story
|
The state has been able to address some of these factors, including changing procurement rules and getting increases in some reimbursement rates, he said. Of the 20 patients that the Division of Developmental Disabilities focused on, eight, including Espinoza, were discharged. Five are waiting to be moved out, and seven have been deemed too unstable to be moved.
|
20010701
|
story
|
As late as April 2001, two months before he was discharged, a hospital psychiatrist said Espinoza wasn't stable. ``Indeed, this patient has become assaultive and has been hospitalized at Maricopa Medical Center three times in the past year,'' wrote Dr. Marta Bunuel in a request to continue Espinoza's court-ordered treatment.
|
20010701
|
story
|
But after a meeting with doctors, she said, ``I figured maybe they knew what they're doing.''
|
20010701
|
story
|
The problem, said Anne Ronan of the Arizona Center for Disability Law, was that hospitalization was overly restrictive for these patients, some of whom had been hospitalized for more than a year and did not even need psychiatric care.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Espinoza hadn't had much of a home for years. He lived with his disabled mother his entire life until she died of a heart attack three years ago. He then went to live with his sisters, but would often wander away.
|
20010701
|
story
|
State procurement rules that say the agency can't go to just one company for services.
|
20010701
|
story
|
(For use by N.Y. Times News Service clients)(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
Even with medication, said one sister, Mary Pacheco, Espinoza often heard voices in his head. She said he believed the voices were stealing from him, and he would argue with them. But Pacheco said her brother wasn't violent.
|
20010701
|
story
|
But Ronan, of the disability law center, said, ``There was no reason to anticipate this kind of thing,'' and added that the state had properly assessed Espinoza and put him in a home run by a company with an excellent reputation.
|
20010701
|
story
|
In the town I grew up, no one ever doubted that the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Steelers were (beginitalic)our(enditalic) teams. We didn't have to state it. It was obvious. Your family was your family. Your teams were your teams. And so were the players on the team. Not all of them were great guys or perfect role models. At the same time, the idea of not supporting the team because one or two players were bums was ridiculous. It would have been like saying you could trade Uncle Joe with the drinking problem for somebody else's pot-smoking brother. Besides, the most interesting members of a family usually give you the most trouble.
|
20010701
|
story
|
(For use by N.Y. Times News Service clients)(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
This was before professional athletes won the right to become free agents, however. And it was before owners declared themselves free agents and started using their teams as hostages to be ransomed off for new stadiums or arenas.
|
20010701
|
story
|
(PHOENIX) - Jason Kidd was not the problem, so Stephon Marbury cannot be the solution. All the hubbub last week over the big trade was just a little game played by Phoenix Suns Chairman Jerry Colangelo and those of us who cover his teams. I don't figure we fooled anybody.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Barkley was the first and only professional athlete in Arizona who understood the importance of being as interesting off the court as he was on the court. He also was the first and only professional athlete in Arizona who could pull it off.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Phoenix fans were slow to catch on. They stuck with the Suns year in and year out. They were old-fashioned, believing the Suns were (beginitalic)their (enditalic)team and treating them like family. Good or bad. Win or lose. But it all seemed to change on Aug. 19, 1996. On that day, just after the Suns announced they had traded Charles Barkley, sports fans in Phoenix declared themselves free agents. And with good reason.
|
20010701
|
story
|
c.2001 The Arizona Republic(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
Friendly, family-oriented sports fans have become as mercenary as the players they pay so dearly to watch. The feeling now among owners is that the only way to win back those fans is to win championships. Forget history. Forget family. Forget fidelity. Just win. Imagine how lonely most of us would be if the only people shown any loyalty were the winners.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Fan loyalty never used to be something a professional sports team had to earn. Loyalty was expected. Loyalty was a biological fact. It didn't have to do with box scores. It had to do with place of birth.
|
20010701
|
story
|
By E.J. MONTINI(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
Professional football is here. And hockey. And baseball. In addition to arena football, women's professional basketball, motor sports, pro wrestling and the rest.
|
20010701
|
story
|
TRADING FOR A FAN TO BE NAMED LATER(a)
|
20010701
|
story
|
Reach Montini at ed.montini(a)arizona
|
20010701
|
story
|
He didn't. And it has gotten tougher since then.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Dobronski declined a request for an interview. He denied the claims during his June 22 testimony. But those who support him, and even some of his detractors, say he is a hard-working, no-nonsense judge who does what he thinks is correct to achieve justice in his courtroom.
|
20010701
|
story
|
After 37 days in jail, Shabazz was released without bail. He eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was placed on probation.
|
20010701
|
story
|
Another former Dobronski clerk, Kimberly Hewes, testified that the judge routinely had conversations with prosecutors without defense attorneys knowing about it or being present. She also said that he would crack jokes with Hispanic litigants named Jose, asking them, ``If you're Hose A, then where's Hose B?''
|
20010701
|
story
|