Phoenix News & Information

There’s nothing that seems to bring out the boy in a man more than politics. Well, maybe football but that’s a different story.

Some of the behind the scene antics I have seen and experienced first hand this political season are mind boggling and downright disgusting. Grown men slinging mud, throwing tantrums, writing blogs under pseudo names so that they can say really, really mean things without owning up to it. At best it is childish, at worst it is scary: These are the guys who want to run our cities and counties, to enforce laws and to govern. These are the guys making decisions that matter.

I’m sure there are women out there acting like bratty little girls, but they have not come to my attention this election cycle. Or perhaps the women are staying above the fray? I don’t know.

What I do know is that I am sick and tired of asking relevant, fair questions and being greeted with the moniker, “liberal media”. I am not liberal. And I am not conservative. For the record, I’m an Independent.

But none of that really matters when it comes to work. My job is to ask questions – and sometimes tough ones. However, it never fails — ask a question someone doesn’t want to answer and there goes the tantrum. The “liberal media” is out to get me!

If you are running for office, you should be ready and willing to answer questions. Period. You shouldn’t feel that you can pick and choose the subjects that are most comfortable to you. Nothing should be off the table – except, in my opinion, a person’s family. Other than that, step up. Be a man.

3TV Anchors & Reporters, Carey Peña

With election 2008 now just a few days away, and campaigning getting about as ugly as it can get, I find myself thinking over and over again about one very famous quote: “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.”
I also find myself hoping and praying that women and men of fortitude and good-will step forward on Nov. 4th and cast their ballots!

Mike Watkiss

Seems like it’s been a little warm around our state lately. Seems like it should be cooler. Seems like it’s going to be warm through the weekend into next week.

Okay, it could be worse. At least we’re not setting record highs, but it is unseasonably warm. And the latest charts are showing us these warm temps will be with us until late next week.

Early Halloween Forecast: Mild and dry around Arizona. No storms are forecast for the big day for trick or treaters.

3TV Forecasters, Arizona

Several years back I was asked by the mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq to go there with her. The Department of Defense was facilitating her trip to see the hospital where her son and other soldiers were ambushed and killed. I wanted to go but my station was worried. In the end, they wouldn’t allow me to make the trip — security concerns. I was upset. I thought if this mother is brave enough to travel to a war zone — I should be, too. But also…I wanted to see for myself what was really going on.

We hear so much about the war. We hear that the situation is getting better and then worse. We hear that the surge is working — for now. Sorting through all of this, as a journalist and as a person can be tough.

I wonder, has Iraq really become the #1 breeding ground for terrorists (as has been reported in recent weeks) where the average person on the street resents Americans?

I recently had this conversation with a documentary filmmaker named Raied Khayoun. Raied fled Iraq ten years ago and hasn’t seen his family since. He now lives in Phoenix. His dream was to make a movie, not about the war but about the people inside Iraq.

Raied went to Iraq with Penelope Price, a documentary filmmaker and teacher. She’s fearless. Any student who takes her film class at Scottsdale Community College is very lucky.

They traveled to the northern region of Kurdistan, not exactly where the fighting is fierce. But it could be — very soon. Depending on what happens when the elections are held in Iraq later this year to figure out how the land and oil should be distributed. That election could very well determine much of the future of Iraq, and what role the U.S. will play. Whether we stay or go: And if we stay — for how long?

Raied was pretty frank, he has no idea what will happen next. But one thing he seems sure about, the people he says don’t hate us. Actually Raied says most are grateful. He talked to me about what life was life before and after Saddam Hussein. Before, they had one newspaper. Now he says they have 122. Before, they had one state run television station. Now they have satellite TV and unlimited stations. Cellular phone use, internet use… all of it he says will help to transform the country. Before, there was one political party, Saddam’s Baath party. Now there are more than 100.

I asked him if he has hope… if he really has hope. He looked me square in the eyes and said without hope there is nothing. Raied believes when this war comes to an end, a better country will emerge.

Hearing this at least makes me feel better.

I keep thinking about that mother who traveled to Iraq to see the hospital where her son was ambushed. He was killed by those who hate us, there is no doubt about that. But I think we need to remember, they are the minority. Her son was fighting for the majority.

See my story, Inside Iraq featuring Raied and Penelope on my Facebook page www.azfamily.com/facebook/carey

3TV Anchors & Reporters, Carey Peña

I’ve covered enough murders to fill up a good-sized cemetery. At most of them, I played the role of professional observer.
But once upon a time, many years ago, in a dusty little town called Blythe California, for several very tense moments, cops held me for questioning as a suspect in a brutal and cold-blooded killing.
It all happened at a little roadside motel, just off Interstate-10 as it crosses the Arizona-California border.
I was working on an undercover t.v. story on the secretive world of American cockfighting.
It was back in the early ’90’s and there was a big-time cockfighting arena just over the state line from Blythe, in a really tiny Arizona dot-on-the-map known as Erhenberg.
At the time, Arizona was one of only four or five states in which cockfighting was still legal.
Legal or not, however, given the brutal and ugly nature of the so-called “sport,” it’s supporters and practitioners did everything they could to keep their activities and their gatherings out of the spot light. We were there to change that.
My camera crew and I had been staying at a little roadside motel in Blythe for several nights as we shot video for the story, each day traveling back and forth over the bridge spanning the Colorado River from California to Arizona to attend what turned out to be a huge cockfighting tournament at the very out-of-the way arena on the dusty outskirts of Ehrenberg.
Of course we weren’t there just as spectators. We were there with cameras hidden in cowboy hats and sweat shirts. We wanted to show what cockfighting was really like. What we found was a bloody orgy of cruelty and violence. From early in the morning until very late at night, the booze, the bets and the blood flowed. Inside a warehouse-sized building, packed with hundreds of bleacher-style seats, there were three very busy cockfighting pits. The center pit was like the Super Bowl, a huge dirt stage where birds, fitted with long razor-sharp blades protruding from their legs, thrashed and slashed themselves to death.
At first the birds would rush at each other, colliding in an explosion of fury and feathers. With each pass, the knives and daggers tied to their legs would tear and stab. It usually didn’t take long before one or both of the birds began to stumble. Owners would then grab their animals, prop them up, blow hot air on the backs of their necks and then shove them back into battle. Eventually, with blood often gushing out in spurts and the animals unable to stand, the large crowd around the center stage would begin to boo and shout. The action was no longer thrilling enough. At that point the sliced up animals would be carried to one of the two smaller pits where these fights to the death could go on for another fifteen or twenty minutes.
Ultimately a winner was declared and usually that animal ended up strapped down to a tiny gurney having its guts sown back into its quivering body by a so-called “bird doctor.”
And for the loser, defeat usually meant having its neck wrung and being tossed into a garbage can. We shot an incredible story–dozens and dozens of cockfights–small children with their faces pushed up against the enclosure watching the animals rip themselves to pieces–thousands of dollars exchanging hands in bets–concession stands serving up booze from morning to night–men so drunk they could hardly stand up–and in the wee hours of the morning strippers brought in to entertain the lecherous diehard who were still in the audience.
After the story ran on the old t.v. show “A Current Affair” I was presented a thing called a “Genesis Award” for reporting on issues involving animals and many years later, when I moved from California to Arizona to take a reporting job in Phoenix, an official with Arizona Humane Society told me the story had actually had a significant impact in pushing Arizona lawmakers to finally outlaw cockfighting.
I’m proud of all that, but it’s certainly not what I first think of when I think back on that trip. For as graphic and disturbing and bloody as the whole cockfighting spectacle was, it was nothing compared to what was going on in the room right next to mine at that roadside motel in Blythe California. A young man was murdered in that motel room.
I first saw him early one morning. I was standing in the parking lot of the motel smoking a cigarette and waiting for my cameraman and sound man to join me so we could load in the car and head across the state line to start shooting the story in Ehrenberg.
All the rooms of the motel opened on to parking lot and as I was standing there having my first smoke of the day I couldn’t help but notice that the door of the room next to mine was open and that rather handsome, skinny, long-haired young man was standing there in the doorway. He was wearing only gym trunks and looked like he had just got out of bed. He also had a phone pressed to his ear and was obviously deeply engrossed in conversation as he stood there looking out into the parking lot. When I noticed him, he was already looking at me. It was a tad awkward.
I was only about ten feet away when I first became aware that he was standing there in his short, talking on the telephone. And I remember feeling as though I was invading his space. So I nodded at him as politely as I could and took a step or two back away from the doors of our two rooms that were literally side-by-side But the kid didn’t seem offended in any way–quite the contrary. I remember him, still talking on the phone, nodding back at me with a friendly look on his handsome young face–nothing weird, just being a good guy. I don’t know why, and you may not believe me when I say this, but I also remember feeling a slight sense of foreboding race through my body as our eyes met and we exchange what was really nothing more than a very quick and casual morning greeting.
Suddenly my camera guy and sound guy came out of their rooms and we loaded up our van, drove out of the parking lot and headed out for a long day of watching the cockfights.
It wasn’t the only time I saw the young man in the room next to mine. But it was the only time I saw him alive. ….more to come….mw

Arizona, Mike Watkiss

Politics brings out the best and the worst. Some of the worst seems to be happening at rallies (not all, but many) around the country.

Barack Obama’s ethnicity and religion continues to be called in to question. Despite the fact that it has been reported over and over again: Barack Obama is a Christian. Yes, I know… his middle name is Hussein. And mine is Marie. Who cares.

Well obviously someone does.

Just a couple of days ago a woman at a rally for John McCain stood up and said, “I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab.”

If you didn’t see the exchange, Sen. McCain took the microphone and attempted to set the record straight, “No ma’am, no ma’am. He’s a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues…. he’s not, thank you.”

I was glad to see John McCain stop the woman in her tracks. Still, this whole thing makes me wonder:

Why is being called a Muslim or an Arab translated and reported as inflammatory? Granted, it is a false statement. But why is it considered so inflammatory?

I would love to hear Obama, McCain, Biden or Palin when faced with such a statement, just simply say — it happens not to be true but so what if it were?

3TV Anchors & Reporters, Carey Peña

Marriage – what is it? Does it need to be defined?

When I asked this question for a story about prop 102, I got very heated answers on both sides. That’s to be expected. People are passionate in their beliefs and I love that.

Here’s the thing though. No one would go on camera to talk openly about the undercurrent of this Proposition: It would preclude same-sex couples from taking their case to the High Court. This is exactly what happened in California and many people, whether they are willing to go on record or not, are afraid that it could happen here, too. Simply put, this proposition would make certain that same-sex marriage never happens here in Arizona.

After my stories aired (a two part series that focused first on prop 102 and the marriage amendment followed by an in-depth story about a gay couple who went out of the country so they could adopt), I received some rather interesting emails. One stood out. A man wrote to me saying that he was a Christian and that quote, “A GAY LIFESTYLE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE NOR SHOULD GAYS BE ALLOWED TO RAISE CHILDREN!!” He put it all in caps so I assume he wanted to shout those words at me.

I wrote back (not in caps) to thank him for taking the time to email. What I should have asked, the question that was really on my mind was this: If a person is a devout Christian, isn’t that supposed to make them more tolerant and loving? That’s what I was always told having been brought up in the Christian faith.

I think these are conversations that need to be had. Even if we don’t come up with definitions, we can perhaps come to some better understanding of where other people are coming from.

http://www.azfamily.com/video/careypena-browse.html

3TV Anchors & Reporters, Carey Peña

I never thought that I would catch myself saying that I felt sorry for O.J. Simpson, but I’ve got to confess, as I watched the one-time American icon handcuffed and hustled out of a Vegas court room late Friday night, I felt both sad and sorry.
Don’t get me wrong, I have publicly stated and written many times that I firmly believe that O.J. Simpson is “a liar, a coward and a killer”.
He is also a fascinating character who, on Friday night as the “guilty” verdicts were read one after another, looked like a bewildered, paunchy, and pathetic old man.
The truth is that I don’t have any greater insights into O.J. than any other person outside his private circle. Although, as fate would have it, I do have a lot links to the Simpson story that seem to go way back.
I still remember the first time I ever saw “the Juice” in person. I was a college kid at Columbia University in New York City and for some reason, that I can no longer remember, I was down at the south end of Central Park near the famous Plaza Hotel.
I was walking down the crowded sidewalk when suddenly a stunning figure came striding at me in the opposite direction. It was the legendary O.J. Simpson gliding down the street in a ankle length fur coat.
This was back during the glory days. The retired football star was now Hollywood actor and T.V. broadcaster, running through airports, pitching rent-a-cars and appearing in movies.
And at that memorable moment in Manhattan, it was very clear by the self-satisfied look on his face, O.J. considered himself the center of the universe, enjoying the fact that every single person on that bustling New York street was doing a double take–jaws dropping–eyes popping–as he whisked on by.
Suffice it to say, without showing sign of caring, O.J. obviously loved the attention.
Of course at the time of this unforgettable celebrity sighting, I had no idea what the future would bring.
Flash forward to southern California many years later, a hazy coastal morning.
I was one of the first reporters to get to the crime scene that terrible day–the day they found the mutilated bodies of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson in front of Nicole’s condo.
At the time I was the L.A bureau chief for the tabloid t.v. show “A Current Affair.” I then went on to cover much of the criminal prosecution on O.J. Simpson, the so-called “trial of the century.” (see earlier installment of “confessions of an ambulance chaser–O.J. Simpson and one agonizing moment of missed opportunity.”).
Like most Americans alive back then, I also witnessed first-hand the bizarre and painful black-and-white rorschach test that the televised trial imposed on the nation’s psyche.
It was a crazy time in Southern Cal. Black motorist Rodney King was dragged from his car and brutally beaten by a group of white L.A. cops–this as an eyewitness captured it all on videotape.
Devastating and deadly riots then erupted when those cops were found not guilty. I spent a couple of scary days out on the streets of La-la-land covering the mayhem, getting shot at by looters and watching as the city burned. (Good times!)
Add to that toxic mix, the day-in-and-day-out televised double-murder trial of the NFL legend, sports broadcaster, t.v. pitchman and Hollywood actor, O.J. Simpson–a very high-profile black man accused of killing two white people, his ex-wife and one of the ex-wife’s male friends–and, well let’s just say, you didn’t need anything like a richter scale to sense the racial rumblings and rage.
Now flash ahead 13 years, an African-American man now seems poised to capture the White House and O.J. Simpson is headed to the big house.
I’m not sure what any of this means. I’d like to think that, at the end of the day, there is some modicum of justice of at least karma–and that we as a nation are moving in the right direction.
But all I know for sure is that as I watched a pathetic old man being hauled off to jail, I thought of Fred and Kim Goldman–I thought of my friend Denise Brown and her family–I also thought of O.J.’s four children–and I’ve got to confess, I found myself feeing both sorry and sad…..mw

Arizona, Mike Watkiss

A strong fall storm system is headed into Arizona for the weekend of October 4th. At this point (Friday night), it looks like we have a decent chance to see some showers around the Valley, a better chance for rain in northern Arizona. And above 9000 feet, we’ll probably see enough snow to cap the tallest mountains in northern and eastern Arizona.

Guaranteed is the drastic drop in temperatures. In most areas, we’ll see temperatures by Sunday which will be 25-30 degrees cooler than Thursday. It will also be rather blustery at times, with gusty winds.

No one is expecting a lot of rain or snow. But just that it’s possible this weekend is enough to keep a close eye on the weather, especially if you’re in northern AZ.

Stayed tuned to 3 TV throughout the weekend and check out the website: www.azfamily.com for the latest weather information.

Arizona