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An Arizonan; a resident of the last of the contiguous states to achieve statehood (1912).1
  • Origin of term "Zonie": I'm not really sure, but odds are it began as a disparaging reference made by a San Diego beach goer about the summer visitor that took the last parking spot at the beach.
  • Origin of term "Arizona": Americanization of the Papago word Ali-shonak, meaning "Place of Little Springs." The Papagos are not the owners of the Papago Plaza or the sculptors of the Papago Buttes. They are one of 14 Indian tribes living in Arizona. One seventh of all native American Indians live in the place of little springs.2
  • Capital and largest city: Phoenix, the sixth largest city in the nation.3
  • Claim to fame: Only continental state that does not fall forward or spring back.4

    More than you wanted to know: We set our clocks ahead to daylight savings time for the first, last, and only time on April 29, 1967. It proved far too complicated for desert dwellers to accomplish and we never did it again.5

  • State population: 4,554,9666, mostly in Phoenix, all on the freeway at 5:00 PM.

    More than you wanted to know: Arizona is one of the most highly urbanized yet least densely populated states in the nation. Only 12 states are less densely populated.7 But, Maricopa County where Phoenix is located is the 6th most populous county in the nation.8

  • Incongruity: Arizona is one of the first two states to legalize medical marijuana,9 yet it retains almost the harshest of penalties for possession.

    More than you wanted to know: Possession of less than two pounds could land you in confinement for 6 months to 1.5 years, a $750 to $150,000 fine, and confiscation of the vehicle or home where the contraband was found. More than two pounds ups incarceration to 9 months to two years, and more than four pounds nets 1.5 years to 3 years confinement. In the other state legalize medical marijuana (California) the penalty for possession of 28.5 grams or less is $100 with no booking or jail time, or any quantity more than that amount, a maximum of 6 months jail and a $500 fine.10

    Phoenician Resort
    The Sheraton Phoenician, now worth over twice what Keating spent to build it.

  • State Robin Hood: Charles H. Keating, Jr., took from the "rich" Californians who bought uninsured junk bonds at his Lincoln Savings & Loan and gave to the "poor" Arizona construction workers that built his opulent $600 million Phoenician resort. That was just before Lincoln crashed in the most costly savings and loan failure in U. S. history. He was sentenced to 12 1/2 years for his misdeeds but released in 1997 at age 73 after serving five years when his conviction was overturned.11

    More than you wanted to know: Before his demise, Charles Keating was the self appointed moral leader of the community and was reportedly instrumental in bringing the Pope to Phoenix in 1987. He interspersed promotion of his Estrella land development with his view on our moral decline in frequent radio commercials. Apparently the duping of unwary investors raised no moral issue. Keating was a virulent anti-smut crusader with an appointment from Richard Nixon to an anti-pornography commission. His attack on Larry Flint, publisher of Hustler magazine, was memorialized in the 1996 movie, The People vs. Larry Flint where he was portrayed by James Cromwell. His grandson, Olympic Gold Metal winner Gary Hall, Jr. , often visited him in prison before his conviction was overturned.

  • Most infamous governor:

    This is just too tough. You choose.

    Car dealer turned governor
    Evan Mecham

    Candidate number 1: Car dealer and perpetual politician Evan Mecham, governor from 1987 to 1988. He did, after all, suffer from terminal foot-in-mouth disease, and was saved from an impending recall election only by impeachment.

    Shortly after election he rescinded an executive order of his predecessor Bruce Babbitt which established a Martin Luther King holiday. Never at a loss for the inappropriate word, Mecham issued a string of memorable quotes in his defense:

    "I'm not against the blacks and a lot of the good blacks will attest to that."12

    "I'm not a racist...I employ them [blacks] because they are the best people who applied for the cotton-picking job."13

    "As I was a boy growing up, blacks themselves referred to their children as pickaninnies."14

    "Well, the N.B.A., I guess they forget how many white people they get coming to watch them play." [Commenting in a Salt Lake City TV interview about the N.B.A. canceling a convention in Phoenix.]15

    Mecham's comments and actions succeeded in offending such a large segment of the population that a recall election was scheduled. In 1988 Evan Mecham was indicted on fraud and perjury charges for allegedly hiding a campaign loan. The jury acquitted him, but only after he was removed in an impeachment conviction by the state Senate on other grounds. 16

    J. Fife Symington, III
    J. Fife
    Symington, III

    Candidate number 2: Businessman, developer, and law and order proponent J. Fife Symington, III, governor from 1991 to 1997. He made repeated calls for more arrests and harsher penalties. He just didn't know he was calling for his arrest and punishment. "Crime is not traced to the lack of material things," he once said. "It happens through loss of values." A jury found his values sufficiently lacking to convict him on 7 counts of fraud for lying on loan applications.17

Footnotes

  1. Admitted as the 48th state in 1912. "Arizona", The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, in Microsoft Bookshelf 98. Back
  2. Robert Graysmith, The Murder of Bob Crane: Who Killed the Star of Hogan's Heroes?, Crown Publishers, Inc. (New York, 1993), p. 3; 364.1523 G795m. The citation really is correct! And just why would I be looking there to find Arizona trivia, you ask? I wasn't. I stumbled across it while searching for Phoenix mayhem. But that's another story--which you can investigate further at My Phoenix. Back
  3. I knew was the capital before I looked it up. Honest! I wish I hadn't lost the reference for it being the 6th largest city by population in 1977. If you won't take my word, scratch out 6 and put in 7. In 1996 it was the 7th largest city (1,159,014), behind New York (7,380,906), Los Angeles (3,553,638), Chicago (2,721,547), Houston (1,744,058), Philadelphia (1,478,002), and San Diego (1,171,121). U. S. Census Bureau, "City/Place Population Estimates", February 3, 1998. Back
  4. Parts of Indiana and all of Hawaii don't either. "Astronomy and Calendar Standard Time, Daylight Saving Time, and Others, Daylight Saving Time", The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997, in Microsoft Bookshelf 98. Back
  5. I get my facts where I can find them: "Best of Phoenix 1996 3-D coaster set, Phoenix New Times (Phoenix, 1996). Back
  6. Estimate as of July 1, 1997. U. S. Census Bureau, "ST-97-1 Estimates of the Population of States: Annual Time Series, July 1, 1990 to July 1, 1997", December 31, 1997. Back
  7. Least populous states in ascending order: AK, WY, MT, SD, ND, NV, ID, NM, UT, NE, KS, CO, AZ. "United States Population Population by State, 1990-95", The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997, in Microsoft Bookshelf 98. Back
  8. Most populous counties in descending order: Los Angeles, CA; Cook, IL; Harris, TX; San Diego, CA; Orange, CA; Maricopa, AZ. "United States Population 25 Largest Counties, by Population, 1990-95", The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997, in Microsoft Bookshelf 98. Back
  9. "Arizona's electorate voted, 65 percent to 35 percent, to let doctors prescribe marijuana, heroin, LSD and methamphetamines for critically ill patients if there is scientific basis for their use. The California proposition concerns only marijuana. Voters supported, 56 percent to 44 percent, legalizing marijuana cultivation, possession and use for medical reasons, with no prescription required." "Arizona, California officials wary of recent drug law reform", The Minnesota Daily Online, December 3, 1996. [I would have used Arizona Central, New York Times, or Washington Post, but they charge for their archives.]  Arizona legislature assumed that the voters were ignorant when they voted to legalize marijuana (unlike when they cast their votes for the legislators) and promptly gutted the law.  In 1998 the legislature placed two propositions on the ballot to reverse the medical marijuana referendum.   Both lost.  A proposition to restrict the legislature's ability to change laws passed by referendum won.  In 1998, voter initiatives to legalize medical marijuana also passed in Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and Washington.  "Medical marijuana proponents move toward mainstream," News, Today's Stories, www.healthcentral.com, November 9, 1998.    Back
  10. " Temple of Wisdom, Drug Laws", Hightimes Back
  11. Adam Zagorin, "Charlie's an Angel?", Time Magazine, Vol. 149 No. 5, February 3, 1977. Back
  12. John C. Harris, "Humorous Quote Bag". Back
  13. Ronald J. Watkins, High Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Term and Trials of Former Governor Evan Mecham, William Morrow and Company, Inc. (New York, 1990), p. 73. Back
  14. Id., p. 72Back
  15. Id., p. 127.Back
  16. Maureen West, "Phoenix: Martin Luther King Circle is so small, it isn't on all the city maps", The Seattle Times, January 18, 1998. Terry Greene Sterling, "Joe Parhan Stands Up", Phoenix New Times, February 6, 1997. Back
  17. Michael S. Serrill, "Bad Debts, Bad Judgments", Time Magazine, Vol. 150 No. 12, September 15, 1997. Back