Some people know just how to pitch a story. Check out this e-mail from a loyal reader:

Every once in awhile I flair up about the shitty deal I've gotten from you people and so I fume and fuss and cuss around here for a few days and then it subsides. The other night though I turned on KUAT and I paid no attention at first to the names on the plaques and was just listening to the conversation, and since I was engrossed in some other work, I really didn't pay that much attention to it. I know it was talk about the community and more than likely was some discussion about helping the community.

THEN, I zeroed in on your name and I was just over come with anger and contempt that you would be allowed to say a damn thing about this community which you care nothing about and my suggestion would be to keep your fucking mouth shut until you do come to a point where you can look at any given situation with a fair and unbiased point of view.

Once again, and I'm told this story over and over, I just will condense it this time. To think that I tried to help a young Mexican who was doing heroin and so strung out he was selling his kids toys to get a fix. I went to REDACTED when it was evident that I just could no longer help Steve or his family, but I was turned down and refused help. Probably not good, but I couldn't help calling the "Dean Of Men" a lying son of a bitch, IF that is, he called himself a Christian, and IF, that organization truly was there to help people. Just yesterday that scenario began to run through my mind that our sorry bastards that claim to serve and protect would write me up for Trespassing when that damn place has signs on the road encouraging people to come in for a free car wash, at which time of course they hit you up for a donation. I was also charge with threats and intimidation, and nothing I said or did was a threat, possibly it intimidated the asshole to be called the fucking hypocrit that he was and probably still is, but. Then I was cited for disorderly conduct. The slogan serve and protect is the biggest fucking lie in this entire world today because when I was beaten to the ground at the Wildcat house while attending a birthday party and told a kid he was not to have a drink on the floor, with every kind of identification, with witnesses, with camera footage, with tag numbers, this little bastard walked and the system did nothing to him. I on the other hand called a representative of a nation wide organization that claims to be the defender and helper of those on drugs and alcohol, an SOB, and I'm nailed to the wall, my life was completely altered, bottom line, I suffered.

But to think that I came to you for this story and as I've said before, that sorry ass cripple bastard Jeff Smith completely turned the story and situation on me because he had gone to school with this guys wife, and I'm supposing he probably got some head out of the deal to twist and distort the story as he did.

After years and years of battling this problem with loud and intrusive and disrespectful music I came to you once again, why, last resort and no other reason and once again you've ignored this problem. As I went to my parents home this a.m. to repair and make ready their cooler, and bear in mind that I only go there when absolutely necessary even though they are failing so terribly and need me, but I would rather know that I was headed in for a root canal than to go there and be confronted with the music that comes from the Desert Suds car wash. As usual, there was a big Hummer, 2 gang banging little bastards, music cranked up with "so I took off her panties and I fucked that bitch" just blaring through out the neighborhood. The follow up to that was that they were going back to Cali Cali to get their dick sucked and their ass licked.

I realize that liberals like you feel you should be able to assault the public with this kind of behaviour, after all, this is America, you have freedom of speech, fuck everyone else. I'll be the first to admit that I cannot control what people want to listen to or watch or read, you pretty much can't stop a friggin pig from wanting to lie down in the mud and slop, BUT, as a citizen I should not have to be bombarded with that. Whether anyone else does or not, I know that this is the reason for the influx in crime and violence when you've got people running up and down the street with a song playing that encourages them to get their 9mm and leave shorty in a pool of blood.

As I've said recently in various postings on the internet, the only way we'll ever get any results in this war is for people in office, or people like you who could say something about this and stir people up but will not, but hopefully you will suffer from this violence and maybe it will get you off your dead biased one sided ass and help address the problem.

The stupidist, saddest most idiodic, pathetic statement is to hear a community get all riled up and say, "we're going to take back our community". The question is, why the hell did they give it up in the first place? I'll tell you why, because law enforcement and the system refused to do anything about the crime, like weeds in a garden, before it got out of hand. In my parent community you see illegals bailing out of vehicles and running into a home. Home invasions are a regular thing. Drugs and meth labs are common. Kids walk down the middle of the street every afternoon after school, or going to school in the mornings. If you honk at them to move, they either beat on your vehicle as you pass, or even stone it. I rarely watch Maury Provich and his stupid "who's the daddy" shows but the other day as I sat down for a break it was on and it had videos of crime scenes. This girl had just gone for her baby that her mother was keeping while she was at work and a gang of girls pulled her from her car and almost beat her to death. Fight clubs are springing up daily where they are actually filming things like this and acts of violence.

Whether you like me or not, and at this point I damn sure don't like you or respect you for the way you have ignored me any more than I respect the local sheriff's department, but can't you stop for a moment and realize that at some point in time, you are going to suffer from ignoring this violence? Few people stop to realize that crime is a commodity to the cops and the legal system, they have absolutely no desire to eliminate crime. If they did then they could not get a budget increase to buy more vehicles, hire more people, and buy more toys.... Truly in this life, what goes round does come round, and lemme tell ya, pay backs are a bitch.

Whether it ends up being a book or a blog I'm going to begin giving an account of what I've been through with Pima County's pathetic excuse of law enforcement and judicial system. To think that a citizen like myself could write a letter to someone like that bitch Lt. REDACTED who was the head of the REDACTED unit at that time, I just basically outlined all that had happened in the past years I had been trying to get the ordinance passed, and the things that had happened since getting it passed, how it wasn't going to work until the deputies put some teeth into it and what was my response? A visit from Pima County Mental Health, along with several Pima county deputies. Talk about "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" but I was literally sick for days to think that these bastards would respond like this, that there was a possibility that these sons of bitches could put me away from complaining about response time and refusal to cite and actually it took someone else to point out the reason for this tactic and that was at the closing of my letter I had said, "I am not going to give up this crusade to stop this disrespectful and abusive music. At some point in time someone is going to listen and take notice of what I've been through". As my friend pointed out to me, "Warren, they are just covering their ass, if they can discredit you, it will get them off the hook for the things they have said and done, or not done", and of course the light came on when he explained it that way.

So, try and not appear on any more of those shows or give your opinion on this society until you are able to do it with fairness because at this point you are just a total contradiction to everything you say and do.

On Thursday, March 15 from 10 a.m. to noon, all Starbucks in the United States, Canada and other countries are giving away a free tall (12 ounce) coffee. That's not a latte or frappucino but coffee, straight up.

You can read all about it on Starbucks Gossip, the No. 1 Starbucks site not operated by Starbucks Corp.

Hit the links, and puke.

Wow! Was that an awesome episode of Battlestar Galactica this week? Without spoiling anything for those of you who haven't caught up through the magic of DVD, the big question remains: Is she or isn't she?

OK, so we decide to do a parody of Maxim and those silly magazines, and people go batshit.

I had a call from one of our older readers on my voicemail this morning. She explained she likes the Weekly—although she liked it better 10 years ago—and was dismayed we were going in "this direction" with our cover.

A high school teacher sent me a frothing e-mail explaining that she feels like " a dirty pedophile toting your publication around my school, and that she "feel(s) just wrong holding in my hands a paper advertising 'Teen Sex.'"

I hate to remind her that the teaser she's writing about concerned a review of Romeo and Juliet, which is read in pretty much every high school in America, and that TEEN SEX PLAYS A RATHER MAJOR ROLE IN THE PLAY.

Finally, one restaurant owner flat-out refused to have the paper in his restaurant, because kids come in there.

OK, the cover model is showing no cleavage and very little well, anything.

Some people. Sheesh.

Tucson High School alum Joe Kay, who suffered a stroke several years ago after a basketball game when overzealous fans accidentally knocked him over, will be featured on ESPN this weekend.

The late Chris Limberis covered the sad story.

Here's the blurb on the show from the folks at ESPN; thanks to them for alerting us about the story. Unless my math's wrong, the show will be on locally at 7:30 a.m. Sunday (ESPN) and 10 a.m. Sunday (ESPNEWS).

(UPDATE: Those times should probably be 6:30 and 9 respectively, since the rest of the country changes time this weekend. Sorry for the gaffe.)

Outside the Lines will examine the joy and jeopardy of court-storming, Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET on ESPN (re-aired noon Sunday on ESPNEWS). Three years ago, Tucson (Ariz.) High's Joe Kay, a valedictorian set to attend Stanford on a volleyball scholarship, punctuated his team's big home win with a dunk, setting off a frenzied celebration in which he was tackled and trampled, suffering a stroke and paralysis on his right side. The next day at Stanford, fans rushed the court in exultation over the Cardinal's defeat of Arizona, and this time, Gerry Plunkett, wife of former Stanford and NFL quarterback Jim, was knocked down and pinned amid the sea of fans, incurring a deep leg bruise and lingering emotional scars. Just last month the SEC fined Vanderbilt for failing to prevent fans from storming the court after the Commodores defeated top-ranked Florida. Mark Schwarz reports. Bob Ley hosts.

Here are some events that were received too late to be included in our print issue.

• Friday, March 9-Sunday, March 11

  Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

  Catalina Point, 15930 N. Oracle Road

  Art and Craft Show. Local vendors offer paintings, jewelry, pottery, clothing, toys and more for sale. Call Annette or Bob at 498-4949 or e-mail [email protected] for info.

• Sunday, March 10 from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

  Church of Mankind, 1231 S. Van Buren Ave.

  Psychic Fair. Readers will answer questions using Tarot cards, crystal balls, psychometry and other methods. $20 a reading. Call 461-2910 for info.

• Monday, March 12 from noon to 1 p.m.

  Tucson International Airport, 7250 S. Tucson Blvd.

  Lisa Otey. Pianist Lisa Otey kicks off the performing arts program at TIA. Free. Call 573-8187 for info.

• Monday, March 12 at 7 p.m. (when doors open)

  Arizona Game and Fish, 555 N. Greasewood Road

  Rafting the Dolores River. Van Honeman will show slides of his first run on Colorado's Dolores River. Presentation begins around 8 p.m. Call 578-1399 or visit www.soazpaddlers.org for info.

In LGBT community center Wingspan's weekly e-mail newsletter—hitting e-mail boxes this evening—executive director Kent Burbank announced he's stepping down:

Here are the first three paragraphs of his statement:

After lengthy personal reflection, I have decided to step down as Executive Director of Wingspan. I feel that it is time for me to explore new challenges and opportunities. I also believe that it is time for Wingspan to have new leadership. I will continue to serve as Wingspan’s Executive Director for a while longer during the transition. This will allow Wingspan to finalize its strategic planning process and conduct a thorough and careful search for a new Executive Director.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve Wingspan and the community, and I feel blessed by the many wonderful experiences Wingspan has afforded me. I have so enjoyed working with the LGBT and allied communities and have such warm feelings about my time at Wingspan. I know that news of my departure will come as a surprise to many people; please know that I wish it were possible to tell everyone personally. I am not leaving Tucson and I have no immediate plans.

As I mentioned, I will be staying on at Wingspan for a while longer and then will begin looking for other employment. The Wingspan Board and I will be working on a plan that ensures a smooth transition and continuity in leadership. We promise to keep the community informed about that process as it unfolds.

Full disclosure: Kent's a friend of mine, and I had no idea this was coming.

Anyway, now you know.

Mia Madison, the mother of an autistic boy who was running up against a wall while trying to secure day care for her son, just e-mailed to tell me that the YMCA has reversed course.

"They've agreed to accommodate him and prepare for the possibility of other children like Ethan using their program," Madison wrote.

Another mother recently contacted me to say that she had gone through the same issues trying to find day care for her child some years ago, and that it was a shame that things haven't changed. Perhaps this is a step in the right direction.

So, did anyone have some problems with US Airways' computer system yesterday? Are you having any today? If you're flying that airline today, you may want to give yourself some extra time.