This week's dead-tree issue includes an interesting story on a long-time employee of the Pima County Attorney's Office who filed a whistle-blower retaliation complaint against her employer. Lee Walter claims that she was disciplined after formally complaining and requesting an investigation that alleged unethical behaviors took place during an attorney interview process last year. Walter was involved and part of the attorney interviews.

To prepare for the retaliation case that went to the Arizona State Personnel Board — the first hearing was May 14 and the second hearing is tomorrow, Thursday, June 7 — Walter filed several public records requests. After five months and filing a complaint in Pima County Superior Court, Judge Ted Borak ruled in early May that Walter could receive documents she requested and that some were considered confidential — she could see those, but only after signing a confidentiality agreement with her employer and not making those public.

While Pima County Attorney staff said they were unable to comment, as well as Walter, we hadn't heard back from the county's private attorney by press time. Eventually we did hear back from Richard Rollman of Gabroy Rollman and Bossé, and talked with him today about the case.

At first Rollman said he was unsure what he could discuss since the issue is a personnel matter, but he did correct the assertion that Walter's record is unblemished, saying that while her personnel file may not have any written forms of discipline, that there may be other forms of discipline that were verbal rather then written.

Rollman said part of the issue with the case is that the interviews Walter participated in were for attorneys who were being hired as unclassified staff and not merit staff attorneys. Rollman said that Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall decided the attorney's interviewed were going to be hired as unclassified, and not merit employees, but she also decided they should be interviewed in the same manner as attorney's hired through the merit system.

The arguments to show retaliation took place that go before a hearings officer from the personnel board has to meet elements of the state statute. According to Rollman, those elements are pretty specific. Some according to the statute ask that concern in the complaint relate to matters that are of public concern. Next, did what take place violate law, show mismanagement, or show a gross waste of monies or abuse of authority.

On Walter's public records request, Rollman said all along the county offered her records, but she didn't want to sign a confidentiality agreement until May 9. Typically, he said, the personnel board hearings officer makes that determination if the records presented are confidential or not, rather then overload the Superior Court judge to review public records to determine what is confidential and what is not confidential.

When asked why the Pima County Attorney's office is interested in hiring unclassified attorney's rather than merit, he said that, without making a political argument, the reasons he's heard argued is that it allows a government entity to make sure that employee has the skills needed to do the job. Once a merit employee is hired it is difficult to dismiss them based on performance and other issues.

One source recently told the Weekly that many staff in the Pima County Attorney's Office hope some action takes place soon after tomorrow's hearing - made public at Walter's request as the plaintiff in the action. Morale, they shared, is at an all-time low.

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is without a doubt in my top five list of favorite books read in high school. It spread like wildfire among my group of friends, and I'm pretty sure it's the only novel (besides the Harry Potter series) that I've read more than three times.

Usually I get scared when I find out great books are being adapted for the big screen, but I have high hopes for this movie. For starters, the author of the book, Stephen Chbosky, was a filmmaker before writing "Perks" and directed the film. Also, Emma Watson is in it. So it can't be that bad.

Old Tucson may be closed for the summer, but you can get a glimpse of its past in the book Henry Darrow: Lightning in the Bottle by Jan Pippins and Henry Darrow. (BearManor Media, 392 pages, $24.95)

Henry Darrow, born Enrique Tomás Delgado, played Manolito Montoya in the western The High Chaparral. The show, about the fictional Cannon family in the Arizona Territory circa 1870, was filmed at Old Tucson, among other locations. It aired from 1967 to 1971.

Henry Darrow: Lightning in the Bottle chronicles Darrow's "seventy-five years of life, stage and screen." Check out the website and read on for more information.

Henry Darrow (born Enrique Tomás Delgado) catapulted to international stardom in 1967 as sexy, complex “Manolito Montoya” in the western The High Chaparral. He was the first actor of Puerto Rican heritage to star in a television series. “Henry survived and had a career when, if you were Latino, you couldn’t be just good, you had to be beyond great, and that’s Henry,” says noted writer/entertainer Rick Najera.

At the height of his fame Darrow put his career on the line to open doors for other Hispanics. He has continued to break ground for over fifty years as a working actor and was recently featured on the PBS series Pioneers of Television. Lightning in the Bottle is the must-read portrait of this inspirational, fiercely determined, endearing and enduring Emmy-winning performer.

While I don't think I've enjoyed an Adam Sandler movie since The Wedding Singer (I also liked Funny People and Punch Drunk Love, but those don't really seem like they count, since they lacked the David Spade cameos I generally expect from Sandler films), so I'm admittedly not the target audience for That's My Boy, but the NSFW red-band trailer for the movie coming to theatres on June 15th is particularly horrifying. Not because of the content, which seems like the same exercise in idiocy and terribly cameos Sandler considers his oeuvre, but because Andy Samberg is also involved.

Samberg, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live's Digital Shorts like "Dick in a Box" and "I'm on a Boat", isn't some sort of auteur, but he did star in one of my favorite movies of all time, Hot Rod, which no one saw likely dooming Samberg's chances of creating his own films for awhile, hence That's My Boy and next year's film that will make you say "They're making a sequel to that?", Grownups 2. Samberg also stars in this year's Celeste and Jesse Forever, which seems like it might be good, so there's still hope, but it might take the collective will of everyone who ever shared a YouTube link to "Jizz in my Pants" to keep Samberg from traveling down a road that turns him into another Adam Sandler sidekick.

The New York Times notes the passing of Ray Bradbury at age 91:

By many estimations Mr. Bradbury was the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream. His name would appear near the top of any list of major science-fiction writers of the 20th century, beside those of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein and the Polish author Stanislaw Lem. His books have been taught in schools and colleges, where many a reader has been introduced to them decades after they first appeared. Many have said his stories fired their own imaginations.

Bradbury once told me that his own imagination was fired up when he was kid right here in Tucson:

RAY BRADBURY BEGAN his long career as a master of imaginative fiction as a 12-year-old boy right here in Tucson.

"My parents gave me a primitive, $6 typewriter for Christmas in 1932 and I began to write short stories about landing on the moon and going off to Mars," Bradbury recalls. "I worked alone, I believed in what I did and I didn't listen to anyone who doubted me."

The result has been nearly unparalleled success in the field of fantasy writing. Along with such classics as Something Wicked This Way Comes, Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury has penned somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 short stories, 100 television scripts and dozens of plays, radio programs and screenplays. He's taken his readers across space, through time and into those eerie parallel dimensions next door.

He fondly remembered a gig on Tucson radio:

"I loved radio and went and hung around the local station there in Tucson and told my friends I was getting a job as a radio announcer," he says, recalling how he'd get out of class at Amphi Junior High and race over the station, getting underfoot until he landed a gig on the air reading comic strips to kids on Saturday night.

"It was a perfect occupation for someone like myself, who had been collecting them since I was nine years old," he says. "And my pay was free tickets to see King Kong, Murders in the Wax Museum and The Mummy. You can't do any better than that. I've never had better income in my life since."

Bradbury told me how excited he was that Republicans had won the House of Representatives in 1994. Dave Weigel of Slate recalls Bradbury's conservative politics.

Republican Jesse Kelly, who is facing Democrat Ron Barber in next week's special election to finish the congressional term of Gabby Giffords, talked with Chuck Todd of NBC News today. The Barber campaign pounces on some of Kelly's statements:

This morning on national television, Jesse Kelly continued his assault on middle class families. When asked by the Daily Rundown’s Chuck Todd if he would urge Congress to act this summer to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling, Kelly said it would be fine to “deal with that retroactively.” Student loan rates are set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent if Congress does not act before July 1st.

“Middle class families can’t afford to have their concerns dealt with ‘retroactively,’ they need solutions now,” said Jessica Schultz of the Barber campaign. “Unfortunately, Jesse Kelly’s willingness to allow student loan rates to double is just one more example of how out of touch he is with this district; from wanting to see the corporate tax rate lowered to zero to calling for the elimination of the minimum wage—Jesse Kelly is happy to abandon working families in favor of the rich.”

Additionally, during the interview, Kelly confirmed that he wants to phase out Social Security and Medicare by privatizing the programs for future generations.

Background on students loans here. More background on the June 12 CD8 election here.

Arnie and Eric discuss the 100th issue of The Tick, with a special appearance by Robert Kirkman's Invincible, as the two heroes team up to fight the cleverly named "Chairface Chippendale."

If you watched an old episode of TV show Emergency! (1972-1979) and followed it up with an episode of Rescue Me (2004-2011), you would notice a big change in how fire sequences are filmed. There would also be a huge difference in story lines, from more tame to gritty.

But if you have an eye for detail and want to know about the specific fire trucks and other equipment used in these shows and others like them, check out The First Responders of Television by local writer Richard C. Yokley. (BearManor Media, 492 pages, $32.95.)

Publisher's summary:

BearManor Media proudly announces the release of its new book, The First Responders of Television, by Richard C. Yokley.
From the first live telecast of an actual fire in 1938, to such weekly television series as Rescue 8, Emergency!, Saved and Rescue Me in the US and International favorites of England's London's Burning, Germany's Medicopter 117, and Japan's Burning Flame trilogy, this book offers detailed coverage of the many First Responders of Television. They include Fire-fighters, Police Officers, Paramedics, EMTs, Lifeguards, Aeromedical, Forest Rangers, and the Coast Guard. Over 150 dramatic and comedic programs from around the world are discussed, including the apparatus they rode on, helicopters, aircraft, and boats utilized, as well as the hospitals they filmed from. Also included are reality programming, (Rescue 911, The Paramedics, and others), made-for-television movies (Firefighter, Pine Canyon is Burning), unsold pilots, and individual fire or rescue episodes from programs such as Perry Mason, Hunter, The A-Team, Law and Order, and others are covered.
To learn about this or other BearManor Media titles, please visit our website at www.bearmanormedia.com.

Author bio:

Richard C. Yokley was a member of the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Protection District (San Diego, California) from 1972 to 1999. He received Firehouse Magazine's Heroism and Community Service Award in 1987. He has written several newspaper and trade journal articles, this is his third book. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to The Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society.

The Miami Heat had a bad night, but thankfully, one of their eager child fans was ready by the player's tunnel to offer a bit of positive reinforcement.

A few weeks ago I started hearing whispers about the UA applying for a liquor license. And like many undergrads, the thought of being able to by a beer at the Student Union Memorial Center or a football game made me ecstatic.

As it turns out, the university’s liquor license application is a lot less exciting than my peers’ rumors made it out to be. In reality, the UA is only seeking liquor licenses for seven buildings. And these liquor licenses are only being sought because event organizers now have to acquire short-term permits from the state every time they want to host a special event with alcohol. Which I’m sure is an incredibly annoying process.

So I understand the reasoning behind it. The UA wants to be able to serve beer and wine at places like Centennial Hall and the Arizona State Museum without it being a huge ordeal.

But it got me thinking. Attendance at the UA baseball games has shot through the roof since the team relocated off campus and fans can now drink a few brews while they enjoy some baseball. Granted, UA baseball is having a stellar season, but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that alcohol is now an option for fans. According to a May article from the Arizona Daily Star, the UA leads the PAC-12 in baseball attendance with an average of 2,000 fans per game. When I went to a few baseball games my freshmen year (three years ago) attendance was closer to 200.