The tongues were clucking at the 13th annual Gilbert Community Excellence Awards Friday night when Mayor Steve Berman arrived WITH estranged wife Michelle Berman at his side.

We last left the Bermans and their very public break-up with the lifting in late August of a court order of protection that Michelle had sought and received.  While the order was lifted, the two were not to come within 150 feet of each other.

But they were within millimeters of each other when they arrived after the program had already started and wound their way to the front of the room to sit at a VIP table. Read the rest of this entry »

Jesse Parker, with Gilbert’s victory over Highland Friday night, is now the winningest football coach in Arizona prep history.

I had the pleasure of meeting Parker over a decade ago when he was at Mountain View High School in Mesa  The topic was not football.

Parker was my daughter’s advance placement history teacher.

Now an attorney in Baltimore, my daughter was going through a rebellious stage and not doing well in Parker’s class.

I approached Parker braced for an icy blast.  His reputation as a harsh taskmaster with his football players had brought him under  criticism on the Tribune’s pages. Read the rest of this entry »