12 Dec 28th, 2023–Jan 3rD, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | or his knack for trying to profit from his offensive behavior. Or it could be his ability, despite all of this trolling, to stay out of jail. Yet, Ethan Schmidt-Crockett is still roaming the streets of Phoenix on his bigoted crusade, recording his antics to share on social media while trying to terrorize marginalized people. At some point, this Valley antagonist and occasional Grindr user will end up in a jail cell and not just on probation. He compares his work to that of Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence and civil disobedience during the Civil Rights Movement. Really. And when asked about the latest agency to arrest him, he quipped this: “Scottsdale PD can kiss my ass.” It is no wonder we bestowed on him the honor he’s so earned — Best Criminal Redneck Bigot. Phoenix city officials clear the Zone National media descended on Phoenix in May as the city began clearing out the Zone. The decision to clear out the downtown homeless encampment, which stretched between Ninth and 12th avenues south of Washington Street, resulted from an order by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge. Attorneys representing 15 people who own properties in the vicinity of the encampment filed suit in August 2022. In March, a judge ruled in their favor, giving the city until July 10 to clear the area. The first sweeps began in May despite the city’s lack of available shelter beds. The city would eventually clear the entire Zone but it would take well into October for the last tent to be dismantled. Concern over the reality of a lack of avail- able shelter was not the only issue troubling activists. Elizabeth Venable, co-founder of the nonprofit Fund for Empowerment, said she had spoken to many unsheltered people who had their property, including ashes of deceased family members or key documents needed for receiving assistance, destroyed by city officials. A virile bandit returns England has Bansky and Phoenix has Penis Man. After a prolonged hiatus, signs of the Valley’s virile vandal were spotted on the lid of a garbage can just outside The Green Woodpecker bar at Park Central in Midtown in late January. In the tagger’s typical fashion, the garbage can was defaced with a simple tagline: “Penis Man.” Although Tempe police arrested Dustin Shomer on January 23, 2020, after identi- fying him as a potential suspect, Shomer was defiant. “Penis Man is neither man nor woman, you nor me,” Shomer wrote in a Facebook post at the time. “We are ALL Penis Man.” One year later, Shomer pleaded guilty to two felonies — aggravated criminal damage/ defacing a school and attempting to commit trespassing in a critical public service facility. He was sentenced to three years of supervised probation, $8,000 in restitution, and 500 hours of community service. After his arrest, Tempe cops said there were other “Penis Men” still at large. Shomer has said the original “Penis Man” is one of his high school friends from Tempe. That individual, he said, “coerced” him into doing the tags. News Flash from p 10 Gov. Katie Hobbs became the first Arizona governor to speak at the Phoenix Pride Festival when she appeared at the event in October. (Photo by Matt Hennie) A Phoenix police officer carries a ballistics shield in the downtown homeless encampment called the Zone in May. (Photo by Katya Schwenk) In this screenshot of a Twitter video posted by @Lushsux on Feb. 11, 2020, a man spray paints “Penis Man” on a wall. It’s unclear when or where the video was taken. (Photo by Twitter video screenshot)
