January 3, 2021 | www.santansun.com
Relentlessly local coverage of Southern Chandler
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
CUSD board member alarmed by district’s COVID response BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
A Chandler Unified School District board member struck out on her request late last month to hold a special meeting to discuss the district’s response to the surge in COVID-19 cases. After observing data metrics continue to worsen in Arizona and Chandler, board member Lara Bruner said she requested an emergency board meeting on Dec. 23 to review the district’s instructional options as students prepare to return to school Jan. 5. The governing board last met Dec. 9 and is not scheduled to hold a regular meeting until Jan. 13. But Bruner told parents last week in an email that she became concerned when all three metrics for virus spread hit the “substantial” level on Dec. 17. The most recent available data prior to the SanTan Sun News’ deadline
showed that while cases per 100,000 dropped from 710 to 573 – still nearly six times the threshold for substantial spread – positive new COVID-19 test results increased from 16 to 18 percent and hospital visits with COVID-like symptoms jumped from 10.2 to 12.6 percent. The threshold for substantial spread in those two latter categories is 10 percent. Bruner said she asked on Dec. 18 for the meeting to solely discuss the “instructional modality” for students. District administration is allowing allow students to choose between online and in-classroom learning the first two weeks of January, though the district also states on its website that “providing quality instruction for students in-person will continue to be the primary focus for classroom teachers.” Bruner said, “The ostensible reason
Chandler rocker Ryan Butler and his wife Amy celebrate his recovery that was made possible by a liver transplant. (Special to SanTan Sun News)
Chandler musician sees brighter 2021 with new life Chandler Council updates residential property code See
CUSD on page 3
BY COTY DOLORES MIRANDA Contributor
BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
The city has changed enforcement codes dictating how Chandler residents must maintain their properties to include new restrictions on signs, parked cars and “animal excrement.” Chandler officials recently updated its neighborhood codes for the first time since 2007 and said some of the new rules are intended to maintain the aesthetics and vitality of its communities. Residents will not be allowed to have stagnant pools of water on their property, post signs on street lights or utility poles without the city’s permission or let their pets go to the bathroom wherever they want. “No person who keeps or controls any animal shall permit any manure or liquid discharge of such animal to be unloaded, left or dumped in or upon any ditch, street, alleyway, sidewalk, vacant lot or public property within the city,” the code states. City Council authorized its new list of neighborhood codes earlier this month and they are expected to take effect in 2021. Stephen Erno, the city’s neighborhood services manager, said the revised codes are meant to be more concise, comprehensible and relevant to problems impacting Chandler residents. “It’s intended to both deal with the current conditions as well as the longterm sustainability of neighborhoods,” Erno said.
City staff spent months cleaning up the code’s language, he added, so that residents would be able to better understand when they needed to correct something on their property. “It increases transparency by having this type of code that is easier for the public to navigate,” Erno said. The codes revised some rules outlining how residents can sell cars on their property. Chandler residents can now display only one for-sale vehicle at a time and display no more than three cars within a calendar year. The sale cars must be registered to the property’s owner. Any resident doing repair work on their car at home only has 10 days to complete the work and vehicle paint jobs are prohibited, according to the new codes. The city is further prohibiting parked cars from being covered in bed linen, plastic sheeting or any type of tarp. Cars visible from the street can now only be enclosed with a manufactured vehicle cover. Another revised rule prohibits residents from letting their yards deteriorate into dirt lots and requires all exposed dirt to be covered with some sort of natural or artificial material. “No person shall allow or permit any portion of the front or side yard of any residential property that is in public view to be absent of landscaping material,” the rule states. The updated codes also require all See
PROPERTY on page 10
Two months ago, Ryan Butler was cutting his hair and stopped, hair trimmer in hand, and wondered aloud why he was bothering. “I was thinking why am I even doing this? What am I doing it for? I might not even be here next week,” he recalled thinking that October day. Ryan had been diagnosed with Wilson’s Disease, a rare and hereditary liver disease that causes copper to build up in the liver. His mother Lou Butler had passed from Wilson’s Disease at age 43 – Butler’s age when he received the diagnosis following more than a year of downward-spiraling health that included nausea, sleeplessness, extreme fatigue and difficulty walking. Looking in the mirror last October at age 44, he contemplated his face and future, feeling hope was gone. “I just felt I was done: I didn’t think I’d make it,” he recalled. And right at that pensive moment, his phone rang. A liver had become available and
Butler was to report immediately to St. Joseph’s Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation for a possible transplant that very afternoon. It wasn’t the first hopeful call he had received, but the other liver donations hadn’t worked for various reasons. This time he was told that rather than the typical 50/50 chance for a donor match, it looked to be a 90 percent or better possibility. And it was. The life-saving donated liver came from a Colorado male donor – all the information he was given. “Amy and I walked in the main door at the very moment the man with the cooler carrying the liver walked in,” he recalled. Butler, who started Arcane Digital Recording Studio in Chandler in 2004, is a well-known and widely-respected guitarist who toured with heavy metal bands Landmine Marathon and Northside Kings throughout North America and Europe. Even touring, the hard-driving, allout heavy metal guitarist didn’t drink alcohol or take drugs. See
F E AT U R E STO R I E S Chandler baby killer dies by suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . COMMUNITY . . . . . Page 8 Beauty in the eye of this local business . . . . . . . . . . BUSINESS . . . . . . . Page 26 Chandler woman helps Coyotes' expansion. . . . . . SPORTS . . . . . . . . . Page 30 Chandler charity helps the needy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NEIGHBORS . . . . . Page 33 Hall of Flame a secret treasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ARTS . . . . . . . . . . Page 36
TRANSPLANT on page 10 More Community . . . 1-25 Business . . . . . 26-28 Sports . . . . . . . 30-32 Neighbors . . . 33-35 Arts . . . . . . . . . 36-38 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Directory . . . . 40-41 Eat . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42