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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
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Pima Canyon Trailhead reopeningNEWS Saturday FOOTHILLS BY JIM WALSH AFN Staff Writer
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amie Yohe and her friend Jacki White were hiking near a well-worn access road that starts near 48th Street and passes the Arizona Grand Golf Course when a golf ball went whizzing past Yohe’s head and struck a pole. “One guy was walking towards me. He said, “‘Oh, my God, that almost hit you,’’’ said Yohe, who was on her way to the closed Pima Canyon Trailhead to start one of her favorite hikes. Hiking, trail running and mountain biking will become far more convenient for Yohe and other outdoor enthusiasts when the refurbished trailhead, the most popular in South Mountain Park, reopens on Saturday, Jan. 20, after a four-month closure required for the completion of extensive and somewhat con-
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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS A BETTER GUIDE
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TRAILHEAD on page 20 (Tom Sanfippo/Inside Out Aerial)
This breathtaking overhead shot by a drone shows the improvements made to the Pima Canyon Trailhead, which reopens Saturday after its closure in August to make way for permanent bathrooms, a ramada and expanded parking.
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COURT QUEENS
Ahwatukee boy’s kindness gets kudos from the governor BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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ot many people get a standing ovation in the heart of the State Capitol. But 9-year-old Xavier Kennedy got just that during Gov. Ducey’s annual State of the State address Jan. 8 – all because he not only thought of kids less fortunate than him, but actually did something about it. As first reported by AFN last April, the
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now-third-grader at Cerritos Leadership Academy had proposed to parents Genevieve and Scott Kennedy that he find ways to raise money so that he and his then-4-year-old sister could visit the California amusement park that was built around the fictional character he had been following since he was 4. But then Xavier had another idea. As he told AFN: “My mum promised eventually we would go to Harry Potter land. Then I thought about kids who are not as fortunate as me
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and decided to raise money to send a kid and his parent to Harry Potter land for two days. The idea just popped into my head to start raising money to help another kid because I was so sad to think they couldn’t do what my family could afford to do.” So Xavier got to work. He figured out a budget that included tickets, food, hotel, gas and a souvenir. Then he came up with “a bunch of ideas” See
XAVIER on page 10
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