Glendale Star 02-27-2020

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Glendale’s Community Newspaper

Vol. 76 No. 9

INSIDE

This Week

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No love for Love’s truck stop BY TOM SCANLON

Glendale Star Managing Editor

NEWS...............3 Mayor to talk about the state of the city

February 27, 2020

Here in west Glendale, which just a few weeks ago was unincorporated Maricopa County, farmland is being paved over, with heavy machinery leveling land and laying asphalt. As Glendale charges ahead with multiple annexation projects sucking hundreds of acres of land into the city limits, residents of nearby Waddell and Litchfield Park are enraged. Land-hungry Glendale is steamrolling them, they say. “I don’t know if Glendale is going to take our advice into consideration, because we’re not their tax base,” said Tim Callahan, who lives in Litchfield Park. Other speedy annex-and-build city proj-

Love’s Travel Center. A truck stop, they say, will bring excessive traffic, noise, fumes, drugs and crime. John Kidwell, who lives in the Russell Ranch development of Litchfield Park, said he has personal experience to back up his concerns. “I’m definitely against the Neighbors say they don’t want a truck stop on land annexed by GlenLove’s truck stop,” he said. “I dale near the Loop 303. (Glendale Star photo by Tom Scanlon) had two previous homes, in ects near Loop 303, such as Red Bull, Nevada and California, where they tried to Mark Anthony Brewing and other large- put truck stops in within a mile-and-a-half scale commercial projects, were approved of my home. We fought against it.” at Glendale City Council meetings with He said he and his neighbors won one of nary a whisper of protest. the battles but lost another. But what set off scores of Waddell and So what was having a truck stop in his Litchfield Park residents were three words: SEE LOVE’S PAGE 2

Full house: Casino’s rocking opening NEWS ..............9 Infant pulled from pool is in critical condition

OPINION..................... 12 BUSINESS.................. 14 SPORTS ...................... 16 CALENDAR ................ 20 FEATURES.................. 22 RELIGION ................... 26 YOUTH........................ 28 CLASSIFIEDS ............. 31

BY TOM SCANLON

Glendale Star Managing Editor

The Desert Diamond Casino West Valley opening was a full house, actually and figuratively. The Las Vegas-style casino was literally a full house, as the crowd on opening night filled the sprawling casino on the Feb. 19 opening night. “We apologize for the inconvenience, however, we’ve reached the maximum allowed capacity for the evening and can no longer

The Glendale

allow any more vehicles,” the casino tweeted, less than three hours after opening. The full house was also symbolic, as the casino has poker tables as well as blackjack. Additionally, 1,100 slot machines were brought over from the temporary casino, which the Tohono O’odham Nation opened at the end of 2015. Before the opening, the Nation had a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

SEE CASINO PAGE 4

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Desert Diamond Casino West Valley launched Feb. 19. It didn’t take long for the new blackjack and poker tables and slot machines to be buzzing, as the casino filled to capacity on opening night. (Photo courtesy Desert Diamond Casino)

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