Celebrating 38 years of service
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Vol. 40, No. 23
Ahwatukee Foothills News
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2016
Today: High 97, Low 65, Sunny Tomorrow: High 88, Low 68, Light Rain
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COVER STORY
GOLF COURSES
Latest news from the chamber; p29
Ahwatukee could lose golf courses to home developments, councilman warns
COMMUNITY:
Regional Science Bowl
By Eric Smith
BASIS Ahwatukee takes first place; p6
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS
>> See Debate on page 10
>> See Golf Course on page 10
Members of the Desert Vista Speech and Debate Team pose with their state trophies including their first place trophy from this year, on March 23. [David Jolkovski/AFN]
GETOUT:
Roll film
Phoenix Film Festival’s 16th year; p32
No argument: DV wins 12th debate title in 13 years By Eric Smith AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS
SPORTS:
Dream chasers
Area pro baseball players; p36 Neighborhood p3 Calendar p5 Community p6 Opinion p17
they spend up to three hours on weekdays and as many as eight hours on weekends preparing to go before the judges. “During state (championship) week we had about five hours of practice every day and we practiced over spring break,” said team captain Mackenzie Saunders. “It’s a lot of time with coaches. It’s a lot of time coaching your peers, coaching your teammates.” But with the kind of sustained success the Thunder has experi-
The Lakes Golf Course in Ahwatukee has been causing residents headaches for quite some time, but now, the rest of the golf courses in Ahwatukee could be under threat. At an Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee meeting on March 28, the committee discovered Ahwatukee Country Club, The Foothills Golf Club, The Lakes Golf Course and the Club West Golf Club are all zoned as residential areas, meaning the golf courses could be converted into more homes. The problem stems from The Lakes Golf Course, which closed in May 2013, and was sold to The True Life Companies, which provides land to home builders. As some of the other golf courses have come up for sale, it could lead to development of homes on the land. “Once you open up the door to development of one golf course, you now set a precedent for the other ones,” said Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio of Ahwatukee. The thing preventing the development of homes on that land, DiCic-
Business p24 GetOut p32 Sports/Rec p36 Classified p39
Desert Vista is known for its athletic prowess on all kinds of sports fields, but there is one location where they are the most dominant — the debate floor. The Thunder won its 12th speech and debate title in 13 years on March 21, taking home seven individual state titles as well as the team championship. “We really try to focus each year on itself and not really worry about how many wins we’ve had before,”
coach Victor Silva said. “We really want to try and focus on this year and this team and just being the best we can be.” But the title wasn’t just won on the competition floor, it was won well before then in taxing practice sessions. “We focus very, very much on practice,” Silva said. “We always talk about winning practice and the tournament is just an extension of how hard we work.” The team’s practices are grueling, not physically but mentally as
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