Oct. 17 - Nov 6, 2015 www.SanTanSun.com
Traveling with the team
Chandler National Little League All-Stars take over Tainan activities inside the school. The Taiwanese and American players became close. During a dinner at T.G.I. Friday’s—yes, that T.G.I. Friday’s—in a Tainan shopping mall, the kids “spoke” with each other, laughed at jokes and talked baseball—all with the help of a translation app. To communicate, the boys passed phones back and forth to share their thoughts. The language barrier dissipated and the kids became the perfect ambassadors for the United States and Taiwan.
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Fireworks pepper the sky as dusk falls over the city of Tainan, Taiwan. Thirty three floors above University Road in the Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, we can hear impatient drivers honk at scooter riders who veer too closely. A young man belts out Maroon 5 during karaoke in the lobby of the five-star hotel so loud that it’s impossible to miss. Tainan is a city in flux. It strives to maintain tradition—toilets are essentially holes in the ground in major tourist attractions and business cards are presented rather than haphazardly handed—yet across town is the Southern Taiwan Science Park, which is similar to the Chandler’s Price Road Corridor, where modern technology rules. From Sept. 28 through Oct. 9, Tainan hosted the Chandler National Little League All-Stars, coaches, parents, City officials Micah Miranda, Chandler’s economic development director, and City Councilman Jack Sellers, as well as the SanTan Sun News, the only media to make the trip. The entire delegation became “celebrities”—as the tour guides called us—posing for photo ops and meeting with influential businesses and politicians in Tainan. Wearing burgundy team T-shirts and baseball pants for the most
Long journey The journey to Tainan was an arduous one. We traveled from Phoenix to San Francisco International Airport, where see TEAM page 4
Ethan Ludwig offers a ride to one of Tainan’s baseball players. Photo by Katie Ludwig
part, the kids, aged 12 through 13, were revered at each stop. During a visit to Tainan Municipal Sie-Jin Elementary School, the boys were met with a dance
Chandler-Hamilton rivalry revisited on Oct. 30 BY SHANE DEGROTE
Packers versus Bears. Ohio State versus the University of Michigan. Hamilton versus Chandler. They’re all rivalries for the ages. Another chapter in the battle for Arizona Avenue will be written on Oct. 30 when the No. 1-ranked Hamilton Huskies take on the No. 2 Chandler Wolves. The Huskies once dominated this 17-year rivalry, winning 18 straight in regular and postseason. But they find themselves in an unusual role. “We all want to play Chandler,” said Huskies quarterback Travis Lockhart. “They have beat us three of the last four times, and it is just not something we are used to at Hamilton. We want to get that back on track.” Their toughest defeat came by way of a 28-7 loss in the Division I state
championship game in 2014. That same season, Chandler beat Hamilton in the regular season, making it the first time the Wolves beat the Huskies twice in one season. With a new year comes a new team, however. “I think defensively were still really good,” said Huskies head coach Steve Belles. “Offensively...we have a good running game and passing game. On top of that, we have real good special teams play going on right now.” The Wolves share the same sentiments as their cross-town rivals. The entire Chandler High School community is ready to take on the Huskies and prove that it is the top dog of Division I football. “It is always one of those games that you look forward to since the rivalry is so big,” see RIVALRY page 4
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performance, a long meet-and-greet line (some Taiwanese kids went through the line twice—or more—to shake hands with the players) and an invitation to partake in
SanTan Sun News executive editor Christina Fuoco-Karasinski traveled to Taiwan with the Chandler National Little League All-Stars from Sept. 28 to Oct. 5, while the team stayed in the country until Oct. 9. She was embedded in business meetings, baseball games, attractions and area restaurants. Coverage begins on page 39. Clip-It has been moved temporarily to the Business section to make way for our extensive coverage of the visit.
Go Fund Me account set up for fire victims BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
The Chandler community has come together to help raise funds for a family who lost everything they owned in a house fire Thursday, Oct. 8, near Frye and McQueen roads. Milton Clements IV, his wife, Shontae, and their children, Milton and Tionna, were sleeping when the father was awakened by the smell of smoke. “I just smelled it,” Clements said. “It was hard for me to breathe. That’s what woke me up.” He gathered his family and tried to walk down the stairs, but the heat from the flames was too intense. The Clements family were forced to jump out of a window, with the father going first. Julie Culton, whose son, Cole Lundberg, plays freshman football at
Hamilton High School with Milton, heard this story and had to help. “One of the coaches texted me and said, ‘Hey, rally the troops,’” Culton recalled. “We needed to basically try and support this family.” She found that Hamilton freshman football team representative Jill Lindquist had already emailed the school community. Culton started a Go Fund Me page, https://www.gofundme.com/ct5ybgb3, to raise much-needed monies, while Lindquist has aligned closely with the family. “She has spent countless hours with them the past two days collecting clothes and money, and taking them shopping and moving, since they only have one car,”
F E AT U R E STO R I E S Chandler residents GAIN from upcoming event . . . . . . . community . . . . . . . . . Page 9 Downtown plans progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . business . . . . . . . . . . . Page 21 Volleyball star working to ‘spike’ leukemia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 30 ICAN CEO getting hair cut for a great cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . neighbors . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 55 Hamilton junior tackles blues guitar with prowess . . . . . arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 60
See WHY on page 18
TRAVELING WITH THE TEAM . . . . . Center Section
see VICTIMS page 5
More Community . . . . . . . 1-17 Business . . . . . . . . 18-24 Clip It . . . . . . . . . . 25-28 Youth . . . . . . . . . . 29-38 Opinion . . . . . . . . 43-44 Neighbors . . . . . . 45-57 Where to eat . . . 58-59 Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . 60-67 Spirituality . . . . 68-70 Directory . . . . . . . 71-72 Classifieds . . . . . . 73-74