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@AhwatukeeFN
Ahwatukee ‘angels’ rally to victim of chilling accident BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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@AhwatukeeFN |
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n his fourth last day as a teenager, Zander Fehlan’s life changed forever. Around 5 p.m. Nov. 17, after working on his motorcycle at his Ahwatukee
home, Zander took the bike for a spin along Ray Road not far from his house when the unthinkable happened. “He passed a car on the left and came back into the right lane and when he did, he underestimated the curve of the road and he hit the curb and it dragged him along the
curb for about 20 feet, they say, and then threw his bike up into the air for about 30 feet,” his mother, Toshia Hendrix said. “And he landed on his face and his right leg went in one direction while his body
Ahwatukee’s Santa lands here oldest eatery marks 50 years
see ZANDER page 12
BY GERI KOEPPEL Special to the AFN
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ustler’s Rooste, the Western-themed steakhouse in Ahwatukee Foothills known for its jaw-dropping views and rattlesnake appetizer, is turning 50 on Dec. 7. One of the oldest businesses in the community, the restaurant opened in 1971 on the current site at 8383 S. 48th St., although the original structure burned down April 27, 1985, in an electrical fire. To put Rustler’s Rooste in historical perspective, consider these dates in Ahwatukee historian Marty Gibson’s “Phoenix’s Ahwatukee-Foothills,” the first of his two books on the community’s history published by Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series. When the restaurant was built in 1971, Tempe and Chandler officials rejected developer Randall Presley’s bid to have one of those cities annex a fledgling Ahwatukee
see ROOSTE page 24
Scores of people turned out in front of Millie's Hallmark in the Ahwatukee Plaza last Friday to witness Santa and his Mrs. land in a helicopter to the delight of children, possibly with the exception of this tyke. For some of the scenes from the event, which returned after a pandemic hiatus last year, see page 27. (Zac BonDurant/AFN Contributor)
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