SanTan Sun March 2, 2019

March 2–15, 2019 | www.SanTanSun.com

Relentlessly local coverage of Southern Chandler and our neighboring communities

Waymo self-driving into the East Valley fast lane

BY JASON STONE Contributor

Exactly how many vehicles are in the fleet is anybody’s guess. The number of jobs it brings to the East Valley is kept hushhush. And where service is going next and when that will happen is still a closely guarded secret.

But nobody can dispute the potential impact Waymo self-driving cars could one day have for Chandler, the East Valley and even Arizona as a whole.

If you’ve seen one of those vans moving around the East Valley roads, you’re seeing drivers working out the kinks and passengers giving their feedback on how to make the rides better in the future.

That select group of testers is rating

To make way for its growing fl eet and overall operations, Waymo recently expanded its Chandler base.

(Courtesy of Waymo)

the performance of the vans through the Early Rider Program, and others have advanced to the new Waymo One program in hundreds of its minivans across Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Gilbert and Ahwatukee.

Waymo One is essentially a “traditional” ride-sharing service with a driverless van picking you up. The only catch right now is that a human is sitting in the driver seat to take over in case anything goes wrong.

Waymo’s development originally began in 2009 as the Google Self-Driving Car Project. When Google created its Alphabet company in 2015, it rebranded the self-driving program as Waymo a year See

WAYMO on page 8

Chandler, other EV students plead for more counselors

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor

Chandler and other East Valley high school students are pleading for help.

Like their counterparts from Scottsdale to Gilbert and Mesa to Ahwatukee have done in their districts over the past three months, Chandler students have appeared before the Chandler Unified Governing Board to plead for more counselors and social workers to protect their classmates from any walking time bombs among them – and protect others from harming or killing themselves.

Two students – 2018 Basha High grad Katelyn Kennedy and Basha senior Emily McDougal – told the Chandler Unified board on Jan. 23 about a boy who for four years had exhibited increasingly disturbing behavior, including one episode where he wrapped a plastic bag around the head of another student in class.

Even as a freshman, Katelyn recalled, “a lot of what he talked about was wanting to kill teachers, wanting to run away from home. He even talked about beheading teachers.”

She said every time she reported the youth’s bizarre behavior to a counselor, and “they said they would talk to him.”

Then last school year, he brought a gun to school.

Though he was disarmed before he could use it, Katelyn said, “I kept reporting him and then nothing happened until the student finally brought a gun on campus.”

At the same meeting, Abby Chandler, a student at Perry High, noted a student from the school last September took his own life.

“The school shows a video once a year on how we shouldn’t kill ourselves. That doesn’t tell us we have people who care.

What it tells us is to make sure we know

how to hide it.”

Students in other districts echo the same refrain.

“I’ve had around 10 or 15 students in the past four months that have come up to me and said, ‘I am either extremely depressed and I hurt myself physically’ or ‘I’m having suicidal thoughts,’” Desert Vista High School student body President H. Margret Braun told the Tempe Union school board in December.

“What should I do?” she continued.

“I have no background as to how to deal with things like that.”

The teens who have addressed Chandler Unified and other boards are members of the Arizona chapter of March for Our Lives – the national student-driven organization started by survivors of the Parkland, Florida, high school massacre on Valentine’s Day last year that took the lives of 15 young people and two adults.

In virtually every presentation before the boards of Tempe Union, Chandler Unified, Scottsdale Unified, Gilbert Public Schools and Mesa Public Schools, the students said they knew classmates who talked of taking their life – or feared for less conspicuous ones who might take theirs.

“School shooters are really a fear and suicide is a really big concern,” said Jordan Harb, a senior at Mountain View High School in Mesa and executive director of the statewide March for Our Lives chapter. “A threat is not necessarily outside; the threat can be sitting beside someone in class.”

The students are asking the school boards to send a resolution to the State Legislature seeking more money for counselors, social workers and psychologists.

Chandler Unified Governing Board has not adopted the resolution, but district spokesman Terry Locke said the board has See

COUNSELORS on page 10

The Chandler Chamber Ostrich Festival won’t have the birds racing this year but there will be 10 on hand reading for selfi es and other photo ops. (File photo)

The bird is the word in Chandler next weekend

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

The iconic Chandler Chamber Ostrich Festival that will be held for the 31st year next weekend started as a modest downtown gathering to pay tribute to the odd birds.

Now, it is expected to draw 100,000 people who likely are just as fascinated

with a diverse array of entertaining diversions as they are with the quirky feathered creatures.

The 31st annual Chandler Chamber Ostrich Festival will bring its namesake mascot, along with the world’s largest bounce house, BMX Pros Trick Team shows, pig and

F E AT U R E STO R I E S Famous racing school gets takeover reprieve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Community Page 12 New Chandler gym a mother-daughter venture . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . Page 27 Valley Hope a lifeline for substance abusers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .NEIGHBORS . . . . . . Page 46 Basha High channels the 50s with ‘Grease’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 58 Ice cream vendor trades store for wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .EAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 68

STFF ................................................................... Center Section

See

OSTRICH on page 4

More Community . . . . 01-24 Business . . . . . . . .25-32 Sports . . . . . . . . . .41-43 Opinion. . . . . . . . 44-45 Neighbors. . . . . . 46-55 Arts . . . . . . . . . . . 56-62 Faith. . . . . . . . . . . 63-64 Directory . . . . . . 65-66 Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . 67 Where to Eat . . . 68-70

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Hartke upbeat in first State of City address

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke demonstrated his passion for the city, using his first State of the City address last week to focus on its economic vitality and quality of life.

Using a dash of humor and visibly excited to share Chandler’s successes, the new mayor extolled the city’s virtues – including safety, strong community outreach, beneficial partnerships, vast parks and a hip, thriving downtown.

The event, which drew about 300 people, started on a lighthearted note as Hartke and other City Council members talked on a red carpet live on Facebook before the speech.

Host Lisa Acquafredda, CEO of StayClassyTV, asked the Council members trivia questions about such things as the number of parks in the city and how much water residents use.

The community was encouraged to stay engaged on Facebook live, asking questions or answering the trivia questions for a chance to win a prize.

Hartke shared his happiness with the city and its progress during his speech.

An opening video showed him wearing virtual reality glasses that captured different parts of the city as if Hartke was navigating them in a virtual world.

“Instead of the virtual experience, tonight you get the real deal,” Hartke said. “We had a little fun with a virtual

Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke touted Chandler’s successes, including new developments, low crime rates, vast parks and a hip, thriving downtown. (City of Chandler)

Chandler experience and, in reality; we have much, much more to offer.

I am passionate about Chandler. It’s a special place made up of talented people, successful companies and unique experiences.”

Hartke introduced the City Council members, city staff and other elected officials in the audience including U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, who briefly took the

stage after sitting in the the Scottsdale mayor’s State of the City address earlier that day.

“I first came to this community about 29 years ago to attend pilot training,” McSally told the audience. “It’s amazing to see what happened in the years since then. It’s becoming really a high-tech hub, attracting many more jobs here. It’s been great to know your Mayor Kevin over the

last year. I look forward to continuing to partner with you.”

Hartke started his speech highlighting business growth.

“Chandler is one of the hottest markets in the region today for spec office and industrial construction,” he said. “Office and industrial development are booming with nearly 1.2 million square feet under construction this year. That’s on top of the nearly 900,000 square feet completed in 2018.”

Hartke added that about $180 million was invested in the community and thousands of jobs were created in 2018 – among them Allstate’s decision to bring 2,500 new jobs here.

“Truly, Chandler is a jobs juggernaut!”

Hartke said.

“Just last week, Voya Financial announced they’re starting a regional hub on the Price Corridor and they plan to employ more than 1,000 people, as well,” Hartke said.

Intel, the largest employer in Chandler, is continuing to invest billions of dollars into the community and “create the technology of the future,” he added.

Hartke said just the day before the State of the City address that the city and Arizona State University re-launched the ASU Chandler Innovation Center, reopening what had once been TechShop.

He praised current and past City Council members for laying a strong See

MAYOR on page 9

Celebrating 15 years of service to the local community!

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4

COMMUNITY NEWS

OSTRICH

from cover

dog races, Victoria Circus motorcycle and high-wire acts and numerous carnival rides March 8-10 to Tumbleweed Park, 745 E. Germann Road.

The live bands are a big draw and this year the lineup includes Flo Rida, a rapper, singer and multi-platinum artist; the legendary Motown/R&B/funk group The Commodores; and multi-platinum-selling pop artist Andy Grammer, known for his singles “Keep Your Head Up” and “Fine by Me.” While ostrich races have been a part of the previous festivals, they will not be held this year. However, about 10 ostriches will be kept near the petting zoo behind a fenced-in area for people to view while videos providing fun facts on ostriches will be shown.

The ostrich races have not been the “primary focus” of the festival over the last decade, Chandler Chamber of Commerce president/CEO Terri Kimble said.

“We have truly transformed this festival into a true community festival,” Kimble said. “We have over 100 hours of musical entertainment throughout the festival and the festival has really changed over the past several years and it evolved.

“Each year we try to bring in something new, something different. We’re really going for an educational component and really kind of beefing that up, including that technology component.”

The ostrich races also are giving way to a 10,000-square-foot Big Bounce America bounce house. It is the Guinness World Record holder for the largest bounce house and offers obstacle courses, climbing frames, giant slides, basketball hoops, ball pits and other interactive fun for adults and children. A deejay will play music in the bounce house at night.

Also new this year is Victoria Circus, a circus and thrill show where motorcyclists ride around in circles in the “Globe of Death.” Performers also engage in highwire acts and stunts on the ground.

Another new attraction will be Big Bee the Transforming Robot car, a technological marvel that transforms into a 15-foot robot with a soundtrack and light display.

Festival-goers can also be entertained by another new act, BMX Pros Trick Show, where BMX riders and skateboarders will engage in stunts on a street ramp and halfpipe.

New activities will also be available in the Imaginology STEM tent, where science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) projects are offered.

“Those are all interactive for all ages,” Kimble said.

One returning attraction will be Professor Smart’s Science Show – designed to engage children and others in the audience in juggling, comedic performances and other activities.

Another circus show returning is Mango and Dango, an unusual theatrical performance including partner acrobatics, aerial arts, juggling, stilt walking, physical comedy, mime movements, chair stacking and other tricks.

And the interactive Pangaea Land of the Dinosaurs will be back, giving kids and adults a chance to see “roaming dinosaurs” and dig for fake dinosaur bones.

Visitors can also root for their favorite canine in the FIDO 500 Mini Dog Races, where dogs will race in a sprint to the finish line, vying for gold, silver and bronze.

Not to be outdone, pigs will also have their time to shine, wearing numbered

Lee Bolster at Earnhardt Chevrolet in Chandler has a long history with the ostrich festival and parade in the community. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

racing attire as they vie for supremacy on the track.

Radical reptiles, pony rides and a petting zoo with exotic and domestic animals will also offer educational entertainment.

Food will also give guests variety as vendors serve up big turkey legs, tacos, burgers and innovative desserts.

“There’s something for everybody out there from local restaurants and local businesses to traditional carnival food to deep-fried Twinkies,” Kimble said. “They

Joan Saba helped plan the first ostrich festival in the late 1980s. (Chandler Chamber of Commerce)

always have fun food.”

Nearly 500 volunteers are helping to make the ostrich festival possible.

“What makes this festival unique is because of the community participation and involvement,” Kimble said. “This year we have … various nonprofit groups that will be out there pouring beverages and earning money. For every nonprofit (that) comes out to help, we will give a check back to that nonprofit for their time and helping.”

Kimble said the size of the festival alone requires “a lot of volunteers to be able to pull this off.”

Indeed, she added, “One of the things why this festival has evolved so much is because of the input from the local community. We really listen to what the community has to say. This community has so much talent from the music to the STEM tent. That’s where you’ve seen where it’s really grown and evolved.”

It didn’t start out that way 30 years ago.

Joan Saba, a co-owner of the longtime downtown Chandler store Saba’s Western Wear and co-owner of one of the other

Saba’s stores in the Valley, and her husband, David Saba Jr., helped get the first festival to take flight.

Joan served on the Chamber of Commerce committee that planned the first ostrich festival in the late 1980s. She is now on the Chandler Chamber of Commerce’s Community Foundation Board and was previously the first president of the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership.

“We were searching for something that would identify Chandler, an event that would be something we could really say this was our history and all that,” Joan said.

Someone on the committee recommended an ostrich festival.

“We said, ‘That’s a good idea, we’ll call it an ostrich festival,’” Joan recalled. “We were trying to think of something that would bring notice to our city. I thought it was a great idea because we wanted to build on our heritage, something that we knew was part of our city.”

The City of Chandler’s founder Dr. A.J. Chandler owned 550 ostriches. Between the 1890s and 1920s, ostriches were raised so their feathers and plumes could be used in women’s hats.

The first ostrich festival was held downtown, with the ostrich races held where the downtown library and next-door police department are located now, recalled Lori Daniels, a former state legislator.

Daniels chaired the ostrich committee the second year of the festival, which included a petting zoo, live musical acts, rides and arts and crafts booths.

It drew about 25,000 to 30,000 people.

“We had empty lots down there then,” Joan said. “It was more like a carnival event, a lot of rides. It was successful.

There was a lot of work to be done to bring them the Ferris wheel into our area, into our downtown. I know we closed some of the streets. It is part of our history, if you can imagine ostriches running around in our downtown area.”

Daniels said a 10K race was held on Saturday morning, prior to the festival parade and then the festival itself.

“The mayor and everybody were on board,” Daniels said. “The police department helped us immensely.”

She remembered carrying home about $30,000 from the first festival’s sales and how unnerving that was. After that, she arranged for a police escort and put the money in the bank or left it with police.

John Prescott, who owns PRS Property Management, joined the ostrich festival committee around 2001 and helped other

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

organizers figure out a new location for it.

It moved to Tumbleweed Park in 2003.

Prescott was chairman of the Ostrich Festival Parade Committee in 2003 and 2004, and then joined the transition team in 2004, later serving as vice-chairman and then chairman of the festival committee.

He said when the ostrich festival was “all over the downtown area – wherever they had a vacant lot.”

“It had a real big problem with parking,” Prescott said. “Another problem, there was some safety concerns downtown at night.

It wasn’t fenced in, controlled. It was a different event downtown.”

Still he has fond memories of taking his three children in their strollers down to the first festival before he got involved in planning it.

“I didn’t know what it meant; what do you mean ostrich festival?” Prescott said.

“Then you hear, not just a festival about ostriches but they’re racing them. I thought it was humorous. It was pretty clever how they put it together. I was surprised at how big they are.”

He said he realized moving the festival to Tumbleweed Park would allow organizers to offer larger events and more entertainment including more rides and the dog races.

“It transitioned in another way, also,” Prescott said. “We hired a production company.”

Brown’s Amusements was hired to help produce the event while Steve LeVine Entertainment & Public Relations is the production company for the ostrich festival.

“Steve’s company has really gotten the event to a new level,” Prescott said. “I’ve been involved in it now for almost 15 years and I still enjoy going out there. They get some new things.”

His last year on the ostrich festival committee was in 2013.

The ostrich festival parade, usually held on the Saturday of the festival weekend, will not be held this year because of extensive construction going on downtown right now, Kimble said.

IF YOU GO: Tickets for the ostrich festival cost from $8 to $50, depending on whether people want VIP access, and senior citizens and children get discounts.

The festival will run 2 p.m.-midnight March 8; 10 a.m.-midnight March 9 and 10 a.m.-11 p.m. March 10. Information: ostrichfestival.com.

The main stage live entertainment includes: Flo Rida, a rapper, singer and multi-platinum artist, at 8:30 p.m.

March 8.

The Commodores, with members Walter “Clyde” Orange, James Dean “JD” Nicholas and William “WAK” King, at 8:30 p.m. March 9.

Andy Grammer at 8 p.m. March 10.

For information on times of pig and dog races, Victoria Circus shows and other attractions: ostrichfestival.com.

Food vendors include Flaco’s Al Pastor with street tacos, Frozen Penguin Ice Cream, Ginger Monkey Tavern, Indonesian Satay, Thai Thai BBQ, Piggly’s BBQ, PHD & Me Pretzel Truck, El Jefe Tacos, Meltdown Gourmet, B2Burgers & Brews, Assyrian Aid Society with Greek/Mediterranean fare, Arizona Ostrich with ostrich burgers and tacos.

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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Credit Union surprises Cielo teachers with new lounge SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

Dozens of teachers at Kyrene del Cielo Elementary in Chandler came back to work after the long Presidents Day weekend to find a pleasant surprise – a repainted and refurnished teacher’s lounge.

It was a gift from Desert Financial Credit Union, which was founded 80 years ago by a group of teachers.

During Cielo’s fall break last year, water from the fire sprinkler system flooded four classrooms. Insurance covered the flood damage, but teachers and staff worked through logistical challenges while classrooms were being redone.

When Emily Liberatore, a parent of two children at the school, heard what the school was going through, she wanted to help.

“After speaking with Principal (Tammy) Thaete, it became clear that this lounge, which desperately needed an update, would be something the hard working teachers could benefit from, and in turn, benefit the whole school,” said Liberatore.

Liberatore, a Desert Financial Credit Union employee, submitted a request to her employer’s “Random Acts of Kindness” program for funds to redo the lounge.

“Desert Financial was excited about the proposal,” a spokeswoman for the credit union said.

It teamed up with Ghaster Painting and Coatings to re-do the lounge with new paint, new décor and new furniture.

GOT NEWS? CONTACT PAUL MARYNIAK AT 480-898-5647 OR PMARYNIAK@TIMESPUBLICATIONS.COM

Both companies and a handful of school staff spent the majority of the President’s Day holiday weekend cleaning, painting and installing the new look in time for yesterday morning’s surprise.

“Our school was built in 1983, so we’ve never had a quality lounge,” said Principal Thaete. “We are so thankful Mrs. Liberatore took the time to submit us for this wonderful program.”

Cathy Graham, a Desert Financial official, said it was only natural her nonprofit help out.

“The 15 teachers who founded the credit union 80 years ago did so with only $78.75,” said Graham, chief marketing and strategy officer. “With that small amount, they built the foundation of who we are today. Though the credit union’s name has changed since, and our membership is now open to all residents of Maricopa, Pinal and Gila counties, we can honor our founders by continuing their legacy of supporting educators.”

Desert Financial is the state’s largest credit union.

Last year, it gave $7 million back to the community and its members. This year, it is increasing its member giveback bonus from $5 million to $8 million, and continuing its teacher appreciation, Random Acts of Kindness and other community-wide initiatives.

Information: desertfinancial.com

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Waymo’s expanded operations in Chandler allow for the employment of scores of employees to provide customer and technical service as well as keep the vehicles in running shape. The photo on the left shows a prototype Jaguar sports car that also will run autonomously.

(Courtesy of Waymo)

WAYMO

from cover later to stand for “a new way forward in mobility.”

As part of the rebranding, the company set up shop in Chandler to launch its Early Riders Program last year.

“Before we decided on Phoenix, we had done testing in a number of different cities,” said Dan Chu, Waymo’s head of products. “But a really rapidly growing city like Phoenix really had what we were looking for.”

Much of the work Waymo does is still in secret – like many tech companies.

It doesn’t give much clue on what it costs to retrofit thousands of Chrysler Pacifica minivans that are testing across the country at various cities. Nor does it reveal any specific future plans or even what kind of impact it brings to the job market.

Chu can’t even guess at a reasonable expectation of when vehicles will begin making all trips without a safety driver in the seat.

All they care about right now is receiving the honest feedback from the passengers who are testing out the vehicles.

“It might hurt when we first read it,” Chu said. “But we want that feedback.

We really want to hear what riders are learning and what they’re experiencing.

Because we really feel like that’s the most

important thing about our program is the end-to-end feel. Until you have a rider who is experiencing it end-to-end, you can’t find out what subtleties you have to fill.”

The company overall is committed to Chandler. That evidence came last year when it expanded its 39,000-square-foot warehouse to 70,000 square feet.

It’s also making advancements around the world.

Last May it announced a partnership with Fiat Chrysler that will add around 62,000 Pacifica minivans to the fleet. It also agreed to a deal with Jaguar Land Rover to design and engineer the world’s first premium electric fully self-driving vehicle.

Other big news for the company included the announcement of plans to build a manufacturing plant in Michigan, and it recently began testing self-driving semitrucks in Atlanta.

It hasn’t been a complete smooth startup in the East Valley.

In 2017, the company sued Uber over a former coworker of Waymo who had left to work at Uber. Waymo accused him of stealing information for its LiDAR technology. After a year of litigation, the two sides eventually settled for approximately $245 million.

It seems one way or another, Waymo cars have people talking about the future of travel or the concept of artificial intelligence in general.

Mayor Kevin Hartke last month said in

his State of the City address: “We are also, as I like to say, the epicenter of autonomous vehicle development, with companies like Intel and Waymo shaping the future of transportation. Did anyone see the Waymo vehicle outside, on your way in here? It’s pretty cool, isn’t it? I’ve had the opportunity to ride in that and I look forward to future opportunities, and tonight I want to thank Waymo for being a great partner as well as being here tonight.

“Our Chandler residents are the first in the nation to ride in fully autonomous vehicles, and we’re the first to adopt a zoning ordinance for autonomous vehicles and ride sharing services … I do intend to engage both regionally and nationally in the conversation and policy enactment of advanced vehicle technology – we believe Chandler needs to be at the table.”

New Maricopa County Supervisor Jack Sellers, a former Chandler City Council member, has been talking for more than a year about the need for highway planners to start studying how the construction of future freeways might have to change to accommodate autonomous vehicles.

After he was voted as the replacement for Denny Barney, who left the Board of Supervisors to take the helm of the East Valley Partnership, Sellers, a member of the State Transportation Board, said,

“We are at the point where the next several years will be critical in defining our transportation infrastructure for the future.”

Chandler officials are at the forefront as well in preparing for the vehicles.

It adopted new zoning regulations for parking requirements at new construction to make way for employers whose workers would be using companies like Waymo to go to and from their jobs.

Those requirements – which also include the provision of drop-off and pick-up sites for the vehicles – would mean developers won’t have to reserve as much land for parking spaces.

Chu said it’s just a matter of getting the general public to slowly accept changes of a new technology, much like riders in horse carriages had to do with electric cars more than 100 years ago.

He said the company feels an area like the Valley with wide streets and large suburbs is a good place for Waymo to be.

“We’ve got folks everywhere from colleges students to retirees to working professionals here,” Chu said. “Many of those things came together made this whole area make a lot of sense as a place for us to grow.”

Waymo is still accepting applications for riders who are interested in participating in the Early Rider Program.

Log on to waymo.com/apply.

Chandler couple sits in on new technology Tempe, many of those vans can now be seen carting around passengers like the Hutts.

The retired couple was picked among 20,000 people who applied in April 2017 to test out some of the 500 vans the company used to start its Early Rider Program to give feedback about the service.

Now that they’ve graduated to the Waymo One program, the Hutts can use the Waymo app to hail their ride similar to the way they would call for a traditional ride-sharing service such as Uber or Lyft.

“But this is better,” Roger said, noting that with the other traditional ride-share companies, “you never know what might show up at your curb” or wonder “Has the car been maintained? Are the drivers trained?”

The app shows the Hutts where the possible destinations are, gives them a price estimate for the trip and tells them

BY JASON STONE Contributor

Sharon Hutt will never forget the look on the face of one of her neighbors when a Waymo self-driving van showed up in front of their Chandler home one afternoon.

Hutt and her husband, Roger, had ordered the autonomous van to transport them to lunch at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, an American restaurant on Chandler Boulevard.

But as the couple pressed the button to open the sliding door of the Chrysler Pacifica, she saw the neighbor watching them board the minivan.

“As we were going down the street, he looked at us like we were getting into a rocket ship,” Sharon laughed.

The lasers and sensors on top and all around the car certainly make it look like nothing else on the road.

In the two months since the company launched its Waymo One program in Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, Ahwatukee and

Sharon and Roger Hutt of Chandler use their Waymo app to call for a ride in one of the company’s autonomous vehicles and call its service more reliable than other ride-sharing services. (Jason Stone/Contributor)

See

TECHNOLOGY on page 9

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

MAYOR

from page 3

foundation for success and said Chandler is one of the few cities in the country to have a “structurally balanced budget and AAA bond ratings from all three rating agencies.”

Hartke talked about new developments downtown as well, calling it “a hip and historic place for people to live, work and play.”

He also talked about Chandler’s crime rates, saying, “Chandler has been recognized, not only this year but in previous years as well, as one of the safest cities in America.”

TECHNOLOGY

from page 8

how long it will take for a van to arrive for the pickup. Sharon said they’ve never waited more than four minutes for a ride.

Once it shows up, a rider presses a button to open the sliding door and takes one of three seats in the back two rows of the minivan. A fourth seat way in the back has a car seat attached to it for parents with young ones.

The Hutts give a courteous greeting to their safety driver, but they’re sure not to strike up a conversation with him. Even though the car is driving itself, Waymo’s drivers are still required to pay attention to the road and the car at all times. In fact, the radios are turned off for now on all Waymo One vans, which is just fine with Roger.

“It’s so nice to get in a vehicle that didn’t have music playing,” he said.

Hartke said serious crime dropped by over six percent last year and the International Association of Chiefs of Police honored Chandler with the Leadership in Crime Prevention Award.

Chandler Police Chief Sean Duggan was recognized last month by his peers in the state as Chief of the Year, he added.

The mayor spoke highly about the new Chandler Family Advocacy Center at 221 E. Boston St. that’s attached to Chandler Police Department’s Main Station on East Chicago Street.

He also introduced Annie, the Chandler Police Department’s goldendoodle that is part of its new therapy canine program. Annie came on stage with her handler, drawing applause.

it directly from the phone app.

It can also be triggered by a touch screen option on a small monitor on the back of each front seat. These TV screens include a map of the planned trip with some enhanced 3D features. The map is Waymo’s own creation, presenting the basic street layout and the surrounding traffic that the autonomous technology detects.

It’s where passengers can really see the company’s The Hutts like the Chrysler Pacificas that Waymo uses for its rideproprietary technology at sharing service. work. Waymo’s system is a mix (Jason Stone/Contributor) of sensor, radar and cameras all around the vehicle. Its LiDAR, Once everybody is buckled in, they or light detection and ranging have multiple ways to start the trip. They system, on top of the van is a laser that can push a “start” button near the roof by sends out millions of signals a second to the passenger seats, or they can activate

Chandler MEMORY

Hartke also talked about the importance of partnerships and giving back, and a video was shown about For Our City, under director Victor Hardy, and the video had volunteers talking about their work to help people in the community.

Hartke also praised the Chandler Center for the Arts, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and recorded its most successful year in 2018 with 18 sold-out performances.

He praised the parks and library programs in the city and talked about how he keeps a turtle figure on his desk.

“It didn’t get there by itself,” Hartke said. “We didn’t get here by ourselves. I also see that people ask this brand new

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mayor, ‘How can I help?’ Apply your talents and get involved in an area that interests you. Chandler is a special place with great people who care about this community and are invested in its future.”

His speech impressed McSally.

“It was incredibly positive,” McSally said after the speech. “It’s very clear Chandler is a growing, thriving community that really cares for one another. I really walked away with a sense of what a strong, vibrant community, supportive to one another. We’ve developed a relationship with the mayor and some of the City Council members over the last year. We are going to strengthen those relationships for sure.”

take in its surroundings 200 yards around the vehicle.

Smaller sensors pick up the smaller stuff right around the car, such as a ball rolling in front of it or a dog running into the road.

“It’s a solid car and I like that it has a low center of gravity,” Roger said. “I hate it in Arizona that there are so many rollovers.”

In fact, both Hutts said they feel the self-driving car is actually safer on the roads, but they know it will take a big effort for it to gain popularity quickly.

“It’s going to take word of mouth to help spread it,” Roger said “We tell people. There will be a tipping point where it just grows and grows and has more mass acceptance.”

The Hutts plan to make more trips as the program unveils more features it needs feedback on.

10

COMMUNITY NEWS

COUNSELORS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

from cover

“expressed our support directly to our legislators.”

At a time when the ratio of counselors to students in many schools is anywhere from 1 to 500 and up, the resolution asks for enough money to support one counselor for every 250 students, one social worker for every 400 students and one psychologist for every 500 to 700 students.

At the Tempe Union meeting, Armando Montero, another Desert Vista student, presented a petition signed by 1,000 students from three Tempe Union schools in three days that asked the board to call on the governor and State Legislature to hire more counselors and social workers.

The plea for more counselors comes at a time when incidents of suicide and suicide attempts are rising at an alarming rate in Arizona and throughout the country. Since July 2017, 33 East Valley teenagers have taken their lives; another five in Scottsdale and other neighboring communities lost their lives to suicide in the same time frame.

During an appearance before the Mesa Public Schools Governing Board on Feb. 26, one expert said three East valley teens took their lives in 48 hours this month.

Meanwhile, the State Senate on Feb. 27 approved a bill mandating suicide prevention training every three years for all school districts’ employees. The only two dissenting notes were case by Republican Senators David Farnsworth of Mesa and Eddie Farnsworth of Gilbert.

Chandler Sen. J.D. Mesnard has been an ardent supporter of the bill.

During an appearance before the Chandler Unifi ed governing board, high school students Abigail Chandler and Katelyn Kennedy discussed the need for more counselors as they urged members to adopt a resolution requesting that the State Legislature allocate more funding to hire more.

(Special to SanTan Sun News)

Some students who appeared before governing boards spoke from their own experience with depression and suicidal thoughts as they talked of how fractured home life exacerbates the pressures of social media and academics.

“I’m one of few that can actually say I’m actually not diagnosed with mental illness, but I’d be far from telling the truth if I were to say that it hasn’t affected me greatly,” Corona del Sol High junior Tara Posely told the Tempe Union board.

“Many of my friends have mental illnesses and many of my friends have attempted suicide,” she continued, recounting one friend who “came to school with a Band Aid on her head and she said that she had tripped and fell,

but she later revealed that she tried to overdose and woke up with a mark on her head.”

Tara was accompanied by a classmate who “said that he probably wouldn’t be sitting across the table from you today if the safety wasn’t on on his dad’s gun.”

The students also talked of how counselors at their schools are overwhelmed by myriad duties – many connected with academic matters and not emotional health.

Scottsdale freshman Maya Zuckerburg told the Scottsdale Unified board about a friend who needed to talk about repeated sexual harassment by a classmate: “She was terrified to go to her parents

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and the only person she was comfortable talking to was a counselor. Unfortunately, that was unavailable to her for two months. We made appointments and we went into the office every day during his supposedly business hours. He didn’t meet with her – not because he didn’t want to help, but because he was too busy with administrative duties.”

Jordan Harb told the Mesa board, “School counselors are people who you can talk to about what you’re feeling.

They’re people who walk you through the struggles of growing up.”

But most of those students also say that counselors are so overwhelmed by See

COUNSELORS on page 12

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COMMUNITY NEWS

COUNSELORS

from page 10

both huge numbers of students assigned to them as well as a variety of disparate duties that it is almost impossible to visit with one – let alone have meaningful dialogue.

“For the majority of students, they don’t know who their counselor is or they don’t feel comfortable going into their counselor’s room because they’ve never had that one-on-one contact,” Marget, the Desert Vista student, told the Tempe Union board. “I’ve never had that oneon-one contact with my counselor until my senior year because I’m applying to colleges.”

The number of counselors employed by local school districts varies, though most officials said they could use more but can’t afford it.

Chandler Unified employs 90 – assigning six to nine to its high schools, two to three at junior highs and one each to 20 of its 30 elementary schools. Mesa Public Schools, the largest district in the state, employs 100 counselors and assigns an average of eight per high school. Of the 49 counselors employed by Gilbert Public Schools, 33 are spread across its six high schools and the rest are assigned to its junior highs.

In proclaiming School Counseling Week last month, Gov. Doug Ducey acknowledged that “counselors play an invaluable role in our schools” and that more are needed in Arizona schools.

“They further the educational,

personal and social growth of our students,” Ducey said, noting that his budget provides $12 million for 112 new counselors or social workers in Arizona schools this year and promises enough funding for another 112 next year.

But Kyrene school Superintendent Jan Vesely told her school board that while she welcomed the governor’s effort, “you can see this as a drop in the bucket.”

board approved the resolution sought by students.

At a previous meeting, Mesa Public Schools board President Elaine Miner expressed concern about the wording of the students’ resolution, stating it was “akin to a policy” that is “telling the public this is what we are committed to.”

She worried it opened the district up to legal trouble because “we’re seeing

I’m one of few that can actually say I’m actually “not diagnosed with mental illness, but I’d be far from telling the truth if I were to say that it hasn’t affected me greatly.

”

– Corona del Sol High junior, Tara Posely At an annual salary of $54,571 – without benefits – for each of those 112 counselors, she said, the governor’s proposal “would realistically only fund approximately 80-some positions throughout the state of Arizona.

“Currently there are 2,042 public schools in Arizona. So theoretically this would provide one additional counselor for about five percent of the public schools in Arizona,” Vesely added.

Tempe Union and Mesa Public Schools governing boards approved a resolution supporting mental health services for students, but only Gilbert Public Schools’

this more and more where parents are becoming more aggressive and placing the blame on the school system.”

Chandler state Rep. Jennifer Pawlik and Ahwatukee state Sen. Sean Bowie, whose districts cover portions of most of the East Valley school districts, have sponsored identical bills requiring all public and charter schools to hire one counselor for every 500 students.

But the bills never got a hearing.

“The individual bills themselves are not advancing, mainly because of the price tag,” Bowie said. “We are, however, actively trying to get more funding for

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

counselors in the overall budget. It’s in our budget ask. ..The governor did include some funding for counselors in his budget proposal, but we are hoping to secure more.

Arizona came up short on mental health provisions for children and teens in a broad study released this year on how states are meeting the goals set in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Called the “Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model,” the CDC set guidelines for polices and regulations that would address a broad spectrum of physical, emotional and mental health needs of kids.

“States with the least comprehensive coverage of counseling, psychological, and social services topics include Arizona, Ohio, and South Dakota. These states also tend toward less comprehensive policies, generally,” said the study, performed by the University of Illinois at Chicago, the National Child Trends, ENT Associates and the National Association of State Boards of Education.

Such deficiencies are wearing on Chandler and other East Valley students.

As Emily McDougal, the Basha senior who knew the student who brought the gun to school, told the Chandler board: “It’s mentally draining. It makes it harder to focus in school and feel secure. I want to be able to walk into my classroom and focus on what I’m going to learn that day rather than be sidetracked by what’s mentally plaguing me.”

Racing school forestalls landlord’s takeover

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor

An internationally known East Valley racing school that appeared heading for a final ride on March 1 may have got a temporary reprieve.

In bankruptcy court papers filed Feb. 27, attorneys for Valley motorsport legend Bob Bondurant and his wife said the landlord for their Chandler racing school gave them until April 1 to pay $245,402 in back rent.

Although the judge had not yet signed off on the agreement at press time, it was expected that she will approve the agreement between the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and an economic development arm of the Gila River Indian Community.

The school owes Sun Valley Marina Development Corp. four months in back rent – part of a massive $3.3 million in debt that has driven the operation into federal bankruptcy court since last summer, court records show.

Last month, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brenda K. Martin ruled that if the Bondurants didn’t make that payment

by March 1, their “lease shall be deemed rejected, and the debtor shall surrender the premises.”

In addition, she ruled that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles can repossess a $9 million fleet of about 80 Vipers, Challengers, Durangos and Chargers with racing, executive, law enforcement support and other packages.

“Sun Valley and the debtor will cooperate with FCA in facilitating the

The leadership team at Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Racing in Chandler includes, from left, owners Patty and Bob Bondurant, General Manager Tim Rose and Vice President Jason Bondurant, the owners’ son. (Facebook)

immediate return of the FCA vehicles pursuant to an orderly process to be developed by and between Sun Valley and FCA and shall work together in returning or disposing of the other FCA items,” Martin wrote in her Feb. 15 order.

The only potential lifeline for the school, which Bondurant moved to the

Valley from California in 1990, is a special “debtor in possession” loan of $674,000, court records show.

Some creditors are opposing Bondurant’s request for court permission to obtain the loan because that unidentified lender would have a higher priority than other creditors if the

school is forced to close and sell any remaining assets to satisfy what debts it can.

Timothy Shaffer, the Scottsdale bankruptcy expert who is the school’s court-appointed chief restructuring See

BONDURANT on page 13

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

BONDURANT

from page 12

officer, told the court in a Feb. 8 petition that the Bondurants have “been engaged in discussions and negotiations with numerous parties and groups” about that special loan, although he declined to give specifics because of confidentiality agreements.

But while the petition states “the interest by many of these parties in ensuring the debtor’s continued operation has been significant,” it goes on to admit “however, despite our diligent efforts, the debtor has been unable to obtain DIP financing” under terms that some of the creditors said they would accept.

In the most recent court filing, the Bondurants’ lawyer told the court that the additional time on the rent will enable them “to continue operations, meet its obligations to its students and partners, and achieve an outcome that will be more advantageous for creditors than turnover of the leased premises, and Sun Valley will not be prejudiced by the additional time.

Sun Valley Marina Development Corp. owns the former Firebird Raceway next to the school and has been working for several years to upgrade the 500acre venue, now called Wild Horse Motorsports Park, located on the reservation just off Interstate 10 south of

t? o G ws Ne

If the owners of the track that is now the home of the Bondurant school are allowed to take over the site, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles also will have permission to repossess about 80 high-performance cars.

(Special to the SanTan Sun News)

Chandler Boulevard.

Right across the street from Wild Horse Pass Resort and Casino and a retail outlet complex, the school itself could become part of the Gila River Indian Community’s efforts to turn that part of the sprawling reservation into a tourism and entertainment destination.

Patricia and Bob Bondurant, who live in Paradise Valley, founded the school in 1968 and turned it into an educational and recreational mecca.

The school boasts of serving nearly

500,000 go-kart and amateur racing enthusiasts, teens just learning to drive and military and law enforcement personnel developing chase and evasion skills.

“Both national and international students attend the Bondurant School on a regular basis and learn competition driving, police pursuit driving, evasive driving, and stunt driving, among other types of high-performance driving and racing,” the school said in bankruptcy filings, noting it also taught “recreational

high-performance driving to individuals and corporate groups.”

Before relocating to the East Valley, its students included the late actors and racing enthusiasts Jim Garner and Paul Newman, who, like others, were drawn partly by Bondurant’s own successful racing career.

Billing itself as the “largest purposebuilt driving school in the world,” the school sports two training tracks – a 15turn, 1.6-mile road course and a nine-turn, 1.2-mile road course – as well as an eightacre asphalt skills pad.

While it has been struggling to reorganize its finances since filing in October for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the school already has lost a lucrative military training contract and has contended with a blizzard of court motions from many of its creditors.

Goodyear Tire has asked the judge to release it from a sponsorship agreement that gave Bondurant an apparently unlimited supply of tires in return for promoting the company exclusively.

The Bondurants’ lawyers in court records have raised the possibility of selling the school, stating through their lawyers that a sale of the assets might yield more money for their creditors than a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

In its Chapter 11 filing, the school lists $2.69 million in secured debts and $766,000 in unsecured debts against $619,000 in assets.

Contact Contact Paul Paul Maryniak Maryniak at at 480-898-5647 or or pmaryniak@timespublications.com pmaryniak@timespublications.com

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14

City of Chandler Insider

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Early-childhood learning spaces coming to libraries

BY CITY OF CHANDLER

This spring, each of the four Chandler Public Libraries will debut redesigned public spaces that are ideal destinations for parents and caregivers to bring their children (ages 0-5) to learn the early literacy skills they will need to succeed in school.

These new Early Literacy and Learning Spaces are part of the library’s ongoing High Five reading program that helps parents develop teaching skills they can take home to foster an ongoing learning environment.

It is estimated that there are nearly 35,000 children under 5 years old in the Chandler and Kyrene school districts.

Read On Chandler and First Things First, two organizations dedicated to supporting early education and literacy in our community, note that many incoming kindergartners nationwide enter school without the basic language skills they need to learn to read.

This presents an opportunity for Chandler Library to play a role in preparing area children for success in school and in life by offering parents and caregivers tools they can use to be active participants in the process.

To encourage families to visit the High Five Early Literacy and Learning Spaces regularly, they have been outfitted with furniture that is comfortable and welcoming, with activities that are fun and educational.

“We now have an entire space that is

Above: Karla Phelps and her 5-year-old daughter, Alexandria, check out the books and play activities in the redesigned Early Literacy and Learning Space in the Basha Library. Right: With a “Farm and Friends” theme, the Early Literacy and Learning Space at the Basha Library includes furniture that looks like a horse, cow and pig for children to sit on and read.

(City of Chandler)

family friendly and filled with activities that encourage early literacy skill building,” said Abigail Nersessian, who oversees Chandler’s Downtown Library.

“Little ones can dress up in costumes,

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LIBRARIES on page 16

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City of Chandler Insider

COMMUNITY NEWS

LIBRARIES

from page 14

activities that encourage exploration and learning. Meanwhile, the parents can participate or observe from the comfortable seating nearby.”

While all of the early literacy programs at Chandler Libraries are focused on the five early literacy practices – read, play, write, sing and talk – each of the High Five Spaces is uniquely designed and furnished.

The Basha Library features a farm and friends theme, while technology is the theme at Hamilton Library. The Sunset Library centers on a garden theme, while the largest of the High Five spaces, at the Downtown Library, is filled with community-themed items, such as a grocery store for shopping, kitchen playset with a sink, pots and pans and costumes for playing a firefighter, police officer and more.

Common design elements and amenities at the High Five Spaces include: • Bookshelves that are limited in height, making the reading materials more accessible to the children and making their movements move visible to the parents; • Softer floor surfaces that are more comfortable for pre-walkers; • High-quality interactive elements that reinforce literacy lessons and that are placed at eye level and within children’s reach and computers with interactive learning games.

Additionally, library staff understands that parents are concerned about the safety of their children, and all locations will follow a Best Practices guide that

includes proper sanitation procedures.

“We know that children who enter school with well-developed early literacy skills have an advantage,” library manager Dan Lee said. “As a trusted community resource, our libraries are perfectly situated to help create a culture of early literacy success for Chandler families.

“Our goal is to use these new High Five Spaces to enhance our existing programs and take our Early Literacy and Learning Initiative to a higher level.”

The key to boosting the number of children who enter school with the basic language skills they need to succeed is engaging parents in the process and making them better teachers at home.

“Parents are a child’s first and best teachers and our focus is on educating them and providing a selection of handson teaching tools and play activities they need to encourage their children and instill a love of reading that will last a lifetime,” Lee added.

Lee and his Youth Library staff members are confident that the new Early Literacy and Learning Spaces will entice parents and caregivers to spend more time at Chandler Libraries with their children – learning to read, write, play, sing and talk while having fun together.

Each library will open its High Five Space to the public sometime this spring and they will be open during normal operating hours, which can be found at chandlerlibrary.org.

The funding to create the High Five Spaces was obtained through a $78,000 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Early Literacy Grant received in 2018. The grant was approved by Arizona State Library Archives and Public Records, a division of the Secretary of State.

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Thomas Stephens, 4, plays with LEGO® DUPLO® blocks at the redesigned Early Literacy and Learning Space in the Basha Library. (City of Chandler)

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City of Chandler Insider

COMMUNITY NEWS

17

Employee Profile

Moreno excited for changes at Chandler libraries

BY CITY OF CHANDLER

As the Youth Services Supervisor for the Sunset Library, Debe Moreno has always been passionate about the power of early childhood education and the role public libraries have in supporting parents in teaching their children to read.

“Children who enter school with welldeveloped early literacy skills have an advantage, and Chandler Libraries are committed to helping all children in our community acquire the skills necessary for critical thinking,” Moreno said.

“We can do that by giving parents and caregivers easy access to information and teaching tools they can use at home to help their children develop a love of reading and lifelong learning.”

Moreno has been instrumental in developing and implementing the new High Five Early Literacy and Learning Spaces that will debut at each Chandler Public Library this spring. The redesigned areas are representative of a communitywide investment in the future of Chandler children.

“These early literacy spaces have the potential to make an impact on individuals and families that will last for generations,” Moreno said. “We believe that these spaces will allow us to empower parents and offer more learning opportunities to children, which will provide a sustainable benefit to the community.”

Each of the four library early literacy

Sunset Library Youth Services Supervisor Debe Moreno helped write the grant proposal that resulted in Chandler Library receiving a $78,000 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Early Liter acy Grant in 2018. The grant will help fund the creation of Early Literacy and Learning Spaces at all four Chandler Libraries that will be completed later this spring. (City of Chandler)

spaces will be designed and built around a particular theme and five practices – Sing, Talk, Read, Write and Play.

For the Sunset Library in west Chandler, a “garden” theme will be incorporated into

wall murals, signage and activities. There will be a puppet theater to encourage talking, a board with song lyrics and rhymes to inspire children to sing, comfy furniture for quiet reading time, alphabet tablets to write on

and a doll house, a train, building blocks and more to foster play.

“Play is how children learn about their world and acquire the skills necessary for critical thinking,” Moreno said. However, she notes that these spaces are not for parents to sit passively while their children play.

“Everything here is designed to engage the parents and caregivers in the activities of the children,” Moreno said. “It’s about face-to-face interaction. It’s about fun. And it’s about being in a safe environment.”

Moreno, library staff and administrators will all be watching to see what impact the new Early Literacy and Learning Spaces have on library patrons in the short and long term. Will families spend more time at the library or visit more often? Will they check out more library reading materials?

Will more children arrive at school to start kindergarten and be ready to hit the ground running, prepared to learn on their first day?

“This is an exciting step forward for Chandler libraries, and it would not be happening without a grant from the Arizona State Library and the support of City leaders and our Library Manager, Dan Lee,” Moreno said, adding: “We have asked for a lot from our Youth Services library staff and they have responded with a commitment to the program, to doing this the right way. We have an amazing team of early literacy experts ready to help families.”

Information: 480-782-2800 or chandlerlibrary.org/age-0-5

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18

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Left: This overview of the tract that Kyrene School District wants to fi nd a long-term tenant for shows its proximity to I-10. Some members of the Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee think it would be a perfect location for a full-service hospital, but healthcare providers are not among the early parties interested in the property. Right: One of the brokers marketing the Kyrene tract says it is one of the few remaining sites of its kind in the East Valley because of its proximity to an I-10 interchange, and its size. (Special to the San Tan Sun News)

Kyrene looking to lease 29-acre parcel at I-10

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor

Will Ahwatukee get a full-service hospital at the same time Kyrene School District finds a new source of revenue to fund capital repairs and pay off debt?

The answers to both questions could play out this year if the district finds a taker for 28.6 acres of land at I-10 and Chandler Boulevard that it’s trying to lease.

The district recently secured the services of the Land Advisors Organization to find a commercial or industrial tenant that would agree to a long-term ground lease on the land.

“It’s an incredible piece of property and one of the few remaining like it in this subsection of the market,” said Randy Titzck, one of the team of brokers marketing the property, noting its adjacency to I-10 with nearby entrances and exits in both directions.

“The beauty of the site is it’s open to all different spectrums – office, medical, retail,” said Titzck. “For properties such as this, strategically located on I-10 and flanked by full interchanges north and south, these properties attract a multitude of interests not only in the current

zoning designation but others as well.”

The Kyrene Governing Board has been pondering a sale or lease of the land for nearly two years and since it secured Land Advisors Organization late last year to market it, the district has received some proposals, according to district sources.

As yet, none involve a hospital.

For a while the board also had been looking at the possibility of selling the site of its district headquarters on the northwest corner of Kyrene and Warner roads.

It dropped consideration of doing anything with that site, mainly because it would require the district to find a location for its food service and printing operations, as well as additional bus storage.

Indeed, former Kyrene board member Ross Robb, a land expert, told the board that the district headquarters site “is a much more complicated piece of property if for no other reason than you all need a place to meet and you need a place to fit school buses and you need a print shop and you need food, and you need a place for those things to happen.”

The Kyrene board also decided to try and lease the I-10 site rather than sell

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it outright, figuring that a secured new source of annual revenue was preferable to a one-shot injection of money from a sale.

State law restricts the uses of money from a land sale or lease to paying off debt or funding capital projects and repairs.

An exception in the law states that if a district has determined its capital projects fund meets demands for new construction and improvements, “moneys derived from the lease or rental of real property may be deposited into the district’s general fund.”

But the law also says that money can’t be used for employee salaries or classroom supplies. Rather, it must “be used exclusively for nonrecurring costs related to operating school facilities, including but not limited to expenses for maintenance.”

Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee members last month briefly and informally discussed the site as they brainstormed the types of new development that they would like to see in Ahwatukee in the coming year.

Several members noted that the Kyrene site was ideally situated for a hospital that provided more services than

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the ER and urgent-care facilities currently in Ahwatukee.

A rash of new hospital construction and expansion has been occurring farther east, but it’s unclear if any healthcare organization would consider the Kyrene site.

Some governing board members privately have said they would like to see the land be put to a good community use, although its use ultimately will depend to a large extent on who makes the best offer and whether its use is permitted by the City of Phoenix.

“We’re trying to keep all our options open and one of our options is medical,” Titzck said. “There is a broad spectrum of uses we are reaching out to.”

Tempe Union High School District toward the end of last school year closed a deal for the sale of two large pieces of property it owns.

The district collected $23.04 million on the sale of a 62-acre parcel on the southwest corner of Frye Road and Desert Foothills Parkway in Ahwatukee to developer Desert Vista 100. The Blandford Homes subsidiary is building 197 homes on that land.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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The Tempe Union governing board has yet to decide whether to use that money to pay off debt or invest in capital repairs. There is no deadline for the board to make that decision.

Tempe Union also owns a 49-acre parcel at Kyrene Road and the Loop 202 Santan Freeway in Chandler that the previous school board initially planned to sell. But then members delayed further action pending a broader discussion of whether it made sense to either lease it or enter into a partnership with a private entity.

When that parcel was discussed two years ago, a consultant told the board that if Tempe Union wanted to become a landlord or a business partner to a company that developed the Chandler parcel, it might provide a long-term revenue stream.

But both former Superintendent Kenneth Baca and board member Michelle Helm were cool to the idea of a public-private partnership.

“I’m thinking maybe that’s not what school districts do. This is not the job we hired you to do,” board Vice President Michelle Helm told Superintendent Kenneth Baca at one point.

Early in spring 2018, the issue was brought up again and the board tentatively scheduled a discussion about the Chandler land for June, but it was never held. The issue has yet to be brought up again.

Similarly in Kyrene, Robb told board

members two years ago that “ground leases are a way to get revenue out of a piece of property long-term.”

Robb, the president of a real estate investment company with a long history in developing public-private land-related partnerships, also said, “You don’t get near as much money on an annual basis, but you get far more money in the aggregate over a long period of time. In the state of Arizona, you can do ground leases as a governing board for as long as 99 years.”

He also noted a lease deal would require the services of an expert lawyer to fashion an agreement most beneficial to the district, and said the board faced the least risk with a straight-out sale and that a ground lease was “slightly riskier.”

He also acknowledged that some board members hoped that the land might be used in a way that benefited the community – such as a hospital.

An alternative, he added, would be building into an agreement some community benefit for at least a portion of the land.

“That’s not to say that you wouldn’t tell a developer that as part of the 28 acres, ‘you need to have a two-acre open space for you supply the district or used by the community or whatever,’” Robb said.

“But you know, I think your motivation is likely to be less philanthropic,” he added, citing the state’s underfunding of public education. “So, I think you’d probably need the revenue more than you need the positive publicity, but I could be wrong.”

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COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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Brain Bee winners this year included, from left, Mountain Ridge High School student Shiu Shah, second place; and BASIS Chandler students Latavya Chintada, fi rst place, and third-place fi nisher Shreya Sreekantham. (Special to the SanTan Sun News)

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everything from healthcare and cool new products to financial planning and legal advice aimed at helping seniors design a happy, healthy and secure lifestyle.

Sponsored by Dignity Health and AARP, the expo is for individuals retiring soon, those already retired and children of aging adults.

“Each year, our Senior Expo hosts nearly 1,000 seniors, their families and caregivers,” said Nancy Jackson, event organizer. “It’s the best ticket in town for Chandler’s dynamic mature community.”

Attendees will have access to free blood pressure checks courtesy of Chandler Fire, as well as information for veterans. There also will be raffles for prizes from event exhibitors.

For more information, visit chandleraz.gov/seniorexpo.

The East Valley Women’s League is putting on the funk at Give and Glow, a G fundraising event with a nod to the ‘80s, from 6-11 p.m. March 30 at the Crowne Plaza Chandler Golf Resort, 1 N. San Marcos Place, Chandler.

Pre-sale tickets are $125 per person and can be purchased at EVWL.org and include dinner, drinks and dancing to the funky sounds of the five-piece band, AIR CONDITIONING & HEATING Basketball Jones. The event also features silent and live auctions. No tickets will be AIR CONDITIONING & HEATING sold at the door. r p Dress for the evening is business e t -u n casual “with a little nod to the ‘80s,” i e said Give and Glow Chair JoAnn Ott of W un Ahwatukee. “Maybe a bit of neon, leg T warmers or lace sleeves added to the outfits, and even big hair would make a BASIS Chandler, 2 students win 10-YearParts and Labor statement,” she added. big at ‘Brain Bee’ competition Proceeds will be invested in the LimitedWarranty* BASIS Chandler and two of its students community through East Valley *On Selected Systems ($1,295 ValueSystems - No Charge) REG. $99. *On Selected SUMMER REG. $99.

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AROUND

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

AROUND

21

Around Chandler Topics are “Starting Your Genealogy Research,” “Exploring U.S. Resources & Online Research Sites,” “Heading Offshore & Using DNA” and “Working on Your Personal Tree.”

The class will be taught by Judi Gyori Missel, a member of the Phoenix Jewish Genealogy Group and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.

The cost is $40 for all four classes or $15 each. Participants should bring their own laptop.

To register, call 480-8970588 or email webbc@ evjcc.org.

from page 20

Industries, has signed a 222,000-squarefoot lease at 6205 S. Arizona Ave. with a 10-year term. Z Modular is a manufacturer of prefabricated steel structures for commercial buildings. The modular structures are constructed in-house with final assembly occurring on-site, where the steel modules are stacked and connected together.

The company is planning to hire approximately 150 new employees and invest approximately $17 million in tenant improvements and equipment, which includes a significant amount of robotic machinery.

“Z Modular will add to the diverse mix of employment opportunities Chandler offers,” said Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke. “This project is a great use of existing infrastructure, and we are excited to see one of our largest industrial buildings at full capacity.”

Lee & Associates Arizona Principals Stein Koss and Tom Louer and Kristina Hayes with KW Commercial orchestrated the transaction.

“Z Modular looked at several properties and several markets before selecting Chandler due to the demographics, workforce, and the features this building offered,” stated Stein Koss with Lee & Associates. “We also want to thank the City of Chandler’s Economic Development team for their expertise on the local market and their assistance with landing this significant project.”

Mary Jane Coking, left, and Connie Hughes are co-chairing the Ironwood Ladies Golf Association’s annual “Swing for Hope” tournament to benefit the University of Arizona Cancer Center. (Special to the SanTan Sun News)

Local Jewish Center starting fourweek genealogy class A new four-week class to help people learn how to research their family’s history begins March 6 at the East Valley JCC, 908 N. Alma School Road, Chandler.

“Learn About Jewish Genealogy” will be held 10-11:30 a.m. Wednesdays throughout the month.

Ironwood Ladies to ‘Swing for Hope’

The 150-member Ironwood Ladies Golf Association will hold its annual Swing for Hope golf tournament April 4.

Since starting the fundraiser in 2007, the group has raised over $100,000 for the University of Arizona Cancer Center.

The association selected the center as the recipient because its research focuses on all types of cancer.

“We would love to have sponsors,” said

co-chair Mary Jane Coking. “They will be recognized and promoted at the event and in our community.”

The tournament is completely filled with members of Ironwood Ladies Golf Association members and is held at Ironwood Golf Course.

The goal this year is $10,000 and Coking noted, “Great strides have been made in preventing, treating and curing cancer.

It is vital to have continued support. By contributing, donors will play an important role in helping to understand, prevent and treat this disease.”

Checks made payable to UAF/UACC can be sent to Mary Jane Coking, Swing for Hope Tournament, 9849 E. Crystal Drive, Sun Lakes, AZ 85248. Sponsors can call 850-814-9780.

City slates 16th annual environmental art contest

Fourth grade students who are home schooled or attend public, private or charter schools in Chandler can participate in the city’s 16th annual Environmental Art Contest, which seeks colorful pictures promoting recycling, water conservation or storm water pollution prevention in Chandler.

“The contest is an opportunity for students to learn more about environmental stewardship in their community and become catalysts for environmental education in the classroom, as the City offers classroom presentations and curriculum about See

AROUND on page 22

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22

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Around Chandler

AROUND

from page 21

conservation topics,” the city said in a release.

“We are excited to see the wonderful artwork Chandler students create to help us spread messages of conservation throughout the city,” said Traci Conaway, Chandler’s recycling coordinator.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 8, and entries are judged on creativity, content and colorfulness. Entry forms and rules can be found online at chandleraz.gov/recycle. Entries can be dropped off at the Vision Gallery located in Chandler City Hall, 175 S. Arizona Ave. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Participants also can mail their entries flat to Environmental Art Contest, Mail Stop 907, P.O. Box 4008, Chandler, AZ 85244-4008.

Selected drawings will be featured in an environmental calendar and poster and also may appear in newsletters, social media, on recycling trucks and the city’s website. For more information, contact Traci Conaway at 480-782-3510.

Celebrated author to discuss her book at Sunset library Katrina Shawver, an Ahwatukee author who last year published an award-winning biography of a man who escaped two Nazis death camps and eventually ended up living in Ahwatukee, will discuss her book at 6 p.m.

March 13 at Chandler Public Library, Sunset Branch, 4930 W. Ray Road, Chandler.

Her book, “Henry – A Polish Swimmer’s True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America,” also looks at the systematic annihilation of millions of Polish residents by the Nazis. She unearthed dozens of original documents in researching the book abroad.

Shawver got to know Henry Zguda when he and his wife were still alive living in Ahwatukee. Her book has received numerous awards and copies will be available for purchase at her free discussion.

Information: katrinashawver.com

Chandler man finishes Air Force basic training in Texas

Air Force Airman Cesar A. Lugo Jr. graduated from basic military training at the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas, recently.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training also earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Lugo is the son of Patricia G. and Cesar O. Lugo and brother of Miriam O. and Isaac D. Lugo, all of Chandler. He is a 2018 graduate of Hamilton High School.

Compadres to host golf tournament for families in need The Chandler Compadres will hold a golf

the-cays_santan-sun_half-page-ad_phase-2-closeout_112718.indd 1

tournament April 12 to help raise money for disadvantaged children in the East Valley. The 2019 Chandler Compadres Golf Classic, hosted at Talking Stick Golf Club, will feature a full day of golf, food and awards for those participating.

The 19th annual event includes an unlimited Bloody Mary bar, premier golf concept shopping, driving range and putting green practice, and breakfast, lunch and dinner. Proceeds go to the Boys & Girls Club of East Valley, AzCend and ICAN. There are four ticket packages available for the event in addition to several underwriting sponsorship opportunities.

The event begins at 7 a.m. April 12 at Talking Stick Golf Club, 9998 Talking Stick Way, Scottsdale.

Tickets: chandlercompadres.org/golf.

For more than 30 years, members of the Chandler Compadres have donated time and treasure to help kids and families in need who live in Chandler and the East Valley. The group has donated more than $8.3 million to Valley charities, particularly those benefiting youth academic and development programs.

About Care tourney seeks players, donations, sponsors

About Care, a nonprofit serving the elderly and disabled in Chandler, Gilbert and Queen Creek, is seeking sponsors, players and donations for its 12th annual Charity Golf Tournament May 19 at Superstition Springs Golf Club in Mesa.

Most of About Care’s clients are economically disadvantaged

elderly women who need help with transportation to medical appointments, and it provides transportation to medical appointments and other places, pays friendly visits to shut-ins and performs other services at no cost. In the past 6 months, our volunteers have provided 8,921 services, primarily to medical appointments, donated 20,669 hours and driven 125,446 miles on behalf of our neighbors.

The tournament is its major fundraising event.

A foursome is $400 and an individual is $110. Breakfast and Lunch are included.

There are sponsorships still open. People unable to attend can still help support the group by sending a donation or an item for the tournament’s raffle and auction. Information: aboutcare.org or contact Ann Marie McArthur at 480802-2331.

Chandler Century 21 associate gets award for production

Century 21 Real Estate LLC recently honored Jeremy Wilson, sales associate with Century 21 Arizona Foothills, with the President’s Producer Award, given to affiliates that earn $280,000 in sales production or 70 closed transaction sides within the calendar year.

“We are thrilled to recognize Jeremy Wilson’s work for this momentous achievement,” said Michael Miedler, president and chief executive officer, Century 21 Real Estate LLC. The brokerage is at 4913 S. Alma School Road, Chandler.

11/28/18 2:51 PM

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

23

Town inks deal for big S. Gilbert water park

BY CECILIA CHAN Staff Writer

A $35-million water park featuring a surf lake, inflatable water obstacle course and a sand beach is coming to south Gilbert.

Town Council last week inked a deal with The Strand @Gilbert to bring the state-of-the-art project to its regional park under construction at Queen Creek and Higley roads.

“We’ve been talking about this so long,” Councilwoman Brigette Peterson said.

“I’m excited to finally see this come to fruition and look forward to seeing it in Gilbert.”

The council has been meeting in closed session for months with staff to discuss the proposal, deal points and final lease agreement with The Strand, which responded to the town’s Request for Proposal in 2017.

There is no cost to the taxpayers for the 25-acre water park, where people can kayak, canoe and do paddle boarding, according to Rocky Brown, Parks & Recreation Business manager.

Additional amenities include a cable wake park, swimming pool, an extreme slide, restaurant, indoor arcade, kid play area and outdoor cabana areas. Gilbert residents will receive a discount.

Construction is expected to begin in October with an anticipated opening next summer.

Under the 50-year lease agreement, The Strand will pay an annual rent of $253,191

This rendering of the water park shows the developers' general idea of its layout, although they provided no detailed explanation of it. (Special to the San Tan Sun News)

to Gilbert for use of the land.

The town also will receive a 3-percent cut of the water park’s revenue over $2 million, which is estimated between $450,000 and $750,000 annually, Brown said.

These funds will help offset the maintenance costs associated with the Town’s amenities at the 272-acre regional park, according to staff. The project will create 180 jobs and have a $317-million economic impact, Brown said.

The Strand will be responsible for the development, maintenance and operating costs of the water park. The company also will be responsible for constructing 400 parking spaces for shared use at the regional park.

Under a separate approved agreement, The Strand will be responsible financially for securing renewable water supplies that meet 100 percent of the recreational water demand for the property for the entire term of the lease.

Gilbert will have no obligation to supply water for recreational use during the term of the lease, except to recover and transport the recovered water from The Strand’s recovery well to the meter. The Strand will pay $1.9 million to Gilbert, as its share of the cost of the construction and installation of the recovery wells.

Vice Mayor Eddie Cook was the sole dissenter in approving the project.

“For me, with the drought issues in Arizona it’s really hard for me to look at this as a good use of drinking water,” he said. “I’ll be a user with my wake boards and my family. I just have a hard time personally for me and with protecting our drinking water supply that unfortunately I have to say no.”

Mayor Jenn Daniels said The Strand was bringing its own water credits to the project and that it will use less water than a golf course and or a hotel.

She said other Valley municipalities have built spring-training or other types of facilities at taxpayers’ expense of $60 million to $80 million to put themselves on the map. Gilbert has the same opportunity through this public-private partnership, Daniels said.

“I’m just thrilled about this opportunity for the town on multiple levels,” she said.

“One from an economic development standpoint. This is an amenity that does not exist probably anyway in the Southwest for sure. So the fact Gilbert can be a destination for this is going to be important for us as we move forward.”

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24

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Cactus League civic groups hit the real homers

BY JIM WALSH Staff Writer

When hundreds of thousands of fans jam East Valley Cactus League stadiums, they’ll watch famous players getting ready for a marathon season and young players desperately trying to make a team.

But the real winners throughout the region have nothing to do with what happens on the field. They will either be in school, or sitting next to their parents in the stands, eating hot dogs or goofing around with their brothers and sisters.

Thanks to civic hospitality organizations such as the Mesa HoHoKams, the Tempe Diablos and the Scottsdale Charros, the Cactus League maintains its traditional roots even though it has turned into a big business that stokes the tourism industry and swells sales tax receipts.

Between them, the volunteer HoHoKams and Diablos raise at least $1.5 million for charities, covering everything from Little League teams to scholarships in the Maricopa County Community College District and Arizona State University.

And the tradition set by spring baseball is so deep that one organization continues to raise nearly $1 million annually even without a baseball team.

The Chandler Compadres have not had a Cactus League ballpark as a source of revenue for more than 20 years. While Compadre Stadium, with its distinctive blue roof and large outfield berm, has vanished and become a pleasant Cactus League memory, the Compadres have flourished and stayed true to their community service mission.

Despite the long hours at Sloan Park and Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, and at Diablo Stadium in Tempe, members of the HoHoKams and Diablos and the additional volunteers who help them consider their work a labor of love.

Call them “hospitality hosts’’– as Doug Black from the Diablos does – or “ambassadors’’ for the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics – as Tim Baughman of the Mesa HoHoKams does – the fundraising prowess of these organizations is undeniable.

“What we fund them with is the bulk of their budget. If we don’t fund them, they probably don’t exist, like Little League or a cheer leading squad,’’ said Baughman, president of the HoHoKams, which donated $455,000 to East Valley charities last year.

Mesa HoHoKams President Tim Baughman surveys Sloan Park in Mesa, one of several venues for spring baseball games that enable his organization to raise millions of dollars for a wide variety of charitable endeavors. (Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer)

“All of that money stays in the East Valley, with an emphasis on Mesa,’’ he said.

Although the HoHoKams continue to embrace youth sports as their primary mission, he said other nonprofits that benefit the community in numerous other ways are also funded with grants.

Among the beneficiaries are the Community Bridges behavioral health agency; Helen’s Hope Chest, which helps foster children; and Arizona Brainfood, which sends lunches home for low-income children so that they are not hungry on weekends when free school lunches are not available.

Other recipients include East Valley Boys and Girls clubs and YMCAs. “There is no finer thing you can do as a Mesa HoHoKam than to take a check and deliver it to a community organization,’’ Baughman said.

The Diablos, also formed to attract a Major League Baseball team to Tempe, focus heavily on education, providing 40 scholarships each year to students at the community college district and ASU. Every year, the Diablos raise about $1 million through several fundraising events, with Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim games the largest fundraiser at venerable Tempe Diablo Stadium, now the oldest and most intimate stadium in the league.

Black, co-chairman for baseball, said about 60 percent of the Diablos revenue comes from parking cars. A 50-50 raffle is another big money maker, with proceeds split between the winner and charity.

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ushering duties at two ballparks, Sloan and Hohokam Stadium, using separate crews that rarely work together, said Tim Baughman, the group’s president.

It’s no small task, with 185 HoHoKams assisted by another 60 volunteers during spring training, he said.

“It’s a big commitment. To remain an active member in our organization, you must work three-quarters of the games,’’ Baughman said, with shifts typically lasting four to six hours.

The Diablos and the Charros make a similar commitment. The Diablos have 225 members and about 50 volunteers.

Diablos are required to work seven games a year, while about 100 Charros work at Scottsdale Stadium every season.

“It feels more like summer camp to me. You are having some laughs with your friends,’’ Black said. “As long as people are having safe fun, it’s fun for us.’’

While there are always occasional issues when dealing with the public, “you have to laugh about it and move on with your day,’’ Black said.

This year, the HoHoKams received a bit of a twist from Major League Baseball.

The Oakland Athletics play only 12 home games at Hohokam Stadium, instead of the normal 15, and the Cubs play a longer

These raffles have significantly increased revenues in Mesa and Scottsdale as well.

Tempe celebrates the central role of charity during the Cactus League every year with Tempe Diablo Day, where all revenues from a particular game are donated to the Diablos with the blessings of Arte Moreno, the Angels’ owner.

The annual game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Feb. 25, when the Angels play the Brewers at Diablo.

“He appreciates us, that’s the best way I can put it,’’ Black said about Moreno.

“He’s very kind to the Diablos and he’s an honorary Diablo.’’

Frank Coen, the Diablos president, said it’s very easy to sum up the Diablos fundraising efforts.

“We give away virtually everything,’’ he said.

The Scottsdale Charros keep the civic tradition alive at Scottsdale Stadium, raising another $1 million and Mesa HoHoKams President Tim Baughman, sports a huge bolo the club thoughtfully doling out the leader wears throughout his tenure as he sits at Sloan Park, where the Chicago Cubs spend spring training season. (Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer) proceeds to maximize the impact on the community.

A Charro is assigned to 18 game schedule that includes two selleach school and the organization caters outs against the World Champion Boston donations to their needs, said Dennis Red Sox at the end of the season.

Robbins, executive director. He said the orThe A’s are leaving early to start the ganization’s mission includes financing eight regular season against the Seattle Marischolarships for students at Arizona State University to address the teacher’s shortage. ners at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, March 20 and 21.

Robbins said the Charros top priority These games are expected by many to is education. Beyond the scholarships, the serve as an emotional curtain call for JapCharros arrange for additional student anese star Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners, teachers to assist full-time teachers in who is considered a likely Hall of Famer. low-income schools, so that students get The Red Sox and other East Coast teams more attention through lower teacher to train in Florida and play in the Grapefruit student ratios.

League. Each league has 15 teams. Because He said the focus is on keeping chilof this arrangement, the Red Sox are rarely dren motivated to learn. seen in Arizona during the spring.

“We assign a Charro to every school “It’s going to be pretty crazy. We in Scottsdale and they develop a relaare used to these games being sold out, tionship with the principal,’’ Robbins said, whether it’s Boston or Kansas City,’’ allowing the Charros to help in the best Baughman said. way possible.

But the payoff, as the Cactus League The civic organizations form a veritaseason comes to the end, will be higher ble army of volunteers, with each group revenues for charity, helping the Hosporting its own unique uniform.

HoKams hit their goal of raising $500,000 The HoHoKams, which date back to this year, he said. the late Dwight Patterson’s attraction The HoHoKams see the results every of the Chicago Cubs to Arizona in 1951, year at an awards dinner attended by arguably have the hardest job but each recipients, Baughman said. organization faces a unique series of “It benefits our members to see where challenges. all of our hard work goes,’’ he said.

The HoHoKams handle the parking and

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Business

25

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Voya cuts a deal to bring 1,000 jobs to Chandler

BY JASON STONE Staff Writer

Retirement planning pros Voya Financial is joining the jobs parade in Chandler.

The Chandler City Council has signed off a new deal that will bring 1,000 jobs to the Price Road Corridor with virtually no risk to the city.

In a deal similar to a giant one with insurance giant Allstate a couple months ago, Voya has agreed to a series of incentive reimbursements to help make the agreement work. All of the incentives are performance-based, meaning there is no upfront cost for the city.

“We put together a package that allowed us to close the competitive delta between Chandler and those other regions,” Chandler economic development director Micah Miranda said. “Not only are we getting a great employer, we’re getting a great community partner.”

Chandler has committed $530,000 in incentives for job creation with the New York-based company. Voya will be required to apply for its reimbursement each year. And just like the Allstate deal, if Voya eventually decides to relocate outside of Chandler, it will have to pay back all of the incentives it received.

“We think there is an amazing business-friendly environment in Chandler,” said Nan Ferrara, the executive vice president of operations and continuous improvement for Voya. “The talent pool is perfect for us. And the community

Voya Chairman/CEO Rodney J. Martin, Jr. says the Chandler hub “will contribute to our continued growth and enable Voya to deliver greater value for our customers.” (Special to the Tribune)

is focused on giving back, which really aligns with Voya’s values.”

The 151,359-square-foot facility at 1700 S. Price Road will be Voya’s permanent new home. The financial company plans to shut down its temporary quarters at the Tech Center in Tempe once the Chandler facility is operational. But its location in Scottsdale at 7337 E. Doubletree Ranch Road is expected to remain open for the 200 employees who work there.

“We have an investment management

presence in our Scottsdale location,” Ferrara said. “This hub would be supporting our retirement business and our employee benefits business, our call center operation and our back-office operations.”

Miranda said the deal calls for Voya’s annual payroll to be around $27 million in the first year and $54 million by the sixth year. By Year 6, the company is also required to make a $34-million capital investment for lease payments, information technology infrastructure and tenant

improvements that include a parking garage.

Miranda said the project’s impact on revenue to Chandler would be $4.99 million over the next six years. That impact is the result of direct revenues such as construction, equipment purchases and property taxes, as well as secondary revenues such as housing, shopping and dining.

“Voya will be joining a number of leading-edge companies located on the Price Corridor that benefit from accessibility to a diverse and educated workforce and great amenities for employees,” Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke said. “Voya’s investment in the new Chandler facility is just the start of the impact they will have throughout the region.”

The Chandler facility will be the largest regional hub for the global company with 6,000 employees and 13.8 million customers around the world.

“Establishing a permanent hub in metro Phoenix will contribute to our continued growth and enable Voya to deliver greater value for our customers,” said Rodney O. Martin, Jr., Voya’s chairman and CEO. “The City of Chandler provides us with everything that we need to build a successful operation – access to a skilled workforce and talent pipeline, a business-friendly environment and many essential resources for future growth and success,” Martin added.

Ferrara said the project is expected to be completed by around May 2020.

Re-styled Chandler fitness studio a family affair

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

A mother and daughter with a zeal for health and fitness are combining their talents as they rejuvenate a personal training studio that tailors workouts to a diverse clientele.

Suzanne “Suzi” DeRoock and her husband, Ian DeRoock, bought Trainer’s Club in December, and Suzanne got the ball rolling quickly with the small business on West Ray Road.

Her daughter, Alex Wisniski, 22, manages the studio, where personal trainers pay dues to the owners to train their clients. Suzanne and Alex also are personal trainers and have their own clients.

Trainer’s Club plans to add Saturday morning boot camps, small-group training and a health challenge soon and has already bought new equipment for the gym.

The friendly mother and daughter team are passionate about helping people reach their goals, whether they are to lose weight, run a marathon or compete in fitness competitions. Wisniski has competed in an OCB bikini competition after losing a lot of weight.

“I started working out about four years ago,” she said. “I was 209 pounds. My mom was like, ‘Go to the gym with me.’ When I

s something here for “There’ everyone. We listen to their needs and what they’re looking for.

”

– Alex Wisniski

Alex Wisniski, left, is the manager at Trainer’s Club and her mother, Suzanne “Suzi” DeRoock, is the co-owner of the fitness studio. Suzanne and her husband bought Trainer’s Club in December. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

hit a plateau I had to change my nutrition.

I started feeling more confident.”

Suzanne, whose husband is an oncologist, is training for an OCB figure competition, an all-natural contest where participants are judged on their leanness and conditioning with healthy, shapely muscularity and good balance.

She had competed in another figure

competition but the other contestants were not all natural, as she is, meaning some used steroids.

Suzanne and Alex believe in healthy, natural eating and provide nutritional counseling to their clients. Both women are working on their bachelor’s degrees in healthy lifestyle coaching at Arizona State University.

Growing up in Michigan, Suzanne had previously worked as a paramedic, then later worked as a lab technician at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. For a while she took care of her ill father, who suffered from heart disease after serving in Vietnam, and she wanted to be as healthy as she could.

“One of my biggest fears is having the same problems as him,” Suzanne, 41, said.

She wanted to start her own business and when the previous owner of Trainer’s Club decided to sell it, she thought it would be a good fit.

“We personalize it to each individual that comes through,” Suzanne said. “We have a good variety. My aunt taught jazzercise. I did that as a kid growing up. I’ve always been around fitness and enjoyed it.”

Alex used to play soccer and run track in school.

See

TRAINERSCLUB on page 26

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BUSINESS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Suzanne “Suzi” DeRoock exercises on one of the many machines at Trainer’s Club, which she and her husband bought from another owner in December. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

TRAINERSCLUB

from page 25

Trainer’s Club has seven trainers including Suzanne and Alex.

“There’s something here for everyone,” Alex said. “We listen to their needs and what they’re looking for.”

Alex and Suzanne’s clients also can download an app on which they put the exercises they want their clients to do on their own. They also talk to clients on the phone and monitor their progress.

Trainer’s Club has a modern feel with a

huge mural on one wall and a vast range of equipment including free weights, a Smith machine for eight training including the ability to do squats and bicep curls, a shoulder machine, treadmills, a punching bag and Ellipticals.

As of last month, about 100 people had memberships and key fobs to work out on their own at Trainer’s Club. Others come when they schedule appointments with their personal trainers.

The ladies aim to offer group training with about four students maximum per trainer.

“It’s so important to keep it small

Trainer’s Club, under new ownership, offers a variety of different machines, weights and other tools to get in shape. Many different trainers are available to work with clients. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

because you need to watch everyone’s form,” Alex said.

Future boot camps would offer work on stationary bikes, leg machines, rowing machines and other equipment to keep people moving, Suzanne said.

“You’ve gotta make it different and fun,” she said.

Sheryl Willis, a local Realtor and founder and owner of Go Chandler, loves going to Suzanne for personal training and seeing Alex at the Trainer’s Club.

“She understands what a woman’s body needs, the human female connection,

the bond,” Willis said. “They’re just super, super, super sweet people. Everything they do is completely tailored. There’s a lot of thought that goes into it.”

Suzanne said one of her other daughters, Andrea Miller, 21, is interested in working at Trainer’s Club in the future. A busy entrepreneur, Suzanne also has a daughter, Ashley Miller, Andrea’s twin sister, and is stepmother to two boys: Mason DeRoock, 10, and Aidan DeRoock, 13.

Trainer’s Club is at 6909 W. Ray Road.

Information: trainersclubaz.com

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BUSINESS

27

Valerie Fabirkiewicz and her daughters Claudia, 11, on left, and Milla, 13, run Mila Marie Bags, a company that sells purses, backpacks and interchangeable straps. (Cassi Lee Acevedo)

Mom’s daughters help propel purse line

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

What started as a minor fashion glitch at a wedding several years ago led a Queen Creek mother to start a business in which she and her two daughters help customers change their looks with colorful, interchangeable purses, backpacks and straps.

Valerie Fabirkiewicz and her husband John own Mila Marie Bags, but their daughters – Milla, 13, an eighth-grader at Casteel High School, and Claudia, 11, a fifth-grader at American Leadership Academy – are heavily involved in the running of the company.

The online company offers backpacks and purses and straw totes, as well as straps that can be taken off to use on different bags. Brooches, charm holders, mini puff balls and other accessories can be added to the bags to dress up and customize them.

Valerie said she got the idea for the company after she went to a wedding six years ago and realized the everyday bag she was carrying clashed with her cocktail dress.

“I can be a little lazy when it comes to cleaning out my purse,” she said. “I thought I wish there was a way to just change the straps so it could work for day and night. I went home and researched and couldn’t find what I had in mind, so I began to create a prototype.”

So she made trips to Hobby Lobby and JOANN Fabrics and Crafts with Milla and Claudia to buy materials, and they cut up purses and put them together with different straps.

Valerie and her family also gathered focus groups in their neighborhood.

“Everybody really liked our idea,” she said.

She got anxious about taking the plunge to officially launch a business.

“To be honest, I started second

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guessing myself and got scared,” Valerie said. “I put it all aside for four years even though I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

My girls were the ones that asked why we weren’t doing it anymore and I couldn’t tell them that I had given up.”

It took nearly two years of designing, getting prototypes and finding factories before they were ready to sell their products. The purses, backpacks, straps E-SERIES WINDOWS AND DOORS and other accessories are made in factories overseas.

“The idea has sort of evolved since I custom colors, dynamic andsizes, sizes, and unlimited custom colors, dynamic shapes shapes and and unlimited came up with (it) six years ago,” Valerie WithWith said. “It was more for my age: moms and design options, E-Serieswindows windows and it possible to to design options, E-Series anddoors doorsmake make it possible older women. It’s evolved. Now it’s a lot create home you’vealways always imagined. imagined. Follow your inspiration, of teens and tweens will buy our product.create the the home you’ve Follow your inspiration, Milla came up with the backpack idea, express your own unique style and set your home apart with the which is our bestseller. They (Milla and express your own unique style and set your home apart with the Claudia) know what’s in style. They’ll Architectural Collection. Only from Andersen. come up with the strap designs. They pickArchitectural Collection. Only from Andersen. out the patterns.”

Customers pick their base – either a versatile bag in black or white, a backpack in black or white, a black evening bag or a straw tote. They can buy many different straps to attach to the versatile bags, “Andersen” and all other marks where denoted are trademarks of Andersen Corporation. ©2016 Andersen Corporation. All rights reserved. MS1611_1536 backpacks and straw totes.

“Andersen” and all other marks where denoted are trademarks of Andersen Corporation The evening bag comes with a silver ©2016 Andersen Corporation. All rights reserved. MS1611_153 chain and customers can add a wristlet for $12. Mila Marie has gold accessories and straps coming so evening bag owners can change from gold to silver, Valerie said.

Some straps are chunky chains, and the Mila Marie Signature Straps come in many different colors, some with polka dots.

4454 East Thomas Road, Phoenix, AZ 85018 The novel fabric chain straps combine brightly colored fabrics and chains.

While most are interchangeable, the evening bag is its “own thing” as its liwindow.com owners would probably just want to use the fanciest brooch or straps/wristlet on it, Valerie said.

“We have all different types of straps,” liwindow.com she said. “Part of the idea is that it’s

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PURSES on page 29

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

PURSES

from page 27

economical because you can keep your base and then you just add on straps.

Every season we’ll come out with new straps … the girls do a lot of research on what’s popular. They’ll go online and research different patterns.”

Milla said her favorite strap is a checkered one, and she uses the backpacks to bring her stuff with her to dance classes.

“I like it because I get to work with my family members and how it’s so different from every other company I’m used to seeing,” she said. “I help box stuff. I help design new ideas for straps and bags. I’m a teenager, so I know a lot of the latest trends that are coming out.”

Milla said she is learning about the financial aspects of being an entrepreneur including making profits.

She and Claudia helped design the website and Valerie said they do a lot of styling for photo shoots of people modeling with the purses and backpacks.

Claudia has good ideas to help with photography to grow the company’s Instagram following, Valerie said.

“I’m in photo shoots,” Claudia said. “I put together the orders sometimes and think of ideas for straps. I think of the things that we don’t have already and that are in and stuff. Usually when I’m on YouTube or something I think of ideas.

It’s cool. I tell my friends about it; they like it. They think it’s cool that we have a company, that my mom has a company.”

She carries the black backpack and said she likes the “more colorful straps.”

“I would like to see it in stores or even have its own store,” Claudia said of Mila Marie Bags. “I think that’d be cool to go inside and see all the bags.”

Valerie said her company plans to give back with its products. The family is working on “straps for a cause,” where proceeds from sales will help support

Claudia Fabirkiewicz, 11, a fifth-grader at American Leadership Academy, models a backpack. (Valerie Fabirkiewicz)

animal shelters. Mila Marie Bags has also sold its products at a local dance studio, school events and churches.

Valerie, 43, is hoping eventually girls, not just in her family, will be able to sell the Mila Marie Bags and earn commissions.

“I think it’s really important for girls to have confidence,” she said.

A Realtor, Valerie is now devoting her professional time to Mila Marie Bags. She said her son, Mateo, 9, also helps with the company, packaging orders and assisting John at the storage facility. Her husband and the kids’ father, John, helps with the technical side of the business.

“This is absolutely a family effort,”

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29

Valerie said.

The family start-up impresses Christine Syquia, owner of Accessory Business 101, a Los Angeles-based consulting company for accessory designers.

Valerie hired Syquia to help her determine how to start her business, including finding factories to manufacture the merchandise. Syquia used to own a purse line that sold in Nordstrom and on Home Shopping Network. The purses were available in more than 800 stores in the United States.

“I love the idea of having just a basic bag that you can personalize,” Syquia said.

“We’ve seen that trend be strong in the marketplace for several years now, from high-end Christian Dior to mass market.

With Valerie’s brand she took it a step further because she not only has the straps but she has the accessories as well.

There’s many different ways for someone to personalize it.”

She said the purses, backpacks, straw totes, straps and numerous decorative add-ons appeal to all ages, including girls, as well as women in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

“She’s already had traction with company,” Syquia said. “I know this is a big year. There’s a lot of different things that are in the works. I think the biggest thing about Val is she’s so enthusiastic and positive about the brand.

“She has everything that one’s supposed to have. She has a great product. She has a strong brand identity. She is continuing to develop and come up with new ideas and she’s really committed to the brand. I have no doubt that it will be successful. They’re just such a wonderful family and she’s such a lovely person. It’s nice when you’re able to work with a brand that you love and really nice people.”

Information: mila-marie.com or visit Mila Marie Bags on Facebook at facebook.com/MilaMarieBags or Instagram @milamarie_bags

EV business provides a ‘snapshot’ of bodily systems

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor

When your overall health is an issue, there’s no such thing as too much information.

Jennifer Douglass is bringing another conduit to such knowledge with her new business, East Valley Thermography.

The Gilbert woman has forged partnerships with Healing Point Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine Clinic in Ahwatukee and On Being Well Naturopathic Medicine in Chandler to make thermography more accessible to area residents.

Those partners “offer a natural complement to one another, particularly for individuals seeking a more holistic or natural approach to their healthcare,” she said.

Thermography also is known as digital infrared thermal imaging, or DITI. A noninvasive, radiation-free diagnostic tool, “its main utility is to detect abnormal physiology. As inflammation is commonly at the root of most disease processes, thermography easily identifies these areas of the body where inflammation is present,” Douglass says on her website.

It also is a point of contention in

Dr. Maggie Garvin of On Being Well Naturopathic Medicine in Chandler and Jennifer Douglas of East Valley Thermography recently made arrangements for Douglass’ service to be provided at Garvin’s clinic.

(Special to SanTan Sun News)

the medical community, with some professionals deriding its claims and sometimes calling it “quackery” and others calling it a non-toxic approach to picking up early signs of cancer and other diseases long before they become a major problem.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has weighed into the battle, particularly where breast cancer diagnosis is concerned.

But Douglass is careful to underscore the fact that the FDA states thermography is no substitute for a mammogram.

What she does assert is that it can become an early-warning system in a way “because thermography provides a snapshot of the vascular, neurological and musculoskeletal systems, it has the ability to detect disease in its infancy and many years earlier than other forms of diagnostic imaging.”

And she’s passionate about thermography, noting “It is not a new diagnostic tool. It’s been around for about 30 years and very common in Europe. The U.S. is just very far behind other countries in terms of other alternative therapies.”

Thermology focuses on the physiology of a body while all other diagnostic tests

focus on anatomy – which explains why thermology proponents say it can detect a potential problem before it begins to affect a person’s anatomy.

A volunteer coordinator for Hospice of the Valley, Douglass stumbled on thermography as a result of her own battle with breast cancer.

When she was diagnosed in 2014, she said, she was stunned.

“For a healthy person, it was a shocking diagnosis,” she recalled.

As she elaborates on her company’s website, “I don’t think most people ever really contemplate receiving that kind of news. What I can tell you is that it’s a very vulnerable place to be. With so much fear and uncertainty, I put my health in the hands of my healthcare professionals and followed their advice for surgery and X-rays followed by oral chemotherapy drugs.”

But she was also aware that the effects of radiation stay in the body and develop a cumulative effect so that for every CAT scan, MRI and radiation treatment, the danger of damage to cells and the DNA in those cells can lead to new cancer.

Because she needed to get annual screenings, she was concerned about See

THERM on page 30

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THERM

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

from page 29

those cumulative effects and began researching alternative methods of monitoring whether her cancer had returned.

“I was looking for ways to get my body into good health and try to eliminate as much radiation as possible,” she said.

“For the average 50-year old woman, cancer cells double in size every 90 days on average and thermography has the ability to detect pathology eight to 10 years before the same pathological change is seen through mammography,” Douglass says on her website, adding:

“Many women utilize breast thermography as an adjunctive or complementary tool to ultrasound and mammogram. Women with implants are also ideal candidates for thermography, as there is no compression of tissue involved.”

Douglass, who was trained at the American College of Clinical Thermography in Florida, said thermography has uses beyond its potential to pick up early signs of breast cancer that might then motivate a woman to seek a more comprehensive diagnosis and, if necessary, treatment.

“Diseases and conditions such as heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disorders, thyroid conditions, spinal injuries and

DVT are just a handful of the conditions easily identified through thermographic imaging,” she said.

That means both men and women could find a potential benefit in a thermographic screening, which Douglass does either for a half or all of a person’s body or for a more localized region, such as breasts, that might be of special concern to a person.

Once she takes the thermographs, she sends them to a physician who is trained in reading them.

“I am like the radiologist,” she explained. “I send the images to board-certified physicians who have received additional training in reading

thermograms. Only one in four doctors makes it through the testing in learning to read them.”

The doctor then provides the client with a written report and the color images and it’s then up to the client to decide what, if anything, he or she wants to do next.

Though she is just getting her business off the ground, Douglass said she sees it as especially popular among millennials.

“They’re not as trusting of the medical establishment,” she said. “They’re shifting to getting to the root of problems and recognize that thermography can help.”

Information: evthermography.com or 602-730-1644

Chandler apparel company moving to bigger digs SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

Things are looking up for a Chandler apparel company.

This spring, State Forty Eight will relocate its headquarters to a new space at 3245 N. Arizona Ave., suite E04, in Chandler.

“Frequenters of the original location need not worry as the new space will remain in the Pollack Business Park North off of Arizona Avenue and Chilton Drive, but will feature a dedicated store front with easier street access,” the company said in a release.

Founded in 2013 by Michael

Spangenberg, Stephen Polando and Nicholas Polando, State Forty Eight bills itself as “an apparel company dedicated to promoting and advocating state pride and investment in the local community.”

Its Arizona-centric designs are on T-shirts, tanks, hats, hoodies and other apparel aimed at sports fans, outdoors people and others.

The company develops relationships with community partners and has donated nearly $65,000 to charities and nonprofits across Arizona since their launch.

The company’s current space has

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showroom with more product and a dressing room.”

Additionally, the new location will provide more private office spaces and a bigger warehouse which will be converted into a fulfillment area and photo studio that can stay active without bothering customers, the owners said.

“Our focus is to be more efficient, offer more products for sale and entertain more people for small events,” Polando said.

State Forty-Eight also sells its gear in various retail establishments.

Information: statefortyeight.com

a small showroom but is largely a warehouse space.

The owners said they want to expand to accommodate the growing demand of their customers.

“As we grow and evolve, we see a lot of opportunity for a bigger and more versatile space,” said Spangenberg. “We have a steady online business, but our customers still like to come in to see and try on the items – and we love having a place to interact with them, too.”

The owners want the new 2,201-square-foot space to become “a more retail-friendly environment in the

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31

At Gateway Airport, U.S. and Mexico are one

BY JIM WALSH Staff Writer

A simple chain link fence inside a vintage 1940s aircraft hangar in east Mesa marks a new boundary – and a vast opportunity – in trade and international relations.

To get an idea of how significant it is, a new stationary exercise bicycle recently on one side of the fence was considered inside the United States. Had it been on the other side, it might as well have been in Hermosillo, Mexico, its actual destination, even though the hangar has been at Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport since World War II. The difference is that the bicycle had been “pre-cleared’’ by U.S and Mexican customs officers working together at the first and only federal Uniform Cargo Processing Center in the interior U.S. The center marks a unique partnership that opens up a burgeoning e-commerce market for both countries.

“It’s one click to go anywhere in Mexico,’’ said Glenn Hamer, president/CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. “For Mesa to become the epicenter of e-commerce shipping with Mexico is a huge deal. Mexico is at the point the U.S was at in 1999 when it comes to e-commerce.’’

Mexico has all the pieces to build a booming e-commerce market: a growing middle class, disposable income to match, ready access to the internet and thousands

Mesa Vice Mayor Mark Freeman, left, listens as Mexican businessman Ariel Picker, the CEO of Skybridge Arizona, discusses the cargo processing center at Gateway Airport. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

of cell phones.

“We think e-commerce in Mexico is about to take off like a rocket ship, ’’ Hamer said.

Mesa, the state of Arizona and Mexico all want this new arrangement to pay off handsomely – so much so that Mexico last month sent its new customs commissioner, Ricardo Peralta Saucedo, to tour the facility.

Peralta was accompanied by Ariel Picker, president of Skybridge Arizona, which is developing the nation’s first international air cargo hub to house both Mexican and United States customs at Gateway Airport, and Marco Lopez, founder and president of Intermestic Partners.

The two companies are working on opposite sides of the border to maintain the unique Mesa trade arrangement – which allows cargo shipments into any Mexican airport rather than only the few with customs inspectors.

The arrangement eliminates weeks of delays – boosting efficiency by getting goods to the places where they are needed most and eliminating the possibility of corruption.

“I think it will be the jewel of Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport,’’ Lopez said. “It’s the only one inland. This is it. There’s no other game in town. … That’s the economic part of it that makes us so excited.’’

Ricardo Peralta Saucedo, the customs commissioner of Mexico, peers over the shoulder of a Mexican customs agent at Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport’s nationally unprecedented cargo processing center, which local and state officials call a boon to the regional as well as Mexican economy. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

While there have been operations previously as part of a pilot program, the recent shipment marked the beginning of regular operations.

“Now, we are open for business,’’ Lopez said.

Lopez, former chief of staff at U.S Customs and Border Protection during the Obama Administration, said there are two parts of SkyBridge that eventually will dovetail – a real estate component and the cargo component.

He said SkyBridge is still working on submitting its master development plan to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plan’s approval will allow for the construction of buildings in close proximity to runways that will form a 360-acre logistics hub. The buildings would include warehouses and other facilities required for shipping cargo.

“I think it’s going to be very smooth,’’ Lopez said. “Everybody understands the importance of that 360-acre project.’’

Although the government shutdown delayed the project’s review, “we are hoping to get it back on track. We haven’t had any problems with the FAA,’’ Lopez said.

He said SkyBridge and Intermestic are negotiating with a developer to build 70,000 square feet of space near the airport, but not adjacent to the runway – that would not be subject to the FAA approval.

Picker, who also heads a Mexican security firm, demonstrated how the customs process works to Peralta and his delegation,

Natalia Briseno Campillo, an aide to the Mexican customs commissioner, chats with Skybridge CEO Ariel Picker. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

which included Felipe Munroy and Natalia Briseno Campillo.

The Peloton exercise bikes were the first cargo cleared by customs agents from both countries and loaded onto an awaiting Lear jet, along with some computer equipment.

Mesa Mayor John Giles, Vice Mayor Mark Freeman and Councilman David Luna, who has been a key contact with SkyBridge, all welcomed the Mexican delegation to the airport.

Officials from both sides of the border formed a semi-circle while addressing each other in English and Spanish, the flags of both countries standing nearby.

The concept dates back to when Mesa became a major player in the government partnership that took over the closed Williams Air Force Base from the federal government and started turning it into a satellite airport and an economic hub.

“It’s not just a concept,’’ Giles said, noting the assignment of the Mesa customs officer. “Everyone remains optimistic that this will be a real game-changer.’’

He noted that another major improvement at the airport is about to move forward, saying during this state of the city address that the FAA had approved funding for a new $20-million control tower.

The antiquated, 1970s U.S. Air Force tower, where controllers had to walk up a ladder to get to the top, was an obstacle to the airport’s realization of its full potential, he said.

Giles also noted that the airport authority’s role is providing the air transport facilities for SkyBridge and nothing more.

“We are not putting money at risk,’’ he said. “We are giving them the development rights. We are not their financial partners.’’

The Mesa City Council recently approved a foreign trade zone at the airport that offers tax advantages as an incentive to stimulate business.

Bill Jabjiniak, the city’s economic development director, said the city has always viewed the airport as an “economic

A batch of bicycles bound for Mexico is unloaded at Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport for processing in the nation’s first and only such operation in the interior U.S. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

Peralta, who represents the Morena party, which took over Mexico’s government in December, is a big supporter of SkyBridge. Such reassurance is especially welcome because the Morena party’s electoral victory marked the first major shift in political power in Mexico in years.

“For the first time we are working together, doing trade to the benefit of both countries,’’ Peralta said, with Jose Pablo Martinez Buentello of SkyBridge serving as an interpreter.

“It’s very important to build bridges between both of our countries. It’s very important and that’s what we will continue to do,’’ Peralta said.

Giles told the delegation how he had mentioned SkyBridge and its massive economic potential during his recent State of the City address.

“For those who are visiting from Mexico, I want you to know how important this is to our city,’’ Giles said. “Instead of getting distracted, we want good things to happen for both of our countries.’’

Giles said the project has made steady progress, meeting all deadlines and lining up all the regulatory approvals required to make it a reality.

engine’’ and that the city’s patience with its development is starting to pay off.

He said the airport generated 1.5 million passengers last year and the facility is maturing. He said SkyBridge could eventually account for 17,000 jobs, whether directly or indirectly.

“I think you will continue to see it grow. This is just the tip of the iceberg,’’ Jabjiniak said. “Today, you have to go to Mexico City to clear customs. What we’re trying to do is to streamline it, so you clear customs in a few days and go anywhere in Mexico.’’

Lopez said that the businesses that sign leases first will benefit the most, with only so much space available eventually to rent. While the demonstration of concept was mainly to impress Peralta and his party, it also had sales ramifications.

For example, Jerrod Steinke, of Ceva Logistics, a supply chain and freight management company, said it would appeal to his clients.

“This could be a very good thing for our company,’’ Steinke said. “This is kind of the jumping off point. It’s great to see it come to fruition.’’

32

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‘Roots N’ Boots’ riding into Queen Creek

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Families heading to the carnival at Roots N’ Boots Queen Creek later this month can expect more bells and whistles than the popular event offered in previous years.

A new carnival March 15-17 with new rides will be part of the festivities at Horseshoe Park and Equestrian Centre at 20464 E. Riggs Road in Queen Creek.

Kastl Amusements for the first time will offer the rides such as the Gondola Ferris Wheel, Zipper, Scooter, Cliffhanger, Super Slide, Sizzler, Mardi Grad and Tea Cups.

“The carnival is just one of the attractions of Roots N’ Boots Queen Creek,” said Rich Robertson, vice president of the nonprofit organization Friends of Horseshoe Park, and carnival organizer. “The carnival is just a little bigger and brighter than (we’ve) had in the last number of years.”

Guests can also play games, adding to the fair-type atmosphere.

The signature Roots N’ Boots events are part of the rodeo that will be held March 15-17 in the Equestrian Centre.

Some pre-rodeo events March 13-14 include community roping and barrel racing and Rodeo 101 tours.

The Roots N’ Boots Queen Creek Pro Rodeo performance will feature seven professional events. Bareback riding, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, tie-down

Kastl Amusements will be bringing the Orient Express to the carnival at Roots N’ Boots Queen Creek. (Kastl Amusements)

roping, team roping and bull riding are sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, according to the Roots N’ Boots website.

The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association sanctions the women’s barrel racing.

Rodeo 101 tours are available, with a single tour per day, starting an hour before the PRCA rodeo starts.

A maximum 16 people can join the tour to get a feel for the rodeo by walking around the arena and possibly running into a rodeo clown, bull fighter or other

competitor.

About 16,000 people come to the Roots N’ Boots Queen Creek events every year, but Robertson said it is hard to predict what the turnout will be for just the carnival.

“The carnival we know attracts people who aren’t even coming to the rodeo,” he said. “There’s rides that are appropriate for all ages, a variety of those, all around it horse-related events. Most of the people who come here are young See

ROOTS on page 34

Chandler Museum offers variety of programs SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

What’s inside Page 2,3 Santan Family Fun Calendar

A new Chandler Museum exhibition, “Frank Lloyd Wright: Architecture of the Interior,” explores the interior design of Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses, often considered his greatest architectural accomplishment.

Through reproduction drawings, photographs, furniture pieces and textile samples, the exhibit illustrates the many ways that Wright created the visual character of interior space and objects within. The exhibition is on view at the Chandler Museum through March 17.

The exhibition also features the stories behind several Frank Lloyd Wright design projects in Chandler, including the history of Ocatilla Desert Camp, San Marcos in the Desert and a remodel of the San Marcos Hotel in Downtown Chandler.

Drawings and photographs of interiors show the ingenious ways Wright maximized the feeling of open space while accommodating the various functions for daily living.

The exhibit includes a number of furniture pieces from the HeritageHenredon Collection and fabric samples featuring geometric designs from Wright’s Taliesin Line. The furniture and textiles are on loan from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation at Taliesin West.

“This exhibition provides an interesting take on Wright’s work from the inside out.

So often we focus on the exterior look of his designs, but here we get a deeper look into how Wright created interior spaces,” said Museum Administrator Jody Crago.

The new Chandler Museum is located at 300 S. Chandler Village Drive.

The Chandler Museum augments its exhibits with informative programs throughout the month.

(File photo)

Here is what will be offered this month and beyond. Unless otherwise noted, programs run 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

History Bites Lunchtime Talks

Adult program first Tuesday of the month. Get a Taste of Chandler history during 30 minute talks led by museum curators. Bring your lunch as you listen.

Noon-12:30 p.m. March 5: A Swing and a Miss: Spring Training in Chandler; April 2: Dorothea Lange’s Depression Era Photography in Chandler; May 7, “Land Sale Day – 100 Years of Celebrating the Wrong Day.”

C-Town Suitcase Club

For ages 3-5 the third Tuesday of the month, this free program explores everyday objects from the past and how they compare to today. The group “travels through time”enjoying musical, hands-on and theme-based activities. 10-11 a.m.

History Detectives

This family program for ages 6-12 is on the first Saturday of the Month. Use clues from local primary resources to solve a history mystery. March 2, Scavenger Hunt; See

MUSEUM on page 34

34

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Always call to verify information as some events change or cancel after the calendar is printed.

Send family events and activities to

STFF@SanTanSun.com

Mon

Tue

4

5

• Toddlertime

11

• Family Storytime • Toddlertime • Lapsit Babytime • Lego Club • STEAM Club

12

• Toddlertime

18

• Family Storytime • Toddlertime • Lapsit Babytime • Lego Club • STEAM Club

19

• Toddlertime

• Family Storytime • Toddlertime • Lapsit Babytime • Lego Club • Family Storytime • STEAM Club

26

25 • Toddlertime

• Family Storytime • Toddlertime • Lapsit Babytime • Lego Club • STEAM Club

Wed

6 • Lapsit Babytime • Suns Game

13 • Lapsit Babytime

20 • Lapsit Babytime

27 • Lapsit Babytime

Thu

Fri

Sat

1

7

2

8 • Toddlertime • Ready, Set, Preschool!

• Toddlertime • Ready, Set, Preschool!

16

• Toddlertime • Ready, Set, Preschool!

• Suns Game

28

23

• ImprovMANIA

29

• Toddlertime • Ready, Set, Preschool!

• Arizona Railway Museum • ImprovMANIA • Chandler Farmers Market • Preschool Science: Bugs and Blooms

• ImprovMANIA • Rhythm and Rhyme

• Arizona Railway Museum

• Arizona Railway Museum • Ostrich Festival

17 • Arizona Railway Museum

24

• Arizona Railway Museum • ImprovMANIA • Chandler Farmers Market

30

• ImprovMANIA

3

10

• Arizona Railway Museum • ImprovMANIA • Chandler Farmers Market • Ostrich Festival

• ImprovMANIA • Ostrich Festival

22

21

• Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Lakers • Arizona Diamondbacks • Dr. Seuss Celebration • Arizona Railway Museum • Monthly Family Bird Walks • ImprovMANIA • Chandler Farmers Market

9

15

14

Sun

• Arizona Railway Museum • Arizona Diamondbacks

31

• Arizona Railway Museum • ImprovMANIA • Chandler Farmers Market

• Arizona Railway Museum

SEE

ROOTS

from page 33

families. Every year it’s been popular.

We’re just trying to make it bigger and better. We want to mix it up a little bit.”

Many people who come to the carnival live in Queen Creek, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert and San Tan Valley, Robertson added.

“We get a lot of snowbirds come to this, people from other states and all over the world that are visiting out there because it’s a great time of year to come out here and see the western rodeo,” he said.

Besides the carnival, Roots N’ Boots Queen Creek offers family-oriented activities, including Kids N’ Kritters on March 16.

One children’s activity is Mutton Bustin,’ where kids ages 3 to 8 (weight limit 55 pounds) ride sheep. Other festivities include Learn to Rope, where children get a crash course in roping, and Scrambled Eggs, where youths try to be the fastest holding an egg on a spoon running to a chicken, and sack races.

Xtreme Teen Rodeo gives those young people 12 to 19 the opportunity to try out many animal-oriented events including the Ultimate Steer Toss, Tractor Tire Relay and the Piggy Back Hustle.

People can register for their children

and teens in person starting at 7:30 a.m.

March 16 at the Equestrian Centre.

Friends of Horseshoe Park, the organization that helps host Roots N’ Boots along with the Town of Queen Creek, is in its ninth year as a nonprofit.

“Our goal is to support and help benefit the Horseshoe Park,” Robertson said. “It’s a unique facility. It’s attracting equestrian events from all over the country. We want to bring people to the park to see how it benefits them.”

Friends of Horseshoe Park also provides volunteer help for Horseshoe Park and Equestrian Centre events and continuous upkeep and promotes Queen Creek’s rural heritage.

The organization aims to host inexpensive, family equestrian events from which it can gather revenue to invest money back into the park.

Friends of Horseshoe Park generates revenue through donations, special sales, merchandise sales and hosting the activities at Horseshoe Park. Banner Ironwood Medical Center is the major sponsor for the Roots N’ Boots Queen Creek.

Carnival rides will cost $2 on March 15 and people can buy a $25, unlimited rides wristband for March 16. Wristbands for March 16 will be valid from noon to 6 p.m. Guests can buy wristbands on-site during Roots N’ Boots. The carnival ticket presale ends on March 15. Information: rootsnboots.org

MUSEUM

from page 33

April 6, “Weighing the Evidence”; May 4, “When was Land Sale Day?”

Stem Saturday

This family program, for ages 5-12, is held the second Saturday of the month and is sponsored by the museum and the Chandler Museum and Museum of Science and Sustainability, for the investigation of science topics. March 9, “Microorganisms; microscopic, magnified and mighty”; April 13, “Marvelous Materials; Metal, Ferro fluids and magnetism in action”; May 11, “Sub irrigation – Gardening, seeds, water conservation and mini gardens.”

Demonstration Day

All ages on the third Saturday of the month can experience a historical craft, demonstration or performance with our special guests. March 16, “Fly Thing, History and Hatches with Ed Voss”; April 20, Hat construction with Jeanne Bjorn; May 18, “The River People’s Landscape” with Royce Manuel.

Step in Their Shoes

This family program on the fourth Saturday of each month offers a chance to “walk in the lives, from a

CALENDAR PAGE 35

first-person perspective, of those who make up and impact our community using interactive and engaging activities.”

March 23, “Lebanese in Chandler”; April 27, “Sheepherders in Arizona”; May 25, “Chandler Athletes.”

In addition, there are several onetime presentations: “Our Stories: The Remarkable Buckhorn Baths Story,” 10:30 a.m. March 30.

Opened in 1936, the Buckhorn Mineral Baths and Wildlife Museum became one of Mesa’s most recognizable and memorable Main Street icons.

Authors Jay Mark and Ron Peters present the fascinating account of this historic site and the rags-to-riches story of owners Ted and Alice Sliger.

“Japenese Internment; When Some Americans looked like the Enemy,” 1-2 p.m. April 11.

Hear a thought provoking talk from Museum Administrator Jody Crago about how Japanese immigrants came to America and why, as well as what led up to the Japanese internment camps at WWII. Listen to stories of those who were incarcerated within the barbed wire fences at the Gila River Camp, located only a few miles from Chandler.

Normal hours of operation: TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m.; closed Mondays. Admission is free. Information, call 480-782-2717, chandleraz.gov/museum

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

2 Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 7 p.m.

Watch the Phoenix Suns take on the Los Angeles Lakers at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Talking Stick Resort Arena, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $8 to $316. 602-379-7867, nba.com/suns.

comedy shows. ImprovMANIA’s improv performances are fast paced, like the show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” Prepare for a night of laughter in downtown Chandler.

ImprovMANIA, 250 S. Arizona Ave., Chandler, $10, 480-699-4598, improvmania.net.

2 Arizona Diamondbacks, 1:10 p.m. Watch the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Salt River Fields.

Salt River Fields, 7555 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale, $19 to $44, 1-800-745-3000, mlb.com/dbacks.

2, 9, 16, 23, 30 Chandler Farmers Market, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The market offers fresh local produce, prepared goods, desserts and some crafts on select days. All items are grown in Arizona or are homemade from local vendors. 3 S. Arizona Ave., Chandler, Free, downtownchandler.org/farmers-market.

2 Dr. Seuss Celebration Celebrate the kickoff of the Cover to Cover Spring Reading Challenge with the Cat in the Hat. There will be face painting, crafts and more.

Downtown Library, 22 S. Delaware St., Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary. org.

2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 31 Arizona Railway Museum, noon to 4 p.m. Visit Chandler’s railway museum at Tumbleweed Park. The Arizona Railway Museum was founded in 1983 as a nonprofit organization and is dedicated to the railways of Arizona and the Southwest. All types of railroad memorabilia and cars are represented in the museum.

Arizona Railway Museum, 330 E. Ryan Road, Chandler, display yard and building free; display cars $5 per person or $15 per family/ group. For information, call Tim at 480833-4353 or Bart Barton at 480-831-6520, azrymuseum.org.

2 Monthly Family Bird Walks, 8 a.m.

Desert Rivers Audubon leads free guided birdwatching tours through Veterans Oasis Park the first Saturday of every month from November to April. Forty-five-minute walks begin every 15 minutes. Sunscreen, closed-toe shoes and plenty of water are recommended.

Environmental Education Center, 4050 E. Chandler Heights Road, Chandler, free, 480-782-2889, chandleraz.gov/eec.

2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30 ImprovMANIA, 7 p.m. Join ImprovMANIA on Fridays and Saturdays for family-friendly

4, 11, 18, 25 Toddlertime, 9:15 a.m. and 11 a.m. Songs and puppets engage toddlers during this 30-minute event.

Hamilton Library, 3700 S. Arizona Ave., Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

5, 12, 19, 26 Family Storytime, 6:30 p.m. Read books, sing songs and play with puppets at Family Storytime. This week, families will build forts, select books and read. Fort-building material will be provided.

Sunset Library Monsoon Room, 4930 W. Ray Road, Chandler, free. 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

5, 12, 19, 26 Toddlertime, 10:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. The 30-minute program features singing and puppets to engage children.

Sunset Library Monsoon Room, 4930 W. Ray Road, Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

5, 12, 19, 26 Lapsit Babytime, 11:30 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.

Read books, listen to music and interact with fun puppets at playtime. All activities are designed for newborns to 18-month-old children. One parent for each child is highly recommended.

Basha Library, 5990 S. Val Vista Drive, Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

5, 12, 19, 26 Lego Club, 4 p.m. Meet new friends and have fun building with Lego, which are supplied.

Lego Club is a Vertex program, where Chandler Public Library intersects with STEAM and

makerspace.

Sunset Library Monsoon Room, 4930 W. Ray Road, Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

5, 12, 19, 26 Family Storytime, 6:30 p.m. Read books, sing songs and play with puppets at Family Storytime.

This week, families will build forts, select books and read. Fort-building material will be provided.

Hamilton Library, 3700 S. Arizona Ave., Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

5, 12, 19, 26 STEAM Club, 4 to 5 p.m. Come to the Chandler Library STEAM Club and have fun every Tuesday with science, technology, engineering, art and math. Win prizes just for showing up. Ages 6-11. STEAM Club is a Vertex program, where Chandler Public Library intersects with STEAM and makerspace.

Downtown Library, 22 S. Delaware St., Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary. org.

6, 13, 20, 27 Lapsit Babytime, 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Read books, listen to music and interact with fun puppets at play time. All activities are designed for newborns to 18-month-old children. One parent for each child is highly recommended.

Downtown Library Copper Room North, 22 S. Delaware St., Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

6 Suns Game, 7 p.m. Watch the Phoenix Suns take on the New York Knicks at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Talking Stick Resort Arena, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $8 to $316. 602-3797867, nba.com/suns.

7, 14, 21, 28 Toddlertime, 9:15 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.

Toddlertime features singing and puppets to engage the children. The storytime is approximately 30 minutes.

Basha Library, 5990 S. Val Vista Drive, Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

7, 14, 21, 28 Ready, Set, Preschool!, 10:15 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Children ages 3 to 5 prepare for kindergarten through songs and activities. This is a 45-minute program.

Basha Library, 5990 S. Val Vista Drive, Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary.org.

7, 14, 21, 28 Toddlertime, 10:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. Songs and puppets engage toddlers during this 30-minute event.

Downtown Library, 22 S. Delaware St., Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary. org.

8, 9, 10 Ostrich Festival, times vary. See ostriches, ride dozens of attractions and enjoy live entertainment at the 31st annual Ostrich Festival. Headlining acts include Flo Rida, The Commodores and Andy Grammer.

Tumbleweed Park, 2250 S. McQueen Road, Chandler, $8-$50, 480-588-8497, ostrichfestival.com.

15 Rhythm and Rhyme, 11 to 11:30 a.m. Young children are welcome to join in a musical celebration at the library. During the event, they can sing, dance and play instruments.

Hamilton Library, 3700 S. Arizona Ave., Chandler, free, 480-782-2800, chandlerlibrary. org.

16 Preschool Science: Bugs and Blooms, 10:15 a.m. Children interested in science will have a blast learning about flowers and bugs. This hands-on event will have kids creating their own germinator pouch and biodegradable planter.

Arizona Science Center, 600 E. Washington St., Phoenix, $15 to $20, 602-716-2000, azscience. org.

21 Suns Game, 7 p.m. Watch the Phoenix Suns take on the Detroit Pistons at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Talking Stick Resort Arena, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $8 to $316. 602-3797867, nba.com/suns.

24 Arizona Diamondbacks, 1:10 p.m. Watch the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Milwaukee Brewers at the Salt River Fields.

Salt River Fields, 7555 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale, $19 to $44, 1-800-745-3000, mlb. com/dbacks.

DARRELL JACKSON Staff Writer

Shae Zamardi was a successful gymnast who earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University with a degree in sports marketing and business.

However, she wanted more.

“I had been a gymnast my entire life and I went to college for four years,” she says. “After college, I got a job in the real world when I realized I missed swinging on a bar. I had a friend who was in Cirque du Soleil. I tried out and I was hired.”

Now she’s a part of “Amaluna,” which plays a tent outside of State Farm Stadium March 15 to April 14.

“Amaluna” invites the audience to a mysterious island governed by goddesses and guided by the cycles of the moon.

Their queen, Prospera, directs her daughter’s coming-of-age ceremony in a rite that honors femininity, renewal, rebirth and balance.

In the wake of a storm caused by Prospera, a group of young men lands on the island, triggering an epic, emotional story of love between Prospera’s daughter and a brave young suitor.

Zamardi was a competitive gymnast for 16 years, and a part of Team Canada for three years before joining LSU’s gymnastics team.

See

CIRQUEon page 36

35

Cirque du Soleil cast members perform stunts while showcasing the love story of Amaluna. (Photo courtesy of Cirque Du Soleil)

36

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

CIRQUE

from page 35

“I visited LSU with my mom and they offered me the scholarship on my first trip down and I was hooked,” she says.

During her freshman season, the Tigers finished third at nationals then jumped to second in her junior and senior years, just missing the prestigious NCAA championship.

“It was tough,” she says. “We wanted the championship, but I had so much fun in my time at LSU. It was just an amazing time and the sport grew so much while I was there.”

After four years of work, Zamardi graduated and put her gymnastics behind her.

“I had a 9-to-5 desk job when I was told that Cirque Du Soleil had an opening,” Zamardi says. “They contacted me and asked me if I was interested. I started training about a week before my tryout and recorded myself on the bars and they liked what they saw.”

She joined the team in November 2018 and began working on “Amaluna” for which she plays an Amazon.

“It is just an amazing show and I have never had more fun than I am right now,” Zamardi says. “I come to work with a smile on my face and, even though it is a lot of hard work, I love my job.”

The name Amaluna is a fusion of the words “ama,” which refers to “mother” in many languages, and “luna,” which means “moon,” a symbol of femininity that evokes the mother-daughter relationship and the idea of goddess and protector of the planet. Amaluna is also the name of the mysterious island where the story unfolds.

Former LSU gymnast Shae Zamardi plays an Amazon in the Cirque du Soleil’s “Amaluna,” which comes to State Farm Stadium March 15 through April 14. (Photo courtesy of Shae Zamardi)

“Amaluna is a tribute to the work and voice of women,” explains Director of Creation Fernand Rainville. “The show is a reflection on balance from a woman’s perspective.”

Director Diane Paulus adds, “I didn’t want to build a ‘women’s agenda’ show. I wanted to create a show with women at the center of it, something that had a hidden story that featured women as the heroines.”

When she joined, Zamardi instantly noticed the difference between this and her days as a gymnast.

“I had done gymnastics for 15 years, and after two years in retirement, that part came back to me like riding a bicycle,” Zamardi says. “The hardest part is the story and becoming a character and knowing when I enter the stage, I leave Shae and become my amazon character.”

When asked for her favorite part of the show, she had an immediate answer.

“The look on the kids and faces of the families as they watch the show is what it is all about,” she says. “That and kids coming up to me after the show with a

look of amazement on their faces, that makes it all worth it.”

“Amaluna”

Various times Friday, March 15, to Sunday, April 14 State Farm Stadium, 1 Cardinals Drive, Glendale Tickets start at $55 statefarmstadium.com

Sunbird Golf Resort Art Club Show March 16, 2019 (Saturday) 9 am - 3 pm

Sunbird Clubhouse Ballroom

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(Gate entrance off Riggs – follow directional signs to Clubhouse)

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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38

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

39

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Sports & Recreation

41

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

A win in transition: Venue swap doesn’t derail VC

BY ZACH ALVIRA Sports Editor

The hours leading to the 3A boys basketball state-championship game brought a whirlwind of emotions for the Valley Christian High players.

Just hours before the Trojans were to tip off against Pusch Ridge Christian Academy at Gila River Arena in Glendale, the venue was changed to Highland High in a ripple effect by the Arizona Interscholastic Association, the governing body of high school sports in the state.

The AIA was challenged by a record snowstorm that hit just ahead of the small-school state finals, initially scheduled for Prescott Valley.

“We told our kids that it didn’t matter if the game was going to be played at an arena, at Highland or at an outdoor court,” Valley Christian coach Greg Haagsma said. “They had an opportunity to go win a state championship.”

The Trojans seized it, hoisting the trophy in front of a packed gym before cutting down the net.

Led by junior guard Logan Phillips’ 22 points and senior guard Jalen Grijalva’s 18, Valley Christian defeated Pusch Ridge, 5744, on Feb. 23 for the state title.

“The gym was loud, it was a great atmosphere and being able to get on a ladder after and hang out on the court, it’s something special,” Haagsma said. “There’s nice things about this environment we wouldn’t have had at the arena.

“Ten years from now, these kids

aren’t going to remember they played at Highland High School. What they will remember is that they won a title.”

The state championship is Haagsma’s sixth at VC since 1997. He also is the school’s athletics director.

The snow was deep in Prescott Valley, where the 2A championships were to be played. Those schools, largely from remote areas of the state, typically bring huge fan bases with them to state. To accommodate the anticipated 2A crowds, the AIA moved those tournaments into Gila River Arena, in

Above: Valley Christian High boys basketball players hoist the 3A state-championship trophy in front of a packed gym at Highland High. Right: Senior point guard Jalen Grijalva’s three-pointer seconds into the third quarter ignited a run by Valley Christian the carried the Trojans past Pusch Ridge Christian. (Zach Alvira/STSN Staff)

turn bouncing the 3A boys championships to Highland on short notice.

Once settled in, Pusch Ridge wisely fed 6-foot-10 senior center Lucas Elliott near the basket. Valley Christian was unable to find a consistent shooting rhythm and was

out-rebounded on both ends of the floor.

“We knew we had to do a little better job defending (Elliott),” Haagsma said.

See

CHRISTIAN on page 42

Hamilton girls win 6A hoops title

Sophomore Amanda Barcello said she feels badly for the seniors who went out on a sour note, losing the statechampionship game after winning three. (Eric Newman/STSN Staff)

Seton Catholic girls’ run of state basketball titles ends

BY ERIC NEWMAN STSN Staff Writer

A new 4A girls’ basketball champion was crowned for the first time in three seasons. Shadow Mountain defeated Seton Catholic, 54-31, on Feb. 23 at Gila River Arena, denying the Sentinels a fourth consecutive title.

Coming into the season, Seton had graduated several quality seniors and lacked size. Just two players on the roster were listed at 6 feet. They felt they had a target on their backs.

Coach Karen Self said that she is impressed how her players fought See

SETON on page 42

Members of the Hamilton High girls basketball team hold the 6A state-championship trophy moments after the Huskies defeated Xavier College Prep, 45-33, in the title game at Arizona State University’s Wells Fargo Arena.(Kimberly Carrillo/STSN Staff)

SPORTS & RECREATION 42

CHRISTIAN

from page 41

“We were letting them get over the top of us. So we knew we had to make him earn his shots a little bit more. That was very important.”

Late in the second quarter, with Pusch Ridge leading, VC’s adjustments began to pay off.

The Trojans put more pressure on Pusch Ridge’s guards, making it more difficult for them to get the ball to Elliott.

And soon, VC’s shots began to drop. It took the lead heading into halftime.

But the Trojans still needed a spark.

A 3-pointer just seconds into the third quarter from Grijalva got them going.

“We knew we had to come out strong in the third quarter because we knew they come out strong,” Grijalva said. “The

SETON

from page 41

through that adversity.

“I can’t tell you how proud of these girls I am. They worked so hard to compete and play at our best. Defense and competitiveness kind of became our identity,” Self said.

Once again, the Sentinels will graduate a group of skilled and well-loved seniors.

The senior class reached the statechampionship game every year, winning three of them. Boasting a 113-16 overall record, there are few classes that can claim more career success.

These seniors leave a legacy of leadership and a lasting positive impression on the coaching staff and younger teammates.

“I’ve just seen them grow as players

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

From there, Grijalva took over. The senior point guard drew fouls, created turnovers and found open Trojans along the arc or cutting into the lane.

Within minutes, Valley Christian jumped to a double-digit lead that they did not relinquish. At one point, the Valley Christian faithful chanted “MVP” as Grijalva approached the free throw line.

“I did it for my family, I The Highland High gym was packed for the boys 3A state-championship basketball game with enthusiastic Valley Christian faithful. They were did it for Valley,” Grijalva rewarded with a state title. (Zach Alvira/STSN Staff) said. “It’s been four years and all I wanted to do was fact that I hit that three really gave us help bring a championship confidence to keep it going and keep the to the school, and I finally did. That chant momentum throughout the whole game.” was for all of us, not just me. It was a

team effort.”

It was a long journey for the Trojans that tested their composure. Two years ago, they entered the 3A tournament as the top-ranked team but were hampered by injuries. They lost in the first round.

A playoff run last season ended in the semifinals after a poor performance.

The box score from that game has been hanging on the wall in the Valley Christian gym since the playoffs began.

Through the changes in venue, they maintained their composure and accomplished the goal they set upon arriving at Valley Christian.

“It’s a relief that we finally got it,” Phillips said. “Ever since my freshman year we wanted it. It’s been a long time since our team has been back here.

“We wanted to get this one for the seniors really bad. It feels awesome.”

and as people. It’s been amazing to watch and be a part of,” Self said.

And, once again, the Sentinels will open next season with a roster loaded with young talent. They will return four of their top six scorers. Shadow Mountain will also return its top six scorers. It would not be surprising to see these teams meet in another 4A title game next year.

Seton sophomore Amanda Barcello said she felt badly for the graduating class and that teammates will take time to honor them. When the Sentinels meet in a few months to begin preparation for next year, the loss and a shot at redemption will motivate them, she said.

“A lot of us have club ball, and I think we’ll kind of take a little break after this long season. But, when it comes time for high school season again next year, we’ll be ready

offensive rebounds.

By halftime the game was tied at 16.

“When we went into halftime tied after not scoring much we kind of knew we could do it,” Matador junior Heavenly Greer said. “Coach told us we needed to just get to the basket and use our size.”

The Matadors began playing to their size advantage, driving to the basket and scoring on lay ups or offensive rebounds.

Shadow Mountain allowed just nine points in the third quarter as it rolled to a 14-point lead.

Seton turnovers turned into easy transition scoring opportunities for Shadow Mountain, as well. The Matadors scored 23 points in eight minutes, only two of them coming on a jump shot. Seton had no answers for them near the hoop.

“There was just too much size and athleticism for us out there today,” Self said.

to try to get back here again,” Barcello said.

Seton came out stronger from the tipoff, leading Shadow Mountain through most of the first half in a defensive battle.

Shadow Mountain did not score its first points until just over 3 minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Matadors were getting to the basket through drives and efficient passes to cutting players, but they appeared tight and could not get shots to fall. The Sentinels led 9-7 after a quarter.

However, Shadow Mountain’s zone defense, which played tight at the top and double-teamed every player who got the ball in the corner or post, made it difficult for Seton Catholic to move the ball. The Sentinels were forced into contested jump shots, and players were too far from the basket to secure many

Chandler High boys wrestlers place 5th at state

BY ZACH ALVIRA Sports Editor

The Chandler High boys wrestling team took fifth place in the Division I state wrestling tournament in Prescott, the second straight year that the Wolves finished near the top.

Still, Chandler coach Vidal Mejia believes his team could have placed higher.

“We thought we should have done better,” Mejia said. “Next year we expect to improve on our finish. Now we just have to start working toward that.”

Two Chandler wrestlers won individual weight-class titles and two others finished third.

Sophomore Zach Espalin, who won the state title last season at 106 pounds, repeated as a champion, this time at 113 pounds. Nathaniel Deasey, another sophomore, won at 220.

Senior Thomas Bigelow (138 pounds), who will wrestle at Southern Virginia University next year, and sophomore Elijah Sobas (195) each placed third.

Despite their youth, sophomores Espalin and Deasey are already accomplished wrestlers at the national level. Espalin took fourth in the USA Wrestling Junior Freestyle All-American National Championships in 2018 and sixth in the 2018 Reno Tournament of Champions. In January, he was runnerup in the Temecula Battle for the Belt tournament.

Deasey, meanwhile, was crowned 2018 USA Wrestling Cadet Freestyle National

We thought we “ should have done better.

Next year we expect to improve on our finish.

Now we just have to start working toward that.

”

– Chandler coach Vidal Mejia

Chandler-area wrestlers at state The Chandler High wrestling program, led by two individual champions, took fifth place in team standings in the Division I state wrestling tournament in Prescott. (Chandler High wrestling photo)

Champion and named 2018 USA Wrestling Greco All-American.

“What those two have accomplished is hard to do,” Mejia said. “Wrestling some of the best kids across the country gives them a lot of confidence. They make an impact in the room because the other kids want to get to that level.”

With Sobas, the three sophomore placers form a strong nucleus for next season, when they’ll be joined by talented underclassmen moving up in the program.

Mejia expects his team to be successful for years to come.

The work ethic and discipline of Bigelow and the senior class on and off the mat made a lasting impression that will serve the Wolves well moving forward.

“We are really proud that our seniors are good kids and are going off to college,” Mejia said. “Our mission is to produce good citizens, well-rounded academic kids that are ready for college and are good wrestlers.

“We are really proud of our seniors for going off to college.”

Several wrestlers from other Chandlerarea schools also placed highly at state.

106 pounds: Will Effinger, Casteel, 4th.

113 pounds: Zach Espalin, Chandler, 1st.

126 pounds: Alex Rodriguez, Basha, 1st; Isaiah Valenzuela, Hamilton, 2nd. 132 pounds: Jonah Muhammad, Hamilton, 2nd. 138 pounds: Dylan Quinn, Basha, 2nd; Thomas Bigelow, Chandler, 3rd.

160 pounds: Freddy Latu, Hamilton, 3rd. 170 pounds: Jad Mazboudi, Arizona College Prep, 2nd. 182 pounds: Joe Carey, Basha, 1st; Donovan Corn, Hamilton, 3rd. 195 pounds: Elijah Sobas, Chandler, 3rd; Diego Torres, Casteel, 4th. 220 pounds: Nathaniel Deasey, Chandler, 1st.

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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Opinion

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Hamilton One in Four program helps homeless kids

BY VANESSA AGEE Guest Writer

Hamilton High School is known for its championship winning football team, rigorous academics and affluent student body.

Hidden within those impressive statistics are a group of families that sometimes struggle to maintain basic needs such as housing, food and school supplies.

The Hamilton One in Four program makes immediate and long-term impacts by providing remediation for those needs.

According to Hamilton High School Social Worker Rajani Rastogi, the goal of the program is to “stabilize families and prevent students from being displaced or moving into shelters.”

Rastogi assesses needs and secures resources so that students can instead focus on their education.

Community leaders work diligently to ensure the program stays well funded.

Regular corporate sponsors include DIOR, OnTrac, and USA BMX. Rastogi organizes an exciting annual fundraising event that allows the program to distribute funds and supplies across the entire Chandler Unified School District.

OnTrac President Rob Humphrey and his wife, Jolynn, graciously opened their home and hearts to host this fundraising dinner, auction and 50-50 raffle twice since 2017.

On Feb. 8, the Humphreys’ expansive backyard was converted into an intimate oasis of common purpose, camaraderie and community support.

Strings of white lights draped with upside down umbrellas were the multifocal center point of the space.

The striking fuchsia, cream or patterned umbrellas were described by Jolynn Humphrey as “symbols of temporary shelter and compassion”.

This sheltering compassion has touched and will continue to touch the lives of many. At the event, Hamilton One in Four recipients told their stories of help and hope.

One recipient corrected a medical issue that previously left her jobless. She then obtained an associate degree and secured stable employment. Another rebuilt bridges with estranged family members. One exuded joy and purpose as she announced that she is mere months

away from a dual bachelor’s degree in general education and special education.

Chandler is a progressive and successful city with programs that assist people in need while providing hope for their futures.

Hamilton One in Four is a program that allows Rastogi, the Humphreys and citizens like you to make an impact. When we think beyond ourselves and care about other people, the possibilities are endless.

Your tax deductible contributions to the Hamilton One in Four program may be made at HamiltonOneInFour.com. For more information, you may contact Mrs. Rastogi at Rastogi.Rajani@cusd80.com.

- Vanessa Agee is a fifth grade teacher, public speaker and owner of “Frazz Free” business.

Please help stop Big Pharma from killing me

BY ANNE MCAULEY LOPEZ Guest Writer

I have a condition called chronic myeloid leukemia, and there is a miracle pill called Gleevec that controls my cancer, but there is no cure. I take the generic version, which you would think costs much less, but the reality is that the retail price for the generic of my dose is $10,000+ per month versus $13,500+ per month for the brand name.

I think we can agree that even a standard 20 percent patient cost for specialty medications like this one is still a lot of money.

While our insurance caps our out of pocket at $500 for my prescription, that is still a lot of money, and I need this medication for the rest of my life. Without it, I will die.

Since the Gleevec patent expiration in 2015, the retail price has only risen on both

the brand name and generic versions. Media outlets have written about the anomaly of Gleevec pricing, as it doesn’t follow what was once considered the standard, which is that the generic was significantly cheaper and just as effective.

Big Pharma has no answer when asked why this drug in particular is priced so high, even as a generic.

I have no choice but to either pay, find funding or stop taking the medication and risk death.

I have no advocate at my oncologist’s office to fight with Big Pharma on my behalf. While I could go to a big hospital system where they have patient advocates, and I did that last year, I received sub-par care and a huge bill.

Not only is there no one helping me at the doctor’s office, I have no one at the health insurance company helping me. In fact, when I called the insurance company in tears asking for an oncology patient ad-

vocate, I was met with a long pause and the unfortunate news that they don’t have that kind of patient care.

There are no skip days or cheat days when you have cancer. You only fight. And fight I will.

There is no one advocating for patients like me who require medications for the rest of our lives.

There is no one asking for Big Pharma to be called to the carpet on behalf of cancer patients who are gouged by the system, forced to send bills to collections because there just isn’t enough money to go around, who aren’t sick enough to file for disability but are too sick to work full-time, who suffer an array of side effects each day and whose medications cost pennies to manufacture but who are forced to pay thousands of dollars over their lifetime.

No one asks to liquidate their retirement to cover the costs of cancer. No one asks

their parents to liquidate their retirement to cover the cost of cancer. Yet, here I am in exactly this situation because Big Pharma is getting paid and no one is helping the people who need it most.

My vision for 2019 is to live all 365 days of the year, but I can’t do that if the cost of my life-saving medication keeps increasing.

I want to tell my story to Congress. I want to facilitate changing the system before I die. And I’d like that death to be far into the future, but I just don’t know how that is going to happen.

Please call and write your local politicians to ask them to look at how Big Pharma is gouging cancer patients and so many others who require life-saving medication. I truly believe that our stories and efforts can create change and save lives.

-Anne McAuley Lopez is a professional blogger in Mesa.

Lawsuit against regents, universities is bad for business

BY DENNY BARNEY Guest Writer

Few would disagree with the notion that generating new business opportunities and supporting education is good for the people of Arizona.

If we can agree that business and education are good, then it is no stretch to consider attempts to stifle these efforts as, well, bad.

I have spent much of my career in

business and as a champion for economic development around Maricopa County.

Because of my focus on creating jobs and opportunities in our community, I find the state attorney general’s lawsuit against the Arizona Board of Regents as a step in the wrong direction, and a position that stands against what the vast majority of Arizonans would view as the way our government should be operating.

The Omni Hotel and Conference Center planned for ASU’s Tempe campus, of which

the attorney general disapproves, is a perfect example of how public universities can contribute to the local economy when given the freedom to do so.

The 330-room, four-star hotel will contribute over $32 million annually to the City of Tempe, according to estimates.

Within the first three years of the agreement, the project will create some 300 construction and hospitality jobs.

Omni will also enter into an agreement to help offset the capital cost of the Tempe

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Similar university-hotel endeavors exist throughout the U.S. and here in Arizona. They provide universities, among other things, a place to do the work of convening capable and innovative people to work on and solve the problems facing our society.

And in this case, they provide the university with much-needed revenue – See

BARNEY on page 45

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OPINION

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

BARNEY

from page 44

revenue that has been cut from the university’s budget.

The plan is win-win-win: ASU gets desperately needed funding through the payments in lieu of taxes to support its educational mission as a public research university, nothing is taken away from K-12 education and the community gets job creation, tourism and convention dollars and economic development from having a beautiful hotel in the middle of Tempe.

It’s a model that should be emulated.

The Omni is not the only place where this kind of innovative thinking is taking place.

Another remarkable project underway in Tempe and enabled by an ASU public-private partnership is the Novus Innovation Corridor.

Set to transform 330 acres of

underutilized land into an energetic, mixeduse urban district, the project will extend from the northeast corner of ASU’s Tempe campus along Rio Salado Parkway toward Tempe Marketplace.

Novus brings renovated ASU athletic facilities, 4.2 million square feet of hightech office space, nearly 4,000 residential units, over 660 hotel rooms, and many retail and entertainment venues.

During the buildup, economists predict the creation of 22,000 jobs and over $3 billion in economic impact for the Phoenix metropolitan area. Once complete, estimates indicate that Novus will generate $4.5 billion of ongoing, annual economic activity and more than 34,000 jobs.

Public-private projects like Omni and Novus are good for two reasons.

First, they turn undeveloped land owned

by universities into new streams of revenue.

Revenue goes to fund the educational mission of our own world class public university founded in the East Valley of metropolitan Phoenix, but with a reach across the state of Arizona and country.

And second, the projects themselves build economic momentum for the region and produce the type of buzz that attracts businesses from out of state to Arizona. Universities add other attractive aspects for corporations that want to relocate here and need access to a skilled workforce.

A steady pipeline of talented college graduates close by also helps. This opens the door for internships, full-time jobs and other opportunities to collaborate across a wide spectrum of activities.

Gone are the days when public universities could depend on significant

45

state funding. They now have to be creative and dynamic in finding sustainable funding solutions.

And let’s face it, universities have to compete. Attracting the brightest faculty, having modern facilities and employing the professional staff to keep everything running smoothly adds to the cost of doing business.

A judge will decide whether this lawsuit has merit. But there is a bigger issue at stake.

In the end, either the universities will continue to have the liberty to create new streams of revenue and provide business opportunities to the community that lead to positive outcomes, or they will not. In any case the vibrancy of our new age economy for generations to come depends on it.

-Denny Barney is president and CEO of East Valley Partnership.

Letter to the Editor Voucher bills extend the school choice sham A blatant attempt to disregard the will of voters has just had initial success with the passage of senate bills SB1395 and SB1320 in the Finance committee. SB1320 is a total sham while SB1395 has a few good points but is utterly mired in transparent deception.

If these bills become law, it will be an unAmerican end run around the defeat of Prop305, which is of course the goal.

Even though public education in its current, battered state is not serving my child and many others like him, we must support it because it is necessary for a healthy society. I am here to support what it should be, and could be, if properly funded. These bills essentially throw the baby out with the bath water.

SB1320 nonsensically wants to move ESA to the treasury, but an education program should remain in the department of education, not the treasury. I know you understand this. Proponents of SB1395 often cite the myth of school choice, so let me tell you about the choices available to my child.

He is 11. He was diagnosed with a usually fatal brain tumor at 9 months old and was treated for that in every possible way until kindergarten: 12 brain surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation. By the grace of God he survived, and as you can imagine, he needs a lot of support in school.

He absolutely could and should be educated in a public school, but because of flaws in the system, by the time he reached fourth grade, he was getting left behind. I applied for ESA because I had heard that

there were so many great private schools where he could receive an education delivered in a way that he can access it. But I was in for a rude surprise.

My son qualifies for the top tier of ESA funding. He receives enough to pay for almost any private school in the valley. Do you know how many of the private schools that I chose for my son would accept him?

Precisely zero. Zero. That includes charters and parochial schools, by the way.

So, who has the choice here? Not parents.

My son is currently home schooled and not by choice, because I cannot find an appropriate school that will accept him. There is a huge population of special education kids in this middle area, like my son, who need more supports but who are fully capable of thriving in the same environments as their peers. And they are

being denied entrance to these schools.

Where is our choice?

Of course, as a recipient family I support ESA. It provides vital education services to my son. But it should be reserved for children with special needs. Expanding ESA is not going to fix its problems and it won’t help students like my son who already cannot get a fair education even with the best ESA funding, which I do appreciate.

It will only increase competition for the already meager resources available to him.

ESA is not the golden ticket to private school heaven that people think it is. The very definition of equitable distribution of quality education is public schools. Fund them!

Allow people who are trained in education the authority to run them properly. And please – stop neglecting kids like mine.

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Neighbors

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Valley Hope offers help to substance abusers

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Peggy O’Sullivan first visited Valley Hope of Chandler 15 years ago to help a loved one struggling with a substance use disorder and was so impressed she decided she wanted to work there.

Not only did O’Sullivan go back to school to become a counselor, but she landed a job at Valley Hope of Chandler and recently was promoted to executive director of the nonprofit organization’s Chandler location.

Valley Hope is a national nonprofit organization providing residential and outpatient substance use disorder treatment out of 16 centers in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. The organization began in 1967 and the Chandler center opened in 1986 at 501 N. Washington St. Valley Hope offers loving, compassionate treatment for anyone ages 18 and older who is addicted to alcohol, opiates, methamphetamine and other types of substances, with the understanding addiction is a disease, O’Sullivan said.

She started working at Valley Hope in 2010 and worked in various roles including admissions counselor, assistant program director and business manager before becoming executive director.

O’Sullivan took the place of former

administration in Arizona, but she found a special place in Valley Hope of Chandler.

“I’ve worked in lots of places in my life and this is the best place I’ve ever worked,” she said.

“I love the people here.

They’re very dedicated to helping out patients.

It’s so gratifying to work with this population.

People are here because they want to be here and they want to change their lives.”

Valley Hope emphasizes the importance of helping not only the patient but also their family members and other loved ones in a relaxed, Among Valley Hope of Chandler leaders are, from left, Sister Mary Fran Simons, chaplain; Peggy O’Sullivan, executive director; and Jenn home-like setting, Zweifiel, also a chaplain. (Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer) O’Sullivan said.

Group family therapy sessions are offered programs. She has a master’s degree in executive director Susan Warren, who Saturdays and Sundays, and people close to the public administration and a master’s degree recently was chosen to be assistant director patients are encouraged to visit the residential in counseling from Arizona State University, of clinical services for Valley Hope. treatment center in Chandler anytime, with as well as a bachelor’s degree in public O’Sullivan is an experienced leader and visiting hours from 5 to 9 p.m. daily. planning from Northern Arizona University. clinician with expertise and a background Previously, O’Sullivan worked more than working in the clinical and operational on page 51 See 20 years in state and local government management of substance use disorder

HOPE

Nonprofit Smile Donor aids children globally

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

A Chandler-based nonprofit organization – rejuvenated by a successful fundraiser – plans to expand its support of children struggling around the world.

Smile Donor is a global charity started in 2014 that helps underprivileged children by refurbishing their homes, helping them cope with special needs, boosting their technological skills and offering other support.

The nonprofit organization’s cofounders and husband and wife team Rajneek “Raj” Khillan and Ashu Vohra, of Chandler, grew up in India, where they frequently saw poor children.

They said they were fortunate to grow up in families that were comfortable financially and they believe in giving back.

“I’m from a small town in India,” said Khillan, chairman of Smile Donor board.

“We grew up seeing our parents helping out, whether it’s kids in the school or (an) orphanage. After coming over here, I always had that feeling that I need to give back to that society.”

An electronics engineer who has his own start-up company for teacher training, Khillan has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Dr. K.N.Modi Institute of Engineering & Technology in India and a master’s degree and doctorate in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University.

He started working for Intel in 2006

Husband and wife team Rajneek (Raj) Khillan and Ashu Vohra, of Chandler, founded Smile Donor, a global charity that helps underprivileged children living anywhere in the world. (Jam Sani/Special to the SanTan Sun News)

and every time he visited India, he donated money to help those in need.

“We were like, ‘We are now earning good money so we should do something big,’” Khillan said. “We started talking to parents and family members in India asking about how to go if we donate.”

He said he took a month off work and traveled to poor areas in India to try to “understand what the ground reality is.”

“We decided that education might be the biggest thing where we can make an impact,” Khillan said. “In slum areas we would see kids begging, working with

their parents doing different kind of jobs.”

Vohra, a software engineer for Total System Services, said her parents also stressed the importance of helping those less fortunate when she was growing up in India. Her father is a branch manager in accounting and her mother had worked as a principal and high school professor.

“We were raised in really well families,” Vohra said. “My parents always said to us, ‘Help the needy ones.’ Both of our families were so much inclined toward education. The moment I got a job, I’m like, oh, I’m so blessed.”

Smile Donor holds camps in slum areas of India to educate parents on how to help their children use science and technology so they can get good jobs.

In one case, Khillan said Smile Donor brought children books, pencils and pens, and asked them to write their names. One boy learned to write his name and his father had tears in his eyes, touched that his child could learn to write.

The nonprofit organization is also going to help special needs children with cerebral palsy, autism or other types of disabilities, in the Solan District of Himachal Pradesh, India.

Special education teachers, paid by Smile Donor, bring books and instruments to special needs children and offer physical, occupational and speech therapies, as well as teach them self-help skills. Ganpati Education Society helps See

SMILEDONOR on page 47

NEIGHBORS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

SMILEDONOR

from page 46

the children, as young as 2 years old, and Smile Donor supports them.

“When I met these kids we were told they might not survive more than two years,” Khillan said. “We started a homebased education program.”

Smile Donor began helping eight children and has seen their health improve.

The nonprofit organization’s fundraising gala raised $24,000, which will be used to help about 40 more children with special needs, hopefully by the end of this year.

Smile Donor also helps an orphanage in Odisha, India, where about 30 girls live in one room. The orphanage did not have toilets and “not much of a kitchen,” said Vatsal Chikani, Smile Donor president.

A former homeopathic physician in India, Chikani now works as a biostatistician for the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Smile Donor built toilets and a bathroom inside the orphanage and also put up a fence to keep out animals so the orphanage could grow vegetables on the land. Chikani said she wants to get a plumbing line installed and fix a leaking roof at the orphanage, as well.

Also born in India, Chikani, of Chandler, said her father is a physician who provides free medicine for poor people in India.

“I want to see those smiles on kids’ faces,” she said. “That was always in the back of my mind. I wanted to come to the U.S. and do further studies and get into public health to … do at a bigger level.

The best thing about Smile Donor is that

one person is working from the beginning to the end of the project. You have the complete picture about the project.”

Smile Donor has also helped an education center in another part of the world. After Intel employees traveled to Mimi Education Centre in Rusinga Island, Kenya, and found problems, Smile Donor decided to help.

The school supports orphans and vulnerable children ages 2 to 8 years old with about 140 children living there and

Boys & Girls Club, holding a summer camp, where children were given small robotics and educators taught a Boys & Girls Club staff member how to instruct children in the technology.

Smile Donor also helped a Casa Grande elementary school that held competitions involving engineering and technology for students.

Not all volunteers involved with Smile Donor are adults. Smile Donor has a Youth Chapter founded by Anish Agarwal, 17, a

We have seen wherever you are the needs are “different.

Our goal is not just to help in India and Africa. Being here physically, we should do what is needed for the society as well.

”

– Rajneek “Raj” Khillan a small staff to cook, clean and provide security. Many of the children had parents who had HIV and have died.

Smile Donor helped put in a clean water system for the education system so the residents and staff did not have to keep carrying water on their heads from a lake 200 meters away. The nonprofit also installed a three-door latrine and installed an oven and kitchen.

Closer to home, Smile Donor has helped children in various ways. Khillan said Smile Donor collaborated with Mesa Arts Academy to provide a robotics kit and work with a teacher to help the campus start a robotics/Lego club.

The nonprofit also worked with the

www.HelpUSellAZ.com

Hamilton High School senior. He is president of the youth chapter, which has about 30 students in junior high to high schools and an Arizona State University student.

“We like to go out and support our community locally,” Agarwal said. “These local actions we take impact at a greater, global level.”

The Youth Chapter of Smile Donor packaged medical supplies that a nonprofit organization, Project C.U.R.E., provides to places in need around the world last year. The Youth Chapter also volunteered packaging food for underprivileged children around the world at nonprofit Feed My Starving Children, which has a Mesa center.

47

Agarwal said he started the Youth Chapter after spending his summer after his sophomore year in high school in India visiting family. He volunteered at a nonprofit organization called proVISION ASIA, which helps people with physical or mental disabilities.

The organization provides wheelchairs to people in need and Agarwal helped refurbish wheelchairs with the organization.

So once back in the United States, the Youth Chapter of Smile Donor organized a “Heels for Wheels” fundraiser to help raise money for wheelchairs to be sent to people struggling with poverty and disabilities. Participants went on a hike at South Mountain and raised more than $5,500 for the wheelchairs.

“It’s really touching for me because that’s where my origins are,” Agarwal said. “I feel like very blessed that I’m able to use the resources I have to give it to the people that are in need of resources in India.”

His mother, Shuchi Agarwal, also volunteers for Smile Donor. People started talking about how if a high school student could help out with Smile Donor, adults could do it too.

“I’m learning through Anish,” Shuchi said.

“We can encourage our youth and parents of youth so they can inspire their parents.

Then we can volunteer as families.”

Smile Donor would also like to help children in need in Chandler in the future.

“We have seen wherever you are the needs are different,” Khillan said. “Our goal is not just to help in India and Africa.

Being here physically, we should do what is needed for the society as well.”

Information: smiledonor.org

NEIGHBORS 48

Young innovators

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

3

Hilton High School hosted Chandler Unified’s first Innovation Fair Feb. 23, and academic coach Katie Moe lined up a broad array of educational and fun demonstrations and activities. 1) Kiera Freestone examine the sky through a telescope; 2) Scores of people attended; 3) Hamilton senior Ben Voller-Brown prepared a food demo; 4) Shital Patel and her 3-year-old son Dhyey examined a millipede; 5) While Michelle Simpson held the bug, onlookers included, from left, Ray, Sophia and Ethan Savoie; 6) Launching a rocket were Shane, Alexa and Karsten Lemire; 7) Watching the launch were several unidentified spectators.

All photographs by Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer

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2 6

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NEIGHBORS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

49

Chandler High grad shares fun childhood antics in book

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

A 1977 Chandler High School graduate is happy to share stories of the fun and shenanigans he and his nephew got into when they grew up in what was then a small community with a soda shop and movie theater downtown.

James Ricks Jr. of Mesa, who works as a director of facilities at Mission Community Church in Gilbert, recently wrote a children’s book, “The MisAdventures of Temp and Junebug,” published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. The book’s character, Temp, is based on Ricks’ nephew, and Junebug is based on the author.

Though Ricks was his uncle, he and his nephew, whose real name was Jesse James, were only one month apart in age.

Jesse James, Ricks’ older sister’s son, died a few years ago. The book chronicles the boys’ adventures in Chandler when they were 5 to 7 years old.

“We thought we were brothers until they told us we weren’t,” said Ricks, 60. “It didn’t change anything for us.”

The book is described as funny and shares tales of Temp and Junebug getting into all kinds of trouble in rural Arizona including falling down while running along the tops of cow pens at a dairy farm, then returning home covered in manure and mud.

“It’s about two kids and all the stuff they got into, trouble and fun things,” Ricks said. “It’s more of just adventures and a few messages in there. Playing with matches didn’t turn out too well for us.”

The book also describes what happened when the boys came home to discover a wild goose had found its way into the house.

James Ricks Jr. works at Mission Community Church in Gilbert. Ricks used to work for the Chandler Police Department. (Patrice Ricks)

“I love Chandler,” Ricks said. “The downtown area when I was a kid was so different than it is now. We used to have a soda shop, walk in (a) theater. Now it’s all kinds of restaurants there. It’s huge now.

A lot people, the kids today won’t know there are actually mustang horses out in the desert of Maricopa.”

His book shares a story about Temp and Junebug trying to catch mustang horses and fit them into the back of a truck with a group of adults helping.

“They thought it would work and we told them there was no way,” Ricks said.

“It was pretty funny what happened.”

A married father of three adult children, he said his wife, Patrice Ricks, encouraged him to write a book about his adventures with his nephew.

A Christian his whole life, he has worked at Mission Community Church

for 10 years. Prior to that, he worked as a She was born in Germany and traveled jailor and then a crime scene technician often, living in Michigan, Chicago and for the Chandler Police Department for California before winding up in Chandler. six years.

Patrice believes readers will find it He had also previously worked as interesting hearing stories about Chandler a detention officer for the Maricopa in the 1960s.

County Sheriff’s Office and helped “That community was super small,” she a friend launch a said. “That’s really when business. a village was raising “I would have never you.” thought I’d be writing a Patrice and James book,” James said. lived together in their Patrice said she early days of marriage knew James’ nephew in Chandler before as well as James were moving to Mesa, where best friends with her they bought a house. brother in high school.

Jesse James lived with Also a Chandler High the couple for their first graduate, she found three years of marriage.

James’ childhood Patrice said she antics funny because loved him and he would she came from a much “always say things that different background. were off the wall crazy.”

“I came from a pretty She said she would strict background, love to see her husband military background,” write a sequel to the Patrice said. “We didn’t book, explaining how his do stuff like that. I childhood experiences James Ricks Jr., a 1977 Chandler High School remember when he shaped his life. graduate, wrote “The Mis-Adventures of Temp and Junebug.” (Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.) would tell me about it, Seeing how James I was like, ‘You should is successful now will write this down, honey.’ I just thought it was inspire other children “who grew up funny … I laughed so hard at some of his really, truly poor” like him, Patrice added. stories.”

James said he is thinking about writing She said James and his nephew would another book, but it might be about law “play catch with glass jars” in grocery stores. enforcement.

“They would walk along this fence and He has advice for others who want to get chased by the farmers because they write a book. were torturing cows and the cows were “I would say, commit your thoughts to chasing them,” Patrice said. “Our version of paper,” James said. “You’ve gotta write it playing was the playground with the girls.” down.”

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Training day

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

HOPE

from page 46

That inclusion impressed O’Sullivan when she brought a loved one to check in at Valley Hope several years ago.

“I had such a positive experience,” she said. “It really made an impact on me. I went back to school to become a counselor.”

O’Sullivan said she participated in family counseling with the person close to her who was struggling with addiction and it helped her.

“I was so scared,” she said. “I was surprised that I learned so much about myself.”

Valley Hope of Chandler offers medically monitored detoxification to safely ease patients off substances, typically in three to five days. Nurses assess each person and give them a score based upon their withdrawal symptoms and every patient gets a physical by one of the physicians. Nurses are on staff 24/7 and the patients in detox are monitored every hour.

People can also check in any time of the day or night for residential treatment, where they generally live 30 days in the center.

“It is really helpful to have that kind of break from the daily routine to help people examine their own thought patterns and behaviors and to practice making some of these changes,” O’Sullivan said. “We give them different tools, we teach people to come up with a plan for this first year.”

Valley Hope of Chandler has helped 23,000 people since opening more than 30 years ago.

The 55-bed Chandler center provides a very structured environment where staff members provide a “multidisciplinary approach” to helping patients.

Counselors, who are mostly master’s-

level, as well as chaplains, nurses, physicians and psychologists meet every morning to talk about the best treatment plans for each patient, looking at their “physical, mental, spiritual and social needs,” O’Sullivan said.

Each patient works with an assigned counselor, who provides individual counseling at Valley Hope of Chandler.

Valley Hope is also a leader in medication assisted treatment, where medications are used to help patients manage cravings so they will “be more successful for a period of time after treatment,” O’Sullivan said.

Vitamins are typically provided, as well as different medications to help patients “stay comfortable and manage withdrawal symptoms,” she added.

“We have a real history in treating people with love and respect that goes back a long way,” O’Sullivan said.

The Chandler center offers volleyball and basketball and patients also occasionally go hiking, explore parks or bowling.

“We have a really nice dining hall,” O’Sullivan said. “Patients love the food. Our dietary staff are phenomenal. People often rave about that.”

Valley Hope is also unusual for treatment centers in that it has a spiritual component to the program.

It is not religious, but rather spiritual and based on the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Each patient is assigned a chaplain, who they can meet with to “explore their beliefs,” and patients can go to a chapel at Valley Hope of Chandler for optional meditation every morning.

“People often remark that it’s so relaxed here, not like a hospital setting,” O’Sullivan said.

Sister Mary Fran Simons, a longtime Catholic nun, is the chaplain at Valley

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Hope of Chandler and has worked there since it opened in 1986. She has a master’s degree in Latin from Saint Louis University and a bachelor’s degree in education from Marymount College of Kansas.

Sister Mary Fran, 85, had previously worked as a pastoral worker in Western Kansas and said many farmers she knew were alcoholics. Valley Hope started in Norton, Kansas.

Sister Mary Fran also taught in Catholic and public high schools and then joined Valley Hope of Chandler in 1986.

“At those times people who had alcoholism went to hospitals and they were put in pajamas and it was a very restricted environment,” she said. “When a doctor and pastor started Valley Hope, they wanted to build trust in people, to deal with the disease. It was built on trust from the very beginning and having people discover their own power.

“Finding their own spirituality is very important … very often addiction is targeting the pain of deeply human spiritual needs, to have worth, to be loved, to not be lonely.”

Sister Mary Fran said the 12 Steps were built on Christian principles and help people tap into their own “sense of higher power.”

She meets with patients in the residential program once a week and lets them talk.

“Usually I ask about their life and their significant events in their life,” Sister Mary Fran said. “I let them discover their sense of connection and important connections. The experience is one of community and the whole group of people.

“By the time they share with people, in small group with a counselor and in therapy group, there’s a lot of process going on inside of them, connecting with others. A lot are called to forgive themselves and

others. In my experience of true Christianity, that is the essence there, forgiveness and connection, community.”

Like O’Sullivan, Sister Mary Fran, who lives in Gilbert, loves working at Valley Hope of Chandler.

“For me personally, it has fit me better than anything that I’ve done,” she said. “I love meeting people at a significant level.

Then in my own sense of higher power of God, it has deeply touched that.”

Patients at Valley Hope of Chandler decorate mugs to reflect their journeys, and their loved ones are invited to decorate saucers to support them. Once they recover and leave treatment, they are invited to come back a year later for a special ceremony and they pick up the cup they decorated to mark their recovery.

Valley Hope of Tempe at 2115 E. Southern Ave. has an intensive outpatient program, where any patients can go for counseling three days a week, three hours a session for six weeks.

The Tempe center also provides one year of continuing care after the intensive outpatient program, which offers one hour of group therapy a week.

Valley Hope makes great efforts to keep people connected with each other, with new patients and with the counselors and other staff members who supported them after they check out of the residential center in Chandler.

Valley Hope of Chandler has a very active alumni group and those who have completed the program there and at the Tempe center meet once a week at the Chandler and Tempe facilities.

Many alumni also serve as 12-Step sponsors for people currently going through See

HOPE on page 55

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NEIGHBORS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

How Valley Hope of Chandler saved one man’s life

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Andrew Donlevy lost a six-figure job and his home and tried to commit suicide three times when he was addicted to alcohol.

But at his lowest points he always found a safe haven that felt like home, where he was greeted with open arms and given compassionate, loving care, even when he relapsed into alcoholism.

Donlevy, now 52, of Gilbert, having recently celebrated three years of being sober, still frequently visits and shares his stories with new patients at Valley Hope of Chandler, a nonprofit organization that offers residential substance use disorder treatment at 501 N. Washington St. He went there for medically monitored detoxification for a few days in 2013, then stayed for two 30-day, inpatient stays after that.

Donlevy said the treatment and support of staff members, his sponsor and fellow patients at Valley Hope of Chandler have been major reasons he has been able to stay sober.

“I’m a three-time alumnus,” Donlevy said. “It is a trust and accountabilitybased facility. There’s not a gate, it’s not like you’re locked in. It’s very open, it’s very social. Almost all of the counselors are in recovery themselves.”

A 48-year resident of the Valley, Donlevy was born in Everett, Washington.

He said his father was an abusive alcoholic who “thought it was cool to give me a few sips of beer” when he was a child.

Still, Donlevy said, as an adult initially,

Andrew Donleavy credits Valley Hope of Chandler as well as his daughter, Lauren, for finally helping him out of an alcohol-driven downward spiral.

(Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

he could have just a couple alcoholic drinks socially without having issues. He said that changed when he was 42 and “going through a bitter divorce.”

Donlevy, who has a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from Arizona State University, said he was a traveling business consultant and “pioneer consultant in speech analytics for contact centers.”

He said he began drinking heavily, often when taking clients out to dinner.

Donlevy said he would show up late for meetings with clients and call in sick while on the road.

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“I started experiencing the symptoms of withdrawal if I didn’t drink on a regular basis,” Donlevy said. “I thought I just needed to get a break from it. I went on WebMD and looked up alcoholism and saw withdrawal could be fatal. I decided I needed to check myself in for a medical detox.”

Donlevy said at that time he was a “blackout drunk,” who would drink until he passed out.

“I would go to sleep with bottles of wine, wake up with several more bottles of wine and would not remember going

out and getting more and more alcohol,” he said.

Donlevy went to Valley Hope of Chandler for four days for the medically monitored detoxification, though he said the staff there urged him to stay for 30 days.

“It was definitely a new experience,” he said. “I was thankful. It was a medically supervised detox and even with the medication, the detox symptoms are very harsh. … I was in denial about being an alcoholic. My ego said I could do this by myself.”

Donlevy said he relapsed within three months.

Early on, he said, he could hide his drinking from his three daughters. His two oldest daughters, Allison and Lauren, were in college, while his youngest daughter, Tara, was in high school at the time and lived with her mother.

But after finishing the detox program, after a few months Andrew thought he could drink again in moderation this time and decided to have a drink with a client while on the road working.

“The divorce was over, but it was ignorance, being three months in and thinking, wow I’m doing pretty good, I can probably have a drink again and be okay,” he said, adding: “The obsession of alcohol and the feeling that it gave me – it numbed me out from the stress and everything going on in my life. Each relapse a person goes through is progressive; it is worse than the last time.”

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HOPESIDE

from page 52

During that first relapse, Andrew said he “started to disappear.” He would be at home for a week but not respond to emails or take phone calls for work.

Lauren, of Phoenix, now 27 and a CRM specialist, said her father’s apartment looked “like a frat house” with boxes and cans everywhere.

“He had completely holed himself up, shut all the blinds,” Lauren said. “He was just in his place just drinking himself away.

I told him then and there, I was like, ‘This is your last chance; I’m going to take you to rehab. I was pretty much managing everything. I convinced his HR manager to not fire him and to burn through his PTO so he could go into rehab.”

He stayed at Valley Hope of Chandler for 30 days.

Valley Hope of Chandler not only embraced Andrew, but also his daughters who came to visit, and he said he reestablished his relationship with them.

Things went well and he was discharged, and his daughters were happy he was sober again.

However, Andrew had befriended a woman in treatment for alcohol addiction and said he made the mistake of thinking he could help her.

Their friendship blossomed into a romantic relationship, which became volatile emotionally and physically and led to arrests at different times for both of them.

“I tried to be the fixer,” Andrew said.

“She came to live with me. I made the mistake of thinking I could enter a relationship new out of sobriety with an alcoholic.”

Andrew lost his job, was hospitalized and decided to return to Valley Hope of Chandler.

Andrew said Valley Hope staff members were loving and accepting of him upon his return there.

“Once you enter Valley Hope, it’s like going into a world where, hey you know what you’re here (for); we’re gonna work on you, but we’re not going to dwell or beat you up because of what happened because as addicts we are good people who do bad things sometimes,” he said.

“I was unemployed. My reputation was almost destroyed professionally. My kids wanted nothing to do with me. In my drunken state, I told them I chose this woman over them.”

After finishing the 30-day program, Andrew said he went home to an empty apartment that his ex-girlfriend had moved out of and relapsed within about a week. He wound up in the hospital for almost a month and does not remember any of it.

A week before he was going to be evicted from his apartment, Andrew said he tried to kill himself by taking too much prescription medication. He awakened shaking, convulsing and sweating.

Later Andrew jabbed a steak knife into his arm at his elbow and then stabbed the knife around his ankle. On his third attempt to commit suicide, he mixed Diet Coke with bleach in a large cup and drank it.

Lauren found a homeless shelter where he could stay that offered a 12Step program. The anguish of caring for her father and trying to help him recover was taking a toll on her, though. The first time he stayed at Valley Hope of Chandler, she said she “felt a lot of pity for him.”

“The second time it turned into anger and he was angry, too,” Lauren said. “It came to the point where there was just tough love.”

She said O’Sullivan at Valley Hope of Chandler, as well as other counselors there, were helpful. Lauren called O’Sullivan to talk about her father’s situation.

“I said, ‘I feel like I need to let him go,’” she said. “I was like, ‘I feel like he’s gonna die.’ She agreed. She’s like, ‘Sometimes we do have to go through tough love. When it comes to addiction, you can’t help someone unless they want to be helped, and your dad does not want to be helped right now.’”

Andrew said he began to turn his life around again, reconnecting with people he met in treatment at Valley Hope of Chandler. He found a job, got a vehicle and visited Valley Hope of Chandler often.

He has not had a drink since January 2016.

“Valley Hope has been an integral, integral part of that,” Andrew said. “I know of no other treatment center that welcomes alumni, that wants alumni there. I don’t know of any alumni that want to go back to their treatment center.

I started to rebuild my life.”

He regularly attends an Alcoholics Anonymous group in Chandler and talks to new patients at Valley Hope of Chandler. Andrew became a sponsor to help others battling substance use disorders.

When his youngest daughter, Tara, 21, died of a heroin overdose in 2017, Valley Hope staff members mourned with him.

Tara had spent a short time as a patient at Valley Hope. Andrew went to Valley

53

Hope after she died to meditate in the center’s chapel and said “they propped me up.”

Andrew has also started a grief support group based on the 12 Steps to help anyone who has experienced a loss, whether it is a loved one who died or a divorce. He is also working on two books; one will be an autobiography and the other will be about his experiences in sobriety.

He is on partial disability as he copes with the loss of Tara but doing part-time consulting work.

Lauren said she and her father have a “very special bond” and his journey through recovery has brought them closer.

Like her father, she offered praise to Valley Hope of Chandler for its support of their family.

“Chandler Valley Hope is an amazing place to build camaraderie with other people that are in the same struggle with you,” she said. “I just feel extremely blessed because I’ve been involved with other centers before that have been less desirable and only do the bare minimum to get the addict through detox and just kind of let them go. Chandler Valley Hope really takes care of their patients.”

She offered advice to others who have a loved one battling a substance use disorder.

“Be patient with whoever it is that’s going through the addiction because they might not know that they need help yet, and they want help but they’re afraid to ask for it,” Lauren said. “Just being there and being supportive but also protecting yourself and your own health is important.”

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NEIGHBORS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Chandler High teacher earns big music award

BY ERIC NEWMAN Staff

Lori Lyford, a music educator at Chandler High School, was honored by the Barbershop Harmony Society and National Association for Music Education in January with the 2019 BHS/NAfME Music Educator of the Year Award for excellence in teaching, performance and lifelong impact on young singers.

Lyford has been the High School Choral Educator at Chandler for eleven years, and an educator for over four decades. She oversees five choir periods throughout each school day, all of different styles and ability levels.

Assistant Principal Ann Templeton, who oversees activities for the school, knew Lyford would receive the award weeks in advance. The administrative staff and students concocted a ceremony to surprise her.

Lyford was sitting in her classroom administering a semester final to the Treblemakers – a woman’s barbershop chorus at Chandler – in December when she received a message to visit Templeton and the administrative staff immediately.

Under the rouse of preparing for a “charity concert,” staff escorted Lyford to the Chandler Center for the Arts to make initial plans for the fake event.

In the few minutes it took Lyford and the staff to meet and walk over, the Treblemakers left the classroom, changed into full concert attire, and were on stage to greet Lyford for a surprise show.

“It was all such a shock. All of a sudden

and parents both love her. Every single year “weStudents have people that graduated years ago coming back to concerts and to see our groups, because they have such fond memories of performing with her and love what she’s doing. You don’t always see that.

”

– Ann Templeton, Assistant Principal

Lori Lyford (Photo courtesy Chandler Unified School District)

I’m there and my students are up on stage singing,” Lyford said.

The award was given after several parents and students submitted nomination forms to the NAfME, recognizing the effort Lyford has put into growing barbershop harmony music in the school and community.

In 41 years of teaching, Lyford has positively impacted thousands of students who have walked through the choir-room doors. Templeton said there is nobody more deserving of the recognition.

“Students and parents both love her. Every single year we have people that graduated years ago coming back

to concerts and to see our groups, because they have such fond memories of performing with her and love what she’s doing. You don’t always see that,” Templeton said.

“My son is truly happier on days that he has choir because he gets to spend time with, as he puts it, his brothers and family,” wrote Jessica Williford, a parent who is among those who nominated Lyford for the award.

“He loves that Ms. Lyford’s room is a no judgment zone,” Williford said. “She expects everyone to treat each other with respect.

That is how she gets them to all work to their full potential. They work together, they harmonize together, they grow together, and together they are successful.”

It is not the first time Lyford has been recognized as an excellent educator, either. In 2017, she was named Chandler High School Teacher of the Year, as well as an Ambassador of Excellence – one of the top five teachers in Arizona – by the Arizona Educational Foundation.

Though honored by the award, and stunned by the deliverance of it, Lyford said she hopes the award inspires more people to participate in the choirs and barbershop quartets she directs.

Lyford is always open to speak to other music teachers and prospective students about her teaching style and growing the choral community. She wants to preach the benefits some of her classes can have on young singers of all types.

“It (barbershop harmony) helps with tuning and performance ability, and really their overall courage because it’s a cappella. They have to sing independently while still being part of a group, and that takes a lot of skill and learning,” Lyford said.

Templeton looks forward to many more years of Lyford’s teaching and the music and life lessons students gain from her education.

“Music and the arts are a big emphasis at our school, so it’s amazing to have people like Ms. Lyford here to help keep that growing,” she said.

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NEIGHBORS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

HOPE

from page 51

treatment. Current patients are encouraged but are not required to go to the alumni meetings.

A new Hope Builder Club brings together former patients, as well as family members of former patients, former volunteers and anyone else interested in Valley Hope.

Alumni meetings have been held and a volleyball tournament is planned for this month.

Hope Builder Club will be adding more activities this year including a volleyball tournament this month. Jessica Ragan, alumni coordinator for Valley Hope of Chandler and Valley Hope of Tempe, said she also might offer bowling or paintball outings for Hope Builder Club members, as

well as current patients and patients’ family members.

Also new are panel discussions at the Chandler and Tempe centers, where Hope Builder Club members attend and panel members share their stories of achieving sobriety. Current patients can ask them questions.

Valley Hope alumni have started a chapter meeting in Tucson to connect former patients and Hope Builder Club members and the goal is to add more chapter meetings in other parts of the state, for people who might not have access to the Chandler and Tempe centers, Ragan said.

Ragan also does wellness checks, calling those who have completed their treatment, to see how they are doing. She can tell them about resources or other events.

“We just really want to make sure that we have that constant contact with

them and that they feel important and not forgotten,” Ragan said. “We’re always thinking of them and always inviting them to come back and participate in whatever we have going on.”

Sometimes the calls are “positive” and other times the former patient has relapsed, she said. Ragan is trained in how to help people if they are suicidal and contacts Valley Hope leadership when needed to have them call police to check on someone.

“I can’t solve their problem for them, but I can extend my hand and hand them resources,” she said. “It’s one of those jobs where you go home at the end of the day and you actually feel like you accomplished something.

“Every day is different and every day is a new day. Even if it’s a rough day, there’s a solution to that. You’re just kind of chipping away at it every day. That’s really fulfilling.”

Valley Hope accepts major insurance carriers to cover patients’ treatment and also offers different loan options and some discounted self-payment programs.

The Valley Hope Foundation, the charitable arm for the nonprofit organization, raises money and manages charitable gifts to provide treatment scholarships, treatment programs, capital needs and equipment for the centers.

The Valley Hope of Chandler & Tempe 7th Annual Golf Classic at 7:30 a.m. on April 27 at Ahwatukee Country Club, 12432 S. 48th St., is one such fundraiser and is being produced by the Valley Hope Foundation and Arizona Hope Builder Board.

For information on the golf tournament, contact Jim Geymont of the Arizona Hope Builder Board at 480-859-5134.

Information: valleyhope.org

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56

Arts & Entertainment

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Basha High teens channel the ‘50s in ‘Grease’

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Girls dressed in shiny, “Pink Ladies” jackets and flouncy skirts, grouped near boys in jeans channeling tough guys sang about summer lovin’ as they portrayed 1950s teens in a rehearsal for the musical “Grease” at Basha High School recently.

They sang and acted out the goodgirl, innocent lines and contrasting crass, bad-boy lyrics to the iconic song, “Summer Nights” but later in rehearsal posed for cast photos to be posted on Instagram.

The social media outreach shows the contrast between the lifestyle and culture of today’s teens and their poodle-skirt and leather-jacket-wearing counterparts in the 1950s.

The Basha High cast of 26 will perform “Grease the Musical” in a student-led production at 7 p.m. on March 7 and 8 at the school, 5990 S. Val Vista Drive.

Proceeds from ticket sales will go to East Valley Children’s Theatre as part of some of the students’ Basha Gives Back, a requirement where students must do something to help the community before they graduate.

About 14 students are working behind the scenes backstage on the musical.

Kylie Burge, 17, of Gilbert, a Basha High junior, plays the female lead Sandy

Two of the lead roles in Basha High’s production of “Grease the Musical” March 7-8 are Eric Winter as Danny and Kylie Burge as Sandy. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

in “Grease” and wanted to give back to East Valley Children’s Theatre as she has

performed in more than 25 shows with the theatre, a nonprofit organization.

She enjoys playing Sandy, a wholesome, sweet Australian transfer student, who gets reunited with her summer love, Danny, a tough, cool leader of a greaser gang, when she moves to Rydell High School in the musical.

They both are surprised to see each other at the school, but their romance is complicated by social pressures from their peers. Sandy and Danny undergo personal transformations as the cast sings upbeat, catchy numbers with lots of dancing, campy lines, a high school dance and drive-in movie visit.

Kylie said Sandy is very different from what she’s really like. She loves to perform, sing loudly and help produce the musical with her friends.

“It’s all just friends working together to put on something beautiful,” Kylie said.

“They always tell me, ‘Kylie, you need to be more shy’ (as Sandy). It’s really hard for me to be shy because I’m not shy at all.

Sometimes I just wish I was Sandy.”

She enjoys working as the choreographer for the musical, helping guide rehearsals with Ishita Jha, 16, a Basha High junior and director, and Jasmine Joo, 17, of Chandler, a Basha High senior and music director.

Winter Ashley, 14, a sophomore who plays Charlene “Cha Cha” DiGregorio in See

GREASE on page 58

Anne Frank’s stepsister to discuss the Holocaust LAURA LATZKO Staff Contributor

During the Holocaust, millions of Jewish people, gypsies, disabled individuals, gay people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, prisoners of war and others died at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators. Those who survived were forever marked by their experiences.

For Holocaust survivor, activist, author, speaker and humanitarian Eva Schloss, telling her story hasn’t become easier over the years, but she is driven by a need to educate others.

Schloss, Anne Frank’s stepsister, will give a talk on Wednesday, March 13, at the Chandler Center for the Arts. She will be speaking in cities across the country during a six-week visit to the United States.

The event is presented by Chabad of the East Valley. Rabbi Mendy Deitsch of the Chabad of the East Valley hopes that Schloss’ talk will leave a lasting impression.

“In 2019, it’s extremely disturbing to me the language, the dialogue that goes on. I’m really hoping that she could help educate, inspire and open up the minds and hearts of people, to live more peacefully and be more tolerant,” Deitsch said.

Schloss lives in London, where she moved to in the 1950s to study photography. It was there that she met her late husband Zvi Schloss, a Jewish refugee from Germany. Together, they

In 2019, it’s extremely “disturbing to me the language, the dialogue that goes on. I’m really hoping that she could help educate, inspire and open up the minds and hearts of people, to live more peacefully and be more tolerant.

”

– Rabbi Mendy Deitsch Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss is the stepsister of Anne Frank, whose heartbreaking diary of Nazis terror has been one of the most famous firsthand looks at Hitler’s efforts to exterminate Jewish people. Schloss, who has written three books about her experiences under the Nazis regime, will be speaking March 13 at the Chandler Center for the Arts. (Special to SanTan Sun News)

raised three daughters, who gave them five grandchildren.

Schloss was born in Vienna, Austria, and her family moved to Belgium and then Holland following Hilter’s annexation of Austria in 1938. It was in Holland that she met and befriended Anne Frank, who she played with from ages 11 to 13.

Schloss spent a year in the Auschwitz-

Birkenau concentration camp after her family was captured. Her brother, Heinz, and father, Erich, were killed at the camp, and only she and her mother survived.

After the war, her mother Fritzi befriended and later married Anne Frank’s father Otto Frank, who discovered and published his daughter’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.”

Schloss has written three books about her experiences and was the subject of James Still’s play “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank.”

Schloss finds it important to share her story because so many people around the world are taught very little or nothing about the Holocaust.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t learned,” Schloss said. “At the time, when I came back from Auschwitz, people said, ‘We’ve learned our lesson now. Never again See

ANNEFRANK on page 60

ARTS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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Chandler actress-author one of ‘Boa Babes’ stars

SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

Chandler resident Laurie Fagen is taking the stage again with four other experienced Valley actresses in a musical about their 40year friendship and how it began.

The “Boa Babes” will be performed March 11-14 and March 19-21 at the Herberger Theater Center’s LunchTime Theater at the Kax Stage on Van Buren Street between Second and Third streets in Phoenix.

Billed as a “bumpy, beautiful road trip through life,” it includes universal themes that women – and men – will relate to, from careers, children, husbands, aging parents, loss, love and deep friendships.

The five women will also perform in the “dramedy with music,” according to Laurie Fagen of Chandler’s Fox Crossing, who penned the script in collaboration with the others.

All are Valley stage veterans, and include: Sherri Hildebrand (“Pump Boys and Dinettes,” “Chicago”); Sandy Densford Vernon (“Sound of Music,” “Fiddler on the Roof”); Fagen (“Dames at Sea,” “Jerry’s Girls”); Pam Cannedy (“Chicago,” “West Side Story”); and Mary Nelle Brown (“Irene,” “An Everyday Afternoon in Takemethere Park”). The show is directed

by Cat Dragon of Mesa, whose credits include “Lonely Planet” and the 1992 Academy Awards show.

“The story is about how we all met, and the many things we have in common,” Fagen said. “The title comes from the night we went to Phoenix Theatre’s production

There are so many “ universal themes about friendship, love, aging parents, kids, pets – mostly cats, and then growing old and having a bucket list and checking things off a bucket list.

”

– Laurie Fagen

The Boa Babes consist of, clockwise from upper left: Pam Cannedy, Mary Brown, Laurie Fagen, Sherri Hildebrand and Sandy Vernon. (Special to the SanTan Sun News)

of La Cage aux Folles and decided to wear boas. We proclaimed ourselves the ‘Boa Babes’ and the name stuck.”

“There are so many universal themes about friendship, love, aging parents,

kids, pets – mostly cats, and then growing old and having a bucket list and checking things off a bucket list,” Fagen said. “These are all stories from our 40year friendship. I think other people will

say, ‘Oh, yeah, I remember when we did something like that.’”

She wrote the script before showing it to the other women in the musical, who helped her edit it.

Fagen earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Arizona State University and has worked extensively for television and radio stations. She was also employed as a writer/producer/director of corporate videos for 12 years.

She is the former owner and publisher emeritus of the SanTan Sun News.

Show times are 7 p.m. March 11; noon on March 12, 13 and 14; and noon on March 19, 20 and 21.

Tickets are available at herbergertheater.org/lunch-time.

Information : 602-252-8497

A bumpy, beautiful road trip through life!

47:00 pm Mon, March 11

TICKETS

To purchase in advance go to https://tinyurl.com/ BUYBOABABESTIX or call the Box Office at 602-252-8497.

Advance tickets will be held at Will Call. Doors open at 11:40am.

412:00 pm Tue, Wed, Thur, March 12, 13, 14 and 19, 20, 21 HERBERGER

LUNCHTIME THEATER

Herberger Theater Center Kax Stage

222 E Monroe St, Phoenix

Entrance on the southwest corner of Van Buren and 3rd Street

STARRING: (from left) Mary Brown, Sandy Vernon, Sherri Hildebrand, Pam Cannedy & Laurie Fagen

ARTS

58

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Basha High thespians have been rehearsing for weeks in preparation for their production of “Grease the Musical.” The photos show, from left: Christian Carillo, Tim Swanson and Eric Winter rehearsing a song; Christian Carillo, female lead Emily Burge and Eric Winter harmonizing on a number; and Emily, Skye Bowen and Cierra Clark-Dutiel winding up a song. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

GREASE

from page 56

the musical, helped Burge with some of the choreography.

Basha High junior Camryn Watt, 17, is the main tech person and “everything girl,” turning on the lights and the sound system, as well as moving sets and doing any other behind-the-scenes work needed.

Kylie said it’s easy to see the differences between teens in the 1950s, as portrayed in “Grease,” and teens of today.

“I think it’s almost eye-opening because then you start to realize how much we teenagers have changed in both the good ways and not so good ways,” she said. “I think today it’s almost everything is ten times more explicit. They still had that poise and elegance (in the 1950s).”

Eric Winter, 17, of Chandler, also a junior at Basha High, said the character he plays – Danny – also is much different from him.

Eric transferred to Basha this school year after having previously lived in Washington State, where he also performed in musicals and plays.

“It’s definitely a time piece,” he said.

“I’ve been in a ‘50s musical before,” in Washington, “Leader of the Pack,” he added.

“Social expectations are a lot different,” he said, comparing present day to the 1950s. “They’re a lot more crass (in Grease). It’s a lot different than who I am. I think I just read the script and try to understand who Danny is.”

Eric said today’s teen guys would not be “so hyped up about a car” as the teen guys in “Grease” are revved about restoring a car while singing “Greased Lightnin’” in the musical.

He said his late grandfather had told him about the 1950s and loved “Grease.”

“It’s my mom’s favorite musical,” Eric added. “It’s interesting to see the process of how the music, all the acting and parts come together. This is definitely a lot

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harder than a play. I grew up with a lot of the songs (in ‘Grease’).”

Tim Swanson, 18, of Gilbert, a senior at Basha High, plays Doody, a goofy guy in the greaser gang. He has also performed in several East Valley Children’s Theatre productions.

Tim said the guys in “Grease” are much different than him and from today’s other male teens.

“They’re so much raunchier than kids now,” he said. “Typically I’m more of a dorkier, nicer guy. There’s so much more respect today.”

Teens interact much differently today with texting and everyone has a “constant connection with everyone,” Tim added.

Skye Bowen, 16, of Gilbert, a sophomore at Basha High, said she can identify with the character she plays in “Grease” – Frenchy. One of the “Pink Ladies,” Frenchy is quirky, upbeat and accidentally dyes her hair pink while in beauty school.

“I love the story and I’m very grateful

to have the part of Frenchy,” Skye said. “It’s really nice to see a student production go so mainstream.”

Skye said she wants to be a cosmetologist someday and she has enrolled in a program for cosmetology at East Valley Institute of Technology.

She said she and the character Frenchy are both “very, very positive,” but that technology separates youths of current times from teens in the 1950s.

“We grew up a lot around technology and they don’t have anything we have today,” she said. “I think socially, you actually have to talk to somebody face to face (in the 1950s).”

Skye said her grandfather loves theater and is thrilled she is performing in “Grease.”

Shelby Morgan, of Chandler, a Basha High junior, said she is stepping out of her comfort zone playing sassy, outspoken tough “Pink Ladies” leader Rizzo.

See

GREASE on page 59

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ARTS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

GREASE

59

from page 58

“I’m not a very forward person, (not) very mean,” Shelby said. “It’s definitely interesting.”

Learning to talk in the way the teen characters in “Grease” talk has been “confusing” and the “Pink Ladies’” behavior stood out, she added.

“You’ll start to act a certain way,” Shelby said. “Your lingo is different. They weren’t texting. It’s easy to forget that (it) wasn’t normal to be mean, to curse. It’s a big deal” in the 1950s, she added.

As far as dating today compared to the 1950s, she said she believes “it’s still complicated.”

Shelby said she likes seeing how Sandy stands up for herself after being teased constantly.

Jha, the director, said rehearsals have been “going really well.”

“We’re really lucky to have such a committed cast,” she said. “It’s really tiring, but it’s gonna be worth it.”

Joo, the music director, who also plays teacher Miss Lynch in the musical, also loves the process. She has been playing piano for several years and used to perform on cello in orchestra. She taught the cast members the words, harmonies and other elements of the songs in “Grease.”

“One of the most difficult parts is working with the track,” Joo said.

While the culture of the 1950s is different than today’s, she and many other students watched the musical and movie versions of “Grease” to get a feel for the style and mores of the time. Joo said people in her generation “are into retro trends.”

Actors in the production include Tracy Landfair, Leo Carillo, Tim Swanson, Christian Carillo, Connor Mulholand, Timmy Peterson and Eric Winter. The actresses include Kylie Burge, Shelby Morgan, Winter Ashley, Emily McDougal, Remi Vohan, Skye Bowen, Cierra Clark-Dutiel, Veronica Francis, Stefani Montreuil and Jasmine Joo. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)

“I think the culture was a lot different back then,” she said. “We can think about it all the time, but we can’t know exactly what it was like. Some (students) research different methods for characters.

“Songs I believe are used to show character and further the plot,” she added. “A lot of these kids have some sort of musical background. I like ‘Grease.’ It’s cheesy. I’m so excited, especially since it’s student-run.”

The musical has been a team effort with Basha High administrators and other employees helping. Parents have donated costumes, a Basha High student made cheerleader costumes and dance teacher Pamela Simmons donated dance shoes for the actors.

Perry High School loaned the Basha cast “Pink Ladies” jackets to wear. Larry Hendon, a Basha High audio visual specialist, donated his time and set up sound for the student production. Basha High Principal David Loutzenheiser gave the students permission to produce the musical.

Brigette Burge, Kylie’s mother and the English department chairwoman at Basha High, supervises rehearsals just to make sure everything is safe, but the students run the show.

Other students as part of the causes they support for their senior project have donated sports equipment to Mexico, helped animal shelters and done other diverse outreach, Brigette said. Brigette and her friends and other parents raised money so students could buy the rights to do the show.

She said Kylie has been acting since she was 6 years old, but this is her first time on “the business side managing” a cast.

Kylie said she has modeled her management style after Karen Rolston, producing artistic director for East Valley Children’s Theatre. Arts funding is Kylie’s senior project.

“As a kid I was able to do over 25 plays with them,” Kylie said of East Valley Children’s Theatre. “I never paid a dollar. They bought all of our costumes. I learned so much.”

She said she shares with Rolston how rehearsals are going.

“Her excitement makes me so happy,” Kylie said.

Rolston is thrilled and touched that Kylie and other students are supporting her theater.

“I was really kind of amazed that they would do something like this for us,” she said. “Kylie’s very special to us, very hardworking. It was really fun to see her take off in her high school and do such great things in her high school. It made me feel really, really good that we at least had some kind of effect on her.”

Rolston said the proceeds from “Grease” donated to East Valley Children’s Theatre will likely go into programs, helping provide scholarships for students to participate in classes and workshops.

- Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in the Basha High bookstore or at the door. Information: cusd80. com/bhs

We’ve Invited an Expert to Help You Stamp Out Scams.

Betty Delano, the Senior Outreach Coordinator from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, will stop by Clarendale of Chandler to discuss what you can do to fight the growing risks of identity theft.

Come for Lunch & Answers to Key Questions • What is identity theft and what should you watch for?

• What can you do to reduce risks and avoid scams?

• What should you do if you suspect you’re a victim?

We’re honored to host this event and also tell you a little about the newest independent living, assisted living and memory care community coming to Chandler.

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RSVP BY MONDAY, MARCH 18 TO 480-504-6470 Hurry! Lunch will be provided, but seating is limited. web

ClarendaleOfChandler.com | 5900 S Gilbert Rd | Chandler, AZ 85249 | 1/19

60

ARTS

ANNEFRANK

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

from page 56

will such terrible things happen in the world. From now on, we’ll all be living in harmony together. There won’t be any more wars, no more executions.’

“But if you look around, there’s been many wars, and there are still persecutions, still prejudices. This is why we really have to educate, especially of course the new generation, the young people, about how dangerous it is.

“It was unbelievable because Germans were one of the best-educated people in Europe, and suddenly, they changed from intellectual, cultured people living in peace suddenly to hating people who lived amongst them who were German or Austrian citizens, to eliminating them in a horrible way, to gassing them,” she said, adding: “It was just something that was so incomprehensible that people said, ‘That can’t be true.’ That is why I have to tell them that yes, it did happen, and it can happen again.”

Schloss had to grow up very quickly once she was captured and taken to a concentration camp at age 15. While in hiding, she was able to maintain a semblance of her innocence.

“I was actually very sporty,” she said.

“I didn’t want to learn at the time, so I missed a lot of school. So, I was behind.

Only in the camp, of course, I grew up

t? o G ws Ne

rapidly. I had to be an adult. And coming back and having lost my family, this was really very, very difficult.”

The period after the war was challenging for Schloss.

“I was more depressed, more miserable after the war, when I realized I had lost my father, my brother and many, many family members,” she said.

“I realized that I could never ever get back to the way that it used to be, and this was really very, very difficult for me to accept. I was more depressed after the war than in the camp because in the camp, I had to use all of my strength to stay alive.

“But afterward, I lost my will to fight.

But of course, later I got my own family, and this was for me very helpful, to get

married, have children and try to live an ordinary life.

You get only one chance on this Earth, only one life, and you try to make the most of it.”

Schloss sees similarities in today’s world to Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.

“People wanted to leave Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia, which was occupied by the Nazis,” she said.

“People tried to get into safe countries, like America, like Canada, like Australia, countries that could have taken in people. But people didn’t want to. This is what we have now, the same problem.

“From the Middle East, from Syria, from Sudan, many countries in Africa, people are persecuted. People are killed.

People are starving, and they want to leave with their families. And again the world said, ‘No, we don’t want you.’”

Schloss hopes to inspire audience members, especially younger ones, to want to bring change in the world.

“If they see injustices being done, if things are going wrong somewhere, they have to have the courage to get involved and speak up, so that things get changed,” Schloss said.

For 40 years, Schloss didn’t speak about her experiences during the Holocaust.

She first got up in front of an audience when an exhibition on Anne Frank and the Holocaust visited London in 1986.

“I was invited to come there as part of the audience. At the end, the organizer said, ‘And now Eva wants to say something to you.’ I can assure you I wasn’t ready for anything like that. It was a horrible, horrible moment. I was put in front of 200, 300 people, and then suddenly everything that I had suppressed came flooding out … I realized speaking about it can help to get over it,” Schloss said.

If you go What: “A Historic Evening with Anne Frank’s Stepsister Eva Schloss” When: 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 13 Where: Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave., Chandler Tickets: $180 VIP tickets, $36 premium seating, $18-$25 general seating, $10 for students.

Info: 480-855-4333, chabadcenter.com/event

Contact Contact Paul Paul Maryniak Maryniak at at 480-898-5647 or or pmaryniak@timespublications.com pmaryniak@timespublications.com

ARTS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

61

The Revivalists’ nerves give way to excitement KRISTINE CANNON Staff Writer

For most bands, it’s the sophomore album — the follow-up to a smash debut — that’s met with pressure, scrutiny and a fine-tooth comb. Will they meet and surpass expectations or will they crumble under the pressure?

The Revivalists are the exception.

In 2015, New Orleans-based octet, The Revivalists, inched their way to the top of the charts with their breakthrough hit, “Wish I Knew You,” off their third studio album, “Men Amongst Mountains.”

What’s so unique is this band was far from new to the scene; they all met and formed in New Orleans in 2008.

“We’ve grown very incrementally and steadily the first 10 years of us being in the band and then we were fortunate enough to connect with a hit song, ‘Wish I Knew You,’” says guitarist Zack Feinberg. “Since then, the growth has been more rapid.”

The Revivalists rode the “Wish I Knew You” wave for a couple more years. It’s a song that spent 56 weeks on the Billboard Alternative Song chart, peaking at No. 1 on May 20, 2017. So when it came time to record and release their highly anticipated, follow-up effort, they did what they do best: write.

They wrote so much, in fact, they had to pare down the 60 songs they brought to the table for the fourth studio album, “Take Good Care,” via Loma Vista Recordings.

“With this being our most anticipated release, there was probably some pressure to deliver, but honestly with us, there are so many guys in the band,

in the midst of recording “Take Good Care” last year in Nashville when they flew to Phoenix for their second time performing McDowell Mountain Music Festival.

The first year they performed at MMMF was in 2015.

“I’m excited The Revivalists are set to perform at Marquee Theater on March 15. (Zackery Michael) to come back,” he says, referring and we’re pretty prolific as far as writing to The Revivalists’ goes,” Feinberg said. “The pressure was upcoming show at Marquee Theater on off in a large way because of the quantity March 15. “I don’t think we’ve ever played of material that we have. I try not to let a proper venue show in Phoenix before, any sort of external pressure affect the so this will be our first.” creative process.”

Feinberg doesn’t credit the new New to their writing and recording producers or writers on the album for the process, The Revivalists recorded with positive, rave reviews “Take Good Care” multiple producers and writers, including has received since its release in November.

Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson); Andrew “Part of how we evolved our sound Dawson (Kanye West and Fun.) and Dave doesn’t have to do with the production Bassett (Vance Joy). team,” he says. “It has to do with growing “We wanted to work with Dave Cobb as musicians and songwriters. Pretty much for a while,” Feinberg says. “He’s really always our approach is: How do we best amazing at capturing a live vibe and he serve the song and how do we get the was really great at adding parts to a song best performance out of it?” or steering a song in a different direction, It may have taken The Revivalists 10 stylistically. He was very bold about that. years to “make it,” but they’ve always We learned a lot from working with him.” stayed true to their identity as a band.

Feinberg distinctly remembers being “We’re pretty real in the sense that

it’s a bunch of guys who met pretty organically, and we have a very real friendship. We’re all partners in this band together,” he said. “We’ve always valued the music above everything.”

And this authenticity translates to the stage as well.

“We’re a live band at heart. That’s what we do best,” Feinberg says. “I don’t want to toot my own horn too much, but we play our instruments well, put on a good show, and it’s very high-energy.”

The Revivalists’ tour kicked off in Belgium in mid-February; this is the first time the band has performed in Europe.

“It feels like the beginning of a new chapter,” Feinberg says. “We’re hoping to develop our fanbase in Europe, and it’s really exciting never having played this entire continent before.”

Their nationwide tour begins early March in Wisconsin.

And newly added to their evergrowing list of tour dates is the 50th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, set to take place April 25-28 and May 2-5 – a festival they’ve already played a handful of times before.

“We’ve done it, like seven times?

I’ve lost track,” Feinberg says. “We’re just comfortable doing it and we’re able to have so much fun. It’s just been wonderful, and I don’t get nervous anymore to play live in front of awesome, huge crowds.”

The Revivalists, Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe, 480.829.0607, luckymanonline.com, 8 p.m. Friday, March 15, $45-$75.

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ARTS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

“Detroit ’67” traces Motor City’s riots, rebirth

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Staff Writer

“Detroit ’67” will guide audiences through the riots and subsequent rebirth of the Motor City during its performances now through Sunday, March 17, at the Tempe Center for the Arts.

“It’s going to help people see the transformation that Detroit is going through and how far they’ve come,” says David Hemphill, executive director of the Black Theatre Troupe.

“The riots were devastating, and Detroit is coming back great.”

The winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, “Detroit ’67” unfolds during the summer of 1967 when black residents clashed with the Detroit Police Department after a police raid of a blind pig. The riot lasted five days.

In “Detroit ’67,” siblings Chelle and her brother, Lank, are making ends by turning their basement into an after-hours joint.

When a mysterious woman finds her way into their lives, tensions escalate in their home and in their community.

“At the same time, the cops are beating people up and arresting them,” says Ralph Remington, TCA’s producing artistic director.

“It heated up over a period of a couple days before the riots kicked in full bore.

We see what happens, the aftermath, through the lives of these characters.”

Hemphill calls the play “very well written,” as playwright Dominique Morisseau, 2018 MacArthur Foundation fellow, won awards for it.

“It takes interesting turns. We’re glad

LILLIE RICHARDSON

CALVIN J. WORTHEN

to be able to partner with the Tempe Center for the Arts,” Hemphill says.

Remington says he and Hemphill chose the play because it’s still relevant today.

“Because of the times we live in, this play resonated. Unfortunately, many of the things people were dealing with in 1967 in Detroit we’re still dealing with today,” Remington says.

“The times, while they have changed, they haven’t changed that much. Why are we still living with the same conditions plaguing the communities back in the ’60s? Why do the same things exist?

Particularly the relationship between the community and the police force.”

He says the contentious relationship can be traced to slavery.

“The purpose of the police, back in the day, was to keep the slave population controlled,” Remington says. “Now in modern times, looking at the ’60s particularly, it’s how police used to control the community. They called them The Big Four because they rolled four in a car.”

Many communities can relate to this, Remington says. Besides Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and the Watts area of Los Angeles can relate.

“You had the Minneapolis riots. Now today we have Baltimore and Ferguson.

They can resonate with what’s happening.”

The “Detroit ’67” actors are local, featuring Lillie Richardson as Chelle,

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Calvin Worthen as Chelle’s brother, Lank, and Alison Campbell as Caroline. Ashley Jackson appears as Bunny, and Cornelius Williams in the role of Sly. “I’m really excited,” Remington says.

“I’m very excited about this cast and the subject matter. We’re going to delve into this topic.”

IF YOU GO

What: “Detroit ’67” Where: Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe When: Feb. 22-March 17 Cost: $35-$45 Info: 480-350-2822, tempecenterforthearts.com

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Faith

63

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Transform to more caring, solidarity as spring arrives

BY RABBI IRWIN WIENER Guest Columnist

Spring is in the air.

Perhaps we should take the time to thaw out and attempt to reconcile the past with the present and anticipate the future?

Sort of a cleaning out of the winter doldrums as we do spring cleaning.

The experiences of the past are recorded for all to see. However, it is not just a simple exercise in remembering.

It should be a symbol of the challenges life affords us. It should be a reminder of the values we share and an awakening to the responsibilities of the human encounters that make up our journey of what life is all about.

We shape our destiny by words and deeds. It is these expressions and actions that represent the blessing or curse that we will discover as we continue to live and learn. Some of us learn and some of us choose not to be involved.

What we should do with the time allotted us is to transform ourselves from

less to more. From less caring to more giving. From less compassion to more love. We should take the time to involve ourselves in responsible living – not just monthly or yearly, but every day.

A new beginning, as represented by a new season, is not relegated to just this period in our lives but should be part of every waking moment. Now more than ever we should be concerned about what we do with the rest of our lives and what we leave for those who follow.

We can and should be continually on the threshold of creating a new feeling of solidarity. Not just American solidarity, but human solidarity.

We should encourage a feeling of belonging. We should feel pride in what we have accomplished. We should think about where we want to go and how we can be part of a resurgence of the uniqueness of the human effort.

We have the ability, because of this time, to make a difference. We have the fortitude of being a force for good, not just in our little corner of the world, but everywhere in this small universe we call home. We have an obligation to ensure the continuation of the dreams of past generations.

The sum total of who we are can be found in our ability to share the beauty of faith and understanding and caring and love.

These can be found in a kiss or a smile or a touch and yes, even in our collective prayers.

We can and should represent all that is good with a kind deed or kind word.

Spring is a perfect time to begin.

The difficulty of living is that sometimes we cannot act. We cannot find a place for ourselves and, more often than not, we forget that there are others around us who cry and laugh and are traveling this road of life with us.

Life is about rekindling the passion in our relationships. Life is about learning to make our moments last because the best of times is now. Life is about shaping a blessing from a single touch.

Life is about sympathizing with others to eliminate hopelessness. Life is about visualizing the signs that are right in front of us. Life is about hope and trust and caring. Life is about removing nothingness and replacing it with purpose.

God doesn’t need another psalm or poem or song. What God does need is for us to realize that we do not speak empty words or break promises or break hearts.

What God does need is for us to not hate or destroy but rather build a community of humankind dedicated to the enhancement of life’s enjoyments by making it even better than before.

So as we begin a new season, may our prayers find a resting place nestled in the arms of a caring and loving God. May the record of our achievements encourage us to create an even more vibrant encounter with what life is all about.

May the season ahead, and the seasons that follow, find us closer to each other by all the words and deeds we can muster.

And the words found in Romans will ring true today as when they were written, “I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights, nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and God’s love.”

- Rabbi Dr. Irwin Wiener, DD, is national chaplain of Jewish War Veterans – USA and he is the spiritual leader of Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation.

Lent is a good time to know God’s presence

BY REV. SUSAN WILMOT Guest Writer

It seems like every time we turn around there’s another tragedy to lament, an increasing body count, natural disasters devastating communities, as well as lies and misinformation piling up like rubble ready to trip us up and make us fall.

It’s so easy to be discouraged these days, especially given the dominant news stories of our day. We might even be second guessing ourselves wondering what the point of living in the integrity of our faith is. What difference do we, or can we, make? All the available evidence seems to point to an escalating secularization of our communities and our nation. All we seem to read or hear about is people behaving badly and getting away with it.

The prophet Elijah went through many of the same thoughts and feelings, but God encouraged him when Elijah was without hope, feeling alone and fleeing for his life.

As we read in 1 Kings 19:9b-10, “Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars … I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’”

God did not forget or abandon the prophet Elijah. God never abandons or forgets us, regardless of what we’ve said or done.

As we transition into the season of

Lent, we know that the Light of the world, the Word made flesh, is always with us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Having said that, we’re definitely not perfect, and if we take our Lenten preparations seriously, we will confess and repent of our sins in ways that lead to giving and receiving forgiveness and being reconciled with God and others in our lives.

Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t exempt us from feeling discouraged from time to time or even struggling with mental illness, like depression. But it does mean that God is with us regardless of our spiritual doubts and questions, our emotional ups and downs, our mental health or our physical circumstances.

The season of Lent invites us to dig deeper into the ways of faithful living in both old and new ways through selfexamination and repentance, through

prayer and fasting, by reading and meditating on God’s word, and through self-denial.

Self-denial is listening, discerning and being obedient to God’s will, rather than doing our own thing, otherwise known as yielding to our egos, or our fears. Each of these spiritual disciplines helps us to reorder, reorient and prioritize our lives to fulfill God’s will. They are excellent ways to be open to God’s loving kindness and compassion, mercy and forgiveness.

And in so doing, the Lord will heal us, renew us, encourage and strengthen us in body, mind and spirit. The Holy Spirit blesses us with wisdom and discernment to understand where God is calling us to serve, and what that service will look like.

Our ministries do make a difference. We are feeding the hungry, providing food, water, clothing and shelter for those who have nothing. We take care of the sick

and those in prisons of all kinds. Living faithfully ensures that God is present to us and to those around us all the time.

Our faith is light in the darkness of despair, support and encouragement in the face of hopelessness and isolation.

Our faith is joy when everything is going great, and loving compassion when we’re feeling defeated by the world’s violence or injustices.

Elijah thought he was alone. God knew better, as we read in 1 Kings 19:18 and as the Lord reveals to Elijah, “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Whatever is going on in our lives, there are others who are prepared

by God to empathize, offering loving compassion, and support us in our times of trial. This is why we pray in the Lord’s Prayer “give us this day our daily bread” because we need daily sustenance in Christ to be encouraged and strengthened for life and ministry.

Lent is a great time to get to know God’s presence firsthand and experience what a difference the Lord makes.

Author, theologian and scholar N.T. Wright gives us our final words of encouragement: “Lent is a time for discipline, for confession, for honesty, not because God is mean, fault-finding or finger-pointing, but because he wants us to know the joy of being cleaned out, ready for all the good things he now has in store.”

- The Rev. Susan E. Wilmot is Vicar at St. James the Apostle Episcopal Church & Preschool, 975 E. Warner Rd., Tempe. Susan can be reached at rector@ stjamestempe.org or at 480-345-2686.

FAITH

64

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

Spiritual Connections Call ahead to confirm as details occasionally change after print.

If you have a recurring monthly support group or meeting to list in Spiritual Connections, email complete details to news@santansun.com.

SUNDAYS

Celebration Service 10:30 a.m. Sundays All with peaceful beliefs are welcome to this inclusive, loving, thriving UNITY Community.

Join the group at 10 a.m., preceding the service, for fellowship. Youth and toddlers meet during service. Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center, 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa, 480-593-8798, interfaith-community.org Lift Your Spirit 10 a.m. Sundays Hear inspirational messages and music.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 Traditional and Contemporary Services 7:30 a.m. daybreak contemplative worship, 9 a.m. traditional worship and choral music, 11 a.m. contemporary worship with live Christian rock band. There is also a service

at 12 p.m. Wednesdays St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 901 W. Erie St., Chandler 480-899-7386, saintmatthewschurch.org

MONDAYS

The Art of Parenting 7:30 p.m. Mondays Six-session course from the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute and presented by Rabbi Mendy Deitsch of Chabad of the East Valley, designed to help parents at all levels of Jewish knowledge develop their own parenting philosophies and techniques. Cost is $99.

Pollack Chabad Center for Jewish Life 875 N. McClintock Drive, Chandler 480-855-4333, rabbi@chabadcenter.com

TUESDAYS

Silva Class and Meditation 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays Learn the Silva method with Lois Britland.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe

480-792-1800 christianbusinessnetworking.com Narcotics Anonymous (Nar-Anon), Chandler Chapter 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays Twelve-step program for families and friends of addicts. Faith Community Church 1125 N. Dobson Road, Chandler, nar-anon.org

WEDNESDAYS

Panic Healing 7 to 9 p.m. every Wednesday Receive a 15-minute energetic tuneup.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 Gong Meditation and Yoga Nidra 7 to 8:30 p.m. third Wednesday Presented by Will Zecco, gong master. Bring yoga mat, blanket and pillow as desired. Love offerings will be accepted.

Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center, 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa 480-593-8798, interfaith-community.org “A Course in Miracles” with the Rev. Julianne Lewis 1 to 2:15 p.m. Wednesdays The weekly group is an interactive time of learning and sharing, appropriate for course beginners, as well as longtime students of ACIM. Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa 480-593-8798, interfaith-community.org Meditation Moments 7 to 8:30 p.m. third Wednesday of the month An interactive time of learning and sharing, appropriate for beginners or longtime students of ACIM. Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa 480-593-8798, interfaith-community.org St. Mathew’s Episcopal Church 12 p.m. Healing and Eucharist service St. Mathew’s Episcopal Church 901 W. Erie St., Chandler

480-899-7386, saintmatthewschurch.org

THURSDAYS

Women’s Empowerment & Awakening 7 to 8:30 p.m. third Thursday Release negative beliefs.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800

FRIDAYS

Temple Havurat Emet 7:30 p.m. first Friday of each month Lecky Center, Robson Library 9330 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, templehavuratemet.org

SATURDAYS

Spirit Night – Psychic Fair 4 to 8 p.m. third Saturday of each month The “Lightworkers” offer a wide range of services, including Reiki, facials, mediums, drumming, tarot, angel messages and more.

Services range from $20 to $30. Cash only.

Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa interfaith-community.org heatherposey70@gmail.com Regular monthly activities: Lois (Women) Circle: Every 3rd Tuesday 10 a.m. Spirits Willing Lunches Out (over 55) 11:30 a.m., 4th Fridays All events are at Chandler Presbyterian Church at 1900 S. Arrowhead Drive except for Spirits Willing and lunches. chandlerpres.org Let us help you publicize your church or temple’s events in the Spirituality section by emailing details to news@santansun.com.

Include a brief description of the event, times, days, dates, cost or free, if registration is required, venue, address, publishable phone number, website if applicable and contact information for verification purposes. We welcome photos, which must be 300 dpi JPEGs or taken on a digital camera on the “best” or “highest quality” setting. Information is due 10 days prior to publication date. Submission does not guarantee placement.

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The Family that Prays Together Stays Together Service Times Wednesday

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

69

Where To Eat

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Nitro Live Icecreamery goes mobile with treats

BY CECILIA CHAN Staff Writer

Handcrafting a batch of ice cream for a golf course when the mercury is hitting triple digits is no problem for Nitro Live Icecreamery.

Founder and CEO Felicia Vandermolen and her husband, Rich, the company’s president, recently shuttered their

Instead of waiting for “ people to come to the store, we go to them. We try to bring what everyone wants to where they want it.

”

– Felicia Vandermolen storefront in Gilbert and went full time with a mobile pop-up store that travels to Chandler and other locales. . They truck their cold concoctions to just about anywhere with a liquid nitrogen tank in tow.

“Instead of waiting for people to come to the store, we go to them,” said Felicia Vandermolen. “We try to bring what everyone wants to where they want it.”

Going to the customers has taken Nitro Live to as far north as Flagstaff to down south to Tucson, catering bar mitzvahs, weddings, birthdays, corporate gatherings, professional sporting events and even at the recent Elton John concert.

Nitro Live also has a booth during the Arizona Coyotes hockey season at Gila River Arena in Glendale and is at a number of school events around the East Valley, such as the Hamilton High School Spring Fling on Feb. 14 in Chandler.

Besides catering events, Nitro also will pop up at various locations in the Valley.

“This allows us to better serve our customer base,” Rich Vandermolen said.

The couple always had the food-truck business when they operated the Gilbert store but now that they are in it full time with a staff of six, they say they have more

Nitro Live Icecreamery has ditched its downtown Gilbert store in favor of a truck that can visit Chandler and other locales throughout Arizona.

(Special to SanTan Sun News)

time to spend with their grandchildren.

“There’s more flexibility in catering than with brick and mortar,” Felicia Vandermolen said, adding it also allows them to have a better control over inventory.

The food truck industry reached an estimated $2.7 billion in revenue in 2017, with an annual growth rate of 7.9 percent, according to the latest data from U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Food trucks are not a fad but a

viable market segment with significant competitive advantages over quick-serve, fast-food and take-out food vendors, according to Emergent Research.

Food trucks get to market more quickly and have much lower operating costs.

They also can quickly and easily test new concepts, menus and recipes and are tightly focused on their customers, getting up close and personal with patrons every day to gain instant insights into menu and food preferences, according to Emergent.

Not limited by the confines of a menu, Nitro Live can tailor just about any flavor to suit a customer’s taste buds, Felicia Vandermolen said.

For a recent rodeo event, Nitro Live was tasked with producing a spicy flavored ice cream.

Using ingredients such as chicken wing glaze, chili pepper, garlic salt and cream, they produced an ice cream that was sweet and savory, Rich Vandermolen said.

Nitro Live also has a wide variety of ice cream choices for those with dietary restrictions.

For bookings, the staff will dress accordingly. For instance, at a children’s event they will don lab coats because making ice cream with liquid nitrogen is See

NITRO on page 70

E N J O Y B R E A K FA S T, L U N C H & D I N N E R !

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WHERE TO EAT

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

With JAN D’ATRI Contributor

One Minute KidChen tackles Moroccan chickin a pot You think your kids are picky eaters?

Well, there are just as many young cooksto-be that are open to trying new things, and this recipe proved me right. I told our hosts of the One Minute KidChen video series all about Moroccan cooking in a tagine pot and they absolutely loved the outcome!

The pot is one of the oldest known Ingredients: 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs 1 lb baby potatoes, halved 2 cups cherry tomatoes 8 cloves garlic 10 dried apricots 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided 2 tablespoons fresh parsley For the Spices: Either: 1 (3.5 oz) packet of “ Kitchens of India” brand Paste for Tikka Masala mixed with 1 cup warm water (Found at Sprout’s)

cooking vessels. It has a tall dome lid that lets steam rise and surround the food with moisture and flavor. After about an hour in the oven, you have a delicious One Pot Wonder from an ancient vessel.

I found the tagine pot for about $25 at Cost Plus World Market.

So let your kids travel the world and never have to leave your own kitchen table!

Or: 1 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper Directions: Heat Tagine in oven at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Then, heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl combine either the paste packet or the spices.

Clean chicken and pat dry. Rub

or sprinkle paste or spices over the chicken. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the Tagine. Arrange chicken in Tagine.

In a bowl toss together potatoes, tomatoes, garlic and apricots with 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Spread veggies and apricots around chicken.

Cover the Tagine with the lid and bake in the oven for about 1 hour. Check chicken for doneness (165 degrees internal temperature).

Stir juices over top of chicken and vegetables. Garnish with fresh parsley

NITRO

from page 69

like a science show with lots of cool fog emitting from the metal bowls.

There’s no limit to where Nitro Live can make its ice cream.

One booking took the Nitro Live ice cream truck to the middle of a golf course in July during a charity event when the temperature was 114 degrees, according to Rich Vandermolen.

It wasn’t a problem making the ice cream when the liquid nitrogen is minus-320 degrees, he said.

The couple keeps its supplies and an office at a commercial kitchen in Gilbert.

“The only things limiting us in catering are staff and equipment,” Felicia Vandermolen said.

And with that, the duo is in the

and serve in the Tagine base.

Watch the kids cook up Moroccan Chicken here: jandatri.com/recipe/ chicken-in-a-tagine.

planning stages of retrofitting a recreational vehicle into one giant ice cream truck with lights and seating. They look to have it on the road by the end of the year.

For those who still prefer to eat their ice cream in a store, a Nitro Live Icecreamery franchise is expected to open this month in Queen Creek.

Keeping track To find out when and where Nitro Live Icrecreamery pop-up store will appear next, go to facebook.com/ nitroliveicecreamery/ To book an event with Nitro Live Icecreamery, call 480-420-2015 or via email at events@nitrolive.com

SANTAN SUN NEWS | MARCH 2–15, 2019

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TOUR OUR VIBRANT GROWING CAMPUS • Student-guided tours start every hour, Monday – Saturday • Preview the state-of-the-art STEM building and high-tech labs, suite-style residence halls, GCU Stadium, Thunder Alley, Lopes Way and more!

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For more information about our graduation rates, the median debt of students who completed the program, and other important information, please visit our website at gcu.edu/disclosures. Please note, not all GCU programs are available in all states and in all learning modalities. Program availability is contingent on student enrollment. Grand Canyon University is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission 800-621-7440; http://hlcommission.org/. Important policy information is available in the University Policy Handbook at https://www.gcu.edu/academics/academic-policies.php. GCU, while reserving its lawful rights in light of its Christian mission, is committed to maintaining an academic environment that is free from unlawful discrimination. Further detail on GCU’s Non-Discrimination policies can be found at gcu.edu/titleIX The information printed in this material is accurate as of DECEMBER 2018. For the most up-to-date information about admission requirements, tuition, scholarships and more, visit gcu.edu ©2018 Grand Canyon University 18GTR0958

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