July 19 – August 1, 2014 www.SanTanSun.com
Fire department changes name to reflect services
BY TIM J. RANDALL
BY TRACY HOUSE
At spring training opening day on SEE COMPADRE PAGE 6
SOON DEMOLISHED: Compadre Stadium’s demolition will make way for a housing development. STSN photo by Ron Lang
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To reflect its wide-ranging services, the Chandler Fire Department is rolling out a renewed look July 27 with the rebranding of its logo and a new name—Chandler Fire, Health and Medical. The fire department does more than just respond to house fires, says Keith Welch, battalion chief and public information officer for CFHM. It handles emergency response, prevention activities and programs and on-scene medical assessment. “Firemen want to make sure that people are up to speed and understand that,” Welch explains. The department has always provided health and medical care. “Under the health part, we want to outline some of our prevention programs that we currently do: car-seat installation; bike-safety program; drowning prevention...We do blood pressure checks. We do blood glucose, community clinics... all those really lend themselves to prevention, which is really what we define health as.” Promoting health to the community is a goal of the CFHM, providing clinics for blood pressure and glucose checks. Welch says through these types of clinics, he’s been able to identify issues for residents. “Health means proactivity in the community to prevent a lot of these things that happen on the medical end.” In Chandler, every firefighter must be
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a high-quality housing project,” says Christine Mackay, Chandler’s economic development director. The spring-training stadium will be disassembled throughout the summer. The housing development, by Irvine, California-based Standard Pacific Homes, will bring a dynamic new vibrancy to a vacant land track that has been in decay for 17 years, ever since the Brewers left the complex for Maryvale. The company will develop renderings and plans for construction in 2014 with building to begin at the conclusion of that process.
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In a bold statement for continuing Chandler’s strong economic development profile, Compadre Stadium, the spring training home of the Milwaukee Brewers from 1986-1997, will be razed to make room for homes and townhouses. The Chandler City Council approved the measure recently, clearing the way for the demolition of the remaining structures like dugouts and bleachers. Zoning approval was finalized in July. In its place, the 64-acre parcel located at the southeast corner of Alma School and Ocotillo roads will have a community of 182 single-family homes and 137 townhouses. “It is nice to finish that corner with
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Move paves the way for Compadre to be leveled
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a minimum of EMT (emergency medical technician) certified. Above that are paramedics. “Seventy percent of our department are paramedics,” Welch explains. “What that means for the citizen is you get a higher level of evaluation and treatment from our department.” This includes the drugs they are able to carry and administer on scene, including IVs and heart, blood and respiratory medicines. Each ambulance is staffed with a Chandler FHM paramedic. The new logo and look will include giving staff new uniforms and wrapping the trucks with the new billboard logo. “These are frontline apparatus; there are other things that are still going to take time,” such as signage, Welch says. Tracy House is the news editor for the SanTan Sun News. She can be reached at tracy@santansun.com.
Sentencing of toddler killer postponed
Weathering the storm: Monsoon safety tips
BY SIENNA CARRILLO
BY ALISON STANTON
The sentencing of a Chandler man who killed his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter was postponed after one juror was overwhelmed by the graphic testimony. The jury was to determine June 30 if Dauntorian Sanders, 23, faced life in prison or death by lethal injection. The hearings will resume when a new juror is found. During the process, prosecutor Marischa Gilla showed post-mortem photographs of the little girl, Schala Vera. She was covered in numerous bruises and welts and, Gilla says, she could not have been hit by a belt alone. “In Schala’s case, her murder was especially cruel and heinous, and she endured unbearable pain and suffering,” Gilla says. Gilla continued that while her 26-year-old mother, Susan Witbracht, disciplined Schala three to four times a week, Sanders admitted to full responsibility for her death.
Stephanie Palomarez will never forget the time she was caught in a monsoon. She was driving home from Tucson when a dust storm began to form. Within minutes, she recalls, the freeway was completely engulfed in dust, and it became extremely difficult for her to see anything or anyone around her on the road. “Growing up in Arizona, I knew that the rule was that if you were caught driving during a dust storm that you are to pull off the road and turn off your lights, which is exactly what I did,” Palomarez says. The dust storm quickly passed, and she safely returned to the road.
SEE KILLER PAGE 5
Dauntorian Sanders. Submitted photo
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Keith Welch, battalion chief and public information officer for the Chandler Fire Department, says that when drivers suddenly find themselves
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