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| S P O RT S P. 38 | G E TO U T P. 42 | C L A S S I F I E D P. 48
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
@AhwatukeeFN |
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Faith strengthens Ahwatukee parents of injured teen BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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ne week after Jan. 30, Amy and Travis Dale saw their faith in God reaffirmed in the wake of a horrifying tragedy that befell the second-oldest of their three sons. That tragedy started to unfold around 1:30 a.m., when police called their Ahwatukee home to tell them their son Aidan, 19, had been in an accident.
He had been out with some friends and was riding a motorized skateboard on the main campus of Arizona State University when, out of sight from his pals, he fell. His friends found him, unconscious and bleeding from a severe head laceration. At a trauma center, Aidan was diagnosed with bleeding in the brain and had to be intubated after suffering a seizure. His uncle, Steve Dale of Tennessee, relates on a gofundme.com page that he set up to help his
self-employed brother Travis, a counselor, and his sister-in-law Amy, a life coach, what neurosurgeons diagnosed: “MRI showed confirmation of a DAI3 injury, a type of TBI (traumatic brain injury). A Neuro Surgeon offered his scans and pointed out the dark spots on his brain that signified significant trauma. Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) is the shearing (tearing) of the brain’s long con-
see AIDAN page 4
After 9 years, ‘Fore!’ returns to Lakes Course BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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ine years after its owner shut it down, the Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course partially reopened last week even as the next step in the long legal battle over its restoration remains unclear. Handfuls of happy duffers have been trickling the restored nine holes and the elongated driving range that reopened Feb. 1. “It’s been great,” said Terry Duggan, president of Ahwatukee Golf Properties and a key aide to Wilson Gee, a principal in course owner ALCR. “We’ve average close to 70 players, Duggan said Sunday. Players have been partly lured by the price – $20 for the first round of nine holes and $10 for a second tour. The driving range cost varies with the number of balls a golfer plays. Duggan said reaction has been largely favorable, though “some people are saying it’s not as good as it used to be.” “They don’t understand,” he added. “We just over-seeded and we got to go back and put in all the Bermuda grass in the summer and then the rye and then get it all fully opened by Sep-
Tanner Close sinks a putt on the green at the first hole of Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course Feb. 1 now that half of the 18-hole executive course has reopened after eight years. (David Minton/AFN/Staff Photographer) tember. So, we still have a lot of work to do. We’re not even close to finishing.” Though the crowd skews slightly young, he added, because no golf karts are permitted, Duggan said, “There have been some older
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golfers too, the ones who like to walk.” Gee was anxious to reopen and begin recouping on an investment he has put at around
see LAKES page 12