Hollywood takes notice of Chandler fest PAGE
Chandler teen thespians abound in musical
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This Week
A note from the publisher of the revived Chandler Arizonan.
BUSINESS ....................19 Downtown eatery reimagines enchiladas.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Chandler players wary of ballpark BY KEVIN REAGAN Arizonan Staff Writer
WELCOME ..................... 3
Sunday, January 12, 2020
T
he sounds of gunshots, dirty needles bags of methamphetamine are conditions the players of Chandler Girls Softball League worry about on a regular basis. The league’s current practice facility, Folley Memorial Park at 601 W. Frye Road, Chandler, is falling into disrepair and getting to be too dangerous, according to Debbie O’Connell, one of the league’s coaches. She’s been with the league for the last
five seasons and claims Folley Park steadily deteriorated and its surroundings exceedingly worsened to the point where she’s had to cancel practices due to too much suspicious activity around the premises. “It’s just ridiculous the stuff that goes on during the day,” O’Connell said. This is why the league is hoping the city will follow through on plans made years ago to build a softball complex. Chandler’s 2008 General Plan recommended softball fields be added to Tumbleweed Park, yet the league has not seen them come to fruition more than a decade
later. The city said Tumbleweed’s master plan still includes the addition of four softball fields, but no funding has been authorized for them. When voters approved a 451-million bond in 2007, a good chunk of the money was reserved for building new recreational facilities. But then the Great Recession hit and most public projects were put on hold. As the economy slowly recovered over the following years, the city began utiliz-
SOFTBALL
CUSD board confronts Twitter war, big crowd BY KEVIN REAGAN Arizonan Staff Writer
SPORTS ....................... 26 Hamilton girls eye a run for the crown.
NEWS .......................................3 COMMUNITY ........................15 BUSINESS ..............................19 OPINION ..............................24 SPORTS ................................26 GET OUT ..............................28 CLASSIFIEDS .......................34
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handler Unified School Board member Lindsay Love is pushing back against her critics by engaging in a Twitter war with members of the Purple for Parents organization. For the last couple weeks, Love’s been tweeting incessantly and going after people she refers to as “trolls and bigots.” The digital exchanges escalated to insults being hurled by both sides and the formation of a fake Twitter account parodying Love. “These people coming after me aren’t mad because of a policy issue. They’re manufacturing issues with me because they’re mad that I’m black, a woman and in leadership,” Love wrote in a tweet on Dec. 27.
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Near;y 100 citizens and some students jammed the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board meeting room last Wednesday, Jan. 8, to comment principally on board member Lindsay Love, who is under attack on Twitter by some members of the group Purple Parents but who also drew a big number of supporters at the meeting. (Pablo Robles/Arizonan Staff Photographer)