THE VOICE OF THE EAST VALLEY SINCE 1891 AND WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LOCAL REPORTING
Exotic animals are at home in Mesa hospital
THE SUNDAY
Tribune
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Northeast Mesa Edition
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This Week
EAST VALLEY
Tribune kicks off holiday lights contest PAGE 16
Sunday, October 30, 2016
East Mesa golf community homeowners take over Purchase strategy could save courses COVER STORY
COMMUNITY ......... 14 Obstacle course run draws ‘maniacs’ to Chandler
BUSINESS .................. 21 Someburros celebrates 30 years of growth and family
FAITH .......................... 25 Gilbert group’s pilgrimage captured in documentary
BY PAUL MARYNIAK Tribune Managing Editor
T
o the casual observer, the 135 acres of rolling green and 60 acres of granite stretching across the heart of Sunland Springs Village in east Mesa just looks like a scenic golf course in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains. But in the last year, it has emerged as a sliver of hope to thousands of homeowners across the country who fear their quality of life and their investment are slipping away because of a major shakeup in the golf industry. Threatened by the sale of their 27hole public golf course, about 400 of the approximate 2,430 Sunland Springs homeowners banded together and bought it from owner Farnsworth Companies in January for $1.19 million. “The group that brought me out there
(Cheryl Haselhorst/Tribune Photographer)
The Superstition Mountains loom above the Sunland Springs Village Golf Club. The community got together and purchased the golf course rather than have it sold to an outside investor.
probably had the best beginning I’ve ever seen,” said Mike Kahn, a golf course consultant based in Florida for more than 50 years, who briefly worked with the homeowners in the early stages of the deal. “I
thought they did a wonderful job, probably the best I’ve ever seen.” Now, homeowners in at least one other imperiled area golf community, Club West See
TAKE OVER on page 4
World Series run welcome in Cubs’ spring home of Mesa BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
EVENTS .......................27 Farmers markets provide more than fresh produce
COMMUNITY ................14 OPINION.........................19 BUSINESS ........................21 SPORTS........................... 23 FAITH .............................. 25 GETOUT ......................... 27 CLASSIFIED .....................31
T
his season started with Chicago Cubs fans jamming Mesa’s Sloan Park, the largest stadium in the Cactus League, where 13 out of 15 games were sellouts and the perennially optimistic throng had their usual high hopes for the upcoming season. But this time, the Cubs faithful were right. After the Cubs captured the National League pennant, Mesa’s horde of Cubs fans weren’t about to miss the team’s first World Series appearance since 1945. The fans further displayed the close bond
(Special to the Tribune)
Sloan Park in Mesa has been the Spring Training home of the Chicago Cubs since 2014.
between Mesa and the Cubs when they turned out for the first game of the historic
2016 World Series against the Cleveland Indians, donning Cubs jerseys and hats at the city’s sports bars as they watched something that many thought might never happen. After a 71-year wait, when the Cubs lost to the Detroit Tigers in seven games in 1945, the Cubs were finally back in the World Series. A 6-0 loss to the Indians in the first game made for an inauspicious start, but everyone seemed to realize that the late New York Yankees great Yogi Berra is right—“It ain’t over till it’s over.” “I always hope, but it had been a few years,” See
CUBS on page 3