THE VOICE OF THE EAST VALLEY SINCE 1891 AND WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LOCAL REPORTING
State eyes vaping crackdown
THE SUNDAY
Tribune
PAGE 6 Chandler/Tempe Edition
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS............................... 8 Mesa to auction prime piece of pristine desert.
COMMUNITY.......... 12 Mesa recovery center collects socks for homeless.
Farmers market to debut in Mesa
EAST VALLEY
PAGE 12 Sunday, January 13, 2019
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | EastValleyTribune.com
Officer’s death renews calls for texting ban BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
T
he tragic death of a police officer struck by a texting driver on the Loop 101 last week might finally convince the Arizona legislature to pass a statewide distracted driving law. Two legislators – Scottsdale Sen. John Kavanagh and Phoenix Sen. Kate Brophy McGee – are both sponsoring legislation that would make it illegal for motorists on all Arizona roads to send or receive text messages. McGee said the Jan. 8 death of Salt Riv-
er Pima-Maricopa Tribal Officer Clayton Townsend near the McDowell Road exit may serve as the “tipping point’’ to get a hands-free law approved. The following day in Queen Creek, a Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputy was struck and injured by a texting motorist. If Kavanagh and Brophy McGee convince the State Legislature to finally end its resistance to a hands-free law, Gov. Doug Ducey already said he’s prepared to sign it – ending a patchwork of laws already in existence in Tempe and 16 other cities and counties around the state. Various attempts to pass a distracted driv-
ing bill have failed for 12 consecutive years in the state Legislature, while individual cities and counties have passed regulations of their own. A Tempe police motorcycle unit supervisor, safety advocates and a Gilbert Town Council member said this pattern has left a crazy-quilt of laws that can’t help but confuse drivers as they travel from one city or county to another. Tempe is the only East Valley city with any ban. Phoenix has one, but Police Department See
TEXTING on page 9
Why a day for King? Because we never learn BY GARY NELSON Tribune Contributor
SPORTS ......................19 Chandler High coach jumps to ASU.
EVENT......................... 22
EV kids get ready to present ‘Willy Wonka’ COMMUNITY.................12 BUSINESS........................15 OPINION......................... 17 SPORTS ..........................20 GETOUT.......................... 22 CLASSIFIED.................... 27
S
he is too young to remember when the Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and slaughtered four little girls. Too young to remember when the Klan – again, the Klan – murdered three civil rights workers and dumped their bodies into the guts of an earthen dam in Mississippi. Too young, even, to remember that night in Memphis when a bullet ended the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and set the nation on fire. But not too young to remember June 17, 2015, when a racist shot nine people to death in a Charleston, S.C., church. Nor to remember when the president had kind words for the white supremacists whose rally in Charlottesville, Va., led to the death of a counter-protester in 2017. Nor to remember the Sabbath massacre in a Pittsburgh synagogue only this past October. See
year! Now in our 31st ARIZONA’S ING NN LONGEST- RU ! H EXPO IS ERE
MLK on page 4
(Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Anti-Defamation League assistant regional director Keisha McKinnor of Tempe, holding an award the league received for its work, is president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee, which will be sponsoring a parade in honor of the slain civil rights advocate on Jan. 21.
Wednesday, January 30th • 9am - 1pm Mesa Convention Center
Healthcare | Retirement Living | Financial Leisure | Home Repair | Education Casinos | Tour & Travel and More...
201 N. Center Street | Mesa, AZ 85201
FREE!
(480) 898-6500 • (800) 959-1566 www.seniorexpos.com
Entertainm en The Dutto t by Ms. Senior ns & Arizona! Lots of Priz es and Giveaw INCLUDINGays $100 DRAW a IN Every Hour! G