East Valley Tribune: Chandler 02-17-2019

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THE VOICE OF THE EAST VALLEY SINCE 1891 AND WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LOCAL REPORTING

THE SUNDAY

Mesa church gives back big to area

Tribune

PAGE 11

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Chandler/Tempe Edition

VOTE NOW

EAST VALLEY

EV high schools hit the mats PAGE 19 Sunday, February 17, 2019

Cactus League civic groups hit the real homers See also inside Cactus League is big business for EV Cities ........ Page 16

eastvalleytribune.com

INSIDE

This Week

NEWS............................... 7 Former Chandler official is new supervisor.

COMMUNITY ........ 12

Mesa fiddle player competes with shotguns.

BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer

W

hen hundreds of thousands of fans jam East Valley Cactus League stadiums starting Saturday, they’ll watch famous players getting ready for a marathon season and young players desperately trying to make a team. But the real winners throughout the region have nothing to do with what happens on the field. They will either be in school, or sitting next to their parents in the stands, eating hot dogs or goofing around with their brothers and sisters. Thanks to civic hospitality organizations such as the Mesa HoHoKams, the Tempe Dia-

see CACTUS page 4

Grieving EV moms talk of their sons’ suicides BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer

FOOD........................... 24 This dish could leave you begging for more.

COMMUNITY..................11 BUSINESS........................14 SPORTS ...........................19 GETOUT...........................21 CLASSIFIED....................28

Mesa HoHoKams President Tim Baughman surveys Sloan Park as it prepares for the beginning of spring training games at the end of this week. Those games enable the venerable civic organization to raise millions of dollars for a wide variety of charitable endeavors. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer)

O

ne by one, grieving East Valley mothers displayed photos of their sons who are part of the region’s suicide cluster, pleading with the state Senate’s Education Committee for help. The visibly moved committee members delivered, voting 7-0 to approve a landmark teen suicide prevention-training bill – a critical step to the legislation advancing, but several stages short of it becoming law. Sponsored by Sen. Sean Bowie, whose district includes Ahwatukee and parts of Chandler, Mesa and Tempe, the bipartisan SB1468 would require suicide prevention training every three years for all school personnel in-

volved with grades 6-12. “It’s so hard when something so bad happens,’’ said Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, who joined other members in thanking three East Valley mothers for their testimony and offering condolences. Lorie Warnock, of Tempe, an English teacher in Ahwatukee who lost her son, Mitch, to suicide in 2016 while he attended Corona del Sol High School, said she was “cautiously hopeful’’ when Bowie decided to sponsor a softer version of the bill named in memory of her son. “I can testify that as a teacher of 25 years, I was not prepared to know what to look for,” she said. Warnock said it was disappointing last year when Bowie’s first attempt was rejected. That would have mandated training every year but

was opposed by the Arizona School Boards Association. But this year, the association has taken a neutral position in exchange for an amendment approved by the committee that the training be considered a classroom-related expense when school funding is determined by the state. “I was surprised and delighted that it came up again. Neither myself nor my husband (Tim, also a teacher) expected that,’’ Warnock said. “I was ecstatic that the education committee was so moved by our testimony.’’ In her testimony, Warnock recounted how the Tempe Union High School District trained more than 850 employees, from school bus

see SUICIDE page 8


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East Valley Tribune: Chandler 02-17-2019 by Times Media Group - Issuu