THE VOICE OF THE EAST VALLEY SINCE 1891 AND WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LOCAL REPORTING
EV man’s illness linked to vaping
THE SUNDAY
Tribune
PAGE 10 West Mesa Edition
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS.......................... 3 Mesa lawmaker upset by sex-ed courses in schools.
COMMUNITY ....... 13 Eastmark woman writes ‘Friends’ brain teaser.
BUSINESS .................. 17 Community college starts drones course.
Australian ‘Footy’ growing in popularity
EAST VALLEY
PAGE 19 Sunday, September 22, 2019
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Fight brewing over NE Mesa police-fire site BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
M
esa considers eight acres at Power and Brown roads the best site for a long-awaited police and fire facility targeted at reducing unacceptably long response times in northeast Mesa. After negotiations to buy the property went nowhere and the landowner spurned a $2.1 million offer, the Mesa City Council is scheduled to decide Monday whether to initiate eminent domain proceedings, if necessary, as “a matter of public necessity.’’ But attorney Paul Wetzel of Cornville was not happy to learn from the Tribune that his property had been selected and questioned why the city could not choose a smaller,
cheaper site instead. “I don’t like to make a lot of waves,’’ Wetzel said, adding that he tries to get along with everyone. But in this case, he has conveyed the land as a gift to a non-profit, non-denominational Christian organization for another purpose. Wetzel declined to name the non-profit, but he said he is a member of its board of directors. Although he received an offer from the city for the property in December, “I thought they had forgotten about it,’’ Wetzel said. Wetzel said the city needs only two acres for such a police and fire facility, not more than eight acres. “That’s why it doesn’t make sense to me,’’ he said. But Kim Fallbeck, Mesa’s real estate ad-
Leaked game plans leave East Valley schools scrambling
ministrator, disagrees, at least according to her explanation during a Sept. 12 city council study session. She said she was looking for at least a fiveacre site for the Northeast Public Safety Facility in the right location so that it would enable a reduction in response times and offer the right shape for smooth operations. Fallbeck said she identified four such sites, but the other three did not have as many attributes as Wetzel’s property, which she described as Site D on a map. “Site D is our best option for Mesa police and fire operations,’’ she said. The Mesa police and fire departments are hoping to correct a longstanding problem
Chain of Hope
see POLICE page 6
BY ZACH ALVIRA Tribune Sports Editor
GET OUT .................... 22 Chilean jazz singer Camila Meza is visiting Tempe.
COMMUNITY................ 13 BUSINESS........................17 OPINION........................ 18 SPORTS .......................... 19 GETOUT........................ 20 CLASSIFIED....................24
T
he revelations that an Ahwatukee football coach leaked game strategies to opposing teams for three years sent East Valley school districts scrambling to assess what their coaches knew about and did with the information. Some schools came forward and said coaches received but ignored emails from an anonymous account traced to Mountain Pointe coach Justin Hager. Hager was hired as the varsity girls basketball coach at Mountain Pointe in 2016. He was also an assistant coach on the varsity football team. Tempe Union High School District revealed on Sept. 16 that Hager had sent “hundreds” of emails containing play calls, strategy, formations and at one point, a list of
Vote Now!
see COACH page 8
Jaymee Shaw of Teen Lifeline carries some of the 10,000 suicide-prevention messages that Mesa High School and other Valley students put together in paper chains that were strung around the State Capitol last week. For details, see page 4. (Kimberly Carrillo/Tribune Staff Photographer)
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