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NEWS ......................... 10 Arizona police chiefs salute Mesa detective.
COMMUNITY ........ 13 Couple’s generosity helped create Mesa spaying clinic.
EV doc pioneers new shoulder surgery..
GET OUT .................... 23 Get a jump on next month with Oktoberfest
COMMUNITY........... 13 BUSINESS ...................18 OPINION ................... 20 SPORTS ....................... 21 CLASSIFIEDS ............. 28
PAGE 21 Sunday, September 23, 2018
EV parents taking the lead in teen suicide prevention BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
D
enise and Ben Denslow, LeAnn Hull and Tim Warnock know the endless pain parents suffer when their child dies by suicide. That’s why the three parents attended a Chandler Unified School Board meeting two weeks ago, urging the district to pay more attention to the heartbreaking problem. Their pleas came in the wake of two apparent teen suicides reported within a week in Chandler and Queen Creek earlier this month – bringing to at least 18 the number that have occurred in the East Valley since July 2017. One victim was 10 years old.
The grieving parents are part of a grassroots effort to save other children, knowing that it is too late to save their own. “I don’t want another family to go through this. No family should feel so lost,’’ said Denise Schatt-Denslow of Gilbert, whose 15-year-old son, Jacob Edward Machovsky, a Corona Del sol High School freshman, killed himself on Jan. 16, 2016. “This isn’t a nightmare. You get to wake up from a nightmare,’’ she said. “The best way to honor him is to save another child.’’ The parents – along with many East Valley school districts, including Gilbert Public Schools – are acting, as state officials have yet to fill a suicide prevention coordinator position that the legislature created in May.
Lorie Warnock, an English teacher at Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee, started advocating for more teachers to get training on suicide after her son, Mitchell, 16, a Corona del Sol High School champion pole-vaulter, took his life in October 2016. Warnock helped form Parents for Suicide Prevention, one of several grassroots organizations that are loosely affiliated through Facebook groups. “It’s advocating for social and emotional wellness,’’ she said. “It’s taken this long to get this kind of momentum and support in order for the training to occur.’’ Warnock’s work paid off in an unprecedentSee
PARENTS on page 6
Mountain View freshman defies odds to honor late brother BY ZACH ALVIRA Tribune Sports Editor
BUSINESS . ................ 18
EAST VALLEY
Heading into the season’s second half
C
ollin Curtis attends 6 a.m. practices just like everybody else on the Mountain View High freshman football team. On Wednesdays, he arrives at school sporting his game jersey, representing the football program the best way he can. On Wednesday nights, Collin runs onto Jesse Parker Field, named after the legendary Mountain View coach who passed away in 2017. His excitement level matches that of his teammates, knowing very well that soon he will run onto the field on Friday nights as a member of the varsity. There is one difference between Collin and his teammates, though. Collin was born with Down syndrome. That hasn’t stopped him from fulfilling his dream of playing for Mountain View
and honoring his late brother, Kevin. From the day he witnessed Kevin play in the 2006 state championship, to the picture of Kevin catching a pass with the caption, “Toro Tough, 2006,” Collin wanted to play football for Mountain View, too. “He’s always wanted to play football and I’ve kind of discouraged it because I didn’t want him to get hurt,” said Teri Curtis, Collin’s mother. “He is out there for earlymorning practices, and he enjoys going to the weight room. I think when he is doing that he feels close to Kevin.” Kevin, who graduated from Mountain View in 2007, died of a drug overdose in 2016. He was 26. The loss of Kevin was devastating for the family. Collin took on the role of com(Special to the Tribune) forting everyone, hugging his siblings as if he were telling them it would all be OK. Mountain View freshman Collin Curtis, who has Down syndrome, Reflecting on that day, Teri believes that scored a touchdown on a special post-game play at a recent See
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game, causing him to be mobbed in the end zone by players from both teams, who chanted his name. It was a moment that Collin on page 8 had dreamed about.