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TheFoothillsFocus.com
INSIDE
This Week
BUSINESS .........15
Joyce Rockwood helps clients reclaim vibrancy
FEATURES ........18
Desert Foothills Theater plans five new camps to introduce musical theater
YOUTH .............23
Anthem Prep’s Callyn Crandall commits to Trinity University to attend and play soccer
OPINION ................... 10 BUSINESS ................. 15 FEATURES ................ 18 YOUTH ...................... 23 CLASSIFIEDS ............ 25 Zone I
Serving the communities of Anthem, Desert Hills, Norterra, Sonoran Foothills, Stetson Valley, Tramonto, New River, Desert Ridge and North Phoenix
Anthem Area Edition
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Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Parks employee receives Ironwood Award BY TARA ALATORRE Foothills Focus Contributing Writer
M
aricopa County Parks and Recreation Department’s Natural Resource Specialist Juanita Armstrong-Ullberg was the 2021 Ironwood Award recipient. The North Phoenix resident is the first person from the department to receive the award. The award was created by the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management (DFFM) to recognize exemplary government employees who made significant and positive impacts on urban forest management. Armstrong-Ullberg was nominated for the award by Russell Benford, who is a DFFM hazardous fuels program manager. He wanted to recognize the new programs Armstrong-Ullberg launched since she joined the department in late 2018. He
said they are enhancing the stewardship of the 120,000 acres of natural parkland the county manages. “It’s very nice to be recognized for the hard work we’ve been doing,” Ullberg said. “I would like to thank DFFM especially, Russell Benford, for recognizing the hard work that Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department has been doing with the natural resource program.” After spending most of her 20-year natural resource career in the Midwest, she credits her ability to swiftly adapt and learn about the best practices for managing desert ecosystems through relationships she formed in Arizona. “I’ve had to rely on information from partners, things that I did not know firsthand because I had not been here in Arizona to
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Pictured is the 2021 Ironwood Award recipient, Juanita Armstrong-Ullberg, as she collects native seeds with volunteers as part of the natural resource program she built since joining the department in October 2018. (Photo courtesy of Maricopa Parks and Recreation Department)
‘A Day of Remembrance’ for fallen soldiers
BY ALLISON BROWN Foothills Focus Staff Writer
J
im Oliveri served in Vietnam from May 1964 to May 1964, but even after coming home, he has not stopped serving his country, community or fellow veterans. The Anthem resident and author will be the
keynote speaker at A Day of Remembrance Memorial Day service at 9 a.m. Monday, May 31, at the Anthem Veterans Memorial. Oliveri, who was on an advisory team in Vietnam, has served as a Daisy Mountain Veterans board member, American Legion post commander and a program leader to honor local veterans. The poor treatment of Vietnam veterans when
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they returned home is his motivation to volunteer. “There isn’t a day now that I go out with my Vietnam veterans hat on and somebody doesn’t stop me and say ‘thank you’ or ‘we appreciate your service,’” Oliveri said. “But it took a long time for that to happen. I
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