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ECRWSS Carrier Route PreSorted Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 371 Cave Creek, AZ
Reward offered after javelinas unlawfully shot PAGE
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TheFoothillsFocus.com
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS.................. 3
Tierra Madre Horse & Human Sanctuary names CEO
NEWS.................. 1 Kiwanis luncheon to cover scams and how to avoid them
OPINION............. 7 ‘Get acquainted’ exercise was like ‘The Twilight Zone’
OPINION.......................7 FEATURES................. 12 CALENDAR................ 14 CLASSIFIEDS............. 18 Zone 2
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Serving the communities of Cave Creek and Carefree
Cave Creek - Carefree Area Edition
12
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
City honors Phoenix police officer killed on duty
and overturn. Officer New was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.” Police reports state that the driver of the other vehicle had a blood alcohol content of 0.223 at the time of the crash, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08. New, assigned to the Black Mountain Precinct, was 27 years old and had only been on the force for two years. He left behind a wife, mother, brother and grandmother. Kristen Whetstone, New’s widow, said the officer loved what he did and did it regardless of the risks. “I honestly think that if he knew the price, he would still do it. He would still go to work every day,” Whetstone said. “He knew it was a possibility,
BY ALLISON BROWN Foothills Focus Staff Writer
O
ne year after Phoenix Police Officer Ginarro New was killed on duty as a result of a traffic collision with a drunken driver, the police department hosted a short ceremony to unveil a historical marker in his honor. The sign reads, “Police Officer Ginarro New End of Watch May 31, 2021.” It is located at the southwest corner of Cave Creek Road and Greenway Road, where he was hit. “On May 31, 2021, Officer New was on patrol,” Sgt. Vincent Cole with the Public Affairs Bureau said about the incident. “Around 10:30 p.m. his vehicle was struck by an impaired driver that failed to stop for a red light. The force of the impact caused the patrol car to strike a brick wall
Officer Ginarro New had been on the force for two years and was 27 years old when he was killed on duty as a result of a collision with an impaired driver. (Phoenix Police Department/Sub-
see OFFICER page 4
mitted)
Ruth Johnson teaches ‘what scammers don’t want you to know’ BY ALLISON BROWN Foothills Focus Staff Writer
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cammers have tried to trap Ruth Johnson dozens of times, so many times that she learned their tricks. So, she created Scams and Me, a company through which she shares her personal experiences to help others avoid being scammed. “I try to educate and protect the public with my public speaking presentations on what scammers don’t want you to know,” she said. “I’ve been working with scammers since 2013. I have multiple stories to tell,
experiences with them, and I know exactly what they do.” A Valley resident, Johnson will speak at the Kiwanis luncheon meeting at noon Wednesday, June 15, at Harold’s Cave Creek Corral. She will discuss her stories, current scams, what she has learned, and how others can protect themselves. It’s fair to say she has learned quite a bit, as she has worked with the Canadian Border Patrol, Canadian police, FBI and several U.S. police departments throughout her experiences. Johnson says the first time she was scammed was in 2013, when she respond-
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ed to an ad in a newspaper for a personal assistant. She got the job and said she immediately got an email from the employer that said he was in Iraq and needed help. Ultimately, the scammer wanted her to open a bank account for them. Since then, Johnson said she has gone through 20 to 30 attempted — and a few successful — scams. They’ve tried LinkedIn, Facebook and dating sites. These weren’t phone calls about a car warranty or saving an Egyptian prince; these were actual peo-
see SCAM page 4