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ECRWSS Carrier Route PreSorted Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 371 Cave Creek, AZ
George Michael Reborn
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TheFoothillsFocus.com
INSIDE
This Week
Cave Creek - Carefree Area Edition
NEWS ................. 7
FEATURES ........ 17 Glass Pumpkin Patch fundraiser returns Oct. 22
YOUTH ............. 21 Madelyn Bachmeier commits to Miami University
OPINION ................... 10 BUSINESS ................. 15 FEATURES ................ 17 YOUTH ...................... 21 CLASSIFIEDS ............ 22 2
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Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Networking group honors Judge Elizabeth Finn BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Foothills Focus Executive Editor
Fourth annual Carefree Restaurant Week starts Oct. 1
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community leader, advocate, champion for women and Arizona’s longest-serving judge, Elizabeth R. Finn, Glendale’s former presiding judge, will be honored for serving others on Tuesday, Oct. 5. “It is really exciting to be acknowledged,” Finn said. “I’ve won a lot of awards in my 43 years of being a judge. This one is for the West Valley, so that’s kind of exciting.” The West Valley Women Networking Association’s 2021 Woman of the Year luncheon is noon Tuesday, Oct. 5, at Arizona Broadway Theatre, Peoria. For tickets, call 602-573-7496 or visit westvalleywomennetworking.com. Lisa E. Platt, chief connections officer
of the West Valley Women Networking Association, said the organization honored Finn for myriad reasons, including her advocacy for domestic violence survivors. “She helped rewrite some of the domestic violence laws that ultimately helped victims become survivors,” Platt said. “Judge Finn also established specialty courts for cases involving domestic violence, homelessness and mental health.” Finn has been the interim court administrator in Carefree and Cave Creek for about two months. Prior to that, she was in El Mirage for the same length of time. “I’m making the rounds around the
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Judge Elizabeth Finn will be honored at the West Valley Women Networking Association’s Woman of the Year luncheon. (Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Finn)
Parents’ petition to recall CCUSD governing board BY ALLISON BROWN Foothills Focus Staff Writer
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arents, former administrators and community members have filed a recall petition for the entire Cave Creek Unified School District Governing Board after claims that careless spending and neglect have led to a multimillion-dollar deficit and a dramatic de-
crease in enrollment. The recalls for Janet Busbee, Jeff Fortney, Brianna Walker, Scott Brown and Elizabeth Hatcher were filed Sept. 16 with the statement “Stakeholders’ interests are not being represented.” For the board to be recalled, 6,646 signatures must be collected for each board member by Jan. 14. “As a parent whose kids went to Cave
Creek schools, I have been watching the decisions that were made and seen a lot of bad financial decisions,” said Holly Weddle, who pulled her children out of CCUSD due to administration problems. “There are also a lot of parents speaking their opinion to the board and advising them on decisions they
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see PETITION page 5
