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Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Villafane and Carefree dispute over event BY TARA ALATORRE Foothills Focus Contributing Writer
NEWS .........................8
Hope Box project makes families’ holidays special
YOUTH ............24
3 BC football players sign to Division 1 colleges
YOUTH ...........27
Autistic boy finds solace in dancing
OPINION ................... 12 BUSINESS ................. 15 FEATURES ................ 18 YOUTH ...................... 24 CLASSIFIEDS ............ 29 Zone
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he town of Carefree was recently ordered by an arbitrator to pay $137,000 in awards, fees and interest after losing a counterclaim brought against them by world-renowned pumpkin sculptor Ray Villafane and his company Villafane Studios. In addition, the town was billed almost 300 hours by its attorneys amounting to $106,000 in lawyer fees, totaling to $121,000 in costs associated with the arbitration, according to documents obtained by The Foothills Focus. A motion to vacate the arbitration award was filed with the Maricopa County Superior Court on December 18 by town attorneys, likely causing Carefree to spend more taxpayer dollars,
see VILLAFANE page 5
World-renowned pumpkin sculptor Ray Villafane and his company Villafane Studios have been involved in a dispute with the town of Carefree over the 2019 Enchanted Pumpkin Garden event. (Submitted photo)
Taiwan Semiconductor purchases land in N. Phoenix BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Foothills Focus Executive Editor
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aiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company recently purchased a large piece of land in North Phoenix at a state land auction for a 5-nanometer fab. The company’s $89 million bid was the only one received for the 1,129-acre piece of undeveloped land off Interstate
17, between the Loop 303 and Carefree Highway. “U.S. adoption of forward-looking investment policies to enable a globally competitive environment for a leading-edge semiconductor technology operation in the U.S. will be crucial to the success of this project,” said Nina Kao, deputy spokeswoman, head of public relations for TSMC in Taiwan. “We appreciate the continuous bipar-
tisan support from the U.S. federal, state and city governments. It gives TSMC and its supply chain partners the confidence this and other future investments will be successful. Our land purchase is only the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with Arizona. TSMC is now making logistical preparations and recruiting staff to start construction in the
see TAIWAN page 4