Kids’ business about service
Boyce offers calming retreat
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
COMMUNITY.............3 Gilbert considers 207-unit townhouse project.
COMMUNITY..........15 Gilbert nonprofit helps clothe the needy.
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Effectiveness a question in town’s diversity effort BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
G
ilbert wants to create a commission to tackle race, diversity and other societal ills in town but how aggressively it will pursue that mission is an open question. Council first discussed the proposal in a September meeting as weekly protests between Black Lives Matter and pro-police supporters continue just up the street from Town Hall. “We will be trying to define a scope of work and forming the commission over the next couple of months,” Mayor Scott Anderson told the Gilbert Sun News in an email.
“We are hoping they would be looking to address some of the issues that came from our listening sessions and other social issues in town,” he said. The town in June hosted Listening Space, a three-day event where the community could give input about racism and police reform. Anderson said he doesn’t see the commission as a formal standing body, like the Planning Commission, but rather like the ad hoc Transportation Advisory Committee, which meets when needed. “It’s just too early to clearly explain the structure of the commission or their responsibilities,” Anderson said.
Origins two decades ago Gilbert has been down this road before, forming a commission to specifically address racism when it rears its ugly head in town. Shortly after the 1999 well-publicized beating of a teenager by a white supremacist group of high schoolers called the Devil Dogs, then-Mayor Cynthia Dunham convened a Diversity Task Force. The victim suffered disfiguring injuries in the attack. In July 2000, Dunham appointed 46 residents and tasked them with addressing social issues confronting the town. The task force made two major recom-
Cats provoke campaign Can’t wait to read dirty tricks mystery
see HUMAN page 4
BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
SPORTS...................... 24 Campo Verde coach happy with new role.
COMMUNITY........................................15 BUSINESS............................................. 18 OPINION..................................... 22 SPORTS.......................................24 GETOUT......................................26 PUZZLE.......................................28 CLASSIFIED..........................................28
S
ome advocates for homeless cats got their claws out for mayoral candidate Brigette Peterson, who as a councilwoman voted for an ordinance they say “legalized animal cruelty.” A loosely formed group calling itself Friend of the Cat planted 30 political signs in town taking aim at Peterson. Within hours, they were mysteriously removed. The signs stated, “Brigette Peterson voted to legalize animal cruelty,” and “She voted to prosecute good Samaritans that feed homeless and lost cats and kittens that are hiding out in Gilbert parks and town properties.” Peterson called the accusations untrue. The cats issue dates back to May 2018, when Council passed a ban on feeding strays on town-owned property like sidewalks
see CATS page 11
Zion Greuilch, 5, got a chance to finally drop in at Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert a it began limited hours for visitors. The library could open fully next month, as explained on Page 10. (Pablo Robles/GSN Staff Photographer)