Pinners convene in Valley
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Council, school board races head to the wire BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
NEWS..................... 12 Proposed hotel raises residents’ hackles.
BUSINESS............. 28 Gilbert apartment complex sells for $86 million.
SPORTS................. 32 Coaches who are veterans find military background useful. COMMUNITY....................................... 22 BUSINESS.............................................28
SPORTS..................................................32
GETOUT.................................................33
CLASSIFIEDS...................................... 40
Sunday, November 6, 2022
F
rustrations with local government and concerns about parental rights are issues helping to drive voters to the ballot box Tuesday. But the Nov. 8 turnout likely will still be lower for the midterm election compared with a presidential election despite voters casting ballots for state races, council and school board candidates – and, for voters in the Higley Unified School District, a bond.
“As for turnout, it will likely be 62 to 65% range statewide with about an 8-point GOP participation advantage,” said Paul Bentz, senior vice president of Research and Strategy for HighGround. In the last midterm election in 2018, Gilbert saw a 67.95% voter turnout, according to the Town Clerk. In the council race, two diametrically opposed candidates are facing off – former Councilman Bill Spence and newcomer Bobbi Buchli. Navy veteran Spence is a council appoin-
tee who served less than a year in 2021 and Buchli is a real-estate broker. Both Spence and Buchli are pro-public safety and want to preserve the “small-town feel” and t oppose more high-density apartments in town. But the similarities end there. Buchli has taken on the role as an outsider wanting to reform Town Hall. She thinks fiscal spending is out of control and new leadership is needed from top to bottom.
see ELEX page 9
Gilbert veteran has a storied legacy of service BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
R
ichard Neely Morrison remembered receiving his conscription letter in 1968, during the height of the Vietnam War. As he prepares to mark Veterans Day on Friday, the Gilbert man has a special reason to celebrate: He was inducted last month into the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame. From August 1964 to February 1973, 1.9 million men were called to arms to Southeast Asia – 296,406 of them in 1968, according to the Selective Service System. “I had been drafted and my father had his college experience interrupted by
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World War II,” Morrison recalled. “It was another 40 years before he got back to school and finish his bachelor’s degree.” Determined not to have that happen to him, Morrison found a program that allowed him to finish his studies. He graduated with honors and the first in his class in 1970 from Northern Arizona University with a business degree. He then reported for active duty to Pensacola, Florida. to train as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot. “I was originally told that I should expect to go to Vietnam in April 1972,” Morrison said. “But the orders were changed.” He and seven other pilots based at Miramar, San Diego instead were sent to
see VETERAN page 6
Richard Neely Morrison was drafted at the height of the Vietnam War and became a pilot for Navy. His long record of public service earned him induction last month into the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame. (David Minton/GSN Staff Photographer)
Representing Gilbert Residents www.bobbibuchli4gilbertcouncil.com Approved and paid for by Vote Bobbi Buchli