October 2016
Relentlessly local coverage of Gilbert and our neighboring communities
Constitution Day
Patrons could honor the military by walking through the Fallen Soldier Memorial, page 16.
Our City Gilbert organizes 5K run New tourism push aims to reach a fundraiser for domestic violence million internationally BY SRIANTHI PERERA
BY SRIANTHI PERERA
Domestic violence rears its ugly head one too many times every week in Gilbert. From Sept. 1, 2015, to Sept. 1 this year, Gilbert Police Department’s Family Violence Unit made 134 arrests and served 262 charges (many perpetrators were charged more than once). The department averages 89 cases per officer in the unit comprising two officers, Vic Perez and Brandon Wilson, and one sergeant, Mark Worden. “It’s a heavy caseload,” said department spokesman Sgt. Jesse Sanger. While Gilbert addresses the cost of running the Family Violence Unit with
Gilbert is enhancing its tourism drive. A 2014 assessment of visitors to Gilbert indicated that the top three reasons for people to come here is to visit family and friends, on business and for youth and amateur sports. “To those points, we’re making sure that our branding is consistent and our message is going out,” Michele Renahan, tourism administrator for the town. Here are some of the ways that the town is trying to reach its three types of visitors, locally and internationally: A campaign in partnership with Horizon Travel & Lifestyle Magazine will include a full-page advertisement Gilbert has updated its tourism guide as part of
See
a new push for tourism. GSN photo by Srianthi
5K RUN page 4
See
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NEW TOURISM page 9 Perera.
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