July 2016
Relentlessly local coverage of Gilbert and our neighboring communities
Cooling off
Paisley Reed, 2, plays on the Gilbert Splash Pad. More photos, page 16.
Gilbert to get its first cemetery BY SRIANTHI PERERA
Gilbert is the largest metropolitan community in the United States that does not have a cemetery. That may change. The town has entered into negotiations with Mesa-based Bunker Family Funerals and Cremation for the development and operation of a cemetery just west of the northwest corner of Greenfield and Queen Creek roads. A total of 21.75 acres of townowned, undeveloped land is to be leased for the full-service cemetery with a funeral home onsite. About 8 acres are to be developed in the project’s $5 million first phase, and will see
CEMETERY page 12
Town introduces a safe syringe-disposal program BY SRIANTHI PERERA
Melanie Dykstra, town of Gilbert staffer, listens to Randy Bunker of Bunker Family Funerals and Cremation on the full service funeral home and cemetery proposed in south Gilbert. GSN photo by Srianthi Perera
Arizona has more than 100 drug disposal stations in police agencies statewide. But, until recently, there wasn’t a place where you could safely dispose of used sharps and syringe disposal needles. Gilbert Police Department has just unveiled its—and the state’s—first sharps/ syringe disposal kiosk at the Gilbert Police Department’s lobby at 75 E. Civic Center Dr. The program is a partnership with the Arizona Crime Prevention Association and Maricopa County Attorney Bill see
DISPOSAL page 4
2 Community 14 Neighbors 24 Business 28 Neighborhood Map
A red kiosk for sharps and syringes disposal and a green kiosk for drugs are available at the Gilbert Police Department’s lobby at 75 E. Civic Center Dr. GSN photo by Srianthi Perera
36 Youth 46 Spirituality 50 Arts 52 Opinion
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