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Dust-up near Longbow / P. 6
Golden Mesa businesses/ P. 22
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Sunday, February 27, 2022
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
Cooler classrooms at less cost in store for MPS
INSIDE
This Week
BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
COMMUNITY ......... 15 Mask master Zarco Guerrero of Mesa
T
he Mesa Public Schools Governing Board has voted to spend $75 million to upgrade aging HVAC equipment in the district – passing over a $250-million deal the district explored in the fall. The upgrade will be paid with about half of the district’s third round of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funds distributed to school districts to
ease the financial impact of the pandemic. The upgrade plan replaces a deal proposed by Phoenix-based Midstate Energy in September in which the district would have installed new HVAC and solar equipment in the district through a lease-purchase agreement with the company. The cost of the equipment, the company promised, would have been offset by the energy savings of the more efficient hardware and solar energy. Assistant Superintendent Scott Thompson told the Tribune after the Feb. 22 board meet-
ing that the idea of using federal relief funds to upgrade HVAC equipment came from those earlier talks to lease-purchase equipment. Though the $250 million deal has been scrapped, Thompson said, a smaller scale deal with the company to upgrade to LED lighting was still possible in the future. Throughout the pandemic, some board members expressed concern about the quality of air in many district schools, especially
see HVAC page 4
Mesa man plays star role in Scottish Games
SPORTS ...............
31
East Valley wrestling looking good
GETOUT ............... 34 Mesa pizzeria's iconic organ an EV gem. COMMUNITY ................................ 18 BUSINESS ...................................... 22 OPINION ....................................... 28 SPORTS.......................................... 31 GET OUT ....................................... 34 CLASSIFIED .................................. 39 Zone
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK Tribune Executive Editor
F
or 56 years, thousands of people each March have gathered at Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix to celebrate their Scottish Heritage. But starting Friday afternoon, March 4, men in kilts, stirring marching bands and men and women tossing boulders and engaging in other feats of strength will dominate the landscape of Gilbert Regional Park as the Phoenix Scottish Games move into the East Valley. And Mesa resident Kevin Conquest can’t wait. Born and raised in America with Scottish roots on his mother’s side, Conquest confesses, “I’m mostly English, but as I like to tell people in the Scottish circles, nobody’s perfect.” On Friday, Conquest will be gloriously attired in his black-feather bonnet, tartan kilt, ornate waistcoat with assorted buckles and badges as he leads bands in a heart-stopping march to the tune of bagpipes and drums in
a ceremony opening the largest non-town sponsored event yet at the 272-acre park. And the Scottish Games will use a good chunk of that real estate as Conquest promises a bigger, bolder and more engaging simultaneous series of competitions, entertainment acts and other activities that will more than make up for the loss of the 2021 games to the pandemic. “I do like the park,” said Conquest, the drum major of the 42-year-old Mesa Caledonia Pipe Band who has traveled the world to perform. “The layout is more agreeable to Scottish Highland Games,” he explained. “So, the format that you’re going to see on the field would look very similar to how the Scottish Highland Games will be laid out in Scotland that
see SCOTTISH page 10
Mesa resident Kevin Conquest has a star role in the Phoenix Scottish Games, which stand to become an annual East Valley ritual after 56 years in Phoenix. (Courtesy Kevin Conquest)
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