Mesa students' mural / P. 18
Store's vintage Arizona / P. 22
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Sunday, February 28, 2021
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
Mesa anti-discrimination ordinance hotly debated
INSIDE
This Week
BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
I
f Mesa City Council joins other big Arizona cities by passing a non-discrimination ordinance tomorrow, March 1, public comments at last week’s meeting suggest few will be truly happy. Some will be upset if the city excludes smaller businesses. The �irst draft included all businesses. Later study sessions adjusted that, �irst up to businesses with 15 employees or more,
then back down to include all but those with �ive or fewer employees. Others are furious that the city is even considering the regulation. David Land said he was outraged over language in the proposed ordinance that “Gender identity means the actual or perceived gender-related identity, expression, appearance, or mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.” An emotional Land stated the last part of that is wrong: “God does not make mistakes,”
he said. Land, pastor of New Life Assembly of God, warned that passing the law would “open a Pandora’s box of perversion and sin. “If you pass this, the city of Mesa will be rife for the judgment of God.” Later, Lisa Winger cited her religious beliefs in supporting the anti-discrmination law. “The God I believe in would want love and equality for all his children,” Winger said. The ordinance council is to vote on at 5:45
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‘Safe ball!’ cry starts Cactus League
NEWS ........................... 3 Amazon sets up shop in Mesa.
SPORTS .................... 24 Ex-QB McNabb counseling quarterbacks. COMMUNITY ............................... 18 BUSINESS ..................................... 22 SPORTS ........................................ 24 PUZZLES ...................................... 25 CLASSIFIED ................................. 26 Zone
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BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
M
asks aren’t just for catchers and umpires, anymore: Everyone has to wear them. While watching veterans and rookies sliding into home, Major League Baseball wants fans to be safe in stands. The tradeoff to having a Cactus League season in 2021 includes severely-reduced attendance, cashless transactions, maintenance of physical distancing and mandatory masks, all aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19. “Take me out to the ballpark” is becoming “take out your Ballpark app.” Autographs? Fuggettaboutit, as old Brooklyn Dodgers fans used to say. The casual intimacy of chatting with play-
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Mesa Historical Museum Executive Director Susan Ricci is marking Spring Training with the return of the popular spring baseball exhibit.. For a look, see page 4. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff)
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