Flippin' big deal / P. 3
Sellers' market blues / P. 13
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
Homicide rate is rising quickly in Mesa BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
BUSINESS .................. 18 Mesa store boots its competition with service.
SPORTS ....................... 28
Sunday, July 11, 2021
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common factor in Mesa as it heads for a record year of homicides: Arguments ending in gunshots. On the morning of June 27, 28-year-old Michael Gonzalez and 27-year-old Stevie Jones had a verbal altercation on Main Street near Stapley Drive, a few blocks from downtown. Jones went back to room No. 107 of the Frontier Motel and told his girlfriend about the argument. When he saw Gonzalez apparently trying to get into the room through a
Saving history
window, Jones allegedly �ired at him. Police say Jones then jumped through the window, chased Gonzalez down and shot him repeatedly, leaving him bleeding and lifeless in the parking lot. By the time police arrested Jones, Gonzalez had become the 18th murder victim so far this year in Mesa. Last year, 24 people were murdered in Mesa – eight in the �irst six months of the year. Through the �irst half of 2021, Gonzalez and the other 17 people killed in the city represented a 125 percent increase in homicides over the number that occurred in the
These coaches are the queens of Toro Pom.
Legislature kills school mask mandates ................... page 10
GETOUT ...................... 30 Mesa chef rolls with his lobster food truck.
Tim Boyle, a Mesa architect and city Planning and Zoning Board member, is helping the new owner of the famed Buckhorn Baths in Mesa ready the property for a massive overhaul – and some new construction. See the story on page 4. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer)
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New Mesa schools dress code coming BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
COMMUNITY ............................... 15 BUSINESS ..................................... 18 OPINION .. ..................................... 20 SPORTS ........................................ 28 GET OUT ........................................ 30 PUZZLES ...................................... 32 CLASSIFIED ................................. 34 Zone 1
�irst six months of last year. As many people have been murdered in Mesa through half of 2021 as in all of 1991. In the last 30 years, the low number of murders in Mesa was eight, in 1993; in 2005, 30 people were killed, the most in the city in that 30-year period. Murders had been on the decline, falling to 11 in 2019 before last year’s spike; the 24 killed last year was the highest number since 26 were slain in 2006. From 2010 to 2019, the average number
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s they begin a new school year next month, Mesa Public Schools students likely will have to abide by a new dress code. The goal: “To ignite a culture of learning and well-being.” The MPS Governing Board was presented a draft of a new policy and new regulations covering student dress last month and are poised to vote on them Tues-
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day, July 13. Presenters told the board 90 percent of dress code violators are girls and that they hope the policy will give clear directions on what is prohibited in order to reduce violations – and resulting missed class time. Board member Lara Ellingson told presenters she wanted to clear up some misconceptions she heard from the public, especially that the general policy was available to the public before the board’s June 22 meeting, but not the more speci�ic regulations.
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