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High tech is an economic engine

Cities still pursuing a ‘Silicon East Valley’

BY GARY NELSON TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

for generations. And while the East Valley may not have dug a lot copper, the other four economic engines kept our wheels turning.

If you’ve been around these parts long enough, you remember the Five C’s. Copper, cattle, citrus, cotton and climate—Arizona hung its hat on those pegs

Well, we plowed under the cotton and the citrus for seas of tile roofs. There’s hardly a steer in sight. And you can’t build an economy on the surviving C —climate— alone.

So, what next?

In the new century, economic development has become, in the most literal sense of the term, rocket science.

First Solar had ups, downs 6

Regional leaders see a chance for the East Valley to emerge not just as a place for tech companies to build factories and

Visitors surround a B-25 after its ﬂ ight at the Air Force Museum at Falcon Field, Mesa. A B-25 and B-17 from the Commemorative Air Force completed their U.S and Canada Flying Legends of Victory Tour with a Homecoming event in Mesa. More photos, Page 16.

Advocates divided on Flake bill to ease ADA lawsuits

JIM WALSH TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

envisioned in a bill filed by Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

Flake’s bill includes a “notice and cure provision,” which would have given Keith, 51, or any other business owner, up to 120 days to correct an ADA violation.

But two advocates for the disabled aren’t

necessarily sold on Flake’s bill and were divided on its merits, with one saying businesses should already know about a civil rights law passed 26 years ago. A similar bill filed in the U.S. House of Representatives

(Cheryl Haselhorst/Tribune Staff Photographer)

Celebrate!

Culver’s of Mesa invites you to join in celebrating Guest Appreciation Week

October 10-16, 2016

It’s our way of saying thanks for making us part of your family and community.

Monday

Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

$2 1-Scoop Turtle Sundaes

$2 Short Shakes

$2 Mini Concrete Mixers

$1 Short Root Beer Floats

20% of Thursday’s sales will beneﬁt Child Crisis Arizona

$1 Single Scoops of Vanilla, Chocolate, or the Flavor of the Day

$2 Regular Cheese Curds Happy National Cheese Curd Day!

$1 Short Root Beer Floats

Culver’s of Mesa, AZ 1841 S Greenﬁeld Rd Mesa, AZ 85206 (480) 892-2430

Culver’s of Mesa, AZ 1909 S Country Club Dr Mesa, AZ 85210 (480) 733-5330

THE SUNDAY

EAST VALLEY

Tribune

The East Valley Tribune is published every Sunday and distributed free of charge to homes and in singlecopy locations throughout the East Valley. To find out where you can pick up a free copy of the Tribune, please visit www.EastValleyTribune.com.

Times Media Group: 1620 W. Fountainhead Parkway, Suite 219 Tempe, Arizona, 85282

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Caregivers look for relief from Alzheimer’s burden

BY SHELLEY GILLESPIE TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

After 47 years of marriage, Linda Culpepper is just looking for some quiet time to herself to read, relax and not be “on” every minute. That’s why she and her husband Herb, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s three years ago, went to Tempe’s new Memory Café, part of Tempe’s participation in the Dementia Friendly America program.

The new community program for those with dementia and their caregivers takes place at the Tempe Public Library on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon. At the weekly gathering, professionals in aging and senior healthcare speak with both caregivers and those with memory impairment. The casual environment encourages those who drop in to share their stories and ask for assistance.

At a recent meeting, Carolyn Hutchens, center director for Tempe adult programs, was engaged in a lively discussion with Herb. Linda was relieved to have a few minutes where Herb was engaged, so she could talk to someone about her issues.

“It’s hard. What would make it easier is if he’d do other things without me,” Linda said.

“Someday, I’d just like to get up when

as a jet engine technician and is in the Automotive Hall of Fame. When Jack was diagnosed with dementia in 2010, they had already experienced everything retirees usually do in retirement, traveling extensively. They went to the Far East, the U.S. and Canada, and lived in Alaska and Guam.

Now, Jack has a hard time remembering things like where their son was born. He’s a good poker player, but when Norma asked him if he’d go play poker with her, Jack responded, “I wouldn’t bank on it.”

“ This is no longer your grandma’s Alzheimer’s disease. ” —Jan Dougherty, Director, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute

I want to get up.”

She had taken courses shortly after Herb’s diagnosis, but that was before many of the manifestations of Alzheimer’s had developed. Now, she needed a refresher.

Since Herb loves music, Jan Dougherty, director of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, provided Linda with information on a music program. Making Music, Making Memories is conducted by Herberger ASU School of Music.

Another couple, Jack and Norma Joiner, spoke with Jane Gerlica from Banner Alzheimer’s. Jack and Norma met in the Air Force and have been married 45 years. For years an accounting teacher, Norma is now Jack’s full-time caregiver. Jack had a demanding career

Norma explained that Jack finds noise overwhelming. Events and activities they used to enjoy are now difficult for him. The wide world they’ve lived in is narrowing.

Bebe Berger’s husband Chris— “My name is Christian,” he declared emphatically—has been attending Oakwood Creative Care five days a week for 18 months. When he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s seven years ago, the dramatic change from the hardcharging businessman with his own food manufacturing company to a person needing a 24-hour-a-day caregiver wore Bebe out.

She is grateful that Chris is upbeat, loving and without anger.

Bebe is patient and loving, but as his full-time caregiver, she says, “I will forever be grateful for Oakwood.”

LIVING TO AVOID DEMENTIA

• Sleep at night

• Experience joy

• Reduce stress

• Exercise

• Eat healthy

– Sherri Friend, director of Oakwood Creative Care

In an afternoon program, Chris energetically painted a corrugated cardboard butterfly red, as well as the table nearby. For over 15 minutes, he intensely worked on the project, assisted by creative engagement leader Jordyn Fani.

Another workshop with about 10 seniors, conducted by Jessica Majors, discussed ways they relax. Some of those around the table were withdrawn, barely speaking. Others ventured answers tentatively, while one gentleman offered answers on behalf of one woman. Was the gentleman her husband?

Oakwood Director Sherri Friend explained, “He and she have been here for so many years they’ve become close. They hold hands.”

In other facilities, those attending might be called “patients” or “clients,” but here they are called “members.” About 75 percent of those present have some form of dementia, but the remainder might have Parkinson’s, a

(Shelley Gillespie/Tribune Contributor)

Chris Berger works on a multimedia art project at Oakwood Creative Care.

branch offices, but as a true hotbed of innovation—a sort of Silicon East Valley, if you will.

“We absolutely do have that potential,” said Dan Henderson, who directs Gilbert’s economic development team. That the East Valley wants to become synonymous with technology is not exactly a news flash. Motorola, one of the 20th century’s most innovative corporations, was a key player here for decades before external and internal forces tore the company apart.

But moving forward may meet with new headwinds. No one suggests the East Valley is about to supplant the entrenched coastal tech centers that spawned such giants as IBM, Microsoft, Apple and Google.

And according to a new report from the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D-C.-based think tank, the Valley as a whole is stalling on some fronts.

Some bad numbers

In an August report titled “America’s Advanced Industries: New Trends,” Brookings said the metro region supported 158,775 advancedindustry jobs in 2015. As a raw number, that put Phoenix at No. 16 among U.S. metro areas.

But those jobs represented only 8.2 percent of all employment in the Valley, Brookings said. By that measure, the Valley ranked 54th nationally.

editorial writer for a Tucson newspaper.

The good news for Phoenix and the East Valley, Muro told The Tribune, is “a boom in digital services, meaning computer systems design, data processing, Web search and Internet, and software products. All of those are growing at more than 8½ percent a year, so very fast growth.”

But, he said, “There is some tougher news. … Some important industries of varying size lost employment.”

Muro believes Arizona stands to benefit from the overheated Bay Area real estate market that challenges the viability of some tech firms.

“I think tech services … may even be seeing some pickup as companies are priced out or entrepreneurs are forced out of California,” Muro said.

Our region’s biggest single inhibiting factor, he said, may be workforce education.

pipeline is churning out more all the time.

“Gilbert is within a 30-minute commute to 60 different educational institutions” of various kinds, he said.

“The close proximity to that hub of education resources and expertise,” Henderson said, “really positions the East Valley as that hub for science and technology in the Phoenix metropolitan area.”

Success stories

Henderson said Gilbert is in the fifth year of a five-year economic development plan that specifically targeted STEM industries. With 10 months to go, he said, Gilbert already has achieved 102 percent of the 10,000-job goal and 106 percent of its $1.1 billion target for capital investment.

Among the successes: Orbital ATK.

“They employ roughly 400 rocket scientists,” Henderson said. “We were able to retain over 400 jobs and attract 125 new jobs. The average salary is $125,000.”

agreed to partner with three companies to build a biomedical and technology research campus on 18 acres west of the Tempe Center for the Arts.

Planners envision five buildings, five to eight stories tall, encompassing 1 million square feet.

Chandler’s aggressive, decadeslong quest for high-tech employment continues to reap dividends, according to that city’s economic development director, Micah Miranda.

The brightest star in Chandler’s constellation is Intel Corp., which employs about 11,000 people on its Price Corridor and Chandler Boulevard campuses. The company, however, has mothballed the newest factory it built in the Price Corridor.

Total employment in the Price Corridor is about 31,000, Miranda said.

But he and the other directors said the region can’t stand pat.

Furthermore, Brookings said, the Phoenix area’s tech employment grew by only 2 percent between 2013 and 2015. Fifty other metro areas in the country did better than that.

Brookings also found that Phoenixarea employment actually declined in several tech sectors between 2013 and 2015—most dramatically noting a 4 percent decline in semiconductor and components manufacturing.

Mark Muro, a senior analyst who cowrote the Brookings report, is no stranger to Arizona. His resume includes stints at Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy and as an

“I think limits in the quality of the central Arizona labor force are a true potential ceiling on growth,” he said.

“The historical weakness of the state has been educational attainment, and especially STEM and technical attainment.”

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math—exactly the kinds of jobs East Valley economic development leaders are pursuing with great gusto.

Henderson said if Arizona as a whole is weak in those areas, the East Valley is not. He said 30 percent of Phoenixarea residents with STEM degrees live in the East Valley, and that the educational

There may be no more striking a visible symbol of the East Valley’s aspirations than the gleaming skyline that transformed downtown Tempe after the city created Town Lake.

“We’re truly an urban core, and tech companies are attracted to that,” said Donna Kennedy, Tempe’s economic development director. Educated millennials, she said, are especially drawn to a downtown that features a worldclass university, light rail, recreation and a vibrant arts scene.

In Tempe alone, she said, high tech employs 15,000 people in jobs that pay $80,000 a year on average. Tempe added 2,000 such jobs in just the past year.

Arizona State University historically has driven high-tech research in Tempe, but the city itself is now jumping into the game. In August, the City Council

“The increased level of competition, not only domestically but internationally, for high-tech manufacturing and engineering-related jobs is very intense,” Miranda said. “We’re having to … really dig deeper and understand the issues that a particular industry faces. It’s different for each type of cluster.”

Bill Jabjiniak, Mesa’s economic development director, said the East Valley often goes toe-to-toe with the likes of Austin, Denver, San Jose and Seattle for high-tech jobs.

“We compare favorably on the size of our labor pool, wage rates for hightech workers, unemployment, insurance rates, total operating costs and cost of living,” Jabjiniak said.

He also points to ASU, where “more than 19,000 students are enrolled in engineering undergraduate and graduate programs.”

Mesa has set aside more than 1,000 acres just northeast of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport for high-tech firms.

(Will Powers/Tribune Staff Photographer))

The brightest star in Chandler’s constellation is Intel Corp., which employs about 11,000 people on its Price Corridor and Chandler Boulevard campuses.

(Will Powers/Tribune Staff Photographer) Orbital ATK is a high-tech success story in Gilbert. About 400 rocket scientists work there.

Motorola pioneered EV tech

BY GARY NELSON TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Before the 1940s, the world had not exactly beaten a path to the East Valley’s doorstep. Tempe had a growing state college, but agriculture still drove the economies of the little towns that dotted the region.

World War II began to change that. The area’s role as a military training center raised its national profile. After the war, people and businesses began to stream in.

Among them was Motorola Inc., the Chicago-based giant then in the global forefront of technical innovation.

One of the more colorful versions— albeit perhaps apocryphal—of Motorola’s arrival has it that the Army asked the company to move some of its research facilities out of Chicago because it was worried the big city would be hit by an atomic bomb.

In any event, Motorola opened its first Arizona facility—a research and development lab in Phoenix—in 1949.

Within a few years, Motorola became the largest employer in Arizona, with

major plants across the metro area. Tempe, Chandler and Mesa all hosted large Motorola operations. They supported Motorola’s cutting-edge work, which had begun with the development of the first car radio, included the world’s first mobile phones, and linked humanity to the moon during the Apollo missions.

Mesa’s plant, at Broadway and Dobson roads, opened in the late 1960s. The company made semiconductor wafers there for more than 30 years before closing the factory in the early 2000s. The site is now a thriving industrial park.

Motorola moved out of its Chandler campus, in what is now called the Price Corridor, in 2008. The land is now being redeveloped.

Motorola itself began to fragment more than a decade ago, eventually splitting into two major components, neither of which remains a major player in the region. But a 2004 spinoff corporation, Freescale, in turn was sold to a company called NXP Semiconductors, which still has operations in Tempe and Chandler.

Motorola’s legacy in the region lives on in another tangible way—a way

Motorola moved out of its Chandler campus, in what is now called the Price Corridor, in 2008. The land is now being redeveloped.

that illustrates the importance of legacy corporations in a community.

Virginia Galvin, the widow of company founder Paul Galvin, had visited the Valley often during business trips with her husband. She moved to the area in 1972 and married Motorola vice president Kenneth Piper. Her will specified that her fortune

would endow the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, which issues grants to a spectrum of nonprofits across the Valley. Thus, money generated by Motorola generations ago has continued to support East Valley organizations such as Southwest Shakespeare Company, the i.d.e.a. Museum in Mesa, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the East Valley and others.

Smiles, frowns and all over again for Mesa tech site

BY GARY NELSON

TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In the world of high-tech economic development, smiles and frowns can turn upside down in a nanosecond. Just ask Mesa.

On St. Patrick’s Day 2011, city leaders and Gov. Jan Brewer couldn’t hide their glee as First Solar Inc. announced at its shiny Tempe headquarters it would build a huge factory to make solar panels at Ellsworth and Elliot roads.

First Solar said it would employ 600 people at the factory and build three more like it on the same corner of the former General Motors Desert Proving Ground.

But the gales that blow through the world’s economies were to dictate otherwise.

Within a few months, world demand for solar panels slowed to the point that First Solar decided to leave the Mesa plant empty except for a few whitecollar jobs. For all its efforts to speed

permitting, build infrastructure and in other ways facilitate construction, Mesa appeared to have a 1.3 million-squarefoot white elephant on its hands.

The frowns changed back to smiles in late 2013 when Apple Inc., which the previous year had considered building an operations center in the Valley

before settling on Austin, bought the First Solar plant. It was to be Apple’s first real corporate presence in the Valley.

Apple planned to sublease the factory to GT Advanced Technologies Inc., which would employ 700 people there to make high-tech glass for phones and iPads.

Within a year, the frowns were back. GT, facing bankruptcy, ended production in Mesa and laid off 650 workers.

Apple, which still owned the factory, decided in early 2015 to use it as a “command center,” promising to spend $2 billion over 10 years to retrofit the facility. By May of that year, Apple said it would employ 150 executives at the plant and fill about 500 other jobs with local workers.

“The iCloud will be hovering right over Mesa, Arizona,” Mayor John Giles told reporters as officials unveiled Apple’s latest plans. “I couldn’t imagine a better ending to this story.”

(Tribune staff)

THE WEEK AHEAD

Chandler Fire invites public to open house

The Chandler Fire, Health & Medical Department is holding a free open house for the public from 9 a.m. to noon on

Saturday at Fire Station No. 7.

The open house is meant to educate the community on the services provided by Chandler Fire, Health & Medical. Safety, fi re prevention and emergency preparedness information will also be shared with the public.

There will be tours of the station, drowning prevention information, free blood pressure checks and an instruction on hands-only CPR. In the Fire Safety House display, children will get instruction on how to get out of a smokefi lled environment.

Fire Station No. 7 is at 6200 S. Gilbert Road. For more information, call 480-7822120 or go to chandleraz.gov/fi re.

– RACHEL EROH, TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Girl Scouts host day of fun at Chandler park

Pokemon, ghosts invade Mesa museum

Pokemon activities are on tap at the Arizona Museum of Natural History in downtown Mesa on Friday night. From 5:30 to 8 p.m., Pokemon lures will be everywhere. Activities include a search for ghost Pokemon, stories and a craft station. More Pokemon stops are planned throughout downtown. And, the museum’s dinosaurs will fi nd ways to be involved, museum offi cials say.

Admission is $5 a person for people 17 and younger and $9 for people 18 and older. The museum is at 53 N. Macdonald St. – SHELLEY RIDENOUR, TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Tempe’s ‘Running of the Bulls’ features

roller derby girls

A neighborhood day of fun is being hosted Saturday by the East Kyrene Neighborhood Arizona Cactus Pine Girl Scouts.

3 p.m.

The party is taking place at Desert Breeze Park in Chandler, from 11 a.m. to

The chapter, which serves 600 girls in the area, will also be highlighting the benefi ts of Scouting.

Veterans to get access to resources at Tempe fair

The Running of the Bulls is coming back to Tempe for the second year in a row on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. Tempe’s version of the Running of the Bulls is far safer than the celebration that takes place in Spain. Instead of being chased by bulls, runners are chased by roller derby girls. Slower runners who get caught along the milelong run are whacked by “rollerbulls” with a soft

foam-core ball bat.

The free Stand for Vets resource fair will be hosted by the Rio Salado College on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The fair will provide resources to veterans and their families to help vets adapt back to civilian life. The fair will give access to educational, employment and community services.

The fair will be at the East Valley Veterans Education Center at 3320 S. Price Road, Tempe. For more information, call 480-384-9850 or visit evvec.org/stand4vets.

‘Sound

– RACHEL EROH, TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Registration starts at $35 per runner which includes a T-shirt, sash, bandana and other perks. Registration is open at azbulls.com.

– RACHEL EROH, TRIBUNE

of Music’ tickets go on sale

STAFF WRITER

Tickets for a new production of “The Sound of Music” are now on sale.

The show will run Oct. 18-23 at ASU Gammage. Tickets are available at the ASU Gammage Box Offi ce, 1200 S. Forest Ave.; by visiting ticketmaster.com or asugammage.com; or by calling 1-800-982-2787.

For more information, go to thesoundofmusicontour.com. – TRIBUNE STAFF REPORT

in 2015 by another Republican congressman did not succeed.

In Keith’s case, all he needed was a drill and a half-hour of his time. He had to move a van-accessible handicapped sign 3½ inches up a pole in front of one of his six handicapped parking spaces at Meridian Plaza. e L-shaped strip mall is formed by two buildings at Meridian Road and University Drive in Mesa, near the Apache Junction border.

Keith’s only tenant at the well-kept 7-year-old plaza is a dialysis center, where it’s not uncommon to see people using wheelchairs or walking with canes.

Keith, 51, said he supports the ADA, a landmark civil rights law passed in 1990. He thinks that disabled people have the right to access public buildings and that handicapped parking spaces and ramps are necessary.

But until he was sued about a month ago, Keith said he had no idea that a handicapped parking sign was too low. It turned out to be a costly oversight.

Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities oﬀered to settle the suit for an $11,000 out-of-court settlement, Keith said, but his lawyer settled the matter for $8,500.

“ is was a good law,” Keith said. “I think people are using the law for personal gain. It’s abusing it.

remediation for potential violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,” Flake’s bill reads.

In an interview with a television reporter released by Flake’s oﬃce, the senator said he is trying to protect businesses against frivolous lawsuits, which he described as a “racket,” while also helping the disabled by increasing compliance with the ADA.

“We are trying to get people to comply with the law and do something good here instead of lining the pockets of these trolls,” Flake said.

He said businesses “want to comply with the law, but they don’t want to be shaken down” through attempts to collect out-of-court settlements.

But Phil Pangrazio, president and CEO of Ability/360, a non-proﬁt social-service agency that serves disabled residents from throughout the Valley, said Flake’s bill sounds similar to others that have failed.

He said the bill might actually backﬁre by giving businesses no incentive to comply with the law until they have been served with a complaint.

“ e idea of giving them 120 days’ notice to comply when they’ve had 26 years makes no sense,” Pangrazio said. “Why should they do anything until someone makes a complaint?”

But John Moore, president and CEO of Mesa’s Marc Community Resources,

“ The idea of giving them 120 days’ notice to comply when they’ve had 26 years makes no sense. Why should they do anything until someone makes a complaint? ”

—Phil Pangrazio, president and CEO of Ability/360

“If I had known about it, I might have saved $8,500. I never thought in a million years I would be sued over that.”

Flake said he wants business owners, such as Keith, to correct ADA violations by installing more handicapped parking spaces and taller signs, rather than spending more money to settle “serial” lawsuits ﬁled by the foundation.

Flake’s bill also directs the U.S. Justice Department to create a plan to educate state and local governments and businesses about the ADA and how to comply with its requirements.

“Such program may include training for professionals such as Certiﬁed Access Specialists to provide guidance about

through the installation of handicapped parking spaces, wheelchair ramps and other facilities designed to eliminate physical barriers.

e generally well-respected law suddenly became controversial earlier this year when Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities ﬁled at least 1,300 civil lawsuits against businesses, many of them in Mesa, accusing them of violating the ADA.

e suits generally cited a lack of adequate handicapped parking spaces, spaces too small to accommodate a van for the handicapped, or signs that were too low.

Arizona Court of Appeals denied an attempt by Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities to replace Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Talamante on the ADA cases. Talamante has twice issued critical rulings in the Attorney General’s Oﬃce favor that eventually will make it possible to dismiss the more than 1,100 cases.

– Reach Jim Walsh at 480-898-5639 or at jwalsh@ timespublications.com.

– Comment on this article and like the East Valley Tribune on Facebook and follow EVTNow on Twitter.

ABOUT THE ADA

which also aids the disabled, said he believes that most businesses would comply with the ADA after they are notiﬁed of a violation.

“In general, I am in favor of notice and cure and education,” Moore said. “I’m more of a practical person. I think 75-80 percent of people would want to comply.”

He said he is not sure if he favors the speciﬁc requirements of Flake’s bill and he would like to consult with Pangrazio and others who serve the disabled about whether there might be better solutions to obtaining a higher level of compliance.

e ADA’s purpose is to give disabled people access to all public buildings

Although Moore is opposed to the foundation’s tactics in ﬁling so many suits, “I do think there has been some good come out of it” through higher awareness of the ADA, even if a notice would have been a nicer way to accomplish the same goal.

Peter Strojnik, an attorney for the foundation, has accused the Arizona Attorney General’s Oﬃce and the U.S. Justice Department of failing to enforce the ADA, leading to a complacent attitude by businesses toward the law.

As the controversy over the suits grew, Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office first received permission from a judge to intervene in a test case. e judge later granted a motion to consolidate more than 1,100 cases. e Attorney General’s Office said the ultimate aim is to file a motion to dismiss the suits.

In a ruling issued on Wednesday, the

Defense attorney Lindsay Leavitt has outlined many speciﬁc rules regarding the ADA. Here are some of Leavitt’s bullet points

• ADA, enacted in 1990, is a federal civil rights law that is intended to protect against discrimination based on disability.

• The Arizonans with Disabilities Act is Arizona’s version of the ADA.

• Under the AzDA and Title III of the ADA, no individual may be discriminated against on the basis of disability with regards to full enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities or accommodation of any public accommodation or commercial facility.

(Jim Walsh/Tribune Staff)

Henry Keith stands next to a handicap parking sign that cost him an $8,500 settlement over an ADA lawsuit.

Lodge will accept Tempe ballots after guide misprint

After a voting guide mix-up, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will allow some Tempe voters to drop off ballots at their previous polling place. Offi cial voting material had told some voters the wrong place to vote. Maricopa County recently approved a polling location at the Sun Devil Fitness Center on ASU’s campus. This replaces the Knights of Pythias Lodge on Apache Boulevard, which has been the polling place for some Tempe and Arizona State University voters.

Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell sent a formal letter of request to the board, and now the lodge will accept ballots.

To check out where to vote, visit the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission’s website at azcleanelections.gov.

The general election is Nov. 8.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

– RALPH ZUBIATE, TRIBUNE EDITOR

Christmas tree permits available for sale

Permits to cut Christmas trees at Arizona’s national forests this season have gone on sale. Trees can be cut with a permit until Dec. 24

Enforcement cameras back on at 2 Chandler intersections

Photo enforcement cameras at the intersections of Alma School Road and Queen Creek Road, along with the intersection at Ray Road and Rural Road, were activated Oct. 1.

Drivers caught on the photo enforcement cameras will receive a warning in the mail for their respective violations. Warnings will continue through Oct. 30. On Oct. 31, the cameras will begin generating citations for speeding and red-light violations.

Both intersections had photo enforcement cameras before, but this re-activation is under the city’s new photo enforcement vendor, American Traffi c Solutions.

– RACHEL EROH, TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Black cats get special treatment this October

Altered Tails, the Valley’s largest spay and neuter clinic, is offering surgeries free for black cats.

Owners can take their black cats to get spayed or neutered or to have their nails trimmed throughout October in Mesa.

Cat owners can go to alteredtails.org or call 480-807-1200 for more information or to schedule an appointment. Callers should mention the Halloween Lucky

Black Cat campaign. – TRIBUNE STAFF REPORT

The permits can be purchased at all fi ve ranger districts Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This year, 7,500 permits are available. General information about the Christmas tree cutting program is available by calling 928-333-6229 or by going to the ApacheSitgreaves National Forests website, fs.usa. gov/asnf.

Chamber will have new president at end of

month

East Valley school gets national excellence award

Anne Gill will assume her new role as president & CEO of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 31. Gill has served as the president & CEO of the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce since 2011. She has more than 25 years of business administration experience with knowledge in corporate development, community outreach, fundraising and special events management. Sean Donovan is currently serving as the interim president & CEO of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce.

– RACHEL EROH, TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Four Arizona schools, including one in Tempe, have been recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education. The schools receiving the award are Fuller Elementary School in Tempe, Vista Del Sur Traditional School in Laveen, University High School in Tucson and Jack Barnes Elementary School in Queen Creek. These four schools are among 279 public and 50 private schools that will be recognized in the ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, on Nov. 7-8.

The national award is administered annually by the U.S. Department of Education to honor public and private elementary, middle, and high schools across the nation for their overall academic excellence or their progress in successfully closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. – RACHEL EROH, TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Tempe

BURDEN

stroke, or diabetes without memory impairment. Oakwood does not separate members by diagnosis.

“We try to offer the opportunity for them (the members) to engage and express themselves with dignity,” Friend said.

Friend’s vision is to create “A little bit of hope for a person experiencing a disease and their caregiver.”

“Even with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, members can participate in programs like quilting, history class, tai chi, Zumba, strength training, yoga, music and art,” she said. “It’s almost like when they enter (Oakwood) their disease melts away.”

Banner’s Alzheimer’s director Jan

Dougherty said, “Arts are transformative. The institute conducted a 2½ year study about the benefits of the arts. Outcomes were amazing. With earlier diagnosis, even without drugs, people can live better longer.”

Dougherty added, “This is no longer your grandma’s Alzheimer’s disease. Right now, new clinical research options exist for people at highest risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Within a decade or two, physicians and scientists are hopeful we will find effective prevention strategies. But, we need our community to get engaged and involved.”

For more information on exciting options happening right here in Phoenix, people can visit endalznow.org and learn how to participate.

TEMPE RESOURCES AND PROGRAMS

FOR DEMENTIA PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS

• Memory Café

Tempe Public Library

3500 S. Rural Road, Tempe

When: 9 a.m.–noon, Every Wednesday

Cost: Free

• Making Music, Making Memories

Pyle Adult Recreation Center

655 E. Southern Ave., Tempe

When: Every Friday

Cost: $10 per participant pair per week or $100 session block of 10-12 sessions

• Dementia Friendly Tempe

Tempe Public Library

3500 S. Rural Road, Tempe

Monthly talks on dementia-related topics

When: Second Wednesday of each month, 1-2:30 p.m.

Cost: Free

from page 3

(Shelley Gillespie/Tribune Contributor)

Jack and Norma Joiner at Tempe Memory Cafe chat with Jane Gerlica from Banner's Alzheimers Institute.

‘Scary clown’ trend turns the corner with threats, arrests

BY JIM WALSH TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Mesa police and other authorities are warning teenagers and their parents about the dangers of getting caught up in a trendy social media hoax featuring a “scary clown” that has turned into a crime as it sweeps the Valley and nation.

Mesa police arrested two juveniles, a 17-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, after investigating a series of social media posts that combined menacing photos of clowns with threats to shoot up high schools. In one post unrelated to the arrests, someone asked which high school they should target, Mesa High School or Red Mountain High School, to “take the shots.”

Mesa police, Phoenix police and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office aren’t laughing. They are pointing out that these threats are crimes by making arrests and filing charges.

An expert at the University of Arizona said the clown hoaxes are a reminder that

bad information can spread on social media just as quickly as good information, and that social media can be abused.

“Because the clown story is traveling by social media, it is fast and furious,” said Catherine F. Brooks, director of the University of Arizona’s Center for Digital Society and Data Studies. “It propagates easily. It moves faster and faster, and it takes hold in communities of people and becomes fashionable.”

Detectives have not substantiated the threats and do not believe there is a real danger of teens acting on the threats, he said.

“It was social media that involved photos and text,” Rasheta said. “Parents were just able to show that to police,” who interviewed the teens. The suspects eventually confessed to making the threats, he said.

“ For them, it’s a funny thing. We need to make people understand that threats are against the law. ” —Detective Nik Rasheta

Detective Nik Rasheta, a Mesa police spokesman, said the scary clown images started popping up on social media in 2014, with kids goofing around, taking pictures of each other wearing clown masks. The joke stopped being funny when threats were added to clown imagery this year.

“It’s more of a phenomenon, a movement. Kids know the concept of being scary with a clown,” Rasheta said. “For them, it’s a funny thing. We need to make people understand that threats are against the law.”

But authorities have to take any such threat seriously, Rasheta said.

Campus shootings have saddened the country repeatedly, in Colorado, Connecticut and several other states.

“Our message is, don’t cross the line into a crime by making threats,” Rasheta said.

He said the threats in Mesa have targeted Mesa High School, Red Mountain High School, Westwood High School, Skyline High School and Mountain View High School.

Rasheta said the threats have been general in nature and have not targeted a particular person. He said the trend has been sweeping the country and involves copy-cat crimes committed by teens caught up in the social media trend.

On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that a teenaged boy had been arrested by suburban Prince George’s County police on suspicion of creating a clown-themed Twitter account and using it to threaten “mass violence” at his high school in Riverdale, Maryland. Brooks said it appears that the bomb threats that have traditionally plagued schools have morphed into the clown threats.

– Reach Jim Walsh at 480-898-5639 or at jwalsh@ timespublications.com.

Zero, zip, zilch

No matter how you say it, Humana has Medicare Advantage plans with $0 premiums

Looking for a lower premium Medicare plan? How does $0 a month sound?

You can get great benefits, plus the extras you want – all for a $0 monthly plan premium.

• $0 monthly Plan Premium

• Prescription drug coverage

• Emergency coverage at home and when you travel

• SilverSneakers Fitness Program

• Tru Hearing Select – Hearing aid benefit

• $75 Over-the-counter quarterly medication allowance**

• Meal delivery after a hospital stay

And that’s just for starters.

Call a licensed sales agent to find out what else you can get for a $0 premium.

1-855-882-4341 (TTY: 711)

5 a.m. - 8 p.m., 7 days a week

¿En español? Llame gratis al 1-855-346-7988

You can also call now to reserve a spot at a neighborhood sales meeting to learn more:

MESA

Humana Guidance Center

5943 E. McKellips Rd.

Ste. #106

Oct. 12, 19 at 11:30 a.m.

Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.

MESA

Iora Primary Care

9124 E. Main St.

Oct. 18 at 10 a.m.

Oct. 25 at 10 a.m.

MESA

Iora Primary Care

5110 E. Southern Ave.

Oct. 27 at 10 a.m.

**Available only through Humana’s mail-order pharmacy; always consult with your doctor or medical provider before taking over-the-counter medications. Humana is a Medicare Advantage HMO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in this Humana plan depends on contract renewal. This information is not a complete description of benefits. Contact the plan for more information. Limitations, copayments, and restrictions may apply. Benefits, premium and member cost share may change on January 1 of each year. You must continue to pay your Medicare Part B premium. Applicable to Humana Gold Plus H2649-032 (HMO). A licensed sales agent will be present with information and applications. For accommodation of persons with special needs at sales meetings call 1-855-882-4341 (TTY: 711), 5 a.m. - 8 p.m., 7 days a week. Humana Inc. and its subsidiaries (“Humana”) do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex.

English: ATTENTION: If you do not speak English, language assistance services, free of charge, are available to you. Call 1-855-882-4341 (TTY: 711).

Español (Spanish): ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al 1-855-346-7988 (TTY: 711).

繁體中文 (Chinese): 注意：如果您使用繁體中文，您可以免費獲得語言援助服務。請致電 1-855-882-4341 (TTY: 711)。

Y0040_GHHHXCFTE17a_22 Accepted

Community

Chronically ill boy visits Disney, thanks to local real estate agent

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Andrew and Kellie Burkhart are doing everything they can to make their young son, who suffers from cerebral palsy, comfortable and happy.

The couple pays $900 monthly for medical care for their son, also named Andrew. They also pay up to $20,000 each summer for intensive treatments in California. To say money is tight is an understatement.

“We are doing this on the sole salary of my husband, a Chandler public school teacher who has three teaching jobs— one full-time job at Hamilton, and two part-time jobs at Bogle and CGCC,” she said.

“Andrew has at least four—or more—doctor, therapy, and physical improvement appointments every week. I can’t go back to the workforce yet.”

The family has prayed to have the

strength and the financial means to help their only child. Recently, Kellie asked the 15,000 members of Living Chandler’s Facebook page if there were local nonprofits that help grant wishes to sick children. Kellie and Andrew were hoping to take their son to Disneyland for his 10th birthday on Oct. 8.

That dream came true this weekend, thanks to Darlin Gutteridge of RE/MAX Renaissance Realty in Gilbert. Her son is recovering from a serious illness and, coincidentally, shares the same birthday as Andrew.

“I saw that post and immediately responded with ‘I would take care of it,’” said Gutteridge, a Chandler resident.

“I reached out to some of my coworkers—a bunch of ladies who are awesome—and they said they were in. I think that snowballed with other people, who wanted to give gift cards. I told my husband, whom I hadn’t told, and he said, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ My friends said they’re proud to call me their friend.”

This isn’t the first “miracle” that the Burkharts have witnessed. Each summer, young Andrew travels to California for stem cell treatment and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which can run upward of $12,000—out of pocket.

To help defray the cost, Kellie sent 100 letters to family-owned businesses last year looking for companies to sponsor his treatments.

“I prayed over each pile of 30,” Kellie said. “I said, ‘Please, Lord, let one of these letters matter.’”

One organization answered her letter. Precision Air and Heating in Chandler covered one of the rounds of treatment— or close to $13,000.

Previously, a student unknown to the elder Andrew handed him a teacher appreciation gift—with a check for $9,600 to pay for that year’s treatment.

“It’s been amazing,” Kellie said. ‘This community has really, really stepped up for us. The Lord’s definitely watching over us.”

How to help

The Cerebral Palsy Hope Foundation accepts donations specifically for Andrew Burkhart’s medical care.

All donations made through it are tax deductible. For more information, visit prayforandrew. wordpress.com/how-to-help or email kelwar @ymail.com.

Businesses making donations can be considered a “Business Sponsor for Andrew’s Healing” and they will be given free advertising on the family’s blog and on Andrew’s community Facebook page, which has over 11,600 followers. It is facebook.com/AndrewsAngels123 More information on Andrew’s journey to wellness can be found at prayforandrew.wordpress.com/ our-story/

(Will Powers/Tribune Staff Photographer)

Andrew Burkhart and his mom Kellie are getting a break from the war over his cerebral palsy this weekend with a trip to Disneyland.

Grants offered to ‘make a difference’ in Mesa

BY SHELLEY RIDENOUR

TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Volunteers who plan to participate in Mesa’s portion of the national Make a Difference day of service are eligible to apply for grants. The application deadline is 4 p.m. Monday. Make a Difference day is Oct. 22.

In Mesa, volunteers can receive a $100 gift card from Home Depot to buy materials and supplies for their projects. Grants also provide up to two free landfill passes to haul off debris from a project site.

To qualify for a grant, applicants must have at least five volunteers who will complete their project in the Mesa city limits on Oct. 22. Applicants also must prove a need for supplies to do their project.

The Mesa grants are awarded only to volunteer organizations with limited or no funding from other sources.

Grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and a maximum of $100 is awarded for projects in each of the city’s six city council districts.

To apply, go to mesaaz.gov/residents/ volunteer/make-a-difference-day.

Make a Difference day is a nationwide event, held the fourth Saturday in October since 1992.

Two organizations have announced their plans for Make a Difference day projects.

More than 5,000 Boy Scouts will scatter throughout the community tackling all sorts of projects, Boy Scouts Field Director Rob Richey said. Their work will include painting addresses on curbs to help emergency responders, helping at a foster care facility, painting at public schools and cleaning up yards.

The Scouts meet at Mountain View High School at 7:30 a.m. for an opening ceremony, and then teams head out to “do their duty,” Richey said.

The Scouts’ work is a demonstration of their commitment to be courteous, kind and “to help other people at all times,” he said.

The Valley of the Sun chapter of Rebuilding Together, based in Tempe, will send out 400 volunteers to paint the homes of 70 low-income homeowners

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on Make a Difference day. They’ll also do yard work for people who need assistance.

Homeowners applied for assistance and were selected on a need basis, Fred Pandrok of Rebuilding Together said.

Rebuilding Together brings volunteers from all sorts of organizations together for neighborhood revitalization projects. The organization provides needy low-income senior, veteran and disabled people with a safer, more independent and comfortable life, Pandrok said.

People can still volunteer to help on Oct. 22 by calling Candice Bullard-Norwood at 480-7740237.

Donations of cash, paint or painting supplies are still needed. People should contact Bullard-Norwood to make donations.

– Contact reporter Shelley Ridenour at 480898-6533 or sridenour@timespublications. com.

About 20 percent of adults in the United States — an estimated 48 million — report some degree of hearing loss. How many more haven’t reported any loss or don’t know what they can’t hear?

We’re here to provide diagnostics and hearing health treatment for all patients especially those age 55 and older.

Bombers fly home to Mesa after tour of U.S., Canada

To see a gallery of photos from the bomber event at Falcon Field, go to tiny.cc/mesabombers.

(Cheryl Haselhorst/Tribune Staff Photographer)

TOP: The B-25 takes off for its’ media flight with Red Mountain in the background on Wednesday at the Air Force Museum at Falcon Field, Mesa.

ABOVE: Color guard recognizes the B-25 after its’ media flight on Wednesday at the Air Force Museum at Falcon Field,

(Will Powers/Tribune Staff Photographer)

TOP RIGHT: View from cockpit overlooking Mesa and Apache Junction

BOTTOM RIGHT: The crew takes the tour over the east side of Mesa and past Red Mountain.

Library lets patrons check out seeds

BY MATTHEW TONIS

TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

For nearly a year now, the Mesa Main Library has provided residents free access to seeds to fill gardens across the city.

The Seed Library began with a promotion with Garden Pool, a Mesabased nonprofit organization focused on sustainable food. One day last year, the Mesa Main Library held an event with Garden Pool about raising backyard goats, but conversation turned toward gardening.

“They had all these seeds, but what they didn’t have was a location to make them available to the public,” librarian Cherise Mead said. “We had this old card catalog that wasn’t being used, so we said let’s go for it.”

The Seed Library opened last October, and nearly a year later, the program is still as popular as the day it started, according to Mead.

“People check out seeds every day,” she said. “We have some families that come in every month and get their limit of the seeds and we have some people who are starting out for the first time and just get

a packet.”

Not only does the frequency vary, but so do the age and experience range of the gardeners.

“It’s all over the map,” Mead said. “We have people who are dedicated gardeners who want to just come in and save themselves a little bit of money and we also have kids who didn’t realize they can grow some of the vegetables they eat.”

Each library card holder can check out up to three packets of seeds per month. They’re encouraged to harvest seeds once their planting process is completed, to keep seed stock as high as possible.

The main purpose of the Seed Library, according to Mead, is to educate people on how to plant in Arizona and what can and can’t grow in this environment, especially for residents new to the Valley or even the Southwest.

“We have a lot of people from, say, the East Coast who locate to the Valley,” Mead said. “Gardening is a totally different animal here. The seasons are different, etc. so we want to give people the resources to garden successfully here in Mesa.”

That’s also where Garden Pool comes in, as its website—gardenpool.org—can be used as a guide to helping customers

learn to grow. The library also hosts classes each month about the creation and upkeep of gardens.

Mead said the seed supply rotates throughout the year, with the library switching out plants that won’t grow for plants that will.

“We try to set everybody up for success,” Mead said.

In its first year of the program, the library has seen a steady rise in interest and supply, keeping the program running

smoothly.

They’ve even had some guests that may have some good news for other Valley communities in the near future.

“We have been seeing other librarians from other libraries come check it out,” Mead said. “So other seed libraries from across the Valley might be coming.”

- Comment on this article and like the East Valley Tribune on Facebook and follow EVTNow on Twitter.

(Will Powers/Tribune Staff Photographer)

Mesa librarian Cherise Mead helped open the Seed Library last year. “We have been seeing other librarians from other libraries come check it out,” Mead said.

MESA

Fundraiser Monday to help at Mesa modern arts museum

The major fundraiser for the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum at the Mesa Arts Center takes place Monday.

The 10x10 Benefit Show is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. But, arts center Director of Public Relations Casey Blake said every year a line forms early for the first-come, firstserve art sale. There’s a $10 admission fee for this event only. No admission is charged to the museum.

The artwork remains on display through Oct. 16. Any pieces not sold on Oct. 10 can be purchased later in the week.

Proceeds from the sales help fund exhibitions and educational programs at the museum.

EPA advisory committee adds Mesa city official

Scott Bouchie, the director of the city of Mesa’s environmental and sustainability program, has been appointed to the Environmental Protection Agency’s local government advisory committee.

The committee provides advice and recommendations to assist the EPA to develop partnerships with local governments.

Bouchie is a member of two of the subcommittees, the air climate and energy work group and the water protection work group.

Golf course walk/run raises money for charity

Golfin’ Glow 5k walk/run is this Friday at 8 p.m. at the Dobson Ranch Golf Course in Mesa to raise money for charity.

Money raised will benefit “Days for Girls” and a church youth retreat.

For more information or to register, go to golfinglowrun.com.

Mesa Housing Authority reopens Section 8 process

The Mesa Housing Authority will begin accepting applicants for Section 8 housing beginning Tuesday.

The program, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, provides rental assistance to low income families by contracting with private owners and subsidizing a portion of the family’s monthly rent.

The application process, which concludes Thursday, will be on the web at mesaaz.gov/ hcvwaitlist.

Applicants will need Social Security numbers and birth dates for all family members, total gross annual income from all sources, and paper and pen to write the confirmation number.

Free party in park will feature film ‘Hotel Transylvania’

Celebrate Mesa, a free party in the park, will be held on Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Red Mountain Soccer Complex, 905 N. Sun Valley Blvd.

Featured are an African drumming band, a reptile show, and the showing of a free movie, “Hotel Transylvania.”

For more information, go to mesaaz.gov/ celebratemesa.

TEMPE

Seniors raise charity funds with arts and crafts fair

Residents of Friendship Village Tempe are displaying and selling their best arts and crafts this weekend to benefit the Sunshine Acres Children’s Home.

The Arts and Crafts Fair is at the retirement community, 2645 E. Southern Ave., Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

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REGISTER TO VOTE BY OCTOBER 10, 2016 Join thousands of Arizonans as they get ready for the General Election on November 8, 2016. Whether you’re checking your eligibility or finding out how to register online, by mail or in person, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission is your unbiased voter resource. Once you register, get out and vote on the candidates and the issues that matter most to you.

It’s the oldest battle in Phoenix: East side vs. west side

BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ TRIBUNE COLUMNIST

Let us speak openly and honestly for a minute about a time-honored Valley conflict, one that stirs 4 million residents’ deepest emotions. It’s a fight not often discussed and yet we all have our preferences.

I’m talking about East Valley vs. West Valley. I’m talking about the suburban comforts of Mesa, Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert versus the “we built this 11 minutes ago” feeling of Buckeye, Goodyear, El Mirage and Tolleson. I’m talking about that horrific moment when you, dweller of points east, realize you must sojourn beyond Central Avenue in Phoenix and into the hinterlands—the avenues!—to what feels like the outskirts of Los Angeles.

I’m talking about the journey I made last Saturday to a golf course in Verrado to play 18 holes with some buddies. The

only thing longer than my round full of badly aimed 6-irons and ill-judged putts?

The amount of time it took to drive there and back.

This wasn’t a “stuck in traffic on I-10” thing, incidentally. This was a “did you know Verrado is from the Latin word meaning, ‘So far you need to pack a lunch?’” thing.

Along the way, there was plenty of time to muse about why we choose the east side as opposed to the west side. My working hypothesis, based on 21 years living here? East siders seem to prefer the known and the solid, the name brand over the “next new thing.” West siders seem to like bang for their buck, more square feet for fewer dollars, and the appeal of getting in on the ground floor of a growing movement.

Yes, these are gross generalizations. Yes, I realize the East Valley has new homes going up all the time. And yes, I realize the west side has older, established neighborhoods like Arrowhead Ranch.

Again, it’s just a theory. And yet it has some statistical backing in the form of a study released this week by the finance website Wallethub. They ranked 515 American cities based on “14 key indicators of rapid economic growth.”

The fastest-growing city in Arizona and the fifth-fastest-growing city in all America? Surprise.

I assume the city’s name sprung from the feeling the original settlers got when they caravanned out there and realized Surprise is so far northwest, Lewis and Clark may have discovered the place. I mean, we’re talking out past Sun City, to a land where people use golf carts not as the Good Lord intended, to carry two angry adults and a cooler full of cold beer, but as a form of public transportation.

My buddy Barrett, a confirmed west sider who recently abandoned life in Surprise for the relative civilization of living near 59th Avenue, for the last five years of our friendship began every phone conversation by saying, “Hey, hang on a

sec,” followed by profane screaming at a fellow driver. His explanation: “Yeah, I’m stuck in traffic again. Why can no out here &%$#ing merge properly? Is that too much to ask, to merge? Just merge, people!”

We who prefer the east side seem unwilling to suffer such aggravation on a daily basis. Generally speaking, Team East Valley members live closer to the region’s center and seem less apt to head to downtown Phoenix for anything but a sporting event or concert. The East Valley has more well-developed amenities, a more mature freeway system and, to this observer, communities that feel more like communities.

Still, the study says more folks are moving to Surprise than ever before. My thought? Horace Greeley, the guy who said “Go west, young man,” never killed two hours driving out to 200-something avenue and back.

– David Leibowitz has called the Valley home since 1995. Reach him at david@leibowitzsolo.com.

Lawsuit threats may not be right, but non-ADA compliance is still discrimination

BY PHIL PANGRAZIO TRIBUNE GUEST WRITER

An organization calling itself

Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities (AID) has filed about 1,500 lawsuits this year and sent another 42,000 warning notices about Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) non-compliance, drawing the ire of small businesses across the Valley. Most notices concern parking-lot violations such as the lack of a van accessible space or inaccurate sign height for accessible parking.

AID typically gives businesses 30 days to respond after which it may file suit. Responding businesses are paying settlements between $3,500 and $7,500 to avoid litigation and attorney fees as well as the few hundred dollars to make the corrections. Many businesses claim they don’t understand what the violations are for. Those who have settled claim that

AID never returned to verify that the issue was resolved, leaving them open to future litigation.

Businesses feel extorted by a disingenuous plaintiff and attorney who never actually intended to patronize the business. It appears that AID is driving from one ZIP code to another,

lawsuits is giving the ADA a black eye and businesses are shamelessly fighting back. But ADA is not the problem. Noncompliance is.

Without blatant non-compliance, AID would not exist. AID discovered what we’ve known for a long time: many businesses simply ignore ADA. The

“ The fact is, the attention to ADA compliance is a wake-up call to owners of places of public accommodation as covered by Title III of the law. ”

photographing parking lots at shopping centers, strip malls, small property owners and other “mom & pop” types looking for ADA violations.

This is a real dilemma for the disability community. Yes, we want more access to business, so ADA enforcement is a good thing, especially for businesses that have ignored compliance for 26 years. Alternatively, the high volume of

parking-lot lawsuits are “easy pickins.”

Personally, I don’t condone AID’s actions. Their business model is gaming a lawful process, and it’s likely disingenuous and exploitative.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office recently stated that AID is circumventing the state enforcement process by claiming to “investigate supposed violations of the federal ADA and the AZDA,

while in reality apparently engaging in ‘trolling’ litigation tactics designed to induce defendants into quick pre-suit or post-complaint settlement that merely enriches the plaintiff.”

AID and its founder, Peter Strojnik, claim to be disability-rights champions. I won’t attempt to judge motives. But if the AG successfully prevents these suits from going forward, thousands of businesses will be off the hook for their violations. The fact is, the attention to ADA compliance is a wake-up call to owners of places of public accommodation as covered by Title III of the law.

Businesses really need to become educated about their obligations under the law. AID has focused on parking lots, but what about getting in and around once inside a business? Free technical assistance is available to the public on complying with Title III requirements. There are many publications, telephone information lines and web sites with

numerous technical assistance materials.

Proponents of weakening the ADA with a notification or “time to cure” period often argue that plaintiff’s charges are trivial. If accessibility violations are truly minor, it would not be difficult to quickly fix the problem and resolve the issue with minimal attorneys’ fees.

Sign height is a typical example.

“Signage may sound minor to some, but people with disabilities look for

Veterans being deported?

My family has been in this country for 11 generations, back to the 1700s. I am a Vietnam veteran. I came out to Arizona in 1987. This evening I happened to watch an unbelievably disturbing news broadcast: It claimed that the U.S. government was deporting U.S. military veterans. Here are legitimate legal U.S. military veterans who are also “illegal immigrants,” and at some point, the U.S. government identifies them as “illegals” and processes them for deportation.

This cannot be correct. 1. That we would allow NON-citizens, illegal aliens, to enlist

signage that a facility can accommodate them,” said J.J. Rico, Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Disability Law.

“If accessibility isn’t readily apparent, they’re moving on.”

Properly marked signage in a uniform place makes it much easier to go to the store or the movies.

“Van-accessible spaces are similarly key for people who use wheelchairs. Again, I think some folks think it’s not a big deal,” Rico said, “but if there’s not ample space for a wheelchair ramp to come down, the person can’t get out of her vehicle.”

and serve in the U.S. military. 2. Worse, that if there is a “law” that allows this, that America would allow anyone who has legitimately and legally and honorably served in the U.S. military to be kicked out of their country as “illegal.”

If true, then this is yet another egregious example of our lazy, irresponsible, donothing Congress. It makes me mad as hell!

Write your representative in Congress. This must be fixed.

– John Latson – Mesa

Another open letter

To all Republicans, Democrats and

Modifying the ADA with a “time to cure” period would result in much less voluntary compliance and give the overwhelming advantage to those ignoring the law.

Several ADA provisions protect businesses from unreasonable requirements. For instance, the ADA does not require any action that is not “easily accomplished and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense.”

The federal government also encourages voluntary compliance by providing financial assistance to small businesses

Independents, your true logic will be tested when voting in November.

For president, a radical fringe of the GOP has spoken. Their nominee has put forth a scary agenda that promotes what amounts to a cleansing of Hispanics and the Muslim religion, to building a wall keeping our friendly neighbors out. This is a fraudulent, entertaining businessman who has lawsuits pending, who insults veterans, the physically handicapped and is hiding his tax returns. We must all vote our conscience be smart and leave party behind. Donald Trump is too dangerous to be our leader. We also have a senior senator who

making required changes to older facilities. On a personal level, I’ve been disabled and a wheelchair user for 38 years. I’ve experienced life before and after the ADA and I would never want to return to preADA days.

In light of the recent AID lawsuits, everyone needs to understand that for a person with a disability trying to access the community, non-ADA compliance should not be perceived as frivolous, minor or trivial. Rather, it is what it is: discrimination!

has failed his very own veterans with his deplorable voting record on veterans’ issues. He has on numerous occasions voted against funding veterans’ health issues, better body armor and more funding for our VA hospitals.

Sen. McCain must be defeated because he has failed veterans and all of us in Arizona.

Sheriff Joe may be indicted on federal charges and has cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Arizona voters can now prove we are smart and are tired of the radical fringe. It is not who we are.

– Peter Thomas – Gilbert

– Phil Pangrazio is president and CEO of Ability360.

Savvy renovators get reclaimed building materials at Stardust Business

BY MIKE BUTLER TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Loyal customers of Stardust Building Supplies at 1720 W. Broadway Road in Mesa often visit the thrift store two or three times a week, because the stock changes daily and there’s always something new and interesting to find at 50 to 80 percent of what it cost new.

Stardust CEO Karen Jayne said many serial renovators and crafty types in the East Valley make a habit of visiting Stardust’s other two stores in Glendale and North Phoenix, too.

“They make the rounds of each store,” Jayne said. “They’re all kind of unique.”

Marketing coordinator Kate Fulton keeps shoppers updated on new arrivals through a weekly email newsletter and frequent posts to Facebook and Instagram.

The Mesa store recently expanded into an adjacent suite, doubling in size to 44,000 square feet. Much of that bonus space has been turned into a gently used furniture showroom called the Re:Use Market.

The sofas, chairs and tables come from other nonprofits, such as Maggie’s Place, Treasures for Teachers and the Foundation for Senior Living, which receive more furniture donations than they can display or store. Stardust takes a small commission from the sales.

“We have a big store and a lot of shoppers,” Jayne said. “The Re:Use Market offers them something new to look at.”

Celebrating 20 years next April, Stardust relies on homeowners who drop off kitchen appliances, windows, light fixtures and other building materials every day. Stardust also offers pickup services.

Over the years, Stardust has forged relationships with remodeling contractors who encourage clients to donate serviceable kitchen cabinets to the organization. Stardust sends out a deconstruction crew that can dismantle a kitchen in two hours and truck it all away. As a result, a thrifty do-it-yourselfer can pick up a complete set of kitchen

cabinets for $1,000 to $2,000. Many homeowners repurpose Stardust’s kitchen cabinets as garage storage.

Fulton said a lot of shoppers live in the door aisle, looking for a perfect specimen to turn into a table, or several doors to make a unique room divider.

This time of year, Jayne said, plumbing and building supply companies often donate discontinued or overstock items, giving shoppers an opportunity to buy brand-new tubs and boxes of flooring.

Landlords and flippers have been flocking to the stores since September to buy a new line of recycled paint called GreenSheen: $16 per gallon can/$70 per fivegallon bucket. The Colorado-based company collects excess latex interior/ exterior paints from homeowners, contractors and city waste programs, screens and filters the paints, then mixes them into a palette of 17 designer colors. Go bold with Brick Red or play it safe it with Cream.

Jayne, who took over the helm of Stardust five years ago, said the 20122014 years were difficult for the organization, as it felt the fallout of the housing crash. Donations and shoppers dwindled.

“We just cut our expenses and kept going after donations,” she said. “Then in 2015, people started coming back.”

According to Jayne, Stardust’s efforts divert 4 million pounds of usable building materials away from the landfill each year.

“The concept just really makes sense,” she said.

(Mike Butler/Tribune Staff)

A gently used furniture showroom called the Re:Use Market occupies much of the Mesa Starlight store’s recent expansion space.

(Mike Butler/Tribune Staff)

Landlords and flippers have been buying up a new line of recycled paint called GreenSheen from the Stardust stores. The paint is reclaimed, filtered and recolored.

(Mike Butler/Tribune Staff) Shoppers at Stardust Building Supplies sometimes look for doors to make an unusual room divider.

Gilbert entrepreneur seeks to help other female-fronted businesses

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Tisha Marie Pelletier was driving to her Power Ranch home when she saw a sign announcing that the Powerball was up to $222 million.

She didn’t think of all the extravagant items she could buy. Instead, the founder of the Gals’ Inspiration Club wished she had the money to help other female entrepreneurs.

“Sept. 15 was a day of firsts for me,” she says. “It was my birthday. It was the first time I knew I had to start paying taxes for my business. The third thing was I am able to pay it forward.”

Pelletier is thankful that Heather Lopez, the co-founder of the Super Mom Entrepreneur Conference and Expo, had faith in her. Now Pelletier wants to give a grant to a female businesswoman— either an aspiring or established woman entrepreneur in Arizona.

“I’ve been blessed because someone believed in me,” she says. “I recently transitioned my whole life into helping women achieve their dreams and live their passion.

“This is a passion of mine.”

The grant offers $2,500 in money and business resources. The funds are coming from Pelletier and a Scottsdale businesswoman, who matched her side. Microsoft is offering three Office 365 packages.

To enter, visit tishamarieenterprises. com/grant-application.

“It’s everything a business owner would need to jump-start her business,” says Pelletier. “It’s not just a membership to my organization. It’s cash and help ranging from social media to graphic design to photography to software and accounting.”

If awarded the grant, the winner must use the funds for business or educational purposes only, and provide an itemized list of how the funds were spent.

Grant applications are due by Oct. 31. The winner or winners will be notified and awarded by Dec. 31.

Pelletier calls herself a “serial entrepreneur.” In 2004, she founded Simply Put Marketing, followed five years later by Details Event Management.

This year, she decided to solely focus on Tisha Marie Enterprises, a business that allows her to help and inspire others

Tisha Marie Pelletier is an author, speaker, mentor and facilitator, and has designed, planned and funded her own successful annual national events.

through various programs, events and her membership organization, the Gals’ Inspiration Hub. She is also an author, speaker, mentor and facilitator, having led more than 100 meetings, and has designed, planned and funded her own successful annual national events.

A graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Pelletier is mentoring ASU students, too.

“If someone is at the collegiate level, we encourage them to apply, too,” Pelletier says.

(Special to the Tribune)

Career expo in Mesa expected to host 3,000

and a growing population of multilingual college graduates from which to recruit.”

Restoration Hardware

LocalWork.com is hosting a career expo with 85 employers and 3,000 job seekers.

The event is Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mesa Convention Center, 263 N. Center St., Building C, Main Hall.

RSVP at localwork.com/az/phoenix/ job-fairs/career-expo-2016

Movie screen maker celebrates 30th year

Severtson Screens, a Mesa projection screen maker, is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Severtson began by creating optical coatings to domed screens for Air Force simulators. Since then, Severtson signed a contract with IMAX to produce its specialty screens.

In 1998, Severtson applied its optical coatings to the world’s largest cinema screen (103 ft. x 129 ft.) in Sydney, Australia.

MCC graduate wins Interior design award

Mesa Community College graduate Sujaya Reddy, owner of 7 Dimensions LLC in Ahwatukee, was given a first-place Design Excellence Award by the American Society of Interior Designers Arizona North Chapter.

ASID Design Excellence Awards Contest is the Valley’s preeminent annual design competition.

outlet

to open in Gilbert

An outlet store for Restoration Hardware, called RH, will open crossroads Towne Center in Gilbert.

The store, on a short-term lease, will offer furniture, lighting and textiles. It will also have items from the related stores RH Baby & Child and RH Teen.

Tempe aerospace company signs contract with Navy

Qwaltec, a Tempe-based aerospace company, has signed a five-year, $19 million contract with the U.S. Navy.

The company was awarded a contract for satellite operations and maintenance services at the Navy Satellite Operations Center in Point Mugu, California.

The $19 million contract covers a fiveyear period and is set to begin this month. Qwaltec will provide support services to operate, manage and maintain ground systems.

Sheraton Mesa Hotel has new managing firm

Crescent Hotels & Resorts has been hired to manage the Sheraton Mesa Hotel at Wrigleyville West.

The hotel, which opened in spring 2015, is next to the Chicago Cubs spring training facility.

Crescent, based in Fairfax, Virginia, is a nationally recognized operator of hotels and resorts throughout the United States and Canada.

Taiwanese tea brand to open store in Tempe

Taiwanese brand DaYung’s Tea will open its first North American store in Tempe.

DaYung will move into a 1,400-squarefoot space in Mill Plaza.

Established in 2001, DaYung has over 270 stores in Asia.

Educational tech company to open Tempe office

Link-Systems International, an educational technology company, has opened a satellite office in Tempe.

Plans call for 50 new hires, including tutors, administration, sales and marketing staff, within 18 months.

According to a statement, Tempe was chosen “because the state has strong colleges

Shutterfly to hire

600 for holiday season

Shutterfly, a large Tempe employer, will be hiring for 600 people for the holiday season.

Shutterfly is a national provider of personalized photo products, and Tempe facility produces such products as like photobooks and holiday cards. Shutterfly receives the majority of its orders for the year between Halloween and early December.

To apply for positions with Shutterfly, go to shutterflyinc.com/jobs.html

Closing in on No. 1

Marcos de Niza’s Moro deflects attention as win record approaches

BY JASON P. SKODA TRIBUNE SPORTS DIRECTOR

Paul Moro made his way down from the White Mountains knowing things were going to be different.

For 30 years, he was in the idyllic world of small-town living and big-time football.

He was Blue Ridge High, and Blue Ridge was him.

The Yellow Jackets system was implemented at the feeder school level and the boys wanted nothing more than to wear the purple and yellow.

The result was unprecedented level of success as they won 13 state titles and 319 games together.

After spending 30 years in one place, Moro began to lay down a new foundation at Poston Butte High in 2014, only to make his way to Marcos de Niza High this season.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Moro said. “I think the players and coaches certainly welcomed me in and that was really good.

“The biggest thing is I haven’t been here long enough to have my philosophies in place and having the players knowing everything we expect from them before they get to high school. But that will come with time.”

The time is near for Moro to take his place in Arizona coaching history as he entered Friday’s game at Cactus Shadows one win from tying Vern Friedli at 331 career victories.

“We are going to have to play a great game this week,” Moro said. “We’ve lost two in a row, so I just want to get the players focused on playing a great game and have something good happen.”

Marcos de Niza athletic director Brian Fleming believes that something good has already happened in the short time Moro has been in place.

“He’s made a huge impact already,” Fleming said. “He is such a positive influence on campus with the kids, in the classroom and with the team.

“He always has a positive outlook and never wants to take any credit for his success.”

That became clear in trying to press him about reaching the record and what it would mean to him.

“The credit goes to everyone I ever coached and coached with me,” he said.

“It goes to all of those coaches and parents that helped with the feeder program. My name might be tied to it but everybody will have a piece of the record.”

The Padres, who won four of their first six games before Friday’s action, will be just a footnote on Moro’s coaching timeline compared to his time at Blue Ridge.

He plans on making the most of it and hopes the team keeps getting better as the season wears on. That’s his focus rather than milestones.

“We have to play faster to compete the way I want to play,’ said Moro, who went 7-14 at Poston Butte. “I’ve been trying to get them to be faster in everything we do from the time I got here. There are still things we need to do better. We are working on things and philosophy will eventually take hold.”

Fleming said even though he as only been around Moro since April, it has become clear why he was so successful.

“He is very driven to do well by the kids and the program,” he said. “He wants to provide for kids, the program, the school and everyone around him. He loves to win and he wants the kids to have the same passion and dedication so they can share those (winning) moments together.”

Moro, who went 319-51 at Blue Ridge, admits his approach has changed, but still loves to put in the hours while working toward the common goal as everyone else in the program.

“I’m sure I’ve mellowed out,” he said. “In some ways I haven’t. I just want to reach the players and get them to believe in everything I’m trying to teach them. Right now, I am still trying to instill in them everything I believe it takes to be a great team.”

– Contact Jason Skoda at 480-898-7915 or jskoda@evtrib.com. Follow him on Twitter @ JasonPSkoda.

(Billy Hardiman/Special to the Tribune)

Marcos de Niza head coach Paul Moro is one win from tying the Arizona coaching record for wins at 331.

Desert Vista cross country continues to be among elite

BY ZACH ALVIRA TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Many pieces are needed for a high school team to have a successful season. From leadership to overall focus, having dedicated athletes that come together for the team’s sake is a key factor to making a championship run, literally.

“We have a very mature team that has tremendous senior leadership,” said Jeff Messer, head coach of the Desert Vista girls’ cross country team. “I think those have come together to yield perhaps our best summer of training and by desire, to being better than ever before.”

The Desert Vista High girls’ cross country team has been nothing short of competitive every year, finishing in the top three in the state 13 times in the last 15 years. The success of the team has gained national attention, including a current ranking of third overall in the nation.

The Thunder climbed after winning the Woodbridge Classic, topping California power and host Great Oak by the score of 49-65 with a 32-second spread.

The big win at one of the more prestigious

meets in the nation did nothing to change the Thunder’s approach.

“All of us girls are really just sticking to the process,” said Emily Crall, senior runner for Desert Vista. “Doing all of the little things, really taking care of everything and doing it right.”

The culture that Crall and other seniors have created for the team around the word “process” has become vital in the teams’ success. For every accomplishment the team makes throughout the season, the girls view it as just another step to continuously improve.

“We want to compete at the highest level both within the state and in the nation,” Crall said.

Amid the success the girls team has had, they haven’t been alone.

The Thunder boys’ cross country team has also been building a power of its own, winning the 2015 Division I state championship along with finishing in the top three of the final standings 14 times in 15 years.

“We realize it is a journey,” said boys coach Chris Hanson, whose squad finished fourth at the Woodbridge sweepstakes race. “It is a long-term deal;

it is not something that just happens overnight.”

“We are just going to go out there and compete at a really high level all the time,” senior captain Chris D’Angelo said. “Although we have always been a competitive team, it is more about what we have to do this year. It is up to all of us to have that common goal in mind to keep competing every time we are on the course.”

With the boys winning the state title last year and the girls finishing third, Desert Vista cross country as a whole is a favorite to hoist the trophy in November.

T:10 ‘’

“If we go out there and give it everything we have and everyone competes at a high level then that is all you can ask for as a senior and a teammate,” D’Angelo said.

“Being a Desert Vista athlete in general has pressure, but at some point you have

to set that aside and focus on what we are doing to get better.”

Your newspaper. Your community. Your planet. Please recycle me.

(Alan Versa photo./Special to the Tribune)

The Desert Vista girls cross country team won the Woodbridge Classic in California to move to No. 3 in the nation. It won the Desert Twi-light event last weekend.

Orthodox church in East Valley welcomes icon from Russia

BY RALPH ZUBIATE TRIBUNE EDITOR

Orthodox Christians consider icons “windows to heaven,” according to Father Philip Armstrong of St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church in Chandler.

“They connect the world of the visible to the invisible,” he said.

That connection was made in a dramatic way Tuesday night when an icon from Russia visited the Chandler church.

Icons are important to the Orthodox church, and each visitation is greeted with ceremony. The Chandler visit was accompanied by an Intercessory Canon to the Theotokos, or Mother of God.

“Icons remind us that visible creation is not evil,” Armstrong said. “This gives us a glimpse of the heavenly kingdom.”

This is the second icon to visit the Chandler church. A Mother of God icon from Hawaii has been through, and will come again soon.

“ The teachings of Jesus are relevant to all ages. It doesn’t have to be modern to be relevant. ”

Father Phillip Armstrong

St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church

“I feel it in my soul,” he said with a wide smile. “I explode in my soul.”

The healthy crowd demonstrated the strength of the Orthodox church in the East Valley.

The others in the East Valley are St. John the Evangelist Orthodox Christian Church in Tempe and St. Ignatius Antiochian Orthodox Church in Mesa.

The Orthodox church is represented by different nationalistic branches.

Armstrong says the differences in Greek, Russian, Serbian and other churches are small.

“We are unified in the same doctrine, in communion with each other,” he said.

Armstrong emphasizes that although ancient, the Orthodox church is not irrelevant.

Armstrong, from Castro Valley, California, has been the head priest at St. Katherine for 23 years. His staff is small—the church relies mostly on volunteers.

St. Katherine’s sanctuary itself is a bright white room with touches of blue, maroon and gold, representing a king’s palace.

At the front are colorful paintings of the apostles, and scenes of Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration. Also pictured is what the Orthodox church calls the “Mystical Supper,” also known as the Last Supper. High above the front is a half dome, with gold leaf and more icons. They were

“This is special,” said Zagorka Malinovic, who brought her son Rade, 15, in a wheelchair. He has cerebral palsy.

“It is close to my heart,” she said.

The icon, called “Mother of God the Softener of Evil Hearts,” was brought from Moscow by Sergei Leonidovich Fomin and his wife Margarita Vorobyev. The icon is visiting churches around the United States.

According to the church, the icon streams myrrh, a fragrant oil.

At this event, more than 100 people greeted the icon. Young to old, from America and around the world, people were touched by the solemnity of the event.

Diamantis Orfanos, originally from Greece, was taking videos of the icon.

“This reminds us that whatever we do in our life, nothing is going to work without blessing,” he said. “We need love. We need to get together.”

His joy was apparent was he was speaking.

“We try to communicate that orthodoxy is timeless. The tools don’t change. They are still as effective,” he said.

“The teachings of Jesus are relevant to all ages. It doesn’t have to be modern to be relevant.”

He finds that people who end up in an Orthodox church are seeking a connection to antiquity.

“They are tired of constant change in the world and in the church,” he said. “If we have the fullness of Christ, we don’t have to reinvent ourselves.”

About the Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church is a family of 13 self-governing churches. They are united in doctrine and liturgy, among other points, but each administers itself. The head of each church is called a patriarch. The patriarch of Constantinople (that is, Istanbul, Turkey) is considered the universal patriarch.

There are about 215 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, and about 5.6 million in the United States.

(Will Powers/Tribune Staff Photographer)

LEFT: Sergei Leonidovich Fomin of Moscow presents the icon, “Mother of God, The Revealer of Evil Hearts,” to Father Philip Armstrong. The icon was displayed recently at St. Katherine Greek Orthdox Church in Chandler. CENTER: Zagorka Malinovic and her son Rade, 15, face the icon. “This is special,” she said about the visit. RIGHT: Father Philip Armstrong leads an Intercessory Canon to the Theotokos, or Mother of God, to welcome the icon.

Jesus demands man come down from his high horse of judgment

BY REV. SUSAN WILMOT TRIBUNE GUEST WRITER

Have you ever felt small? In one sense, we’ve all felt small the moment after saying or doing something we regret. Then there’s literally feeling small. This experience was definitely different: a strange dislocation, a feeling of being transported out of time and space. I was suddenly and quite unexpectedly a Lilliputian to a whole slew of beautiful Gulliver-sized women who seemed to be everywhere I went that day. It was an odd feeling, probably the first time in my life when I actually felt small in stature, or to use the politically correct term, vertically challenged. If you’re thinking, “so what?,” please give me a moment of grace, because isn’t this a gift of divine joy that our often plodding and predictable daily lives can still surprise and delight us? Quotidian moments and mysteries add up to the sum of our lives. How we live in the integrity of our faith is defined by each

READY OR NOT, HERE LIFE COMES

moment.

This was a surprising day, because I’ve always been taller than average. It’s a moment worth pondering in light of how God continues to transform our hearts and minds in every day ways and everyday encounters.

Speaking of being vertically challenged, the story of Zacchaeus found in Luke 19:1-10 comes to mind. It’s told, at least initially, in a lighthearted, even comic way, but we quickly realize that Zacchaeus presents a giant-sized problem to his community. It’s also a great lesson about our own attitudes toward our fellow travelers in life.

How easy it is to feel comfortable and complacent about our personal relationship with God in Christ Jesus, only to continue living with a judgmental, fearful or hateful attitude toward others.

Feeling securely self-righteous, we’d expect Jesus to shun the dishonorable chief tax collector, who collaborates with the oppressive Roman rulers, and has likely become rich at the expense of the poor. So there’s nothing PC about Jesus

ANSWERS TO PUZZLE & SUDOKU

calling Zacchaeus out of his tree, and telling him that he has a house guest.

In fact, Jesus is lending tacit approval to the town’s bad boy. Jesus even names him as a son of Abraham, which is pretty much guaranteed to get a rise from the rest of the crowd. Does Jesus really approve of Zacchaeus’ ruthless pursuit of wealth and the injustices he’s wrought? No. Does Jesus really approve of the crowd’s graceless hostility and loveless attitude towards Zacchaeus? Ouch!

After his divine encounter with the living Lord, Zacchaeus undergoes a radical change of heart and mind. Jesus makes the point at the end of the passage, boldly stating that he came to seek out and save the lost. Zacchaeus just happens to be a useful foil for pointing out that the rest of the crowd, including you and me, have no reason to be smug about our lives.

We too are lost, but perhaps not as honest and upfront about it as Zacchaeus. Who’s feeling small now? The more we practice self-reflection as a spiritual discipline, the more likely we are to see ourselves and our lives clearly, as God already does.

Yet, as followers of Jesus, how we live and put our faith into action reveals how we’re being transformed by God’s grace. To the disapproving crowd, who thought they were better than shortstatured Zacchaeus, it’s clearly surprising to see how his encounter with Jesus has transformed him into a towering model of repentance, faith, hospitality and generosity.

He’s not just changing his life around going forward, he’s also making reparations towards those he’s dealt with in the past. It’s what we call restorative justice.

The story prompts us to examine our own hearts and minds for those times when we’re unjust, unfair and downright ungracious in our attitudes toward our neighbors. To experience someone else’s viewpoint, even for a little while, helps us to grow in compassion. It helps us to joyfully seek the face of Christ in all God’s children, setting aside culturally prescribed labels and stereotypes.

Financial

Colton

It may not be a pretty picture. Probably more like one that a 2-year-old got hold of: smeared by dirty fingerprints of ingratitude, judgmentalism or competitive behavior, and marred by blobs of fear and exclusivism, intolerance and greed.

In the power of the Holy Spirit, we’re invited to come down from our own high place, and spend time with Jesus. The encounter will open our hearts and minds with joy and delight to our fellow travelers. Faith in short order is God’s love, grace, and compassion at work everywhere and every day.

or 480-345-2686.

Heads bowed as a liturgy was sung in English and Greek.

painted by a professional iconographer from Cyprus.

Armstrong explains that the icons all have the same expression of contemplative prayer. They’re flat-looking also, so the observer is not drawn to the humanity of the figures themselves but to the thought of what they represent.

“There is a spiritual sobriety to it,” he said.

Even the music is selected carefully. It’s worshipful, but doesn’t draw attention to itself.

“The goal of Orthodox worship is not to entertain you,” Armstrong said. “It is to show holiness and reverence.”

At the icon event, bells, incense and music connected the people to the icon.

Armstrong then spoke of the icon softening hearts, providing healing and restoration. People then lined up for a blessing with oil and to venerate the icon. Afterward, people were given cards with the icon on it. They carried them out, kissing them.

Malinovic, originally from Serbia, was beaming in the moment.

Asked if she was there to pray to the icon for healing for her disabled son, she shrugged and said, “God knows. I just want the best for everybody.”

– Contact Ralph Zubiate at 480-898-6825 or rzubiate@timespublications.com.

– Comment

– The Rev. Susan E. Wilmot, vicar at St. James the Apostle Episcopal Church & Preschool, 975 E. Warner Road, Tempe, can be reached at rector@ stjamestempe.org

Singer has Phoenix close to his heart, but he started out with ‘Indiana’

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Phoenix has always had a special place in the heart of Nashville singersongwriter Jon McLaughlin. After all, his wife, Amy, is from the Valley.

“I always thought I would move to Phoenix,” said McLaughlin, who returns to the Valley to play the Crescent Ballroom on Wednesday. “I’ve spent Christmases out in Phoenix—there’s nothing better than that.”

IF YOU GO

What: Jon McLaughlin

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12

Where: Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix

Cost: $17-$20

Information: 602-716-2222 or crescentphx.com

Instead, the couple moved from Indiana to Nashville, where McLaughlin has bonded with the music and songwriting community.

“All of my musician friends moved there right after college,” he said. “I was on the road a lot, so a part of me thought it didn’t matter where I lived.

“I also thought that everyone else was moving there. I was going to be the guy who doesn’t move there. But it’s as good

Arizona Fall League

Baseball season continues as each major league team sends their six hottest prospects to Arizona. Once here, they form six teams that play two months of action-packed games. Did you know that 60 percent of these players go on to fame in the big leagues?

DETAILS>> Times vary, Monday-Nov. 19, Various spring training stadiums. Tickets: $8 adults, $6 kids. mlb.com/mlb/events/afl.

as everyone hypes it up to be. It really does live up to the hype.”

McLaughlin is bringing his tour to the

Crescent Ballroom to promote his 2015 album, “Like Us,” which he recorded with John Fields. He has worked with a slew of artists ranging from The Commodores to Switchfoot.

In 2017, McLaughlin’s focus will turn to the 10-year anniversary of his debut album “Indiana.”

“It makes me feel so old,” said McLaughlin, who scored hits with the songs “Beautiful Disaster” and “Proud Father.”

“What’s crazy is when I go out on the road and I talk to fans. They’ll say, ‘I first heard of you with ‘Beautiful Disaster’ my eighth-grade year’ and they’ll be standing there with their child in their hands. That’s insane.”

McLaughlin is going to do a tour recalling “Indiana” and he’ll end the jaunt in his home state where he penned the songs. A symphony will join him for the show.

“We’re going to make a big deal of it and have fun,” he said. “I played with the Indianapolis Symphony and it was in the top three most amazing musical experiences of my life.”

What else is on his list? For one, performing at the Oscars in 2008 when he sang “So Close,” his song from the Amy Adams-Patrick Dempsey film “Enchanted.”

“It’s such a unique thing,” he said. “That’s not really what I do. It wasn’t my show, but that stands out for obvious reasons.”

‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’

“Bless your beautiful hide…” This classic musical based on the 1954 movie follows the antics of Adam Pontipee and his six Biblicalnamed brothers as they try to woo seven ladies at their rustic log cabin.

DETAILS>> Times vary, Thursday-Nov.

26. Hale Centre Theatre, 50 W. Page Ave., Gilbert. Tickets: $32 adults, $22 students, $18 kids 5-12. haletheatrearizona.com.

12th Annual Phoenix

Fashion

Week

See the latest fashion from more than

His other choice is a stellar gig in Washington, D.C.

“There was something about that show last fall that it just felt great,” he said. “The band was playing great. It felt like a great night. I was on stage thinking, ‘I can’t believe I do this for a living.’ I think this often on stage, but this was one of those nights where it couldn’t have been better.”

The same couldn’t be said for his first Phoenix show, however, he added with a laugh.

“I was in college and I went out there to play at a church,” McLaughlin said. “This was back in the day before I had any sense of a good business decision, or what makes sense budget-wise.

“I lived in Indiana and they were paying

30 of the hottest regional emerging and established designers, plus shop the Style Villa with the styles you see on the runway.

DETAILS>> 5 p.m., Thursday-Saturday. Talking Stick Resort, 9800 E. Indian Bend Road, Scottsdale. Tickets: $50-$200. phoenixfashionweek.com.

2nd Annual Vintage and Vino

Spend a day sipping wine and browsing a large collection of unique vintage and handmade items from more than 120 local vendors. Plus, enjoy food and desserts from local food trucks and bakeries.

DETAILS>> 10 a.m., Friday-Saturday. Horseshoe Park & Equestrian Center, 20464

me $1,000 to play for their youth group. I couldn’t believe $1,000—that was the biggest amount of money I had ever made at one time. I hired a van and drove from Anderson, Indiana, all the way to Phoenix, which makes no financial sense at all.” That aside, he fell in love with the Sonoran Desert while he was here.

“Literally, I had never seen the desert like that before,” he added. “The architecture and the aesthetic of Phoenix was so different than anything I had ever seen before. I told myself that after college I was moving to Phoenix—and this was in the summertime, with the heat.” –

East Riggs Road, Queen Creek. Tickets: $5$32. vintageandvinoaz.com.

17th Annual Japanese Moonviewing Festival

Celebrate the full moon with an Otsukimi, or Japanese Moonviewing. The gorgeous garden will be strewn with candles and luminaries for a magical evening. Plus, listen to live traditional Japanese musicians, eat traditional Japanese food and watch a tea demonstration.

DETAILS>> 6:30-9 p.m., Friday-Saturday. Japanese Friendship Garden, 1125 N. 3rd Ave. Phoenix. Tickets: $25 (pre-sale), $30 (gate). japanesefriendshipgarden.org.

Comment on this article and like GetOutAZ on Facebook and follow GetOutAZ on Twitter.

(Special to the Tribune)

Jon McLaughlin was called a Christian singer early in his career.

Excellence in Healthcare for 40 Years!

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

BID OPENING: (FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016), AT 11:00 A M (M S T )

TRACS NO 0000 MO MMO SE55001C

PROJ NO ER-MMO- 0(213)T

TERMINI COUNTY ROUTE 25, PIERCE FERRY ROAD

LOCATION MP 15 AND MP 16 FORD CROSSINGS

The amount programmed for this contract is $476,800 The location and description of the proposed work are as follows:

County on County Road 25 (Pierce Ferry Road) The two fords are located at MP 15 and MP 16 The proposed work consists of removing the existing pavement and replacing it with Asphalt Concrete (Miscellaneous Structural), constructing ford walls, detours, pavement marking, and other related work

Project plans, special provisions, and proposal pamphlets, as electronic files, are available free of charge from the Contracts and Specifications website, or they may be purchased in paper format at 1651 W Jackson, Room 121F, Phoenix, AZ 85007-3217, (602) 712-7221 The cost is $12

Publish: East Valley Tribune, October 9, 16, 2016 / 2623

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

BID OPENING: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016, AT 11:00 A M (M S T )

TRACS NO 010 CH 362 H891001C

PROJ NO NH-010- F(224)T

TERMINI BENSON - STEINS PASS HIGHWAY (I-10) LOCATION WEST BOWIE TI – EAST BOWIE TI

The amount programmed for this contract is $11,000,000 The location and description of the proposed work are as follows:

The proposed project is located in Cochise County on Interstate 10 from

milling the existing asphaltic concrete and replacing it with asphaltic con-

structing guardrail, rehabilitating bridge decks, striping, signing, and other miscellaneous work

Project plans, special provisions, and proposal pamphlets, as electronic files, are available free of charge from the Contracts and Specif ications website, or they may be purchased in paper format at 1651 W Jackson,

Publish: East Valley Tribune, October 9, 16, 2016 / 2604

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

BID OPENING: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016, AT 11:00 A M (M S T )

TRACS NO 093 YV 193 H869101C

PROJ NO NH-093- B(212)T

TERMINI KINGMAN – WICKENBURG HIGHWAY (US 93)

LOCATION JCT SR 89 TO RINCON ROAD

The amount programmed for this contract is $2,900,000 The location and description of the proposed work are as follows: The proposed project is located in the Maricopa and Yavapai Counties on US 93 between mileposts 193 89 and 198 21, approximately two miles northeast of the Town of Wickenburg The work consists of milling the existing asphaltic concrete and replacing it with asphaltic concrete and asphalt-rubber asphaltic concrete friction course Additional work includes replacing guardrail and guardrail end terminals, reconstructing guardrail, striping, and other miscellaneous work

Publish: East Valley Tribune; October 9, 16, 2016 / 2624

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

BID OPENING: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016, AT 11:00 A M (M S T )

TRACS NO 082 SC 028 H868301C

PROJ NO STP-082-A(203)T

TERMINI NOGALES – TOMBSTONE HIGHWAY (SR 82)

LOCATION MP 28 TO JCT SR 83

The amount programmed for this contract is $4,200,000 00 The location and description of the proposed work are as follows:

The proposed project is located in Santa Cruz County, on State Route 82 approxi

posed work consists of milling the existing asphaltic concrete and replacing it with asphaltic concrete end product, applying a double chip seal coat, installing guard rail, removing and replacing bridge barriers, replacing pavement marking and other related work

Project plans, special provisions, and proposal pamphlets, as electronic files, are available free of charge from the Contracts and Specifications website, or they may be purchased in paper format at 1651 W J ackson, Room 121F, Phoenix, AZ 85007-3217, (602) 712-7221 The cost is $28

Publish: East Valley Tribune, October 2, 9, 2016 / 2464

NOTICE OF ELECTION OF DIRECTORS OF OCOTILLO WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

NOTICE

Freightliner Cascadia 1FUJGLBG1ALAR7460

prior to the sale Inquiries: 602-256-7643 Cash sales only. P u b l i s h : D a i l y N e w

The polling place shall be

Mesa, Arizona, 85201-6764 Qualified electors

voting by early ballot, please contact Margaret Bauer at (480) 610-8741

DATED this 26th day of September, 2016

Jennifer Torpey, Secretary Ocotillo Water Conservation District

Publish: Daily News-Sun;

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

BID OPENING: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2016 AT 11:00 A M (M S T )

TRACS NO 000 SW 999 F001801C PROJ NO HSIP-999-A(499)T TERMINI STATEWIDE LOCATION US 60, US 95 & SR 74; VARIOUS LOCATIONS

$1,000,000 The location and description of the proposed work are as follows:

74 The proposed work

Project plans, special provisions, and proposal p

and Specifications Section, 1651 W Jackson, R

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

BID OPENING: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016, AT 11:00 A M (M S T )

TRACS NO 086 PM 148 H8792 01C PROJ NO STP-086-A(218)T TERMINI WHY-TUCSON HIGHWAY, SR 86 LOCATION FULLER ROAD-VALENCIA ROAD

$8,500,000 00 The location and description of the proposed work are as follows:

The proposed work is located in Pima County on State Route 86 from milepost 148 0 to mile post 159 1 The work consists of milling 1 inch of the e xisting asphalt and replacement with 3 inches of asphaltic concrete, crack sealing, application of chip seal, overlay existing turnouts, guardrail works, replacing bridge railing, signi

Project plans, special provisions, and proposal p

charge from the Contracts and

Obituaries

AUSTRIA, Antonio Velasco

(Nancy) Leonardi, James (Deborah) Leonardi, Marée

Grandchildren Christopher, Joy, Brittany, Louise, Wil-

Joseph F Samec, John W Leonardi, and siblings Al Philipp, Henry P hilipp, Paul (George) Philipp

She lived in Chicago and Elmwood Park, IL then moved to Mesa in 2000

Was avid gardener, loved to dance, chorus singing, tell funny stories and jokes Enjoyed traveling U S and Austria visiting family Member St Vincent de Paul’s charities and active Ladies Auxiliary Knights of Columbus

T i m o t h y M a u s o l e um B - 2 8

Please sign the Guestbook at eastvalleytribune com

Employment

64, passed away on September 27, 2016 in Mesa, Arizona Arrangements were handled by A Wise Choice Desert View Chapel in Mesa Arizona, phone number 480-626-6363 Employment General

CAREGIVERS

Starting Wage $9 50 per hour! Hiring for all East Valley cities Call us today for more information or stop by our Recruitment Event:

Date: Wed , Sept 28th

Time: 9:00am - 2:00pm

Location: 1930 S Alma School Road, Mesa AZ 85210 - (ResCare HomeCare Office)

Great Caregiver Candidates:

* Are Caring & Compassionate

* Looking for Rewarding Work

* Have LIFE Experience Caring for a Loved-One and/or Currently a PROFESSIONAL Caregiver

* Would like to Give Back to the Community While Earning Income

* Seeking Part-Time & Flexible Hours

Training is Provided for FREE!

Open Caregiver Positions:

* Companions * Personal Care Attendants

* Caregivers with Habilitation Experience a plus

For more details please call: Robin or Carol at 480-491-1140

www ResCareHomeCare com

Course Maintenance Firerock Country Club $11/hr Fountain Hills Email: cwerline@ troongolf com

Employment General

Arizona Central Credit Union is seeking a FT Teller at our Chandler Branch Apply online @jobing com or email crystal deanda@ azcentralcu org Walk-ins welcome!

PT Janitor/Porter

$9-10/hour - Mesa

Monday-Friday Derrick 623-210-8719

Must have vehicle Only Serious Need Apply

Janitor Position MonFri $9 00 7pm-2:30am 60th Freeway and Country Club Location (Mesa) Posicion de limpeza lunes-viernes 7pm - 2:30am

Please call / llama (602) 437-8869

P/T Domestic Assistance

General Household Send Resume to: Tammy Holland PO Box 5893 Mesa, AZ 85211

Employment General

Announce

ments

Announcements

Mesa High Class of 1966 is having it s 50 year reunion Nov 12, 6pm at The Mesa Country Club We hope to see all your old bones there For more information please contact: Cheryl Rucker Horne 928-2424300 or Keith LeSueur 480-586-5684