QUEEN CREEK TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 3O, 2022

Town Manager JohnKross stepping down

BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer

Theleader at the helm of Arizona’s fastest growing municipality is stepping down after nearly 27 years in Queen Creek government.

Town Manager John Kross’s last day on the job will be Jan. 20 after deciding “this was probably the time.”

“When you’re in one place for that long,” Kross said, “you have the opportunity to work on a lot of very interesting

and assignments with a lot of wonderful, wonderful people and it just felt like a lot of the goals that I had established and certainly the mayor and council had established for me, have re ally been accomplished.

“The town is in its best finan cial condition that it’s ever been in the history of the town and

BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer

Beginning this week, Queen Creek driv ers can look forward to less traffic and quicker commute times thanks to the completion of a mile-long section of Meridian Road connecting town center with State Route 24.

Completion of the $16-million project, set to open to motorists, means “a continuous northsouth connection from Combs Road to SR 24, providing the driving public a secondary ac

cess to the 24,” said Dave Lipinski, director for the Queen capital improvement projects.

It’s considered secondary because the first north-south corridor was a similar project connecting SR 24 and Combs Road via Iron wood Road, just to the east of Meridian.

As double-digit population growth contin ues and creates traffic snarls, Queen Creek is racing to keep pace with roads and other in frastructure needs for residents.

Lipinski said Mesa is moving forward at Signal Butte and that by spring should have that road open, “will even provide a third con

nection to the 24 which really disperses the North-South traffic through town.”

The Meridian Road project is part of a broad initiative to connect major arterial roads and side streets and complete supporting infra structure such as street lights, traffic signals and drainage elements.

As an example of how much time, money and foresight goes into a single mile of road way, Queen Creek started planning the Merid ian project in early 2000.

“One mile of brand-new roadway with all the underground utilities associated with it, there’s a lot of work in that corridor,” Lipinski said. “You have a lot of SRP construction for the power lines, you’ve got irri gation work.

“There is some utility work under there. There are traffic signals at both ends, large drainage improvements, traffic lights. So, it’s not just asphalt.”

The funding came from several sources, including impact fees and construction sales tax revenues from Queen Creek and Pinal County, given that this is a shared project between the two governments.

The detailed planning necessary for projects such as these has been made even harder for all of Queen Creek’s capital improvement proj ects, Lipinksi told the Tribune, by supply chain issues that often re quired his team to order materials nearly a year ahead of time.

“Right now, our biggest constraint is finding designers who have avail ability and time to get things de

signed and a lack of manpower on the construction side and material avail ability,” Lipinksi said, adding:

“It’s kind of a perfect storm right now. Everyone has got a full plate across the industry.”

Lipinski said that some materials are becoming slight easier to get now, but the lessons learned in the sum mer with huge backlogs and supply chain issues prompted his team to redouble their focus on planning in minute detail.

“We’re just trying to better plan projects before we get out there,” Lipinksi said. “Our contractors have thought through it before we get out there, trying to make sure before we release projects that we get all that stuff squared away before we break ground and hopefully have any delays that occur happen before we break ground versus during construction.”

A few of the other high profile proj ects nearing completion include ex tending Queen Creek Road between Ellsworth and Crismon, at a price tag of just over $7-million; a $14-million improvement of Chandler Heights Road between Sossaman and Hawes

Roads; and improving Meridian Road between Queen Creek and Germann roads at just over $9.3-million.

Perhaps the gem of the Capital Im provement Projects is an $8.6-mil lion investment in infrastructure for the new 86-acre Frontier Park, which will feature an aquatic center, ball fields, open space and other family amenities along Signal Butte Road, north of Queen Creek Road.

As for Queen Creek Road, segments “from Ellsworth Road to Crismon Road consist of old two-lane pave ment installed temporarily and par tial full improvements installed by adjacent development,” according to ClearGov.org.

The town provides data to cleargov. org, a highly detailed, cloud-based budgeting and project management

ROAD

It may only be a mile-long but the completion of a segment of Meridi an Road makes the drive a little easier for Queen Creek motoring. (Town of Queen Creek)

Executive Editor: Paul Maryniak | 480-898-5647 pmaryniak@TimesLocalMedia.com

Managing Editor: Cecilia Chan | 480-898-5613 |cchan@TimesLocalMedia.com

Reporters: Mark Moran | 480-898-5601 | mmoran@TimesLocalMedia.com Ken Sain | 928-420-5341 | ksain@TimesLocalMedia.com

Sports Editor: Zach Alvira | 480-898-5630 | zalvira@TimesLocalMedia.com

Photographer: Dave Minton | dminton@TimesLocalMedia.com

Ruth

tool municipal governments use to ana lyze taxpayer-funded projects.

The project is tentatively scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.

“The proposed design will provide four through lanes along Queen Creek Road, between Ellsworth Road and Crismon Road, with a median turn lane, sidewalk, curb, gutter, bike lanes, drainage man agement features, street lights and land scape,” town staff said.

The $14-million improvement of Chan dler Heights Road from Sossaman Road to Hawes Road includes a to “two travel lanes in each direction and a center twoway left turn lane,” said town staff.

“Intersection improvements are in cluded at the Chandler Height/Sossaman intersection. This project will also widen Sossaman Road from Chandler Heights Road to North of the Sonoqui Wash. Drain age improvements at the Sonoqui Wash crossing will be included,” said the staff.

This project is expected to be completed

just a few weeks into 2023.

Improving Meridian between Queen Creek and Germann “will complete the western half street improvements from Queen Creek Road to Germann Road,”

(Town of

Creek)

It would also create yet another route for traffic to and from the freeway, theo retically alleviating congestion in town. This project is expected to completed in the next few weeks.

Ellsworth Road and Crismon

a

curb,

The capital improvement portion of Frontier Park mostly includes planning for the park’s future infrastructure needs, providing for regional drainage and flood control west of Crismon Road, along Queen Creek Road and making them fu ture ready for improvements east of Sig nal Butte Road when the park is complete.

Design of the park drainage system “will also include initial planning and prelimi nary design of the future East Park Sports complex to roughly a 60% layout stage,” said staff.

town staff said.

It added that a separate project “will continue half street improvements from Germann Road to the future State Route 24,” town staff said.

“This allows the Town to shape the site to match the future park needs; only re quiring major earthwork to be done once,” it said. “Major offsite adjacent street and utility improvements are not part of the initial design effort.”

Frontier Park is scheduled to open in 2024.

Prop would give lawmakers more power over initiatives

BY RYAN KNAPPENBERGER Cronkite News

Arizona voters approved the Voter Protection Act in 1998 with the goal of making it harder for state lawmakers to undo what citizens approve at the ballot box.

Some officials think it’s too hard.

They’re pushing for Proposition 128, which would make it easier for the Legis lature to amend voter-approved measures that are later found to have legal flaws.

Supporters call it a commonsense and “narrow amendment to the Voter Protec tion Act so that the Legislature can fix mea sures that have broken illegal language.”

But opponents say there’s nothing com monsense or narrow about the propo sition. They call it a direct assault on the Voter Protection Act that “just reeks of trying to upend democracy.”

“When you see the scales being tipped to make it so the Legislature has more power than the actual voter, it becomes very, very concerning,” said Marisol Gar cia, president of the Arizona Education Association.

Proposition 128, introduced by Sen. Vince Leach, R-Tucson, would amend the state Constitution to make it easier for lawmakers to divert funds from or make changes to voter-approved initiatives later found by the state or U.S. supreme courts to have unconstitutional language.

Currently, lawmakers can only make changes to ballot measures if threefourths of the Legislature agree and only if the change “furthers the purposes of such measures.”

Under Leach’s proposal, such a change could be made with a simple majority once a court determined it contained “ille gal or unconstitutional language.”

“This definitely is an effort by the legis lature to exercise greater control over ini tiatives … making them more vulnerable to manipulation if any part of it has been in validated by the state Supreme Court,” said Stefanie Lindquist, professor of law and po litical sciences at Arizona State University.

Voters in Arizona have an easier time of directly enacting laws than those in most other states: The National Confer ence of State Legislatures said Arizona is

one of 11 states where voters can place initiatives directly on the ballot for both statutory and constitutional issues and demand a popular referendum.

That makes the state attractive to out-ofstate interest groups, which was never the intent of the state’s constitutional framers, said Suzanne Kinney, CEO and president of the Arizona chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

“When something gets on the ballot here, if it’s successful, it often shows up in other states, so we’re kind of a testing ground,” Kinney said. “I doubt they envi sioned it working out this way.”

Kinney’s group was one of 11 to submit statements in support of Proposition 128, along with the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and the Center for Arizona Policy Ac tion, among others.

Aimee Yentes, vice president of the Ar izona Free Enterprise Club and a Gilbert Town Council member, said in her written statement that with ballot propositions “thrown together by out-of-state special interest groups,” they often include lan guage that does not conform with Arizo na’s Constitution.

She pointed to Proposition 208: Ap proved by voters in 2020, it would have raised income taxes on high earners to fund the state’s schools, but was later ruled unconstitutional by state courts.

Garcia thinks the success of Proposition 208 is the real reason for Proposition 128 – not to preserve voter-approved initia tives, but to prevent them.

“This is a direct attack on … our work on Proposition 208, Invest in Ed,” she said.

The Invest in Education Act was ap proved in 2020 with 51.75% of the vote.

It called for raising the income tax from the current 4.5% to 8% on individ uals earning more than $250,000 – or $500,000 for couples – with most of the new funding going to teacher’s salaries and school programs.

It was not long after that vote, in Feb ruary 2021, that Leach introduced the legislation to put Proposition 128 on the ballot. It passed the House and Senate on party-line votes.

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KROSS from page 1

that’s certainly a consideration,” he said.

Kross’ decision to leave was tough for Vice Mayor Jeff Brown to confront.

“Hearing of John’s retirement was dif ficult and emotional to grapple with,” Brown said. “If one were to attempt to compile a list of significant milestones and achievements under his manage ment, it would be both extensive and considerable.

“For me, however… that significant, 26-year-long list would represent a ton of fond and shared memories. He will be missed, both professionally and person ally,” Brown continued, adding:

“It has truly been an honor and plea sure to work side by side with John Kross since 2008 in my role as Council mem ber, and even prior to that as I served on various working groups and committees going back to the early 2000s.”

Kross came to Queen Creek in 1996 as planning director and became town manager in 2007.

Over the last 12 years, he has seen the town’s population soar from 27,091 to almost 75,000.

Kross said Queen Creek is about half way to buildout, a far cry from what it was when he arrived.

“When I got here, there were no signal lights,” he said. “We are essentially build ing a brand-new community from scratch.

“It was a tremendous opportunity to build from virtually nothing by way of infrastructure, investment in new com mercial centers, neighborhoods, parks and trails, water and waste water, let alone the public safety apparatus.”

In addition to his focus on roads and oth er infrastructure to keep up with the rapid growth, Kross also helped Queen Creek form its own police department in early 2022 after having relied on the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office for public safety and law enforcement up to that time.

“Really as far as our public safety pro gram,” Kross said “that was really the last puzzle piece to put together for the com munity and with the success of that roll out it really felt like there was tremen dous momentum happening certainly in that area, but it really complemented a lot of the other paths and goals that we’ve really been working on for the past number of years.”

Kross had a hard time whittling a favor ite out of the list of impactful changes that

he has seen in his 27 years, but listed the construction of the Ellsworth loop road as the most important one for the town.

“That is as much an economic as it is a transportation corridor for Queen Creek,” he said. “Going in in 2007 that was in a lot of ways a transformation of the infrastructure for this community and so integral.”

Among his most difficult challenges has been managing Queen Creek’s unbri dled growth in the town.

But he pointed to the economic turmoil of 2008 and 2009 as clearly the greatest challenge of his career.

“The Great Recession was a major im pact to the community,” Kross said.

The growth rate during that period was between 2% and 3%, instead of the 12% to 15% rate prior to the downturn.

“Next to the Great Recession, the pan demic was a very close second,” he said. “The pandemic had its own unique chal lenges on a whole different level in some respects with variables that I had never experienced.

“But the Great Recession was absolute ly devastating for Queen Creek and this region and that was the most challenging economic and fiscal period of time in my entire tenure.”

The growth in Queen Creek barely tapped the breaks since coming out of the Great Recession and continues apace as the pandemic slows.

Kross attributed the town’s growth

to an “increasingly popular perception” that “Queen Creek is an appealing place for families to live.”

“You get a little bit more property for your investment,” Kross told the Tribune in April.

But with that growth has come a huge increase in the cost of living, making Queen Creek one of the most expensive places in the Phoenix-metro area to live.

The median single-family home price in town now tops $625,000 and a two-bed room apartment rents for nearly $2,500 according to a recent study.

As Queen Creek has grown, Kross has worked to keep the town competitive even though, geographically, it remains far from major population centers and is heavily reliant on infrastructure that has had a hard time keeping up with the growth.

“The rate of growth in both residential and non-residential investment is direct ly related to the infrastructure needs to service this growth and position the town competitively,” Kross wrote in his presentation of the budget earlier this year. “Roads are priority No. 1.”

Though Kross is stepping away from his town manager role in Queen Creek, he did not rule out other professional opportunities.

“I’m still young enough and I’d like to do a lot more and there may be some additional city management types of op portunities or related professional devel opment, things of that nature, that will

surface,” he said.

He said he does not currently have plans to leave Queen Creek but added that the right professional opportunity could lure him to relocate.

“I’ve got a couple of opportunities that I’m exploring right now,” Kross said. “They’re not for certain or anything like that. I’m keeping my options open and optimistic about those options.

“There’s a lot of great things yet to hap pen for the community. I might be sitting here sitting in the stands cheering every body on.”

The current Town Council will dovetail with the incoming one to work on finding Kross’ replacement, according to Brown.

“Looking ahead, I am confident that as a Council we will work together to identi fy next steps that are in the best interest of our community.” Brown said. “We an ticipate discussing the go-forward steps at an upcoming council meeting.”

Mayor-elect Julia Wheatley will be at the forefront of the new council’s efforts and, like Brown, will miss Kross’ rock steady leadership and attention to detail.

“John Kross has been instrumental in the success of Queen Creek and the quality of life we all love and enjoy. I am blessed to have known him and grate ful to have had the opportunity to work alongside him for 12 of his 27 years,” Wheatley said.

“As the only town manager I have worked with, I could not have hoped for better. John’s knowledge, experience and leadership is evident in everything he does,” she said. “He has a remarkable ability to remember details.

“Over the years, I have asked him nu merous questions about our community and he can always recall exact details. John is known throughout the state and across the country as one of the absolute best in his profession. Queen Creek is bet ter because of John’s service and dedica tion. He has truly left a legacy…He will be missed beyond words, and I wish nothing but the best for him and his family.”

While remaining optimistic about his fu ture, Kross is clearly nostalgic for his past.

“Every day is a new day and so it just keeps on giving you new energy and before you know it a year has passed, 5 years has passed,” Kross said. “One year here is like seven. It’s like dog years, ya’ know? and before you know it it’s like a decade and you wonder did that time go?” 

John Kross used a video in 2018 to explain to residents the importance of Queen Creek’s public works department as it tried to keep infrastructure growing to match its rising pop ulation. (Town of Queen Creek)

BY KEN SAIN Tribune Staff Writer

Chandler Unified School District stu dents’ performance on standard tests show their achievement on average is close to pre-pandemic levels. The district’s Governing Board took an in-depth look at its statewide assess ment results at the Oct. 19 meeting. Those results took a steep decline during the pandemic, as students stayed home and switched to online learning. But it appears that decline is over.

About 58% of CUSD students were proficient in English language arts last year. That was up 2% from 2021 and only down 1% from the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

In math, CUSD students were 53% proficient last year, an increase of 4% over 2021. There was no testing in 2020. CUSD students tested at 58% proficient in 2019 before COVID-19.

Those numbers were significantly higher than the state averages of 40% for English language arts and 33% for math.

“No surprise: we always are outper forming the state, right?” said Dr. Jessica Fletcher, the district’s executive direc tor of accountability, assessment and research. “But what is really important

that I want us to focus on is given we’re returning from a pandemic, our (English Language Arts) results are only 1% away from 2019, which are pre-pandemic.

“We did make some great strides in

math, we moved from 49% to 53%. But we still have a 5% return that we need to get back to those pre-COVID pro ficiency rates.”

Chandler Unified continues to rank among the best in Arizona among public schools. Higley and Scottsdale had the highest proficiency in the state in math, both at 57%. Neither is as large at Chandler.

Queen Creek was the only other district higher than Chandler with 54% in math proficiency. That district has fewer than 11,000 students. Scottsdale has about 22,000 and Higley has about 13,000.

Chandler Unified has more than dou ble each of them with about 45,000 stu dents. Only Mesa Unified, with about 64,000 students, is larger. Mesa scored 33% in math proficiency and 39% in En glish language arts.

In English language arts, only Scotts dale and Higley tested better than Chan dler at 62% and 60% respectively. Deer Valley Unified had the same 58% as Chandler did.

Chandler

TESTSCORES

page 7

“Despite those improvements, though, you’ll notice we are still not to pre-pan demic proficiency rates,” Fletcher said. “The good news is we are still continu ing to improve in math. We know that it’s not a one-year tackle and we’re done

and we move on. So we are continuing in a math focus.”

The results were broken down by grades and there was a sharp drop among middle school students. Fletcher said that is seen statewide and said it’s probably caused by many factors, includ ing social impact.

Here’s a look at

years. (CUSD)

The Grade 6 proficiency was 60% in English language arts and 55% in math. Grade 7 fell to 59% and 42%, respective ly. Grade 8 scored even worse at 50% and 43%, respectively.

Girls do better on the English Lan guage Arts test, and boys do better on the math test. Asian students scored highest among race/ethnicity in both tests.

Fletcher said the district improved overall in both English language arts and math. Several of the racial subgroups

tests over the last

have returned to pre-pandemic levels. And CUSD continues to outperform the state by grade and subgroup level on both tests.

“Not surprisingly, we need to continue to work to close gaps between all of our subgroups, programs,” Fletcher said. “So race, ethnicity, and then male, female. And because our results have not yet returned us to pre-pandemic for math, overall, the district will continue with a focus on math.” 

women probe the supernatural in region

BY JOSH ORTEGA Tribune Staff Writer

Paranormal!

investigators Michelle Vin cent and Heather Rhyneer founded East Valley Paranormal after a chance meeting at a local events committee. Despite a life time of occurrences with the occult, the ladies said even they don’t believe some of the menacing moments they’ve experi enced.

“We are skeptics, honestly,” Vincent said. “Because if I’m not shown something, I’m not going to believe it.”

Rhyneer said that skepticism drives them to investigate every possibility for something that goes bump in the night.

“We love to try to debunk things,” Rhyneer said. “When someone tells us a story, we’re like let’s get in here and try to figure it out.”

Vincent said her first ghost experience happened at age 5 during a funeral – when

she spoke to the man the ceremony was for.

“I really had no idea that I wasn’t talking to an actual person,” Vincent said.

Rhyneer said her first experience hap

pened at her grandmother’s farmhouse in Missouri.

Against her grandmother’s orders, Rhyneer said she ventured to the second

floor of the house and opened a door to find a larger-than-possible room full of nurses and men in bandages lying in beds.

“They were all walking past me like if I wasn’t there,” Rhyneer said. “And I felt like I was in a different time period.”

In 2018, the women met working on an event committee at Mesa Artspace Lofts in downtown Mesa.

Vincent said decorating in the artist-res idences’ main gallery had led to numerous ghostly occurrences, such as lights flickering in an empty utility room and a balloon she had to bat away for more than 15 minutes.

“There was a lady sitting [nearby] and her mouth was just on the floor hanging open,” Vincent recalled.

One of their first official investigations came from the gallery’s utility closet.

Vincent said they use “open-line inves tigations” that involve leaving an iPhone in the room with a recording device and walking a good distance away to listen to what happens on another iPhone.

After a long night of listening to “weird”

Heather Rhyneer, left, and Michelle Vincent formed East Valley Paranormal not long after meeting at an event at Mesa Artspace Lofts in downtown Mesa, where they eventually investigated some ghostly occurrences. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)

sounds interrupting the static, Vincent said they returned to the utility closet “completely trashed” with chairs, tables and broom handles so strewn about that they had to crawl across the floor to re trieve their recording equipment in the far corner.

“That whole night was pretty scary,” said Vincent, who is a graphic designer..

Rhyneer said they learned many lessons that night that have shaped their investi gations ever since, one of the most import ant being to use a video recorder.

“For that to be our first one, I think that was a good wake-up call on how we need to move forward in other investigations,” said Rhneer, a choreopgrapher and dance instructor.

Over the last four years, East Valley Para normal has investigated dozens of histori cal places – such as The Nile Theater, Mesa Historical Museum – as well as dozens of private residences across the state.

Vincent said homes become a special priority if children become involved, such as when they collected a set of “creepy” stuffed animals because “they were both ering the child.” “If there are children in volved, we go right away,” Vincent said.

The equipment they use on investiga tions include an electromagnetic field reader, a “spirit box” that uses radio fre quency white noise to hear spirits, and motion detectors that light up when ghosts pass it.

Vincent said real-life ghost hunting con sists of “a lot of dirty, smelly, nothing hap pening.”

The women said they spend hours lis tening to their equipment emit white noise – which can become almost too bor ing only to have a brief encounter.

“It’ll amp up and then you might get a

really great 15 minutes out of a three-hour investigation,” Rhyneer said.

From lights flickering at Terror Trader collectibles store in Chandler to strange shadow figures in Guild of the Vale in Mesa, Vincent said some of their experi ences can get to her sometimes.

That’s all part of a lifetime of paranor mal experiences, she said.

“When you grow up and you’re used to these things, you think everyone is used to these things, so it becomes normal for you,” Vincent said. “I just found a best friend who it’s normal for her too, thank goodness, because it’s very strange.”

overturn measures whenever they want.

Vincent said their investigations are as much about the apparitions and polter geists as they are about the history of each location that they learn.

“One of the things that has always got ten me about visiting a location is that people not knowing the history of what was there,” Vincent said. “This is the stuff we learned about in our history classes for Arizona history.”

Now, East Valley Paranormal has ex panded beyond investigations into other ventures, including a ghost tour through downtown Mesa. The Rydables Down town Mesa Ghost Tour is a 90-minute tour

that covers all the paranormal hot spots around Main Street.

Rhyneer said they play a lot of the au dio and video evidence on the tour that helps people learn historical facts and stories that many don’t know about – such as the tunnel system that’s under down town Mesa. Participants can “hear actual testimonials from local shop owners and the residents who have experienced the paranormal,” Rydables says on its website.

The Rydables tour costs $69 for peo ple 12 and older and $39 for kids. Each Rydables cart can hold up to 400 pounds but the women limit each cart to one adult and one child 11 years or younger.

Rhyneer said Rydables approached East Valley Paranormal about a downtown Mesa ghost tour and asked if they wanted to collaborate with them.

“They reached out to us after talking to some of the people who work and own businesses in downtown Mesa that brought up our name to them,” Rhyneer said.

Eventually, the women plan to open a cof fee shop as their home base, but can’t say more about the location except “it’s one of the most haunted buildings on Main.”

For now, Rhyneer said they’ll continue to investigate the supernatural because she has a quest to answer the why behind each ghostly occurrence.

“We always walk away from an investi gation and I’m always a little bit more con fused,” Rhyneer said. “I want to solve it. I want to know what happens.” 

To learn more

Rydables Downtown Mesa Ghost Tour: rydables.com/ghost-tours.

East Valley Paranormal: East Valley EVP investigates.com.

sued, claiming that a simple majority of voters could not approve a higher tax through the Invest in Ed Act, since Arizo na’s Constitution requires a supermajority for the Legislature to pass a tax.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge agreed and overturned the initiative in March 2022.

Garcia said that if Proposition 128 had been in place, it could have fast-tracked that process, making it easier for lawmakers to

Francisco Pedraza, associate director of the Center for Latina/os and American Politics Research, said the proposition could lead to a “slippery slope situation,” with legislators intervening even before the courts step in.

Along with Pedraza and Garcia’s groups, others on record opposing Proposition 128 include One Arizona, the League of Women Voters of Arizona and small busi ness owners.

Kinney said her organization spoke

up for Proposition 128 over concerns that some voter initiatives could hurt the state’s pro-business image.

“It’s important to our members to have the most attractive environment to attract new businesses here,” she said. “Unfortu nately, a number of the measures we’ve seen, funded from out of state, would make the business environment less attractive.”

But Garcia said it is not the out-of-state interests that will be hindered by Proposi tion 128 as much as it is the voters in-state.

“In our minds, these are direct push

backs to us having a majority of voters wanting something, and 31 folks in the House and 16 people in the Senate not agreeing with it,” she said. 

GOT NEWS?

Contact Paul Maryniak at 480-898-5647 or pmaryniak@ timeslocalmedia.com

Rydables offers a 90-minute tour of haunted places in downtown Mesa. (Instagram)

Ducey renews summer camp for kids’ catch-up

BY HOWARD FISCHER

Media Services

Citingnewly released test scores, Gov. Doug Ducey is setting aside $100 million in federal funds to conduct a second year of “summer camp’’ to help youngsters catch up on what they missed in due to COVID.

The announcement last week comes on the heels of the release of data from the National Assessment of Educational Prog ress that found there was “no significant change’’ in the reading skills of Arizona students.

And the state Department of Education said math scores of Arizona eighth grad ers reached their lowest level since 2003.

“In light of this barometer of our kids’ success, there’s no time to waste to catch our kids up,’’ the governor said in a pre pared statement. “We must continue to pour on the gas in our efforts.’’

The program is being modeled after the OnTrack Summer Camp operated at 685 schools, community facilities and other sites earlier this year. The governor’s of fice said more than 70,000 youngsters participated in programs designed to help them catch up on read, math and Ameri can civics.

And while the programs were designed to let students have fun, Ducey’s office said 86% of the students either made progress toward, met or exceeded the learning goals set for them at camp. It also resulted in recovery of more than 5,300 academic credits, a move the governor’s office said ensures that more students will be on track for graduation.

Ducey said there are “some silver lin ings’’ to those NAEP scores for Arizona, noting that students here closely followed the national decline in math. And he said the state held its ground in reading scores with little to no change since 2019.

“It’s encouraging that reading scores re

mained level,’’ the governor said.

“Kids have to learn to read before they an read to learn,’’ he continued. “With crit ical investments like AZ OnTrack summer camp, we intervened and helped kids re ignite their love of learning that was dis rupted by the pandemic.’’

There were no immediate details on when and how parents can sign up for the summer programs.

But the decision by Ducey to earmarked the COVID relief funds now allows him to cement the program in place -- and take the credit -- no matter who is elected gov ernor in November.

Gubernatorial press aide C.J. Karamar gin said the rules will remain the same this coming summer as they were for last summer.

Enrollment will be open to students as young as those just entering kindergarten this year. And even high school seniors who don’t get all the credits they need to graduate will find programs.

Schools and other organizations that offer the programs will provide transportation.

But there is one restriction: The program is open only to students in traditional pub lic and charter schools. Youngsters are pri vate or parochial schools are ineligible.

Karamargin said that YMCAs across the state were some of the key hosts of this year’s summer camp.

Damion Olson, CEO of the Prescott YMCA of Yavapai County, called it a “game changer’’ because the funding help them to hire certified teachers.

Ducey and Hoffman ordered all public schools closed in March 2020 following federal guidance. That eventually was ex tended through the end of the school year.

The following school year, as COVID levels remained high, some districts kept schools shut and went to full-time remote learning. Others either opened their doors or enacted hybrid programs. 

WARNING!

PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY AND CHRONIC PAIN TREATMENTS NOT WORKING!!

Mesa AZ – When it comes to chronic pain and/ or neuropathy, the most common doctor-prescribed treatment is drugs like Gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Neurontin. The problem with antidepressants or anti-seizure medications like these is that they offer purely symptomatic relief, as opposed to targeting and treating the root of the problem. Worse, these drugs often trigger an onset of uncomfortable, painful, and sometimes harmful side effects.

The only way to effectively treat chronic pain and/or peripheral neuropathy is by targeting the source, which is the result of nerve damage owing to inadequate blood flow to the nerves in the hands and feet. This often causes weakness, numbness, balance problems. A lack of nutrients causes the nerves degenerate – an insidious

cannot survive, and thus, slowly die. This leads to those painful and frustrating consequences we were talking about earlier, like weakness, numbness, tingling, balance issues, and perhaps even a burning sensation.

The drugs your doctor might prescribe will temporarily conceal the problems, putting a “Band-Aid” over a situation that will only continue to deteriorate without further action.

Thankfully, Mesa is the birthplace of a brandnew facility that sheds new light on this pressing problem of peripheral neuropathy and chronic pain. The company is trailblazing the medical industry by replacing outdated drugs and symptomatic reprieves with an advanced machine that targets the root of the problem at hand.

1. Finding the underlying cause

2. Determining the extent of the nerve damage (above 95% nerve loss is rarely treatable)

3. The amount of treatment required for the patient’s unique condition

Aspen Medical in Mesa AZ uses a state-of-the-art electric cell signaling systems worth $100,000.00.

Th is ground-breaking treatment is engineered to achieve the following, accompanied by advanced diagnostics and a basic skin biopsy to accurately analyze results:

1. Increases blood flow

2. Stimulates and strengthens small fiber nerves

3. Improves brain-based pain

The treatment works by delivering energy to the affected area(s) at varying wavelengths, from low- to middle-frequency signals, while also using Amplitude Modulated (AM) and Frequency Modulated (FM) signaling

It’s completely painless!

THE GREAT NEWS IS THAT THIS TREATMENT IS COVERED BY MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AND MOST INSURANCES!!

The number of treatments required varies from patient to patient, and can only be determined following an in-depth neurological and vascular examination. As long as you have less than 95% nerve damage, there is hope!

Aspen Medical begins by analyzing the extent of the nerve damage –a complimentary service for your friends and family. Each exam comprises a detailed sensory evaluation, extensive peripheral vascular testing, and comprehensive analysis of neuropathy findings.

Aspen Medical will be offering this free chronic pain and neuropathy severity evaluation will be available until October 31st, 2022. Call (480) 274 3157 to make an appointment

Due to our very busy office schedule, we are limiting this offer to the first 10 c allers Y OU DO NOT HAVE TO SUFFER ANOTHER MINUTE, CALL (480) 274 3157 NOW!!

We are extremely busy, so we are unavailable, please leave a voice message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Aspen Medical 4540 E Baseline Rd., Suite 119 Mesa, AZ, 85206

As displayed in figure 1 above, the nerves are surrounded by diseased, withered blood vessels. A lack of sufficient nutrients means the nerves

Effective neuropathy treatment relies on the following three factors:

Depending on your coverage, your peripheral neuropathy treatment could cost almost nothing – or be absolutely free.

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85206

East Valley mom, 8 kids pin big hopes on video

Katrena Besich and her eight children are BIG fans of singer-songwriter Michael Bublé – so much so that they’ve choreographed dance moves to his latest song “Higher.”

Besich’s video now ranks �ifth in a national dance competition hosted by Bublé and dancer Derek Hough.

Now the single Gilbert mom is asking for the public’s votes to put them in the No. 1 spot and win the grand prize – a trip to Los Angeles for four along with tickets to “Dancing With The Stars” �inale on Nov. 21, tickets to Disneyland, a one-on-one face time with Bublé and a private dance lesson with Hough.

The dance contest features multiple rounds of eliminations through Nov. 4 with a winner announced on Nov. 7. Each round lasts �ive days with the most recent round for the top 25 ending Saturday, Nov. 5.

People are allowed one vote a day and can view the video and cast their ballot at challenges.gigg.com/channel/michaelbuble/6318cf3da7e52b514b89ddbb#/ submission.

The Gilbert Sun News sat down last week to talk with mom Besich about their video.

Which two children are featured on the video?

The two children in the video are Marlise and Hugo. My daughter who does dance and cheer is Carlin. She was originally going to make our video, but she struggles with anxiety and perfectionism, so she gave up the day before the contest submissions were due.

Because our family loves Michael Buble, my other children decided they wanted to submit a video so we could still have a chance of winning, meeting Michael Bublé, going to Disneyland and Carlin getting a private dance lesson with Derek Hough. We made a video of something that regularly happens at our house – dancing to

Michael Bublé.

Part of the prize includes private dance lesson with Hough, which the family hopes to win and give to Carlin. Tell us a bit more about the budding dancer.

All of my girls have taken group dance lessons except Carlin, who attends Cooley Middle School. She did other activities, including gymnastics. When she signed up for electives last year, I was surprised when she signed up for dance. I didn’t think it would last. I was wrong. She talks about dance nearly every day.

She dances around the house whenever she has a chance or even at a store if fun music is playing. When we went to her �irst school recital, she had parts in her dance numbers where she was highlighted.

When Carlin tried out for dance for this school year, she was able to make the advanced dance class. Because she loves dancing so much, she also tried out for

cheer. She not only made the squad but is one of two cheer captains. Dancing was a hidden talent that she is just discovering.

Although all my girls love to dance, a private dance lesson with an amazing dance professional would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for Carlin. Attending the DWTS �inale would be an amazing side perk.

The prize provides four people with airfare and tickets. Which members of the family will go if you win.

If we won, I would ask if we could trade the four airfare tickets for four more Disneyland tickets. Then we would drive. I plan on crossing that bridge if we get there. Michael Bublé is big on family and I don’t think that accommodations would cost more (probably less) so I’m hoping they would agree.

If it came down to it, I would not leave any children who wanted to go to Disn-

eyland at home. The prize also includes hotel accommodations. Even if no adjustments are made to the prize package, a family trip to Disneyland will be much more affordable with the prizes included in this contest.

What’s so appealing about Buble’s music?

After I had my �ifth baby, I was searching for something to help bring more happiness into my life. Raising �ive young children – really, any number – is hard.

That was when I found Michael Bublé. I love how happy and fun his music was. It’s also pretty timeless and classy. His orchestra adds an incredible touch. His voice and talent is amazing.

My kids fell in love. I started going to his concerts. My kids wanted to go to and so I have taken all but one of them, my 15-year-old son who didn’t want to go. He is on the Spectrum.

When Michael Buble released one of his newer songs in March, “I’ll Never Not Love You,” and posted a dance challenge for that song on social media, my kids wanted to do it. The song really resonated with us as it is about being hurt and then �inding a new, lasting love.

The kids wanted to post the video on social media so Michael Buble could see it. We made a public Instagram account, thecrazyeightz, so he could have the chance to see it. He did and even “liked” our video. 

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Call

711) for more information. Cigna is contracted with Medicare for PDP plans, HMO and PPO plans in select states, and with select State Medicaid programs. Enrollment in Cigna depends on contract renewal. © 2022 Cigna Some content provided under license. Y0036_23_786411_M

QC couple make pet grooming an art

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Tribune Executive Editor

Noone can ever accuse Kay and Chris Richmond of going into the pet grooming industry half-heartedly.

The Queen Creek couple’s two business es, AZ Pet Stylist and Keep You Moving and Grooming Services, don’t just keep cats and dogs looking pretty.

While Kay pretty much focuses on that part, Chris’ Keep You Moving and Groom ing provides on-call mobile services for other mobile pet groomers in the South east Valley, provides regular maintenance or repairs at a shop location, refurbishes mobile grooming trailers or vans, and builds out new mobile grooming units.

And, Kay added, “KYM helps new grooming businesses in the valley to get started and scale their businesses by providing business coaching and profes sional office support.”

A Louisiana native who has lived in the East Valley since 2006, Kay seems to have been born to pet grooming.

She learned the art at age 15 while working at a pet boarding business not far from her home.,

“I learned the skill of everyday haircuts and hand stripping terrier coats,” she said. “I actually got tendonitis at 17 from grooming.”

When she went out of state to college, she assumed she’d never get back into grooming, mainly because “it was det rimental to my wrists already at such a young age.”

But when she arrived in the Valley, armed with a bachelor’s degree in animal science, she discovered she couldn’t stay away.

The mother of one son, Trevor, she also can’t stay away from animals in general, and counts as part of her household me nagerie, two cats, a dog, a few chickens and an appaloosa mare.

She started AZ Pet Stylist in 2010 and four years later, her husband left a suc

cessful job in air-conditioning repair to join her.

“AZ Pet Stylist was simply growing so much,” Kay said. “Switching gears was a family decision. He became our full-time operations manager, going out whenever a mobile unit had a flat tire, water pump issues, etc. He also began building out our mobile units after purchasing our fourth unit as just a shell of a trailer.

“He even worked as a bather for the company after becoming trained by me,” she boasted. “He was a natural at it, but stepped back from that to dedicate his time to the maintenance operations solely.”

That experience taught him “how the (grooming) need to function for the pro fessional stylist,” she said, explaining:

“In mobile grooming there are very few companies out there who know how to work on the mobile units. RV shops are the typical place to go but I had been turned away by RV shops saying this was not their specialty.”

Like all other groomers whose vehicles

he customizes, Kay uses a fully self-con tained trailer with grooming rooms equipped with a bathtub, dryer, grooming table, and vacuum– as well as “the items needed to make it function on a mobile level, such as ~70 gallons of fresh water, a water pump, water heater, A/C and heat ers, vent fans to get out the humidity, and a generator to power it all”

But it’s not just the trailers that Kay brings to her customers: She and her team of groomers are specialists not only in making animals look their best. They’re also trained in reducing the animals’ fear of the process that gets them there.

“We utilize the Fear Free certification by asking each of our stylists to undergo this certification once they are hired,” Kay said.

“We have monthly training for all styl ists to simply increase our level of knowl edge and ability to service the pets,” she explained, adding fear-reduction has even morphed into a separate service offering.

“Many pets do need us to slow things down so much that a full-service groom

ing or bath and tidy at the same time is simply pushing them beyond their thresh old’ and is why we offer FearLess as a sep arate service.

“Our FearLess Service is working with the pet to create a positive experience when we come and not pushing through something that creates high levels of stress for the pet. An example of this is to work with them at the door. creating a pos itive experience of a stranger being there. If they are happy to see you, it moves to working with the pet to walk them to the mobile unit. If they are happy with that, the next step moves to working with them to get them into the mobile unit.

“This can be a main point of balking, and if that is the case, we work with treats or positive reinforcement when they do take a step towards the mobile unit or into it and then allow them to go back to their front door as an additional reward. Then we start all over again.”

This approach creates a “conditioned emotional response” in the animal so that “in the long run, we can have a pet that happily jumps into the unit, onto the grooming table and looks forward to be ing scrubbed all over in the bath.”

Kay conceded, “I can’t say that it works better with particular breeds.”

And she noted overall dogs respond more readily to FearLess than cats “be cause, well, dogs love people naturally, and for cats, even my own, they are the boss and they will let you know when they want to be social or not.”

“We have only a couple team members who work with cats because they are a different animal and understanding them and their behaviors goes a long way in being able to create a safe space for a cat when it comes to grooming.”

Once her staffer makes sure the owner knows how to make sure the cat won’t run away prior to grooming, the animal

more Business News visit QueenCreekTribune.com

Kay Richmond, accompanied by her dog Jada, uses specially equipped trailers with her busi ness, AZ Pet Stylist. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)

is welcomed into a “cat zone,” where a hormone spray calms them the largely contains lavender.

“Cats can be extremely sensitive to any thing topical so we never put it on them directly, we will put it on ourselves or spray it in the air,” Kay said. “Because we are mobile, certain things work in our fa vor: the cat can see they are still at home because we have windows in the unit so they can see out, they don’t have a long time of transportation to get stressed out (from door to door only), and there are no dogs barking in the background.

“I tend to let the cat explore the mobile unit and simply spend some time petting them when I first get them in to help them relax a bit.”

“Cats can learn to love being brushed and more, but we also will cut the groom ing short if a cat is simply not handling it well,” Kay added. “Pushing through groom ing is setting them up for fear of it in the future. We have had cats who we start out coming for just a brush out service, and now that they are used to us and we have established a relationship, we are able to provide full bath, haircut and blowouts.”

Richmond not only services the vans and

used by

mobile

groomers, but also builds them. (Facebook)

‘Trick or treat’ not just a Halloween mantra now

BY JD HAYWORTH Tribune Columnist

Voterscan be for given their skep ticism as Election Day approaches.

While eight days separate Halloween from the “first-Tuesday-following-thefirst-Monday in November,” there is lit tle to differentiate campaign promises in television ads from the youthful cries of “Trick or Treat!” on the front porch.

One “age appropriate” distinction be comes readily apparent.

For the “over 18 crowd,” the trick-ortreat dynamic is superseded by two con flicting emotions: Hope or fear.

Sadly, that latter feeling is spreading… and with far more credibility than the false assertion that “This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated!”

It was bad enough when Joe Biden “played a doctor on TV” to utter that talking point. It was even worse when Anthony Fauci, a trained physician more comfort able with political science than medical sci ence, echoed the same inane phrase.

And just as American tax dollars ap parently flowed to Communist Chinese research labs to help engineer a bioweap on, so too is federal largesse underwriting a contagion that could prove fatal to our Body Politic.

The shocking steps taken by the Biden Administration to politicize the Justice De partment and the FBI, augmented by the Chief Executive’s menacing remarks in Phil adelphia Sept. 1, where he described his po litical opponents as extremists threatening the “very foundations of our Republic,” have poisoned our public discourse.

Call it the “Death of Civic Virtue.”

Our electoral system depends upon peo

ple of good will and strong character.

While they may eagerly embrace a po litical philosophy or partisan label, they must also recognize the rights of others to espouse opposing political viewpoints and different partisan passions.

Whatever disagreements that occur during the course of a campaign must ul timately yield to a uniform insistence that only legal votes be counted on Election Day – and that the tabulation take place in a way that insures both accuracy and transparency.

Unfortunately, events surround ing the 2020 election and its after math have featured little transpar ency, prompting serious questions about the accuracy of the outcome.

A recently released study of the 100 most populous counties in the 14 tra ditional swing states discovered that only two of those states and six of the counties

Election Day could be with us for weeks

BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ Tribune Columnist

the Nov. 8 Gener al Election draws near, you may want a prediction about the outcome. Here’s mine – and it’s a pretty safe bet.

In the major races drawing hundreds of millions of dollars and the national spot light, we aren’t going to know anything definitive on the night of Nov. 8. And likely not for days or weeks afterward.

You’ll hear a lot of screaming that this wait is evidence there’s election rigging afoot – despite zero credible evidence of any cheating.

Ironically, much of the reason it will take days on end to tabulate our ballots traces back to the very same election deniers who bleat constantly about cheating. Let me explain.

AsIt has become fashionable among the MAGA elite, including President Trump, to tell their people – even those who receive an early ballot in the mail – to hold that ballot until Election Day, then turn it in. As Trump put it recently, “it’s much harder for them to cheat that way.”

State Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Pluto, told One America News Network a few days ago, “We need to vote on the last day, the day of Election Day, so they don’t know how much to cheat by.”

There will likely be a few hundred thou sand of these ballots statewide, known in the business as “late early’s.” Per the law, each “late early” must have the signature verified by a human being before being counted.

That can’t start until after Election Night, leading to days of counting – and lots of screaming, especially if a Repub lican candidate is trailing and drawing nearer by the day.

Jen Marson, executive director of the Ar izona Association of Counties, is one of the state’s foremost elections experts. A fierce independent and a certified elections officer, Marson works with county election officials statewide. She, too, sees massive amounts of “late early’s” as a potential issue.

“The late early votes count just as much as any other vote and sometimes they turn the tide of what was reported on Election Day,” says Marson. “And that’s when peo ple lose their minds.”

Marson warns some races will last into December if they’re close enough to trig ger a recount – 1/2 of one percent be tween the top two candidates or between the yes and no sides on ballot measures. Such a recount can’t even begin until Dec. 5, says Marson.

“If the governor’s office has to be re counted, it’s going to be mid to late De cember before we know the results,” she explains.

retained the actual voter files from the General Election of 2020.

The analysis, conducted by the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), found that 12 states and 96 counties are violating the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which mandates the retention of those records.

Included in that AFPI count are six Ari zona counties: Apache, Coconino, Marico pa, Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai. Again, none of those counties appear to be in compliance with the aforementioned Civil Rights Act.

Whether this non-compliance arises from incompetence or ignorance, arro gance or even evil intent, it must end.

Such actions—or more accurately, non-actions—prompt an obvious question.

What are you hiding?

Thankfully, two neighboring secretar ies of state— Frank LaRose of Ohio and

Can you imagine? We already have can didates saying they won’t accept the re sults unless they win – thanks, Kari Lake – and armed morons in camo camped out side a ballot dropbox in Mesa.

Let the hard feelings simmer for a few weeks, and add in fantasies about ballot mules and rigged voting machines. Anoth er prediction: Chances are slim we make it through this election without at least one weapon fired in anger.

All this over fantasies of cheating that have never, ever come true. Heck, half of you reading this column think I’m part of the cabal of cheaters trying to persuade you to allow yourself to be cheated.

Whatever happens in this election – and I don’t care who you vote for, though I do hope you vote – I agree with my friend, Jen.

“There has never been any law enforce ment investigation, “fraudit,” audit, people

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Mac Warner of West Virginia—have begun a national effort to ensure that their colleagues in the other 48 states will preserve election �iles going forward.

Of course, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is a little preoccupied right now, since she’s the Democratic nominee for governor.

Not only has she been criticized for her failure to debate GOP nominee Kari Lake, now renewed scrutiny of her performance as secretary of state has attracted additional criticism.

During the six month period from April 1 through Oct. 14, Katie only showed up

to her of�icial of�ice for a total of 19 days. No foolin’.

Press reports reveal that she was especially scarce during April and August, absent from her of�ice for almost the entirety of those months.

Of course, Katie has ignored her opponent’s request that she step aside from any supervision of the midterms, given that her name is on the ballot.

That’s why there’s a real fear that Hobbs may spend much more time in her of�icial of�ice during the remaining days before the election.

Republicans hope Lake’s margin of votes is so great that it can withstand any “hands on” efforts from the secretary of state.

looking (that has uncovered widespread cheating),” says Marson. “Whoever has come to look at whatever machines in any county, they have found no evidence of widespread cheating or fraud or hacking. None of it.” Settle in, friends, for a doozy of a wait. Unless I’m dead wrong – and I pray I am – Election 2022 will be with us for a while.

Landon Jury enjoying breakout senior season

BY ZACH ALVIRA Tribune Sports Editor

Landon Jury wasn’t satis�ied with his performance at quarterback as a junior for the Casteel High School football team.

So, he got to work.

He worked tirelessly throughout the off-season to improve his craft. He spent time with head coach Bobby Newcombe. He went through various workouts with quarterback guru and private coach Dan Manucci. He also made an effort to become closer to his teammates and more involved in the �ilm room.

That has all led to his senior year, where he currently has the Colts at 6-1 on the year heading into their matchup against Hamilton this past Friday and one of the top eight teams in the state.

“I think I just re�lected on how last season went and I took that as motivation coming into this season,” Jury said. “I spent a ton of time with coach Newcombe in the classroom and on the �ield to master my craft. All I want to do is make my teammates proud. I’m happy I’ve been able to do that so far.”

Jury threw for just over 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns last season in his �irst season as the varsity starter. With that, he also had six interceptions and completed just over 51 percent of his passes in 12 games.

In seven games this season, he’s already surpassed his total passing yards by more than 400, has 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. His completion percentage jumped to 66 percent so far on the year. It’s been a drastic improvement as he also appears more poised in the pocket and accurate on many of his throws.

But where Newcombe has seen the most improvement in Jury is behind the scenes. He’s made it a habit of spending at least an hour breaking down �ilm on with just him and Newcombe. He still leads team �ilm sessions and schemes with his offensive line on a weekly basis.

He’s become a natural leader that other players in the program gravitate toward. That, to Newcombe, has been the most impressive aspect to Jury as a player.

“Even in his leadership, command and ability to be vocal in practice and the media room, that’s been a huge transformation for him as well,” Newcombe said. “He’s come out of his shell a lot. He’s always been the guy that is engaged but he has taken it to another level.”

Jury’s recipe to success is simple: Work hard off the �ield and build relationships that will transition to success on it.

That’s why he meets with his offensive linemen every week for dinner. The group will go

Casteel senior quarterback Landon Jury has taken his game to another level this season as he has surpassed last year’s totals in half the number of games. He’s become a true leader for the Colts, which currently sit as one of the top eight teams in the state.

Tribune Sta )

to one of the player’s houses to eat, watch a professional sports game, break down �ilm and strategize for their upcoming opponent.

This week, the dinner was held at Jury’s house. He expected the group to also enjoy time on the putting green that was just installed in his backyard. Other games such as cornhole are played.

The dinner has allowed the group to become close together, which transitions well to the gridiron when the line is trying to keep opposing defenders away from Jury.

It’s worked well so far.

“We have camaraderie more than ever,” Jury said. “We talk about �ilm, talk about plays, talk about matchups. It’s just a fun thing we can do with them.”

Jury had dreamed of leading the Casteel football program since he entered it as a freshman. He watched as his older brother, Gavin, came through the program as a tight end. Now, he’s helping lead his younger brother as well as other players.

Camden, a junior, is a 6-foot-7 offensive tackle for the Colts. He’s one of the �ive protecting his older brother every Friday night.

Jury wants to set a precedent on how to lead as he is now in the tail end of his senior season. He saw Gavin do it despite coming back from injury his senior year, now he aims to do the same for the Colts and leave a legacy.

“He’s a kid that is very reliable, very responsible and a great, character young kid,” Newcombe said. “He’s a competitor. A person that will give you everything he’s got on every single play.”

Jury prides himself on his improvement off the �ield as a leader. His play on the �ield is something he expected from himself when he set out to improve this past off-season. But he knows there is more work to be done.

Casteel entered this past weekend with a tough matchup against Hamilton. The Colts still have Basha to play next week and Corona del Sol to �inish the regular season. All three teams, along with the Colts, are in Open Division contention.

Jury and his teammates aren’t paying attention to the rankings, however. They feel they are earning respect from the state, however they don’t want to let that get to their heads. They’re on a mission this season, and they remained focused on accomplishing it.

Casteel coach Bobby Newcombe has seen the improvement in Jury from last year. To him, what stands out the most is the behind-the-scenes work. Jury has initiated film sessions with him and teammates every day. He’s become more vocal, too. Overall, Newcombe is happy with his quarterback.(Dave Minton/Tribune Sta )

“We can’t get our heads in the clouds,” Jury said. “It builds con�idence seeing that we are up there, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We have to understand we are high schoolers and the team we are going to play is just high schoolers.

“Anyone can win on any day. Just play our game.”

Canal Convergence returns Friday to Scottsdale

BY ALEX GALLAGHER GetOut Staff

And eventually the event morphed into what became known as Canal Conver gence | Water + Art + Light.

It’s

hard for the Scottsdale Public Art team to believe that 10 years have passed since the first Canal Conver gence was held.

What had initially begun as a conversa tion in 2008 between the City of Scottsdale and the Salt River Project blossomed into an opportunity when SRP offered to waive its events permit fee at the Scottsdale Wa terfront and the City offered to create a festival at the canal where the utility could educate the public about its history, water management, conservation and more.

From there, city officials and Scottsdale Public Art – a nonprofit that contracts with the city – discussed creating an arts-fo cused event featuring unique light-based installations and various performances that became known as Night Lights.

Night Lights was an early success, at tracting esteemed artists like D.A. Ther

rien and Fausto Fernandez, who installed grand pieces in 2012.

Marking 10 years this year, Canal Con vergence | Water + Light + Art will begin at 6 p.m. beginning Friday, Nov. 4, and run ning through Nov. 13 at Scottsdale Water front, 7038 E. 5th Ave.

This year’s event will include 15 large art pieces, live music, workshops and a slew of entertainment over 10 nights. While the exhibits and entertainment are free, some of the tours and workshops charge a small admission.

To a degree, this year’s event will be an homage to the first Canal Convergence in 2012, which featured interactive, lightbased and inflatable art installations like Scottsdale-based artist Jeff Zischke’s “Nodal Water Gardens.” Zischke’s instal

Petrucci brings energy here

BY ALEX GALLAGHER GetOut Staff

GRAMMYaward-winning prog-metal guitarist John Petrucci has always been a fan of trios.

He calls himself “the biggest fan” of acts like Rush and the Steve Morse band, explaining, “There is some thing organic about bands with three guys like Cream and Rush.”

So when Petrucci decided to go out on the road on his first solo tour – which will come to the Ce lebrity Theater on Wednesday, Nov. 2 – it only made sense for him to add two esteemed musicians to share the stage.

One is his former bandmate in the prog-metal act Dream Theater and renowned sticks man Mike Portnoy. “Mike left Dream Theater 12 years

ago and we haven’t stepped onstage (together) since then,” Petrucci said.

Although the two haven’t graced the stage together in over a decade, they reunited in 2020 to record “Ter minal Velocity.”

“I asked Mike to play drums on ‘Terminal Velocity’ and that was fun because in that case, I had written all the music already and Mike came in the studio and played drums on it,” Petrucci said. “Now we’re going to take that music and bring it to life on stage, so it’s excit ing for the both of us.”

Rounding out the trio is bassist Dave LaRue. “I’m the biggest Steve Morse fan on the planet and I’ve been going to see Steve Morse and his bassist Dave LaRue as long as I can remember and I was always en amored by Dave’s talent,” Petrucci said.

Since LaRue had laid down the bass parts on Petrucci’s first solo album in 2005, “Suspended Ani mation,” and had joined Portnoy in projects like Flying Colors, the Led Zeppelin cover band Hammer of the Gods and Petrucci’s latest album, it seemed like the perfect fit.

“Mike has experience playing with Dave as well since Dave plays in a couple of projects of Mike’s, so the chemistry is perfect,” Petrucci said.

That chemistry will best be dis played on some of Petrucci’s favor ite tunes from his latest work.

“There’s an old song that I put on my new album called “Gemini” and it was a song I wrote back in the 90s as like a guitar masterclass demo and I finally recorded a version of it,” Petrucci said.

Canal Convergence | Water + Art + Light returns for its 10th year on Friday, Nov. 4, with events and art like Walter Productions fire show. (GetOut file photo)

Prog-rock

lations, floating atop the canal, lit up the water with a series of light hues.

The first canal event also offered art ist workshops, vendors selling locally produced goods, a Saturday night happy hour and a Sunday morning bike ride along the canal.

Over the next nine years, the two-day arts festival underwent a series of itera tions at different times of the year until it became a fall festival in 2018.

“There was some interest from the city in creating a real draw to Scottsdale in the fall,” recalled Scottsdale Public Art spokes man Brian Passey. “When we were doing it in the spring, it was aligned with spring training and we benefited from that with our event.

“But the city just needed a really good event that would be something to draw people in” during the fall,” Passey said, add that officials “saw the potential with Canal Convergence.”

To draw a crowd, Scottsdale Public Art expanded the event to 10 days and brought in more artwork, including a gas fire dis play created by Walter Productions that has become a staple the past five years.

This year, Canal Convergence will be an ode to the original event while bringing the gusto of last year’s celebration back to the waterfront.

“This year is a little different, being our 10th anniversary, because we typically only approach maybe two or three art ists each year directly to ask them to cre ate an artwork for us and then the rest of the artworks come through an open

call that we put out in the springtime,” Passey explained.

“Because it’s the 10th anniversary, we wanted to reach out to more artists who had appeared at Canal Convergence in the past to honor that history,” he said.

Among them is Zischke, who not only was part of the first Canal Convergence but also lit up the canal in 2014 with a series of neon-colored bugs titled “Water Striders.”

This year, the challenge for Zischke was to create a series of suspended artworks that would hang above the canal and cast a barrage of bright lights onto the water.

“I’ve done tons of stuff all around the world – temporary sculptures with fabric and different kinds of natural materials,”

Zischke said. “So, the challenge – of course, that’s what I live for – is having artwork that is suspended.”

Walter Productions will attach 10 orbs to an underwater structure that will sus pend them above the canal’s surface. That work is simply titled “ORB.”

“We have this long-standing partnership with Scottsdale Public Art and in that rela tionship, we are always asked to think out of the box on how to make the next year’s project exciting and unique,” said Walter Productions founder Dr. Kirk Strawn.

This year’s installation will have two unique features, according to Strawn.

“One is this new method of positioning the sculptures in the water and the second is the interactivity that we will be doing

through a kiosk that will be on the (Soleri) bridge,” Strawn said. “There’s a lot more lighting this year than in prior years and we’re going to give people the opportunity to interact with the lighting system.”

Strawn and Zischke are not the only art ists who will have eye-popping pieces at Canal Convergence.

Passey said that B!g Art from Calgary, Canada, will bring back its crowd-favor ite door from last year “The Door(s).” The door opened to a screen showing videos aimed at reflecting another dimension. In one video, a tyrannosaurus rex ran toward whoever opened the door.

B!g Art is not only bringing back the fan-favorite work to the waterfront but also installing a similar work at Scottsdale Fashion Square.

“One of the doors is going to be set up in Scottsdale Fashion Square and that door is going to be connected to one of the doors at the waterfront,” Passey said. “When you open up the door at the mall, you’ll be able to see through a portal to whoever’s opening up the door at the waterfront and vice versa.

“So, it’ll be kind of like a Zoom call with out sound between the Scottsdale water front and the mall.” 

If You Go...

What: Canal Convergence

Where: Scottsdale Waterfront, 7038 E. 5th Avenue, Scottsdale.

When: 6 p.m. every night from Friday, Nov. 4 to Sunday, Nov. 13

Info: canalconvergence.com

Petrucci said fans can expect the songs to sound different from his recordings.

“The arrangements of the songs might be slightly different from the album ver sions,” Petrucci said. “We might stretch some things out a bit so we can have some improvisation.”

But he added that fans can expect to hear him hum on his guitar a lot.

“Basically, in my solo stuff, the guitar takes on the role of the singer and the so loist and everything else,” Petrucci said.

He said he likely will alternate between

using standard tuned six and seven-string guitars but also teased he could break out an eight-string guitar.

Petrucci is equally excited to tour with the reunited all-female thrash metal out fit Meanstreak – which features his wife Rena Sands and Portnoy’s wife Marlene playing together on guitar.

“Meanstreak just reunited, so I told my wife ‘if you guys reunite, you can open up for my tour,’” Petrucci said, “so for the first time, I’m touring with my wife and I’m ex cited about that.”

He added that his relationship with Rena Sands and the Portnoys feels like one

big family.

“All of our kids were born around the same time, everybody knows each other and we’ve been this big, happy family for a long time,” Petrucci said.

Petrucci hopes that fans in attendance will rekindle their once-lost love of live music.

“I hope that they have fun since live mu sic was taken from us for a couple of years there and everybody is getting back at it now,” he said

“It’s great to be together seeing an in strumental show since it’s a unique type of audience because they’re going to see

three guys play music and usually, there’s a lot of musicians in the audience.”

If You Go...

What: John Petrucci featuring Mike Portnoy and Dave LaRue with special guest Meanstreak

Where: The Celebrity Theatre, 440 N 32nd Street, Phoenix.

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2

Cost: Tickets start at $42

Info: Johnpetrucci.com/tour

With JAN D’ATRI

GetOut Columnist

This delectable dessert is an easy-to-make keeper

Ihadto lick my fingers before writing this column. I hate sticky keyboards.

Yes, I had to pry myself away from a casserole dish that was bubbling with the most delicious, flavors-of-the-fall dessert I’ve had in a very long time. This caramel pecan pear pudding is a keeper. In fact, the minute I send this column off, I think I’ll make another batch!

That pretty much sums up how I love this dish. I promise you, next week I will have a treat for you with pumpkin spice, which, I know is a favorite for many of you this time of the year. But, frankly, I’m a little burned out on the pumpkin spice anything-everything-everywhere-at all times season right about now.

Let’s give pears some love! Actually, once this delectable dessert has baked up, the pears sort of tastes like caramelized apples, so if you’re not a pear lover like me, don’t bypass this one. It’s worth it. I’m sharing this amazing dish with you for several

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to at 375 degrees.

2. In a dry skillet over medium high heat, cook the pecans, stirring constantly, until they are toasted. Do not burn the pecans. (They continue to cook after removed from the heat.) Set aside to cool.

3. In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt, mixing well to combine.

3. Pour in the milk and whisk until mixture is well combined.

4. Stir in the pear cubes and toasted pecans, mixing well.

reasons. It’s super scrumptious, can be made ahead and warmed when you want to serve it, and best of all, it’s simple to make.

Now that I’ve given you all the reasons to whip up a batch of harvest heaven, go grab that casserole dish, some D’Anjou, Bartlett or Bosc pears, and get baking. It’s winner, winner, dessert for dinner.

• 4 medium pears, peeled and cut into 1/2inch cubes

• 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

• 3/4 cup boiling water

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/4 cup butter

• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for topping

5. Spoon the mixture into an ungreased 2-qt. baking dish or 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

6. Bring the water to a boil. In a medium bowl, add the boiling water, brown sugar and butter, mixing well to dissolve the brown sugar, making caramel syrup.

7. Pour the syrup over the pear mixture.

8. Bake, uncovered, for 45-50 minutes. (If casserole dish looks full, place a sheet pan under the dish so the syrup doesn’t spill over into the oven.)

9. Serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream. Caramel Pear Pudding can be made ahead and warmed just before serving. Makes about 8 servings..

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