August 6 - 19, 2016
www.SanTanSun.com
New public information officer at Chandler PD has worn many hats way for better communication and smoother Sgt. Daniel Mejia is the new public information relationships between the department and the officer of the Chandler Police Department. community. It’s a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week However, he’s no stranger to Chandler residents position that the two will share. or even to the region’s media outlets. “I think I’m most proud about all the Since his move to Chandler Police Department community outreach that we do,” said Mejia, in 2001 from a law enforcement career that began in who has volunteered for the Chandler’s Boys & Nogales in 1995, the fluent Spanish speaker has worked Girls Clubs for 10 years and is a board member. “I in many aspects of the department’s operations. liked the interaction because you get to meet a They include patrolling; Spanish translation; lot of people in the community.” liaising with the Mexican Consulate; criminal, Mejia said that the fulltime role of a public narcotics and property crime investigation; being information officer is “a lot of responsibility.” So a school resource officer; crisis negotiator; and far, he said, “it’s been a good partnership.” community outreach, including handling media “When you work with media outlets, there’s requests, in myriad ways. a mutual trust and respect there where there’s a In Nogales, Mejia was a deputy sheriff and flow of information on both ways,” he said. “I see worked as a SWAT team member, a field training the value in the partnership with the media in officer and also handled DUI enforcement. terms of getting our information out to, with the “One of the essential things of being an effective assistance of media.” PIO is having the knowledge and the experience Similar to police departments around the to talk about all facets of police work,” Detective country, Chandler PD has established several Sgt. Daniel Mejia has worked with the local media in Chandler to disseminate Seth Tyler said. “It brings a lot. Whether we’re programs that show its human side. information. “It’s been a good partnership,” he said. investigating a burglary, a fatal crash, homicide, a The Senior Lockbox Program provides a Mejia, who has received training in public relations, will lockbox for emergency personnel to gain access to the drug operation, anything like that, it’s really important to work alongside Tyler to answer media requests, organize be able to have a comfort level to be able to talk about see MEJIA page 2 and participate in outreach events, and generally pave the stuff like that.”
BY SRIANTHI PERERA
Senior is Wilkes’ oldest grad BY SHELLEY RIDENOUR
During his visit to the MLB All-Star Game at Petco Park in San Diego, Nick Brueser hung out with Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Photo courtesy Arizona Diamondbacks Twitter page.
Hamilton first baseman wins Junior Home Run Derby BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Hamilton High School senior Nick Brueser has shown America just how well he can hit the ball. The Huskies’ 6-foot 3-inch first baseman won the Junior Home Run Derby
and clips of it were shown on television during the All-Star Game at Petco Park in San Diego in mid-July. “It was an awesome experience,” Nick see BRUESER page 2
In her 91 years, Anna Arnett has learned and taught many lessons, some a bit cliche, others not. Her latest? It’s never too late to learn. Arnett, a longtime Chandler resident, received a master’s degree in creative writing—her second master’s—from Wilkes University in June. She’s the oldest person to ever receive a degree from Wilkes, university officials said. Wilkes was established 83 years ago in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and opened a campus in Mesa in 2013. “I never regretted a second,” Arnett said of her Wilkes experience. “I really loved it. For one thing, what can be better than writing about your parents and telling the lay of the land where they lived?” Arnett wrote a memoir for her creative thesis. “Forever Endeavor” is the story of her parents’ lives. She relied heavily on a journal left by her mother. “My mother was a genealogist from the word go,” Arnett said. She praised her mother’s writing in that journal, crediting it for making it easier to write her thesis.
She plans to self-publish the memoir. But it won’t be her first published book. Her first was “Lolly’s Yarns: My Life as I Have Chosen to Live It.” It focused on her husband, Charles, and their seven children. “Just a Woman: Romping through Poetry with Anna Laurente Arnett,” was her second. She and her son, David, who lives in Mesa, have a “fledgling publishing company,” which Arnett says makes it fairly easy to publish her books. She says she’s still trying to figure out what to do with that business. Some might think at age 91, with three college degrees and her children all grown, she’d relax. But, that’s not the case. Arnett says she’ll soon be back at Wilkes. “I’ve already signed up for my next class.” Arnett’s original college career started and stopped multiple times. She attended Utah State University during the 1944-45 school year, but stopped college after her wedding in Mesa to Charles Arnett on June 15, 1945. Charles joined the Army Air Forces
F E AT U R E STO R I E S
Check out our Family Fun Section! You will not want to miss any of the fun events listed on Family Fun calendar this month.
Sgt. Daniel Mejia Promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . community . . . . . . . Page 1 AT&T enhances, expands towers in East Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . business . . . . . . . . . . Page 21 Chandler publisher shines a light on literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . youth . . . . . . . . . . . Page 32 Chandler resident brings new soccer team to East Valley . . . neighbors . . . . . . . . Page 45 Christian music fills the Valley air this August . . . . . . . . . . . . . arts . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 61
SANTAN FAMILY FUN .......................Center Section
see ANNA page 4
More Community . . . . . . 1-20 Business . . . . . . . . 21-26 Youth . . . . . . . . . . 27-34 Opinion . . . . . . . . 35-36 Neighbors . . . . . . 45-60 Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . 61-68 Spirituality . . . . . 69-71 Directory . . . . . . . 72-73 Classifieds . . . . . . 74-75 Where to Eat . . . 76-78