Santan Sun News - November 17, 2018

NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018 | www.SanTanSun.com

Relentlessly local coverage of Southern Chandler and our neighboring communities

Chandler’s Pawlik turns hard work into House upset

BY JASON STONE Staff Writer

Jennifer Pawlik still isn’t sure if it’s real.

She admits the gravity of winning a seat in the Arizona Legislature was overwhelming during her first trip to the State Capitol last week as a House member-elect.

And she guesses it probably won’t sink in for real until she enters the Arizona State Capitol as a full-fledged member of the House in January.

“I’ve visited the Capitol so many times before,” Pawlik said. “To go through those swinging doors knowing I was (a Houseelect member) was so surreal.”

Pawlik is also using words like “bizarre”

Special to SanTan Sun News

Democrat Jennifer Pawlik won a State House seat in Chandler’s LD 17.

and “amazing” to describe her upset victory in last week’s Legislative District 17 races.

“Historic” could also be used. The Chandler teacher became the first Democrat to win in the area in decades – maybe ever – and is for sure the first woman to be elected.

Pawlik is one of two female Democrats from Chandler whose impact in legislative races goes well beyond Chandler and affects the balance of power in the State House. With Jennifer Jermaine’s victory in LD 18 – which turned that district all blue – Republicans have only a one vote edge over Democrats in the Hosue.

With several votes still left to count as

of mid-week, Pawlik not only was one of the top two vote-getters to earn a seat from LD 17, she led incumbent Republican Jeff Weninger by about 100 votes. Republican Nora Ellen came in third with around 32 percent of the vote.

Pawlik’s glee at the shocking victory was evident with a Facebook and Twitter post that day: “I literally have the most votes! Although there are still lots of votes to count, it appears that I will be the first Democrat and the first woman elected to the state legislature in this district!”

The election upset in a district that has always been Republican-dominated has been a long-time coming for area See

PAWLIK on page 15

Chandler couple feels pain of losing local hero

BY JASON STONE Staff Writer

Audra Owens always knew Brett Taylor was destined for greatness.

That’s what made his death extra tough to take.

Taylor, a U.S. Army major and a 1997 Chandler High School graduate, was killed in action Nov. 3 while training an Afghan Army commando battalion near Kabul, Afghanistan.

“He was the type of guy who was the salt of the earth,” Owens said. “I can’t think of anybody the kind of caliber he was. Such integrity and honesty.”

Owens’ husband, Justin, was best friends with Taylor in high school – where they served on the student council together – and Owens stood in at Taylor’s wedding.

They recalled the happy times they had with Taylor, including one night as teenagers when their group of friends went bowling together. Instead of going inside with the rest of the group, Taylor remained at his truck.

Audra Owens became concerned, so she went outside to investigate, only to find Taylor standing outside the truck listening to talk radio.

“I’m on hold, and I’m going to be on the show,” Owens recalls Taylor saying.

She noticed his cellphone and stayed to listen to him discuss politics from the radio.

“I thought, ‘How many 19-year-olds listen to talk radio?” she said. “What 19-year-old is that interested in our country? We all joked we would be voting for him for president in the future, even in high school.”

Taylor’s death has touched the Chandler community who knew him and his family since they arrived in the area in the early 1990s. He was student body president his senior year at Chandler and also an Eagle Scout.

“He always had his eyes set for ways

Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

Caleb Carter, left, and Corey Yeaman load up a truck with supplies destined to help victims of the fi re that leveled the retirement town of Paradise, California.

Special to SanTan Sun News

U.S. Army Major Brett Taylor, a 1997 Chandler High graduate, was killed in Afghanistan Nov. 3, becoming the second Chandler native to die in combat this year.

he could serve and lead,” Audra Owens said. “He was just kind of that person.

He didn’t do it for power or popularity.

That was just him. Brent was superresponsible.”

But he also had a fun side, too, she said.

“Brent and Justin just had a lot of fun planning and contriving these grand schemes of theirs, whether it was in student council or their friends group,” she said. “They would plan dances outside of school or big group dates.

They were both doers.”

While Taylor’s death is mourned locally, it’s been felt even deeper in Utah, where he was the mayor of North Ogden and an Army major.

U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wrote See

SOLDIER on page 3

Chandler woman helps save Paradise one truck at a time

BY JASON STONE Staff Writer

The mountainous ridge of Paradise, California, is the kind of place you go to get away from it all – not experience a living hell.

But from the safety of his mother’s home, Scot Rayl is still trying to come to grips with the hell he experienced last

week in Paradise as fire obliterated the community.

Rayl’s sister, Chandler resident Jennifer Simas, knew she had to do something to help the devastated community the moment her mother broke the awful news about the town where her brother lived, as well as other assorted family members.

See

FIRE on page 4

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SOLDIER

from page 1

on Twitter, “Brent was a hero, a patriot, a wonderful father, and a dear friend.

News of his death in Afghanistan is devastating.”

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert issued a statement that called Taylor a “brave and selfless soldier.”

“The entire Herbert family mourns with this soldier’s family and we pray that their burdens may be lifted, and that the hearts of all Utahns will reach out to comfort them in their grief,” the governor wrote.

Taylor was shot and killed just two days before the U.S. midterm election.

That was an ironic twist of fate because in his final Facebook post he urged people to exercise “their precious right to vote.”

“It was beautiful to see over fourmillion Afghan men and women brave threats and deadly attacks to vote in Afghanistan’s first parliamentary elections in eight years,” Taylor wrote.

“The strong turnout, despite the attacks and challenges, was a success for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan and for the cause of human freedom.”

Taylor was due to return to North Ogden and his mayoral duties in January.

Instead, his body was flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where his wife, Jennie, and two of their seven children awaited.

“To say our hearts are anything less than shattered would be nothing less than true deceit,” Jennie Taylor wrote in a statement. “And yet to deny the

sacred honor that is to stand that close to some of the freshest blood that has been spilled for our country would be absolute blasphemy.”

Taylor was deployed to Afghanistan in January on what was his second tour there and fourth deployment of his 10-year military career. He served as

Army deployments: Mosul, Iraq (2007); Baghdad (2008); and Kunduz, Afghanistan (2012). He was awarded a Purple Heart medal and a Bronze Star medal for exceptionally meritorious service during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“Of all the tours he went on, this was probably the tour I was least concerned

“

Of all the tours he went on, this was probably the tour I was least concerned about. And this is the one he didn’t come home from.

”

– Audra Owens an intelligence officer with Joint Force Headquarters.

Defense department officials believe his attacker was a member of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

That man was in turn killed by other Afghan forces.

Audra Owens first saw the news of his death while scrolling on Facebook. She is a member of the North Odgen city page, just so she could follow Taylor’s progress.

“I loved watching him maintain his composure to all the witty complaints (at city council meetings),” Owens said. “I love watching him in action.”

But then she saw some comments on the page she just didn’t want to believe.

“I thought it had to be a hoax at first,” Owens said. “We just took turns sobbing.”

Taylor had served three previous

Ready T0 Moooove?

about,” Audra Owens said. “And this is the one he didn’t come home from.”

The Taylors’ seven children – Megan, 13; Lincoln, 11; Alex, 9; Jacob, 7; Ellie, 5; Jonathan, 2; and Caroline, 11 months – are now the beneficiaries of a GoFundMe page. At last check, organizers appeared close to their $550,000 goal.

Taylor was born July 6, 1979, in Ogden, Utah, the second of eight children of Stephen and Tamara Jones Taylor.

He came from a strong military family with five of his brothers joining him in the Army National Guard. While growing up, the Taylor family lived in Utah and California before settling in Arizona in 1991.

Taylor’s obit mentions he was a “man of faith.” As a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served a two-year mission in Brazil between 1998 and 2000.

He met Jennie Ashworth after his

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mission while in college at Brigham Young University. It was a blind date that first brought them together.

They were married in September 2003, a year before Brent left for Basic Training and Counterintelligence Training for the Utah National Guard.

Taylor went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in political science from BYU in 2006. Later, he earned his master’s of Public Administration from the University of Utah in 2012.

In November 2009, Taylor was elected to the North Ogden City Council after his two consecutive tours of duty to Iraq. He was elected as mayor in November 2013 and ran unopposed for reelection last year.

He was working on completing a Ph.D. in international relations from Utah at the time of his death. University officials said it plans to posthumously award Taylor the degree in the spring.

The Chandler Unified School District is honoring Taylor’s memory by posting video clips from his speech to the governing board in 1996 and his 1997 Chandler High commencement address.

Taylor’s final message on Facebook, however, might be one of his most important in these divided times.

“Whether the Republicans or the Democrats win,” Taylor wrote about last week’s election, “Remember that we have far more as Americans that unites us than divides us. ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’ God Bless America.”

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Brent Taylor Memorial Scholarship Fund at the University of Utah.

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FIRE

COMMUNITY NEWS

from page 1

To help ease that suffering, Simas is organizing an East Valley donation drive with the help of a Gilbert non-profit.

“My mom called me and she said, ‘Paradise is on fire. I want to stay close to the phone,” Simas said. “Every year they evacuate everybody because of fire (danger). This time, it couldn’t be saved.”

At the time, Scot, a Paradise resident, didn’t know if he was going to live or become one of the dozens killed in the worst wildfire in California history. Then again, nobody in the Northern California community of nearly 27,000 people thought Nov. 8, 2018, would be the day the town was virtually wiped off the map.

The top story in the “Paradise Post” that morning focused on a still-undecided race for the Paradise town council. Just a few hours after that issue went to press, however, there would be no town for the council to oversee.

And in just a few hours, Rayl would be experiencing a real-life version of the worst dream ever.

The fire moved up the ridge at one acre per second, giving residents almost no time to evacuate. Rayl jumped into his van, leaving his burning house behind to begin the race of his life down the mountain to Chico, the nearest safety zone about 10 miles away.

He navigated a road that was littered with abandoned cars as flames rose on both sides. The heat was so intense it caused metal from the some vehicles to melt onto the asphalt.

He sped past propane tanks that

Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

Jennifer Simas of Chandler, with daughter Kinsey and son Caleb, is helping out victims of the Paradise, California, fi res by collecting food and other items at a food bank in Gilbert.

exploded one by one as the wind-aided flames torched homes, buildings and anything else in its path.

Rayl heard people screaming and crying. He watched them running to shopping center parking lots, which provided safety from flames that encircled them until evacuation buses were able to scoop them out of danger.

Despite the obstacles, Rayl luckily made it to Chico. He bought a Greyhound bus ticket to Arizona for a nearly daylong trip away from hell. At that moment, the safest place was the desert – in his mother’s arms.

Simas lived in Paradise for a bit but spent more time residing in Chico around the turn of the millennium. But her mother, Cheryl Scamihorn, lived in Paradise about 15 years. Plus, extended uncles, cousins and nephews have called

“the Ridge” home for the better part of two decades since Simas’ grandfather built a home there in the mid-1990s.

“I made a lot of friends in that community,” said Simas, a self-employed foreign exchange trader. “We know a lot of families that are suffering right now.”

In the first days after the fire, Simas collected donated toiletries in her garage before coming up with the idea of contacting the brother of a friend who runs Midwest Food Bank in Gilbert.

Operations Director Q Nielsen said the non-profit is donating a 53-foot truck and a driver to take weekly loads of supplies to help victims who are staying in housing set up by the Red Cross or simply living in their cars in shopping center parking lots.

“We have a semi-tractor and a trailer, we have the facility, we have the

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

volunteer drivers,” Nielsen said. “We just need the product to get to these victims.”

Two Phoenix TV stations helped raise awareness for drive last week. Simas said day-to-day necessities are needed most – such as toothbrushes, shampoo, diapers, baby bottles and wipes, shoes, packaged and canned foods, water bottles and feminine hygiene products.

“We’re doing everything we can to fill that trailer,” Simas said. “It’ll be weekly for next few weeks, and then we’ll see what they need long-term.”

Nielsen said it will cost the non-profit about $3,200 for each round trip to Chico, where donations are going for the mini-shelters that have been set up in shopping center parking lots.

That cost makes cash donations helpful as well. Nielsen said people who donate money can specify they want it to go the Paradise relief effort.

The food bank has made donating even easier than ever with a phone app.

The Midwest Food Bank app is available on all platforms for donations and to find videos, locations and more. Donations can also be made in person at the Food Bank at 725 E. Baseline Road or online at arizona.midwestfoodbank.org.

Midwest is relatively new to the Valley, but it’s used to helping out in disaster situations across the country.

“When you wake up in the morning, and you imagine getting a toothbrush, that’s something so simple but these people have nothing,” Nielsen said.

Rayl said he’s already thankful for the help Paradise is receiving nearly 900 miles away.

“I need to fix my town,” an emotionally exhausted Rayl said on TV. “We need to bring it back to what it was.”

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

COMMUNITY NEWS

AG asks U.S. high court to reinstate no-bail-for-rapists law

BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

The state Attorney General’s Office is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a voter-approved provision of the Arizona Constitution which allows accused rapists to be held without bail while awaiting trial.

In legal papers filed in Washington, Assistant Attorney General Rusty Crandell argued that the state’s high court -- or at least a majority of the justices here -- ignored legal precedent in concluding earlier this year that pretrial detention without bail is permissible only when there is a “legitimate and compelling’’ purpose and that restriction is narrowly focused. Justice Ann Scott Timmer, writing for the majority, said that means defendants are constitutionally entitled to be released pending trial when there is no showing they will be a danger to the community.

But Crandell said that the crime of rape is “a uniquely horrific act’’ and there is a “frightening and high risk’’ that sex offenders will reoffend.

He also said that the law -- the one the Arizona justices overturned -- has procedural safeguards. That includes requiring prosecutors to prove to a judge that “the proof is evident or the presumption great’’ that the defendant did, in fact, commit the crime.

And Crandell took a slap at the justices who voted to void the law.

He said that courts should invalidate

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statutes only when necessary to comply with the Constitution “while leaving in place as much of the legislature’s work as possible.’’

“The Arizona Supreme Court has made a practice of doing the opposite,’’ Crandell told the nation’s high court.

Prior to 2002, it was presumed that people charged with a crime were entitled to bail. There were only a few exceptions, like those for which the death penalty could be imposed, offenses committed while someone already was out on bail, and felonies where the person charged poses a substantial danger to other and no conditions of release could assure safety.

The 2002 voter-approved state constitutional amendment added sex offenses to that list.

This case involves Guy Goodman who was charged with sexually assaulting a victim.

At a pretrial hearing a police officer testified that Goodwin, a guest in the victim’s home after a night of socializing, molested her while she was sleeping.

The officer also said that Goodman, when confronted with DNA evidence, confirmed the sexual assault.

A Maricopa County court commissioner said while there was evidence Goodman committed the offense prosecutors failed to show he posed a “substantial danger to other persons in the community.’’ At least part

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CHILDREN • New Toys for Boys and Girls • Teens Girls and Boys to 17 • Board Games • Puzzles and Cards • Batteries for Toys • Movie Tickets •Boys and Girls Clothing (all sizes) • Pajamas (all sizes) •Slippers • Socks and Shoes • Underclothes (Boys and Girls) • Basketball, Football, Soccerball • Nerf Sporting Equipment • Crafts • Educational Toys •Handheld Electronic Games

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COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Chandler water facility rushes to top of project list

BY JASON STONE Staff Writer

The expansion of Chandler’s Ocotillo Water Reclamation Facility keeps on impressing people in the industry. Then again, it’s not a typical reclamation facility.

A magazine that’s considered the “bible of the commercial construction industry” is heaping high praise on the water project for its increased capacity capabilities inside and stunning look outside.

Six months after its unveiling, Engineering News-Record magazine picked Chandler’s facility for its 2018 Best Projects Award in the Southwest Region.

It’s the second industry award bestowed on the facility in its short history.

That’s no surprise to Chandler city officials and nearby businessowners and homeowners.

“A lot of work went into it,” said Chandler Public Works and Utilities Director John Knudson. “It looks really nice.”

The $122-million construction project at 3315 S. Old Price Road expanded the city’s wastewater treatment capacity from 10 million gallons per day to 15 million.

But it’s also the outside look of it that is pleasing nearby neighbors and motorists who come into Chandler from the I-10 to the west on Queen Creek Road.

Trees and plants were planted around the facility during the expansion project,

submitted photo

The expansion of Chandler’s Ocotillo Water Reclamation Facility has received a 2018 Best Projects Award for the Southwest Region from Engineering News-Record magazine.

and Knudson said it’s going to look even better once everything blooms.

“I like to say we built a park that had a wastewater facility in the middle of it,” Knudson said with a laugh.

ENR selected the project as a winner in the “Water/Environment” category.

It’s featured in the latest issue of ENR Southwest and was formally honored at an awards event Nov. 12 in Phoenix.

“The judges are selected by the editorial staff, but this is a peer-judged contest recognizing those projects in the region that warrant special recognition for work in the industry,” said ENR regional contributing editor John Guzzon.

Guzzon said all the regional winners will now move on to an ENR national competition, which will also be peerjudged.

The Chandler project was chosen over others across Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. To be eligible, the projects had to be completed between July 2017 and June 2018. The Chandler OWRF facility just made it with its May completion this year.

ENR magazine has an estimated 600,000 readers per month. Its Best Projects Award is among the most coveted awards in the industry.

Knudson said the facility looks so nice partly because a group of neighbors

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helped plan it out once the city realized it needed to expand in 2014.

Businessowner Spike Lawrence said the city reached out to owners in the area at that time for feedback to keep everybody as happy as possible. He was part of a group of citizens who formed a citizens’ planning committee to oversee the planning of the project.

“Chandler has always been really good at reaching to us,” Lawrence said. “The (facility) looks great.”

Ground was broken in 2015 with work taking about 2 1/2 years. Soon after it opened, Lawrence and the other members of the citizens’ committee toured the plant to rave reviews, Knudson said.

The extra capacity is helping Chandler support future growth in the Ocotillo and Price Road Corridor areas.

The completed project is notable because the facility kept operating while undergoing expansion. Officials estimate hundreds of workers spent nearly 475,000 hours getting it ready.

Earlier this fall, the Arizona Water Association named the OWRF Expansion Project its 2018 Wastewater Project of the Year.

“This is one more example of the national stature our Public Works and Utilities Department has attained,” Mayor Jay Tibshraeny said in a release.

“They continue to set the standard for professionalism and efficiency and do a tremendous job building and maintaining our transportation, solid waste and water resource infrastructure.”

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Black Friday still big deal for brick-and-mortar stores

BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Staff Writer

Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year and from Scottsdale to Ahwatukee, Phoenix to east Mesa and Gilbert, malls and retail centers are putting their best foot forward to get shoppers in the door.

That also puts extra pressure on local police, who are planning to deploy extra resources to retail destinations during the post-Thanksgiving buying rush.

Analysts have predicted a rosy sales season for retailers, with the National Retail Federation predicting up to a 4.8 percent bump in sales during the holiday season.

One driver of that bump could be toy sales as retailers jump to fill the vacancy left by the Toys R’ Us bankruptcy, according to CBRE’s 2018 U.S. Retail Holiday Trends Guide.

The guide shows that retailers like Target and Walmart are expanding their toy selection to fill the void, so shoppers should watch out for Black Friday deals from those two mega stores as they compete for the $1.3 billion in annual toy sales Toys R’ Us left behind.

That accounted for about five percent of the total toy market.

The big brands aren’t the only stores that will benefit from Black Friday, though.

A report by Womply, which provides software solutions for small businesses, showed that Black Friday was the number one sales day for small businesses in Arizona.

The report, compiled by analyzing transactions from 54,000 businesses in the state, showed that small, independent retailers saw a 74 percent sales bump over the average day on Black Friday in 2017.

That suggests local retailers like Zoolikins in Scottsdale may also benefit from Toys R’ Us’ demise.

Black Friday still has meaning

Still, Black Friday will always be a major boon for the big brands that can afford to offer steep discounts to consumers, and stores within Arizona malls are putting major sales to bring in buyers.

Build-A-Bear workshops at Fashion Square and Chandler Fashion Center are offering buy one, get one for $6 and other $6 specials, and Abercrombie Kids at Scottsdale Fashion Square is offerings sales on flip sequins hoodies and sweatshirts.

Claire’s, the jewelry and accessory retailer with locations at Scottsdale Fashion Square, Chandler Fashion Center, Arizona Mills and SanTan Village, is offering 50 percent off “almost everything,” according to its Black Friday ad.

Macy’s, which has stores in Scottsdale, Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa, is having a large Black Friday sale that includes 30 to 50 percent off women’s clothes, 50 to 60 percent off men’s shoes and mail-in rebates on kitchen items.

Scottsdale Fashion Square and Chandler Fashion Center both have Microsoft Stores. The computer retailer is offering several Black Friday deals, including up to $300 off select Surface Laptop 2 computers and $200 off select HP and Dell laptops,

Stores like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Express, Bath & Body Works, H&M and Lululemon will also have Black Friday deals but had not announced the specifics as of print time.

Though most sales have not been announced yet, shoppers can find the latest information on sales at Scottsdale Fashion Square and Chandler Fashion Center at fashionsquare.com/Sales and http shopchandlerfashioncenter.com/ Sales.

Beyond the traditional Black Friday sales, the malls are also providing other amenities for shoppers.

At both Fashion Square and Kierland Commons, Kitchen outfitter Sur la Table is offering a two-hour kids cooking class, so parents can shop child free. The class costs $45 and can be booked at surlatable.com.

Scottsdale Fashion Square will provide live entertainment during peak hours, and both Scottsdale Fashion Square and Chandler Fashion Center will feature a Santa HQ presented by HGTV. The Santa exhibit will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Black Friday and be quite a bit more elaborate than the Santa photo setups of old.

While children – and pets in Chandler – can get their photos taken with Santa, the Santa HQ also features augmented reality “Magic Mirrors” that let children see themselves transformed into elves.

The HQ will also let children make their own Elf ID cards through an app and try a naughty or nice meter.

Both malls will also have extended hours and will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Black Friday. The Macy’s at Scottsdale Fashion Square will be open from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

Safety a big focus

With the glut of shoppers expected at locales throughout the Valley this year, both mall operators and public safety officials are taking extra steps to avoid safety issues.

“The safety of our guests and retailers is a top priority, and we strive

to maintain a safe, enjoyable shopping environment at all of our centers,” read a statement from Macerich, operator of both Scottsdale Fashion Square and Chandler Fashion Center.

Macerich did not disclose specifics of its safety plan.

“However, we can tell you we have a thorough security program in place at all of our centers and we work closely with our local law enforcement agencies to address specific issues related to customers’ safety,” the statement read.

Scottsdale Police Department will have an increased presence during Black Friday weekend at popular shopping destinations, including Scottsdale Fashion Square and Scottsdale Quarter, said department spokesman Officer Kevin Watts.

Watts also stressed that shoppers need to take steps to ensure their own safety, including avoiding shopping alone at night and being aware of your surroundings.

Watts said shoppers should avoid texting while walking to and from their vehicle and have their car keys out before they leave a store.

Chandler Police spokesman Detective Seth Tyler said that shoppers should always park in lighted areas and make sure to secure their vehicles.

Both Tyler and Watts said that shoppers should never leave valuable items in visible locations in a vehicle, with Tyler stressing that if purchased items must be left in a vehicle, shoppers should secure them in the trunk.

Lines blur for online

The CBRE report found that “omnichannel strategies” are starting to make it difficult to differentiate between in-store and online sales growth.

In turn, that “poses challenges for landlords, who rely on in-store sales reporting to set rents and measure tenant health.”

This holiday season, it said, retailers are recognizing “the value that online brings to store traffic and the benefit

of brick-and-mortar to online purchases.”

Two new strategies ate buy-online/pickupin-store and the even more advanced strategy of buy-online/ship-tostore.

“This advanced program entails shipping items to stores that are not regularly stocked there,” the study notes, saying Macy’s, Michaels and Kohl’s have announced so-called BOSS programs.

“Kohl’s is currently rolling out this more robust program in 20 stores, with expectations to expand it into all of its stores within the next few months,” CBRE said.

Meanwhile, craft retailer Michaels foresees its BOPS and BOSS programs accounting for almost half of its online sales this holiday season, CBRE said, noting “delivery to customers’ doorsteps has been costly and complex.”

“With the newly advanced BOSS program that entices shoppers to retrieve items from the store, retailers can both forego delivery costs and offer more inventory without having to stock it at the store,” the report said.

Kohl’s found also generated as much as 25 percent in additional in-store “attachment sales” from its BOPS and BOSS programs, so it is “is incentivizing shoppers to pick up their online orders in-store by offering $5 in ‘Kohl’s Cash’ through an initiative called ‘Smart Cart.’

The report also noted that retailers this shopping season will find their various sales channels “more interconnected than ever.”

“As a result, many retailers likely will utilize both the BOPS and BOSS programs to lower delivery costs and increase in-store attachment sales, while ultimately providing a seamless in-store customer experience,” it said.

CBRE also reported that retailers “are beginning to get creative in how they retain their customer base.”

“With so many options, consumers expect to be rewarded for their brand loyalty,” it added, predicting “retailers will roll out new and revamped loyalty programs this holiday season.”

Major chains such as Macy’s, Kohl’s, Target, Sephora, Nordstrom and Victoria’s Secret have already upgraded their loyalty programs.

And it won’t be long before major retailers start “members clubs” that “will play an important role in fulfilling customers’ increased expectations for loyalty rewards.”

“With this year’s holiday season being the longest in six years, holiday sales should well exceed last year’s $692 billion,1 and retailers will compete harder than ever before to retain customers through new and revamped loyalty programs,” the report added.

8

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Text campaign aims to combat homelessness

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Helping people get off the streets and find permanent homes is easier to do because of a new text-to-donate campaign launched in Chandler.

The City of Chandler worked with the nonprofit organization For Our City Chandler to start ChangeUp, a textto-donate and awareness campaign educating residents about the benefits of directly donating to area charities, rather than handing money to people panhandling.

In order to donate, people can text “ChangeUp” to 44-321 in order to give one time or make a monthly donation of $1, $5, $10, $25 or any other amount they wish to give. Donations also will be taken online at chandleraz.gov/ ChangeUp. All the donations taken in through the ChangeUp measure will go directly to services and programs that nonprofit organizations that aim to end homelessness provide.

As part of the campaign, the city has set up new signs in areas where panhandling is common including at bus shelters. Some advertising for the efforts was also placed on traffic signs.

“The idea is instead of giving to somebody who’s asking on the street because that comes with all kinds of

that those funds we’ll use to support our homeless navigators who directly make contact with … homeless (people).”

Two homeless navigators are contracted with Community Bridges, Inc., a behavioral health organization, to interact and help people who are homeless. Balch said it is hard to help homeless people because “they have really high barriers to trusting people.”

“Of course we have shelter and employment services; they’re out there,” she said.

“This population doesn’t go and access them by themselves. The trick is to get to know them, build rapport, City of Chandler build their trust.”

The City of Chandler worked with the nonprofi t organization Many of the homeless For Our City Chandler to start ChangeUp, a text-to-donate people have “mental health and awareness campaign. issues,” Balch said.

“So some of them are other issues, people can just text the paranoid,” she said. “They hear voices. number 44-321 and then you text …

They might have addiction issues. You changeup and what will come up is the have to start with what their first concern opportunity to give,” said Riann Balch, is and over time build them.” community resources manager for Community Bridges can offer access the City of Chandler’s Neighborhood to health programs including prevention, Resources Department. “The idea is

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The homeless navigators are on the streets reaching out to homeless people seven days a week.

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week began Nov. 10 and continues through Sunday, Nov. 18. Balch said more than $260 was raised at a soft launch for the ChangeUp campaign with City of Chandler employees Oct. 31. Then Nov. 1, nearly $600 for the campaign was raised at a For Our City Chandler breakfast.

At the last count, in January of last year, 54 people were counted as being homeless in the City of Chandler, but that is just one “point in time count on the streets,” Balch said. In the Valley, about 6,000 people are homeless, she said.

“People in Chandler are homeless for the same reason people are homeless everywhere, which is lack of affordable housing, unaddressed behavioral health concerns, employment that isn’t paying a living wage,” Balch said. “People in Chandler are extremely generous, which is why we thought this campaign would really work. We just really have a ton of people that want to give and volunteer and help. We don’t want people to stop giving. We just want to make their giving productive.”

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Information: chandleraz.gov/ChangeUp

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Chandler Municipal Airport in line for $4 million facelift

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

The City of Chandler is spending about $4 million to rehabilitate an area of the Chandler Municipal Airport with major cracks to boost safety for planes.

However, the city expects to get reimbursed for most of the cost of the paving and construction management services for the work, said airport administrator Chris Andres.

The Chandler City Council in September approved a project agreement with Nesbitt Contracting Company, Inc., for the Airport North Apron Rehabilitation project at a cost not to exceed about $3.39 million.

The Council also approved an agreement with Dibble Engineering for construction management work on the project, at a cost no greater than $257,591.

Andres said the Federal Aviation Administration and Arizona Department of Transportation are planning to cover 95 percent of the cost of the work.

Workers will rehabilitate the “most heavily used aircraft pavement we have here at Chandler.”

“This is our grand central station of pavement,” Andres said. “It services fuel facilities, our fixed-base operator, our terminal and other key airport businesses.

This is probably our most important piece of apron outside of our runways

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The Chandler Municipal Airport runway will be getting $4 million worth of repairs, with most of the cost covered by the federal government.

and taxiways.”

The last time pavement was installed in this area of the airport, which is on the northwest side of the airfield near Airport Boulevard, was more than 20 years ago.

“We’ve definitely got our money’s worth,” Andres said. “We expect to get another 20, 25 years of service out of

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it. The key thing is this is such a critical pavement for us. Certainly, pilots appreciate brand new, modern pavement.

We think it will improve the customer experience. It definitely helps us on our maintenance.”

The area of the airport where the paving will take place includes Chandler Air Service, a private company that

provides aircraft maintenance and repairs, sells fuel, as well as offers a flight school, according to its website.

Chandler Aviation is another private company on the property where the paving project will occur. That business also provides airplane repairs and maintenance.

The paving will probably take about three months to finish, Andres said. He said the upgrade will have a minimal impact on planes using the area though some customers will be displaced temporarily.

The apron where the work will be done also contains a visitor parking area for jets and propeller-driven aircraft.

The area to be rehabilitated is about 880,000 square feet and contains 49 percent of the airplane tie-down parking spots for the airport.

The project will also fix two areas that do not comply with FAA standards: the separation distance between Taxiway “A” and the adjacent parallel taxilane, as well as the offset of taxiway connectors “J,” “L” and “M” between the Terminal Apron and Runway 4L-22R, according to the City Council agenda packet.

The range of work consists of construction administration, inspection services for the project, electrical inspection services, along with quality assurance and materials acceptance testing.

10

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Chandler women’s election leaves GOP razor-thin in House

BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

Election victories by two Chandler Democratic women in two different legislative districts have left the State House GOP leadership with a razor-thin majority.

Gilbert state Rep. Warren Petersen last week was chosen majority leader and Mesa Rep. Rusty Bowers was named House Speaker, replacing J.D. Mesnard, who was termed out and last week won the State Senate seat in LD 17, which covers a large part of Chandler.

They inherit a chamber where they can’t afford to alienate anyone after Jennifer Pawlik won a seat in LD 17 and Jennifer Jermaine toppled the last Republican legislator in LD 18.

Bowers and Petersen find the edge of the majority party clipped from 35-25 for the last two years to just 31-29 after Tuesday’s election, as Democrats may have picked up four seats. And what makes that significant is it takes 31 votes for final approval of any measure.

Whether Democrats actually have those four seats is not a given since the uncounted ballots have created cliffhangers – including in LD17, which covers a part of western Gilbert.

There, Democrat Jennifer Pawlik holds a 500-vote lead over Nora Ellen that could be impacted once all ballots are finally counted – something that may not occur until this week.

Ellen, a former Chandler City Council member, also is the mother of former House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, who won his bid for the LD 17 Senate seat vacated by retired Sen. Steve Yarbrough. Mesnard was termed out of the House.

As things stand now without a final vote count, Bowers said, any individual Republican has the ability to hold out their vote on priorities of the GOP leadership until the measure is altered to address his or her concerns.

Bowers, a Mesa resident, said the reverse also holds true for the Democrats, who could find someone defecting to support a Republican bill if he or she gets something in return.

“Every member of either caucus has a great amount of authority and power,’’ said Bowers, who has 10 years of legislative experience, including two as Senate majority leader.

Gilbert Republican Rep. Warren Petersen is the new majority leader in the Arizona House of Representatives.

“It makes leadership more sensitive to each member’s needs and wants,’’ he said. “And those we’ll just have to work through.’’

And that presents challenges for House GOP leaders who also include Warren Petersen of Gilbert as majority leader and Becky Nutt of Clifton as majority whip.

“It’s going to be a wild ride just keeping the herd going,’’ Bowers said.

Karen Fann of Prescott, chosen Wednesday by her Republican colleagues as Senate president, doesn’t have quite the same problem. If the vote tallies hold, she will have 17 Republicans in the 30-member chamber when the new session convenes in January – the same as last year.

But Fann, first elected to the House in 2010 before moving to the Senate in 2016, said that little bit of extra GOP edge does not mean Republicans can get through anything they want – or that Democrats can or should be ignored.

“The bottom line is we need to have respect for each other,’’ she said.

“Remember: We were all elected equally by our constituents,’’ Fann said.

And she said many of the districts, while represented by a lawmaker from one party, include a substantial number of voters from the other side of the political aisle

whose views and needs also need to be taken into consideration.

Her leadership team includes Rick Gray of Sun City as majority leader and Sonny Borrelli of Lake Havasu City as majority whip.

One area that could get more attention is transportation funding.

Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott, has been pushing for new sources of revenues to both fix existing roads and bridges as well as build new ones.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Arizona’s 18-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax has not been hiked since 1991, when 18 cents was worth more than now.

And then there’s the fact that new vehicles are more fuel efficient, meaning that gas tax revenues are not increasing as fast as the miles driven.

With Campbell now a four-year veteran and the need for the GOP to hang on to every vote, the lawmakers who want new dollars – particularly those from rural areas – have additional political muscle.

“I know that more money is needed for transportation because I drive on it and you drive on it,’’ said Bowers. And he said that this can’t simply be seen as a rural problem.

Fann agreed.

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“We all use our highways,’’ she said.

“And I-17 and I-10, they’re nightmares right now.’’

That, however, still leaves the question of how to pay for all that.

“Nobody wants to see their taxes raised,’’ Fann said.

“But, also, the reality is there are certain fundamental things that government is supposed to take care of,’’ she said. And Fann said transportation – along with education and public safety – are those fundamentals that must be adequately funded.

“We need to have the conversation about how do we fund,’’ she said.

One other big priority is water supply – and efforts to come up with a drought contingency plan in the likelihood that Arizona will lose some of its allocation of Colorado River water.

“There have been some wrinkles of late,’’ Bowers said.

“We’re going to keep talking and keep listening and considering all the options on the table,’’ Bowers said. That also includes making sure that all sources of water are part of any deal.

Fann said one thing working to help craft a solution is that, until recently, questions of water supply were considered simply a rural problem. But now, she said, the threat of a shortage makes it a statewide issue.

What Bowers and Fann also inherit is a surplus that could be close to $1 billion when the new fiscal year begins. And while that creates opportunities for new spending, Bowers said the state also finally needs to focus on really balancing the state’s books.

Bowers pointed out that the constitutional requirement for a balanced budget has been met now for years by deferring expenses due in one fiscal year to be paid in the next year. That practice, called a “rollover,’’ currently accounts for more than $930 million.

And when the state was in debt during the Great Recession, it sold off both the state House and Senate with an agreement to lease it back until paid off in 2030.

The amount still owed at the end of this fiscal year will be about $710 million, with interest being paid on what’s left.

“We need to start finally chipping away on this debt,’’ Bowers said.

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Jennifer Jermaine of Chandler, one of the two Chandler Democrats to win a State House seat, and her husband Michael have a 2 1/2-year-old daughter.

Voucher fight got newest LD18 rep interested in running SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

Besides winning, Jennifer Jermaine had a primary goal each day on the campaign trail.

“Home for bedtime, making sure I was there to put my daughter to sleep,” said the 38-year-old Chandler management consultant to nonprofits and mother of a 2 ½-year-old daughter who last week captured second place in the fourway race for two State House seats in Legislative District 18.

Her election with 27.6 percent of the vote turned LD18 into the 11th allDemocratic legislative district out of the 30 districts in Arizona. The other seat is held by Rep. Mitzi Epstein of Tempe, who easily captured the top spot in the four-way race and ended Ahwatukee incumbent Rep. Jill Norgaard’s hope for a third term and blunted Tempe attorney Greg Patterson from achieving his hope of returning to the Legislature, where he served in the mid-90s.

A transplant from the Bay Area who moved to Arizona with her husband Michael in 2011, Jermaine said she got interested in running for office last year after a coalition of activists launched their successful petition drive to put the Legislature’s expanded voucher program on the ballot.

“When we were moving, we looked carefully at school districts because we wanted our daughter to have a good education,” she said. “I could see what was happening to public education and I wanted to do something about it.”

She and her husband ended up settling in the Kyrene School District.

As she knocked on an estimated 10,000 doors during the campaign, Jermaine discovered that her concerns reflected those of most of the people she met.

“I’d say 85 percent were concerned about education,” she said.

That didn’t surprise Jermaine, who believes that education “is the foundation of our economy.”

Jermaine said from the start, she worked with Epstein and incumbent LD 18 Sen. Sean Bowie.

“We worked closely as a team all the way,” she said.

Jermaine, 38, brings to her new job extensive experience in nonprofit and advocacy efforts.

A former chamber of commerce membership director, she touted her “wide breadth of knowledge about how government, nonprofits and industry interact on local, national and international levels” and her understanding of “how all the sectors are inter-connected and dependent on each other.”

With a bachelor’s degree in international business with a focus on trade policy and a master’s in public administration, she has been most vocal about the need for a moratorium on any more cuts in corporate taxes “until we figure how to restore the funding to our public education system, universities and community colleges.”

That restoration, she has said, “is a long-term investment in our future workforce and economic growth.”

It wasn’t until Thursday at her first Democratic caucus meeting that her victory “all started to set in,” and Jermaine said she was “surprised and relieved” by the election results.

She also said she found her main support in her husband, who “was on board from the start because he saw how frustrated I was with” the Legislature’s attitude toward public education.

On leave from her job since Aug. 1, she hasn’t decided yet when – or even if – she’ll resume or whether she’ll devote all her time at least initially to her new role as a legislator.

“It’s been a financial sacrifice for our family,” Jermaine admitted, adding that she’s excited about the upcoming session, for which she’ll start preparing by participating in a boot camp for new legislators that will be held next month.

And she also has her first legislative goal in mind.

“I want to work on special education funding so that the funding follows the student where ever the student goes,” she said.

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12

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Teacher, social worker elected to school board

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Two newcomers are excited to join the Chandler Unified School District governing board after winning the six-way race for two seats.

Voters chose Lara Bruner, a longtime teacher and district parent; and Lindsay Love, a licensed clinical social worker, Hamilton High School 2003 graduate and aunt to girls who attend Chandler district schools.

They beat incumbent Bob Rice, who was first elected to the Chandler school board in 2002, as well as fellow newcomers Joshua Askey, Noemy Esparza-Isaacson and Jim Robinson, who tried to get on the board.

Terms expire in December for Rice, 66, who retired as a production manager from Intel Corporation in 2001, and school board president Annette Auxier, 64, who opted against running again.

“I’m excited but in shock because there were so many great candidates,” said Love, 33. “I’m still in the ‘wow, I can’t believe it,’ excited to start but coming down off the election high.”

Bruner, 48, expressed similar sentiments.

“I just really look forward to working with so many talented people from both the other board members, as well as the administration at the district office and getting to talk with families and staff members about what they would like to see, getting a lot of feedback and connection to them,” she said. “I’m just so happy to be part of such a wonderful district.”

Love said she and her campaign volunteers spent much time prior to the election knocking on doors and talking to residents to find out what they wanted in the district.

“I think we really spoke to the issues that are relevant to the community and getting out and knocking on doors and talking to our community members and hearing what they wanted,” she said, adding: “That helped us. A lot of people hadn’t seen any of their elected officials. That’s a powerful difference in making yourself more accessible to the community, showing them I’m part of our community, too.”

Love said she teamed up with candidates seeking legislative offices in three districts and tapped into their pool of volunteers to help get her name out. Her parents also

Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer

Lindsay Love is a graduate of Hamilton High School.

helped her knock on doors.

Bruner said she also spent much time walking in neighborhoods talking to people and many teachers in the district helped her “get information out.”

“You don’t really know how anything is going,” she said. “You work for months and months and you hope it did something.

Really the best part was going and meeting people door-to-door and talking to them and getting their view of the school district and being in public places and talking to folks in the library and at the park.

“We were walking neighborhoods trying to get pro-education candidates elected.

Some folks were sharing my information, as well.”

Bruner and Love have goals they will pursue once they start serving.

Coming from a background as a social worker, Love said she wants to ensure “the board services all of Chandler’s families, honors that commitment to that diversity and inclusion” and stands by teachers.

“We built a lot of great community partnerships with teachers, with parents, with our students, definitely blending to make sure everyone is getting served and everyone’s face is at the table,” she said.

Love said she would also like to see students’ participation in the arts increase in the district.

“The art thing would be wonderful, see what it is Chandler students need in terms of increasing their participation in the arts,”

Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer

Lara Bruner is a teacher at Desert Vista High in Ahwatukee.

Love said. “That would be appropriate for some of my mental health stuff, addressing our high push-out rates, making sure we are keeping students in the class.”

She wants to be sure the district is not “pushing out students who are black, brown and disabled, making sure we are not just penalizing them because we have not acknowledged that implicit bias.”

Love said she is looking forward to working with Adama Sallu, the district’s new director of equity and inclusion.

“I really like the implicit bias trainings the district has had,” Love said. “I’m very empowered. I’m very grateful to see that Chandler made a decision and they decided they wanted to see a teacher and a social worker on the board and wanted to see a commitment to embracing diversity.

Chandler wants to make sure we’re valuing our teachers, make sure we’re honoring mental health and diversity and inclusion.”

Bruner said “one of the most immediate needs that the district has is to have a comprehensive program for mental health” after at least 31 teen suicides in the East Valley over the last 15 months.

A psychology and history teacher at Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee, she said today’s teenagers are experiencing “a great increase in anxiety and depression and other mental health issues.”

“We need to come up with training for teachers to come up with indicators for suicide, proactive systems in place to help

students as they get older; learn resiliency and how to be supportive for each other,” Bruner said, adding: “There’s a lot of programs out there; there’s grants that other school districts have received to help bring staff on. We need to find ways to help support the kids and help them learn to support themselves, know when to find an adult to help their friend or to help themselves, allow teachers and other staff members to know the signs.

She said she would also like the school board to look at whether “age-appropriate scheduling” is in place for students in the district. That involves the time of day school starts in the morning as research shows high school students benefit from later start times, Bruner said.

She said she wants the governing board to also look at whether the district has a “plan in place as the population shifts farther south in the district,” and “how to draw people into our district.”

The northern part of the Chandler district is aging and feeding fewer students into the district, Bruner said. The district has created programs at some schools to try to attract students from other school districts.

“We need to continue to look at that in the long-term for the next 10 to 15 years; how can we create a solution for that that won’t be a waste of taxpayer money in the long run, ease overcrowding in high schools and sometimes elementary schools in certain pockets,” Bruner said.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

13

Political ad spending hit record high in Arizona

BY BRENDAN CAMPBELL Cronkite News

Spending on campaign ads in Arizona reached a record $129 million this year, part of a national trend that saw cable and broadcast election ad spending top $3 billion for the first time in a midterm election cycle.

In Arizona, the spending was driven by high-profile campaigns like Proposition 127 and the race between Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema for the seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona.

But it also was closer to home in Ahwatukee, where the LD 18 Senate race between Sean Bowie and Frank Schmuck was the most expensive legislative race in the state.

A report by Advertising Analytics said that more than half of the 2018 ad spending went toward the Senate race, including the heated GOP primary, with other significant spending on the governor’s and attorney general’s races.

“It is absolutely unprecedented for a midterm. It has shattered every record there is,” said Steve Passwaiter, vice president and general manager of Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group.

“That kind of spend rivals previous presidential cycles.”

Some 40,470 ads were broadcast for Arizona congressional races in October alone, according to a Wesleyan Media Project analysis of Kantar’s data. That

saturation led to what Brian Dille, a Mesa Community College political science professor, called a television “wasteland” during the campaign.

“I had a lot of people saying to me that, ‘I can’t wait ’til this election’s over so I can have normal TV again,’” he said.

And a lot of those ads went negative, an additional turn-off for many.

zona, but around the country.”

“The amount of money that’s being spent by the PACs dwarfs what’s being spent from the candidates,” Passwaiter said. “There are only a few instances I can think of around the country where the candidates in a reasonably competitive race outspent the PACs.” Regardless of who paid, Dille noted that

I saw a couple of positive ads that were a breath of “fresh air, that I actually paid attention to, Sinema ran one where she talked about her values and why she wanted to be senator, and that was just so refreshing to have someone tell you why they want you to vote for them, because most of the advertising is focused on why not to vote for the other side.

”

– Mesa Community College professor, Brian Dille “I would say for Arizona – and I’ve been teaching here for 23 years – this would be one of the nastiest and most negative campaigns that I’ve seen and, again, a free-for-all of outside money flooding in,” said Erich Saphir, political science professor at Pima Community College.

Passwaiter said outside spending by political action committees and other groups played a big role “not just in Ari-

there were also a few bright spots among the onslaught of negative messages.

“I saw a couple of positive ads that were a breath of fresh air, that I actually paid attention to,” he said. “Sinema ran one where she talked about her values and why she wanted to be senator, and that was just so refreshing to have someone tell you why they want you to vote for them, because most of the advertising is focused on why not to vote for the

other side.”

But Arizona political consultant Kevin DeMenna said negative ads are just part of politics and that they can help a critical voter.

“It’s all still vigorous, it’s a contact sport, and now there are just a lot more ways to communicate, and that’s the takeaway,” he said. “The duty really rests with the voter to discriminate between good and bad information.”

And while people complained about the deluge of ads, DeMenna said the volume of ads is a good thing.

“It clearly isn’t turning people off, so much as they may not be enjoying the process of being informed,” he said.

DeMenna said that “money is driving the process – no apologies for that.” Passwaiter agreed that the ad blitz was a product of “incredibly robust” fundraising and outside spending, as well as the target audience.

“This, also, was a midterm election,” Passwaiter said. “Midterm elections usually tend to skew a little bit older than presidential elections do and if you are going to try and make an impression on those folks … they tend to be really heavy users of television.”

Mark Gorman, CEO of Matrix Solutions, said in an emailed statement that their data showed Sinema and McSally “spent similar margins on local TV ads.”

While it may be safe to turn the TV on again, DeMenna warned that more spending records will probably be set with the next election.

14

COMMUNITY NEWS

J.D. Mesnard

Jeff Weninger

Sean Bowie

and Sen. Sean Bowie, that district, which covers western Chandler, becomes the 11th legislative district in Arizona to go all-blue. Most of the other 19 are solidly in Republican hands.

Some Republican activists say the tide shifted in both districts partly because of public revolt against the expanded school voucher program, which was blistered by “no” votes. Proposition 305, which would have allowed the vouchers to go to any parent of a private school student, was defeated by a two-to-one margin statewide.

There were still 100,000 ballots that remained to be counted when the SanTan Sun News went to print Thursday, but here is what the unofficial, incomplete returns showed: • In LD 17, Republican J.D. Mesnard appeared to squeak by Democrat Steve Weichert by about 1,800 votes to succeed retiring Steve Yarbrough.

The former House Speaker was termed out of the house and Ellen, his mother, hoped to succeed him in that seat.

Results show Pawlik netting 100 more votes than Weninger, each getting 34 percent of the vote to Ellen’s 32 percent.

• In LD 18, Bowie swamped Republican Frank Schmuck in a repeat of the 2016 Senate race, netting by nearly 12,000 votes, giving him 56.6 percent of the vote in one of the most expensive legislative races in Arizona. In the House races, Epstein led with 28.2 percent of the vote and Jermaine with 27.8 percent to Norgaard’s 23.8 percent and Greg Patterson’s 21.3 percent.

• In the Chandler Unified school board race, Tempe Union High School District teacher Lana Bruner and Lindsay Love, a Hamilton High grad and licensed clinical social worker, won the six-way race for two seats, garnering 25 percent and 22

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Jennifer Jermaine

Chandler women make big impact in elections

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor

Two Chandler women made a big impact in the election this year, helping to turn one of the city’s two legislative district’s all-blue and cracking the other that had been a Republican stronghold.

Unofficial returns show that Democrat Jennifer Pawlik, a former educator, defeated former Chandler City Council member Nora Ellen and also got the most votes among the three Legislative District 17 candidates running for two seats. Pawlik was the only Democrat running against Ellen and incumbent Jeff Weninger.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Jermaine, a management consultant to nonprofits, ousted two-term incumbent Rep. Jill Norgaard in LD 18. With victories by incumbent Democratic Rep. Mitzi Epstein

percent of the vote, respectively. Left in the cold was incumbent Robert Rice, who was seeking his fifth term.

• Kyrene School District saw Republican Margaret Pratt of Ahwatukee lead the four-way race with 31 percent and Tempe Democrat Kevin Walsh with 27 percent, beating two other Ahwatukee candidates. Pratt was the only GOP winner in any race affecting Ahwatukee.

• Former longtime Republican legislator Bob Robson, who fell victim in the 2016’s legislative election to Epstein, lost his bid to succeed retiring Republican Justice of the Peace John McComish in the Kyrene Justice Court, which covers a good part of Chandler.

He was defeated by Sharron Sauls, an Ahwatukee mother of two who has put her master’s of legal studies to use See

ELECTIONS on page 4

Victory sinks in slowly for Ahwatukee’s only GOP victor

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor

Margaret Pratt’s youngest daughter Becky could be in for some disappointment.

When she learned last week that the election was over, mom recalled, Becky asked, “Oh great. Will mom not be on the phone so much anymore?”

As she no doubt will be finding out in January – when her mom is sworn into her four-year term on the Kyrene School District Governing Board – phone calls and lots of nights out are about to become the norm in the Pratt household.

But Pratt, who led all four candidates for the board with an unofficial 31 percent of the vote, knows that she can depend on that household for the same moral support her husband Murray and their three daughters provided throughout a campaign that at times was surprising in its intensity – and even meanness.

“My husband really helped a lot with the girls,” she said last Friday, when it appeared she had locked up a seat despite hundreds of thousands of uncounted ballots in Maricopa County.

“He made a lot of dinners. I couldn’t have done it without him,” she said of her husband of 13 years.”

Even though she was at the head of the pack of Kyrene candidates from the first batch of voting results released Tuesday night, Pratt held off celebrating for two days.

Indeed, on election night after working a few polling places in the daytime, “I came home and was with my family,” she said. “We were actually with some neighbors, our kids made s’mores and had hot chocolate.”

And she worked on the wings for her daughter’s costume that she had to wear the next day to school for a class even involving their favorite character from a book.

“I went to bed hoping to win but I knew there were still a lot of votes that weren’t counted,” I waited till (Thursday) and saw the percentages and said, ‘Well, I guess I won.”

In some ways, she’s still sorting through why and how she won.

“I don’t think it was any one thing,” she said. “I had a lot of great community members supporting me. I feel it’s something we all did together. It’s a pretty neat experience.”

“I really feel honored because my girls are all school age and I was looking for an opportunity to serve and give back. I’m excited about it. I know it will be hard.

And I have a lot of admiration for our board members,” she added.

But while Pratt might be surprised by the margin of her victory, others weren’t.

“She’s very charismatic,” said John King, a fellow Ahwatukee resident and fellow Republican who will be one of Pratt’s colleagues on the school board next year.

“She reached out to appeal to

everyone,” he said. “She ran a very nonpartisan race and opened herself to everybody. And she has kids in the district. She understands what’s going on from a parent’s point of view and understands some things the other candidates did not.”

At one point in the campaign, when supporters of the other candidates were sniping at each other and each other’s candidates on social media, Pratt posted a plea to stop the attacks and pointedly directed it at people in her corner, telling them: “If you are a true supporter of mine please reflect my values in your support of me by being kind, respectful, honest and looking for the best in others. I ask that you not address or discuss the other candidates running for school board in your support of me unless it is in a positive manner.”

When some people at her church last year suggested she run, Pratt’s initial reaction was, “I don’t think so.”

She gravitated a little more to the idea last December, but still stayed on the fence until after her mother passed away unexpectedly in February.

Aided by a small circle of about five “amazing women” who more or less acted as her mentors on the campaign trail, Pratt said she spent a lot of time listening to people as well as going to board meetings.

It was not as if the district or its

personnel and issues were unknown to her, though.

Oldest daughter Mary, 11, attends Altadena while Becky and Rachel are students at Monte Vista.

She’s been a parent volunteer in classrooms for six years who organized special events, a school carnival co-chair, a school movie night coordinator and a classroom coordinator for teacher appreciation weeks. She also has been involved in a number of nonprofit organizations’ activities.

And her father was an elementary school teacher for 36 years, making a huge impression on her not only with his dedication in the classroom but in how he helped serve breakfast at school to kids before the class day started.

Now that the only thing remaining in her campaign is official certification of what appears to be a sure victory, Pratt is preparing for her school board training next month and hopes she can have more informal talks with the other winner of the board race, attorney Kevin Walsh of Chandler, as well as the other board members.

She also plans to visit all of Kyrene’s 25 schools to get an even deeper handle on the district’s issues and problems.

And that, along with the duties that await her once she’s sworn in, likely means that husband Murray will be cooking a lot more dinners – and Becky will be seeing mom on the phone a lot.

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

PAWLIK

from page 1

Democrats.

Since the last redistricting in 2012, the area that covers parts of Chandler, Gilbert and Sun Lakes, has gone to Republicans every two years. In recent decades before that, most of the same area was in District 21, which Republicans controlled election after election.

Notable House members from the area who have served over the years are current Senate president Steven B. Yarbrough and outgoing Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny.

The first sign the district was shifting politically, however, came in 2016, when Pawlik made her first attempt at winning the seat. The political newbie did better than expected, despite no attention whatsoever.

Thanks to her heavy education platform, she was able to tally nearly 31 percent of the vote, which was only 3 percent away from catching outgoing House speaker and soon-to-be State Senator J.D. Mesnard.

It was a great improvement from the 2014 election, when Democrat Danielle Lee finished a distant third with only 25 percent of the vote. More importantly, Pawlik was able to grab more than double the number of actual votes than Lee. “Considering the area had been in Republican control throughout pretty much the history of the state, I couldn’t let that go,” Pawlik said.

That’s ironic, considering politics were never something Pawlik dreamed of getting into while growing up.

Pawlik was raised in Mesa as Jennifer

Beckelman, the oldest of three girls.

All of her schooling from kindergarten through graduate school was in Arizona.

She graduated near the top of her class at Dobson High in 1990 before moving to Flagstaff for her undergraduate and graduate studies.

She earned two degrees from Northern Arizona University – a bachelor’s in elementary education in 1996 and an education master’s in curriculum and instruction in 2010.

“All I’ve ever wanted to be was a school teacher,” she said.

For the last 17 years, including the last nine in Chandler, she taught elementary school students across the Valley, including her most recent stint as a sixthgrade language arts teacher at CTA Liberty.

She didn’t get the idea to run for office, however, until a chance encounter in 2014 on a trip to the Capitol for an Arizona Education Association event.

She was already unhappy about school funding and low teacher pay, years before the “Red for Ed” movement swept the state.

“My colleagues were leaving teaching because they couldn’t afford to do it,” Pawlik said.

Instead of starting small by running for something like a seat on the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board, Pawlik thought bigger.

“I realized Chandler was doing the best it could with limited funding,” Pawlik said.

With some encouragement from family, friends and colleagues, Pawlik decided to run for the Legislature.

However, there was only one problem.

I thought, ‘I know how to teach, but

COMMUNITY NEWS

I don’t know how to run for office,’” she said.

In 2015, Pawlik completed a six-month program that trains Democratic women how to hold public office, called Emerge Arizona. It covered everything from how to canvass, fund-raising and developing a platform. A year later she received more seasoning with the Leading for Change program Meanwhile, she became more politically involved with the Democrat party as her interest in fighting for students increased. She has served as secretary of the Legislative District 17 Democrats, a precinct committeeman in the Germann precinct and a state committee member.

In her first run for the House in 2016, Pawlik said the fact she didn’t get any pushback from her opponents helped her do better than expected.

“We were absolutely dismissed,” she said. “They didn’t see us as a threat.”

That changed this time around with Pawlik the target of some negative mailers and ads for the first time. She knew the attention meant she had a real chance, and she saw some pre-election polls that backed that up.

“Initially, I was shocked,” she said about the early numbers. “After that, I tried not to be distracted.”

Ultimately, Pawlik said the overall “Red for Ed” education momentum, the controversial tuition voucher proposition and other factors help lead to her breakthrough victory.

But she knows the target on her back will only get bigger now that she’s in office.

“I’ll have a voting record now, so I’m

ready,” she said.

Pawlik joked that her husband of 23 years, Jason, and their 21-year-old twin daughters, Kalie and Katie, are “thrilled” to have the election over. After all, they haven’t had much personal time together over the last three years, especially with Kalie attending the University of Arizona, and Katie attending Arizona State University at its downtown campus.

Their mom has campaigned relentlessly over the last two election cycles as a team with Senate candidate Steve Weichert.

They’ve helping drum up support for each other on their travels across the district.

But it’s also led to a grueling schedule, which resulted in 12-hour days as the campaign got into the final weeks.

“We took about six weeks off over the holidays after the 2016 election,” Pawlik said. “Then we were back at it.”

Pawlik estimates some weekends she only had about six hours of free time between campaigning and teaching a pair of education classes for Northern Arizona University’s College of Education program on Chandler Gilbert Community College campus.

Now that the election is over, she’s hoping to have a little breathing time after three years of relentless campaigning.

She likes to read but she said it’s been so long since she’s read a whole book for pleasure, she can’t even remember what it was. She’s hoping the end of election will bring time for that and crocheting, another one of her downtime pleasures.

“People ask me now, ‘Am I going to run for Congress next?” Pawlik said. “No. No. No. The whole goal is to fund our schools.

This isn’t about me.”

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COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Hunters help safeguard deer, elk from wasting disease

BY STEPHANIE MORSE Cronkite News

On a chilly fall morning in eastern Arizona, families taking part in a youth hunting camp awoke before dawn to hunt elk.

Gage Martinez, 14, was one of the last to return with an elk, but by midmorning, it was skinned and hanging from a tree by its hind legs.

“I was so excited, my hand was shaking,” Martinez said.

Meanwhile, three Arizona Game & Fish Department biologists gathered around the elk’s head. One of them used a small knife to cut into the animal’s cheek to remove the lymph nodes, which will be sent to a lab in Colorado to be tested for chronic wasting disease, or CWD. CWD is a neurodegenerative disease found in deer, elk and moose populations.

It’s prevalent in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, which neighbor Arizona. Infected animals become unresponsive, emaciated and eventually die.

So far, regular testing and strict laws have kept Arizona CWD free. But that could change quickly.

“It’s a big challenge,” said Anne JusticeAllen, a wildlife veterinarian with Arizona Game & Fish. “It may be an impossible challenge because states that we didn’t think were going to get it now have it.”

Last year, CWD was found in Montana.

The year before, it was discovered in

Cronkite News

Biologist Amy Kravitz cares for deer at a farm in Arizona.

Arkansas. The disease now has been detected in 24 states, where it has reduced herds by 20 to 40 percent.

“We need to make sure that wildlife populations are healthy because they really play an important role in keeping the landscape and the environment sustained,” Justice-Allen said.

Researchers are trying to learn more about the disease and to find a vaccine, but right now there is no cure.

“In Colorado and other states, we don’t know how to eradicate it,” said Travis Duncan, a spokesman with Colorado’s Park and Wildlife Department.

“All we can do is manage it.”

Hunters are on the front line of Arizona’s efforts to keep the disease at bay.

There is no way to determine whether a deer or elk has CWD until the late stages of the disease, when physical

symptoms appear.

“You may have seen signage or posters with sick-looking deer that lead us to believe anyone can visually identify it,” Duncan said. “But in reality, most deer with CWD look perfectly healthy and you would never be able to tell.”

There is no blood test for CWD, so the animal must be dead to collect and test a lymph-node sample.

“That’s part of the reason why managing it through hunting and testing the deer that people harvest is the best option we have,” Duncan said.

Hunting season is the only time of the year when Arizona Game & Fish can regularly test for CWD. The goal is to test as many animals as possible during this time.

Last year, the department tested more than 1,200 samples statewide, and officials hope to test even more this year.

“Our goal is to test enough animals on an annual basis to try and make sure we can detect it if it’s present in even just 1 percent of the population,” Justice-Allen said. Arizona Game & Fish opened a new testing center in Springerville to help with this goal, and Justice-Allen and her team are going to more hunting camps this season to collect samples and spread awareness.

“We’re talking to hunters and letting them know what we’re doing out here and why it’s important that we’re doing See

HUNTERS on page 17

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

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COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Solar prop flames out at the polls in bitter contest

BY BRYCE NEWBERRY Cronkite News

The fight over whether Arizona should get half of its electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources turned bitter election night when Attorney General Mark Brnovich called out California billionaire Tom Steyer for using California’s energy policies to try to influence Arizona’s policies.

“I’ve got a message for Tom Steyer,” Brnovich said Tuesday night at the Republican watch party in Scottsdale. “When you mess with the Brno, you’re going to get the burn, but you’re never going to get my O.” Brnovich told partygoers to go outside to dunk a Steyer mannequin in the dunk tank that was set up.

It was a moment that marked the end of a long election struggle over Proposition 127, which would have required Arizona’s 16 regulated utilities to get 50 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. The current standard of 15 percent by 2025 was set by the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Through his environmental advocacy nonprofit NextGen Climate Action, Steyer, a hedge fund manager, funneled millions of dollars to finance campaigns behind Prop. 127 and Nevada’s Question 6. Both ballot initiatives set the same goal and timeframe, and voters approved the Nevada measure 60-40 percent.

California already requires public-

ly-owned utilities to do this. When California Gov. Edmund Brown, Jr. signed the bill into law in 2015, he said, “California has taken groundbreaking steps to increase the efficiency of our cars, buildings and appliances and provide ever more renewable energy. With SB 350, we deepen our commitment.”

But in Arizona, Steyer’s financial influence didn’t sit well with voters; nearly 70 percent of them said no to following California’s renewable energy path.

Lincoln Davies, a professor in energy policy and law at the University of Utah,

said Prop. 127 may have been too much, too fast for Arizonans.

“California … I think, is seen by a lot of people as different than the rest of the West,” Davies said. He said he doesn’t think California’s policies would work well in most other states, particularly because California has been aggressive in promoting renewable energy.

That’s one reason some Californians have moved east to Arizona: escaping policies, said Victor Riches, president of the Goldwater Institute, a consrvative public policy and litigation organization

in Phoenix.

The institute did a study about the damage Prop. 127 could have in Arizona, and Riches said voters contacted him in appreciation after they read the study.

“One of the fundamental problems with 127 in Arizona … was that it didn’t include nuclear energy as a clean energy source,” Riches said, “and a large percentage of our energy, in fact the bulk of it, is derived in one form or another from the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant,” which is operated by Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest energy provider.

More than $54 million was spent for and against Prop. 127, making it the most expensive ballot measure in Arizona history, according to Ballotpedia.

Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona spent more than $23 million to support the initiative – the bulk of that came from Steyer’s political action committee. Arizonans for Affordable Electricity, largely backed by Arizona Public Service’s parent company Pinnacle West Capital Corp., raised more than $31 million to oppose Prop. 127.

“It’s tough to spend your way to victory,” said Mike Noble, chief pollster with OH Partners in Phoenix.

Even if a “yes” campaign had more money, the “no” campaign had an easier job to do by poking holes in the message of the “yes” campaign, Noble said. In the end Matthew Benson, spokesman for AriSee

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2030. Yet a fact check done by azcentral. com found that even before California’s 2015 renewable energy standards took effect, utility rates had already been climbing since 2011.

Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona issued a statement after election day that said the “results show how dangerous it is for utility monopolies like APS to buy off politicians with campaign cash and spend millions to elect anti-clean energy candidates. APS’s stranglehold on our politics was on full display last night (Tuesday).

But their days are numbered.”

The conversation about the future of renewable energy with Prop. 127, the success of Nevada’s Question 6, along with states such as California and Hawaii that already have plans for 100 percent renewable energy by 2045, are indications of a

from page 18

zonans for Affordable Electricity, said the group’s message that ratepayers would see their electric bills increase, likely won the day.

“I think Arizona voters understood that Prop. 127 was going to cost them more. All of the polling demonstrated that that issue resonated deep into the electorate,” Benson said. “That was clearly the biggest determining factor in this race.”

A study by the Seidman Research Institute at Arizona State University calculated that the average residential customer bill would increase by $1,936 as a result of the estimated rate rise between 2017 and

COMMUNITY NEWS

developing shift in energy policy.

“What we’re seeing today across the United States is a shift in how our energy system is provided and delivered,” said Davies of the University of Utah. “There are a few aspects of that that make the transition ripe for dispute.”

The transition means there’s a lot at stake for groups that have worked decades to build current energy systems.

Davies said there’s a “natural discomfort” when new energy systems like solar panels and windmills become more visible, which can cause concern as people think about energy in different ways than the past.

“As we make that shift, it’s going to create friction and it’s going to cause people to have disputes and debates about what’s appropriate,” Davies said.

Even though Prop. 127 failed, Stan Reynolds, an economics professor at the University of Arizona, said it’s likely not the end of the road.

“This kind of thing will be gaining more traction over time. So I would expect this kind of thing to come up again and something akin to this may be passing in the next few years in Arizona and some other states,” Reynolds said.

Davies said states likely will only ratchet up renewable energy goals rather than abandoning them.

“Worldwide and nationwide, jurisdictions continue to promote renewables,” Davies said. “How they’re doing so is changing, but there’s no question at all that renewables are radically transforming how electricity and energy are being provided in the United States.”

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COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

A wounded warrior finds a lifesaver in Gilbert

BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor

Holly Katke remembered waking up, thinking she had passed out from the heat.

Just minutes before, Katke, a Navy chief petty officer, was walking around the police station in Iraq trying to hydrate herself.

She pushed herself up and saw blood streaming down her arm.

The combat medic corpsman, who provided lifesaving medical care for her fellow soldiers, had been shot in the head by a sniper.

The bullet pierced her nape, drilled through her brain and lodged behind her left eye.

Katke’s story is a story of a valiant hero who met heroes of another kind in Gilbert – people who helped her as she made a painful transition to civilian life that had been altered forever by a sniper’s bullet.

Only the night before she was shot, Katke had been told by her commander that she had become a “high-value target” because the enemy learned of her work.

At that point, she had been in Iraq for six months and the United States was nine years into its war on terror.

Katke, who knew four languages, including Arabic, had been recruited

by Special Operations Command for a joint operation with the Navy SEALs. Her mission was to gather intelligence from the village women who came to her with their children for medical evaluations. Iraqi women are banned by their custom from talking to men.

Also the night before she was shot, Katke was told she was going to be sent stateside and that in the meantime she should stay behind the wire, where she would be safer.

“The way I looked at it, is the guys going

Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

Holly Katke nearly lost her life from a sniper's bullet in the head when the Navy veteran was shot by a sniper in Iraq, but on her road to recovery she met the Gilbert mother of another wounded warrior who helped give her a new life.

used to fighting back. She came back and proved them wrong.”

It took three months for her brain swelling to subside before surgeons could remove the bullet.

During her time in the trauma unit of a military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, she was dubbed “Hope Trauma. “ “When patients are removed from Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan, our names are not

Special to the San Tan Sun News

Cory Remsburg, left, was in the same hospital as Holly Katke as they both recovered from their war injuries. Cory, seen here with parents Anne and Craig Remsburg, will need lifelong care.

out tomorrow,” Katke recalled from her Gilbert home. “I said, ‘What’s the difference if a female goes out. The guys are targets.

What makes me any different?”

The following morning – on April 15, 2010 – she went out on what would be her last mission before flying home. It was also the day before her 30th birthday.

Then, a sniper’s bullet changed her life forever.

“She was not supposed to survive,” said Gilbert resident Annie Remsburg, who befriended Katke eight years ago. “These are very strong men and women and are

posted,” Katke explained. “All patients are given other names, a medical name.”

The toughest part was waking up from her month-long coma and being told she was a mom. Her daughter Leah was then just 4 years old, but Katke had no recollection of her.

Gradually, the single mom and her daughter reconnected.

Katke was next sent off for rehab to a veterans hospital in Tampa, Florida – and there she met Remsburg, whose son Cory arrived there the year before.

Cory Remsburg was a U.S. Army

Ranger on his 10th deployment when he was severely injured on Oct. 1, 2009, by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. He suffered traumatic brain injury and is blind in the right eye and partially paralyzed on his left side.

As of Nov. 5, the various conflicts in the Middle East have resulted in 6,821 U.S. military killed and 52,732 wounded in action, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

As of November 2016, 166 U.S. service women had lost their lives and 1,033 had been wounded in action in combat operations since 2003, according to the latest data from Congressional Research Service.

After two years in Tampa, Katke was retired by the military, joining the growing rank of women veterans.

In 2015, women comprised 9.4 percent of the total veteran population in the United States. By 2043, women are projected to make up 16.3 percent of all living veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

Katke, who received the Purple Heart medal and a number of other military distinctions, moved back with her daughter to Washington state, near her hometown of Port Angeles – population today just under 20,000.

Her desire to escape that small city and see the world had compelled then-17-yearold Katke to enlist.

One day, the high school student drove down to the recruitment center to find that the Air Force office closed for lunch and the Marine Corps had no medical unit. So she joined the Navy because it has corpsmen.

Katke, who had simultaneously taken community college courses while in high school, became a licensed practical nurse and wanted to use those medical skills. She was sent to boot camp when she graduated high school at 18.

Her injury closed 14 years in the military as she began life as a civilian in Sequim, Washington, a city with a population of

about 6,600.

She was a single mother taking care of a daughter and dealing with war injuries that have left her legally blind and paralyzed on her right side – which forced her to learn how to do even simple tasks with only her left hand. She also has speech and language problems or asphasia.

“Sometimes I am at a loss for words,” said Katke, who uses a cane to walk. “It’s hard to describe things.”

Despite that, she went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in health sciences and a master’s degree in global health taking online courses from Trident University.

Her daughter and her school work kept her going, but Katke was miserable living in Sequim. She was isolated with no family or social support. And the drive to the VA hospital in Seattle was a six-hour round trip.

Remsburg all this time had been keeping in touch and noticed in their phone conversations that Katke was sinking into depression.

“I finally said, ‘If you are really unhappy, why don’t you move?’” Remsburg recalled.

She responded she had nowhere to go.

“My heart went out to her when she said that to me,” Remsburg said. “I responded, ‘Yes you do honey. You can move anywhere you want to and we will help you.’”

Remsburg and her husband Craig immediately became Katke’s advocates.

They reached out and applied to nonprofits on her behalf to find her a home.

“I love her like a daughter,” said Remsburg. “I refer to her as my adoptive daughter. She refers to me as mom.”

Carrington Charitable Foundation in California stepped up to the plate. The charity has donated more than 20 new and renovated homes to veterans, and Katke was the group’s first woman veteran it has helped.

Katke said she wanted to move to Arizona. She had visited the Remsburgs through the years.

The charity group bought and renovated a one-story home in Gilbert, retrofitting the house for compliancy with standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Although Katke uses a cane, she sometimes has to resort to her wheelchair when she becomes fatigued.

In mid-October, Katke and her daughter, who will turn 14 on Nov. 16, moved into their new home. They live a mile from the Remsburgs.

Annie Remsburg didn’t stop there. She connected Katke with social and veterans support groups. Health services are also within reach. The Veterans Hospital is in Phoenix and there is a VA clinic in Gilbert.

Throughout that time, Remsburg and her husband also were going through their ongoing ordeal with their son, who suffered traumatic brain injury during his service in Afghanistan.

“He was injured at 26, he’s only 33,” Remsburg said. “He’s had some severe impact from the brain injury, which means he needs assistance.”

Katke, who is scheduled for speech therapy soon and has been going for counseling, said she still gets depressed but not as much now because of the support available to her.

She said at times she thinks about her life now and how she is not the same person.

But she has no regrets about enlisting.

“Absolutely not,” Katke said. “I would do it again without a doubt.”

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

COMMUNITY NEWS

21

Around Chandler Chandler students dominate fi rst ‘counting bee’

Chandler students took three of six categories in what the organizer hopes to become a global “counting bee.”

Scott Flansburg, known as The Human Calculator, founded the Counting Bee and reached out to school districts throughout the Valley to hold the first one earlier this month. He hopes to grow it into an international annual event similar to the Scripps Spelling Bee held every spring.

The competition revolves around how fast contestants can add within a very short time period.

Finalists represented the following schools or programs: Basis Schools from various Valley locations, Edison Elementary, Knox Elementary, IQ Abacus Math & Language School, Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies, Our House Montessori Elementary School, Redfield Elementary, Adams Traditional, Archway Veritas, Kyrene de la Mirada Elementary, Arizona College Prep – Oakland Campus, St. Mary’s High School and Western Peaks Elementary.

The Chandler winners were: Puranjay Madupu in the 6-7-year-old category; Ojas Guttal in the 8-year-old slot; and Devansh Avlani among the 10-year-olds.

Toastmasters Club slates holiday meeting

East Valley Echoes and Voice of Many

Toastmasters clubs are holding a joint Thanksgiving meeting to meet members and hear JD Austin, East Valley Echoes president, and Kathy Smith of the Voice of Many Toastmasters Club discuss continuing leadership development for today’s professional.

The open house, free to the public, is 6:30-7:30 a.m. Nov. 21 at Chandler Bible Church, 1200 N. Price Road, Chandler.

The Voice of Many Toastmasters club was chartered in 1968. The East Valley Echoes club was sponsored in 1981 by Jeff Morud, who remains a member of both clubs.

East Valley Echoes Toastmasters meets every Wednesday at 6:30 a.m. at Chandler Bible Church. Voice of Many Toastmasters meets every Thursday at 6:15 a.m. at Denny’s restaurant, 3315 N. Scottsdale Road.

Information: aztoastmasters.org.

Cardinals player to visit Chandler coffee shop

Black Rock Coffeer Bar, 4050 S. Alma School Road, Chandler, is inviting football and java fans to meet Cardinals player Robert Nkemdiche 9:30-11:30 a.m. next Tuesday, Nov. 20.

He’ll sign autographs and pose for pictures before joining his bandmates for a life performance. Nkemdiche is part of Black Rock’s team of NFL stars.

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Chandler Rotary Golf Classic is only a few weeks away

Chandler’s Woofstock returns for another day of dog fun

Chandler Rotary will hold its ninth annual Golf Classic at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at the Whirlwind Golf Club at Wild Horse Pass.

The $125 fee entitles a golfer to golf, range balls, two drink tickets, an awards dinner and the chance to win some great prizes.

Tickets for just the dinner are $25.

Sponsorship opportunities are available.

Information: Zane Riley at 480-2169182 or rotaryclubchandler@gmail.com.

The tournament benefits the Rotary Club’s educational and veterans projects.

City Hall garage work begins with 2019 opening date eyed

City employees and visitors to Chandler City Hall – will soon have a new parking garage to leave their cars.

Construction has started on a $20 million, five-level, 293,000-squarefoot facility. It will include 930 spaces that will also be available for nearby residents and venues in downtown Chandler.

Work is expected to be completed in December 2019.

McCarthy Building Companies Inc. is the contractor on the project, which is going up to the west of City Hall across Arizona Avenue on the northwest corner

Chandler’s 11th Annual Woofstock celebration is barking up some fun again next month.

The annual celebration of man’s best friends takes place Nov. 17 at Tumbleweed Park, located at 2250 S. McQueen Road. Dog lovers of all kinds will enjoy a fur-filled day of free family fun from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Activities include pet adoptions, lowcost vaccinations, free pet nail trims, a pet agility course and more.

The American Service Animal Society, Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, Phoenix Dog Magazine and Jimmy John’s are helping the city present this year’s Woofstock.

For full information, log on to chandleraz.gov/woofstock.

Chandler’s iconic Tumbleweed Christmas Tree to be lit Dec. 1 It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in downtown Chandler.

The city’s Parks employees have started putting together its iconic Tumbleweed Tree in preparation for the Dec. 1 official lighting ceremony. It’s the 62nd year of the holiday tradition in Chandler.

See

AROUND on page 22

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22

COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Around Chandler

AROUND

holiday-selfie-circuit/. from page 21

Crews are adding hundreds of tumbleweeds to a wire frame, covering them with paint and glitter and attaching holiday lights and other decorations.

Most of the decorations will take two weeks to finish. Crews have been mainly working weekday mornings and early afternoons at Dr. A.J. Chandler Park. That’s on the west side of Arizona Avenue, south of Chandler Boulevard.

This unique tradition began in 1957, after resident Earle Barnum had seen a similar tumbleweed tree built in Indiana out of cone-shaped chicken wire with pine boughs stuck in the holes.

Downtown Chandler’s Holiday Selfie Circuit revs up

Downtown Chandler’s Holiday Selfie Circuit is starting soon after Thanksgiving.

Nine official Holiday Selfie Stop locations will be sprinkled throughout downtown starting Nov. 26. The stations include: a jolly gingerbread man; a frolicking snowman; twinkling lit-up acacia trees; a friendly penguin; a walk-through, gift-wrapped present; a two-benched sleigh near the tumbleweed tree and more.

For information, log on to DowntownChandler.org/the-

Sippin’ Santas Pub Crawl coming to downtown Chandler

The Sippin’ Santas Pub Crawl is coming to take over downtown Chandler next month.

Tickets are already on sale for the Dec. 15 event at several of the hottest destinations in the downtown area.

People dressed as Santa will meet to cruise several pubs, starting at 1 p.m.

Prizes will be available for the best costume.

For information on the event, log on to DowntownChandler.org/sippin-santaspub-crawl/.

Dunkin’ Donuts opens first ‘Next Generation’ in Chandler

Arizona’s first “Next Generation” Dunkin’ Donuts is now open in Chandler.

What Dunkin’ is calling its “store of the future” is now open at 4225 S. Gilbert Road, near Germann Road.

The store features innovative technologies, including a drive-through lane dedicated just for orders made on the company’s app.

The Perry High School band and Mayor Jay Tibshraeny were among those in attendance at this month’s grand opening.

Chandler Fire Department collecting toys for holidays

The Chandler Fire Department is hosting another holiday toy drive for underprivileged children.

This year, anyone donating a new, unwrapped toy during the event will receive a ride in a Chandler fire engine.

This year’s event is set for 2 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 8. It happens at Chandler Fashion Center, near the valet parking area outside of the food court on the south side of the mall.

Toy donations can also be dropped off in the lobby of the Chandler Fire Administration Headquarters, 151 E. Boston St., or at any Chandler fire station through Dec. 14.

Chandler firefighters and volunteers will help deliver the toys to the Chandler CARE Cenwter, where they will be distributed to families that have been identified through the staff at each Chandler Unified School District elementary school.

For information about the Chandler Fire Department, visit chandleraz.gov/fire.

Kustom Karz revving up for big night in downtown Ocotillo

Downtown Ocotillo is the site for the 6th Annual Kustom Karz for K-9’z & Katz Kar Show on Dec. 1.

All proceeds are going to benefit nonprofit pet shelter Lost Our Home Pet Rescue.

The free event will feature hot rods, custom cars, muscle cars, rat rods and

more. Entry fees to enter a car are $25, but it includes a T-shirt and goody bag.

City leaders such as Fire Chief Tom Dwiggins, Mayor-elect Kevin Hartke and Chandler Chamber of Commerce CEO Terri Kimble are among those presenting trophies at the event.

Categories will include Teacher’s Pet, Best at Takin’ Care of Business and Most Likely To Get A Ticket On The Way Home.

It’ll be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2577 W. Queen Creek Road.

2 new fitness gyms flex their muscles in Chandler

Two new fitness options are available to Chandler residents with the recent openings of EōS Fitness and Elite Fitness.

EōS opened its newest location Nov. 1 at 1970 E. Ray Road, near Cooper. The 24-hour gym has 35,000 square feet of space, including a pool, sauna and basketball court.

It’s the second EōS location in Chandler, and the company already has plans to build a third one.

Family-owned Elite, meanwhile, recently opened a 12,328-square-foot facility near Chandler Fashion Center.

Elite is also open 24 hours a day.

Membership discounts for both fitness centers can be purchased at their respective websites: eosfitness.com/ coming-soon-chandler-ray-gym/ and elitesf.com/new-location/.

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ELECTIONS

COMMUNITY NEWS

from page 14

as a landlord-tenant counselor and city Housing Court administrator. She captured 59 percent of the vote to Robson’s 41 percent.

• Also, in that justice district Ahwatukee Republican Brandon Schmoll, who decided not to seek a second term on the Tempe Union school board, lost his race for a second term as constable to Democrat Kent Rini, who got 58 percent of the vote to Schmoll’s 42 percent.

• In the SanTan Justice District, outgoing Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny easily won a new job as the next justice of the peace when he leaves in January. He had no opposition in the race, and neither did his constable, Nathan Wilson.

The flip to blue in LD 18 may reflect unhappiness with the Legislature’s effort to expand vouchers, said GOP activitists.

Bowie suggested that voters recognized his bipartisan approach to his activities I the Legislature and may also have been turned off by Schmuck’s aggressive attack ads.

“I was a little surprised by the margins,” said Bowie. “We were seeing trends in early voting where we were pretty much even, but we had a strong ground operation.”

By far the most stunning result was Norgaard’s failure to attain a third term.

But Bowie and even some Republicans pinned her defeat expressly on the public perception that Republican legislators who supported expanding the voucher system were undermining public

Howie Fischer/Capitol Media Services

Gov. Doug Ducey visited Republican campaign headquarters in Ahwatukee to get out the troops on Election Day. Though he coasted to victory, he had no coattails as Republicans sustained several significant losses in Chandler.

education.

“Our district has been changing,” said Bowie. “It’s becoming younger and more diverse and education is important issue. People moved to Ahwatukee for the schools and they want legislators to fight for public schools. I think voters appreciate that.”

In his fourth bid for the Legislature and his second for the Senate – a repeat of the 2016 showdown with

Bowie – Schmuck portrayed himself as a supporter of education. But Schmuck, at the only forum he attended, also said that he supported school choice – as did Patterson and Norgaard.

That and a series of aggressive attacks on Bowie likely sunk him.

“He was much more negative than he was the last time,” Bowie said of Schmuck. “It was nasty and in a personal way. It really surprised me. Nothing I did

on the campaign as personal; I did point out where I thought he was wrong but I also stressed my support for public education and my bipartisan approach to issues. I promised that in 2016 and I could show voters I kept my promises.”

Bowie also said Schmuck’s failure to attend the September Clean Elections Commission debate and at least one other forum hurt him, although Patterson and Norgaard showed up at every forum and that didn’t seem to help them.

That’s possibly because Norgaard and Patterson came out in favor of school choice. Patterson at both debates poopooed the notion that vouchers hurt education and proclaimed himself one of the architects of the initial voucher system that was introduced into Arizona when he was in the Legislature in the mid-1990s.

Even though she voted for the voucher bill in the 2017 legislative session that sparked Prop 305 – overwhelmingly defeated by a 2-1 margin last week – Norgaard sought to distance herself from the proposition.

She noted that the so-called education empowerment scholarship accounts were designed initially for special needs students whose parents could not find adequate services in public school districts. The Legislature has gradually expanded those grants and many Republican leaders made it clear they were aiming to include all parents in the program.

Norgaard said she likely would vote “no” on Prop 305 because it did not have enough safeguards for special needs See

ELECTIONS on page 24

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COMMUNITY NEWS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Thanksgiving dinner a bit cheaper this year in Arizona HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

A healthy supply of turkeys is going to make the cost of feeding the family Thanksgiving dinner a bit less expensive this year.

New figures from the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation put the cost of a typical dinner for 10 at $39.17, or about $3.92 for everyone around the table. That’s a small decrease from last year when the same items were found at Arizona stores for $39.82.

There are some things that shoppers are going to find more expensive this year.

For example, that 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix is going to set you back about $3.20, which is 22 cents more than you could buy the same can in 2017.

A bag of frozen green peas that Farm Bureau shoppers found for $1 last year now is retailing for $1.32.

And if you like to whip your own cream, count on paying an extra 84 cents for that half pint.

ELECTIONS

from page 23

and other students now covered by the grants, saying they’d be left behind.

“She tried to straddle the issue and it didn’t work,” said one Republican activist, who requested anonymity.

“Jill was the most decorated legislator in the district,” the activist said, pointing to her work on setting up the state’s first program to identify and help dyslexic students at an early age as well as her involvement in both Kyrene and Tempe Union.

BAIL

from page 5

of that was based on the fact there was no evidence he had committed similar crimes in the seven years between the incident and his arrest or threatened the victim.

Instead, the commissioner set bail at $70,000, requiring electronic monitoring of his movements, and imposed other conditions like not possessing any weapons.

The state Court of Appeals overturned that decision. But in a 4-3 ruling, the Supreme Court said the 2002 no-bail constitutional provision could

But what’s helping keep down the pricetag is the cost of that bird.

Farm Bureau shoppers said they were able to find a 16 pound bird for an average of 84 cents a pound. That’s about a nickel a pound less than last year – and almost 40 cents less than a year ago.

Farm Bureau spokeswoman Peggy Jo Goodfellow said this is simply a question of supply and demand: Growers decided to produce more turkeys this year.

Fans of sweet potatoes also will have something to be thankful for, with a 3-pound bag selling this year for $2.97 versus $4.64 a year ago.

Those who want an all-organic Thanksgiving should be prepared to shell out a bit more than last year, with the total tally for that family of 10 now $95.96, up $2.45 from what the same items were selling for in 2017.

Here, too, the big item is the bird, with a 16-pound organic turkey selling for $3.19 a pound, versus $2.99 a year ago. But if you’re looking for that 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix in organic, be prepared

Item

Self-basting 16 lb. young tom turkey 14-ounce cubed stuffing mix Pumpkin pie mix (30 oz.)

9-inch frozen pie shell (2) 3 lb. fresh sweet potatoes Enriched brown & serve rolls (12) Frozen peas (16 oz.)

1 lb mixed celery & carrots 1 gallon whole milk Fresh cranberries (12 oz.)

Half pint whipping cream Miscellaneous (onions, coffee, sugar, flour, evaporated milk, butter)

2018

$13.44 $2.50 $3.20 $2.29 $2.97 $2.00 $1.32 $.99 $2.09 $2.50 $2.82 $3.05

2017

$14.25 $2.42 $2.98 $2.00 $4.64 $2.00 $1.00 $1.00 $2.05 $2.50 $1.98 $3.01

-- Source: Arizona Farm Bureau Federation Arizona Price history:* Year / Standard / Organic+

to pay $5.98, a full $2 above last year.

Goodfellow said savvy consumers may be able to do even better. She said while her organization’s price comparison does

take advantage of sales, it does not factor in savings from coupons or each store’s “affinity’’ program which may give even bigger discounts to regular customers.

But Democrats hammered on her vote in the 2017 session to expand vouchers and in the end, even Republican counterattacks on Epstein’s “no” vote on the governor’s budget – which included the 10 percent raise for teachers – got much traction.

That’s likely because Epstein and the rest of the House Democratic delegation that opposed the governor’s budget had insisted that the 208-19 state spending plan did not restore overall public education funding to levels that existed before the 2008 recession.

Indeed, the results not only in LD 18 but

also statewide and in the Tempe Union and Kyrene districts suggested that Red for Ed made barely a dent in most races.

The notable exceptions were for state Superintendent of Public Education, where teacher Kathy Hoffman beat her Republican challenger, and in Chandler Unified, where Bruner, a Desert Vista High School teacher, won a board seat.

John King, an Ahwatukee Republican serving his second term on the Kyrene school board, said he believes the 2018 election results should serve as a warning to Republicans and that they should focus

first on shoring up the infrastructure of public education before trying any more to expand the voucher program.

“I support charter schools,” he said. “I think competition is good.”

He said such competition encourages public school districts to improve their service to students, pointing to Kyrene as an example of how that district has consistently distinguished itself in student achievement results not only statewide but nationally.

not stand.

Timmer, in writing the majority opinion, said one problem with the 2002 ballot measure is it did not provide any procedures to determine whether someone charged with rape would pose a danger if allowed out on bail.

Crandell, in his pleadings to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Timmer and her three colleagues were off base in making that a requirement for prosecutors to prove.

“This court has repeatedly recognized that the government’s regulatory interest in community safety can, in appropriate circumstances, outweigh an individual’s liberty interest,’’ he wrote. And Crandell

took particular aim at the Arizona justices for saying prosecutors have to show there is a danger to the community.

“Unfortunately, there is no way to predict with confidence when or whether a particular sex offender will reoffend,’’ he said. And Crandell said in areas like these which are “fraught with medical and scientific uncertainties’’ court should not rewrite laws but instead “afford legislatures the widest latitude.’’

If nothing else, Crandell said, the Arizona Supreme Court should have limited its ruling to the Goodman case and not voided the voter-approved law entirely.

“Even assuming for the sake of argument that there exist actions constituting sexual assault that do not implicate a sufficient community interest to overcome an arrestee’s interest in obtaining bail, those few circumstances are no basis for invalidating a statute in toto,’’ he told the justices.

“The Constitution is not so blunt and instrument,’’ Crandell continued. “If anything, it calls for judicial restraint in invalidating the work of the legislative branch or, as here, the people acting through direct democracy.’’

The court had not decided whether to hear the state’s appeal.

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Business

25

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Pet-sitter doggone happy with her business

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

A Chandler woman with a passion for rescuing animals has found it is not at all “ruff” keeping furry houseguests safe and nurtured as part of her business.

Maria Pugliese began pet-sitting about 12 years ago and then came up with the name for her company, Ruffin’ It Pet Sitting Services, about four years ago.

Mostly, she boards dogs at her home and she also frequently drops in to visit dogs at their homes, taking them for walks, feeding them and playing with the canines.

Sometimes Pugliese gets paid to housesit, staying overnight in a home where she also watches an animal. She will provide the animals with medicine and tend to other tasks including bringing in mail and taking the trash out for their human counterparts.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and growing up in New Jersey, Pugliese and her family members always had birds at home. They would rescue injured wild animals, a habit she continues currently.

“When I was growing up…we always had birds in our family and we had a mynah bird, then we had a couple macaws, exotic birds, a cockatoo and some finches,” Pugliese said, adding: “We always rescued injured wildlife, even to my adult years. I brake for animals. I see an injured animal, I immediately stop and try to help it. If it’s injured, I’ll contact the right people to take care of them, take them to an emergency hospital.”

She enjoys the companionship of dogs through her business, mostly boarding just small dogs of many different breeds who bond with her own dog, a Jack

Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

Maria Pugliese, owner of Ruffin’ It Pet Sitting Services, of Chandler, bonds with her own dog, Penny, on left, and a dog she is petsitting, Evie, in a park.

Russell Terrier named Penny she has had for about two months.

Pugliese is also an insurance auditor for the state of Florida, where she used to live, but works out of her Chandler home through her business, Ruffin’ It Pet Sitting Services.

“It keeps me busy and I really enjoy it,” she said. “Most of the dogs are wellbehaved. I’ve had a couple instances where the dog had some anxiety issues.”

Some dogs got attached to her and did not want her to leave them even for a second.

“There are some dogs that I get

attached to and it is hard to say goodbye,” Pugliese said. “Then there’s always another dog that I’ll end up watching.”

Some clients have asked her to watch their cats, but she only does that at their house, as she does not want conflicts with any dogs she is boarding.

One man hired her to take care of his dog and drop in to feed his horse and chickens.

“I actually enjoyed taking care of the horse and the chickens,” Pugliese said.

“The horse was pretty easy.”

The entrepreneur, who grew up in New Jersey before living several years in Florida, has rescued a skunk, a horse and many birds. While hiking about two years ago with friends, she discovered an abandoned wild baby horse by the Salt River.

“He started approaching us,” Pugliese said. “As he got closer, we noticed he had a lot of open sores on his leg that were infected. He looked really emaciated.

My friends felt like there was nothing we can do. I said to them, ‘We’ve gotta do something.’”

She found a horse rescue group on the Internet on her phone, contacted them and also reached out to a friend familiar with horses in Florida.

“She said ‘he needs help right away,’” Pugliese said. “She reached out to people that own horses in Arizona.

They contacted the Salt River Horse Management Group.”

She and her friends and the horse management group got the horse into an SUV and took him to a veterinary hospital. A woman adopted him, taking him to her ranch.

Most of Pugliese’s clients are mostly in their 30s and 40s, with some senior

citizens, and she often boards them or housesits when they go on vacation.

The majority of her customers live in Chandler.

“Most of the house have been really good experiences,” Pugliese said. “It’s like a little vacation.”

Her housesitting services cost $40 a night and drop-in visits at the animals’ homes are $15 for 30 minutes. Dog walks cost $15 for half an hour, too. It costs $5 extra for her work on holidays including New Year’s Eve weekend. Boarding an animal overnight at Pugliese’s home costs $30 per night ordinarily.

Brandon Marx, one of Pugliese’s clients, is thrilled with her work.

“Maria has always been extremely reliable when it comes to watching Roscoe,” Marx said. “Roscoe is a 3 1/2-year-old miniature Australian Shepherd. Whenever I need a sitter, Maria has always stepped up and I know each time Roscoe is in good hands.

“When we pull into her driveway, Roscoe knows exactly where he is and is suddenly eager to get out of the vehicle to greet Maria! Maria is the owner of a 13-year-old Jack Russell Terrier who Roscoe looks forward to playing with!

I have always recommended anybody looking for a fun, reliable and happy sitter for their pet.”

Roscoe has stayed overnight many times with Pugliese and also has stayed with her during the daytime once or twice. Marx lives in Chandler, about 10 minutes from Pugliese’s home.

“Maria’s prices are reasonable, I believe you can’t put a price on the ease of mind knowing that my pet is in good hands!”

Marx added.

Information: facebook.com/ ruffinitpetsitting or rover.com/sit/ruffinit.

Ocotillo bankers lend diverse cultural knowledge

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Applying for loans to expand and improve a home or business or doing any other type of financial transaction can be a stressful process, but two diverse bankers at Washington Federal in Ocotillo are using their unusual backgrounds to earn clients’ trust.

Yendung “Jennifer” Van, a loan assistant at the Washington Federal branch on West Chandler Heights Road, was born in Vietnam and helps and reaches out to Vietnamese people in the community.

Working closely with her at the Chandler bank, Anna Ryan-Leyva, branch manager, has blonde hair and blue eyes but speaks Spanish fluently, so she is always eager to help anyone whose native language is Spanish as they navigate banking needs.

Van came to the United States in 1984 and worked for eight years as a medical lab technician for the Minnesota Department of Public Health.

She later became an interpreter and

earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Argosy University before moving to Arizona due to her husband’s job.

“I love it because I’m working with everybody,” Van said. “Customer service is one thing I love. I know a lot of Vietnamese people in the community; it’s hard to explain and understand.

“With the language I have, the Vietnamese I know, I can help them with our own language,” she added. “I really enjoy…that; to explain it to them and make them feel comfortable for whatever they do.”

Van wears “two hats” at the bank, including helping Ryan-Leyva and personal bankers when they sit down with clients, taking applications, doing interviews and helping to upload documents, Ryan-Leyva said.

She also is training to get a final certificate that will allow her to mainly help the Vietnamese community with loan inquiries and related needs.

Van said about once or twice a month Vietnamese people come into the bank, but she is working on getting more of them to visit Washington Federal for their

banking services.

“Jennifer is my seasoned, well-versed person to handle our banking sides,” Ryan-Leyva said. “For bilinguals when it involves a transaction such as legal documentation, you always want the ability to be able to read it or understand it in your native language.”

When Van is not helping customers at the bank, she is heavily involved volunteering to help Vietnamese people in the community in many different ways.

She volunteers to cook and serve lunch for Christmas, Thanksgiving or Vietnamese New Year gatherings for people in need.

Van also helped organize and sort donations including backpacks with clothes and school supplies for youths in struggling families at a Chandler event.

She also visits elderly Vietnamese people to offer them companionship and also talk to them about financial literacy.

Van volunteers with the Vietnamese Arizona Organization, Cong Dong Nguoi Viet Quoc Gia AZ and Nguoi Viet Cao Nien AZ. “Some elderly are so lonely,” Van said.

“Sometimes they just want to talk. It’s so important for the home visits.”

Ryan-Leyva praised Van’s dedication to helping people in the community and at the bank.

“She’s very community-minded, as well as selfless, putting that person’s needs before your own,” Ryan-Leyva said. “Our company is very community-minded.

One of our taglines is ‘invested here.’ Each one of our branches are invested in the community in which we work and live.”

She noted that “Jennifer has kind of taken it on herself; she’s a very valuable asset, taking a very selfless lead, taking our name out in the community.”

“Each one of us are not just bankers, but we’re human beings who truly care about the clients we serve,” RyanLeyva added. “My entire team has a level of compassion on those we serve.

Jennifer saw opportunities that the rest of us did not see because of her community involvement, because of the conversations she’s had with people.”

Customers can apply for home and See

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BUSINESS

26

BANKERS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

from page 25

business loans at Washington Federal, and the bank is “100-percent portfolio,” meaning “we not only are the lender but also are the servicer,” Ryan-Leyva said.

“We never step out of the picture,” she said. “We walk alongside the client, provide serving for them. Every loan that we write, we retain. We are invested in the client, as well as the transaction.”

Van said Washington Federal offers many products.

“It’s beautiful over here if you learn the system and all the products,” she said.

“I’m so proud of it. I can see the benefit for these kind of products.”

Ryan-Leyva also enjoys working at Washington Federal. She took five years of Spanish classes and then became immersed in the Spanish-speaking community when she worked in the medical field in Washington state.

She had studied biology and human science in college and worked as a certified nurse’s assistant. Her studies

Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

Yendung “Jennifer” Van, left, and Anna Ryan-Leyva work at the Chandler branch Washington Federal.

and plans to become a licensed practical nurse were not possible, though, after she got in a major auto accident and suffered

permanent nerve damage in her dominant hand.

Then Ryan-Leyva decided to get into

GOT NEWS?

the banking industry.

“I’m like Jennifer, I love serving the community,” she said. “I love being in front of people. I absolutely love what I do. I love working with people with a community passion. I think my training in that (nursing) field made me be more compassionate, have the ability to put myself in someone else’s shoes.”

Ryan-Leyva also gives back to the community, teaching financial literacy lessons to children through adults.

“We truly as an organization, we are truly invested in those in which we serve,” she said. “We truly care about your construction loan. I’m kicking dirt with them. I’m part of their vision. As they’re struggling, those are my struggles. You really take a personal interest not only in the client but also in the community.”

The Washington Federal in Chandler is at 1010 W. Chandler Heights Road.

The bank offers banking services to help clients with mortgages, personal checking accounts, as well as business and commercial real estate loans. Information: washingtonfederal.com.

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BUSINESS

27

Living Chandler group links neighbors

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

The days of asking a neighbor for a cup of sugar might be over, but a huge Facebook group is providing a similar sense of community and support in Chandler.

The Living Chandler Facebook page has about 64,500 members and it officially started in 2016.

The co-founders are husband and wife team Matthew and Tia Coates, who are also Realtors at Revelation Real Estate in Chandler.

“It came after a lot of soul-searching,” Tia said. “We were both in focused groups. We had also been on a journey of trying to find community as individuals here in the area.”

Tia grew up in Mesa and Matthew grew up in Glendale, and both remembered the days of people in the Valley knowing their neighbors in their physical neighborhoods, but they realized that era had passed.

“People need that online connectivity in their immediate neighborhood and their city,” Matthew said. “The kind of in-person visit where people would bring you a pie are gone.”

Tia said the focus of the page is on what they can share with people rather than trying to get something from users.

The page provides help with “daily resources” including getting recommendations on landscapers or restaurants, as well as where to buy a house and where to find entertainment in Chandler, Matthew said.

Joyce Baum/Baum Photography

Tia and Matthew Coates, who are Realtors at Revelation Real Estate in Chandler, started the Living Chandler Facebook page.

More than 75 categories of information are accessible on Living Chandler, including more than 400 posts on restaurants in the area. Those who join the site can access the tremendous archives with previous posts.

Members do not have to live in Chandler. They could be people who work or play in the city, anyone with an interest in the Chandler area.

“Our number one category and intentionally done this way is positivity,” Matthew said. “There’s so much negative in the world.”

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In the positivity category, users can share “what’s great about our city,” he said.

Participants have expressed gratitude to someone for buying them a coffee at Starbucks and informed the group they are giving something away to people in need.

Recently, Matthew and Tia shared how they donated a personal vehicle to someone in need in the group.

Some posts are just for fun, including asking members what they are doing on the weekend and requesting they post pictures of themselves at work and write a caption for photos, as well as sharing

funny memes.

“Chandler is great because it is a community-oriented city,” Matthew said. “It’s got the perks of small-town living with big city amenities. We have an educated workforce, sophisticated resident population.”

The city has become “a nice melting pot for people that have moved from various areas of the country.”

Tia echoed Matthew’s love for Chandler.

“It’s that educated sophistication with an unassuming attitude,” she said. “It’s not pretentious in any way.”

The two enjoy raising their sons, Toby, 14, a freshman at Hamilton High School, and Miller, 9, a third-grader at Tarwater Elementary School.

Being a member of Living Chandler is free. Anyone interested in joining only needs to fill out a short application, answering a few questions.

Matthew and Tia are thrilled at the large membership.

“We got a lot of members joining right away, immediately because there was nothing like it in the area,” Matthew said.

“We made it an intention to make it a true and pure community group. It was all about resources and advice and getting people together, and it just took off from day one.”

People in the Living Chandler group often organize and contribute donations and give back to those who are struggling around Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as other times of the year.

Information: facebook.com/groups/ livingchandler.

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BUSINESS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Statesman opens 64 condos, penthouses at The Cays in Ocotillo SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

The Statesman Group is opening 64 homes available this month for reservations for the third phase of sales at The Cays at downtown Ocotillo, a $90-million luxury condominium community.

Selling more than $40 million in real estate at The Cays to date, Statesman is selling one- and two-bedroom condos and top-floor penthouses ranging in size from 862 to 1,512 square feet and priced from the mid $200,000s.

Statesman will also nearly double the patio space and make soft enhancements to each home within this phase with expected move-in the first quarter of 2020.

“The Cays is leading the way for luxury condominium developments in the East Valley as we continue to attract interest from buyers looking for a more upscale option without paying higher prices for a similar offering in Scottsdale or Phoenix,” said Alana Mann, president and owner of The Statesman Group, adding: “Local and national buyers are seeing the value of living in Chandler with the resortstyle living, access to world-class golfing, dining and shopping and some of the lowest cost of services, utility charges and sales tax in the Valley. We’re looking to amplify what condo living is all about here in Chandler.”

Since opening in June 2015, The Cays “has been met with high demand from second homebuyers looking to escape the winter months from colder destinations like Colorado, Washington and many states within the Midwest and East Coast,” a spokeswoman added.

Special to SanTan Sun News

The Cays at Downtown Ocotillo has just put 64 more condos and penthouses on the market as the luxury complex expands, with an opening date for the new units set for 2020.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, Maricopa County ranks among the top areas in the nation for second homeownership with more than 118,000 homes categorized as “second homes.”

Outside of the weather, one of the biggest attractions for second homebuyers

at The Cays is the walkability to the downtown Ocotillo, where the developer announced a multimillion-dollar expansion adding up to seven new tenants and lakefront lounging areas by spring.

“Being from Washington, I was really looking for a second home that was close to

great dining options and offered a relaxing respite from the dreary winter months when traveling for work. When I stumbled upon Chop Chandler and The Living Room Wine Café & Lounge in Downtown Ocotillo, I knew I had to live in this area,” said one homeowner at The Cays.

Homeowners at The Cays have unlimited access to a 9,500-squarefoot clubhouse that features a gourmet community kitchen, two-sided fireplace, a media center and social lounge, yoga studio, billiards and shuffleboard located at the heart of the property.

Other amenities include a 1,800-squarefoot fitness center with locker rooms and private steam showers, year-round heated swimming pool surrounded by private cabanas, an outdoor kitchen with gas BBQs and a bar, fireplaces and lush landscaping.

Statesman has sold more than 15,000 homes within dynamic masterplanned communities.

It also recently expanded as an investor in hotel development including partnerships with Tru by Hilton, Residence Inn by Marriott, TownePlace Suites by Marriott and the new Aloft by Starwood (Marriott).

With headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., the company has offices and developments in Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia and Washington. For more information, visit StatesmanCorporation.com.

Information: TheCaysatOcotillo.com or 480-248-3737. The Cays at Downtown Ocotillo is located at 2511 W. Queen Creek Road in Chandler.

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BUSINESS

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Baby daughter’s death put woman on path to her business

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor

You don’t expect someone who wins a business award to talk about death at the luncheon when they make their acceptance speech.

But Terri Waibel not only did that, but told the throng at the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce’s ATHENA Awards luncheon last month that she had left an empty chair at her table in memory of any loved one whose death the guests were mourning – along with a box for them to drop a card with that loved one’s name so she could light a candle in their memory that night and say their names aloud.

Waibel’s business is “listening to grieving hearts.”

The longtime Ahwatukee resident, a 2001 Mountain Pointe High School and ASU graduate, is a psychotherapist and grief counselor whose Center for Compassion in Chandler offers counseling for a wide range of people with problems – but specializes in helping those whose grief is seemingly insurmountable, particularly in the wake of sudden, traumatic death.

A licensed clinical social worker by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners she also is certified as a grief counselor by the MISS Foundation, the Center for Loss and Trauma and the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Family Trust.

Her ATHENA Young Professional Award was the Phoenix Chamber’s recognition of “exemplary achievement,’ leadership within her profession and dedication to the community.

Waibel hadn’t set out on that career path when she got her bachelor’s degree in sociology and master’s in social work from ASU. In 12 years of social work, she has had a diverse array of jobs counseling a diverse array of populations and also is a field supervisor for ASU students pursuing a master’s degree in social work.

But traumatic death nudged her into developing the specialty she and her business focus on.

The unexpected death of her brother in 2006 began what she calls “my own grief journey,” but it was the 2012 death of her second of three children at birth that propelled her into what she mainly does now.

“Terri Waibel harnessed her personal grief to create a space for others to feel

Special to the San Tan Sun News

As she addressed the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce ATHENA awards luncheon, Terri Waibel of Ahwatukee talked of her mission to help heal hearts broken by the sudden, traumatic death of a loved one.

and honor their grief by founding the Center for Compassion,” the Phoenix Chamber said in announcing her award.

Waibel recalled that as she grieved the death of her daughter, “it was difficult to

“It was really important to me that I honor my daughter to do that work,” she said.

Citing her work of providing “therapeutic support to individuals, children,

Many people approached the table after my “acceptance speech to share the names of their beloveds that have died, It was simultaneously heartbreaking and beautiful.

”

find well-trained providers who could help me in my grief, good therapists who were trained to work with grieving people.”

So, she immersed herself in study that eventually positioned her to be that person she couldn’t find and in 2014, she became a certified grief counselor.

– Terri Waibel

and families enduring the death of a beloved family member,” the Chamber said, “Every day, Waibel illustrates how to have a mindful relationship with grief while living a life of meaning.”

Indeed, the luncheon itself illustrated the depth and breadth of the need she

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aims to address: At the end of the event, 50 people had dropped names of loved ones into the box.

“Many people approached the table after my acceptance speech to share the names of their beloveds that have died,” she said. “It was simultaneously heartbreaking and beautiful.”

She said that while pastors or hospice counselors provide valuable support to people mourning the loss of a loved one, traumatic death often inflicts a deeper, more stubborn kind of pain that can paralyze people with grief.

“Our culture is not good at handling sudden death,” she said.

Moreover, such death often triggers other long-standing trauma and issues that a person had put on a shelf or thought they had been managing.

“I come to this work with a broken open heart and a willingness to explore unanswerable questions,” she tells people on her website. “My approach to therapy is ‘eclectic’ in that I call upon many ideas and theories to be present with the unfolding path of others.

“I carry a deep reverence for being present with those who are suffering as a result of grief, trauma, and loss. I have been profoundly honored to work with individuals, groups, children, and families coping with traumatic grief following the sudden death of a loved one, including the loss of a child, sibling, partner, or parent.”

Along the way, she makes personal discoveries as well, and talks of how “my heart has also been touched by the many stories of trauma that have been fully entrusted to me by some of the bravest humans I’ve known. Bearing witness to broken hearts is truly the most meaningful work.”

Her practice is relatively small, but Waibel said she hopes to grow it so that she can build a staff and eventually provide free or low-cost counseling to the many people she feels need it.

It’s not about making money or success as most people understand that term.

When the Phoenix Chamber asked her the key to continued success, Waibel replied: “My deepest wish is that when I die, because I will, that people will remember me for a legacy of love and compassion always.”

Information: 333 N. Dobson Road, Chandler; the centerforcompassion.com, 480-420-7999.

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Record store grew out of his father’s collection

BY CECILIA CHAN Staff

Darren Skarecky is a numbers guy, a certified public accountant by trade.

How he ended up opening a store in Gilbert that sells music is largely due to his father, Dick Skarecky.

“He had been collecting well over 20 years and had over 15,000 records at his house and getting a little bit of flack from my mom,” said Skarecky, who grew up in Gilbert and now lives in Queen Creek. “It was starting to take over the house and I threw out the idea, ‘Let’s open a record store.’”

That suggestion led to Grace Records, which opened last December at San Tan Village outdoor mall near San Tan Village Parkway and Williams Field Road. It’s the only independent vinyl records store in Gilbert so far – and one of the few in the entire East Valley.

The store’s initial stock came from the collection belonging to Skarecky’s dad, who would play his records on one of three turntables at his Gilbert home.

“He still has at least 5,000 records,” Skarecky said. “He didn’t get rid of all of them.”

The store, which has listening stations for customers, replenishes its shelves with new and used records. The bulk or 85 percent of its 10,000 records for sale are used, selling for $3 each.

“We keep it simple and cheap,” said assistant manager Mitchell Atencio. “We have every new release, every genre and we can do specialty orders, too.”

The store also has music from the 1920s, but they are 78s and not a big seller.

One of the things that makes Grace Records unique, Atencio said, is its vast collection of Hip-Hop artists.

“We bought 600 records of Hip Hop from the East Coast and shipped it out here and built a table for it,” Atencio said.

That genre of music got its start on the East Coast and includes artists such as WuTang Clan, Jay Z, DMX, Busta Rhymes, Public Enemy, Gang Starr and Notorious B.I.G. Grace Records also sells turntables from $60 entry-level record players to $500 primo models and music memorabilia such as T-shirts, lunch boxes and posters. Every other Saturday, a local band performs at the store.

As Grace Records heads towards its

Pablo Robles/Staff Photographert

Kysha Rogers thumbs through a stack of vinyl records at Grace Records, one of the few East Valley shops that sell them.

first anniversary, it is planning for Record Store Day on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

The event was conceived in 2007 as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1,400 independently-owned record stores in the country, according to the Record Store Day website.

Record Store Day takes place in April and November, when special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day.

Some of the anticipated 157 releases on Black Friday this year include music from Judas Priest, Sheryl Crow, Grateful Dead and Alice Cooper.

“We have many, many limited releases coming out,” Skarecky said. “We will have all kinds of additional sales that day and week, too, and we may have live music and some giveaways for fun.”

Vinyl’s comeback started over a decade ago and many say it’s here to stay.

Vinyl LP has been seeing a sales growth for 12 consecutive years, with 14.3 million albums sold in 2017, up 9 percent from the year before, according to the Nielsen Music Year-End Report.

The top-selling LP of that year, by the

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way, was the re-release of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which sold 72,000 records, according to Nielsen. The Sgt. Pepper album also was a best seller when it was first released back in 1967.

Grace Records’ customers include all age groups.

“We get younger kids, that is why we chose a mall setting,” Skarecky said. “It’s a little bit more accessible to the younger audience. We have lot of kids, pre-teens who are buying their first turntables and their parents are buying older records and newer records. We also got people in their 70s and 80s coming in.”

The hottest-selling artist at his store right now is Queen, with the buyers being teenagers, according to Skarecky, who is 46 and grew up listening to CDs and LPs. He was a fan of Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill album when it was released in 1986.

Teens also are scooping up The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd at the store, Skarecky said.

In fact, it’s young people who are driving vinyl sales, industry experts say.

Nostalgia may be what is bringing older listeners back to the fold, but for younger fans it’s another story.

“I think they grew up in the digital

age, having nothing tangible as related to music,” Skarecky said.

With vinyl, they are actually taking it out of the sleeve, putting it on a turntable and listening while watching, he said.

“It’s an intentional act of listening to someone,” he said. “Digital media is kind of in the background. It’s an appeal to younger kids who have never experienced anything like that before.

“Records have been around 100 years, but we are definitely seeing a resurgence.

The younger generation is really latching on to it and really appreciates the appeal.”

Besides an album’s artistic cover, which some people buy just to hang on the wall, the sound quality from an analog recording surpasses that of digital, according to Atencio.

“The sound quality is better than anything out there and has been for a long time and is only getting better with new technology,” Atencio said. “It’s better than streaming off Spotify.”

A lot of the new releases also come with a code for people to get a digital download of the album online, he added.

The industry has seen changes over the years.

Today’s records are 180-gram vinyl, which are stronger and more durable and less likely to scratch or warp.

And they are coming out in eyecatching colors like Dylan &The Dead, which features red-and-blue tie-dye vinyl. Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead’s original album released in 1989.

While many vinyl record pressings are duplicates of the original releases, there is new music from those artists in the mix.

“The brand-new stuff got The Beatles recording a performance on the BBC in the 1970s that never made it to vinyl before because they released other stuff,” Atencio said. “They are pressing onto vinyl old bands by going back and finding things and putting them out.”

Right now for Grace Record, the sky’s the limit for vinyl.

“I think it will continue to grow,” Atencio said. “There’s a whole new generation getting into vinyl for their own reason. Lot of people thought it was a fad when it started, but 10 years of sustained growth, it’s looking not so much a fad but a trend.”

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Sports & Recreation

31

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Is juco football dead? Hope held for its future ZACH ALVIRA Sports Editor

The ruling on the field is that junior college football in the Southeast Valley and across metro Phoenix is dead.

Interested parties say there is indisputable evidence, though, that it is worthwhile and benefits student athletes.

They remain hopeful that the ruling comes under review and is overturned.

For now, what appeared to be the final games were played Nov. 10.

“We’ve had 180-something guys go to four-year schools on scholarship in the last six seasons,” Mesa coach Ryan Felker said.

“We’ve had first-round draft picks in the NFL. That doesn’t happen without this.”

Following Mesa’s win over Phoenix College, fans were seen and heard pointing at Felker, exclaiming that he was going to be the reason junior college football was saved in the Valley.

Felker offered little explanation of the comments, instead smiling and admitting that he and others recently received “some good news.”

“There’s some things,” Felker said. “We are going to keep working. There’s some other things coming down the line that we haven’t discussed that will definitely impact what is happening.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the next few months.”

On Feb. 5, the Maricopa County Community College District board announced the termination of junior college football programs in the Valley.

The announcement left players and coaching staffs at Scottsdale Community, Mesa Community, Glendale Community and Phoenix College questioning their future.

Nearly 500 juco players take the field across the Valley each year.

A few months later, Pima Community

Photos by Pablo Robles/STSN Staff

Above: Junior college football gave Mesa Community College’s Aaron Auelua, a 2016 Highland High graduate, a chance to improve his grades while playing the sport he loves. Auelua, a 6-foot-3, 330-pound defensive tackle, says it “helped me mature and become a good person and even better player.” Right: Mesa coach Ryan Felker, with 180 players moving on to four-year schools, prides himself on the benefit of juco football. With regard to its future in the Valley, he says there’s recently been “some good news.”

“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the next few months,” he adds.

College in Tucson announced that 2018 would be the last season for its football program, also. Without Valley teams, there were none to schedule that are close enough to make continuation cost effective.

Junior college football gave Mesa’s Aaron

Auelua a second chance to improve his grades while playing the sport he loves.

Auelua graduated from Highland High in 2016 and signed on to play football at Mesa shortly after. His high school grades kept the 6-foot-3, 330-pound defensive tackle

from joining a Division I program. His time at Mesa changed that.

“It’s helped me mature and become a good person and even better player,” Auelua said after Mesa defeated Phoenix College 37-12.

“Especially with grades, that’s the reason I came here. These coaches pushed me to better myself on the field and in the classroom. I can’t thank them enough.”

Auelua became emotional thinking about the impact the experience had on him. The sophomore now has interest from four-year universities, including Northern Arizona and Texas-El Paso. Auelua always will cherish his time as a Thunderbird.

“It’s crazy being around these guys.

Everyone here is great,” Auelua said. “Just knowing that people may not be able to experience what I did here is sad.”

Like Auelua, defensive back Gerald Wilbon came to Mesa hoping to improve in the classroom.

A standout cornerback at Red Mountain High in 2017, Wilbon was impressive in his first and, for now, only season with Mesa.

“Now that the game is over it’s starting to hit a little bit,” Wilbon said.

He is confident that his football career will continue, somewhere.

“This game really teaches you how to grow up, be a man and become independent. You just have to take everything you learn and put that into reallife situations.”

Defensive back Sam Westfall came to Mesa to prove that he has what it takes to compete at the Division I level.

As a high school junior in his home state of Utah, Westfall suffered a torn ACL. The injury prevented him from playing and getting game film in what he called the most important years of his prep career. Playing See

JUCO on page 32

Chandler girls race to 2nd place in cross-country SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

Sammy Van Alstine doesn’t really view himself as a long-distance runner. He prefers the shorter races in track – the 800 meters and 1,600/mile where he can use his speed.

That extra gear served him well in the Division I state cross-country championships over the 5,000-meter distance he doesn’t really like.

Running step-for-step with nationally ranked Leo Daschbach of Highland and Desert Vista teammate Lee Nasewytewa, Van Alstine turned to his speed and pulled away in the closing 800 meters for the big-school individual crown.

Van Alstine clocked 16 minutes, 3.08 seconds, three seconds ahead of Daschbach, who is ranked sixth in the U.S. with a best of 14 minutes, 52 second for 5,000 meters, and six seconds ahead of third-place Nasewytewa.

In the Division I girls race, Chandler High’s loaded roster couldn’t quite keep pace with Xavier Prep, which won the

Kimberly Carrillo/STSN Staff

Above: The Chandler High girls cross country team took second place in the Division I girls state cross-country championships behind Morgan Foster (second place), Mihajla Milovanovic (11th), Becca Taylor (12th), Leonela Lizzaraga (26th), Brooke Eversden (45th), Ava Potts (50th) and Sarah Plant (53rd). They’re coached by Matt Lincoln. Right: Sammy Van Alstine of Desert Vista wins the Division I boys state cross-country championship on Saturday at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix. His run of 16 minutes, 3.08 seconds on the hilly, 5K course lifted the Thunder boys to their fifth straight state championship.

team title with 71 points.

The Wolves were right behind in second place with 93 points, paced by lead runner Morgan Foster, whose 18:04.04 was good for second individually, behind champion Abi Archer of Chaparral (17:56.22).

John Hays/ Special to STSN Chandler’s Mihajla Milovanovic took 11th in 19:37.11 and Becca Taylor 12th in 19:40.50.

All the talk was about Daschbach, and had the Highland ace been healthy he See

CROSS-COUNTRY on page 32

32

SPORTS & RECREATION

JUCO

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

CROSS-COUNTRY

from page 31

at Mesa gave Westfall the opportunity to prove he is capable while also giving him skills needed in everyday life.

“It gave me another chance to prove my talents and gave me an opportunity to move on,” he said. “It helped me grow up as a person and mature about a lot of new things.”

As players and coaches contemplate where they go next, if anywhere, a group of former coaches continues to push the district board to reconsider the decision to cut the sport.

Dave Arslanian, a former coach at Scottsdale, Snow College in Utah and Division I college programs, leads the effort to save junior college football in Maricopa County.

Arslanian and Larry Philpot – Scottsdale CC’s first-ever coach – immediately put a plan into place when they heard that juco football was being cancelled. It began with pushing for the election of four candidates to the MCCCD Governing Board who were open to communication to keep juco football alive.

On Nov. 6, two of those candidates – Tom Nerini and Marie Sullivan – were elected. Two existing board members said they, too, are open to discussion.

“We are very optimistic because of the commitments that have been made,” Arslanian said. “We need to not let a handful of people make that decision. We need to let the community make the decision. It’s their money that supports these programs.”

Arslanian has witnessed first-hand

from page 31 might have shown why. Daschbach was ailing and on antibiotics.

Both the Desert Vista boys and Chandler had taken it easy a week earlier

in their sectional races, giving hope to others that the team titles might be up for grabs.

But when the gun was fired Saturday at the hilly 5K course at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix, the Thunder boys and Wolves girls made their points.

State Cross-Country Championships East Valley Top-10 fi nishers Pablo Robles/STSN Staff

Defensive back Gerald Wilbon came to Mesa Community College from Red Mountain High hoping to improve in the classroom. “This game really teaches you how to grow up, and be a man, “ he said.”

what football has done for thousands of players who have passed through Maricopa community college programs for decades.

For many, it gave them a way out of dangerous communities. Others benefited from a new way to receive an education beyond high school.

Arslanian believes taking the programs away would do more harm than good fwhen so many players and coaches rely on them.

“I don’t know any coach that trains kids to only be football players,” Arslanian said. “We teach them discipline, respect, teamwork and how to be a good student.

I see it over and over again. You would be amazed at what this game does for many kids.”

Contact Zach Alvira at zalvira@ timespublications.com and follow him on Twitter @ZachAlvira.

Division I Boys Teams – 1, Desert Vista, 31. 2, Highland, 41. 4, Mountain View, 149. 5, Hamilton, 220. 7, Red Mountain, 245. 9, Perry, 285.

10, Corona del Sol, 294.

Individuals – 1, Sammy Van Alstine, Desert Vista, 16 minutes, 3.08 seconds.

2, Leo Daschbach, Highland, 16:06.99. 3, Lee Nasewytewa, Desert Vista, 16:09.20.

4, Travis Kearney, Desert Vista, 16:25.19.

6, Dallin Archibald, Highland, 16:28.84.

7, Josh Lowry, Desert Vista, 16:30.31. 9, Caden Resendez, Highland, 16:31.86. 10, Matthew Judd, Mountain View, 16:43.58.

Division I Girls Teams – 2, Chandler, 93. 3, Highland, 105. 4, Desert Vista, 120. 5, Red Mountain, 156. 7, Skyline, 188. 9, Perry, 205. 10, Mountain View, 310.

Individuals – 2, Morgan Foster, Chandler, 18:04.04. 3, Caroline McLeskey, Highland, 18:23.96. 6, Kailey Welch, Mountain View, 19:11.07. 8, Kylie Miller, Perry, 19:18.13. 9, Yaylor Lovell,

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Division II Girls Teams – 6, Higley, 250. 8, Campo Verde, 259. 9, Casteel, 273.

Individuals – 5, Jadyn Herron-Jonap, Casteel, 19:16.18.

Division III Girls Individual – 9, Christina Joslin, Seton Cathoilic, 20:14.05.

Division IV Boys Individual – 8, Kyle Blunt, Chandler Prep, 16:48.81.

Division IV Girls Teams – 3, Chandler Prep, 137.

Individual: 6, Justine Cooper, Chandler Prep, 20:42.19.

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Division II Boys Teams – 2, Casteel, 144. 3, Campo Verde, 150.

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

SPORTS & RECREATION

33

Chandler-area swimmers fare well in state meets

BY ERIC NEWMAN STSN Staff Writer

In just her first Division I high school state swimming championships, Mountain View freshman Emma Becker showed that she will be a force for years to come.

Becker won gold in two events, the 100yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley, out-racing older competitors at Skyline Aquatic Center in Mesa.

The team favorites dominated the Division I meet. The winning teams – Chaparral for the girls and Brophy Prep for the boys –won handily. In boys, East Valley schools Mountain View, Basha and Corona del Sol took 3-4-5. In girls, Mountain View, Red Mountain and Highland placed 3-4-5.

In Division II, the Campo Verde boys placed fourth and the girls third. In Division III, the Seton Catholic boys were fourth, the girls third.

Including the two by Becker, East Valley swimmers earned gold medals in seven events in Division I. The top seed in the breaststroke, Becker posted the only sub-30-second first lap and won by nearly 1.5 seconds in 1 minute, 3.27 seconds.

In the medley, Becker knew she had an advantage in the breaststroke and freestyle strokes to end the race. When she got a great start off the block and kept herself in the mix through the first two strokes, she

Photos By Kimberley Carrillo/STST Staff

Left: Mountain View freshman Emma Becker won gold in two events, the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley, out-racing older competitors in the Division I State Swimming and Diving Championships at Skyline Aquatic Center in Mesa. Right: Mountain View High swimming coach Glen Coy saw his girls and boys take third place each in the Division I State Swimming and Diving Championships at Skyline Aquatic Center in Mesa.

used her breaststroke strength to take a lead she would not give up and won in 2:02.83.

“It feels really good,” Becker said after the medley, “I wasn’t too nervous because we all kind of just came out and were having fun beforehand. But, I’m just happy with the way I swam.”

Mountain View coach Glen Coy wasn’t surprised that the youngster came through.

“I’ve been telling her she could do it.

We knew if she took the backstroke a little more serious and got a lead she could close it out, so it was just great to see,” Coy said.

Though in her first state meet for her school, Becker and other Mountain View swimmers compete in state and national meets with club teams, so championship-level pressure is nothing new, even for a freshman.

“All the swimmers do so much all year, like the sectionals or the individual state meets, that they are used to the big crowds and all that. I’m really proud of how she and the others have handled it,” Coy said.

Like Becker, Desert Ridge sophomore Essias Smith beat more- experienced competitors for his gold medal. He shaved

0.72 seconds off his preliminary time, and his 49.38 in the 100-yard butterfly was the only time under 50 seconds.

“This is my favorite stroke,” Smith said.

“I really don’t even look to see where everyone else is. I just kind of put my head down and went as hard as I could, and it worked out.”

The pool was kind to Mesa competitors in the 100-yard butterfly, as Westwood senior Natalie Crisci won the girls’ race in 55.31.

Having competed in the event for four years, she said the girls who knocked her off the top spot on the podium in seasons past have graduated. This was her year. In her final race for the Warriors, she got off fast and willed herself to the top.

“I know you’re really not supposed to pay attention to all the other swimmers around you, but I definitely was,” Crisci said. “The last 25 yards at the end was really ugly, and my stroke was terrible, but I just wanted it so bad.”

Many top East Valley swimmers compete with and against each other all off season on club teams comprising athletes from several schools. If the Mesa swimmers can’t win themselves, they want to see their friends succeed.

“So many of us know each other, so it’s fun to get here and see your friends doing well from other schools, too,” Smith said.

“We all want to win, but we’re rooting for each other, too.”

State Swimming and Diving Championships Top-5 placers Division I Boys Team – 3, Mountain View, 261.5. 4, Basha, 167. 5, Corona del Sol, 145.

400 freestyle relay – 2, Mountain View (Nick Moreno, Braden Cusson, Wesley Hendricks, Chris Allen), 3:07.87. 5, Basha (Jordan Smith, Robert Garden, Ben Vinz, Nathan Vinz), 3:13.19.

100 breaststroke – 2, Ean Peterson, Hamilton, 58.87. 3, Zuy Pham, Mountain Pointe, 58.89. 4, Reese Latto, Corona del Sol, 59.01.

100 backstroke – 2, Luke Walker, Desert Ridge, 51.38. 4, Dylan Edge, Corona del Sol, 51.79.

200 freestyle relay – 2, Mountain View (Nick Moreno, Kyle Turley, Wesley Hendricks, Chris Allen), 1:25.34. 5, Basha (Jordan Smith, Robert Garden, Sj Staiti, Tanner Dunn), 1:27.69.

100 freestyle – 5, Chris Allen, Mountain View, 46.95.

100 butterfly – Esssias Smith, Desert Ridge, 49.38. 3, Kelly Lucas, Chandler, 50.58. 5, Braden Cusson, Mountain View, 51.34.

1-meter diving – 1, Daniel Knapp, Skyline, 515.60. 2, Zachory Lundgren, Basha, 470.90. 4, Jacob Ramirez, Skyline, 403.90.

5, Wesley Hansen, Mountain View, 403.30.

50 freestyle – Jordan Smith, Basha, 21.67.

200 individual medley – 3, Luke Walker, Desert Ridge, 1:54.09.

200 freestyle – 4, Chris Allen, Mountain View, 1:43.31. 5, Lucas Kelly, Chandler, 1:43.68.

200 medley relay – 3, Desert Ridge (Luke Walker, Ben Edwards, Essias Smith, Nolan Craig), 1:36.66. 4, Mountain View (Miles Hutchinson, Larsen Marziale, Braden Cusson, Aaron Becker), 1:36.95. 5,

Corona del Sol (Dylan Edge, Reese Latto, Francisco Esparza, Roan Kelleher), 1:37.33.

Girls Team -- 3, Mountain View, 268. 4, Red Mountain, 170. 5, Highland, 138.5.

400 freestyle relay – 3, Mountain View (Stella Gruender, Jessica Lesuer, Maddie Timm, Emma Becker), 3:33.0. 4, Red Mountain (Hannah Ray, Lauren Hicks, Cameron Daniell, Taylor Walton), 3:37.21.

5, Desert Vista (Shelby Nicolaisen, Kinsey Miller, Peyton Garvy, Lauren Lindsey), 3:38.50.

100 breaststroke – 1, Emma Becker, Mountain View, 1:03.27.

100 backstroke – 4 tie, Ashley Catchpole, Highland, 58.09. 4 tie, Kayla Cunningham, Hamilton, 58.09.

200 freestyle relay – 2, Highland (Ashley Catchpole, Kacey Roten, Amanda Johnsen, Kyla Yetter), 1:38.04.

4, Red Mountain (Lauren Hicks, Hannah Ray, Morgan Shattuck, Taylor Walton), 1:38.60. 5, Mountain View (Sarah Johnson, Ellie Thompson, Jessica Leseur, Stella Gruender), 1:39.00.

500 freestyle – 3, Destiny Kling, Chandler, 4:58.80. 4, Jessica Leseur, Mountain View, 5:01.87.

100 freestyle – 1, Kalli Fama, Perry, 50.13.

2, Kyla Yetter, Highland, 51.58.

100 butterfly – 1, Natalie Crisci, Westwood, 55.31. 3, Ashley Catchpole, Highland, 56.47. 4, Taylor Walton, Red Mountain, 56.55.

1-meter diving – Victoria Knapp, Skyline, 466.70. 3, Isabelle Lombardi, Desert Vista, 443.40. 4, Rebekah Knapp, Skyline, 419.35.

200 individual medley – Emma Becker, Mountain View, 2:02.83. 2, Destiny Kling, Chandler, 2:03.31. 5, Taylor Walton, Red Mountain, 2:07.30.

200 freestyle – 2, Kelli Fama, Perry, 1:48.45. 3, Kyla Yetter, Highland, 1:50.81.

200 medley relay – 2, Mountain View (Jessica Franco, Emma Becker, Rian Lewandowski, Sarah Johnson), 1:46.49. 3, Chandler (Sarah Quintana, Abby Taylor, Haley Morton, Shasha Gesner), 1:48.72.

4, Highland (Ashley Catchpole, Kacey Routen, Sadie Khalil, Kyla Yetter), 1:49.67.

5, Desert Ridge (Karina Harr, Shaylin Grant, Jaidyn Wolfe, Kailee Patters), 1:49.73.

100 freestyle – 2, Paige Treptow, Campo Verde, 52.45.

50 freestyle – 2, Paige Treptow, Campo Verde, 23.86.

200 individual medley – Kendall Carlson, Casteel, 2:11.07.

200 freestyle – Madison Caserio, Gilbert, 1:53.71.

Division II Boys Team – 4, Campo Verde, 200.

100 breaststroke – 5, Tucker Ashton, Campo Verde, 1:00.09.

200 freestyle relay – 3, Campo Verde (Jeremy Graunke, Enrique Rivera, Tucker Ashton, Christian Osterndorf), 1:29.25.

100 freestyle – Jaxson Scown, Higley, 48.30.

1-meter diving – 2, Jason Lenzo, Campo Verde, 461.75. 4, Ashton Hasegawa, Campo Verde, 427.20. 5, Caleb Lamoreaux, Higley, 423.75.

50 freestyle – 2, Christian Osterndorf, Campo Verde, 21.65. 4, Keaton Van Gieson, Higley, 21.95.

200 freestyle – 4, Andrew Pocock, Mesquite, 1:44.86.

200 medley relay – 4, Campo Verde (Jeremy Graunke, Tucker Ashton, Gabe Fowler, Christian Osterndorf), 1:38.81.

Division III Boys Teams – 4, Seton Catholic, 177.

400 freestyle relay – 3, Seton Catholic, 3:20.78.

100 breaststroke – 4. James Kara, Seton Catholic, 1:00.56. 5. Tim Fay, Gilbert Classical Academy, 1:01.24.

100 backstroke – 5, Jack Luke, Seton Catholic, 58.31.

200 freestyle relay – 5, Seton Catholic, 1:34.68.

500 freestyle – 3, Jack Luken, Seton Catholic, 4:53.17.

100 freestyle – 1. James Karam, Seton Catholic, 47.58. 3. Nathan Kempiak, Gilbert Christian, 49.20. 4. Tim Fay, Gilbert Classical Academy, 49.31.

50 freestyle – 3, Nathan Kempiak, Gilbert Christian, 22.24.

200 individual medley – 5, Anthony Ramos, Seton Catholic, 2:08.05.

200 medley relay – 4, Gilbert Classical Academy, 1:46.35.

Girls Team – 3, Campo Verde, 164.

400 freestyle relay – 3, Campo Verde (Victoria Bradjan, Nevaeh Bisdnack, Sophia Pedersen, Paige Treptow), 3:37.11.

200 freestyle relay – 3, Campo Verde (Victoria Bradjan, Nevaeh Bisdnack, Sophia Pedersen, Paige Treptow), 1:40.24.

500 freestyle – 4, Madison Caserio, Gilbert, 5:05.88.

Girls Team – 3, Seton Catholic, 182.

400-freestyle relay – 2, Seton Catholic, 3:44.92.

200 freestyle relay – 3, Seton Catholic, 1:43.52.

500 freestyle – 2, Ruth Lucht, Seton Catholic, 5:10.15.

200 freestyle – 3, Ruth Lucht, Seton Catholic, 1:55.88.

SPORTS & RECREATION 34

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Corona del Sol comes up short in volleyball state-championship match ALEXANDRA COOK Executive Editor

Corona del Sol High faced extensive roster turnover on its girls volleyball team with only five players returning this season.

Yet the Aztecs, who have a lengthy history of success, once again found themselves on the court in the 6A statechampionship match at ASU’s Wells Fargo Arena.

Despite the rebuilding, the players’ mindset never wavered from making it to state.

While that, in itself, was an accomplishment for this group, it ran into another team, Xavier, with an equally impressive history of success, and the Gators swept the Aztecs.

“I’m very proud of this group,” Corona del Sol coach Ben Maxfield, said. “We always believed that we could get back here. Obviously it’s always disappointing to lose.”

Although the Gators led throughout, Corona del Sol senior co-captain Mary Shroll encouraged her teammates to push themselves and not give up.

“Those girls knew I was playing for them and I knew they had my back, too,” Shroll said.

However, the confidence boost was not enough.

Xavier junior Briana McKnight shined in front of the rowdy crowd with a gamehigh 20 kills – including the game winning point – and 13 digs.

“As a team, we were still there together. We just couldn’t pull it out in the end,” Aztec co-captain Kacie McCain said.

Photos By Zach Alvira/STSN Staff

Left: The Corona del Sol girls volleyball team huddles before the 6A state-championship match at ASU’s Wells Fargo Arena. The Aztecs reached the title game despite a massive rebuilding this season, but fell to traditional power Xavier in three sets. Right: Corona del Sol senior co-captain Mary Shroll (left) attempts to block Xavier junior Julianna Westfall during the 6A girls volleyball state-championship game at ASU’s Wells Fargo Arena.

Xavier won the title in straight sets.

Shroll dominated offensively for the Aztecs with 12 kills, while junior Ashley Hayden protected her ground with a game-high 19 digs.

The match started out competitively.

The first set was neck-and-neck before the Gators pulled it out, 25-22.

“We were feeling aggressive,” Xavier Prep coach Lamar-Renee Bryant said. “It’s about being aggressive and making sure we take one play at a time.”

In another back-and-forth battle in the second set, Xavier began to find its rhythm while the Aztecs missed some key serves. Corona del Sol players dove around to defend their territory, but Xavier won that set, 25-20.

The Gators completed the sweep with a 25-18 win in the third set.

Although the outcome was difficult for the seniors, they seemed to appreciate seeing the team grow and flourish during

the season.

“We came out here with a lot of fire and a lot of heart and we all knew we were going to take care of each other no matter what,” Shroll, said.

The Aztecs ended their season 29-14.

The Gators were 33-9.

“Throughout the season, we had phases and we kept getting better and better,” McCain said. “It was a great season overall.”

Dream season ends for Phoenix Rising in USL title game

BY RICARDO ÁVILA Cronkite News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The confetti shot into the air as the newly crowned 2018 United Soccer League Champions lifted the cup. After a playoff run that included hefty wins at home, the team held the league’s top trophy surrounded by fans and media. One of its team leaders had scored the game winner.

Phoenix Rising FC hoped to be the protagonists of that story, with Didier Drogba as their main star.

Only in real life, the confetti was purple, the fans were for Louisville City FC and Drogba stood on the sideline watching the celebration.

Phoenix Rising’s historic 2018 season came to an end when the club lost the USL Cup final 1-0 to Louisville City.

After the final whistle, Drogba led Rising players in congratulating their rivals, thanked their fans and stayed on the field while Louisville City received and raised the USL Cup. “The fire that’s burning inside me right now to get to work and start preparing for next year is something that I know is going to help me,” Rising coach Rick Schantz said. “I’ll always be able to remember watching them raise that cup.

It’s a moment I’ll never forget. It’s burned in my memory.”

In 2018, the Rising achieved a recordhigh of regular season points, goals scored and wins, reaching the USL Cup final for the first time in club history.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our

players,” Schantz said.

On a cold evening before a crowd of 7,025 at Lynn Stadium, Louisville City become the first USL club to win two consecutive championships.

Akin to the strategy in other playoff games this year, the Rising allowed Louisville City to exert more pressure on them, aiming to strike back via a counterattack.

The Rising were playing with fire. And they got burned.

A 62nd-minute Luke Spencer shot from close range, following several Rising efforts to clear the ball, put Louisville City ahead.

Even though the Rising had a chance to take the lead in the first half with a deflected Jason Johnson shot, the team failed to produce dangerous chances on Louisville City’s goal during the rest of the game.

Even Drogba, who had scored in every playoff game in Rising history, seemed to be a bit off. He had six shots, only one of them on target. He was in charge of taking free kicks, and again, only one was on target. The rest? Over the opposing goal.

Even though this game was supposed to be Drogba’s last-ever game as a professional soccer player, his Wednesday press conference casted a shadow of doubt as to when he would retire.

When asked about his last-ever game, Drogba said, “Maybe not,” and the press conference room chuckled. When he followed up, he said, “Let’s see how it goes,” as Schantz smiled. Drogba said

he received calls of interest after his performance against Orange County Soccer Club in the Western Conference Final a week ago.

Schantz didn’t confirm whether Drogba would retire or play another season.

“That’ll be a separate press conference for him. … We haven’t had that much of a discussion.”

Schantz apologized to Drogba for not giving him the cup, to which Drogba replied, “Well done coach, keep your head up.”

Goalkeeper Carl Woszczynski said Drogba’s talent on the field speaks for itself.

“He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met,” he said.

“He treats everybody like an equal, with respect. That says a lot from the guys he played with. One of the most valuable things I’ll take from him is no matter the level you can still be humble and treat everybody with respect.”.

The only change to the Rising’s lineup was a major one. Chris Cortez, the club’s highest goalscorer this season with 19, was left out of the match after suffering a hamstring injury against Orange County last week.

He was replaced by Kevaughn Frater.

Schantz said they knew pretty early Cortez wasn’t going to play and that when he called on Frater, Frater smiled and said, “I got you, coach.”

Frater’s enthusiasm wasn’t enough to break down Louisville City’s defensive tenacity, which surprised Schantz.

“I thought you had two really fantastic teams,” Schantz said. “(And) 1-0 was the way the result was going to go either way.”

Woszczynski was impressed by Louisville City.

“They’re solid everywhere,” he said.

Schantz said the team experienced peaks and valleys but that the group was resilient.

“Something that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to replicate it. I’ll do my best,” he said. “I’d love to play that game again.”

Woszczynski was grateful for the strong support of Rising fans.

“These fans expect a lot from us and we want to give back to them.”

About 1,000 fans traveled to the Orange County game last week and a smaller number made their way to Louisville for the final.

The team also held a viewing party at the Phoenix Rising Soccer Complex in Scottsdale Thursday night. Fans were able to access the stadium and sit on the field, watching the game on giant screens.

Those fans saw their team, which was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs a year ago, make it all the way to the final.

The Rising were close to bringing a trophy back to Arizona. The season that also saw the team set a home record attendance average of 7,707, ended in heartbreak.

Afterward, as Drogba left the field, with purple confetti falling in the background, he stopped. He touched the grass for what could be one last time, before disappearing into the locker room.

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Opinion

39

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

When a grandchild dies, grandparents grieve twice

BY LIN SUE COONEY Guest Writer

Her name was Ellie. A beautiful baby with rosebud lips and the sweetest little smile. A tiny bundle of hopes and dreams to last a lifetime. But Kent and Jeanine only got 10 days.

Their precious granddaughter succumbed to a deadly viral infection, leaving not only her parents but her grandparents drowning in grief.

“When a grandchild dies, grandparents grieve twice,” says Lisa Schmitt, executive director of the New Song Center for Grieving Children. “They mourn the child AND they feel the pain of their own child’s suffering.”

Kent and Jeanine Lavine lived that agony – trying to support their daughter as she suffered losing her first baby, while grieving Ellie’s loss for themselves.

“When my daughter Jessica cried on my shoulder,” Jeanine said, “I felt like I couldn’t break down, that I had to be strong for her.”

Realizing they couldn’t get through this on their own, they sought help from New Song’s Enduring Ties program which provides no cost grief support specifically for grandparents. Funded by donations and grants, it’s a collaboration between Hospice of the Valley, Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Ryan House, a medical respite center for medically-fragile children.

“Being with a group of people going through the same thing helped us feel understood. We opened up – and fell apart sometimes. We leaned on one another so we could be stronger for our families. We discussed which stage of grief we were in and shared ideas for getting past hurdles like anniversaries and holidays,” said Kent.

Jeanine also learned tools to strengthen her relationship with a grieving husband – so they could support each other if one of them was having a particularly bad day. And there were some bad ones. Kent admits to running off to coaching practice to escape the sadness for a few hours, then feeling so guilty he’d sob in the car driving home.

The idea for a grandparent’s support

group came from Diane Eckstein, who was mourning the death of her stillborn granddaughter, who died just four days before a scheduled c-section to deliver her.

“I realized that grandparents need their own experience to help them get through this kind of dual grief, and I couldn’t find one,” Eckstein said. “So, we created a place where we could speak openly about what’s going on with our own feelings as well as share the pain of our grieving children, our worries about them and how to be there for them.”

What many of these grandparents didn’t expect – was friendship. Such deep bonds were built, that 14 months later, they’re inviting each other to parties and family barbecues.

“It’s a club nobody wants to be part of,” says Kent, “but we are very lucky to have them as part of our lives now.”

Life has come full circle for both families.

Diane Eckstein has a happy, healthy granddaughter who is 3 months old now.

And the evening I spoke with Kent and Jeanine, they were babysitting their new grandson, Jacob Elliot. His middle name is in honor of his sister Ellie.

Ironically, Kent and Jeanine were babysitting because their daughter and son-in-law were attending New Song’s grief support group for parents who have lost a child.

“We want them to keep going. A new pregnancy, a new baby – it stirs up emotions all over again. Should I be this happy about this child, when I don’t have Ellie?” Jeanine sighs, “That’s the beauty of these support groups… they tell you it’s okay. This is your new normal.”

“Grandparents are the forgotten grievers,” says Amanda Sahli, bereavement coordinator at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. “It has been an honor and a privilege to watch every one of them walk this journey. We hope others who need this help will join us.”

This special group is open to all grandparents grieving the loss of a grandchild of any age, regardless of the cause of death or how long ago the child died. Meetings are every other week from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and a light dinner is served.

There is no cost. Information: 480 951-8985.

-Lin Sue Cooney is director of engagement for Hospice of the Valley.

Election Day’s biggest loser wasn’t even on the ballot

BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ Columnist

By 9 o’clock in the morning on Election Tuesday 2018, it was time to call it.

Among all the candidates in the Valley, there already was a clear loser, and he wasn’t even on the ballot.

I’m talking about Adrian Fontes, the Maricopa County Recorder.

As I write this – 36 hours after the election with nearly a half-million ballots left to count in Arizona’s largest county – I’m actually starting to feel sorry for the guy.

See, being the recorder is one of those tough jobs that sounds easy. You record stuff. That’s the gig. Someone buys or sells a house, you record it. Someone satisfies a lien, you record it. According to Fontes’ 2017 annual report – which includes a full-page glamour shot of himself – the Recorder’s Office was on track to record about 1 million documents last year.

Then there’s elections.

Elections don’t occur frequently, but they’re the true measuring stick for recorders. If you keep the glitches to a minimum, keep the long lines at bay and count the ballots quickly, you’re golden.

Helen Purcell, Fontes’ predecessor, held the job for 29 years. She did a nice job, until the 2016 presidential primary.

That was deemed a disaster, and Adrian Fontes won election that November.

Unfortunately for him, Fontes became recorder in the Yelp era. Today, everyone’s a critic. Everyone has access to a megaphone.

After a disastrous August primary that saw voters and reporters use social media to light up Fontes like a Christmas tree, all eyes were on the recorder Tuesday – which is exactly how he seems to like it.

If there was a media outlet that hasn’t hosted Fontes in the past 36 hours, don’t worry, he’ll get there today. And he’ll keep digging himself deeper into trouble.

Here’s Fontes on KTAR radio

Wednesday: “We’ve got early votes in house from before Election Day that we did not get to tabulating because we were concentrating on being set up for Election Day in the number of just over a quarter million. So, 277,104 to be tabulated. Now those are actually going through the machines right now.”

I’m guessing this whole first Tuesday in November election thing must’ve sneaked up on Fontes.

When you throw in another 200,000 ballots requiring human handling – like signature verification and taking them out of the envelopes – Fontes has a lot of counting left to do. And even more talking.

It’s like the man is channeling his inner Joe Arpaio – he has not met a camera or a microphone he can avoid.

Describing an Election Day “systemwide hiccup” that caused the county’s system to bog down for a few minutes, Fontes boasted at a press conference: “One of the things that we

are really impressed with is the speed with which we got to resolving the circumstances.”

At least someone’s impressed, right?

If Fontes would spend more time counting – faster – and less time explaining how much counting he has left to do, he would get the credit he so clearly believes he deserves.

He doesn’t seem to understand a key point: In 2018, the county recorder looks like a guy with an abacus in a digital world. Already this morning, I deposited a check by snapping a picture of it with my iPhone and ordered groceries via app.

They’ll arrive from across town in an hour.

Meanwhile, Adrian Fontes woke up to a third day of interviews and counting sheets of paper.

If I was Fontes, I’d start getting ready now for Nov. 3, 2020. That’s Election Day 2020. And it’s almost certainly the last election this recorder will ever have to count.

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OPINION 40

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Veterans help ease critical STEM workforce shortage

BY DEREK HORTON Special Contributor

Workers specializing in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics can help businesses retool, compete and thrive in the 21st-century economy.

Far too many companies in Arizona’s leading industries are struggling to fill crucial STEM (which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) positions. Employers here should turn to highly-skilled military veterans who increasingly leave the military with advanced technical expertise but are too often overlooked for STEM jobs.

STEM jobs comprise a diverse range of positions across a wide range of industries, including civil engineers, financial analysts, software developers and even accountants.

However, what ties this assorted group of jobs together – and makes them difficult to fill – is the need for a very particular set of skills, including mathematical proficiency, analytical reasoning, and research capabilities. This year alone, the demand for STEM jobs in Arizona went up by 16 percent.

And yet, thousands of these jobs still need to be filled despite being some of the best-paying and most rewarding positions on the job market.

Each year thousands of military members leave the service with the skills needed to be successful. The military has expertly adapted to an increasingly digital world.

Openings for “electronic warfare specialist,” “cryptologic cyberspace intelligence collector” and “geospatial intelligence imagery analyst” are now commonplace with all military recruiting sites. That’s because the crux of the

veterans retire from active duty to transition back into civilian life. Of these, a significant portion has worked in highly-technical fields and are uniquely qualified to excel in STEM jobs in the private sector.

The problem is that they are rarely presented with a chance to demonstrate these skills because of their lack of traditional college degrees or general job experience.

As a former Marine that was hired by Sallyport, a global logistics and security contractor, the skills I bring Special report Military and law enforcement units of all kinds are part of the East Valley Veterans Parade. Even the Buffalo Soldiers is to my job every day as Director of Information represented in the annual event.

Technology are directly based on my military armed services no longer consists of Moreover, in a race for technological training and experience. infantrymen operating in remote corners superiority, the military’s adoption and Sallyport values the experience and of the planet. integration of advanced technologies will expertise that veterans like myself bring Instead, much of our security only accelerate in coming years. to the table, mainly when looking for operations today are managed by bright Meanwhile, the STEM field in the talented people to fill STEM-related scientists and mathematicians, sitting in United States is facing a significant positions. The niche with technical bunkered bases throughout the world. skills gap. According to aRanstad North skills that I learned while in the military Members of the Army, Navy, Marines America report released in 2017, the U.S. prepared me for a successful career at and Air Force regularly engage with some has a 3-million-STEM-job surplus. of the most advanced technologies As a result, some of the most lucrative Sallyport. The understanding of military members’ skills should be considered by available; and the need for a deep and impactful jobs available on the companies who are outsourcing their understanding of these sophisticated market today are unfilled, and the gap hiring overseas. processes has become a fundamental is only growing—in North Dakota, for The STEM workforce shortage in the requirement for most service members example, there are currently 87 STEM job United States is a rare problem with an easy as warfare shifts to the cybersphere and openings for every qualified worker. answer.

Our veterans can fill these jobs – military devices increasingly replace The consequences of this skills gap and fill them well if only given a chance. boots on the ground. are even more troubling. With so many Dan Coats, director of National vacant openings, tech giants have begun -Derek Horton served in the Marines from Intelligence, illustrated the shifting nature outsourcing STEM jobs overseas to 1990 to 1998 – four years active duty, four of the times when he testified before the competitors like India and China. In the years inactive – as a communications Senate Select Committee on Intelligence process, the U.S. risks losing its standing earlier this year and named cyber threats as the world leader in innovation and as a watch officer before joining Sallyport where he works as director of information as the top worldwide threat to our hub for technological breakthroughs. technology. national security.

Meanwhile, every year, over 200,000

America has a voter fraud problem, call out those who ignore it

BY THOMAS PATTERSON Guest Writer

Once again this November millions of ordinary Americans exercised their precious privilege to vote.

But is it possible their vote was canceled by a cheater?

Absolutely not, insists the American left, including the mainstream media. The Brennan Center scoffs at “sensationalist claims“ of voting fraud and assures us that it is “vanishingly rare“.

The New York Times claims “there is essentially no voter fraud in this country“.

It’s a problem made up by bigots wanting to use voter ID requirements and “purging” of voter rolls to suppress minority voting.

But voter fraud is an elusive crime. It’s victims-voters-are unable to detect that their vote has been canceled. There is often little physical evidence of a crime, nothing evident to trigger an investigation.

Moreover, election officials, unlike law enforcement agencies, are loathe to go after voter fraud. After all, any fraud discovered is an indictment of their operation and fraud prevention efforts often attract criticism. Better to maintain the impression that there’s nothing to see here, folks.

So voter fraud is rarely found…unless it’s looked for. Then it turns out to be fairly common. Super close elections often require turning over some rocks, with surprising results.

When comedian Al Franken won his Minnesota Senate seat by 312 votes, a subsequent investigation found that 1099 felons had voted illegally, among other irregularities.

In 2004, the gubernatorial race in Washington state required two recounts, after which an investigation produced a list of 1135 felons who voted in an election won by 129 votes. Precincts were discovered that tallied more absentee ballots then voters had mailed in and military voters allegedly didn’t receive ballots in time.

More recently, Texas Democratic party officials have been indicted for “vote harvesting“ by either intercepting ballots in mailboxes or improperly “assisting“ elderly voters. Texas Democrats are also under investigation for fraudulently registering known illegal immigrants.

In Pennsylvania, a recent study by two state agencies revealed that due to a procedural “glitch“, Pennsylvania has been registering noncitizens who apply for drivers licenses since the 1990s. There are

now believed to be 100,000 illegal voters on the rolls, about half of whom have actually voted. That’s not exactly “vanishingly rare“.

Reasonable efforts to combat fraud are often depicted as voter suppression.

Georgia legislators last year passed a law requiring that registration form information match a “drivers license, state ID card or Social Security records“. Discrepancies put the voter in “pending“ status, where they can still vote while the situation is investigated.

75,000 registrations were deemed problematic, including 9,224 minors, 2,935 fake addresses, 3,393 non-citizens and tens of thousands with non-matching Social Security information. Journalists rained down criticism, but no legitimate voter was kept from voting and the integrity of the voter rolls was substantially improved.

Ironically, voter fraud may harm minority communities more than any real or imagined voter suppression. The Project 21 black leadership network, calling attention to the high incidence of voter fraud in minority communities, noted “today’s voter suppression doesn’t come from men wearing hoods“. Cochairman Horace Cooper stated “it comes through voter dilution due to phony voters on the rolls-convicts,

illegals and ghosts. The effect is the same: bona fide black citizens have their votes canceled or drowned out“.

Project 21 recommends tighter maintenance of voter rolls to remove people who have moved, died or not voted in six years. They call for proof of citizenship and voter ID documents (which are already provided free). Ballots should be mailed only to those who request them and voter fraud should be vigorously investigated and prosecuted.

In Arizona, election officials want you to believe no fraud prevention measures are necessary. We’re just lucky. Although we are a border state with large populations of illegal immigrants and ex-felons, we have experienced few instances of fraud. The same folks studiously avoid looking, though, so what would you expect?

The Heritage Foundation has created a non-comprehensive file of more than 1200 documented cases of voter fraud. A Pew Center for the States report found 24 million registrations were invalid or inaccurate. America does have a fraud problem. Those who deny it to gain partisan advantage should be called out.

Thomas Patterson is a former East Valley legislator.

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

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Program availability is contingent on student enrollment. Grand Canyon University is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (800-621-7440; http://hlcommission.org/). Important policy information is available in the University Policy Handbook at https://www.gcu. edu/academics/academic-policies.php GCU, while reserving its lawful rights in light of its Christian mission, is committed to maintaining an academic environment that is free from unlawful discrimination. Further detail on GCU’s Non-Discrimination policies can be found at gcu.edu/ titleIX The information printed in this material is accurate as of February 2018. For the most up-to-date information about admission requirements, tuition, scholarships and more, visit gcu.edu ©2018 Grand Canyon University 18GTR0070

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Students think outside box at building competition

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

In a workshop with wood and a variety of tools on a recent Saturday, a crowd toured tables full of miniature robots, houses, a smoothie shop and abstract creations in an unusual competition.

Middle school students had been given a mission: take materials inside a box and transform them into anything under the sun in just three weeks.

The 32 children and teens made diverse projects as they vied for prizes in CK Valenti Designs’ second annual “Break Out of the Box!” challenge.

Students and their families mingled while visitors could check out the building projects at the Challenge Day and Awards event, where food, drinks, interactive activities, building demonstrations and tours were provided at CK Valenti Designs, a specialty fabrication shop in Chandler.

The box students tapped into contained plywood, poplar dowells, poplar squares, honeycombs, laser-cut parts in various shapes, steel cable, clear acrylic squares, glue, small nails, a bolt, a washer, a nut and many other materials.

Four judges – an architect, a DIYer/ maker, an artist and an exhibitions manager at the Heard Museum – picked

Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer

Adults and children walked around the CK Valenti Designs fabrication shop on East Warner Road to eat food, engage in interactive projects, watch building demonstrations and check out the creations students made for the second annual “Break Out of the Box!” challenge.

the first, second and third-place students.

Parents and anyone else voted for the People’s Choice winner, who in this case also happened to be judges’ third-place

pick.

Chris Valenti, CEO of CK Valenti Designs, hopes the competition inspired more children to consider pursuing careers

working with their hands.

A fabricator and former electrical engineer, Valenti said he realizes the number of vocational education programs offered in schools have decreased in recent years and the country is seeing a big void in skilled blue-collar workers.

His wife, Kate Valenti, who was on hand helping organize the Challenge Day and Awards Event, is president of CK Valenti Designs.

“The society, they look down on the trades,” Chris said. “There’s definitely goodpaying opportunities. Now is the time to recognize opportunity because of the lack of skilled labor. If you become well versed and well trained in your trade, you will go to the top immediately and you will be sought after and in high demand.”

Chris and Kate were impressed with what students made.

“All of you and the time you put into these projects just really amazes us,” Kate told the students and the rest of the crowd before the awards were given.

“We’re really, really proud of everyone involved today. The judges have a really hard job.”

Quinn Pruitt, 13, of central Phoenix, an See

BREAKOUT on page 43

EV woman helps bring comfort to troops, veterans

BY JULIA DE SIMONE Tribune Contributor

It was Jamie Sistek’s first encounter with the U.S. veteran.

As the Chandler woman sat in her booth in the sparse parking lot, he approached her almost cautiously and asked, “What’s this all about?”

Sistek explained her nonprofit organization’s mission, but he remained guarded.

Sistek didn’t falter. Instead, she leaned in and smiled, explaining that the Chandler-based Boots in the House was formed in 2014 after her son enlisted in the U.S. Marines.

It consists of a devoted crew of volunteers including the nonprofit’s board of directors – her husband Greg, Jennifer Tremose of Phoenix and Christine Omitt of Mesa – all parents to children who are currently serving in the military or have in the past.

It is not uncommon for Sistek and volunteers to spend many hours answering questions from service members and their families seeking resources.

Some of the requests echo familiar feelings of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Others are from veterans returning home to find themselves homeless. One even was absent without leave until Sistek helped urge him to return.

The nonprofit founder says they work with other organizations as well to help “in the hardest times.”

While Sistek continued to explain the faith-based organization’s dedication to supporting the emotional, health and

Special to the San Tan Sun News

Above: Volunteers with Boots in the House pack care packages for troops. They include, from left: Malinda Bell (red shirt); Darlene Tryon (blue shirt), Air Force Sgt Retired; Katrina Smith and her daughter Penelope; and Patti Spiegle. Right: An Air Force unit in the Middle East sent this photo to Boots in the House after receiving the group’s care packages. “They sent us a thank you and telling us how wonderful everything was,” said organizer Jamie Sistek.

well-being of all U.S. military service members and their families, the veteran listened and became less standoffish.

He asked more questions until his eyes fell upon a box seated on the table nearby.

“He was holding a lot in and then asked about the ‘Café Box,’” she said.

His eyes fixated on the box that contained coffee, tea, hot cocoa, cream, sugar and various treats.

Sistek explained that the “Café Box” is an example of the approximately 2,000

care packages that Boots in the House has sent thus far to military service members.

The first package was sent in 2015 after launching Boots In The House, an all-volunteer organization that puts all its donations back into making good on its mission.

“We do many things for our service members – past, present and future – but the biggest thing is sending care packages to our deployed troops in hostile and re-

mote locations,” Sistek said. “We’re trying to send light into some dark places.”

The veteran listened more intently, reservations fading.

“How much does it cost to send that specific box?” he asked.

Sistek gave him the figure, and he See

BOOTS on page 44

NEIGHBORS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

BREAKOUT

43

from page 42

eighth-grader at Arizona School for the Arts, won first-place in the competition for his jellyfish sculpture. He created images resembling waves or ripples in an ocean and a miniature tower that looked like a tiny tree house or cottage on stilts.

Pruitt said jellyfish are “one of my favorite creatures in the ocean.”

“I’m really excited,” about winning, he said. “This is my second year. I really enjoy having the experience of having these parts and putting them together. I really like painting, but I also like building things.”

Lauren Korhorn, 13, of Scottsdale, an eighth-grader at Mountainside Middle School, got second-place in the contest.

She assembled a small tree house for her entry.

“It was definitely a process, but it was really fun,” Korhorn said. “I think it’s a good thing to do.”

She said she and her mother, Erin, like to build things and work on craft projects together. The second-place honor came with a toolkit and the VIP apprenticeship day as prizes.

“I’m very proud of her,” Erin said. “This is right up our alley. I love that they’re encouraging it.”

Gavin Higgins, 11, of Scottsdale, a sixthgrader at Cocopah Middle School, took third-place in the building challenge. He created what he called a “wave machine,” a wooden device with a handle that when turned made it look like waves moving.

A LEGO kit, sketch pad and the VIP visit at CK Valenti Designs were his prizes.

“I was just looking on the Internet and I came across something like this,” Higgins said of his creation. “I like (how) I can just build whatever. I want to be an architect.”

His parents beamed and were pleased with his success. The challenge gave Gavin “something extra to do other than the normal monotony of school,” his mother, Teerin Higgins said.

Gavin also received the People’s Choice award for his invention.

Some Chandler families also enjoyed participating in the event.

Anshika Kedia, 12, a seventh-grader at Champion Schools Chandler, made what looked like a small, colorful smoothie shop. She said the shapes of the objects in the box “remind me of fruits.”

“I do a lot of crafts,” Kedia said. “I used glue. I just like figured it out in my head.”

Anshika’s mother, Anita Kedia, thought the competition was beneficial.

Photos By Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer

Left: Lauren Korhorn, 13, of Scottsdale, an eighth-grader at Mountainside Middle School, got second-place in CK Valenti Designs’ second annual “Break Out of the Box!” challenge. She assembled a small tree house for her project, and her prizes were a toolkit and VIP apprenticeship at CK Valenti Designs. Middle: Quinn Pruitt, 13, of central Phoenix, an eighth-grader at Arizona School for the Arts, won first-place in CK Valenti Designs’ second annual “Break Out of the Box!” challenge. Pruitt got a master plan architectural building kit and a VIP apprenticeship day at CK Valenti Designs as his prizes. Right: Gavin Higgins, 11, of Scottsdale, a sixth-grader at Cocopah Middle School, took third-place in CK Valenti Designs’ second annual “Break Out of the Box!” challenge. He created what he called a “wave machine,” and his prizes were a LEGO kit, sketch pad and a VIP apprenticeship at CK Valenti Designs.

“It’s really encouraging for kids,” Anita said. “She came here (to CK Valenti Designs) on a field trip. She was really interested. She loves art, crafts.”

Seth Carroll, 13, of Scottsdale, put

Anshika Kedia, 12, a seventh-grader at Champion Schools Chandler, made what looked like a smoothie shop out of the supplies students were given for the “Break Out of the Box!” challenge.

together his materials to look like Optimus Prime, one of the “Transformers” characters.

“It was interesting,” Carroll said. “I had never done it before.”

His mother, Stephanie Carroll, said, “I thought this might give him a little different experience and tools. I tried to get him to think a little outside of the box.”

The students could modify any parts in

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manager at the Heard Museum, also was a judge at the challenge. She said the students, like her in her profession, were “constantly trying to solve a problem.”

“This is the starting point for that,” Simmons said. “I always got craft kits and would make stuff. I’ve done model making in my past. I can tell when someone’s putting the effort in. Even if you’re not in the creative field, everyone solves problems. It’s helpful in so much.”

Chris Valenti said the turnout at the challenge event was “excellent.”

“Last year we were impressed, and this year once again impressed,” he said.

Chris said he is grateful to the many companies who sponsored the event.

His father was a union carpenter, but Chris earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from New York Institute of Technology. He worked as an electrical engineer at Microchip and prior to that at companies on the East Coast.

“I grew up working with my hands,” Chris said.

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the box but could not add any additional materials to their creations other than paint, Chris Valenti said.

The judges said they enjoyed seeing what ideas the youths came up with, including a military tank, a plane with Snoopy inside it and a house on a red rock in the ocean.

Kara Roschi, an artist and one of the judges, said the judges evaluated the pieces on craftsmanship, complexity, creativity and overall aesthetic. The judges said the competition taught students problem-solving skills.

“It was fun to see the full gamut,” Roschi said.

Brian Johns, another judge and the architect and owner of Associated Architects, said the projects were diverse.

“It’s really putting creative minds to work,” Johns said.

Sadie Mae John, a judge, furniture maker and owner of The Awesome Orange, said she taught herself how to build things and it was “inspiring” to see the pieces the students made.

“That was the coolest part, seeing the box of pieces,” John said. “This would be a great monthly membership type thing. I think they get a sense of accomplishment.

The learning process, the problem solving, it gives them self-confidence. It just gives me goosebumps.”

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BOOTS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

from page 42

walked away.

Minutes later the veteran returned, money in hand with one simple request – the package be sent to a deployed Marine. Sistek handed him a card to sign and accompany his gift.

“Here he is – probably donating money he didn’t have just to support his ‘brothers and sisters,’” Sistek said, holding back the tears.

The conversation continued. Sistek’s daughter offered the stranger a chair, they invited him to lunch – compliments of the organization hosting the event.

“He just sat and talked about a lot of things for two to three hours. We said a prayer. He told us he had just moved here from another state. His wife had left him, he had no friends, and this was the best day he had since moving to Arizona,” Sistek said.

Eventually, she added, “you could completely see that wall break down. It was a transformation.”

“Whatever event we go to, we believe we are to be there – not just to raise funds but also just to have a veteran talk to us and tell us their own story. A lot of them tell us stuff they haven’t even told their families.”

Holly Granillo of Gilbert knows firsthand the impact of receiving a box of sunshine. Chief Petty Officer Granillo is a reservist with the U.S. Navy.

She first connected with Sistek on social media requesting mainly hygiene products for herself and fellow service members deployed. She is currently serv-

ing overseas.

Granillo admitted that she was pleasantly surprised when the Boots in the House package arrived. She said it was the little items such as condiment packages and flavored-enhancer packets “because water gets boring to drink,” that made all the difference.

“Normally boxes you receive, you can’t really use,” she said. “Her boxes were substantially usable because everything that was sent we could use – such as deodorant and lotions. You could tell that whomever packed it put a lot of love in it. It wasn’t just thrown together. It was methodically prepared.”

Granillo said there’s even a box for the furriest service members – the “K-9 Box for Heroes” equipped with such items as dog treats and toys.

“We’re fighting over those care packages,” she chuckled.

And topping off each box are cards, letters and drawings from students and volunteers.

“They are the ‘cherries on the sundae,’” Sistek said. “When everything is gone (from the boxes), that’s what they save.

They put them up on the wall or carry them with them.”

“We had received multiple requests from different sources for troops that needed support in Djibouti, the shelves were almost empty at the USO,” Sistek added. “Boots in the House sent two shipments of care packages, the first containing 44 care packages then followed up with an additional 12. This went to a location that had all five branches represented, including K9 military working dogs, which we sent K9 boxes to.”

How to help Boots in the House is looking for donations of items to make care packages for deployed troops around the world.

Here’s a list of the needed items: • Nutrition: protein, granola, energy and cereal bars and similar foods.

Packets and bags only.

• Tuna, chicken or salmon in packets and snack kits, no cans unless they’re flip tops.

• Beverages: ground coffee, tea bags, hot chocolate and the like in packets only.

• Microwaveable non-frozen meals, no cup of noodles or ramen in Styrofoam.

• Jerky, nuts and the like in pouches only. No pork.

• Sunscreen, hand sanitizer and travel-size first aid kits, baby and antibacterial wipes.

• Board games, books, DVDs, CDs and other entertainment.

• Wool socks, pillowcases, regular socks.

• Hygiene items like deodorant, Granillo said she and fellow service members feel “blessed” to receive this “personal communication.”

“It makes the day easier when you get a care package in the mail,” she said. “We have not always been received well in hostile environments so when we receive a care package, it’s nice to know America

body wash and the like, but no aerosol cans and nothing bigger than an 8-ounce container.

Information: 480-451-1400 or support@bootsinthehouse.com has our back.”

The nonprofit is always in need of donations and volunteers, especially schools and organizations interested in helping promote “Boots in the House” service projects.

Information: facebook.com/BootsInTheHouseUSA

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

45

Flower Girls blossom with volunteer projects

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Girls in their senior year of high school are excited to serve sweet treats to families in need at a special event celebrating Thanksgiving, but that is just one of the ways they are helping the community in all seasons.

This year, 33 young ladies are part of the Flower Girls, a group of high school seniors who are mentored by the women in the Chandler Service Club, a nonprofit organization.

The Chandler Service Club provides meals, shoes, socks, warm coats and college scholarships to youths in the community, among other outreach and support.

The Flower Girls will serve pie to families at a special early Thanksgiving dinner Nov. 21 at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley’s Chandler Compadres Branch. The Chandler Service Club’s partner, the Chandler Compadres, a nonprofit group of men, will serve the dinner part of the food to children and adults at the dinner.

The Flower Girls will cut and place pieces of pie on plates and deliver them to people chosen to participate in the Thanksgiving dinner.

However, the girls also plan and participate in many other projects throughout the year to benefit people in the community. They are required to do 35 hours of volunteer projects during the school year and to complete reports on

Callie Doughty

Girls who were in the Flower Girls, part of the Chandler Service Club, last year, served pie to families in need at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley’s Chandler Compadres Branch.

their work.

Delivering the pie to folks at the Boys & Girls Club is a fun experience for the Flower Girls.

“It helps them see that there’s different people in the community,” Deanna Costa, Chandler Service Club member and cochairwoman for the Flower Girls said. “It opens their eyes of wait, I have all this. It’s just an eye-opener for them that there is different people in the community that need help.

“This is probably their favorite event because there’s so much interaction with other people. It’s such a happy event and you’re making people happy. A child’s face just lights up. They just get excited.”

When was the last time your child’s fever scheduled an appointment?

Hailey Palmer, 17, of Gilbert, a senior at Chandler High School and member of the Flower Girls, is eager to deliver pie to the diners at the Boys & Girls Club.

“I’m so excited,” Palmer said. “I love food events. I think food brings everyone together. It will just give us some time to focus on the holiday and bring joy to others through food. I love pie. It’s also a time to spend time with my leaders and Flower Girls and boys and girls.”

Tressa Stevenson, 17, of a Chandler, also a senior at Chandler High School and one of the Flower Girls, is looking forward to the Thanksgiving dinner at the Boys & Girls Club, too.

“I am super excited,” Stevenson said. “I

remember my sister doing this three years ago and I know she had a lot of fun with it.

That’s kind of in the Flower Girl tradition.

I don’t even like pie, but I’m super excited that I get to give them the sweet thing. I do really like working with kids.”

Taylor Katz, 18, of Chandler, a senior at Perry High School, is in the Flower Girls and also the National Charity League and is glad she will participate in the Thanksgiving pieserving event.

“I’m looking forward to it a lot,” Katz said.

“I think it’s really cool to see their faces once they get something. I love working with people just in general.”

The members of the Flower Girls do many activities to help children and teens during the school year.

As a group, they will shop for gifts for children who have cancer during the winter holiday season, and prior to school starting they assisted the City of Chandler with helping youths in need find shoes during a huge back-to-school event.

Individually the Flower Girls find creative ways to give back including working with the nonprofit organization ICAN, which offers an after-school program for youths in grades K-12, Costa said.

Katz has expanded the Coyote Cupboard at Chandler-Gilbert Community College to include toiletries and school supplies for homeless college students as part of her Flower Girls individual service project.

See

FLOWERGIRLS on page 50

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NEIGHBORS 46

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Chuck Wagon Cook-off was feast for eyes, ears, belly

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

I look forward to a certain time of year, when the weather is cooler, and Tumbleweed Ranch is buzzing with music and filled with the savory smells of meat, biscuits and fruits cooking in Dutch ovens outside of old-fashioned chuck wagons.

I had the good fortune of being chosen as a food judge for the second year in a row at the ninth annual Chandler Chuck Wagon Cook-off at Tumbleweed Ranch inside Tumbleweed Park on Nov. 10.

The icing on the cake, or perhaps the bread to my butter, was when I learned what portion of the meal I would be judging.

I was asked to judge bread – something near and dear to this carb lover’s heart. Judges in other categories evaluated meat, potatoes, beans and dessert.

Down a dusty trail under tents, with the sounds of band Barefoot and Pregnant jamming in the background, my fellow judges and I gathered, with me wearing boots and others wearing cowboy hats and bandanas.

The friendly folks at the City of Chandler, Chandler Museum and the nonprofit Pardners of Tumbleweed Ranch – who teamed up to produce this unusual event – greeted us warmly and made sure we had everything we needed to stuff our faces for the cause.

Adults wearing cowboy boots, dresses

All photos by Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

Erin Conway of Cowboys Forever watches her stew slowly cook over an open fire at the Chandler Chuck Wagon Cook-Off.

and other garb commonly donned in the 1880s were hard at work but looked comfortable cooking sizzling steak, tender potatoes, desserts and warm, flaky biscuits over fire pits heated with wood in

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another area of the park.

The cooks were only allowed to use ingredients and tools ranchers who drove their herds of cattle to railheads would have had access to in the 1880s.

Each team served about 50 five-course meals, and a limited number of tickets were available to the public to buy on a first-come, first-served basis.

I had the pleasure of judging bread with Jeffrey Larsen, Parks Operations and Maintenance Manager with the City of Chandler, who pointed out a large building across a field where his office is located, and Judy Harper, an editor with “Phoenix Magazine” and “Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine.”

Mayor elect Kevin Hartke, wearing a large cowboy hat, came by to say “hi,” as did City Councilmember Sam Huang and former Chandler City Councilwoman Nora Ellen.

Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny also served as a judge, and Chandler City Councilmember Mark Stewart and Chandler Police Chief Sean Duggan also joined the judges’ team.

Once we were settled with water bottles, plastic utensils, napkins and classy Chuck Wagon notebooks, we were given our directions. We had to score each piece of bread we tasted with number points for appearance, texture and taste.

As much as I love bread, I paced myself, as the other judges did, and ate a few bites of each delicious morsel of dough, so as to spare my stomach from explosion. The bread was all excellent and differed slightly.

See

CHUCKWAGON on page 47

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

CHUCKWAGON

from page 46

A few I liked the most had a buttery taste, and one stood out for its spicy, Southwestern flavor. Many of them practically melted in my mouth and I gave them all high scores.

After our judging duties were over, we were all rewarded for our efforts with, what else, but a tasty meal featuring meat, bread, potatoes, beans and dessert.

The ample pieces of steak were amazing, as were the tender pieces of potatoes, a biscuit, baked beans and a mouth-watering, sweet large doughnut.

As a city person who considered it a big feat to buy a fancy, new toaster oven recently, I can’t say enough about how talented, hardworking and resourceful all the cooks are who stood on their feet for

hours in the Cook-off.

Their flavorful treats all had the satisfying taste of homemade, wellcooked food made by experts with more than a few competitions under their belts.

Besides the food, there was an air of contentment and relaxation at the Cookoff, as families watched Barefoot and Pregnant and later Jim Bachmann and the Good Timin’ Friends Band hit the stage.

Vendors sold and gave away samples of different types of cuisine and honey, as well as sold Western-style goods.

The Chandler Chuck Wagon Cook-off not only made for a happy tummy, but also a special day, gathering with old friends and professional contacts in a casual setting that brought out the best in everyone and the warm, small-town vibe of Chandler.

1

2

Chowdown at Tumbleweed There was plenty of good eatin’ from an open fire at the Chandler Chuckwagon Cook-Off Nov. 10 as 1) scores of people lined up for old-time vittles; 2) Rex Dalton donned an apron to tend to his dishes; 3) Curly and May Taylor sampled their chili; 4) Susan Ritchens slowly cooked her chicken; 5) Emily Beal tended a big vat of beans; 6) John Speth whipped up some flavors of the Old West; and 7) Barb Kennedy whisked up some bread for baking.

All photographs by Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

4

3

5

6

7

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NEIGHBORS 48

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Former Mesa teacher to discuss Korean War POW experience SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

The next Our Stories Speaker Series presentation on Saturday, Dec. 1, will feature Korean War veteran Arden Rowley recounting his experiences as a former prisoner of war.

The event begins at 10:30 a.m. at Chandler’s Sunset Library, 4930 W. Ray Road.

“Voices from the Korean War: Prisoners and the Missing” begins with a presentation by Rowley, who was captured on the battlefield by the North Korean Army 68 years ago. More than 7,000 Americans were captured during the three years of conflict on the Korean peninsula.

These servicemen were sent to camps throughout North Korea and suffered from cold, brutal treatment, and starvation.

More than 2,700 died while imprisoned.

Rowley was raised in Mesa and joined the U.S. Army in 1948 after graduating high school. He eventually landed in Korea with the 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division.

The Chinese Communist Forces took Rowley and other military members as prisoners of war on Dec. 1, 1950. He was repatriated in Operation Big Switch in August of 1953.

Rowley eventually returned to Mesa, began a family and spent 31 years teaching in Mesa schools.

Joining Rowley on Dec. 1 will be Dr. Yuri McKee, a local doctor and former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, who has a deep interest in the status of Korean War missing in action (MIA) servicemen.

Drawing on insights as the medical

Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mikaley Kline

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command conduct an honorable carry ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Aug. 1, 2018. Carry teams will move 55 transfer cases containing what are believed to be the remains of American service members lost in the Korean War to the DPAA facility at the base for identification. North Korea recently turned over the remains to the U.S., and this is the first mass turnover of remains since the early 1990s.

director for the 35th Joint Recovery Operation into North Korea in 2004, Dr. McKee will describe the experience of negotiating with North Korean officials on the recovery of missing American servicemen.

The program will be led by Susan Kee, a Korean-American writer who has interviewed Korean War veterans and the families of those who served.

She is currently working on a book of stories about Korean War veterans and

fallen heroes, as a tribute to their service and to ensure their sacrifices are never forgotten.

In January, the Our Stories Speaker Series will take a local focus and reveal little known connections between the City of Chandler and renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Wright developed a friendship with Dr. A.J. Chandler and worked on various projects in and around the city. While most of these

Arden Rowley, U.S. Army

projects never came to fruition, his vision for Chandler and the surrounding area was inspired by the desert and its unique landscape. This talk will cover various Wright projects in Chandler, including San Marcos on the Desert and Broadacre City.

Our Stories presents diverse speakers who share unique Arizona and local history topics to a general audience throughout the year. This series is produced by the Chandler Public Library and the Chandler Museum, with support from the Friends of the Chandler Public Library and the Chandler Historical Society.

Information: 480-782-2751, or chandlerlibrary.org.

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Falling for festivals

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Kids at Ryan Elementary School in Chandler and their parents had a ball recently at the school’s annual fall festival. They included: 1) Zachary Mercer, 6, who enjoyed the inflatable slide; 2) Trish Sears and her daughter Charlie, 10, who won third-place in the pumpkin decorating contest; 3) Aiden Nguyen, 4, who swung his bat during the T-ball game; 4) loads of people who came out on a perfect fall evening to enjoy the event; 5) Maya Hammad, 5, who dipped right into the pie-eating contest; 6) a row of children who couldn’t get enough of the pie during the competition; and 7) Aarin Mehta, 2, who got a kick out of petting the llama.

All photographs by Pablo Robles/Staff Photographer

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from page 45

She worked with FANS Across America Charitable Foundation to organize the collection of donations, which have included paper, pens, notebooks, highlighters, body wash, shampoo, soap and toothpaste.

“We got a really good amount of stuff,” Katz said. “Over fall break we built a closet.

They had space for a closet and Matthew’s (Crossing) Food Bank donated food; they knew there was something missing. I helped them start school supplies and toiletries.

“I thought it would be cool because I put it in my head as I’m gonna be in college.

What am I going to need to succeed? If they don’t have a clean body or supplies to do it then they can’t really achieve it.”

She said the community service work she has done with the other members of the Flower Girls has been “really fun,” including packing food to be given to students in need.

“I love helping people in the community,” Katz said.

She added she wanted to be in the Flower Girls because she had heard “really good things about it” and already had the idea for the service project.

Palmer said she had seen photos of girls wearing white dresses from the Flower Girls big annual gala, where the girls are presented, and had always wanted to join the group. The program appealed to her because of the volunteer work and the instruction in etiquette and other life skills the girls receive.

“From the beginning it’s been a dream come true for me,” Palmer said. “I love

Special to SanTan Sun News

Left: Tressa Stevenson, 17, of Chandler, a senior at Chandler High School, enjoys volunteering to help senior citizens and plans to teach them about Internet safety and social media etiquette. Middle: Taylor Katz, 18, of Chandler, a senior at Perry High School, expanded the Coyote Cupboard at Chandler-Gilbert Community College to include toiletries and school supplies for homeless college students. Right: Hailey Palmer, 17, of Gilbert, a senior at Chandler High School and member of the Flower Girls, is eager to deliver pie to the diners at the Boys & Girls Club as part of a Flower Girls outreach project.

learning about things that will be applicable to my adult life, as well.”

For her service project she has been helping senior citizens at Brookdale Chandler Ray Road. She painted pumpkins, sang Halloween songs and shared ghost stories with other volunteers from her school and the senior citizens there last month.

“My heart felt so much bigger by getting to spend time… and help people, learning other people’s stories,” Palmer said. “It’s always my hope that I’ve left some impression on them. They’ve definitely left an impression on me. There are so many

interesting, amazing people in the world.

I love being able to help them and make them happy.”

Palmer plans to make a “thankful tree” with messages about what people are grateful for hung on it with the senior citizens next week in honor of Thanksgiving.

Next month, she and her friends will sing holiday songs and decorate cookies with senior citizens in the facility ahead of Christmas. Palmer sings in a choir and takes a theater class at Chandler High, and she has performed in shows at Mesa Community College and Greasepaint Youtheatre.

“I think song is an amazing way to make

everyone happy,” she said. “Everything I’ve encountered with the Flower Girls has helped me take a step back and realize that I am so lucky. I’m so lucky to be able to do the Flower Girls.

“I’m very lucky to have grandparents who are still well enough. I’m just very excited to see what this year brings and excited to be presented; just to learn and grow from it and what it means to be a woman and a young lady. That’s something that’s very exciting to me.”

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FLOWERGIRLS on page 52

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51

Homeless find help in Chandler faith communities

BY ELLEN O’BRIEN Cronkite News

CHANDLER – Every night, about two dozen men and women gather on a street corner and go through the same routine: A monitor searches their backpacks, suitcases and toiletry bags. They go over the rules, then board a bus to where they’ll “camp out,” eat dinner, say a prayer and bunk down for the night.

But one thing changes every night – where they stay. Some nights, the group sleeps in the cavernous community room of a Lutheran church. Other nights, they stay in the subdued sanctuary of a Unitarian church. On still other nights, they sleep in a house converted to a Community of Christ church, with men in the basement, women in the sanctuary.

These churches are among the participants in the Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program, a uniquely suburban model for sheltering people who are homeless. Unlike large shelters that house hundreds every night – such as the one run by Central Arizona Shelter Services in downtown Phoenix – I-HELP programs don’t have a permanent location. They rely on churches to donate space and on community groups to provide food and manpower.

There are five I-HELP programs in Arizona – in Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Avondale and the Sunnyslope neighborhood of north-central Phoenix.

Cronkite News

Brian Sherwood hopes to find a job and get back on his feet soon, and in the meantime is trying to stay clean and get on a more positive path in life.

Chandler’s program began in 2013 under the direction of AZCEND, a nonprofit that provides such services as providing food boxes to collecting school supplies.

“The budget for I-HELP is very small.

Because we depend on volunteers so much, we’re really able to save a lot of money,” said Martha Myers, programs director at AZCEND. “And politically, it’s

just an easier way. It’s an easier sell to have an I-HELP than a bricks-and-mortar shelter.

“It makes sense to do what the community is comfortable with.”

More than 6,200 people were homeless in Maricopa County in January 2018, according to the Maricopa Association of Governments; of those,

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more than 2,600 were not in shelters.

Although most of the homeless live in Phoenix, numbers in the East Valley are growing. But there aren’t many options when it comes to shelters.

AZCEND works with churches of all denominations, as well as community organizations, such as the Kiwanis Club Chandler and the American Muslim Women’s Association of Arizona, to keep clients housed and fed.

“It really is a community-wide effort,” Myers said. “If every community would step up the way the faith community has in Chandler, it would just be great progress.”

The Chandler I-HELP program has provided its clients with case management since the beginning. A full-time employee helps clients get identification, apply for housing programs and look for jobs. In January, however, the process became more formal: Instead of coming and going every few nights, clients now must commit to staying in the program and receiving case management for 90 days.

The I-HELP program in each city is run by a different nonprofit. Not all have 90-day programs as AZCEND does, but all follow the same basic model: A nonprofit partners with local religious and community groups, and clients sleep in a place of worship every night.

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Internet safety, social media awareness and general computer education at the Chandler Senior Center for her service efforts.

She said she will teach them about hacking, “socially acceptable” ways to communicate with their grandchildren on Facebook and how to use cell phones.

The project is also something she is doing to apply for a prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award, as she is a Girl Scout.

CAMPOUT

from page 52

The clients

Brian Sherwood, 37, and James Anderson, 29, joined AZCEND’s I-HELP program on July 25. The couple, who’ve been together about three months, said the program allows them to look for work, wait for permanent housing and stay sober.

“We’re drug addicts. That’s our downfall, that’s why we’re here,” Sherwood said. “We have 34 days clean, and that was the time when we decided … that lifestyle’s just not worth it. We’re better than that.”

Sherwood, who’s originally from Lake Havasu City, has been homeless for about a year. Anderson, who grew up in north Phoenix and whose parents are the pastors of Community of Christ Church in Chandler, has been homeless on and off for seven years, he said.

“To be gay and sober in Phoenix is very difficult. There’s a lot of drug use,” Sherwood said. “If you stay at someone’s

New Parade Route

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

“I like working with kids, but I love working with senior citizens because I think that they are just so nice, really willing to learn,” she said.

Stevenson said she enjoys public speaking and talked to officers at the Chandler Police Department to prepare her curriculum for the classes she will teach at the senior center. She also did research online.

Costa said the girls who want to join the Flower Girls program must be either invited and recommended by a Chandler

Service Club member or accepted after going through an interview with two club members.

“We look at what they’re doing now in school, what they’re involved in,” she said. “The mission is to teach them that communities are always gonna need help.

We’re trying to teach them at a young age that when you get older you need to put in as much effort into helping the community as possible. We’d love for them to be service club members.”

While the Flower Girls have 33 members,

it has had up to 60 members in the past. The teens in the group are diverse.

“They’re very different personalities,” Costa said. “They’re very into different things. We have a few that are extremely shy. We try to make sure let’s get opened up a little bit. We really want them to pick a project that they’re working with people.

“We really want them to interact with the people that they’re helping. It’s amazing to hear the young ladies and to see that they’re reaching out and wanting to do those types of activities.”

house, (drug use) is just expected. And it’s not what we want. We need a place like this. It’s mandatory-sober environment, and it’s exactly what we need at the exact right time.”

Over the next three months, Anderson and Sherwood will work with a case manager while they look for jobs and wait for housing.

“Right now, (we’re) looking for work, looking for opportunities to get back our feet,” Anderson said. “The next three months are going to be a challenge. It’s a nice challenge, though. A very nice challenge.”

Multiple organizations often volunteer on the same night. On Wednesdays when the Trinity Christian Fellowship hosts the program, volunteers from the Chandler West Stake of the Church of Latter Day Saints will serve the meal.

“A lot of people maybe have an opinion that churches don’t do anything other than for their congregation,” Sherwood said. “But they do reach out to the community. They do help. They do practice what they preach.”

For Shawn Donaldson, minister of outreach at Evident Life Church, volunteering with the I-HELP program was personal because of his own experiences with homelessness.

“I knew what it was to be in that place,” Donaldson said. “People never gave up on me or judged me, and I’m grateful for that.”

When he became minister of outreach at Evident Life, he decided that “when we have room, I’d like to sign up with this program and help get people back on their feet.”

Sherwood met Donaldson on his third

night in the I-HELP program.

“He came up, he gave me a big hug,” Sherwood recalled. “I felt like he knew, like he could just tell what we have gone through without even knowing us. That’s the kind of the man that he is.”

The volunteers

AZCEND works with more than 30 organizations to serve its clients. Eighteen churches host at least one night a month, and a dozen others donate food.

“We do have a really strong base of the churches here that really go out of their way to help and understand the need and feel a need to give back,” said Dara Gibson, the development director at AZCEND.

The routine

The church may change every night, but the routine stays the same.

“When it comes down to this program, it’s beautiful,” Anderson said. “I’ve lived in shelters before, and I’ve never had one run like this where the same thing happens every night. No matter what, you do chores, food. … It runs the same way every night, so you don’t have any surprises.”

Clients are responsible for setting up their own sleeping mats after dinner.

After that, Sherwood said, sleeping in a church “is kind of like a campout, an indoor campout.”

In the morning, clients pack up their mats, clean up, eat breakfast and take the See

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CAMPOUT on page 53

NEIGHBORS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

CAMPOUT

from page 52

bus back to AZCEND. Clients are mostly on their own during the day. Some have case-management appointments or use the computers at AZCEND. Sherwood said he has spent a lot of time at a public library “to beat the heat.” He used the library’s computers for “social media, but also … to apply for jobs and Craigslist and to see what’s hiring in the area.”

With the location changing each night, amenities like Wi-Fi and air-conditioning can vary widely, he said, but that’s a trifle.

“For 90 days … to have food and shelter and to not worry. It’s so much easier to look for work and to stay working than to wonder about where you’re going to sleep or eat the next night.”

The problem

Phoenix had the largest homeless population in Maricopa County with 4,562 people, according to the Point-inTime Homeless Count analysis by the Maricopa Association of Governments.

The East Valley ranked second, with 1,263 homeless individuals in 2018. Of those, 559 people weren’t sleeping in a shelter.

The Point-in-Time count tallied both sheltered individuals, who have somewhere to sleep for the night, and unsheltered individuals. The number of unsheltered individuals in Maricopa County increased 27 percent, to 2,618 in 2018 from 2,059 in 2017. Since 2014, the number of unsheltered homeless people has increased 149 percent, according to the association.

Cronkite News

Tyler Larouchelle clowns around during a break in a program at AZCEND, the former Chandler Christian Community Center.

With no permanent shelters to house the homeless in Chandler, I-HELP is helping bridge the gap.

The program

In 2013, AZCEND, then known as Chandler Christian Community Center joined with For Our City Chandler, which coordinates volunteers and services in the city, to address homelessness.

“Concerned citizens came together and said, ‘How can we work on this problem?’” said Gibson, the director of development at AZCEND. “And then they found this model, so AZCEND started using a very similar model and went to churches and community organizations.”

From July 2016 through June 2017, more than 400 individuals slept in churches through the Chandler I-HELP

program for an average of 20 nights.

AZCEND switched to a 90-day program to increase stability.

“Now, the people that we have on our bed list are clients that are committed to being here every night and receiving case management,” said Roxanna Nava, the I-HELP coordinator at AZCEND. That way, “we can focus more on clients individually and their needs, and try to get them out of the crisis that they’re going through.”

The number of clients in the I-HELP at any given time ranges from 15 to 25. In late July, there were 27 clients in AZCEND’s program. Nava said summer “is the time where every (shelter) is full,” because of the heat – including the Chandler I-HELP. Clients usually hear about the program

53

by word-of-mouth or through referrals from other shelters that don’t have beds.

When I-HELP was a drop-in program, “we had to turn people away,” Nava said.

“Now it’s the same people who are committed. We do an intake process, we meet with them and go over the whole program and the requirements. That gives them the idea that, once we put you on the list, you have to be here every night, you have to be willing to receive the help that we have to offer.”

The first step for many clients is applying for birth certificates, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and other identification.

“People lose many of those items in storage, or maybe in their last living situation they may not have gotten those when they left,” Myers said. “Once you’re on the streets, the amount of theft that goes on … their stuff is stolen many, many times. So, people on the street frequently need to get those replaced.”

Clients also can list AZCEND’s address on job applications and receive mail there. Once they find a job, clients are required to convert 75 percent of their income into money orders, which they get back when they leave the program.

That way, “you have money to get into the places that you’re going,” Sherwood said. “And that’s amazing.”

Not every client stays in the program for the full 90 days.

“It’s a 90-day program, but we try to get clients out of here (sooner),” Nava said. “And there’s clients that need a little bit extra time, so depending on each individual client and their circumstances, we’ll let them stay a little longer.”

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Arts

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Broadway actress, college instructor in ‘Christmas Carol’

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

A star who dazzled audiences in Broadway musicals and on stages around the country is sparking more interest and inspiration among acting students at Chandler-Gilbert Community College and in a local production of “A Christmas Carol.”

Elizabeth Brownlee Blair, 47, will play Mrs. Fezziwig in Scottsdale Musical Theater Company’s “A Christmas Carol” Dec. 6-9, 13-16 and 20-23 at Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway.

The experienced actress, singer and dancer, who performed in the first national tour of Broadway’s “Parade” from 2000-01, also works as an adjunct faculty member and director at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

Blair, who caught the performing bug at age 3, is also the director of the Bravo Troupe show choir and a musical theater teacher at East Valley Children’s Theatre in Mesa. Outside of that, she teaches private voice and piano lessons.

Blair will sing an energetic solo, dance and act as Mrs. Fezziwig, as well as perform as part of the ensemble in the classic Christmas musical at Tempe Center for the Arts.

The Mrs. Fezziwig character is married to business owner Mr. Fezziwig, a jovial man in the Charles Dickens novel.

Scrooge did an apprenticeship under

Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

Elizabeth Brownlee Blair, a longtime actress, dancer and singer who has performed on Broadway, and Joey Morrison rehearse a scene from “A Christmas Carol.”

Mr. Fezziwig, and the Ghost of Christmas Past takes him to see the Fezziwigs’ Christmas Eve Ball, where Scrooge had been when he was younger.

Blair said she enjoys playing Mrs. Fezziwig, as she has gained more life experience.

“The wonderful thing about that is

now I can play roles like Mrs. Fezziwig that are so fun,” she said. “She’s just a larger-than-life character that you see every day. She’s just so full of energy and love and connection, the lady on your street that’s always getting everybody to your house at the block party.

“She’s the person that keeps the

community together and socializing, and you really need that.”

“I’m excited; it’s an iconic show, though there’s so many different versions out there,” Blair said. “‘A Christmas Carol,’ it’s such a classic. In general, the message is beautiful.

“Right now, we’re in such a divisive place in life. Media and technology accessibility really have made us forget of our interconnectedness. We are all living on this planet together.”

Blair is one of 34 cast members who will perform in Scottsdale Musical Theater Company’s “A Christmas Carol.”

TV star Charles Shaughnessy, who played Maxwell Sheffield on “The Nanny” and played Shane Donovan on “Days of Our Lives,” will play Scrooge. Shaughnessy has also performed on Broadway in “Urinetown.”

“The thing I’m most excited about is working with a new company,” Blair said.

“We have amazingly talented people in the show. The sound of choral voices just blew everybody away. To work with Charles Shaughnessy; he’s had so many more experiences, especially in the TV and film route that I didn’t ever go.

“He’s lived that life so I’m just curious to ask him questions about the difference between live theater and film. I grew up watching ‘The Nanny.’”

Blair has hit the stage herself for See

BROADWAYSTAR on page 55

Artists create quilts with meaning for Vision Gallery

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Diverse voices expressed in colorful displays that shed light on various topics brighten up the Vision Gallery in an exhibit continuing through Jan. 5.

An opening reception will take place today, Nov. 17, for the “Things that Matter” artwork at the gallery at 10 E. Chicago St. Most of the creations from the 31 artists are quilts, while a few others include artwork made out of felt, other types of fabric and wood.

“There’s quite a variety,” Peter Bugg, visual arts coordinator for the City of Chandler said. “One is an older, more traditional quilt that has been embroidered on top of. There are some that are straightforward quilts.

“Some are photos printed onto fabric and quilted after that. Some are quilted and painted on top of that. It’s the fullest that Vision Gallery has been in the time that I’ve been here. There’s a lot to look at.”

Artists created innovative pieces, with some reflecting on political themes or any other topics they believed were “things that matter,” Bugg said.

The artwork aims to remind viewers that specific things, places or areas of the world should be remembered when they are at risk of ignorance, indifference, intolerance or greed.

“I thought it was a good fit for our gallery,” Bugg said. “I think there’s a lot of color in the show. The pieces are really big. A lot of people will understand the process.”

Special to the San Tan Sun News

“All Through the Night, America’s Homeless,” 2017 by Dawn William Boyd is one of the pieces that will be on display as part of the “Things that Matter” exhibit at Vision Gallery on display through Jan. 5.

Many of the pieces are at least five feet wide.

The opening reception will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. today and is free and open to the public. Some of the artists will attend it.

A preview of the show was presented in April of this year in San Diego before coming to Chandler.

Another opening reception for artists involved in a different exhibit will also be held today, Nov. 17. A reception for the

“Art Quilts XXIII: Artistic Ecologies” will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Gallery at the Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave. See

THINGSTHATMATTER on page 57

ARTS

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

BROADWAYSTAR from page 54

most of her life. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Blair said when she was about 2, she watched in awe as her father, Rick Brownlee, performed in a community theater musical.

He loved singing, acting and dancing in community theater productions. At one point in the musical when her father was singing, Blair reportedly stood up and said “That’s my daddy.”

“I was pretty much hooked from there,” Blair said. “I continued to go see the shows in the summer.”

At age 8, she beat 300 other children who tried to get the role of Gretl Von Trapp in a community theater production of “The Sound of Music.”

“I was talking about moving to New York and wanting to be on Broadway when I was 3 years old,” Blair said.

When she was 9, her father’s job required her family to move to Miami, Florida where she lived until she was age 21.

While in Miami, Blair attended the New World School of the Arts High School, where she had a chance to work with famed Broadway composer, lyricist, conductor and performer Jason Robert Brown, as well as Tommy Tune, an actor, dancer, singer, theater director, producer and choreographer, who has won numerous Tony Awards.

After graduating from high school, she earned a bachelor’s degree in theater with a musical theatre emphasis from New World School of the Arts College.

While she was eager to get to New

Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

As Joey Morrison and Elizabeth Brownlee Blair rehearse a scene from “A Christmas Carol,” their delight in their roles is almost contagious.

York, Blair caught the attention of the head of the music theater department at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who urged her to audition for the university’s master’s degree program. She earned a full scholarship and living allowance and completed a master’s degree in fine arts at UNLV. After getting her master’s degree, Blair moved to New York and auditioned and was chosen to be part of the Manhattan Theater Club, making connections that led to her being signed by an agent.

She booked big roles in “Little

Women” and “Bright Lights, Big City” before those productions came to Broadway. Then in 2000, a major New York casting director noticed her and she was hired to play Sally Slaton in the first national tour of Broadway’s “Parade.”

Blair was also chosen to be the understudy for the lead role in the show, Lucille Frank.

After the tour, she started a career in the cosmetics industry, first working as a business manager for Benefit Cosmetics in London and later for Christian Dior in New York.

Fes ival LIGHTS Ahwatukee Foothills

of

The market crash in 2008 and other events prompted Blair to move to Phoenix, where she was cast as Fantine in Phoenix Theatre’s musical of “Les Miserables” in 2014.

She has performed in other shows with Phoenix Theatre, as well as Southwest Shakespeare Company. Blair also is a member-at-large of The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre, which celebrates and incubates professional female theater artists, encouraging gender parity in all theatrical disciplines.

While living on the East Coast was different than Arizona, Blair said she has enjoyed living in Arizona full-time since 2008.

She likes teaching students, most of who are in their early 20s, acting at Chandler-Gilbert Community College, where she directed the fall black box theater’s play “Good Kids,” which was on stage yesterday and will be performed again today and tonight, Nov. 17.

The play is about how high school football players sexually assault a girl and the incident is captured through social media, sparked by a real story in Ohio. Blair said she encouraged the actors to think about the complexity of the characters and not just view them as good or bad.

“It really challenges both the males and females in my cast to think about things,” she said prior to the performances. “I said, ‘The title is ‘Good Kids’ for a reason. Don’t go for the obvious in theater because we’re all human.’

See

BROADWAYSTAR on page 59

Saturday, November 24, 2018

12noon to 8pm | Desert Foothills Park Chandler Blvd & Desert Foothills Pkwy, 85048

FREE ADMISSION! RIDES/INFLATABLES $20 All Day or 50¢ Per Ticket FREE PARKING at Altedeña and Shuttle to the Festival

Santa’s Village • Train Rides until dark Holiday Attire Pet Parade • Cornhole Tournament Over 30 Inflatables, Bouncy Houses, Rides & Carnival Games for Kids of all Ages Marketplace with Over 100 Vendors LIGHTED MOTORCYCLE PARADE AT 6:30 PM!

Entertainment on 2 Stages

Returning Again:

Event Sponsors: ”The Nutcracker”

55

Join Us For Some Cornhole Fun!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!

Receive a FREE FOL T-Shirt

Register today to join the Cornhole Tournament today!

Visit folaz.org for details.

NEWS+Events NEWS+Events

56

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

chandleraz.gov/news–center chandleraz.gov/news–center

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR ANNUAL VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION AWARDS

EVENTS

17

NovemBER

Downtown Chandler Farmers Market, Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, 855-3539 17 Woofstock, Tumbleweed Park, 782-2735 17 Raul Midón, Chandler Center for the Arts, 782-2680 22 Turkey Swim, Hamilton Aquatic Center, 782-2630 22-23 Thanksgiving Day Holiday, City offices closed 24 Downtown Chandler Farmers Market, Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, 855-3539 26-Jan. 3 Holiday Selfie Stations, Downtown Chandler, 855-3539

1

DECEMBER

Tumbleweed Tree Lighting & Parade of Lights, Downtown Chandler, 782-2735 1 Our Stories Speaker Series, Voices from the Korean War: Prisoners and the Missing, Sunset Library, 782-2751 1 Downtown Chandler Farmers Market, Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, 855-3539 6 Suicide Prevention & Awareness Presentation, Chandler Police Main Station, 6, 8 Pictures with Santa at Santa’s House, Downtown Chandler, 782-2735 7 Star Party, Veterans Oasis Park, 480-782-2890 8 Chandler Museum Grand Opening, 300 S. Chandler Village Drive, 782-2717 8 Chandler Fire Department Holiday Toy Drive, Chandler Fashion Center, 782-2120 8 Chandler Police’s Civilian Motorcycle Safety Course, Hamilton High School, 782-4800 8 Downtown Chandler Farmers Market, Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, 855-3539 8-Jan. 19 Awkward Family Photos Exhibit, Chandler Museum, 782-2717 9 Lea DeLaria, Chandler Center for the Arts, 7822680 10 City Council study session and meeting, Council Chambers, 782-2180 13 City Council meeting, Council Chambers, 7822180 14 Sons of Serendip, Chandler Center for the Arts, 782-2680 15 Pictures with Santa at Santa’s House, Downtown Chandler, 782-2735 15 Downtown Chandler Farmers Market, Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, 855-3539 18 Holiday Craft and Cookie Decorating, Chandler Community Center, 782-2727 19 Family Night at the TRC featuring Winter Wonderland, Tumbleweed Rec Center, 782-2900 20 Sonoran Sunset Series featuring Holiday Songs by “The Real Thing Band,” Veterans Oasis Park, 782-2890 21 Drumline Live Holiday Spectacular, Chandler Center for the Arts, 782-2680 22 Downtown Chandler Farmers Market, Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, 855-3539 25 Christmas Holiday, City offices closed 26-Jan. 6 Zoppé, an Italian Family Circus, Chandler Center for the Arts, 782-2680 29 Downtown Chandler Farmers Market, Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, 855-3539

Two outstanding volunteers honored during the 2018 Volunteer Recognition Breakfast: Chantal VanKlompenberg, winner of the Sunbeam Award and Lois Zozobrado, winner of the Youth Award.

Volunteers are essential to any organization as they contribute their valuable time, resources, expertise and energy. The City of Chandler and For Our City are asking the community to submit nominations for their outstanding volunteers to be honored during the annual Volunteer Recognition Awards. There are eight different categories available, so start thinking about which volunteers to nominate! In addition, all volunteers with more than 1,000 hours will receive a lapel pin and certificate from the Chandler Mayor. To receive this special distinction, an application must be submitted for each volunteer.

Nominations must be submitted online and will be accepted through Monday, Dec. 3. The recognition event will take place in February 2019. To view the list of award categories and submit a nomination, visit chandleraz.gov/volunteer100.

Got a few minutes? Take the budget survey

Once again the City of Chandler is starting its annual budget process and wants residents’ feedback about their City and its future. What are your priorities? What City services or projects matter most to you? The City wants to know! Chandler residents may complete the online survey at chandleraz.gov/budget. The survey will be available through the end of December.

Results from the survey are shared with the Mayor, Councilmembers, City management and staff to assist in the formulation of the City’s financial plan. Paper copies, in either English or Spanish, also may be picked up at various City facilities, or downloaded from the website. For more information, call 480-782-2252.

Waze to go!

Chandler is the first municipality in Arizona to provide traffic information through Waze, the everyday driving platform that brings drivers together to outsmart traffic.

The City has partnered with Waze in an effort to share traffic incident and road closure information with commuters.

The City reviews traffic control plans and issues permits before any roads in Chandler can be restricted. The information is available on our website, chandleraz.gov/trafficrestrictions, but also is provided to Waze, making it much more accessible to the mobile public. Waze works on smartphones and tablets and is available online at waze.com/livemap, or download the free Waze app for iOS or Android at waze.com/get.

Change the way you give

Panhandlers. You see them during your drive along major intersections or near a freeway exit asking for spare change. It’s hard to tell which ones truly are in need of financial help. The City of Chandler wants to assist, so it’s partnered with For Our City to launch the ChangeUp campaign, a text-to-donate and awareness campaign that educates residents on the benefits of donating directly to local charities, instead of people who panhandle.

By donating to ChangeUp, we can ensure that donations are going towards long-term solutions to make real change in the lives of people who are experiencing homelessness in our City. Making a donation is easy. Residents may text “ChangeUp” to 44-321 to make a one-time or monthly donation of $1, $5, $10, $25, or any amount. Donations also will be accepted online at chandleraz.gov/ChangeUp. All proceeds collected through the ChangeUp initiative will go directly to programs and services provided by local nonprofits to help end homelessness.

Change the way you give.

Text “ChangeUp” to 44321 to help end homelessness.

For more information, or to donate, visit chandleraz.gov/changeup.

COME TO THE TUMBLEWEED TREE LIGHTINGING & PARADE OF LIGHTS

Come celebrate the holiday season at Chandler’s Parade of Lights and 62nd Annual Tumbleweed Tree Lighting ceremony to be held Saturday, Dec. 1, at Dr. A.J. Chandler Park. Festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. with holiday music, entertainment, arts & crafts, food and beverage booths and pictures with Santa.

Stay for the Parade of Lights along Arizona Avenue from Frye Road north to Erie Street at 7 p.m. and the official lighting of the Tumbleweed Tree immediately following the parade.

For event details, visit

chandleraz.gov/events

or call the Chandler Special Events Hotline at

782-2735

Mayor Jay Tibshraeny & City Council

@cityofchandler

cityofchandleraz

cityofchandler

cityofchandler

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

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Left: The “Things that Matter” exhibit at Vision Gallery features mostly quilts and also some artwork made out of felt, other types of fabric and wood. The show made its debut Nov. 8. Right: Artists created innovative pieces, with some reflecting on political themes or any other topics they believed were important in the “Things that Matter’ exhibition at Vision Gallery.

THINGSTHATMATTER from page 54

In its 23rd year, the Arts Quilts exhibition has expanded from a regional quilt show to a respected outlet for contemporary artwork.

The exhibition includes entries from around the country and Canada and gives thousands of visitors the opportunity to experience quilting as a type of art.

The juror this year is Arizona State University assistant professor Erika Lynne Hanson, and the theme she picked was artistic ecologies.

Beginning with the definition of ecology as the interrelationship between any system and its environment, the quilts in the show were inspired by the theme conceptually, formally and narratively. The quilts exhibit continues through Jan. 11.

Vision Gallery is a fine arts venue

representing more than 300 regional artists and it is home to one of two ArtO-Marts in the city.

The gallery exhibits diverse original artwork including oil paintings, acrylic canvasses, ceramic pieces, sculpture, jewelry and clothes.

Vision Gallery is a nonprofit gallery the Chandler Cultural Foundation manages, and it rotates its exhibits on a regular basis. Part of all art sales are used to support the VISION KIDZ Program, which

offers educational workshops for the community that are free of charge. Art is juried into the gallery in January and June every year.

The Gallery at the Chandler Center for the Arts is curated by Vision Gallery as part of the City of Chandler’s Arts Center Division. It is also a nonprofit art gallery the Chandler Cultural Foundation manages.

Information: visiongallery.org Peter Bugg/City of Chandler

ARTS 58

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Library gets grant for Native American performance SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

The Arizona Humanities has awarded the Chandler Public Library a $3,500 grant to host a free performance series beginning April 2019.

The performances by Native American musicians, dancers and storytellers are in conjunction with One World, Many Voices, a photographic exhibition featuring the artists of Canyon Records. Grammy Award-winning Canyon Records is an Arizona-based record label specializing in Native American music for 67 years and will produce the concerts.

The five performances of the series are an opportunity for all ages to experience, enjoy and learn from Native American artists through music, stories, poetry and dance.

Canyon artists will provide a diverse look at some of the many communities and cultures of Native America and how their artistry influences and is influenced by the worlds they live in. Each performance includes an opportunity for audience discussion with the artists.

The five performances will be held at different branches and include:

Coyote in the Outer World with R. Carlos Nakai

Chandler Downtown Library, April 13.

R. Carlos Nakai will discuss how Native Americans form identity on their journey into the outer world beyond their cultural homes and how this journey applies to and can teach all of us about how we

Special to SanTan Sun News

The Orona Family, above, will be appearing June 1 at Hamilton Library in Chandler as part of a Native American culture series. Also scheduled is hoop dancer Tony Duncan, right, on May 15 at Basha Library.

form identity.

An 11-time Grammy nominee, gold and platinum Record winner, and recipient of the Governor’s Arts Award, Nakai will open his cultural exploration with a performance of the Native American flute.

Robert Doyle, President of Canyon Records, will moderate the presentation and lead the audience discussion opportunity.

hoop dancing. After demonstrating the dance that has taken him around the world, Tony will invite children and adults to pick up hoops and learn the steps, moves and grooves of hoop dancing.

Additionally, Tony will perform original songs for the Native American flute.

Questions and answers will follow the performance, led by Dr. David Martinez.

Hoop Dance 101 with Tony Duncan

Sons and Fathers with Joel, Roman and Tahj Orona

Basha Library, May 15. Five-time world championship hoop dancer Tony Duncan will conduct a master class in the art of

survival has been made possible through strong clan and family relationships, especially between fathers and sons. Three generations of the Orona family – Joel, Roman and Tahj – will share the strength and renewal of the Apache through music, stories and poetry.

Our People of the South with Xavier Quijas Yxayotl Sunset Library, June 15. Xavier Quijas

Hamilton Library, June 1. Native American

See

NATIVE on page 59

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

NATIVE

from page 58

Yxayotl presents music, stories and instruments from Native Mexicá. Of the Huichol people of Mexico, Xavier will describe how he built performance replicas of Aztec flutes found only in museums and created his own variations upon those ancient designs. He will perform using clay flutes, double flutes, drums and the eerie death whistle. Questions and

BROADWAYSTAR from page 55

“You can’t just paint somebody in this black and white picture just because it’s convenient for you. We’re all good people; we’re just people that make decisions. It’s a heavy script to tackle.

They’re doing it with so much integrity and vulnerability.”

Blair said she enjoys teaching students in their early 20s because she remembered that time of her life as “the world is this big open thing” and it is “such a questioning age.”

She has been impressed with the kindness, intelligence and professionalism of the faculty and staff members at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

“They really want inclusion and they work so hard,” Blair said. “It’s like you see people are energized, they’re genuinely smiling. I was just blown away.”

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answers will follow the performance, led

by Dr. David Martinez.

Waila!, with Southern Scratch, Chandler Downtown Community Center, June 22. Come dance to the polkas, cumbias and two-steps of waila, the popular music of the Akimel O’odham and Tohono O’odham of central and southern Arizona. A unique Native American variation on Mexican norteño music, waila (also known as chicken scratch) fills the air at all-night parties in O’odham communities on any Saturday night.

The series will finish with a dance concert featuring Southern Scratch performing waila, the dance music of the O’odham people of the Arizona deserts June 22 at the Chandler Community Center.

For the waila concert, a dance area will be set up for the audience to move to the polkas, cumbias and two-steps of Southern Scratch.

“This grant and our partnership with Canyon Records will afford Chandler Public Library the opportunity to provide quality cultural and educational events to our community members and ensures

accessibility for everyone,” said Chandler Library Manager Dan Lee. The One World, Many Voices performance series is made possible by the Arizona Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Since 1973, Arizona Humanities has supported public programs that promote understanding of the human experience with cultural, educational and nonprofit organizations across Arizona.

Information: 480-782-2800 or chandlerlibrary.org.

She also likes helping budding performers who are in the Bravo Troupe at East Valley Children’s Theatre and in musical theater classes at the same theater.

The youths in the Bravo Troupe, who are about ages 13 to 16, perform in various shows and are working on Christmas music now. Blair also teaches younger children, ages 5 and older, in musical theater classes.

“I really enjoy trying to get across the joy of musical theater to kids,” Blair said. “For a lot of them it’s the first time they’ve sung or first ever for any of it. It’s building blocks.”

David Hock, executive producer of Scottsdale Musical Theater and director of “A Christmas Carol,” said the students Blair works with and actors in his theater company are lucky to work with her.

“She’s amazing,” Hock said. “We were so thrilled when she walked through the door to audition. Besides the fact that her voice is just beyond belief, it is so

magnificent…we’re like, okay how do we wrap her up and never let her go away?

“She’s just a professional and I think the cast is absolutely feeling that, seeing that, learning from it. She is always on… it’s what makes Broadway, Broadway and what makes professional theater performers. They think so fast on their feet that you really have to be focused to stay up with them. It’s just the training and experience and the level she’s performed at.

“I would imagine what she’s teaching; the students must just be reveling in that.

In her case, they’re really learning from somebody who’s been there, done that and is still doing it. I would imagine what they are learning is like a master class.

That’s what my cast is getting. At every rehearsal they are getting a master class on how to rehearse, how to learn a song, how to practice the choreography.”

He said Blair demonstrates her talent acting, dancing and singing.

“She is absolutely a triple threat,” Hock said. “She definitely knows how to ply her trade and work on her craft. She is definitely an all-around super talent.”

He said Blair is also “a very nice lady.”

“She is very down-to-earth,” Hock said.

“There’s no arrogance or air about her.”

Hock said audiences will have a chance to see experienced performers, as well as sophisticated video projections, and hear a live orchestra at “A Christmas Carol.”

“It will be very exciting and fun for the audience, and it won’t be scary so kids won’t be scared,” he said. “It’ll be like watching a ‘Harry Potter’ movie. A good time should be had by all.”

Blair echoed Hock’s sentiments about “A Christmas Carol.”

“I definitely think it will appeal to everyone,” she said. “We have a lot of kids in our show, which is always inspiring when you’re young.”

For tickets and information: scottsdalemusicaltheater.com.

ARTS 60

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Desert Botanical Garden launches Electric Desert light and sound show

BY CONNOR DZIAWURA Staff Writer

It’s an experience that Desert Botanical Garden executive director Ken Schutz describes as “mesmerizing” and “psychedelic.” Electric Desert, by visual artist Ricardo Rivera, is juicing up garden visitors.

“It’s just extraordinary,” Schutz said.

“It’s 3-D mapping and it’s sort of Peter Max-ish in terms of its colors and shape and the way it changes.

“Everything we do we hope is different and helps people see nature in a different way. In the case of this one, I think it’s because the technology uses our plants as the movie screen.”

Electric Desert was unveiled in October and runs through May 12. The rain-or-shine installation is sponsored

by APS, Chase Private Client, The Steele Foundation, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, American Airlines and the Tempe Tourism Office. Doors open at 6 p.m. It is recommended to be viewed after dark.

Designed by Rivera and his Klip Collective, the light and sound experience combines Desert Botanical Garden’s plant life with the artists’ projection mapping and original music.

“You really have to go there and see it to really understand what it is, the nuance of it,” Rivera said. “There’s seven distinct areas of pieces, if you will, that people traverse through and explore. Some are big, some are small, some are to be taken from afar, some are to be walked through.”

Upon arriving at the garden, guests will

Courtesy of Desert Botanical Garden

Desert Botanical Garden executive director Ken Schutz said of the new display Electric Desert that, “you may have been to the garden 100 times before, but you would never have seen it like this. It feels familiar and very different at the same time.”

“I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it,” Schutz said. “I watched the audiences at Longwood respond to it. They just loved it. People lingered and just really enjoyed it and ‘ooh-ed’ and ‘aah-ed’ all the way through the exhibits. I thought this is one I’d really like to bring to the garden.”

The Botanical Garden take is a different beast.

Rivera said they up the bar each time an installation of this magnitude is constructed.

“There are similarities, meaning there are techniques and modalities that I’ve kind of garnered. Certain plants do different things based on those textures, et cetera,” Rivera said. “But they’re Courtesy of Desert Botanical Garden site-specific Electric Desert at Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 N. Galvin Parkway in Phoenix shows at 6 p.m. through May 12. Designed by pieces. This is Ricardo Rivera, the light and sound experience combines the garden’s plant life with projection-mapping and original music. very different than Nightscape and I’m very excited about it because can set their sights upon Location 6, see Neon Overture, a mesmerizing barrel- Desert Chorale, and maybe even grab Nightscape was very successful.” cactus display that gives visitors a taste of a bite to eat at the Patio Café. Colorful Rivera considers it to be collaboration what’s in store. patterns and dancing, dazzling lights blast between him and the garden’s plants.

Farther into the garden, the Desert “What’s being projected onto the across the butte, which can be viewed Discovery Loop Trail takes guests to plants is calculated in the sense that we from afar throughout the garden.

Locations 2, 3 and 4. Location 2, Cacti planned for it and certain characteristics A bit east, the seventh and final Synesthesia, lights up the Sybil B. of the form of these plants,” he said. “Not site-specific location, Sonoran Passage, Harrington Cactus Gallery, while the only the color, but their form is reflected is accessible from the Sonoran Desert ambiance of Location 3, Succulent in how the projected content manifests Nature Loop Trail, where guests can see Chlorata, washes over the worldwide itself. the butte light up. plants that comprise the adjacent “There’s definitely something that Schutz was inspired to bring Electric Sybil B. Harrington Succulent Gallery. happens between what I’m projecting Desert to Desert Botanical Garden when Location 4, the Infinity Crystal, serves as a he saw a previous Klip Collective garden and then when it actually hits the threecenterpiece between the two. dimensional form. All of these beautiful, installation, Nightscape, at Longwood After continuing down the Desert chaotic moments kind of explode and Gardens in Philadelphia.

Discovery Loop Trail toward the Kitchell Family Heritage Garden, visitors will find Location 5, Swhorl, where pulsing, rhythmic music and hypnotic lighting emanate.

Farther back, visitors of Ullman Terrace

happen.”

Though the lights will be the focus for Desert Botanical Garden guests, through ambient soundscapes, meditative pieces and rhythm pulsations set to dancing displays, the music is essential.

“The sound is a very big part of our work and it’s a very big part of this installation,” Rivera said. “It’s mostly an abstract experiential journey, if you will.

The music is really the backbone to the entire show. It’s everywhere.”

Klip Collective was founded in 2003.

The Philadelphia-based experiential video shop uses virtual reality, projection mapping, storytelling and soundscapes for its projects. It has done work for W Hotels, Target and Nike and projects in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Canada and Mexico, Rivera said.

“What’s so cool about 3-D mapping is before (Rivera) creates any images to project, he comes and maps the parts of the garden where he will be showing the movies and then that becomes the movie screen,” Schutz said. “So, our plants, even though it’s dark, are front and center throughout the entire show.

“You may have been to the garden 100 times before, but you would never have seen it like this. It feels familiar and very different at the same time.”

As fall rolls into winter, Electric Desert will cross paths with the garden’s annual Las Noches de las Luminarias, Dec. 1 through Dec. 23, and Dec. 26 through Dec. 31. Schutz calls it “two for the price of one.”

If You Go...

What: Electric Desert Where: Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix.

When: 6 p.m. through May 12.

Cost: Varying price levels: from $12.95 to $39.95 More info: 480-941-1225, dbg.org/ electric-desert.

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

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Pizza and Donuts to occupy Downtown Phoenix

BY CONNOR DZIAWURA Staff Writer

At first, frequent food festival purveyor David Tyda isn’t too keen on weighing in on the pineapple pizza debate. It doesn’t take long for him to buckle and offer his opinion.

“I grew up hating it…” he admits before adding, “…and then I had it from (the restaurant) zpizza.

“There was something about the type of ham and the pineapple, the way it all came together on a slice of zpizza. I just had that transformational moment where it was like I see things from other peoples’ perspective. I truly put myself in the other person’s shoe who likes pineapple and ham on pizza. And now I’m one of them. Now I totally get it. And I get it quite often.”

Though Tyda’s view on the pizza topping now sits in a favorable light, he’s similarly unsure the public will take a liking to his donut preferences.

“People aren’t going to like this answer, but I cannot get enough of a French cruller,” he reveals. “I guess I’m a texture person, and the texture of a French cruller, I just love it.”

But what the heck do pizza and donuts have to do with each other? Well, Tyda is the creator of the upcoming Phoenix Pizza and Downtown Donut festivals, set back to back at Margaret T. Hance Park on Saturday, Nov. 17, and Sunday, Nov. 18, respectively.

Special to SanTan Sun News

The Phoenix Pizza Festival in downtown Phoenix today will sport 17 to 20 pizza vendors gathered in a cozy park.

Phoenix Pizza Festival

The Phoenix Pizza Festival kicks the weekend off from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17. Tickets cost $10 online or, if they’re still available, $12 at the gate. Children ages 5 and younger are admitted free.

Tyda started the festival four years ago.

“I just had noticed there were a lot of

mobile wood-fired ovens in town,” Tyda reflects. “That made me think there’s enough to build a festival around.”

The festival, as Tyda puts it, is a “hit.” Last year, there were around 4,000 attendees and 17 pizza vendors, he says. This year, he expects 17 to 20 pizza vendors, though attendance will likely cap around the same point to combat long lines.

Among the stacked cast of pizza peddlers lined up this year are Saffron JAK, Merkin Pizza Wagon, Triple Dot Food Truck, La Piazza Al Forno, Flying Saucer Pizza Truck, Kono Pizza and Smoothie Run. For affordability’s sake, each pizza vendor will have at least one option within the $2 to $4 price range. Other vendors will include The Treatery, Berrie Kabobs, Phoenix Phreeze, Lulu’s Sorbetto and more.

On the beer and wine side are Line 39, Day Owl Rosé, NMT Brewing, OHSO Brewery + Distillery, Mother Bunch Brewing and THAT Brewery. The festival will also accommodate nonalcoholic beverages.

Downtown Donut Festival

In contrast to the Phoenix Pizza Festival, its sugary dough counterpart is a new affair. This one is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18. Tickets are $8 online. Children ages 5 and younger are admitted free.

Tyda’s goal was to enlist around 15 vendors, a number which has been greatly See

PIZZA on page 62

ARTS 62

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

File photo

The Festival of Lights Kick-Off Party in Ahwatukee on the Saturday after Thanksgiving transforms Desert Foothills Parkway in Ahwatukee into a magical land with attractions for all ages.

Festival of Lights Kick-Off Party needs you SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

Calling all Chandler residents who like Christmas lights: The Festival of Lights KickOff Party is ready to light up your world.

While the 23rd event that helps pay for the million Christmas lights along Chandler Boulevard in Ahwatukee is only 10 days away, the Festival of Lights Committee still needs a lot of volunteers to help make the eight-hour community party the Saturday after Thanksgiving run smoothly.

But that won’t stop the eight-hour party, a perfect retreat for any out-oftown guests as well as for anyone who wants to catch some Christmas spirit early.

“We’re a little behind,” said FOL Committee President Janyce Hazlett. “Of the 300 we need, I’d say we’re only halfway there.”

The committee needs volunteers for three-hour shifts (10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 1-4 p.m.) Friday, Nov. 23, to help set up, as well as for the Nov. 24 party itself. There are so many tasks for Saturday duty – in three-hour shifts but all-day for those who can swing it – that the committee isn’t listing them on its sign-up page at azfol.org. Basically, the committee is just hoping volunteers will be ready to do whatever it takes to make Ahwatukee’s biggest party of the year another success.

The Kick-Off party, held at Desert Foothills Park at Chandler Boulevard and Desert Foothills Park, runs noon-8 p.m.

PIZZA

from page 61

surpassed. He’s expecting the event to sell out at 3,000 guests.

Ultimately, its inspiration falls in line with that of its pizza contemporary.

“I was just noticing how many great locally-owned, independent shops we have here in town,” Tyda explains of its origins. “And I thought, well, I mean it seems like there’s enough for a festival, so let’s have a festival around it.”

It goes beyond just glazed or Boston

and has become not only a tradition for many local families, but also an ideal event for them and for out-of-town guests who are visiting for the long Thanksgiving weekend.

This year, the committee has some new attractions to augment the standbys that have helped make the party a must.

One of those new additions is a VIP tent at the tavern, where, for $50, patrons get a $10 food voucher, a drink ticket, an engraved commemorative beer glass and – best of all – a place out of the sun and a reserved table.

“The tavern gets really crowded and what’s been happening in the past is that when someone went up to get a drink, they lost their table,” Hazelett explained.

She also said that the tavern will have two restaurants this year so that patrons will have more choices in food.

They are Tees Concessions and Paradise Brothers.

Tickets for the adults-only tavern are available at the Safeway at 40th Street and Desert Foothills Parkway.

Food will be available in three areas.

In the park, Popcycle, Water & Ice, Yoasis and Kettle Corn will be there.

Restaurant Row will include Picnic Specialties, Tukee’s Tamales, Jersey Mikes, the Halal Guys, Nello’s, Hot Bamboo AZ, Arribas, WOW WOW Lemonade, I Dream Of Weenies, The Original Hoagie Shop and Chik Fil A, along with Waffle Crush

and Pour Jo Coffee trucks.

Hazelett also expects a much larger lighted motorcycle parade, which rolls out at 6:30 p.m. as Santa’s escort.

Though she and her husband are not participating in the parade – they’ve sold their bikes after years of leading the parade – motorcycle shops and clubs have reached out saying they wanted to participate.

The party also will have a cornhole tournament, a pet parade sponsored by Pet Planet of Ahwatukee, a marketplace with about 100 vendors, and inflatables and rides.

Kids can enjoy those rides and inflatables for 50 cents a ticket or $20 for an all-day pass. Kids also will enjoy a Santa’s Village as well as train rides until the sun goes down.

There also are two stages featuring entertainment all day long. One stage will feature bands, headlined by the popular Tripwire.

The other will feature local groups, including the cast of Kimberly Lewis’ Ahwatukee Nutcracker, the Mountain Pointe High School Step Dance Troupe, the Sierra Strikers Mallet Ensemble, Desert Foothills United Methodist Church Choir, Mountainside Martial Arts; Also appearing are: Horizon Community Learning Center’s Cantabile Honor Chorale, the Pecos Line Dancers and a performance from part of Esperanza Lutheran Church’s new

Christmas show, titled “Noelphobia.”

Featuring a big cast of mostly Ahwatukee youngsters and teens, “Noelophobia” will be presented in full at 7 p.m. Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 and at 3 p.m.

Dec. 3 at Esperanza Lutheran Church, 2601 E. Thunderhill Place, Ahwatukee.

The light display that the Kick-Off Party helps pay for will be turned on the evening of Monday, Nov. 19 – earlier than usual.

“We figured a lot of people come in from out-of-town to stay with family and that it would be nice to start it a little early,” Hazlett said.

But even longtime Ahwatukee residents familiar with the display have a special reason to cruise along Chandler Boulevard between 24th Street and Desert Foothills Parkway this year because the lights have been reconfigured.

The Kick-Off Party also has benefitted from an unexpected – but welcome – injection of new sponsors – notably Connect202Partners, which enthusiastically jumped aboard.

“With all the disruption the freeway construction has created in the last year, I think they wanted to do something for the community,” Hazelett said.

Not only did the freeway cost a number of homes in the Foothills HOA, which, along with the Club West HOA, financially supports the Festival of Lights, but construction forced more traffic onto Chandler Boulevard.

cream, he says. Lined up to appear are Krispy Kreme, BoSa Donuts, Bites Donuts, DoNut Worry, Topgolf, sweetDee’s bakeshop, Churro GoNUTZ, Pokitrition and more. Other vendors include Bully Brew Coffee, Mama’s Cold Brew, First Place Coffee, Smoothie Run, Zoyo Neighborhood Yogurt, Unbaked and SanTan Brewing Company.

Like the pizza festival’s affordability initiative, Downtown Donut Festival vendors will have at least one $1 offering.

This allows people to budget or sample more donut types, Tyda says.

A stacked weekend

Beyond the main booths, both festivals should have additional nonfood local business vendors. Tyda says there are usually around 20 10-by-10 booths.

For entertainment, there will be live music, lawn games from AZ Board Source, a sunscreen station from Mr. Pool Party and a kids’ zone that includes children’s crafts and a bouncy house.

“There will be different crafts and a tent so kids can sort of make their own donut with construction paper and different toppings and glue,” Tyda explains of the donut festival.

On the pizza festival, he continues,

“They take paper plates and they’ll color them red and then they’ll add shavings that looked like cheese on it and then they’ll add little pepperonis and sort of make their pizza.”

Phoenix Pizza Festival, Margaret T. Hance Park, 1201 N. Third St., Phoenix, phoenix.pizza, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, $10 online, $12 at the gate, free for kids ages 5 and younger.

Downtown Donut Festival, Margaret T. Hance Park, 1202 N. Third St., Phoenix, downtowndonutfest.com, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 18, $8 online, free for kids ages 5 and younger.

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Faith

63

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Who will listen when injustice, inhumanity occur?

BY RABBI IRWIN WIENER Guest Writer

There are things happening in the world that boggle the imagination.

We observe greed on a grand scale, sometimes even grander than we can imagine, and we don’t even know how to pronounce the amounts involved. We see scenes of misery, the misery of the helpless, and wonder if there truly is any salvation.

We witness daily the suffering of peoples because of indifference. We wonder about the hate that is permeated in schools and marketplaces and in halls of government. It is no wonder that we feel despair and helplessness.

A great scholar commented after witnessing the slaughter of the First Crusade: “We are a generation that lacks someone to pray for us.”

Those words ring true today. The world sits idly by as Jews are slaughtered in all

parts of the world.

Israel faces enemies on all sides and is faulted for wanting to exist. Is the family of man content to let Jews die because of complacency? Are we not seeing this in our lifetime? And we wonder, who will listen?

When the media, by design, elaborates on the plight of the Palestinians and ignores the constant barrage of bombs and insults and indoctrinations in school texts, no one counters these lies and distortions.

We write articles, such as this one, to ourselves because no one else will print the truth. The influence we are supposed to have is really a myth.

The headlines read about injustice and inhumanity and callousness – not only toward Jews but the helpless people who have remained so because leaders and countries would rather use them to intimidate and denounce the ability to survive.

The voices of Auschwitz tell us that we Jews are commanded to survive and that we are forbidden to despair of the

righteousness of mankind.

But who will listen? We talk to each other, we write to each other, we commiserate with each other and we publish to each other. We write books and we produce movies, but we don’t answer the charges and respond to the propaganda.

The headlines are misleading but there is no rebuttal, no taking to task those enterprises that spew the falsehoods.

When Palestinians are hurt, where is the media showing the care and attention they receive in Israeli hospitals? Where is the notice made of the contributions Israel has made to the betterment of humankind?

Why are not the medical breakthroughs or intellectual advancements or engineering and technical marvels revealed so that everyone will know that Israel is a contributor to the survival of all of God’s children?

Who will listen when we say with hands outstretched that all we want is to live in our little corner of the world,

continuing to develop those tools necessary for peace, not war? Who will listen when we encourage brotherhood?

Who will listen when we speak of life, not death?

I am reminded of the words I once read about a martyr, during the height of the Roman Empire, who whispered with his last breath: “There is not a street in all of Rome where someone is not killed by the sword, and this evil nation will continue to shed innocent blood. My last advice to you is: Care for one another, love peace and justice; perhaps there is yet some hope.”

There is and will always be hope and faith and the wish for eternal peace. But who will listen? When will we realize that silence and appeasement only encourage the hate mongers and the murderers?

Who will listen?

God will listen but sometimes needs a helping hand.

Rabbi Dr. Irwin Wiener, D.D is National Chaplain of Jewish War Veterans-USA and he is with Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation.

A whispered prayer: I will walk in beauty

BY LYNNE HARTKE Guest Writer

The message board at the trailhead for the Inner Basin Trail outside of Flagstaff, Arizona had the normal notes about packing out garbage and fire safety instructions, but a Navajo blessing added in the bottom corner caught my eye: I will walk in beauty before me. I will walk with beauty behind me.

I will walk with beauty below me. I will walk with beauty above me.

I will walk with beauty around me.

Walk in beauty is a Navajo phrase tied to a traditional prayer. Hózhó.

According to Danielle Geller in the November 2018 Arizona Highways

magazine, “It is impossible to translate hózhó directly into English, to understand the full weight of beauty. Beauty is health and happiness, balance and harmony, but this feels like an oversimplification.

Beauty is a way of moving through the world.»

An early snowfall had blanketed the trail lined with old-growth forest: ponderosas, limber pines and southwestern white pines. A light breeze sent collected snowflakes tumbling from tree limbs as birds chorused above us.

Golden aspen leaves polka-dotted the icy-white expanse on the forest floor, a melding of autumn and winter in a breathless display.

Ascending into the Inner Basin, a biting wind forced us to pull out our beanies from the bottom of our packs. The incoming storm veiled the surrounding San Francisco Peaks as the snowflakes

turned to tiny globules of ice in the higher elevation. Hastily downing a granola bar, I took sips from my hydration pack, the water in the hose a match for the air’s dropping temperatures.

A group of three older women huddled in a wooden structure nearby. I had not understood the necessity of the building when we last hiked this trail in July, but now the shelter made perfect sense in the winter conditions. The women pulled out cheap ponchos, the flimsy plastic billowing like sails, as they added a layer for wind protection before heading down the slope.

“Do we wait out the storm?” I asked.

We had wanted to get photos of the peaks in autumn. “Our footprints are filling in.”

“Let’s give it a few more minutes.”

“Could you find your way back down the mountain?”

“The trail is well marked.”

I put my hands in my pockets to warm them and pulled out six aspen leaves I had collected on the ascent in a variety of colors: green, yellow, gold, ginger, and brown. I had planned to take them home, but suddenly had a different idea.

I raised the leaves over my head and released them to the wind.

They swirled in a cacophony of color against the white landscape. We followed them back down the mountain, back to our responsibilities and deadlines. As the wind and snow erased our footprints, I whispered a prayer: Beauty before. Beauty behind. Beauty below. Beauty above. Beauty around.

I will walk in beauty.

Lynne Hartke is the author of Under a Desert Sky and the wife of pastor and Chandler Mayor-elect Kevin Hartke. She blogs at www.lynnehartke.com.

Spiritual Connections

SUNDAYS

Kids’ Sunday School 10 to 11 a.m. Sundays Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800

Call ahead to confirm as details occasionally change after print.

If you have a recurring monthly support group or meeting to list in Spiritual Connections, email complete details to news@santansun.com.

Celebration Service 9:30 a.m. Sundays Unity Church of Sun Lakes meets in the Arts and Crafts room of Sun Lakes Country Club, 25601 S. Sun Lakes Blvd., Sun Lakes. Rev. Debbi Brown/Adams presides and coffee and fellowship will take place after the service. The church reports it is a loving, positive, active and health-minded spiritual community.

480-277-4576, unityofsunlakes.org Celebration Service 10:30 a.m. Sundays All with peaceful beliefs are welcome to this inclusive, loving, thriving UNITY Community.

Join the group at 10 a.m., preceding the service, for fellowship. Youth and toddlers meet during service. Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center, 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa, 480-593-8798, interfaithcommunity.org

Lift Your Spirit 10 a.m. Sundays Hear inspirational messages and music.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 Traditional and Contemporary Services 7:30 a.m. daybreak contemplative worship, 9 a.m. traditional worship and choral music, 11 a.m. contemporary worship with live Christian rock band. There is also a service at 12 p.m. Wednesdays.

St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 901 W. Erie St., Chandler 480-899-7386, saintmatthewschurch.org

See

CALENDAR on page 64

FAITH 64

CALENDAR

from page 63

MONDAYS

The Art of Parenting 7:30 p.m. Mondays Six-session course from the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute and presented by Rabbi Mendy Deitsch of Chabad of the East Valley, designed to help parents at all levels of Jewish knowledge develop their own parenting philosophies and techniques. Cost is $99.

Pollack Chabad Center for Jewish Life 875 N. McClintock Drive, Chandler 480-855-4333, rabbi@chabadcenter.com

TUESDAYS

Silva Class and Meditation 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays Learn the Silva method with Lois Britland.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 Career Connectors 8:30 a.m. to noon, fourth Tuesday of month Nonprofit organization connecting professionals in career transition to highquality resources and hiring companies; each event includes professional career speakers with presentations on relevant job search topics, three to four hiring companies, networking, resume help, career coaches, LinkedIn coaches and business portraits.

Central Christian Church, Gilbert Campus/ Student Center, 965 E. Germann Road, Gilbert 480-442-5806, careerconnectors.org Christian Business Networking Tri-City Chapter – Chandler, Tempe, Mesa 7:15 a.m. Tuesdays Offers members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and business referrals.

Crackers and Co. Café, 535 W. Iron Ave., Mesa Maia, 480-425-0624, christianbusinessnetworking.com Christian Business Networking, Chandler Bi-Monthly Chapter 7:45 a.m. second and fourth Tuesdays each month Offers members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and business referrals.

Chandler Christian Church, Building B, Room 202 1825 S. Alma School Road, Chandler Maia, 480-425-0624, christianbusinessnetworking.com HOPE—Help Overcoming Painful Experiences 7 p.m. Tuesdays Free weekly small-group sessions helping people overcome emotional pain caused by divorce, grief, addictions and more; free child care for children ages 10 and younger.

Desert Springs Church 19620 S. McQueen Road, Room 106, Chandler hope4all@comcast.net, helpovercomingpainfulexperiences.org Shalom Chapter of Hadassah 11:30 a.m. second Tuesday of each month Iron Oaks (Oakwood) Clubhouse 24218 S. Oakwood Blvd., Sun Lakes Cyril, 480-802-0243; Kathy, 480-895-5194; Shirley, 480-883-9159; or Joyce, 480-802-4902 Monthly Women’s Fellowship 6:15 p.m. fourth Tuesday of each month The monthly fellowship Bible study with the East Valley Chapter of Christian Women’s Devotional Alliance “ministers to women’s spiritual, emotional and physical needs.”

Best Western-Mezona, 250 W. Main St., Mesa.

480-232-3773 Narcotics Anonymous (Nar-Anon), Chandler Chapter 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays Twelve-step program for families and friends of addicts. Faith Community Church 1125 N. Dobson Road, Chandler, nar-anon.org

WEDNESDAYS

Panic Healing 7 to 9 p.m. every Wednesday

Receive a 15-minute energetic tuneup.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 Gong Meditation and Yoga Nidra 7 to 8:30 p.m. third Wednesday Presented by Will Zecco, gong master. Bring yoga mat, blanket and pillow as desired. Love offerings will be accepted.

Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center, 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa 480-593-8798, interfaith-community.org “A Course in Miracles” with the Rev. Julianne Lewis 1 to 2:15 p.m. Wednesdays The weekly group is an interactive time of learning and sharing, appropriate for course beginners as well as longtime students of ACIM. Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa 480-593-8798, interfaith-community.org The Art of Parenting 9:30 a.m. Wednesdays Six-session course from the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute and presented by Rabbi Mendy Deitsch of Chabad of the East Valley, designed to help parents at all levels of Jewish knowledge develop their own parenting philosophies and techniques. Cost is $99.

Chandler Jewish Community Center 908 N. Alma School Road, Chandler 480-855-4333 or rabbi@chabadcenter.com Grief Care 6:45 p.m. Wednesdays A place to come share your feelings or just listen to others as we try to navigate through our grief. You don’t have to do it alone.

Epiphany Lutheran Church, South Campus, old church building, 800 W. Ray Road, Room 325, Chandler, griefcareaz@gmail.com Healing Prayer and Meditation Circle 7 to 8:15 p.m. Wednesdays Guided prayer, affirmations and visualization for those facing physical, emotional, mental or spiritual issues in their lives. Love offering requested.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 Meditation Moments 7 to 8:30 p.m. third Wednesday of the month An interactive time of learning and sharing, appropriate for beginners or longtime students of ACIM. Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa 480-593-8798, interfaith-community.org St. Mathew’s Episcopal Church 12 p.m. Healing and Eucharist service St. Mathew’s Episcopal Church 901 W. Erie St., Chandler 480-899-7386, saintmatthewschurch.org

THURSDAYS

Women’s Empowerment & Awakening 7 to 8:30 p.m. third Thursday Release negative beliefs.

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 A Course in Miracles 7 p.m. first, second and fourth Thursday Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 Empower Model for Men 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays The three-class series is taught by author Scott E. Clark and designed to offer practical wisdom and tools to help men shift into their higher consciousness, based on the sevenstep empower model detailed in Clark’s book, “Empower Model for Men.” Cost is $85.

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Offers hope to the hurting Valleywide through one-on-one Biblical marriage teaching, God-honoring wife discipleship and marriage restoration mentoring to wives seeking God’s will in the restoration of marriage.

Lisa, 602-377-8847, marriage@lisacmyers.com, forevermarriageministries.com, facebook.com/forevermarriages

Unity of Tempe, formerly Unity of Chandler 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800 Real Love Support Group 6:30 p.m. Thursdays For those who have a desire to acquire more “real love” and in the process find great personal happiness and more fulfilling relationships. Love offering requested.

Unity of Tempe, 1222 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Tempe 480-792-1800

Jewish Women International, Avodah Chapter 1581 Monthly luncheon. Social Box Eateries, 1371 N. Alma School Road, Chandler RSVP: 480-802-9304, 480-655-8812

SATURDAYS

Spirit Night – Psychic Fair 4 to 8 p.m. third Saturday of each month The “Lightworkers” offer a wide range of services, including Reiki, facials, mediums, drumming, tarot, angel messages and more.

Services range from $20 to $30. Cash only.

Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa interfaith-community.org heatherposey70@gmail.com

Moms in Prayer International A group of mothers who meet one hour each week to intercede for their children and schools through prayer. Liane Wright, 480-699-7887, momsinprayer.org Bible Study Meets twice a month Members of the Women’s Life Group study the Bible and discuss how the lessons can relate to their lives. Sun Lakes United Church of Christ, Chandler.

Jan Olson: 480-802-7457, Joy King 480-588-1882

Spirit Night – A Holistic Healing Festival 1 to 6 p.m. third Saturday of the month Lightworkers offer a wide range of services including Reiki, facials, mediums, drumming, tarot, angel messages and more. Services range from $20 to $30.

Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa interfaith-community.org, heatherposey70@gmail.com

East Valley Jewish Couples Club Offers once-a-month social activities such as dining, movies and plays for Jewish couples in the 45- to 65-year-old age range. Melissa, 480-785-0744, beadlover@cox.net

Unity Drumming and Healing Circle 6:30 to 8 p.m. fourth Saturday of each month Beginner, expert drummers and observers welcome. Bring snack, appetizer or dessert to share. Love donation accepted.

Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center 952 E. Baseline Road, Suite 102, Mesa 480-593-8798, interfaith-community.org

OTHER

Forever Marriage Ministries Marriage Restoration Support Group for Wives

Let us help you publicize your church or temple’s events in the Spirituality section by emailing details to news@santansun.com.

Include a brief description of the event, times, days, dates, cost or free, if registration is required, venue, address, publishable phone number, website if applicable and contact information for verification purposes. We welcome photos, which must be 300 dpi JPEGs or taken on a digital camera on the “best” or “highest quality” setting. Information is due 10 days prior to publication date. Submission does not guarantee placement.

Chandler United Methodist Church Making and Deploying Disciples for over 100 Years.

Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.

SUNDAY WORSHIP TIMES

Worship at 8:30 am & 10:00 am Children’s Sunday School at 8:40 am & 10:10 am November Sermon series on “There’s No Place Like Home”

480-963-3360 | www.chandlermethodist.org | 450 E. Chandler Heights Rd.

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

DIRECTORY AIR CONDITIONING/HEAT

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• Handle Phone Calls • Negotiate the Deal • I Come to You • No Charge Until the Vehicle Sells

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Paint Interior & Exterior • Drywall Repair Light Carpentry • Power Washing • Textures Matched Popcorn Removal • Pool Deck Coatings Garage Floor Coatings • Color Consulting

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COMPUTER/IT SERVICES FIRST LOCATION IN ARIZONA

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A group of local business representatives and owners committed to development of local businesses in the Greater Chandler Area. Providing a forum for local businesses to promote themselves. We also work with and promote several non-profit organizations. Each member is required to assist or fund a non-profit organization as a show of support to our community. chandleralliance@gmail.com

PAINTING

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TECHNOLOGY TRAINING Your Location - We come to you!

Customized For Seniors, Businesses & Veterans Monsoon Special $20 OFF • Internet understanding uses (research, travel, organize) & security • Computer diagnostics/maintenance/security; MS products & Apps • iPad®, Tablets & Smartphones • Digital Cameras & much more 888.657.2280, ext 1 www.SeniorCompuCare.com ©2018 Senior CompuCare-VOTS • All Rights Reserved

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

CLASSIFIEDS

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Each ad starts at $22 plus Chandler tax per issue. Special: Buy 3 get 4th for free for only $66. You get up to 50 words more than other classifieds.

To Place Your Classified Ad Call 480-898-6465 or Email: Classifieds@SanTanSun.com Read our paper online: www.SanTanSun.com

CARPET CLEANING BIG JOHN'S CARPET CLEANING Our truck-mounted steam cleaning system will deep clean your carpets, ridding them of unwanted dirt, bacteria, fungus and chemical residues.

Upholstery cleaning also available.

Tile and grout cleaning.

For a clean and healthy carpet, call 480-786-6610 or 602-989-8311 John Downs, Owner/Operator, Ocotillo Resident.

Call for monthly specials.

MUSTANG CARPET & TILE CLEANING Carpet, Tile & Grout, and Upholstery Cleaning. Family owned, truck-mounted steam cleaning. We off 1/2-hour appointment time frames, so no waiting around. We include pre-spraying, mild deodorizer and degreasers for high traffic areas at no charge.

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Looking for Steady Clientele that want Consistent Quality Service with EVERY cleaning.

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Exceptional Service!! We Love Pets!! Free in home estimate.

Call Rita -480-250-9744 HOUSE CLEANING The lowest prices in the Valley! We provide all cleaning supplies.

20 years experience Trustworthy and dependable We pay attention to details Excellent References Call Vicky 480-227-1890

CLEANING SERVICES

MELISSA'S CLEANING SERVICE Make Your House Sparkle & Shine.

Reliable Energetic Cleaning.

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Free Estimates. giada42607@gmail.com 480-395-8757 SIMPLY GRAND CLEANING SERVICE House cleaning specialists offering weekly, biweekly, monthly, or one-time cleanings. Also, providing move-in/out cleaning service, windows and patios. We use GREEN environmentally friendly products. High quality services at a great price. Very dependable, insured and with excellent references. $10 off first service with mention of this ad.

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SPARKLE & SHINE CLEANING SERVICE Immaculate, Dependable Service. Affordable Rates.

Move-In/Move-Out services available. All supplies included. "You've tried the rest, now try the BEST!" Ask for Martha or Annie 480-495-5516 or 480-495-5545

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EMPLOYMENT Engineer II - Roadways (Cvl Engrs): BS+2 yrs exp w/HCSS, Primavera P6, Bluebeam. Wkst: Chandler, AZ. Mail Resumes to Granite Construction Company, Attn.

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

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Come celebrate our 11th annual "Quilt and Bake Sale" on December 9th from 8:00 AM to 12:45 PM at Risen Savior Lutheran Church - 23914 S Alma School Rd. Quilts range in price from $15 to $75.

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

Where To Eat

69

For more community news visit SanTanSun.com

Local restaurants ready for you to gobble down

BY COLLEEN SPARKS Managing Editor

Feasting with family members and friends on Thanksgiving does not have to require hours cooking in the kitchen and scrubbing dirty dishes, as many Chandler restaurants will serve turkey and all the popular holiday trimmings next week.

Several locally-owned and chain restaurants will be open and provide special Turkey Day menus on Nov. 22.

Almost one in 10 adults plan to eat a Thanksgiving meal in a restaurant in 2017, a survey from the National Restaurant Association showed.

“It’s easier for families,” Barbie Stevens, a manager at Black Angus Steakhouse in Chandler said. “It gives them more family time” at home, she added.

Here is a look at Chandler restaurants that will be open Thanksgiving: Black Angus Steakhouse in Chandler and other locations around the country will have a special Turkey Day menu and a limited menu with other meat and seafood options. Chandler’s Black Angus is at 2770 W. Chandler Blvd.

The Thanksgiving menu at Black Angus will be $19.99 for adults and $9.99 for children ages 12 and younger. Diners can choose either a soup or garden salad to start with on Turkey Day, and warm molasses bread will be served.

The Thanksgiving menu also includes roasted turkey, mashed potatoes with

The Keg Steakhouse + Bar

The Keg Steakhouse + Bar will be open on Thanksgiving and provide a three-course Thanksgiving menu with turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce and gravy, as well as the classic Caesar salad and cheesecake with pumpkin drizzle for $30. Customers can also order off the regular menu on Turkey Day.

loaded baked potato soup, steak soup and macaroni and cheese will also be available on Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin pie, sky-high mud pie, a chocolate flourless torte, New York-style cheesecake and other desserts also are available.

Black Angus in Chandler will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

The turkey and ham dinners will cost somewhere between $15.99 and $19.99 per person. The prime rib dinner will be between $18.99 and $21.99.

The Little Less meals for the turkey and ham will be between $11.99 and $15.99, while the Cubs meals (for children) for turkey and ham will cost between $7.99 and $9.99. The prime rib will only be

an artisan bread basket with fresh bread and pumpkin butter. For the first course, diners can pick the Fleming’s chopped salad or lobster bisque. Customers may select a mixed herb-roasted turkey breast with savory turkey gravy and fresh cranberry, orange and cinnamon sauce for their main course, or for an extra $15 can opt for the sliced beef tenderloin with a cabernet demi-glace.

The main courses will be served with housemade sage and brioche bread stuffing with green beans and onions, as well as butter-mashed sweet potatoes and Yukon gold mashed potatoes to share.

Fleming’s will serve customers’ choice of apple crisp with chantilly cream and cinnamon or a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Diners can also order a fireside rye cocktail with Knob Creek rye, fresh grapefruit juice and housemade chardonnay honey syrup for $15.

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar Chandler manager and wine director Bruce Duffy said people are going out to dinner on Thanksgiving more often because they find it easier than cooking and hosting loved ones at home.

“It’s a lot of work,” Duffy said. “We provide an absolutely wonderful meal.

We just have a wonderful wine list as well.”

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Chandler will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Information: flemingssteakhouse.com.

At Gila River Hotels & Casino - Wild Horse Pass, guests can choose from Fullhouse Café and Shula’s Steak House for Thanksgiving meals. Wild Horse Pass is located at 5040 Wild Horse Pass Blvd.

At Fullhouse Café at Wild Horse Pass, a three-course Thanksgiving meal will be served from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. for $15.95 per person. Diners can pick a house salad or potato leek soup with bacon for their first course. The main course is a smoked turkey breast with maple sweet potatoes, traditional stuffing, corn pudding, cranberry relish and dinner rolls with butter on the side. Pumpkin roulade will be offered for dessert.

Roy’s

Roy’s restaurant will help customers celebrate Turkey Day with a traditional, three-course Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 22. A prix fixe menu of Roy’s Classic Favorites will also be served.

gravy, sage dressing, sweet potato, steamed broccoli and fresh cranberry sauce. Customers will also get to indulge on pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.

Black Angus will also offer several different entrees from its regular menu for those who want something other than traditional Thanksgiving food on the holiday. Some include a prime rib and lobster dish, a ribeye steak and coldwater Atlantic lobster tails.

A variety of regular sidekicks including garden and Caesar salads, the more

Information: blackangus.com.

Black Bear Diner, a national restaurant chain at 2805 S. Alma School Road, is providing specials on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Customers can choose from a roasted turkey, prime rib or holiday ham dinner.

The three-course meals will also include a soup or salad, as well as cornbread with Olga’s bread pudding for dessert. Also being served are a new holiday cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.

served in the traditional size.

The pumpkin pies cost $4.99 each.

Black Bear Diner will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Information: blackbeardiner. com.

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar at 905 N. 54th St. has a three-course Thanksgiving menu at $45 per person, while one for kids under 12 is $19.

Customers can also order off the regular menu on Nov. 22.

The $45 Thanksgiving menu includes

Shula’s Steak House at Wild Horse Pass will provide a three-course Thanksgiving meal beginning at 11 a.m. for $49.99 per person. The first course is a spinach salad with spinach and romaine lettuce, dried cranberries, candied pecans, goat cheese, sunflower seeds and strawberries and a mustard-bacon vinaigrette dressing.

For the main course, diners will get a traditional sage-roasted turkey, along with a side of fennel seed sausage, raisin stuffing, sweet mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts with crisp bacon, caramelized onion, cheddar cornbread, and turkey jus.

Dessert is pumpkin cheesecake with whipped cream and rum anglaise.

Lone Butte Casino is also giving people a place away from home to soak See

THANKSGIVING on page 70

70

WHERE TO EAT

THANKSGIVING

SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

meal is $15.95 per person. from page 69

up Thanksgiving. The casino is located at 1077 S. Kyrene Road.

Fullhouse Café at Lone Butte will provide a three-course Thanksgiving meal from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The first course will be a house salad with mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, shredded carrots and croutons and customer’s choice of dressing.

The main course is a traditional roasted turkey dinner paired with cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes topped with pan gravy, as well as garlic green beans. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream will be served for dessert. The

Cities Bar & Grille at Lone Butte will offer more choices for diners on Thanksgiving. It will offer a brunch buffet from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $34.99 per person with THE Card and $39.99 each per non-member.

The buffet includes a salad bar with various toppings and dressings, an omelet and pasta station, as well as roasted breakfast potatoes, bacon and sausage, biscuits and country gravy, and shrimp cocktail. The carving station will feature roasted turkey homestyle gravy, and prime rib provided with au jus and horseradish cream.

Customers can also satisfy their cravings for Turkey Day food with side dishes including creamy mashed

potatoes, traditional stuffing, green beans with garlic and soft dinner rolls. A waffles and blintz station with toppings and syrups, as well as a toaster station with jam, jellies, cheese and crackers and butter will also be offered.

Diners can pick from pumpkin apple and pecan pie, as well as monkey bread, scones, chocolate-covered strawberries, cream puffs, éclairs and lemon shortcake for dessert.

Information: playatgila.com.

Hash Kitchen in Chandler is going to serve an eclectic Thanksgiving menu on Nov. 22. It is located at 2855 W. Ray Road, Suite 4 in Chandler.

Customers can order off Hash’s seasonal menu that is available this whole month and also from the regular menu.

The seasonal menu includes Leg of Lamb Hash, an oven-roasted leg of lamb, with hash potatoes, poached eggs and rosemary demi for $17.

Another seasonal choice is the carved turkey and stuffing waffle: a waffle stuffing, hand-carved turkey, smashed potatoes, gravy and fried leeks for $15.

Also on the seasonal menu is a carved turkey and cornbread stuffing hash, which is sweet potatoes, hand-carved turkey, cornbread hash, two poached eggs and gravy drizzle for $16. Diners can pick a seasonal menu item of sweet potato pancakes with maple cranberry syrup for $12.

A carved-turkey beni, which is handcarved turkey with cornbread-stuffed cakes, poached eggs and gravy, is part of the seasonal menu for $14. Pumpkinspiced French toast for $12 is also on the seasonal menu.

Hash Kitchen will be open from 7 a.m.

to 2:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Information: hashkitchen.com.

Roy’s will also help customers celebrate Turkey Day with a traditional, three-course dinner. A prix fixe menu of Roy’s Classic Favorites will also be served. Roy’s in Chandler is located at 7151 West Ray Road.

To start, diners can get a Caesar salad or lobster bisque. The entrée will be a pan-roasted teriyaki-glazed turkey. Side dishes will be Portuguese sausage stuffing, haricots verts and hazelnuts, sesame carrots, truffle-mashed potatoes and bacon-pan gravy. For dessert, customers can pick a maple brown sugar pumpkin tart or a chocolate torte. The threecourse Thanksgiving dinner is $39.95.

Roy’s in Chandler will be open from noon to 9 p.m.

“At Roy’s, we celebrate the spirit of aloha all year long, making sure our Guests feel like a part of our Ohana (family) through unique and memorable dining experiences, even on Thanksgiving,” Chris Korom, managing partner at Roy’s Chandler said.

Information: roysrestaurant.com.

The Keg Steakhouse + Bar is also going to be open on Thanksgiving at 3065 W. Chandler Blvd.

Diners can eat a three-course Thanksgiving menu with turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce and gravy, as well as the classic Caesar salad and cheesecake with pumpkin drizzle for $30. Customers can also order off the regular menu on Turkey Day. The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 22.

Information: kegsteakhouse.com.

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018

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SANTAN SUN NEWS | NOVEMBER 17-30, 2018