BUCKEYE MAN DIES AFTER BEE ATTACK, PAGE 5
westvalleyview.com — the newspaper of Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear, Litchfield Park & Tolleson, AZ 50¢ Wednesday, April 20, 2016 (623) 535-8439
Voters to decide Prop 123
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Measure would add $15M to W.V. schools right away by Emily Toepfer assistant editor
Early voting starts today on a measure that advocates say would inject a lot of much-needed money into education, but opponents argue is a quick fix that could hurt schools down the line. Proposition 123 is an education funding plan that would add $3.5 billion to K-12 public education over the next decade. The bill was signed into law Oct. 30, 2015, by Gov. Doug Ducey, but still has to be approved by voters in a special May 17 election. If it passes, schools would start to receive additional funds this fiscal year. In the West Valley, 14 school districts could see almost $15 million added to their budgets before June 30, according to estimates made last October by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Prop 123 was created to settle a lawsuit filed in 2010 by K-12 school districts and charter schools that claimed education wasn’t being fully funded in Arizona. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that schools are owed $1.3 billion since the state failed to comply with an inflation funding mandate created when voters approved Proposition 301 in 2000. In order to begin properly paying schools, Ducey created Prop 123. The measure sets
COP’S BEST FRIEND Police dogs compete at Desert Dog K9 Trials. See photos on Page 14.
(See Prop 123 on Page 2)
CONTROLED ENVIRONMENT West Valley pupils advance to world robotics championship — Page 12.
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BUCKEYE VALLEY FIREFIGHTER JOE FONTAINE holds Kaycee Jo Wright April 11 at Buckeye Valley Fire District Station 326. Fontaine delivered Kaycee March 31 en route to the hospital. She was Fontaine’s first in-field delivery. To see all photos from this shoot, go to www.westvalleyview.com/pictures.
Baby born on board BVFD delivers baby en route to hospital by Emily Toepfer assistant editor
Baby Kaycee Jo Wright made her grand entrance into the world two weeks early with lights and sirens blaring. The newborn couldn’t be bothered with doctors or hospitals, instead opting to be delivered at 8:19 a.m. March 31 in a moving ambulance near Buckeye Road and Jackrabbit Trail in Buckeye. Earlier that morning, first-time mother Kelsey Savory drove 27 miles to Banner University Medical Center Phoenix near 12th Street and McDowell Road because she had lower back pain. The hospital said she wasn’t in labor yet and sent the 20-year-old home. When Savory returned to her mother’s house in Buckeye at about 2 a.m., she laid on
a heating pad to ease the pain, but it started getting worse every three to five minutes, she said. Her mother, Candice Hamilton, decided to stay home from work and drive Savory to the hospital again. “I felt a lot of pressure and kept telling her I couldn’t get in the car,” Savory said. In an attempt to get her daughter to go, Hamilton threatened to call 911, but Savory thought it might actually be a good idea. “She was running back and forth from the bathroom to the front door trying to find them,” Savory said about the wait for an ambulance. Firefighters with the Buckeye Valley Fire District are no strangers to field deliveries, (See Baby on Page 2)
Accused I-10 shooter released with electronic monitoring by Emily Toepfer assistant editor
After seven months in jail, accused Interstate 10 freeway shooter Leslie Merritt Jr., 21, was released Tuesday when a judge reduced his bond to zero. He will be required to wear an electronic monitor and is due back in court May 18 for a status conference. “Based upon the written motion and material submitted pursuant to court order Leslie Merritt under seal, the court does find a material fact not presented earlier that would justify a modification of release conditions,” Judge Warren Granville ruled. Merritt has been behind bars since Sept. 18, 2015, and is charged with four of the 11 shootings reported on I-10 last fall. (See I-10 shooter on Page 5)