Sports
Longhorns make all-section team: 1B
Business
Wildfire fears
Not just antiques – an experience: 7A
Devastating year predicted: 6A
PAYSON ROUNDUP
ARIZONA NEWSPAPERS AND NATIONAL LOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATIONS’ NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
payson.com
FRIDAY | MAY 20, 2016 | PAYSON, ARIZONA
75 CENTS
Report to the Regents A rodeo family ASU said official ‘partner’ for scaled down Payson branch campus plan by
Alexis Bechman
roundup staff reporter
Arizona State University has agreed to open a branch in Payson, with a planned firstyear enrollment of 300 to 350, Rim Country Educational Foundation President Gary Cordell said during a presentation at the Payson Tea Party this week. ASU has agreed to present the Payson project to the Arizona Board of Regents at its quarterly meeting in June in executive session, said Cordell. ASU told the Roundup it does not expect the Regents to take any formal action at that time. This comes after years of uncertainty and speculation about whether ASU would collaborate with the Rim Country Educational Alliance to operate the facility. However, the initial plan has apparently been scaled down to address concerns raised by ASU, according to Cordell’s
presentation. For the first time publicly, Cordell said he believes that ASU is “definitely a partner.” The Alliance and the Foundation have been negotiating with ASU representatives since they finally concluded purchase of the 253-acre site last October. Gaining ownership of the land took years longer than backers had hoped, leaving the project in limbo. “This has been a long time in coming,” Cordell told a packed audience. With the land in hand, things have been moving at an accelerated pace. Cordell said plans call for students to start class in September 2018, with students living on campus in dorms. ASU is continuing to work on an intergovernmental agreement and master lease with the Foundation and Alliance.
• See ASU, page 5A
Pain & Fear in the
by
Keith Morris
roundup sports editor
Monty James makes his Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association debut in this week’s Gary Hardt Memorial Spring Rodeo in Payson. He’ll compete in team roping at 7 o’clock tonight at Payson Event Center. It’s just a natural transition for the 18-year-old who graduated early this year from Payson Center For Success. He grew up in a rodeo family. His dad, Clint, mother, Teri, and older sister, Jessi, are all rodeo veterans.
Peter Aleshire
roundup editor
Proposition 123 won by a whisker, assuring Payson teachers of an average 4 percent raise after a seven-year pay freeze. Statewide, the proposition won by less than 1 percent of the vote cast in a low-turnout special election. The proposition did better in Gila County, which at 37.1 percent had the third highest turnout in the state. The measure to settle a lawsuit and provide $350 million in added funding for K-12 annually won 52 percent of the vote in Gila County. The proposition fared best in Maricopa and other Republican-dominated counties. It lost in several counties with large numbers of Democrats, including Pima and Coconino counties. The results suggested most of the opponents may
have favored more money for schools, but didn’t like the deal worked out by Gov. Doug Ducey, which pulled 60 percent of the money to settle the inflation lawsuit out of the State Land Trust’s cash fund — which is reserved for schools anyway. Proposition 123 will provide about $3.5 billion extra for schools over the next decade, much of it by increasing the distribution from the land fund cash account from 2.5 percent to 6.9 percent. State Treasurer Jeff DeWit headed up a bare-bones campaign to defeat the measure with the argument it will cost schools money in the long run and trigger property tax increases in high-wealth districts and districts with voter-approved budget overrides. Gov. Ducey argued it will settle the lawsuit and get more money to schools immediately, without raising
• See Ballot count, page 9A
Publisher leaves empty space
Second-graders return to PES Michele Nelson
roundup staff reporter
For the first time in two years, all second-grade students will attend Payson Elementary School. In 2013, the Payson Unified School District sought to ease overcrowding at PES by splitting the second-grade class between Julia Randall Elementary and PES. A vote to fund all-day kindergarten prompted the move. The board voted for all-day kindergarten despite the lack of state funding. The overwhelming enrollment response in kinderTHE WEATHER
volume 26, no. 43
by
Prop. 123 wins by a whisker
See our special report on a day in the Banner Payson Medical Center Emergency Room on page 8A
Weekend: Sunny and windy with highs around 70, lows in the mid to low 40s. Details, 9A
Riding in weekend roping
• See Payson family, page 2A
ER
by
Keith Morris/Roundup
Members of the James family are, from left to right, Clint, Teri, Monty and Jessi. Three members of the family will compete this weekend in Payson’s Spring Rodeo.
See our ad and upcoming events on page 10B
garten overtaxed the space available at PES. Now things have settled down. “When we look at the class sizes and the number of rooms available, we can accommodate second grade at PES,” said PUSD Superintendent Greg Wyman. “This allows for all the teachers and students to be at the same site and for tighter alignment of curriculum.” When the board voted to separate the second-grade class three years ago, a debate raged on whether the money from the sale of Frontier Elementary School should be used to expand PES. At the time, some argued that the supposedly imminent start of the university project would require extra capacity in the schools. Wyman said current projections are less rosy now. “Just in looking at current growth patterns in town, we are not seeing a significant growth in new houses, so we would not anticipate significant growth in the grade levels,” he said. “There is a challenge regarding incoming kindergarten students, since the community has a shortage of preschool options. The indicators point to the ability of PES to handle the number of students projected and the number of classrooms available.”
Michele Nelson
But Naughton said there’s not much difference between a big paper and a community newspaper. “The difference between The Arizona Republic and After nearly a decade of service to the Payson the Payson Roundup is the fact there are more zeros Roundup newspaper, publishafter the numbers,” he said. “It’s er John Naughton will retire on just a bigger expense and revenue Wednesday, May 25. budget.” He will leave large shoes to fill Naughton knows the numbers and a hole in the hearts of many who since he came from the advertisworked for him. ing side of the business and spent Longtime staff, such as busithe “good old days” as the national ness manager Julie Williams, has advertising manager at The Arizona watched five publishers come and go Republic, jet-setting around the in her tenure at the paper. country. She said Naughton trusted his The longtime newspaperman staff to do their job, rather than started his career after serving as a micromanaging — making him one combat Marine in the Vietnam War. of the best in her book. He grew up in Phoenix, swimming Editor Pete Aleshire, who has the canals of the then-rural commuworked for numerous large papers nity. in large cities, has the experience “After high school, I joined the of working under many publishers. Marines,” he said. He says with the knowledge of expeHe saw some of the worst action rience behind him, Naughton is the Roundup publisher John hunkering down for months during best publisher he has ever worked Naughton is retiring after nearly the siege at Khe Sanh during the for. a decade with the newspaper. Vietnam War. North Vietnamese “John Naughton just makes you army regulars besieged the isolated want to be better at your job,” said Aleshire. “He’s an base for five months and 18 days in 1968. The U.S. lost honorable man who inspires loyalty.” an estimated 274 killed and 2,541 wounded, including Aleshire shares the fraternity of The Arizona Naughton. Republic with Naughton. Both worked there then left See Naughton, page 5A to take up posts at smaller papers in smaller towns. by
roundup staff reporter
E R O M &
•
Locally Owned & Operated
FURNITURE & BEDDING
Located in Safeway Center 928-468-8568
MattressExpertsandmore.com
Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm