June 4, 2014 • Vol. 12, No.29
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Postal Patron Cave Creek
ECRWSS Carrier Route PreSorted Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 371 Cave Creek, AZ
r pe pa ! s ew nty y N Cou l ek a ee p W rico t a es rg h M La ort e N Th in
E R F
• Anthem
• Black Canyon City
• Carefree
• Cave Creek
• Desert Hills
• New River
• North Phoenix
• Tramonto
Countersuit Emergency medical facility planned in Anthem to recall petition filed Elizabeth Medora
ANTHEM – Arizona General Hospital is planning to bring a 24/7 emergency medical care facility to Anthem. An informational meeting, open to the community, will be held on Thursday, June 12, 6:30 p.m. at the Anthem Civic Building to discuss the proposed development. The facility will be located at the northwest corner of Daisy Mountain Drive and Dedication Trail in the Anthem Crossroads plaza. “The freestanding ER is affiliated with Arizona General Hospital, currently under construction,” said Andrew Jordan, Adeptus Health Spokesperson. Arizona General Hospital is an Adeptus Health held company, with 34 facilities in Texas and Colorado. “The proposed Arizona General Hospital ER will be a providerbased outpatient facility offering a full range of emergency medical services,” said Jordan. The proposed ER would be an outpatient facility, so patients would not remain there more
Tara Alatorre
CAVE CREEK — A judge threw out two of four petitions filed for the recall elections of Cave Creek Town Council members on Monday, after three councilmen filed a counter lawsuit against the recall petitions filed against them early this April. Vice Mayor Adam Trenk and Councilmen Charles Spitzer and Reg Monachino filed a countersuit citing that the petition forms were not in compliance with the law, and therefore not valid. Although Councilman Mike Durkin is included in the recall effort, he did not join the lawsuit with his fellow council members. “I’m afraid even if we stopped it [recall] with the court it’s just going to come back, so I just want to get it over with,” said Durkin. The Superior Court Judge ruled against throwing out all four recall attempts based on the grounds that certain language required by law was omitted from petition sheets. However, he did agree attestations made by petition circulators in the recall of Trenk and Monachino were false, making many signatures invalid. That means the minimum 293 signatures required to move the recall election forward failed for Trenk and Monachino, and now only Durkin and Spitzer face a recall election. “These results speak for themselves, but more must be done, “said Vice Mayor Trenk in a
PETITION
continued on page 11
Inside: Water Safety.........3 Bluhm........................5 Letters......................6 Movie Review..... 12 Editorial.............. 16 Services................. 17 Crossword......... 20 Classifieds.......... 21
A new emergency medical facility is planned for the northwest corner of Daisy Mountain Drive and Dedication Trail, pictured in this parcel map.
EMERGENCY continued on page 11
Reason for roadside memorial removal remains a mystery DESERT HILLS – Friends and family of Michael Gonnella, a.k.a. ‘Boston’, are struggling to understand why someone sawed away the metal cross at his memorial and took all other items. Sometime late Tuesday, May 27 or early Wednesday, May 28, someone came and removed every item from the roadside memorial at Carefree Highway and 14th Street for well-loved biker Gonnella. Going beyond taking memorial items sitting on the ground, whoever removed the memorial also took a metal cross that friends had cemented into the ground. The cross was sawed off and taken away. “It’s offensive and disrespectful,” said Janine Griffin, who became friends with Gonnella about 10 years ago and met his family after his death in 2013. Gonnella was killed in a motorcycle/vehicle accident at Carefree Highway and 14th Street last August. His family and friends erected the roadside memorial to honor his memory. As a wellloved part of the biker community, Gonnella’s memory was memorialized with a bike run last September. “Michael was all about peace
and harmony and love. He touched everybody he knew,” Griffin noted. She added that 1020 people a week visit the roadside tribute to pay their respects. To the memorial creators’ knowledge, the memorial sits on public property. Griffin reported that friends had contacted both the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Maricopa County Department of Transportation, and both organizations said they had nothing to do with the removal of the memorial. There is a fence behind the memorial, so efforts are being made to contact that landowner to see if they have further information. Anyone with any information on the missing memorial can contact Griffin at janinedossey@ msn.com. Gonnella’s many friends and his family are not letting the tribute they had to his memory disappear permanently. Anyone who would like to honor Gonnella’s memory is welcome to drop off a tribute item at the crossroads of Carefree Highway and 14th Street. Already, the memorial is starting to fill back in. “We will rebuild the memorial bigger and better,” emphasized Griffin.
John Squillace photo
Friends and family of deceased biker Michael Gonnella built a roadside memorial to honor his memory. The memorial disappeared last week.