September 7, 2011 • Vol. 09, No. 39
POSTAL PATRON CAVE CREEK
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Anthem • Black Canyon City • Carefree • Cave Creek • Desert Hills • New River • N. Phoenix • Tramonto
Remembering 9/11 North Valley events set for anniversary MARC BUCKHOUT MANAGING EDITOR
Submitted photo
ProMusica will perform Mozart’s Requiem at Community Church of Joy in Peoria, a free one-hour concert, and part of a series of concerts that will take place across the country at 3 p.m. in memory of the those that lost their life on Sept. 11, 2001. A second performance of the concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley. Donations will be accepted at both concerts.
For most Arizonans Sept. 11, 2001 was a day spent in front of the television watching events unfold on the news. For Anthem resident Marilyn Witt the 10-year anniversary of the attacks brings back more vivid memories. Witt, then an Amtrak employee, was working in Washington D.C. when one of the planes hit the Pentagon. “Our offices were near Union Station and I remember hearing this enormous buzz and then this horrendous thud that vibrated through DC,” she said. “I remember crossing the 14th St.
bridge and being able to see the Pentagon burning with a plane sticking out of the side of it and wondering if people were in their offices when it hit. In a way it felt like a dream because you couldn’t believe what you were seeing.” Originally from New York Witt said the events of that day still stick with her to this day. “One of my coworkers found out the next day that his father and step mother were on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania,” she said. “To see the results of what happened, it really leaves a mark on you, especially when
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New River couple awaits fate on their home MARC BUCKHOUT MANAGING EDITOR
Since moving to New River in 1991 Andi Sinohui has always told people that she and her husband Larry Wikarski lived in heaven. That was until the middle of last year when the couple felt as though they were demoted to Purgatory. Throughout the last two decades, the New River couple has enjoyed hosting parties at their home, sitting around camp fires and playing their guitars while watching the stars. “I drive into the Valley for work, but when I get home I’m very comfortable being at home,” Andi said. “Look around you, why would I want to go anywhere?” While the couple may have enjoyed a limbo contest or two on the 1.5 acre property that lies
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on the side of a hill off Wander Lane they’ve quickly grown frustrated at being left in limbo by Maricopa County. “I thought I’d live here my whole life,” Andi said. “You hear the news that you’re not going to have that opportunity and it’s hard, but you have to accept it. We’d just like to know, if we’re going to have to move, when will that be.” After initially reading about the county’s plans to reroute New River Road in the May 5, 2010 issues of The Foothills Focus, Larry began making phone calls. “They claimed this information shouldn’t have been new to us and that they’d sent us information about it in the past,” he said. “I found out they were sending it to an old rural route number that hadn’t been used since 1995 or 1996. Funny
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how they always knew where to send our property tax bills.” At a December, 2010 meeting at New River Elementary approximately 200 residents came out to listen to Maricopa County Department of Transportation’s overview of a plan they explained was necessary for motorists’ safety. While one proposal was simply a slight widening of the road to lesson the sharpness of the S-Curve West of Fig Springs Road and 15th Ave. other proposals have the road being completely rerouted, a scenario in which the couple would be amongst five families that would lose their property to the county via eminent domain Wikarski and Sinohui, who live off Wander Lane, say
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THeater:
Marc Buckhout/The Foothills Focus
Larry Wikarski and his wife Andi Sinohui have lived in New River since 1991. Last year Maricopa County Department of Transportation officials led the couple to believe that their house would be one of five houses that would have to be leveled to accommodate a rerouted New River Road. Since then the couple has been given little information as to when the county might buy their home, leaving them in limbo.
SPORTS:
OTHER :
Scottsdale sculptor donates piece to Carefree Rural Metro Fire
Desert Foothills announces schedule for upcoming season
Boulder Creek, Cactus Shadows return home following road losses
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