Postal Patron Cave Creek
February 11th, 2015 / Vol.13 / No.12
ECRWSS Carrier Route PreSorted Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 371 Cave Creek, AZ
Anthem | Black Canyon City | Carefree | Cave Creek | Desert Hills | New River | North Phoenix | Tramonto
The Foothills Focus is continuing to profile candidates in this special election. In this week’s paper, Councilman Reg Monachino and his opponent Dick Esser share their viewpoints.
Candidate Dick Esser Elizabeth Medora Staff
Inside: Community News........ 4 Council ......................... 9 Movie Review............. 10 Festival........................ 13 Services ...................... 14
Tara Alatorre Staff
Longtime Cave Creek resident and politician Dick Esser is running for another term on the Cave Creek Town Council. Esser has previously served four terms on the Council and is running against Councilman Reg Monachino in the special election in March. A fourth-generation Arizonan who worked for the Department of Transportation and the Attorney General before retiring, Esser has lived in Cave Creek for 27 years. He says, if elected, he wants “to pre-
Recall elections is business as usual for Cave Creek Councilman Reg Monachino, who has faced the threat of recall since taking his seat on the town council in 2013; now after multiple filings of lawsuits and petitions, Monachino will ask the citizens of Cave Creek to vote for him again in the special mail-in election this March. Monachino was elected in May 2013 when the town was facing a crippling $62 million
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cont. on pg. 2
cont. on pg. 2
TABLE MESA RECREATION AREA – After target shooting recently in this remote expanse of high desert north of the Valley, Donnie Miller picked up all of the brass casings that fell around his rifle. But it’s clear from the landscape around him that not everyone does the same. Spent red and yellow shotgun shells, broken clay targets used for skeet or trap shooting and more items cover the ground in areas. Then there are the shot-up TVs, computers, furniture and other items used “If everyone just picked up what they shot it would
Classifieds .................. 17 Pet of the Week ......... 19
Candidate Reg. Monachino
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Carefree’s well-loved mayor resigns due to illness 2009. In 2011, Schwan was voted in as the first citizenelected mayor of Carefree. He has served the community in a variety of ways, including working with Paradise Valley Community College and Cactus Shadows High School and volunteering with the Foothills Caring Corps. News of Schwan’s illness and resignation met with sadness and well-wishes from Mayor David Schwan the community and Town staff. The next mayoral CAREFREE – Carefree election will be held Novemmayor David Schwan anber 2016. In the interim, a nounced his resignation on special Council meeting will Feb. 4, due to a diagnosis be scheduled to designate an of ALS. A special Carefree acting mayor from among Town Council meeting will the sitting Councilmembers. be held to designate a Coun- That meeting date has not cil member to fulfill mayoral yet been finalized. duties. The neurodegenerative disSchwan has been conease Amyotrophic lateral sclesistently admired for his rosis, better known as ALS or work in Carefree. He was Lou Gehrig’s Disease, received appointed to the planning global attention this past year and Zoning Commission 11 years ago; he then served on the Town Council 2005cont. on pg. 11
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