The Chandler Arizonian - 5.16.2021

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VETERANS' DREAM COMING TRUE

MLB EYEING HAMILTON STAR

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From Uptown to Downtown, covering Chandler like the sun.

An edition of the East Valley Tribune

INSIDE

This Week

Chandler photographer's mouthwatering food shots.

BUSINESS ....................

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Robot becomes Chandler dentists' best friend.

GET OUT ..................... 32

Big-time ramen restaurant opens in downtown Chandler. NEWS ...........................................2 REAL ESTATE ........................... 18 COMMUNITY .........................21 BUSINESS ................................ 25 OPINION .................................28 SPORTS ...................................30 GET OUT .................................. 32 CLASSIFIEDS ........................... 35

May 16, 2021

CUSD trying to win back students it lost BY KEVIN REAGAN Arizonan Staff Writer

COMMUNITY............. 21

FREE | chandlernews.com

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handler Unified School District is hoping a new marketing strategy will help attract enough new students to replace the 2,000 pupils that left the district during the pandemic. Since schools started closing down last spring, CUSD and most other school districts have been gradually seeing their enrollment decline as parents sought al-

ternative learning environments for their children. Even as schools started to reopen in October, district officials worried enough students had already left to make a major impact on Chandler Unified’s revenue and budget. CUSD is now promoting a message aimed at better positioning the district to compete against charter schools or homeschooling options. “We’re hoping to attract those students back to Chandler by focusing on the marketing of

Mesnard comes to Chandler entrepreneur couple’s rescue

(CUSD) and what makes Chandler a district of choice,” said Larry Rother, district’s executive director of educational services. CUSD has recently begun partnering with First Strategic, a Phoenix-based public relations firm, to launch a campaign aimed at local families with young children. Rother said CUSD has identified 3,200 families with preschool-aged children who could potentially enroll in the district.

see SCHOOLS page 15

Final salute

BY PAUL MARYNIAK Arizonan Executive Editor

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handler state Sen. J.D. Mesnard has come to the rescue of a local couple whose thriving business was flattened by the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control. The Ducey Administration has long touted its “regulation rollback” strategy “to make Arizona the best state in the nation to open a new business or to expand an existing one.” But state liquor officials apparently never got the memo. They clobbered Bill and Lillian Buitenhuys of Chandler last fall – seven years after giving them permission to launch their flavor-extract operation. The department’s inexplicable change of heart forced the couple to shut down their home-grown business, AZ Bitters Lab. After reading an account of their woes in the SanTan Sun News, a sister publication of the Arizonan, Mesnard said his first reaction was, “Well,

see FLAVORING page 8

Chandler Police said a final farewell to slain Officer Christopher Farrar during a May 8 funeral at Compass Christian Church that celebrated his life, devotion to duty and his Christian faith. For details, see page 10. (Special to the Arizonan)

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