Gilbert Sun News 06/25/2023

Controversial Morrison Ranch project wins OK

BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor

The first phase of a mega light-industrial project that includes a 16-acre landscape buffer, commercial and up to 750 multifamily units is anticipated to break ground in about a year.

Town Council gave its stamp of approval last week for the developer to move forward with The Ranch – which includes 271 acres of light industrial uses and the Residences at the Ranch project, 39 acres of open space, residential rentals and retail development on Power Road between Elliot and Warner roads.

“I think if we look around this room, it’s quite different than it was in November of last

year regarding this project,” land-use attorney Sean Lake told the council June 20. “There has been a substantial amount of work that the neighbors had put in, their time in working with Langley and Colmena and IndiCap on this project to try to work together to try to come up with a solution.”

It took eight months for the developer and a core group of seven Morrison Ranch residents to agree to a project that both could live with.

Originally the proposal was to rezone 286.6 acres for light industrial uses and 24.7 acres for general commercial development. But angry residents packed public meet-

Gilbert patrols now carry a life-saving device

BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor

Kevin Mohatt remembers the day that he died.

It was Valentine’s Day 2022 when his heart stopped beating as he sat behind the wheel at Warner and Ray roads.

“I had a widowmaker heart attack in my car,” the 61-year-old Gilbert man said. “I had my foot on the brakes initially and slump forward and pushed

the car into park.

“I lost my life – died.” Mohatt’s car sat through three to four light changes as other vehicles drove around him. Finally, a woman pulled up behind to see what the matter was and saw that Mohatt’s skin was blue. She flagged passing motorists for help and they pulled Mohatt out of his car to perform life-saving CPR. While the woman proceeded to do 150 chest

ings, objecting to the large amount of light industrial adjacent to their community, the truck traffic, noise and building heights.

After Council urged the parties to find a resoluteion, the developer replaced its zoning at-

True grit

Perry High School senior forward Ella Murakami and her teammates showed grit and determination June 15 in the Section 7 Basketball Tournamen, which hosted 120 high school girls basketball programs from several states at State Farm Stadium. For the story, see page 26. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

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Council OKs $1M deal with Gilbert’s museum

BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor

Town Council has agreed to fork over $1 million to help the steward of Gilbert’s history do renovations and build its state-of-the-art building in exchange for some public benefits.

Staff in November began exploring how the Town can give more financial help to HD SOUTH – Home of the Gilbert Historical Museum, which asked for $1 million, without violating the state’s gift clause. Six people spoke in support of the partnership agreement at the June 20 meeting.

“I’m a believer that we must be mindful to preserve and study our history in order to better understand our present and to plan for a bright future,” said Gilbert resident Maria Hesse, former president of Chandler-Gilbert Community College and an Arizona State University professor.

“I love the expanded vision for HD SOUTH providing intergenerational programming that further strengthens our community by creating a sense of belonging and connectivity,” Hesse continued, adding:

“Those of us who have been serving on the capital campaign cabinet have raised $1.6 million to fund the renovations and the expansions that are needed at HD SOUTH. This should be an indication of the support of our fellow community members for this organization and the direction in which we are headed.”

HD SOUTH in 2020 announced its “Communities for All Ages” capital campaign for its project that includes building a 6,000-square-foot, single-story, multi-purpose building for programs, exhibits and rental space, remodeling the current art gallery to allow for more exhibitions, and upgrading the courtyard for outdoor entertainment, classes and rentals.

The estimated total cost to do the project was about $2.6 million at the time of the announcement.

The project is anticipated to help the nonprofit become self-sufficient.

The town has been giving HD SOUTH $50,000 a year for its staffing, maintenance and operation costs under an agreement in place since about 2010 in an effort to help it move toward that goal.

The museum is located at the southwest corner of Gilbert and Elliot roads and also offers programs to the community.

Under the agreement, the town will pay HD SOUTH $525,000 for a right-of-way located on its property.

It also agreed to pay $475,296 for services from HD SOUTH.

According to staff, the town programs at its recreation center facilities are at near capacity and the agreement will provide more opportunities for residents to participate in a greater variety of classes and programs.

Other benefits include:

• The Town of Gilbert will be identified as a sponsor at HD SOUTH’s events.

• A Gilbert council member will serve on HD SOUTH’s Board of Directors

• The town will use the facility for free two times a year and beyond that, the town will receive a 25% discount off the fee.

• HD SOUTH will offer a 10% discount on admission to all town residents.

• HD SOUTH will host public arts exhibits and plays for the community to attend.

• HD SOUTH will allow for business conference opportunities to parties interested in hosting their events downtown.

• HD SOUTH will partner with the town on public art to be displayed at designated locations throughout Gilbert. According to staff, the value of the public benefits are at or above the $475,296. The town will distribute the money in three intervals – 50%, 75% and 100% – after certain construction milestones are met.

HD SOUTH also is to keep the town reg-

ularly updated during the on-going construction.

Groundbreaking is anticipated to begin 12 months after the June execution of the agreement. The project is expected to be largely completed 28 months after the agreement.

The agreement was on the consent agenda and approved without council comment but the people who spoke had plenty to say about the importance of supporting HD SOUTH.

“I think we all need to support it,” said Gayle Disch, who moved to Gilbert in 1985. “It’s been the heart of Gilbert ever since we’ve picked Gilbert as our home.”

Disch, a longtime member of the HD SOUTH board, called the museum “a wonderful gem in our community.”

“Since 2011, I’ve been involved in efforts to preserve and promote your Town’s only building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 1913 Gilbert Elementary School, now Gilbert Historical Museum,” said Phoenix resident Jim McPherson, board president of the Arizona Preservation Foundation.

“It’s a building with such a rich history that tells the story of your community with an equally rich history,” he continued.

“HD SOUTH provides a positive economic impact. HD SOUTH helps to boost tourism. HD SOUTH enhances the arts and cultural experiences not only for Gilbert but the entire East Valley, and HD SOUTH offers unique and innovated educational opportunities for the young, old and in between again here in Gilbert and the greater East Valley.”

Gilbert resident Maria Hesse, former president of Chandler-Gilbert Community College and an Arizona State University professor, spoke highly of HD SOUTH’s “expanded vision” (YouTube)

Jim McPherson, board president of the Arizona Preservation Foundation, reminded Town Council of the museum’s historic nature. (YouTube)

Gilbert records 2 more homicides this year

GSN NEWS STAFF

Back-to-back murders in Gilbert early Father’s Day shocked residents, who questioned the safety of their town.

An 18-year-old man was fatally shot at a house party and a 22-year-old man was fatally stabbed less than 2 miles away in the Heritage District within an hour of each other June 18.

The unrelated and separate incidents resulted in arrests by Gilbert Police a few days later.

The June 18 slayings brought to four the number of homicides in Gilbert so far this year.

According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, there were two cases reported by Gilbert Police for 2023. Those two cases involve fatal motor vehicle accidents in February and May that a department spokeswoman said are still under investigation.

DPS collects data from participating

BESTOF 2023

agencies on a monthly basis.

Homicide is defined by DPS as the willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another but the agency also counts fatal motor vehicle accidents involving suspected criminal conduct, like drunk driving.

The June 18 killings caused a stir on social media. “Guess Gilbert is not so safe any more,” a man wrote while another commented, “Been here 7 years it’s getting worse and worse by day.”

And a woman questioned, “What is happening in our town?! This is scary.”

This prompted Police Chief Michael Soelberg to issue a statement Thursday to allay concerns.

“The Gilbert Police Department is dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of every resident,” Soelberg said. “I want to reassure our residents that, even as it grows, Gilbert remains a safe community for all.

“Based on 2021 crime data, Gilbert is the 5th safest city out of the 100 largest cit-

ies in the country. As of May 2023, crime is down 6% compared to this time in 2022. These statistics reflect our unwavering commitment to maintaining Gilbert’s sense of community and safety now and into the future.”

In the June 18 homicides, the first victim was Jacob Levi Carlson, 18.

man. Panez was transported to the hospital, where he later died of his injuries.

A man on social media said Panez, who was his cousin, “was walking when he seen individuals fighting with a female, he attempted to intervene and was stabbed… so sad he was a good kid.”

According to police, officers responded to a shooting call about 12:06 a.m. in the 100 block of West Moore Avenue. They found Carlson with gunshot injuries to the chest and upper torso.

He was transported to a hospital where he died of his injuries. Police said Carlson was shot after an altercation in the backyard of a small house party.

According to people on social media, Carlson just graduated from Mesquite High School.

“Jacob was my son’s best friend,” a woman wrote on social media. “They just graduated… he was a great kid and deserved more than this and we are all devastated!!”

Police arrested a juvenile on Monday for Carlson’s death. Because the suspect is younger than 18, police would not release the suspect’s identity.

A little over an hour after the shooting, police at 1:16 a.m. responded to a parking lot on the southwest corner of Ash Street and Vaughn Avenue and found Isaiah Christian Panez with multiple stab wounds.

According to police, Panez was stabbed after an altercation with an unidentified

And a woman wrote, “The victim is my friend’s son. He was protecting someone and died a hero.”

Panez’s girlfriend reportedly said the couple had just left a bar when a fight ensued with three men.

Police announced on June 20 that 36-year-old Dennis Fernando Pacheco was arrested for charges “related to his alleged involvement in the stabbing.”

According to his Facebook page, Panez lived in Maricopa and was from Chandler. A celebration of life and burial for Panez were scheduled for yesterday, June 24.

His aunt set up a Gofundme.com, which raised $24,680 by last Thursday. She noted that Panez was the only son of her sister and brother-in-law.

Panez’s mother wrote on her son’s online obituary that she couldn’t believe that he was gone. “I love you so much son,” she said. “My heart is so broken but don’t worry I’ll help your Daddy as much as I can as well as your sisters you so loved to prank and joke with all the time.

“I got them OK, I’ll do all I can to bring comfort to them and remind them to smile and to laugh because you wouldn’t have it any other way. I love you my big baby boy!”

Dennis Fernando Pacheco Isaiah Christian Panez

Popular Scottsdale pizzeria plans to replace Bergie’s

Apopular Scottsdale pizzeria-bar that has three Texas locations and one in Miami is planning to open a venue on the site of the old Bergie’s Coffee in the Heritage District.

Bottled Blonde Pizzeria + Beer Garden said in a release that it hopes to begin construction early next year of a two-story restaurant with rooftop patio at 309 N. Gilbert Road, just north of Topo and Joe’s Real BBQ.

Bottled Blonde opened in 2014 in one half of a former Old Town Scottsdale disco and has since opened venues in Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth.

Owner Evening Entertainment Group also is building a $50 million entertainment venue in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip across from the Ballagio Hotel.

Founded by husband-and-wife team Les and Diane Corieri, Evening Entertainment Group also owns the Sandbar restaurant in SanTan Village.

Bottled Blonde was described by Miami newspaper as a concept that “embodies the couple’s version of a ‘high-energy’ establishment that offers up a sports bar, Italian-themed lunch and dinner menus, and a late-night venue under one roof.”

Town design approval is likely needed, though a spokeswoman for Bottled Blonde did not reply to a question about the timetable for beginning that process.

Her release said, “Bottled Blonde Gilbert will be housed inside a soaring, custom-built two-story space crowned with a retractable-rooftop patio.

“Featuring a full-service restaurant, bar

and beer garden, Bottled Blonde will also be a hub for sports and entertainment thanks to the expansive space decked out with oversized TVs, and state-of-the-art light and sound installations.”

The rooftop deck at its Scottsdale location is about 1,900 square feet.

The concept’s menu is headed by Chef Joe Absolor and features modern Italian favorites, including gourmet pizzas and other specialties as well as a long list of craft cocktails.

It also boasts “a sharable section that keeps the party going with a Mimosa Tower built around three bottles of bubbly, the 128-ounce Beer Tower, and a signature bottle service experience.”

The climate-controlled rooftop patio will

“We love what Joe Johnston has pioneered out here, and are looking forward to joining other incredible operators like Upward Projects and Fox Restaurant Concepts to continue leveling up the East Valley experience.”

be covered with a retractable sun sail system.

Heading up design is the Dalke Design Group, which the release said has “worked to ensure an ideal fit within the Heritage District while collaborating with renowned acoustic engineers to ensure the good times stay within the four walls.:

“We’re honored to bring Bottled Blonde to the East Valley, and have been looking for just the right space in downtown Gilbert for several years now,” Les Corieri said.

“We love what Joe Johnston has pioneered out here, and are looking forward to joining other incredible operators like Upward Projects and Fox Restaurant Concepts to continue leveling up the East Valley experience.”

“I can’t wait to invite everyone over for some pizza and pints, kicking back at the communal tables watching the big game and soaking in the good vibes.”

WagsCap Food Services of Lehi, Utah, is also a partner in the project.

Though the owners of Bottled Blonde Pizzeria + Beer Garden has not released any design for the building it will construct on the site of the old Bergie’s Coffee, this is their popular venue in Old Town Scottsdale. (oldtownscotsdale.com)

torney with Lake; Stacy Brimhall of Langley Properties stepped in to negotiate with the residents.

The revised plan dropped light industrial uses to 71% from the original 93% and sets aside the 39 acres as a buffer between the existing Morrison Ranch homes to the west and the future proposed industrial uses on the site. The developer will include $20 million worth of off-site improvements such as street lights, curbs and landscaping at Elliot, Power and Warner roads.

The developer also agreed to a number of restrictions such as banning sexually oriented businesses, dispensaries, crematoriums, recycling-type facilities, hazardous waste storage and manufacturing of semi-conductors on the property, according to Lake.

Residents who helped hammer out the new proposal stepped forward in support.

“Apartments and industrial aren’t popular with residents,” said Brandon Ryff. “In this proposal it does have both. I ask that everybody look at the bigger picture because this plan has significant changes that will protect the people of Morrison Ranch.

“If you vote for it, this will secure those

critical protections for Morrison Ranch residents. If you vote against it this will surrender those critical protections and that means that the next time a developer comes along, and he may not be as kind as Stacy Brimhall, means we start over again. It means we begin the whole process of trying to secure all these protections we worked so hard to establish.”

Jennifer Wada told council members that the plan before them reflected “a lot of hard work and frankly a lot of compromise.”

“I – like many of my friends and neighbors – no longer oppose it,” she said. “We as residents didn’t get everything that we asked for and most of us still believe it’s too much residential near our neighborhood.

“But with the added retail, transitional residential buffer and green space amenity, we hope that what has made this project bearable on paper will also make it bearable and parts of it even enjoyable when it is built out.”

Wada asked council members to uphold the vision and plan if they approve it.

“We are at the mercy of the Town and developer that it gets built the way it is

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The Ranch project will comprise 271 acres of light industrial uses and the Residences at the Ranch community as well as 39 acres of open space and other development on Power Road between Elliot and Warner roads.

presented,” she added.

Ryan Handelsman said that resident acceptance grew with each iteration of the plan, which addressed a lot of the hot topics such as safety, traffic, use restrictions, transition areas and the desire for additional retail.

“I am excited to hopefully patron some of these destinations of restaurants and retail shops,” he said.

Staff and Lake touted the project’s economic boost for Gilbert.

“This will be one of the largest projects in the town, as far as tax base goes,” Lake said. “We’re talking upwards of $1 billion worth of assessed valuation or taxes that could come out of this project.”

The additional revenue will help the budgets for both the town and school district, he said.

“We all want to have better schools and funding for the schools and so that money then goes to the schools,” Lake said. “That’s what we all want with that tax and that’s without producing many children at all because most of this project will be a

commercial-type neighbor.

“So they will not only pay into the system for the school district but they won’t be putting a lot of school kids in the system.”

Economic Development Deputy Director Jennifer Graves said the project will generate jobs.

She said Gilbert has just over 133,000 resident workers and about 92,000 jobs, which means 41,000 people commute.

“At present Gilbert’s development inventory and land use do not position the community to respond to opportunities to

grow these types of jobs,” Graves said.

“With only 6% of Gilbert’s total land use designated for employment, only about a third of that still available for development and existing inventory of employment industrial space sitting at less than 3%.”

She said that employment and commercial-oriented developments provide fiscal benefits such as impact fees, construction sales tax, lease tax and utility taxes.

The project will be built in phases.

Phase 1 includes the landscape buffer with a pedestrian trail, bench seating and a white split-rail fence along the west side of the site, facing the Morrison Ranch homes. Phase 1a includes the multi-family and mixed-used developments along the west side of the site as well as commercial development along Elliot Road.

Phases 1b, 2 and 3 are the light-industry construction and are contingent upon the completion of phases 1 and 1a, according to the developer.

John Birkinshaw, Colmena Group’s vice president of development, said after the meeting that the first phase will likely kick off in 12 to 14 months and that it will take six to eight years to build out the project,

“It’s all market-driven,” he said Councilwoman Bobbi Buchli was the sole dissenter, voicing concerns that the truck traffic won’t stay off of Elliot Road as residents wanted.

“That’s a bit of a concern for me,” she said. “We can’t guarantee where they’re going to go and I get that you are trying your best to have them exit in the most appropriate way but I have a little bit of concern because they could take Elliot or they could take Warner all the way out to the 101.”

Lake said the developer’s traffic engineer “believes that just about all the big

trucks, they’re going to choose first and foremost get on the freeway because there’s less accidents, less problems.”

Councilman Chuck Bongiovanni said he could see the project’s benefits and recalled what Kodak did for his hometown’s school district.

“I saw the benefits of having that kind of tax base for my education when I was younger,” he said. “A good friend of mine mentioned to me the other day that the best negotiation is when everyone walks away not happy but satisfied and I think that’s exactly what happened.”

Vice Mayor Kathy Tilque said she is “very confident that as we move this project forward everything that is in writing will be adhered to.”

Councilman Jim Torgeson said the new plan is better than what could be built on site by right – such as apartments on 100 acres instead of 34 acres as proposed.

“By all metrics,” he said, “it’s a great looking project and it’ll be good for our town and everybody accepted a little less than they wanted to get there. Again, to see them not have industrial facing these homes, for them not to build up to a 100 acres of mixed-use apartments and bring this down.”

Councilman Scott Anderson thanked all those involved in process.

“Planning is a process,” Anderson said. “It’s not an event and sometimes it’s a messy process but the idea is to get to a point where we find the best solution that will benefit everybody that’s concerned with whatever we’re working on and planning. Tonight I have to take my hat off to everyone”

Mayor Brigette Peterson said during her time as a planning commissioner sitting through 184 meetings, she’s seen developers and residents work together to come up with a better project but in this case, “you all went above and beyond.”

She added that she is not a fan of putting 750 multi-family in an area when there’s a 760-unit apartment project, the Tuscany at Gabriella Pointe, going in at the southeast corner of Higley and Warner roads near Morrison Ranch.

“I’ve struggled with this case a lot,” she said. “I haven’t liked it from the beginning. But “you’ve come to a compromise and you’ve come with the best-case scenario for everyone.”

A mixed-use project with restaurants, retail, green space and apartments will stand between Morrison Ranch homes and a light industrial complex. (Town of Gilbert)

High court tightens law on initiative petitions

BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

Petition circulating companies are free to pay workers a bonus based on how good they are at gathering signatures without violating state law, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled June 21.

In a unanimous decision, the justices said there’s nothing inherently unconstitutional about the 2017 law approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature making it a crime to pay circulators on a per-signature basis.

Justice Clint Bolick said there is a basis for such a restriction because paying people based on how many signatures they turn in may be susceptible to abuse.

But the high court rejected arguments by former Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who brought criminal charges against Petition Partners, that the 2017 law also prohibits any form of payment that provides incentives for circulators to gather more signatures. Instead, the justices concluded that the law is violated only when circulators are compensated based solely on how many signatures they collect.

Drew Chavez, the company’s owner, acknowledged the ruling removes one tool that firms like his have used in the past to hire and compensate circulators. But he called Wednesday’s ruling a significant victory, not just for petition-circulating companies but also for their clients who, lacking sufficient volunteers to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures, hire them to help place issues on the ballot for voters to consider.

Initiatives have been an important tool in Arizona because they provide an avenue for voters to craft their own measures that lawmakers have refused to enact.

That process has led to things like a ban on leghold traps, snares and poisons on public lands. An initiative also outlawed cockfighting in Arizona.

Initiatives also paved the way for medical use of marijuana and, more recently allowing it to be possessed for recreational purposes.

And it was only because of initiatives that Arizona has a minimum wage of $13.85 an hour versus the $7.25 figure in federal law.

“This is so good for Arizona because they were really close to wiping this industry off the map in Arizona,’’ Chavez said of the ruling. He noted that Brnovich brought 50 individual criminal charges against his firm, which could have resulted in a $5 million fine.

He also said that the law – with its potential year in jail and $20,000 fine for each offense – could have been brought against not just firms that hire petition circulators but the circulators themselves.

A spokesman for current Attorney General Kris Mayes said the office is still studying the decision.

The fight is over a 2017 law crafted by then-Rep. Vince Leach, R-Tucson, who in his tenure at the Legislature also was the author of several measures designed to create new hurdles for individuals to exercise their constitutional rights to propose their own laws.

It does not make it illegal to pay people to gather signatures. But it spells out that payment cannot be on a per-name basis.

Leach’s measure, however, applies only to ballot measures. It does not limit how political candidates can pay petition circulators.

All this became an issue when Petition Partners was hired to put Proposition 208 on the 2020 ballot.

That measure, approved by a margin of 51.7% against 47.3%, sought to impose a 3.5% surcharge on incomes of more than $250,000 for individuals and $500 for couples, was designed to raise about $900 million a year for K-12 education. That initiative eventually was voided by the state Supreme Court for other reasons.

After voter approval, Brnovich brought charges against the company for programs known as “Duel for the Dollars’’ and “Weekend Warriors.’’ He said that violated the law against paying people based on the number of signatures collected because

see PETITIONS page 14

compressions, a man called 911. Two officers arrived on scene and took turns and between the two they pressed on the center of his chest a total of 1,050 times, Mohatt said.

“The amount of compressions they did on me was just obscene,” he said. “They punched me in the heart 1,200 times. I’m surprised my heart didn’t break.”

Four months after Mohatt died and came back to life, Gilbert Police announced that it has equipped every patrol car with a fully automated external defibrillator.

The portable medical device sends electrical shocks to the heart to restore a normal heartbeat unlike CPR, which helps restore blood flow to vital organs like the brain and heart, provided it’s done correctly.

“Due to these recently being placed in our patrol vehicles, we do not have calls for service to show a comparison with how much better having the units are for the officers and the community.”

a defibrillator can improve those odds dramatically, according to an industry magazine for U.S. municipalities.

Chandler Police Department in 2020 received $10,500 from the Arizona 100 Club to purchase AEDs while other law enforcement agencies in the state – such as Sedona, Flagstaff, Marana and Oro Valley – also have the devices.

Every year, about 805,000 people in the country have a heart attack – 605,000 are a first heart attack and the remainder comprises previous heart attack victims, according to the American Heart Association.

In a single year, 436,000 Americans die from a cardiac arrest with over 350,000 of those occurring outside of the hospital, the nonprofit reported.

have defibrillators. And, according to research, deploying a defibrillator within three to five minutes of collapse can produce survival rates as high as 50–70%.

“I was in Home Depot and they had an AED machine,” he said. “I asked myself, AED

Each of the 92 units costs $1,736 and was funded out of the budget after the department was unsuccessful in obtaining grant monies, according to police spokesman Levi Leyba.

“These AEDs are fully automated in dual languages allowing for officers to be guided on-screen for CPR feedback on the depth and rate of compression needed when in use,” he said.

Leyba said Griffith Blue Heart helped Gilbert Police develop its AED program.

“Brandon Griffith shared his story with Gilbert PD and we were able to recognize the need to provide a rapid response to cardiac emergencies,” Leyba said. “In addition to our training with hands-on CPR, having AEDs in our patrol vehicles could make a difference with the chance of survival on calls for service.”

Griffith did not respond to requests for comment.

Griffith, who is also a Pinal County Sheriff ’s deputy, started the nonprofit in 2014 to train and equip law enforcement agencies with AEDs. The organization is near and dear to Griffith as he dropped dead of cardiac arrest at age 26. Saved by his wife, he has a defibrillator implanted in his chest.

“I have administered aid where I needed to provide chest compression while on duty,” Leyba said. “I personally would not be able to determine whether or not AEDs would be better due to each call for service varying in degree of need.

A number of studies points to a higher survival rate when police officers – often first to arrive to a medical emergency –

Packing AEDs in patrol cars is a growing trend in light of the fact that CPR alone may provide someone in sudden cardiac arrest a 6% chance of survival, but

That Gilbert now has AEDs is something Mohatt has championed. He’s written letters to the chief, council and mayor asking why officers don’t have the machines.

see AED page 13

Kevin Mohatt suffered a massive heart attack while driving home from hockey practice on Valentine’s Day and flatlined for 15 minutes. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

Gilbert Police patrol officers are now all equipped with fully automated external defibrillator. The portable medical device sends electrical shocks to the heart to restore a normal heartbeat unlike CPR, which helps restore blood flow to vital organs like the brain and heart, provided it’s done correctly. (Courtesy of Gilbert Police)

AED from page 12

‘why can Home Depot have it and not a police officer?’ It didn’t make sense.

“I’m a vast proponent for them to have AED devices in their vehicles. They didn’t have one for me. They did the old fashion compression on me.”

When paramedics arrived, they drilled an IV into the bone marrow of his left arm as there were no viable veins because he had died, Mohatt said.

“And they gave me two shocks,” he said. “It didn’t work.”

The paramedic in the ambulance gave Mohatt another jolt from an AED, which resuscitated him for a brief moment – he sat up and then immediately laid back down and flat-lined.

He was rushed to the hospital, where a catheter – a thin, flexible metal tube –was inserted into the coronary artery and pulled out a blood clot.

According to the American Heart Association, only 12% of people survive a widowmaker heart attack or a myocardial infarction outside the hospital. This lethal attack occurs when the biggest artery in the heart, the left anterior descending artery, which sends oxygen-rich blood to the heart’s left ventricle is 100% clogged. It mostly affects men, hence its informal name.

“The second they pulled the clot out and hit me with electricity, I came back to life,” Mohatt said. “I remember exactly the specific moment it happened because I was in dark, black-pitch, black terror. I felt pushed off the bottom of the ocean and just got a breath.”

He said that he was temporarily deaf and blind because there had been no blood going to his retinas, ears or to the

rest of his body for that matter for 15 minutes.

Two to three people held him down as he screamed for his wife, Connie. He was intubated and put into a medically-induced coma.

“I was alive and doing very well for what they knew had happened to me,” Mohatt said. “This was Monday 1:20 that afternoon. I’m in ICU until Thursday and Thursday night they moved me to a regular room Friday.”

On Saturday, Mohatt walked out of the hospital and went home.

“They all thought I was dead,” he said, adding that he made it a point to later visit with the drivers who stopped and rendered aid and the first responders. “The look on their faces was ‘you were dead.’”

Mohatt said he is doubtful a deliberator would have worked on his heart because the major artery was totally blocked but he still backs police having the program.

According to experts, an AED should only be used when there’s a sudden cardiac arrest caused by an electrical problem with the heart. However, a heart attack can cause a change in the heart’s electrical activity that leads to sudden cardiac arrest, in which a defibrillator would be used.

Initially the heart attack posed a mystery for Mohatt, who said he has no family history of heart disease, has a heart rate of 55 and has a blood pressure reading of 95/65.

“I’m in great shape,” said the musician, who plays the guitar and writes songs. “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. I retired from taekwondo. I played ice hockey all my life.”

see AED page 14

Expires 6/30/23.

AED from page 13

He’d regularly get in at least a solid hour of stick time on the ice. On the day of his heart attack, he was playing hockey at AZ Ice near Santan Village Parkway and Ray Road.

“About an hour into it, I started to feel like I was 800 pounds out there skating,” Mohatt recalled. “I literally could hardly move.”

na vaccine because working in real estate, he is out in public in contact with people and his wife at the time had cancer.

Today, his heart is back to “functioning really well” but he suffered 30% damage to the edge of the muscular organ due to the lack of oxygen, he said. He had to wear a defibrillator vest for three months and he’s on medication to ensure his heart doesn’t get too tired.

Mohatt, who was vaccinated last October and caught COVID in January, thought his sluggishness was due to the virus.

“I thought COVID was my problem,” he said, remembering having to struggle to remove his skates and safety gear.

He was on the road heading east toward Higley and Warner, about a mile from his home at Cooley Station when his heart gave out.

His doctor after examining the clot told him that it was not the type of clot seen in people with normal heart disease and attributed it to the COVID vaccine, according to Mohatt. He said he got the Moder-

from page 11

He’s currently undergoing physical therapy from hip replacement surgery because his left hip somehow got damaged when he was pulled out of his car, he said.

“Anyways it’s a miracle,” Mohatt said. “I watched myself dead. I described with accuracy to each of my lifesavers before they tell me their portions of my death scene.”

Mohatt has a favorite saying – “God is real, miracles happen every day and heaven is indescribable. I’m going back someday.”

For now, he said, “I’m ready to buy a hockey stick and intend to be back playing ice hockey.”

circulators could get extra payments of from $20 to $150.

In a ruling last year, the state Court of Appeals voided the whole idea of criminal penalties for anything that even sounded like compensation based on signatures.

Appellate Court Judge Michael Brown cited already existing laws against forgery and bans against signing a petition for profit.

Bolick, writing for the Supreme Court, said Wednesday that the Court of Appeals, in voiding the 2017 law in all its possible forms, was using an overly broad reading of the statute.

Lee Stein, an attorney for Petition Partners, said he doubts that the new ruling gives Mayes any chance of taking his client back to court and pursing charges of violating the 2017 law based on its incentive program.

The 2017 law was not the lone effort by Republican lawmakers to impose new hurdles on the initiative process.

Just this year they put a proposal on the 2024 ballot that, if approved, would require not just that circulators get the correct number of signatures to propose new laws – 225,867 using current formulas – but that a certain number would need to be gathered from each of the state’s 30 legislative districts.

Bolick said the “plain language’’ of the statute applies only to a fee-per-signature compensation and not to anything else that might provide an incentive to circulators.

To back that up, he cited a ruling last year by a federal appeals court upholding a Montana law, which, like the one at issue here, bans per-signature compensation.

“It reasoned that by merely banning one type of payment scheme while leaving numerous other options available the law does not impose a severe burden on First Amendment rights,’’ Bolick wrote.

That effectively would mean that something unpopular in even just one legislative district could not be placed on the ballot, regardless of how much support there is in the rest of the state.

Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, who sponsored that proposal sought by the state Chamber of Commerce, declined to say it would give any one district veto power. But he said any measure should have a certain amount of statewide buy-in before going on the ballot.

Ducey to lead fight for free enterprise here

BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

Saying he wants to fight a “push toward socialism,’’ former Gov. Doug Ducey has signed on as the new chief executive of Citizens for Free Enterprise.

And look for it to continue to try to influence voters and elections across the nation, at least in an indirect way.

In a prepared statement and video release last week, Ducey said his new role is a return to where he started in launching Cold Stone Creamery, a system of franchises for ice cream.

“It’s that entrepreneurial effort that ultimately inspired me to run for governor,’’ Ducey said, winning the first of his two terms in 2014 after four years as state treasurer. And Ducey said his tenure “turned Arizona into a leader of free-market innovation.’’

“But lately, free enterprise is under attack everywhere we turn: bigger government, needless regulation and a push toward socialism,’’ he said.

Ducey said the newly revamped organization would allow Americans to “push back’’ against all that with an effort to “motive more people who care about free enterprise to get involved in elections.’’

Until now the organization has been using its resources to directly influence elections.

Reports from Open Secrets show that in the 2020 election it spent more than $5.7 million to defeat Democrats in congressional races and another nearly $1.2 million in support of Republicans. And that money came largely from Joe Ricketts, the founder and former CEO of Ameritrade.

Ducey, who has remained largely silent since leaving office at the end of last year, declined to comment beyond his written and video statements.

But J.P. Twist, a Ducey political ally who will serve as the organization’s executive director, told Capitol Media Services that all that is changing.

“The group existed in limited scope and form,’’ he said, saying Ducey was brought on to revamp and grow the organization.

“It will look nothing like it has previously,’’ Twist said. “All we’re keeping is the name.’’

Ducey also will be called on to raise money.

Twist said that when Ducey headed the Republican Governors Association he raised “record amounts’’ from donors across the country to help elect its candidates.

Twist specifically said the organization is launching a new “social welfare’’ organization. Under Internal Revenue Service rules, these can run commercials and advertisement in support of or against candidates.

But Twist said those efforts will be “less candidate and more issues-focused.’’

As governor, Ducey sought to carve

out a reputation as someone who cared more about economic than ideological issues like gay rights or abortions.

That was led by his signature on legislation for Arizona to have the lowest flat-rate income tax in the nation, a move that Democrats continue to say undermines the ability to properly fund education and other state needs.

Ducey also openly parted ways with Donald Trump, insisting that the results of the 2020 election of Joe Biden were accurate.

Still, he did sign a law creating universal vouchers allowing all Arizona students to get taxpayer funds to attend private or parochial schools – a move that his successor, Katie Hobbs, has unsuccessfully tried to reverse.

The choice of Ducey to head the organization produced an indirect slap from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The organization’s Maeve Coyle noted that there were efforts by Republicans to convince Ducey to run for U.S. Senate last year to oust Democrat Mark Kelly. The outgoing governor demurred and the party then chose Blake Masters who lost the race.

And there had been some talk that Ducey might be willing to make a bid in 2024 when Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema is up for reelection despite the fact that the former governor has repeatedly disavowed interest in Congress.

In a press release Tuesday, Coyle said Ducey’s decision to head the Committee for Free Enterprise shows that he’s not interested.

“Even the most sought-after GOP recruits are refusing to run for the Senate because they know their party’s vicious primaries and toxic agenda will lead their campaigns to defeat in 2024,’’ she wrote.

CUSD board member forces look at cash reserves

BY KEN SAIN GSN Managing Editor

Private citizen Kurt Rohrs has expressed concerns about how much cash the Chandler Unified School District keeps in reserve while Governing Board member Kurt Rohrs is in a position to do something about it.

Rohrs alternated between both hats during the board meeting June 14 as he stepped away from the dais to address the board as a citizen to complain about the amount of money the district holds in reserves rather than return some to the state.

Now, his complaint will come front and center before the board at its Wednesday, June 28, meeting as it tries to determine exactly how many extra dollars CUSD has in reserves and possibly putting limits on that.

Rohrs placed an item on the agenda that he says would limit the district’s reserves to 25% of its annual operating costs.

“That’s substantial,” Rohrs said.

how much money they have in their contingency reserve fund. It appears to be well over $100 million.”

He went on to say that he had requested an agenda item to discuss this in mid-May, but at that point no action had been taken.

District officials told him in private correspondence that before any item from a board member can be placed on the agenda, it must first be studied by staff and then reviewed by the district’s legal counsel.

That was the reason for his item being delayed until June 28.

When he addressed his board colleagues as a private citizen June 14, Rohrs called on them to follow the state’s sunshine laws and ensure greater transparency.

ic, the district spent $18 million from its reserves to help students learn from home and rapidly expanded the Chandler Online Academy.

The district did that without any guarantee at the time that the federal government would reimburse the costs – which it eventually did.

Berry said if there was another crisis, she does have the ability to move some money around to make sure bills get paid.

There are reasons to be concerned about how many dollars the district will have available in the future, she added.

How much CUSD has in reserves is a complicated question.

“Districts don’t have a particular fund called a ‘contingency fund,’” CUSD Chief Financial Officer Lana Berry said. “Like the state has a rainy day fund and, I believe, cities also have rainy day funds, school districts are not allowed to have that fund.”

More than a year ago, before he won election to the board, Rohrs was quoted by a newspaper saying he believed the district had about $300 million in reserve.

He said that number was based on figures the Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office provided him.

That’s not close to the answer Berry gave Rohrs to his question on the topic during the budget presentation last July.

Berry told Rohrs then that ideally, the district would like to have at least 15% of all aggregate accounts as a reserve. Based on the district’s current total budget of about $470 million, that would be $70.5 million. She said at the time, they did not have that much in unrestrictive reserves.

The district’s operating budget for this fiscal year is $365.8 million. If Rohrs’ suggestion of 25% of the operations budget passes, that would limit the district’s reserves to about $91.5 million.

Rohrs said before he was elected that the district has too much money in reserve and should give some of it back to the state.

Before the board’s June 14 meeting, Rohrs posted on his personal Facebook page, “Chandler Unified is concealing

“My guess is that Lana, who is an excellent CFO, knows the number off the top of her head,” Rohrs said. “What we’re given to understand is that the official policy of district administration, or the previous administration, was not to reveal that number to the public.”

So why is it so hard to know exactly how much the district has in reserve?

Berry says CUSD has 70 different funds, nearly all of them come with their own restrictions on how the money can be spent.

For example, Proposition 301 money can only be used for teacher salaries. The money for capital improvement raised during bond sales can only go toward the projects that voters approved.

Because the law does not allow the district to have a contingency fund, Berry says sound financial practice is to spend less than what might be available and keep reserves in each account, carrying them over to the next fiscal year.

Healthy reserves are a key factor in determining bond ratings, Berry said.

CUSD has a Triple-A bond rating with two of the three top rating agencies. That means it pays the lowest interest rates on the money it borrows.

Berry said the district is audited every year by an outside agency and publishes detailed financial reports that are available to download online.

She also pointed out that the reason the district wants healthy reserves is not just for the superior bond rating. There are times when that money is needed.

For example, at the start of the pandem-

First, CUSD’s enrollment is in decline and that trend is expected to continue. Fewer students means less funding from the state.

Second the Aggregate Expenditure Limit has become an annual source of angst for school districts as they wait for the Legislature to waive it.

While lawmakers have already waived the limit for the 2023-24 school year, Berry said there is always a chance that a future legislature will refuse to waive it. That would force CUSD and most other school districts to immediately cut spending by as much as 20%.

Berry said CUSD could use its reserves to get through the short-term and finish the school year should that ever come to pass.

Another looming financial threat is the rapidly expanding voucher system that enables parents to send their kids to private schools.

The Arizona’s Department of Education reported at the end of May that the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts would cost taxpayers $900 million in 2024 because of the unexpected increase in the number of children being enrolled in private schools.

That may impact in the long run how much money the state allocates public school districts.

Berry said she is open to ideas on how best to handle the district’s reserves, pointing out the Governing Board approved a change in January that restricts the district from spending more than 10% of its unrestricted reserves in a year without board

CUSD board member Kurt Rohrs on Jun e 14 left the dais to address his board colleagues as a private citizen to complain about the district’s cash reserves. (File photo)

Group wants more college-educated Arizonans

BY OLE BRAATELIEN Cronkite News

Valley education and business leaders last week unveiled an “Everything to Gain” campaign, with a goal of helping to increase the number of Arizonans with college degrees or certificates by 2030.

If successful, they say, it could boost the state’s economy.

The campaign is the latest effort to help meet the state’s Achieve60AZ goal, which the Board of Regents and then-Gov. Doug Ducey announced in 2016. The initiative aims for 60% of Arizonans to have a posthigh school degree or certificate by 2030.

Currently, 48% of Arizonans have a degree or certificate, said Rich Nickel, president and CEO of Education Forward Arizona.

Advocacy group Education Forward Arizona, which launched Everything to Gain, advocates for expanding scholarship programs, augmenting pay for teachers and

increasing dual enrollment plans that allow students to earn college credits while still in high school, among other actions.

“Increasing higher education enrollment by just 20% could lead to more than $5 billion in economic gains for Arizona each year,” Nickel said.

“That’s $5 billion, with a ‘b,’ for every high school graduating class that accomplishes that goal. But we have a lot of work to do if we’re going to reap these benefits.”

Steven Gonzales, chancellor of Maricopa Community College District, said he is concerned about the state’s degree attainment numbers.

“Just a few weeks ago, Arizona’s three public universities, community colleges, tribal colleges and private colleges and universities, awarded more than 80,000 two- and four-year college degrees and thousands of professional certificates,” Gonzales said.

“While those numbers sound impressive, they actually represent a level of stasis that is very concerning.”

State continues low rank for kids’ well-being

BY SOPHIA BIAZUS Cronkite News

An annual report that measures the well-being of children showed slight improvement for Arizona kids, but the Grand Canyon state remained among the lowest-ranked states.

On a national level, fewer parents were economically secure, educational achievement was hit hard because of the aftereffects of the pandemic and more children died young than ever before, according to the 2023 Kids Count Data Book.

One of the biggest areas of concern in Arizona and the country was the lack of access to affordable child care.

Published last week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the data book ranked Arizona 39th overall. Rankings

Undergraduate enrollment at Arizona colleges and universities dropped an estimated 0.5% in spring 2023 compared to the previous year, according to a recent analysis by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

One big reason Arizonans aren’t seeking degrees is because of the cost of tuition.

At Arizona State University, the state’s largest university, in-state tuition costs roughly $12,000 per year for a bachelor’s degree, according to its website.

In April, the Board of Regents approved a 3% tuition increase over the next five years for Arizona’s three largest universities: ASU, Northern Arizona University and University of Arizona.

Nickel blamed the state Legislature for high tuition.

“Unfortunately, in Arizona, because the state Legislature has really underfunded our universities over time, they’ve really been forced to make up that gap with tuition increases,” Nickel said.

were compiled from national and state child welfare statistics across four factors – family and community, economics, education and health. Last year, Arizona came in 44th.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private national philanthropic organization dedicated to bettering the lives of the nation’s youth who are at risk of poor educational, health and socioeconomic outcomes.

States’ rankings were grouped in four categories: best, better, worse and worst. Arizona ranked worse for economics, family and community, education and health.

“We fall into the worst category, again,” said Kelley Murphy, Children’s Action Alliance interim president and CEO. “The top headline for me is that

Gonzales added that the fewer number of students earning degrees also has to do with underfunding from the state.

“Today’s students have to work between four and six times more hours per week than they did in the 1970s, just to be able to afford tuition fees,” Gonzales said.

“So that’s what demonstrates the lack of state investment. That dollar has to get passed on to someone and unfortunately, it’s passed on to the students.”

Regardless of the cost, Gonzales still advocates for Arizonans to pursue some kind of post-high school education.

“Folks have got to see this as an investment in themselves,” Gonzales said. “And I say to do whatever it takes for you to pursue some form of post-secondary education. I know there’s a lot of debate on whether students should take out student loans.

“That’s a last resort option for many students, sometimes an only resort option.

Amazon, Google expand E. Mesa footprint

BY SCOTT SHUMAKER GSN Staff Writer

The Elliot Road Technology Corridor inside the Loop 202 freeway is mostly former dairy and alfalfa farm land. Motorists driving this stretch of Elliot Road get a more rustic feel than the portion of Elliot north of Eastmark and east of the 202.

But with a flurry of activity this month, the inside-the-loop part of Elliot Road started catching up with the corridor to the east.

On June 9, Amazon celebrated the grand opening of its 1.2-million-square-foot storage and distribution center at the northwest corner of Elliot Road and the 202.

The developer originally planned two large industrial buildings, but Amazon, the long-term lessee, requested the buildings be combined.

The architects for the project created the current mega-building, which Amazon says is the largest storage and distribution center in the U.S.

The company says it’s the first “major” Amazon facility east of Central Avenue in Phoenix.

Down Elliot Road to the west of the new Amazon facility, Google is getting ready to break ground on the first phase of its massive, $1 billion Red Hawk data center campus.

The highly vaunted project was first approved by the city council in 2019.

Google received the greenlight last week

from Mesa’s Design Review Board on its plans for a 288,000-square-foot data hall. It’s the first phase of a total 750,000 square feet of development on the 186-acre site, once an alfalfa field.

The design hearing gave the public its first look at details of the secretive project, but even at this stage of the process, the company is taking steps to protect information about it.

When the first Google data hall is complete, the formerly rural area will have two of the largest companies in the U.S. anchoring it, giving the corridor an auspicious start.

Nearly 2 mile perimeter

Officials with Amazon said the Mesa fa-

ployees, with plans to eventually employ 800 to 1,300 workers at full operation.

Full-time employees work four 10-hour shifts per week, Amazon managers said.

Site Lead Rodney Huffman, a graduate of Mesa High, said the distribution center has been meeting all of its hiring targets so far.

The launch of the facility is “going fantastic,” he said.

As officials toured the facility during the grand opening, several new employees were being trained on the company’s Power Industrial Trucks.

The trucks comprise a key component of the operations as they are designed to navigate the rows of shelves and move employees up and down to retrieve product.

cility launched four weeks ago when it began receiving inbound-only deliveries to fill up its rows of tall metal shelves, which seem to go on forever inside the building.

Amazon said the center will serve as an intermediary between its largest warehouses where products are stored in bulk and the fulfillment centers where orders are packed for final delivery.

Intermediate facilities like this are important for keeping high-volume items in stock and holding products closer to customers, enabling the company to deliver packages in a day or two instead of four or five days.

The warehouse is one large open space, but it’s so vast that it’s difficult to make out the opposite wall of the building while standing at one end.

Mayor John Giles, who toured a small part of the building along with other city officials, joked that he could see “the curvature of the Earth” inside the warehouse.

Christina Matus, senior operation manager for Amazon, said a recent inspection walk of the building perimeter was 1.7 miles long.

The site managers have made the building’s mascot the jackalope, and images of the mythical creature appear throughout the warehouse, adding a bit of levity to the behemoth center.

Soon the facility will move into phase 2 of its opening as it ramps up hiring.

The Mesa facility currently has 650 em-

Company officials boasted high-tech safety features, like LIDAR sensors, which help the trucks navigate the aisles and prevent accidents.

In Arizona, Amazon has 17 fulfillment and sortation centers, 13 delivery stations and over 33,000 full-and part-time employees.

Red Hawk rising

In 2019, the Mesa City Council approved a development agreement and tax incentive program with Google to develop the data center campus on Elliot and Sossaman roads, but there’s been little visible movement on the project until last week’s design review hearing.

Because the project is within an Employment Opportunity Zone overlay, it will be able to move forward with an administrative review and does not need to go before council.

By the terms of its development agreement with the city, Google must meet development milestones. It faces a July 2025 deadline for 250,000 square feet of development and $600 million in capital investment. The building in phase 1 considered by the design review board will meet that requirement if Google can get it built in two years.

According to the agreement, the average salary of all full-time employees on the project must be $65,000 per year.

In return, the city is allocating 1,120

Amazon senior operations manager Tom Orr led local officials on a tour of his company's 1.2-million-square-foot storage and distribution center at the northwest corner of Elliot Road and the 202. (Special to the Tribune)

Amazon says its Mesa facility is the largest storage and distribution center in the U.S. (Special to the Tribune)

Stop PAD: The Silent Killer

“PAD is often called the silent killer because you may have it and not even know,” says Dr. Joel Rainwater, chief medical officer of Comprehensive Integrated Care (CiC). The reason it’s sometimes missed is because people dismiss the symptoms of this dangerous disease as ‘just a sign of getting older’. But it’s not. “It’s not normal to have difficulty walking to your mailbox, it’s not normal to have constant leg pain or cramping,” says Rainwater, “That’s not normal aging, it could be a sign of PAD.”

PAD (peripheral artery disease) is a circulation disorder and those with it are at a much higher risk of heart problems and death from heart attack or stroke. “If there’s poor blood flow to your legs and feet, you’ll have pain, cramping or wounds that won’t heal,” explains Rainwater. “If you ignore these signs, it may lead to an amputation. If you get an amputation because you have PAD, your life expectancy is worse than if you had breast cancer or lymphoma. PAD is no joke.”In some cases, people have been diagnosed with neuropathy. The symptoms of neuropathy and PAD are very similar and include difficulty walking without taking a break, burning, tingling, numbness and/or pain. “When I see a patient who has been told they have neuropathy and they’ve been maximized on medication that’s not working, I know there may be something else causing it and one of the big, notorious offenders in that scenario is PAD,” says Rainwater.

PAD is caused by the buildup of fatty material inside the arteries. This buildup occurs gradually over time and

Tell neuropathy pain, “later alligator.”

hardens into plaque inside the artery. This condition is known as atherosclerosis. Sometimes, it’s called “hardening of the arteries.” No matter what you call it, this plaque causes a narrowing of the passageway, restricting the amount of blood that flows throughout the body.

Without an adequate blood supply, your body can’t get the oxygen and nutrients it needs to maintain healthy legs, feet and toes. “This is something we can fix,” explains Rainwater. “The good news about PAD, is that there’s hope. There is treatment and it’s excellent, it’s been one of the biggest success stories in all of medicine.” Patients are able to get back on their feet and everyday living with almost no downtime, no stitches and no overnight hospital stay. Medicare as well as most insurance plans will cover treatment.

Dr. Rainwater’s focus is on teaching people to recognize PAD and take action. “I’m here to tell patients that there are options, all they have to do is ask. They might have to ask a different doctor, but they don’t have to live with the idea that they’re going to suffer for the rest of their life,” says Rainwater. His best advice, “Go look for answers.”

If traditional neuropathy treatments haven’t given you the pain relief you’ve been seeking, it’s time to start asking questions.

YES / NO

Could I have been misdiagnosed with neuropathy?

If I do have neuropathy, is poor circulation making my symptoms worse?

Is medication the only option to treat neuropathy pain?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions it’s time to start asking the doctors at CiC questions about how we can treat your symptoms in the comfort of one of our Valley wide locations.

Call CiC today to schedule an appointment with one of our specialists.

PAD is caused by the buildup of fatty material inside the arteries, limiting blood flow.

KIDS from page 17

any movement we’ve had has been minimal.”

The state ranked 32nd in health, 33rd in economic well-being, 40th in family and community and 45th in education.

Issues with child care seemed to be the overarching topic of concern. Murphy said shortcomings in Arizona’s child care system leave women, people of color and those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale in jeopardy.

“The child care system is really in disarray and in crisis,” Murphy said. “The overall impact is that people who live in poverty are forced to stay in poverty because they have to quit jobs because it’s more expensive to put their child in child care.”

This year’s data book reported the national annual cost of center-based child care for toddlers at $10,883, or 31% of a single mother’s income and 11% of a married couple’s income.

Additionally, 16% of children’s families across the country suffered job changes due to child care problems.

“If they can find a job that pays them adequately then they are not eligible for services, but they don’t make enough money to actually pay the cost of child care on its own,” Murphy said. “So it creates a cycle where we keep people in a situation where they can’t get ahead.”

Murphy said she expects more child care providers to close because extra funding during the pandemic is scheduled to run out in August.

During COVID-19, the state created a plan that increased access to child care through funding from the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

State agencies, the Governor’s Office, community partners and stakeholders know this issue is a cause for concern, Murphy said, adding that she believes a lack of access to child care will continue to worsen in the next year.

“There’s probably going to be some additional shifting,” she said. “We may lose some providers for whom it’s no longer feasible for them to stay in business, but we’re working diligently to try and prevent that.”

PATRIOTIC TEE JULY 4

DBACKS.COM/TICKETS

AMAZON from page 18

acre-feet of water initially and up to 4,480 acre-feet at buildout, promising as well “sufficient emergency back-up supplies for water.”

Water is important for data centers as an efficient means of moving heat away from servers. Data centers use a lot of water, but the industry is trying to develop technology to reduce its water demands.

The city is sweetening the deal for Google with a $16 million tax break over the next 25 years, which Mesa believes will be far exceeded by construction sales tax, electricity sales tax and personal property tax generated by the data center.

Google submitted site plans ahead of the hearing, but according to the project narrative, “proprietary information regarding the equipment in the server halls has been removed from the drawings due to intellectual property concerns.”

“The client would be willing to disclose the design of this area in an in-person non-public review meeting,” the document continued.

Security features of the data hall include a 10-foot wall surrounding the project, a gated entry and guard shack.

In the site plans submitted by Google, designers have added interest to industrial buildings with metal accents and LED lights, some of which casts dramatic shadows on the side of the building at night.

One member of the public who lives near the project submitted a comment card with concerns about how the data center use would impact the single-family neighborhood to the north and whether there would be noise or visibility impacts.

Issues related to the land use of the project are outside the purview of the design review board, which is focused on the appearance of a project.

“I think it’s a nice approach to what we often see as a fairly large, concrete-type building,” board member Dane Astle said.

Much of the discussion focused on the landscaping, which some board members thought was awkward and relied too much on pine trees, which use more water than other species.

The internal features of buildings are blocked out in gray on the architectural drawings submitted to the city.

GRADS from page 17

But even that – it’s looking at it as an investment in yourself.”

Full-time workers, 22 to 27 years old, with bachelor’s degrees made a median yearly wage of $52,000 in 2021. Their counterparts with high school diplomas earned only $30,000 a year, according to a Pew Research Center article in 2022.

CONTINGENCY from page 16

approval.

“It’s a good measure to have,” she said. “We put it in place, just making sure that we’re being good fiscal agents for the district.”

Rohrs voted for that measure at the time, but said he was only doing so if staff put together a more substantial policy for handling reserve funds.

Six months later, Rohrs is no longer willing to wait on staff and is offering his own proposal.

The agenda for the meeting won’t be published until June 26. However, Rohrs

Board member Tanner Green summed up the board’s sentiment on the first phase, “We’re looking forward to this project.”

These numbers are up from 1990, when bachelor’s degree holders in the same age range earned $48,481 annually, while those with diplomas earned $35,257.

The Everything to Gain campaign primarily seeks to spread awareness of Arizona’s education efforts by communicating through tactics such as hosting events, running ads and convening stakeholders, according to its website.

provided a copy of what he said is in his proposal.

He calls for the district to formulate a total contingency reserve fund balance, and to report that number to the board quarterly. In addition to limiting the total reserves to 25% of the operating budget he would continue the current policy of limiting withdrawals in any year to 10%.

However, he varies from current policy in the board’s ability to exceed that 10% limit if it needed to.

Current policy states a majority vote is needed. Rohrs’ proposal calls for unanimous support to exceed that 10% threshold.

Barrel racers thrive at Horseshoe Park

BY MARK MORAN GSN Sta Writer

Jill Starkey does not horse around. She started barrel racing horses for the thrill of it at age 6.

“I guess I like adrenaline,” said Starkey, now 52, a local resident and co-founder of the Queen Creek Barrel Racing Association.

“ ere’s an element of danger to it so I guess that makes it exciting and thrilling all at the same time,” she added. “And I like going fast, so that makes it a lot of fun.”

So fast, in fact, the horses are timed to one one-thousandth of a second because

the contests are so close, as opposed to the one one-hundredth of a second typical of timing in most sports.

Barrel racing boils down to mastering accelerating a horse in quick, straight lines, decelerating quickly, and making tight turns around a series of three barrels as fast as possible – all of which is tougher than it looks, Starkey said.

“It’s a thrilling sport,” she explained. “People look at it and think ‘it looks so easy,’ but until you actually do it, turning a horse at full speed is not as easy as it looks.

“ ere’s a lot of people that fall o at barrels if you’re not centered or hanging on properly.”

Success is primarily about the horse’s footing in the dirt and Horseshoe Park provides the best there is, Starkey said.

She explained that for the horse and rider to perform at their best and safest, the soil needs to be di erent for barrel racers than it is for, say, bull riding events.

“We need a little bit deeper and thicker to be safe for a horse to come at full speed, stop on a dime and turn,” Starkey explained. “ e ground has to hold them up and not let them skid and wipe out.”

She said the grounds crew team at Horseshoe Park goes to school to learn how to prepare the soil for all the di erent riding events.

“Riders will travel long distances to be on safe ground,” Starkey said. “It’s safe, fast dirt. ey (the grounds crew) knock it out of the park every time.”

Like other specialty sports, barrel racing is now big business and getting into it can require big bucks. e higher up the ranks a rider climbs, the more it costs.

Top-level barrel racing horses carry

a price tag of about $100,000 or higher. Training a horse can cost upwards of $10,000.

Starkey added that success in barrel racing has a lot to do with the person in the saddle, not just the animal’s pedigree.

“ e $10,000 horse with the right rider can turn that horse into the $40,000 horse. “So, it’s expensive. It’s not cheap and horses in general are pretty high right now.”

On the other side of the ledger, there is prize money at stake.

At the National Finals Rodeo, which features barrel racing in addition to other traditional riding events, the best riders can win as much as $30,000 per round and there are 10 rounds at that event.

But only the top 15 money earners in the nation can qualify for the NFR, so they have spent money traveling the country and competing at other events to reach that threshold, Starkey explained.

Felicia Buechle guided Sonitas Last Legacy through the maze at the Queen Creek Barrel Racing Association 2 Broke 4 Vegas barrel race in May at Horseshoe Park and Equestrian Centre. (David Minton/ Staff Photographer)

Raina Umbenhauer road RUAPlayer was among the riders participating in the barrel race. (David Minton/ Staff Photographer)

It is with great sadness that the family of Gabriel “Gabe” Rhodes announces his death on May 29, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona at the age of 49. He is survived by his four sons, whom he loved so very much, Andy, Jack, Justin and Trevor, his mother, Mary Rhodes, father, Frank [Patty] Rhodes, his two sisters, Sasha [Fili] Gurrola, Kismet Rhodes and his former wife and mother of his four children, Dawn Rhodes.

Gabe was born and raised in Arizona, an Arizona native! Those who knew him were well aware of his love of music, movies and books and the enjoyment he got from cooking and sharing the meals he prepared with those he loved. Gabe also enjoyed writing throughout his life where he was able to express his creativity which led to winning a creative writing award.

A memorial service will be held for Gabe on June 30, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. at the Wyman Chapel, 115 South Country Club Drive, Mesa, Arizona.

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At Meldrum, we offer the support and resources to provide your family more affordable funeral arrangements with more options, all delivered by the same compassionate staff you know and trust. Because to us, the family that matters most is yours Call (480) 834-9255 or visit MeldrumMortuary.com 24/7 Service

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BARREL from page 21

“You can win a lot of money if you’re winning every round,” she added. “But it costs a lot, too.”

She pointed to Marana resident Sherry Cervi, a four-time world champion who has won over $3 million barrel racing.

Typically in local events, about 70% of what race organizers collect in entry fees is paid out in prize money, so the winners’ purses depend on the number of event entries.

When the sport got its start, prize money was not even part of the equation.

While it is not clear if that is where barrel racing began, Starkey said what is certain is that it was born as a sport when the cowboys’ wives were not satis ed with just watching their husbands compete in the roping and bull riding events.

“ e sport of rodeo was always a man’s sport, and the women would be sitting around having nothing to do,” she said. “So, someone came up with the idea ‘well, how fast can we run around these three barrels in a pattern?’ e men were roping and doing all the men’s events and it gave the women something to do.”

Much of that equestrian history is still alive and well in Queen Creek and the town has made a strong showing in the barrel racing community in just the last few years.

Until 2014, East Valley barrel racers had to travel to the West Valley for local competitions.

at was when Starkey, along with her business partner and fellow Queen Creek resident Stacy Portonova, decided the east side needed barrel racing venues, too.

“It was a jaunt traveling over there with a four-horse trailer in 110 degrees,” she said of the West Valley events.

“ ere were a lot of us that were going over there so its good to establish barrel racing here on the East side. Especially at Horseshoe Park. It is the premier equestrian facility in the Southwest if not in the whole western half of the United States. It’s a phenomenal facility.”

e Queen Creek Barrel Racing Association was instrumental in getting a second arena covered at Horseshoe Park, which in turn has helped draw more riders to barrel racing events.

Starkey said the association hopes to use that momentum to cover more arenas at the park and “bridge the horse community and the normal non-horse community.”

e sport is accessible to all ages and abilities and o ers skills that will stick with the rider, new and experienced, forever.

“It’s a big sport.” Starkey said. “It’s a lifelong sport. Because it is a lifelong sport, I think we will always have it.”

Tvlee Grantham, riding As Bad As Corona, shined during the 2 Broke 4 Vegas Barrel Race. (David Minton/ Staff Photographer)

Gabriel “Gabe” Rhodes

Realtors group, ASU form mentoring partnership

BY JUSTIN LIGGIN GSN Contributor

The Arizona Association of Realtors and W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University have formed ASU/AAR Education Partnership for university juniors and seniors who are pursuing a minor in real estate or a Master of Real Estate Development.

e students learn more about the licensed real estate profession by increasing their professional skills while advancing their careers in the eld.

Made up of classroom education and mentoring, the program has supported the professional development of students and provided them with knowledge, career advice, skills training, assistance and guidance.

e program launched last fall and is continuing in the coming school year. More information about it is at real-estate. wpcarey.asu.edu/programs.

“Mentorship is an important part of

growth in the real estate eld, and our Realtor professionals are dedicated to providing ASU students with the tools and experience for success,” said Michelle Lind, counsel for the Arizona Realtors.

Jihan Nawara, a biological sciences major, said the mentorship program caught her eye as an important career opportunity while pursuing her real estate and business minors.

“I was drawn to this opportunity because it was a chance to receive valuable one-onone training and be in a place where I can interact with people who have an interest in the eld just like I do,” Nawara said.

Her mentor, Chandler Realtor Craig Peck, said guiding the next generation of the industry has always been second nature and made his participation in the program an easy decision.

“Mentorship is near and dear to my heart, and it means so much to be a part of this and give back to the youth,” Peck said.

Hobbs kills tax break for out-of-state car buyers

BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

Out-of-staters who want to buy cars and RVs in Arizona won’t be able to escape sales taxes if they come here to take delivery.

Gov. Katie Hobbs last week rejected a proposal sought on behalf of Lucid Motors that would have allowed visitors to buy a car here and then drive it o without paying the taxes.

Hobbs, in her veto letter, did not specifically dispute arguments by Rep. Teresa Martinez that the legislation could create some economic bene t. e Casa Grande Republican argued that it would generate tourism for her area, with those visitors then spending money in Arizona.

But the governor was unconvinced.

“While I understand and support the goals of this legislation, there is potential for unintended consequences ... that would have a signi cant scal impact on

Arizona,’’ Hobbs wrote in her veto of HB 2252.

However, Hobbs said is open to exploring the idea “with stronger guardrails that achieves our shared goals of boosting our economy while protecting our state’s scal health.’’

Until that happens, though, car sales remain subject to the same rules that govern anything else sold to tourists and other visitors: you buy an item whether a trinket, a T-shirt or a pickup truck, you pay the tax, regardless of where you intend to use it.

Martinez contended that a change in tax laws will promote tourism.

“I was born and raised in Casa Grande and it’s a great place to live and, it turns out, a great place to bring amazing tourism into the state,’’ she told colleagues.

Part of what could make that possible, Martinez said, is the Lucid factory that it turning out a line of all-electric cars that start retailing at $87,400 and go up from there. She said the company encourages

would-be buyers to y in, see how the vehicle is made and learn how to drive it on a test track.

“ ey would also be staying here, eating in our restaurants and staying in our hotels, bringing more money into the economy,’’ Martinez said.

She likened it to the practice of some European car manufacturers that encourage people to visit their plants, pick up their vehicles cars there, drive them around as part of their vacation and then ship them home.

Only thing is, anything purchased in Arizona and picked up here is subject to the state’s 5.6% sales tax plus any county and local taxes.

Buyers can ship their cars out of state –even as close as New Mexico – and pick them up there or they can ship them directly to their home states.

Martinez proposed skipping that step, allowing a new car buyer from anywhere else to get a 30-day permit to drive the ve-

hicle around Arizona without paying the sales tax.

e Legislature’s own budget sta ers gured that somewhere between 600 and 1,200 out-of-state buyers might take advantage of such a deal. Figuring a typical purchase price of $35,000, that would mean a loss of between $840,000 and $1.68 million.

Using an average gure, budget analysts gured that at about $1,400 per vehicle.

But those sta ers were skeptical that the $1,400 loss would be made up by what the car buyers would be spending in Arizona on their trip.

“ e visitor would have to spend $28,000 on lodging, restaurant and other retail sales to o set the $1,400 loss on the transaction privilege tax on the vehicle, which seems highly unlikely,’’ the report states.

And that’s based on the loss of sales tax

Area Realtors last fall began mentoring the first group of Arizona State University juniors and seniors who are hoping to make a career in real estate. (Special to AFN)

“To be in the business as long as I have, it is amazing to see these young individuals come into the eld and be caring, dedicated and actively looking to educate themselves on real estate.”

A Realtor emeritus with more than 40 years of experience, Peck has previously taken part in the National Association of Realtors’ SPIRE program.

SPIRE helps individuals learn the fundamentals of the real estate industry and empowers consideration of real estate as a career path.

Similarly, the Arizona Realtors and ASU program also helps highlight the concept of real estate as a career and gives prospective Realtors a space to interact and grow their network as they discover the industry.

“Many students only know real estate as selling homes and think of it as an activity,”

said Mark Stapp, a Fred E. Taylor professor of real estate at the Carey School along with Lind, created the program.

“ is program emphasizes the fact it is a profession and viable career path for young people,” Stapp said. “It is also exposing segments of the population historically underserved, with knowledge about the profession. We strive to create diversity and bring in young people to the profession.”

Nawara, who hopes to one day become a lawyer, plans to work in real estate on the side and use the knowledge she gains about the profession to help her practice law.

“I was able to get insight on how to grow my background in real estate to be better prepared for a career in this eld,” Nawara said. “As a participant, I have had the opportunity to network and meet so many people.”

has noticed Nawara and other program participants excel, thanks to the hands-on experience that Realtor mentors o er.

“I have seen so much growth in all the students. Students like Jihan are doing more than just listening, but participating alongside us mentors in the purchase, listing and contract processes. It’s truly great to see,” Peck said.

Nawara encourages students interested in pursuing real estate to take part in the program for not just professional guidance, but to learn the business of the real estate industry.

she said.

For Peck, real estate was a pleasant departure from what he studied previously and allowed him to develop important people and communication skills that are required for success in the industry.

“With my degree in civil engineering I was somewhat bored, but then I discovered real estate,” he said. “ e profession requires a lot of creativity, patience and emotional intelligence for each unique client.

“ is is what makes it all so exciting to me and is the reason why I have never been bored a day in this profession.”

Since meeting in September 2022, Peck

“ e mentorship program simpli ed the process, and I would say to anyone who is on the edge of pursuing the profession or program that it doesn’t hurt to give it a try. I discovered the profession of real estate, and I was able to gain knowledge of the purchase process for buying a home someday or helping someone nd theirs,”

With the inaugural year of the Arizona Realtors and ASU program coming to an end, Peck hopes to continue mentoring and inspiring the next generation of Realtors just like Nawara, so they can discover their passion and build on their skills in the real estate industry.

Martinez, however, told Capitol Media Services that is the wrong way to look at the situation.

from that “average’’ $35,000 vehicle. While Lucent vehicles start at $87,400, their price tags run up to $249,000, making the lost sales tax from each vehicle signi cantly higher than that $1,400 average.

Martinez acknowledged that her legislation would have created an exemption for tourists that doesn’t exist for any other product or service that visitors purchase while they are here. But she said

that doesn’t undermine her goal of getting more people to buy their cars here.

“I want people to come into the state and buy something and leave,’’ Martinez said.

VETO from page 24

Weekend 1 of Section 7 provided new opportunities for girls

BY ZACH ALVIRA GSN Sports Editor

Section 7 has long established itself as the top high school basketball showcase event in the western part of the United States.

e event attracts teams from as far as Florida, housing teams under one roof for a weekend lled with four games in front of several hundred college coaches. It’s an event that often sees scholarships handed out to players.

But it was always missing one thing: a large girls’ division.

at’s why Matt King and the rest of his team with the Arizona Basketball Coaches Association Set out to change that this year.

Instead of a couple dozen local girls’ programs playing on one night before the boys take over, they got their own weekend.

“It kinda feels like it’s putting girls’ basketball on the map,” Mesquite coach Candice Gonzales said. “People are going to

want to start coming. I think it’s going to grow and get bigger the more we put it out there. It gives me chills just talking about it because it’s so good. I love it.”

More than 120 teams from across the western part of the United States ocked to State Farm Stadium June 15-17 for the girls’ weekend of Section 7.

e event attracted some of the top teams in the country, including Lone Peak from Utah, Etiwanda from California and several from across Arizona.

is is the second straight year Mesquite had the opportunity to compete in Section 7. But it wasn’t nearly to the same extent.

Girls’ games – one per team – were used as openers for the boys’ weekend, which extended three full days. is year, the boys will again have three full days, but two additional days were added for a qualifying tournament.

Candice Gonzales said the girls’ deserve to have the same recognition of the boys and the same number of games throughout the weekend. And the opportunity to now play in front of several college coaches opens the door for a potential jump to the next level when their high school careers are over.

“ ey work so hard,” Candice Gonzales said. “ ey’re working 12 months out of the year to get to where they want to be. Some of them may not want to go o and play but they’re being the best they can be.”

Kahlia Gonzales, Candice’s daughter and a junior guard for the Wildcats, said she had some nerves walking into State Farm Stadium. It was unlike any other venue she and her teammates had

played in before.

e eld used for Cardinals’ games was rolled out and 12 courts were placed on the concrete oor. Fans could watch from the stands while college coaches sat courtside.

“I was mostly excited about it,” Kahlia Gonzales said. “I feel very appreciative that they’re doing this for girls’ basketball. It makes a lot of our girls feel more appreciated. Last year it wasn’t this big. It’s big time.”

Like Mesquite, Perry’s players also felt as if they were more appreciated for the addition of a full girls’ weekend.

e Pumas found themselves front and center right away at Section 7, playing in the premier bracket featuring some of the top teams in the country. ey played on one of two courts that feature grandstands courtside, along with numerous tables and chairs that were lled by college coaches for their rst game of the weekend.

“It’s huge,” Perry coach Andrew Curtis said. “ ere could be a girl that picks up a Division I o er that nobody knew about. Make some plays, show out and you could

change your life.”

Perry junior guard Sage Henry said the atmosphere was the most notable di erence from last year to this year.

“ e atmosphere is a lot di erent from last year,” Henry said. “Seeing all the college coaches watch us on the court, we just have to do our best.”

Curtis, who also helps run Section 7 when his team isn’t playing, said the growth of the girls’ game has been a sight to see. e rise in the level of talent in Arizona made it a no brainer for the Arizona Basketball Coaches Association to dedicate an entire weekend to the girls.

Overall, the weekend brought a new experience and opportunity. It also allowed teams to mesh early as they go into a long o -season before the start of winter sports later on in the fall.

And because of Section 7, some of those girls will go into the season now on the radar of colleges.

“ is is the best event for the June scholastic viewing in the country,” Curtis said. “I love it.”

Perry junior guard Sage Henry said playing on the premier court at Section 7 was a unique experience with coaches courtside. Two out of the 12 courts at State Farm Stadium feature grandstands and tables for college coaches. (Dave Minton/Staff Photographer)

Mesquite junior guard Kahlia Gonzales said the atmosphere was the biggest difference in her experience at Section 7 this year compared to last. Over 100 college coaches showed up to watch the girls during the three-day event, the first time girls have ever been given a full weekend to play. (Dave Minton/ Staff Photographer)

Museum of the West features Warhol, Schenck

BY ALEX GALLAGHER GetOut Arts Editor

Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West has opened a new eye-popping exhibition that features the works of Andy Warhol and Billy Schenck.

“Western Pop: Andy Warhol & Billy Schenck” features 14 screen prints culled from Warhol’s Cowboys & Indians collection, Warhol’s last major production, and 29 oil canvas paintings and serigraphs from Schenck’s “Myth of the American West” collection.

The works were previously displayed at the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas.

“We were working with the Briscoe Western Art Museum since 2018 to negotiate and get it here and it’s really a wonderful first-of-its-kind exhibition for us,” said museum Assistant Director Dr. Tricia Loscher.

“It’s just a wonderful exhibition to house two powerful artists in Andy Warhol, who is an iconic name, and Billy Schenck, who is less known globally. The marriage of those two artists made it a perfect fit for us.”

When Loscher first learned that there

was a collection of Western artworks made by an artist best known for silk-screen paintings of soup cans and celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, she did a double take.

“I was just fascinated with the idea of this and how it hasn’t been presented how Andy Warhol was part of the West despite being based out of New York and how he influenced the West and other artists,” Loscher said.

Only 250 copies of the Warhol portfolio were printed.

Loscher discovered that Warhol had a strong affinity for Western culture.

He frequently donned cowboy boots, shot the satirical Hollywood western “Lonesome Cowboys” in North Tucson and Oracle, and frequently visited the Gustaf George High Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian in New York to sift through its archives.

Warhol drew inspiration from photographs and postcards he found in the archives and began working on “Cowboys & Indians” in 1985, nearly two years before his death.

He created silk-screen prints of figures like General George Custer, President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt and commonly traded items like the buffalo nickel and Katsina dolls made the Hopi tribe.

“It’s very interesting that he was consciously thinking about how he was going to do – and what he was trying to say with – this series,” Loscher said.

“He really spoke through his heart about his love of the American West which didn’t come out of his work that often.”

Loscher hopes that the images draw younger audiences and create a better understanding of the American West.

“It’s really about making those connections between the artists and how the West has influenced different artists working in different ways from silk screens to serigraphs to paintings,” Loscher said.

Once guests turn the corner past Warhol’s work, they are greeted with similarly

fashioned works by Schenck, a New Mexico who grew up in Wyoming and was strongly influenced by Warhol.

“He was in New York in the days when Andy Warhol was there working at the same time and he had an opportunity to work a little bit with Warhol,” Loscher explains. “Schenck was really influenced by Warhol and what those artists in New York were doing along with some of the themes shown in Hollywood films.

“That’s when he started to create what we see today in his work with this pop art, iconic imagery that speaks to a vast array of mass consumerism and stereotypes.”

Like Warhol, Schenck was strongly interested in the American West and Native American culture.

The bulk of Schenck’s works pay paying homage to beloved spaghetti westerns.

“Billy Schenck took film stills and reinterpreted it,” Loscher said.

One of the most noticeable characters depicted in the exhibition is Clint Eastwood’s “The Man With No Name” from “A Fistful of Dollars” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

“By having an exhibition like this where we can address a lot of topics with our docents, we can reach out to new audiences

and address that narrative of traditional Western art or Western realism while telling those stories with different color palettes,” Loscher said.

Loscher also sees this exhibition as a starting point for bigger conversations and events that could take place at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West in the near future.

“I think there are so many conversations that could and need to happen out of this,” she said.

“It’d be wonderful to do a symposium for a weekend with different speakers on different perspectives that way different generations could give their interpretation.

“What I would like to start doing more is having exhibitions where it’s almost curated by the community where people can come in and talk about works and get so many different perspectives and ways of thinking about pieces.”

“Western Pop: Andy Warhol & Billy Schenck”

When: On display now through Nov. 26 during museum hours.

Where: 3830 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale

Cost: Admission starts at $25

Info: Scottsdalemuseumwest.org

Andy Warhol was fond of American West legends, like Annie Oakley. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

The new exhibit at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West features works by Andy Warhol and Bill Schenck that pay homage to the American West and Native Americans. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

Leonardo da Vinci drops into the Valley

BY ALEX GALLAGHER GetOut Arts Editor

Aesthetes no longer have to travel halfway across the globe to crowd around the famed works of Leonardo da Vinci.

Da Vinci is joining the company of esteemed artists Vincent Van Gogh, Gustav Klimt and Claude Monet as well as historical figure Pharaoh Tutankhamen, better known as King Tut, on the list of figures featured at Lighthouse Artspace Phoenix in Old Town Scottsdale in a show titled “Leonardo: The Universal Man.”

“One of the things that I think it’s universal across all of our shows that we have in here is that this is a new way to experience art historical figures,” said museum operations manager Jason Roedl.

“This is another one where it’s based on a historical figure but what’s different between this and the artist shows is that this has an educational component.

“It includes a little background on da Vinci like where he’s from, where he was born and when he died and then the

show itself takes a deep dive into the areas that he was specifically good at.”

In addition to beloved paintings like “The Last Supper” and the “Mona Lisa,” da Vinci was also known for contributions to the fields of anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography and paleontology.

Because he had such an impactful life during the High Renaissance, “Leonardo: The Universal Man” is broken into five chapters that show his creative and artistic prowess.

The five chapters look at da Vinci as philosopher, scientist, inventor, architect and painter.

Because the exhibit incorporates “so much of a Renaissance man,” Rodel said he thinks the title fits.

“There wasn’t much he didn’t get into and take a deep dive,” he said.

Roedl himself found interest in da Vinci’s projects as a scientist.

“I really like the scientist chapter,” he said. “It’s visually striking in that the music actually has a ton of emotion behind it and that part of the show is just a little bit different. It almost locks the viewers

in when they watch it.”

Not only did Roedl find his eyes glued to Lighthouse Artspace’s 500,000 cubic feet of projector screens, but the show also sparked his curiosity to learn more about da Vinci.

“The fun thing about watching the show is that it does make you want to dig in a little bit more and start reading about who he was and all of the things that he is capable of,” he said.

However, the big selling point of the show is the ability to gain an enormous glimpse of some of the most famed artworks in the world like the “Mona Lisa,” “The Vitruvian Man” and “The Last Supper.”

“Da Vinci only has one of his paintings on display in the United States. The Ginevra de’ Benci portrait is on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.,” he explained.

“So if you want to go see multiple items da Vinci created, you’re traveling to Europe and you are bouncing all over Italy and France,” Roedl said. “In our show, you can see it larger than its actual size and you can see where pieces of paint

chipped off or it was repaired with a different color and spot those kinds of things.”

Additionally, the pairings and images on the screen are coordinated to electronic dance music that adds to the ambience created by the works.

“It’s very EDM-oriented and the music moves with the show, So it is definitely a modern take and I think the younger crowd would absolutely enjoy the music selection that is proposed,” Roedl said.

The show runs at various times throughout the month but Roedl hopes that guests who do catch the show find intrigue in “The Universal Man.”

“I completely believe that we are bringing a new way for people to experience art by making it larger than life, in color and adding music,” he said. “I think it creates some curiosity.”

Leonardo: The Universal Man

When: Various dates and times, see website.

Where: Lighthouse Artspace, 4301 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale

Cost: Tickets start at $29.99

Info: immersiveleonardo.com/phoenix

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