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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
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Sunday, March 14, 2021
Light glimmers in Mesa after dark year
INSIDE
This Week
BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
NEWS ........................ 6 Could Mesa become Arizona's second-largest city?
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hat might be remembered as “The Time of the Great Pandemic” or, simply “COVID Year” began in Mesa with a series of warnings and closures. The pandemic of�icially hit Mesa a year ago March 17, when Mayor John Giles declared a state of emergency, shuttering libraries, museums and other indoor gather
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Charts on the city of Mesa’s coronavirus website show the virus spread in the city has dropped off sharply since January, reflecting trends in the county, state and country. Mesa likely had its first cases in March 2020, though ZIP code data was not available until April. (City of Mesa)
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COMMUNITY ..........
Dobson teacher and move to mandatory Holocaust lessons.
OPINION ...............
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Mayor John Giles on city's anti-discrimination law. COMMUNITY ............................... 17 BUSINESS ..................................... 20 OPINION .. ..................................... 23 SPORTS ........................................ 25 PUZZLES ...................................... 29 CLASSIFIED ................................. 30 Zone
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Arizona National Guard busier than ever BY MIKE PHILLIPS Tribune Contributor
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he three hikers stranded in snow near Sedona were in a tight spot. After days of sub-freezing temperatures stuck in a rock crevice without food, they were showing signs of frostbite. As they braced for another cruel night, they heard the whomp-whomp-whomp of an Arizona National Guard Blackhawk Helicopter piloted by Maj. Shannon Lancaster. After a few harrowing minutes last January, the hikers were aboard the aircraft and headed to safety. “They got a jolt of motivation when they saw us,“ said Lancaster, a Mesa resident who has spent a decade �lying helicopters for the Guard. “It de�initely gets you going when you put your training to work and you know
you’re saving people’s lives.” The Arizona National Guard has been feeding off that life-saving adrenaline for the past year. Not since World War II has a greater percentage of Arizona Guard been deployed – whether responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, �ighting wild�ires in several states, securing the southern border, serving overseas, or assisting communities during a summer of civic unrest.
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It’s been a busy year for the Arizona National Guard, including Mesa residents Maj. Shannon Lancaster and her husband Sam, who at times had to scrambled to find a babysitter for their 2-yearold son Paxton. (Mike Phillips/Tribune Contributor)
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ing places. Two days earlier, Gov. Doug Ducey ordered all schools closed, though Mesa Public Schools did so a day before his announcement. March 2020 ended with an even more chilling Ducey directive: Unless you have urgent business, stay home. What a difference a year makes. “I think Mesa – like the rest of the country – is encouraged to see there is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Giles. He noted sharp drops in COVID-19 rates of transmission over the last month. “It’s encouraging to see trends going the right way because of the vaccine,” Giles said. Ducey has issued a directive allowing restaurants, bars and other businesses to return to full capacity. The 2020 vs. 2021 contrast is perfectly illustrated by Gol�land Sunsplash, one of Mesa’s biggest attractions. On March 20, the park posted a message on social media: “In order to comply with a proclamation from the City of Mesa, we will suspend operations starting at 8 p.m. tonight.” The sprawling park on West Hampton Avenue made an announcement last week that would have been absurd, if not criminal, during ghostly March 2020: “Sunsplash is open for Spring Break!” While Ducey’s reversal of reduced capacities had little impact on smaller restaurants, as the caveat is social distancing with 6 feet between patrons remains in effect, some larger establishments are able to allow bigger crowds to gather. The Revelry, a sweeping “food and entertainment collective” in Riverview, was bold enough to open in November, just as another wave of COVID-19 was sweeping over Mesa. Now, it looks like Chris Castille’s vision for a mega-entertainment venue in Mesa is coming into focus. After Ducey’s recent order, business is “starting to pick up,” said Castille, the venue’s chief operating of�icer, adding he welcomes “the ones that want to get out and have a good time.” A year ago this week, the Cactus League shut down early. But Spring Training 2021 continues here, though Mesa’s two ballparks and other Valley venues are limiting capacity to around 20 percent. No changes have been made since the beginning of Spring Training, though the
After temporarily closing March 20, 2020, Golfland Sunsplash fully opened earlier this month, just in time for Spring Break. (Golfland Sunsplash) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidance this week, stating fully vaccinated people can “visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart” and “visit with unvaccinated people from one other household indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart if everyone in the other household is at low risk for severe disease.”
The numbers
An ASU student returning from a trip to China tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 22, 2020. The county’s �irst “community-spread” con�irmed case came on March 3, 2020. Nineteen days later, the �irst death from COVID-19 in a Maricopa County resident was recorded. Maricopa County Department of Public Health declined the Tribune’s request to provide dates of the �irst COVID-19 cases and deaths in Mesa. “We do not provide COVID death numbers by jurisdiction or ZIP code,” said Fields Moseley, a county spokesman. Mesa’s comprehensive COVID-19 web-
site (mesaaz.gov/government/coronavirus) sorts state Department of Health Services information, with graphs and charts illustrating virus numbers in the city. The “New COVID-19 cases in Mesa” chart begins April 15 with 303 cases. The following day, 34 new cases were reported in the city. By then, there were 2,145 cases in the county. “The data is sourced from AZDHS beginning April 15, 2020, when we started pulling their daily data by ZIP code,” said Evan Allred, Mesa’s chief data of�icer. “Unfortunately, in the early days of the pandemic, AZDHS released con�irmed case data by county. It wasn’t until April when they made it available by ZIP code.” Since more than 300 cases were tracked by mid-April, it is likely Mesa’s �irst cases were in March 2020. On March 10, 2020, there were only two cases of COVID-19 in the county. A week later, the number of cases increased to 10. The following week, on March 24, cases jumped dramatically, to 199. In the next seven days, the coronavirus
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THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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accelerated, with the number of cases more than tripling to 791. After a November-through-January surge likely fueled by holiday gatherings, the spread of COVID-19 has fallen sharply. During the �irst week of March, the increase was less than 1 percent. From March 2-9, the weekly average of new coronavirus cases in Maricopa County was around 700 – down some 40 percent from the February daily average of around 1,200. The January daily average of COVID-19 cases in the county was more than 5,000. Giles and many other of�icials explain the drop in one word: vaccinations. “As more and more Arizonans get the P�izer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson/ Janssen vaccines, we will start to see life returning to normal,” AZDHS Director Dr. Cara Christ wrote, in a blog post this week. “That light is getting brighter by the day.” Giles, who is considered an “essential worker,” is one of more than 1 million Maricopa County residents who have received at least one shot of a vaccine – something that was only a dream of scientists in March 2020.
Executive actions
Asked about the one-year anniversary of his March 17 declaration, Giles shook his head in amazement. “Wow! Was that only a year ago? It seems like a lifetime ago,” he said. “Whether you’re the mayor or not, this has been a long year.” He recalled City Council’s decision to close public buildings and issue a citywide alert was not particularly dif�icult. “We were receiving advice from people like the CDC and public health experts. There were a lot of very responsible organizations that were sounding the alarm,” Giles said. “Even back then, we all understood the signi�icance of what a pandemic was and following public health guidelines to mitigate the spread of the virus.” Ducey ordered all schools closed March 15 and planned a 10-day closure. Two weeks later, he ordered classrooms to
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The Revelry, which opened at the height of the pandemic, is allowing more patrons after Gov. Doug Ducey’s order relaxing restaurant and bar capacity restrictions. (The Revelry) remain empty through the end of the school year. Ducey resisted calls for a state-wide mask mandate, instead giving cities the power to create their own mask guidelines. On June 22, Giles signed an order mandating people in Mesa wear masks. “Masks unfortunately became politicized,” Giles said. “There were people strictly against or for masks based on political af�iliation, which is unfortunate.” Looking back on Mesa’s response to COVID-19 over the past year, Giles feels all the actions were appropriate and not too restrictive – though possibly not restrictive enough. “I hope we didn’t under-act,” he said. “In hindsight, could we have done more? Possibly.”
Mesa Fire response
This time last year, the Mesa Fire Department was bracing for the unknown.
“Looking back at last March, we were still very unfamiliar with what we were going to be dealing with,” Deputy Chief Brent Burgett recalled. “Maricopa County Public Health and AZDHS were tracking the numbers and we were using their numbers to better understand what was going on in our communities.” A spike in calls began here in June, Burgett noted, “Based on dispatch information, we can’t draw a conclusion why exactly we responded on a call unless the
patient was transported to the hospital and we got info from the hospital. “Creating linkage to COVID speci�ic calls requires a lot of back-end data analysis and is not always accurate because ultimately every symptomatic person we responded (to) does not go to the hospital and does not get a COVID test.” Burgett said, �ire�ighters and paramedics are not immune to the disease, despite personal protective equipment and other safety measures: “Our numbers peak when community spread peaks and our numbers have decreased when community spread decreases.” A recent release from the county urges the community not to relax: “While community transmission is lower than it was a few months ago, the virus is still spreading widely in our community with hundreds of new cases reported each day ... We still have a long way to go before we’re out of the woods.” Even so, Giles and members of the business community are optimistic Mesa is emerging from a dark COVID fog. “I think we’re going to come out on the other end of it pretty good,” added Castille, who runs The Revelry. “Ducey made his announcement, the CDC is saying vaccinated people can be around together. All of it is adding to con�idence.” Indeed, Castille is moving ahead with expansion plans to triple The Revelry’s space, from 20,000 square feet to 60,000, adding a brew pub, speakeasy, food halls and “canine cantina” by the end of summer. Pretty impressive, for a place still �lying under the radar. “We opened in the middle of a pandemic,” Castille said, with a chuckle. “Not a lot of people know about us.”
Mesa getting even bigger fed relief check
The City of Mesa is getting $101.36 million from the new American Rescue Plan – a heftier check than the $90 million it got when the pandemic �irst gripped the state a year ago. U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's of�ice last week said the measure gives municipalities the power to make their own decisions on how to spend the money. Maricopa County is getting just under $870 million. Mayor John Giles hailed the news and Sinema noted the measure's "guardrails" prevent state leaders from back�illing their budgets or unrelated projects. Mesa Public Schools also will share in the $600 million Arizona is getting for learning help but state education of�icials have not reported each district's allotment.
Contact Paul Maryniak at 480-898-5647 or pmaryniak@timespublications.com
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
Census tally may determine if we’re No. 2
BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
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ill Mesa be No. 2? Though it’s nearly impossible Mesa will overtake Phoenix for No. 1, Mesa is expected to be neck-andneck with Tucson as Arizona’s secondbiggest city when U.S. Census �igures are released in the coming months. Mesa Mayor John Giles is con�ident Mesa will be No. 2 – some day. “That’s going to happen,” Giles said. “We have the ability to grow more so than Tucson does. From what I’ve heard from data scientists, it’s just a matter of time.” In 2019, the U.S. Census estimated the Phoenix population at just under 1.7 million, up from 1.5 million in 2010. The U.S. Census 2019 estimate for Mesa’s population was 518,012, behind Tucson’s 548,073. But Tucson only grew by only 4 percent in the last decade, as it had a population of 526,634 in 2010.
Long before the actual count, and long before pandemic restrictions, the city campaigned at public events for residents to take part in the U.S. Census 2020. (City of Mesa) Meanwhile, Mesa rocketed by 18 percent since its 2010 population of 440,092.
Mesa’s “self-response” rate was slightly higher than the state average, but lower than its neighbors. (U.S. Census)
According to the Maricopa Association of Governments, which projects population growth for all the county’s cities, Mesa may have already caught Tucson. The MAG website estimates Mesa’s 2020 population at 552,000. Estimates will give way to actual �igures, when the U.S. Census delivers its results. According to its website, “by April 30, the Census Bureau will deliver population counts used for apportionment to the president as required by law. “By Sept. 30, the Census Bureau will
send redistricting counts to the states. This information is used to redraw legislative districts based on population changes.” The U.S. Census says it has enumerated an estimated 99.9 percent of the population. The census has counted the country’s population every 10 years since 1790, when 109,826 Americans were counted by 650 U.S. marshals and assistants, riding from farm to farm on horseback. The 2020 census was a challenge during the pandemic, though counting was alleviated by a push for people to respond on their own. According to 2020census.gov, the average response rate was 67 percent, with Minnesota the leader at 75 percent and Alaska, West Virginia and Maine stragglers at below 56 percent response rate. Mesa’s self-response rate was 66.3 percent. Maricopa County’s response rate was 68.3 percent, the state response rate was 64.1 percent. Gilbert had a 78.6 percent response rate, followed by Chandler at 74.7 percent, Queen Creek at 70.1 percent, Scottsdale at 67.9 percent, Phoenix at 66.3 percent, Tempe at 65.9 percent. “We don’t really care whether we’re second or third,” Giles insisted. “You don’t get an extra dessert if you’re No. 2.” But, if not an “extra dessert,” Mesa got
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The Maricopa Association of Governments projects continued growth for Mesa, which soon could be the second largest city in the state. (MAG)
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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Opposition to Riverview of�ice expansion mounts BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
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n most cities, the expansion of an of�ice park would fall into the “no big deal” category. Not in Mesa. Neighbors heatedly oppose a request by a developer for an of�ice building and garage near Riverview that Mesa City Council is scheduled to vote on at its virtual meeting at 5:45 p.m. Monday, March 15. The key word in the last sentence is “scheduled.” The developer’s request was introduced at the March 1 council meeting. Though Council did not vote on the matter, several people who live near the 30-acre of�ice park at Alma School Road and Bass Pro Drive vehemently demanded the elected of�icials reject the plan. Shawna Boyle said the plan for a threestory of�ice building and four-story parking garage not only would wreck views, it would also violate “a written agreement … from 2007 that promised residents all the buildings would not be any taller than two stories.” There are currently four of�ice buildings in the development at Alma School Road & Bass Pro Drive. The �irst two, both two-stories, went up in 2007. Two more were built in 2014; neighbors complained that the view-disturbing threestory of�ice buildings received “administrative approval” and they were not informed about it. Shawna Boyle’s husband, Joshua Boyle,
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plenty of gravy for its estimated population topping a half million. “It makes a signi�icant impact,” said Jeff Robbins, Mesa’s census and redistricting administrator. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, better known as CARES, sent $90 million to Mesa in May. Direct payments, Robbins noted, only went to cities with more than 500,000 people. “Because Mesa barely made that cutoff, we received millions and millions of dollars other cities didn’t. If we had a slightly lower number, we wouldn’t have got that,”
A plan for a three-story office building and four-level garage has drawn vehement protests by neighbors near Riverview. (City of Mesa) noted in an email to the Tribune the project changed hands since the expansion. “The current developer is now pointing to the three-story building as their main argument why their proposal should be approved,” he said. “Our position is that because the city failed to properly follow its own rules in 2014, and failed to protect its citizens, then it should not simply allow for that to keep happening.” “The developer is pointing to a wrong that happened as justi�ication for it to continue doing the same thing and construct new buildings higher than the original plan.” He pointed to statements from the original developer, taken from minutes of a 2007 meeting. “While the neighbors were not guaranteed the amount of buildings, lot
Robbins said. Giles added that an increase in Mesa’s population could add to other funds the city receives from the federal and state governments. “It’s important to us to have an accurate count,” he said. “Our shared revenue from the state is absolutely tied to the population.” Added Robbins: “What a lot of people don’t understand is the federal government divvies up billions and billions of dollars based on population. If you are missing people (being counted), you still have to take care of people but you do it with less money.” Because of this, Mesa and other cities
coverage of the buildings, or lot yield, there was a guarantee that it would not go above the 38 (feet) height. The city required the developer to comply with this,” Joshua Boyle said. The three-story building that went up in 2014 is 55 feet high. Another proposed of�ice building is also three stories and 55 feet. The garage is four levels and 44 feet high, according to the proposed plan. The Planning and Zoning Board unanimously approved the developer’s new plan in February. But Shawna Boyle insisted at the March 1 council meeting, the board would have rejected it, if they knew about the previous agreement. Countered Adam Baum, attorney for the developer, “I have not found any agree-
urged residents to take part in the census for months before the count. “We were partners for education and outreach and to get out the response at grassroots levels,” Robbins said. “We were able to do numerous educational events before COVID got really bad and then we went online.” Though Mesa trailed its neighbors, the self-response rate was nearly 5 percent higher than the 61.5 percent in 2010, “which is really fantastic,” Robbins said. “We’re very pleased with how the community came together,” he added. Of�icial population �igures also impact how the boundaries are drawn for Mesa City Council seats.
ment that would limit this to less than three stories … We’re not aware of any restrictions the neighbors allude to.” Baum added, “We’ve been open and willing to work with neighbors.” Not so, said resident Doug Allsworth, who begged council to heed the complaints. “It seems the wheels are pretty well greased,” Allsworth complained. “The neighbors feel they have been run over.” Councilman Mark Freeman was part of a unanimous decision to move the matter ahead to the March 15 meeting for a possible vote. But, he added, if neighbors need more time to �ind documentation, “I will support giving you more time.” At the March 1 meeting, Mayor John Giles asked City Attorney Jim Smith for his opinion. “I’m not aware of any agreement,” Smith said. “The council’s not a court of law so it’s not enforcing private agreements … But if (neighbors) �ind documentation they want to provide, we’d be obviously very happy to look at it.” But neighbors may face a challenge, as several members of the council voiced support for the developer’s plans at a March 11 study session. “The property owner has the right to build. If that affects the view, I’m sorry,” said Councilman Kevin Thompson. “To stymie economic growth and bringing quality jobs just so you can have a view of the mountains is beyond belief,” Thompson said. “I like the project and I’m ready to move forward.” As Giles and others point out, Mesa’s growth spurt has no foreseeable end. According to a recent Planning Department presentation, in 2020 Mesa issued 1,937 single family home permits and 41 multi-family buildings totaling 5,009 units. That projects to another 10,000 to 20,000 residents. MAG, which projects population growth for all of the county’s cities, expects Mesa to top 600,000 by 2030. Robbins said he, like everyone else, is waiting for of�icial census �igures. Asked if he expects Mesa to pass Tucson, he said, “It would be complete conjecture. I really have no idea what to expect. Anyone who tells you they do is lying.”
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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“We faced things we never faced before,” said Allen Clark, Arizona’s director of emergency management. “We daily treaded new waters that we haven’t had to �loat before.” Clark, also a Mesa resident, manages the emergency management division of the state Department of Emergency and Military Affairs – the nerve center for Arizona’s COVID-19 response. When one of Arizona’s 15 counties or 22 tribal governments needs crisis assistance these days, the request lands with Clark. His team coordinates with the National Guard and other agencies to provide help. The EOC, usually a short-term response to emergencies, has been operating since late January 2020. The statistics compiled by the Arizona National Guard re�lect the unprecedented needs and challenges. In the past year, its roughly 8,300 members have supported more than 875 COVID-19 testing sites, delivered 300,000 pieces of protective equipment to medical workers and assisted more than 140 food banks across the state. Members have worked more than 360,000 hours, driven 775,000 miles to deliver goods and dropped 130,000 gallons of water on wild�ires. At one point, 85 percent of available Arizona Guard members were on deployment. Roughly 1,300 of those troops were overseas. “I am constantly inspired by their willingness to serve; I couldn’t be more thankful for their contributions,” said Maj. Gen. Michael T. McGuire, who recently announced his retirement as the Guard’s adjutant general and director of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. “I say this all the time … they are the next Greatest Generation,” McGuire added. When not rescuing stranded hikers, Lancaster is a fulltime aviation instructor assigned to the Papago Military complex in Phoenix. It’s normally a �ive-day-a-week job, but not in 2020. First came a mission in April when Lancaster �lew medical personnel to Tuba City to tackle a severe COVID-19 outbreak on the Navajo Nation. Last summer, Lancaster spent several weeks using her �light skills to surgically drop water on wild�ires raging �irst in Arizona and then California. Then she recently ferried nurses and support staff to Yuma to administer CO-
Members of the Arizona National Guard were dispatched to the Mesa Convention Center last spring to help United Food Bank distribute hundreds of food boxes. (Mike Phillips/Tribune Contributor)
VID-19 vaccinations. Her husband, Sam, also serves in the National Guard and was deployed last summer in response to civil unrest. That left the couple scrambling to �ind supervision for their 2-year-old son while Shannon fought �ires and Sam worked to quell the heat of angry protests. “We had to �ly my mom out to help with the childcare,” Lancaster said. “Those were some really long days.” “Long days” could well be the 2020 theme for Arizona’s National Guard. In his civilian life, Tommy Leeper is an emergency room physician at the Phoenix
Allen Clark of Mesa is director of emergency management. (Special to the Tribune)
VA Hospital. But last March he was mobilized to establish a “surgeon cell” as part of the state’s COVID-19 response. Leeper, a Gilbert resident with 40 years of military service, had an idea of what was coming. He studied pandemics during a year at the Army War College and has conducted research around pandemic in�luenza. He anticipated the wave of change that disrupted Arizona last spring. “That’s kind of the nature of pandemics,” he said. “They kind of brew along for a while and then they all of a sudden explode.” Arizona’s �irst detonation occurred in isolated Tuba City. Leeper led the initial team to land there and found a rural health system overwhelmed by patients and ill-prepared to deal with it. “They had a lot of admissions in critical condition and a lot of the staff was out due to illness,” Leeper said. His team spent a week training workers on how to better manage the patient in�lux, provide specialized treatment and effectively use personal protective equipment. They evaluated patients and transferred the sickest to hospitals across the region better equipped to provide care. Joining Leeper on the trip was National Guard paramedic Sgt. Brian Bowling, a Tempe native who in civilian life works as a Maricopa County Deputy Sheriff. Unlike most natural disasters the Guard deals with, he said it was clear early on that addressing COVID-19 was going to be a long, drawn-out slog.
“It seemed like people took one extreme or another, either being very cavalier about it or being extremely cautious to the point of paranoia,” he said. “Part of our job was to strike a balance in the community. You don’t need hazmat gear, but you do need to wash your hands.” That meant training medical personnel and front-line workers how to protect themselves. “We couldn’t afford to have a community market shut down that was the only store for 50 miles around,” he said. The Guard soon discovered another challenge. Most of its members with medical training were already working in critical civilian occupations, be it as doctors, nurses or �irst responders. “It made no sense to take a health care worker out of a hospital and place them on active duty,” said McGuire. Meanwhile, COVID-19 prevention measures were keeping workers and volunteers at home – and creating gaps in the transportation and distribution of food and other necessities. The Guard’s mission shifted away from a direct medical response to providing training, logistics and transportation support. At one point, growers in western Arizona had excess produce they wanted to donate, McGuire said, but had no way to deliver it. Into the breach stepped the Guard, which devised a distribution system to serve the state’s food banks and then deployed trucks and personnel to get it done. The response ensured thousands of needy Arizona residents received food and other aid when they needed it most. At one point, the Guard was serving 143 food banks in all 15 counties and early on manned United Food Bank’s massive food box distribution operation at the Mesa Convention Center. “A year ago, I had no idea of the role of a food bank and how critical they are to our community,” said McGuire. At the same time, Leeper and his team were shifting from emergency response in hotspots like Tuba City to take on a broader education and training role. COVID-19 tests were being delivered but few facilities and organizations knew how to use them. Two-person teams were established to visit nursing homes and other care facilities to provide not only training but directions on how to report results to the state
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for tracking. “It was an evolutionary process,” said Bowling. “Once our nation’s testing capabilities ramped up, our missions increased to assist larger testing events.” Last December, vaccines arrived in Arizona and again the National Guard played a critical role in distribution. McGuire called it a “game changer,” but said it also came with its own unique challenges. Clark’s team at the state Emergency Operations Center worked to form a coalition of government, civic groups and businesses to speed the distribution and delivery of the vaccine. “We’re constantly moving people around off of one mission and on to another,” said McGuire. While COVID-19 and wild�ires raged, the border beckoned and civil unrest broiled, the Arizona National Guard still had core missions to perform this past year. The 161st Refueling Wing based at Sky Harbor International Airport had pilots to train and a requirement to refuel �ighters and bombers that make up the U.S. nucle-
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swered a call. “Everyone serves in a different way,” said Dan Irving, the Arizona chairman for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve – part of the Department of Defense
that provides support and recognition of businesses employing National Guard and reserve troops. “Without the support of employers, we wouldn’t be able to sustain an all-volunteer force,” said Irving, a Gilbert resident who retired after a 38-year career in the Guard. “We have many, many Arizona businesses that take care of their guard and reserve members and their families,” he said. “That’s really important in times like this.” For many Guard members, 2020 was the year their military commitment hit closest to home. “If you talk to almost any guardsman and asked them why they joined … it is to serve both the local community and the nation in general,” said Bowling. “This is personi�ied when we see people from our own towns, from the places we live in or are working in.” For Lancaster, it’s a feeling that overshadows the long hours, stress, and separation from family. “These are the things that give meaning to what you do,” she said. “Like any job not every day is perfect, but it sure helps when you’re doing a rescue or helping your community.”
There are others who could be looking at the chance to try to put the Senate seat back in GOP hands, including two who have shown they can win statewide of�ice: Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Treasurer Kimberly Yee. Others mentioned include current Congressman David Schweikert, former Congressman Matt Salmon, Taylor Robson who is a business owner serving on the Board of Regents and even Kirk Adams, a former Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire frequently attended Gov. legislator who served as chief Doug Ducey's pandemic updates. (Capitol Media Services) of staff for Gov. Doug Ducey. That potentially paves the crowded GOP race for the right to take on way for a divisive primary among various newly elected Democrat Mark Kelly. factions of the Republican Party, a move Mesa Congressman Andy Biggs told that could leave the survivor wounded. Capitol Media Services he has been talkBut Biggs, who has gained a national reping with political advisers and reviewing utation as a close ally of former President the polls. Trump, said he is “quite con�ident’’ if he Biggs said he knows he would have to gets in that he could win both the primary. make a decision relatively soon, given the And he said that, given the national atamount of money – it could be north of tention paid to Arizona, there will be the $100 million – it would take to oust Kelly. resources to wage a viable campaign for
the general election. “We have to take that seat back,’’ Biggs said. McGuire said his decision to retire now was not based on setting the stage for a future political run. He said he had planned to leave this past June. “You know what happened in March 2020,’’ he said, with the governor declaring an emergency declaration in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. “It would have been totally inappropriate for me to leave at that point,’’ McGuire said. The emergency declaration remains. But McGuire said the timing is now right. “To use a football analogy, I think we’re in the middle of the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead,’’ he said. And McGuire said this gives a chance for whoever Ducey chooses as his successor to get some realworld experience handling an emergency. McGuire was appointed to the post in 2013 by then-Gov. Jan Brewer. He replaced Maj. Gen. Hugo Salazar after the Arizona National Guard came under scrutiny during his leadership. A Department of Defense report pointed to cases of alleged sexual harassment, lax leadership and misconduct among guard leaders.
Arizona National Guard Soldiers checked in patients and administered the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in Payson as 2021 began. More than 650 Arizona National Guardsmen continue to assist at vaccination sites, testing locations and food banks throughout Arizona. (Tech. Sgt. Michael Matkin/
U.S. Air National Guard)
ar deterrence force. In Tucson, the 162nd Fighter Wing not only trains F-16 pilots from 29 countries but also protects and patrols the border. The cost of the Guard’s multifaceted
response in 2020 is still being tabulated. It will run into the millions and be borne by a mix of local, state and federal jurisdictions. For civilian employers who lost wo rke r s called for deployment, there is disruption and lost productivity, but also a sense that they, too, an-
Arizona National Guard leader retiring April 10 BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services
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he state’s top military and emergency management of�icial is leaving, with a possible run for U.S. Senate in his future. Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire announced that April 10 will be his last day as the state’s adjutant general and director of emergency and military affairs. That ends not only his service with the state but the end of 37 years in the military. “I have been in uniform since June 1983,’’ he told Capitol Media Services. Given that he remains active military, McGuire said he can’t talk about future plans until he sheds that uniform. And he said that, with his granddaughter just moving to Arizona, that is likely his �irst priority. But he is looking beyond. “I think service is in my blood,’’ said McGuire, who is a registered Republican. And he said that if he were to go down the path of a future in politics, he would have to make a decision relatively quickly. That could put him into what could be a
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THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
GOP lawmakers setting up early voting roadblocks BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services
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epublican state lawmakers, including two Scottsdale representatives, are moving on multiple fronts to erect new hurdles for early voters. On a party-line vote, GOP senators decided to scrap existing laws that determine the validity of early ballots based solely on county election workers matching their signatures on the envelopes with what’s on �ile. Instead, they would need to provide an af�idavit with their date of birth and the number of a state driver’s license, identi�ication card or tribal enrollment card. State lawmakers also are one step away from removing the concept of “permanent’’ from the state’s permanent early voting list. The House Committee on Government and Elections approved a measure that would require counties to stop sending out an early ballot to anyone who has not used it in either of the last two statewide or federal elections. Even at that, the proposal by Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, would require county recorders to send a notice to people informing them of the pending removal from the list. Then, if the voter responded, he or she would remain on the list and continue to get ballots in the mail. Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, said the measure, which already has been approved by the Senate and now awaits a House vote, is just another attempt to make voting more dif�icult. She said the evidence shows that it would more likely affect minorities. What makes all that important is that Rep. Raquel Teran, D-Phoenix, said data from the 2020 election shows there were about 126,000 people who cast a ballot in that record-breaking year but had not, for whatever reason, used their early ballots in 2016 or 2018. Had this measure been in effect, she said, is none of those people would have gotten early ballots last year. And Salman said that, given the propensity of minority votes to skew Democrat, eliminating those votes would have allowed Donald Trump to win in Arizona. She wasn’t the only one to link the 2020 victory of Joe Biden to SB 1485. Sandy
JOHN KAVANAGH
MICHELLE RITA-UGENTI
ATHENA SALMON
Bahr, chapter director of the Sierra Club, also suggested a direct link between the measure and the 2020 election. “Is it because more and more Arizonans are using early ballots to vote?’’ she asked of the motives behind the bill. About 80 percent of Arizonans voted early in November. “Or is it because the election results were different than certain people would have liked?’’ Bahr asked. Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, rejected the idea of some “grand conspiracy’’ to make it harder for minorities to vote and said “this is an administrative cleanup.” Backers have another argument. “This will reduce the opportunity for ballots to be sent out to people who are no longer voting,’’ Ugenti-Rita said, ballots that may then be picked up by someone else and voted. Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said that would be easy to do. He said the only check now on validity of early ballots is a comparison of signatures on the envelope by election workers with those on �ile. But Kavanagh said it would be easy for someone to get another person’s signature, perhaps off of publicly �iled documents, and simply trace it. Anyway, he said, it’s not like county election workers are trained to be forensic signature experts.
Salman said there are good reasons for suspicions of sinister motives by Republicans and why, in her words, SB 1485 should be seen as a “voter suppression bill.’’ She pointed to arguments made a week ago at the U.S. Supreme Court by Michael Carvin, an attorney for the Arizona Republican Party. He is defending a 2016 law which makes it a crime for anyone to take someone else’s early ballot to the polls in situations where the voter forgets to get it in the mail on time to arrive before 7 p.m. Election Day. Asked why the GOP is a party in the case, Carvin was clear. “It puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats,’’ he said. “Politics is a zero-sum game,’’ Carvin continued. “And every extra vote they get through unlawful interpretations of Section 2 hurts us. It’s the difference between winning an election 50 to 49 and losing an election.’’ The Senate bill would require voters without a driver’s license to send a copy of any other federal state or locally issued ID card. The proposal by Sen. J.D. Mesnard, RChandler, gets more complicated. First, there’s the need for someone’s voter registration number. “Raise your hand if you know your voter registration number,’’ said Sen. Sean
Bowie, D-Tempe. Then they have to enclose an actual physical copy of something with their actual address like a utility bill dated within the past 90 days. Right now, any ballot delivered by the post of�ice by 7 p.m. on Election Day gets counted. SB 1593 says any ballot not actually postmarked by the prior Thursday is discarded even if it shows up before close of business on Election Day. Nothing the bill precludes a voter from taking that early ballot to a polling place on Election Day, turning it in and instead getting a regular ballot. Ugenti-Rita said criticism of the GOP measures amounts to saying that Republicans are racists. She said the new forms of ID don’t disenfranchise anyone and that nothing in legislation applies solely to one group. But Sen. Kirsten Engel, D-Tucson, pointed out that courts have voided otherwise “facially neutral’’ law if they have a disproportionate impact on minorities. Mesnard said he sees nothing wrong with providing some extra security to ensure that the votes received come from the people who were supposed to get those ballots. Still, Mesnard said he will make some further changes when the bill now goes to the House to ease some of those requirements.
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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Mesa panel OKs ‘�lipping’ motel to studio apartments TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF
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he Planning and Zoning Board approved an interesting proposal: A developer’s plan to “�lip” a vacant downtown motel into studio apartments. Tim Boyle was the lone board member to give a thumbs down to the plan, which passed 5-1 and moves on to City Council. Brennan Ray, owner of Vivo Apartments, said his project will be a signi�icant upgrade to downtown, as the vacant motel is “an eyesore” with “vandalism, vagrancy and multiple break-ins over the past year and other less-than-desirable activities. “The proposed changes and conversion is a text-book example of adaptive reuse of an existing rundown, dilapidated building,” Ray added, in his description of the plan. The vacant Ramada by Wyndham Mesa Downtown motel is on the 200 block of West Main Street, east of Country Club Drive. Next to it is the il Vinaio restaurant. Ray’s plan is to convert the motel rooms into 130 studio apartments.
The Planning and Zoning Board approved a developer’s plans to “flip” a vacant downtown motel into studio apartments and a common “workspace.” (Vivo Apartments) Though he acknowledges the apartments would be small, Ray said there will be a common “workspace” area for resi-
dents: “A section of the current bar and restaurant area will be converted to a coworking and lounge space equipped with
a large conference table, smaller writing desks, ergonomic chairs, sofas and refreshment station.”
Three dead after murder-suicide near Eastmark BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
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horri�ic murder-suicide in a quiet neighborhood in east Mesa may have been the result of a man’s fury over his wife divorcing him. Nearly two years prior to killing himself, his wife and one of their daughters and wounding another child, the man’s wife called police to say his daughters were afraid of him. On the morning of Monday, March 8, a bleeding 12-year-old girl ran to a neighbor for help. After the neighbor called 911, police responded to a home on East Raleigh Avenue and found Ruben Sanchez, his wife Ana Guerra and their 18-year-old daughter dead of gunshot wounds. The family members were “surrounded by a signi�icant amount of blood,” with a gun near the bodies. “At this point in the investigation, this tragic incident appears to be a case of murder/suicide,” said Det. Brandi George of the Mesa Police Department. “As of right now, it appears that Ruben Sanchez is the shooter in this case,”
George said. “We are still waiting on forensic evidence to be tested and lab results to con�irm what we believe happened by the Of�ice of the Medical Examiner.” George said the 12-year-old girl daughter who ran to a neighbor for help was also shot, but her wrist wound was not life-threatening. The girl was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Just outside Eastmark, the �ive-bedroom home near South Meridian and East Elliot roads is a half-mile from Meridian Elementary School. It was listed as a rental property for $2,395 per month, with new renters occupying it in November. The family had one other contact with the Mesa Police Department. On May 1, 2019, Guerra — who identi�ied herself as Ana Sanchez — called 911. She said she was in California and stated her two daughters “are afraid of their father.” The mother said she was not able to get in touch with the girls, then 16 and 10. Speaking Spanish and stating she did not speak English, Guerra stressed she wanted police to see the daughters and make sure they were not harmed.
A husband and wife and their 18-year-old daughter died after a murder-suicide at this home on East Raleigh Avenue near Eastmark. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer) Within a half hour of the call, police responded to the family home, which was then at 9560 E. Lompoc Ave., near Desert Ridge High School. According to a responding of�icer’s report, “the 16 year old is in good condition. Got in trouble
at school.” Guerra also said in 2019 she was in the process of getting a divorce. The Mesa Police Department found no other records relating to the family before the murder-suicide.
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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Milestone for legacy East Valley family BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
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ong-time Chandler resident Joan Saba got a special surprise on March 6 after spending most of the last year isolated from friends and family. She and her twin sister, Jean, were greeted with a parade of cars that drove by her home to wish the sisters Happy 90th Birthday. Presents and �lowers were dropped off outside the family’s home as a long line of friends quickly stopped to greet the Saba sisters from a safe distance. It was an unbelievable sight, Joan said, and it was all planned without the sisters ever catching on to the surprise her family had arranged. “This was over the top,” Joan said. “I’ve never been so fooled in my life.” To augment the number of well-wishers, Chandler Chamber of Commerce Terri Kimble put out the word to members to join the parade. “Joan Saba sits on our Chamber board as well as our foundation board and remains active through virtual means,” Kimble said. “They both are just delightful, outstanding women. They are truly delightful and have been an important part of Chandler for many years.” Joan said it is a true blessing to reach such a momentous milestone in life that she is thankful she got to spend most of her life in a city she genuinely loves. The Saba family has deep roots in Chandler that date back to the city’s formative years during the 1920s. Joan carved out her own path and has been instrumental in modernizing the city’s landscape over the last couple decades. Chandler has always been full of so many
Joan Saba, left, and her twin sister Jean got a big surprise from their family as friends, relatives and Chandler Chamber members motored past their Chandler home March 6 to wish them Happy 90th Birthday. (Kevin Hurley/Staff Photographer) genial characters, Joan noted, and it’s an easy place to make lots of good friends. That’s why the COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly rough on a social butter�ly like Joan, who thrives on the company of others and enjoys a nice stroll around Chandler. “We love being with people. We love doing things,” she said. “It’s not been fun, but we’re not alone.” Joan �irst moved to Chandler in 1954, when the city’s population was miniscule compared to today and the city limits barely stretched beyond Arizona Avenue. “The downtown square was about all there was when we �irst moved here,” Joan recalled. Not long after she arrived, she was matched up with David Saba Jr., whose family founded one of Chandler’s most prominent department stores in 1927. An immigrant from Lebanon, David Saba Sr. came to the United States in the 1910s and started off selling groceries in mining
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES AND SUDOKU from Page 29
towns throughout Arizona. The senior Saba eventually opened his Chandler store on Boston Street and started specializing in Western-style clothes and cotton-picking sacks for the local farmers. Cotton was king in Chandler at this time and most of the city’s landscape was littered with family farms that stretched down to Riggs Road. Despite the large farming market, the Saba store endured some years of turmoil during the Great Depression and World War II before �inding its footing as the economy started to thrive in the 1950s. “On Saturdays, the cotton pickers got paid and they were paid in dollar bills,” the Sabas recalled in an oral history. “That was what they spent at the Chandler store. So, there were a lot of dollar bills to be counted.” The Sabas went on to open several more clothing stores throughout the Valley -some of which have since closed. David Saba Jr. was given the responsibility of running the family’s Chandler store in
the 1950s. Since Joan had helped her parents manage a retail store back in Oregon, she jumped at the chance to assist her husband in taking over the family business. “It was second-nature to help with the store,” she remembered. Saba’s Western Wear has remained a popular staple in Chandler for decades and Joan’s son has gone on to take over running it in recent years. The store celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2017 and continues to offer a variety of boots, jeans, cowboy hats, belts and other apparel traditionally used by cowboys and ranchers. Outside of retail, Joan’s involved herself in various causes that attempted to make Chandler a more prosperous, booming place for residents and new businesses. She is the founding president of the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership and has spent years helping the city revitalize its historic neighborhoods. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Joan was part of various groups that helped to redevelop deteriorating parts of Chandler and attract new businesses to �ill vacant stores downtown. Joan said it has been exciting to witness the downtown landscape’s evolution over the years into a pedestrian-friendly, vibrant economic hub. “If it wasn’t for COVID, I think it would be even more exciting right now,” she noted. In her spare time, Joan has been an active board member for the Salvation Army, Chandler Service Club, and the Chandler Chamber of Commerce. She was notably instrumental in devel-
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oping the Chamber’s scholarship program for local students looking to gain access into higher education. In 2018, her contributions to Chandler were acknowledged with a “Woman of the Year” award from Positive Paths, an East Valley organization that provides mentoring programs for ambitious women. Joan thinks her volunteerism has signi�icantly enriched her decades in Chandler and encourages everyone to get more involved with trying to uplift their neighborhoods. It’s worth the effort, she said, and the friendships one can form along the way make the work all the more worthwhile. “You meet people that are anxious to contribute and be part of the community,” Saba emphasized. “You make friends with people who are very nice and giving.”
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Contact Paul Maryniak at 480-898-5647 or pmaryniak@ timespublications.com
Longtime learner's MCC gift TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF
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former longtime Mesa of�icial has donated $115,000 to the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation to help bene�its Mesa Community College exercise science students. By adding $15,000 to an original $100,000 donation, Wayne Balmer is funding $5,000 in scholarships for each of the three years prior to his endowment maturing. “Seeing so many students struggling �inancially, I established scholarships last spring to help them pursue their dreams. The pandemic has added a layer of dif�iculty for community college students, many who are raising families or working multiple jobs to make ends meet,” said Balmer. “Now I’m establishing the endowment to ensure long-term support of exercise science students.”
off Main
The �irst �ive $1,000 scholarships are being awarded this academic year to assist students in the spring and fall semesters. Scholarship applications are reviewed by a committee during the spring semester, with the Foundation awarding the top candidates. Balmer attended MCC the early 1990s when he was the city community development manager. He said he studied to refresh his mind and focus on something besides his job, choosing classes of interest that �it into his work and life schedule. When he was named Williams Gateway area manager in 2001, Balmer used what he learned while earning a certi�icate in international business to establish a foreign trade zone, attracting business investors to the project. He later was planning administrator for the Town of Queen Creek until he retired in 2014.
Balmer also took online MCC courses in a vast array of topics such as sociology, death management, human resources and marriage/family therapy. He has served on the MCC Commission on Excellence in Education since 2004. With �ive associate’s degrees and 10 certi�icates, Balmer is still taking MCC classes. This semester he is taking a ceramics class and workplace communication. Balmer’s dedication to MCC and its students is being recognized on April 7, when he will be named the MCC Hero of Education during the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation’s Heroes of Education celebration. In selecting him for the honor, Christos Chronis, MCC chief development of�icer, said, “Wayne is a shining example of our mission of teaching and learning. We are eternally grateful for his continued friendship, service and charitable support.”
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Steady progress here for bill mandating Holocaust lessons BY KELLY DONOHUE Cronkite News
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rizona students haven’t been properly taught about the Holocaust in recent years, according to a recent poll conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Among Arizona millennials surveyed in March 2020, 42 percent could not name a single concentration camp the Nazis built to detain and exterminate Jews and others deemed undesirable. The same report found that only half of the state’s millennial respondents recognized the term Auschwitz, and only a third knew the number of Jews who were killed from 1933 through 1945. Such �indings worry Lawrence Bell, executive director of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, and other Jewish leaders in the state. The concern is heightened as more Holocaust survivors – who have
Kim Klett, a teacher at Dobson High School, holds up a newspaper story about Rwandan genocide during her Holocaust literature class.” (Delia Johnson/Cronkite News) been crucial to putting a human face on unfathomable tragedy – pass away.
“Memory of the Second World War is really starting to fade from popular con-
sciousness,” Bell said. “A lot of people don’t think about the Second World War, they don’t think about the Holocaust… It’s something that’s largely faded out.” In October, the Arizona Department of Education made a rule change that requires students to receive instruction on the Holocaust at least twice during their secondary school career. Tammy Waller, director of K-12 social studies and world language standards at the Department of Education, was happy the rule was changed. Because history curriculums contain a great amount of content, she said, some teachers had previously rushed through Holocaust lesson plans. “Holocaust education is dependent on the teacher,” Waller said. “State social studies standards have always had Holocaust and genocide education, but not
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WWII vet gets thrill of a lifetime at Falcon Field BY RACHEL STAPHOLZ Cronkite News
T
he two-seat aircraft – sunshine gold and christened Amazing Grace – taxied along a line of its honored passenger’s family members, friends and Patriot Guard Riders before roaring off from Falcon Field. The plane’s special passenger was World War II Navy veteran Norman Langeliers – who had turned 94 three days before his �light last month. The special occasion was courtesy of the Christian nonpro�it organization Grounded No More Inc. CEO Tony Anger said he founded the nonpro�it in January 2017 to give back to those who served our country. His team of volunteers, who spend their weekends honoring veterans, joined Langeliers for the nonpro�it’s 430th veteran �light in the rare plane, a Fairchild PT-26 trainer.
Since 2017, Grounded No More founder Tony Anger and his team of volunteers have flown 430 veterans of all ages in his vintage Fairchild PT-26 trainer. (Rachel Stapholz/
Cronkite News)
“I’m just overwhelmed, appreciative,” Langeliers said before he and Anger lifted off.
Langeliers, who joined the Navy at 17, served on the USS Indianapolis, which transported components of the �irst atom-
ic bomb used against Japan during WWII. Until recently, he said, he had to get his blood drawn every year to make sure he was healthy. Before every �light, Anger leads a prayer for the veteran of the day. He thanks them for their service, recites the Pledge of Allegiance and provides a quick history lesson about what �light-school candidates would learn on their �irst day. Then he and the veteran climb aboard the Fairchild PT-26, which was built in late 1943, and head to the skies. Grounded No More �lies U.S. veterans of all eras, as well as some from Canada. Anger originally bought Amazing Grace in remembrance of his father, who performed in airshows when Anger was young. He �lew the plane once with his daughter before he took the �irst veteran
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HOLOCAUST ���� ���� 17
as much time is spent on these topics throughout the school year.” Some Jewish leaders fear a rule change may not be enough and that a law is needed. “A state law has much more staying power,” said Sheryl Bronkesh, president of the Phoenix Holocaust Association. “It would take a lot more effort to change it.” A codi�ied Holocaust education law would clarify misconceptions that today’s students may have about World War II, she said, such as how it started, who the perpetrators were and how many people were killed. “The ultimate goal is for students to become upstanders, not bystanders,” Bronkesh said. “So that when students see bigotry, they will understand what those rami�ications could be down the road.” In January, state Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, introduced a bill that would do just that. House Bill 2241 would require Arizona schools to teach students about the Ho-
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
locaust at least twice from the seventh to the 12th grade. The bill was approved 59-0 and now is working its way through the Senate. Hernandez last year introduced a similar bill that would have required more Holocaust education in grade schools. Although the bill cleared the House, the legislative session ended prematurely because of COVID-19. “The survivors are getting older and older, many passing away,” Hernandez said in a news release. “We owe it to them and their memories to make sure students learn about what they endured.” HB 2241 is just one of Hernandez’s latest initiatives meant to bene�it local Jewish communities. The representative recently worked with the Arizona Department of Health Services to provide COVID-19 vaccination appointments to more than 40 Arizona Holocaust surivivors. Although initiatives like these are new, the �ight for Holocaust literacy has been
They let the dogs out
long-standing, said Bell, with the historical society. “People have been doing Holocaust education for decades and not getting a lot of attention for it,” he said. “Survivors have been in classrooms over and over again telling their stories and trying to make a distant historical event real in students’ lives.” Bronkesh and Waller also are members of the Arizona Department of Education’s Task Force on the Holocaust and Other Genocides, which has developed resources and training for teachers. The task force’s webpage has a Holocaust education toolkit, recorded webinars and lesson plans. “We know that teachers have a lot on their plate, so we wanted to make it as easy to �ind educational resources as possible.” Bronkesh said. However, Bell said that the push for Holocaust education isn’t just about passing history class – it’s also an initiative to help Arizonans build stronger emotional
About 40 owners of Golden Retrievers gathered March 6 at Gene Autry Park in Mesa for Renee Bellefeuille’s second annual Golden Retriever Social. The Mesa woman organized the social to enjoy a day in the sun with their beloved pets and she hopes to tie it to a dog-related charity next year now that she’s seen an interest in the gathering from fellow Golden Retriever owners. Her Golden, whose name is JayBee, is her fifth. “Golden Retrievers are such a great breed,” Bellefeuille said. “They love to socialize with people and other dogs.” Besides, she added, “It feels good after a year of restrictions to get out and do things again.” (Pablo Robles/Tribune
Staff Photographer)
connections to World War II. The next obstacle will be how to adequately tell the stories of Holocaust survivors after they pass away. The Arizona Jewish Historical Society plans to do this through opportunities outside of the traditional classroom setting. The society conducts a series of free community programs that are open to the public, which give Holocaust survivors and their descendants platforms to speak. The Surviving Humanity series also explores other instances of intolerance, oppression and genocide. Plans to open a Holocaust education center in Phoenix also are in the works. Bell said an education center would allow younger generations to connect with Holocaust survivors and continue to learn their stories after they die. “We’re trying to make it technologically innovative and incorporate the stories of local survivors,” he said, “so that the tradition of them visiting classrooms can be carried on, even after they’re gone.”
FLIGHT ���� ���� 17
for a ride. He said he chooses veterans to �ly mostly by chance, when people reach out to him or by word of mouth. Some of the veterans Anger has �lown have described being on the verge of suicide, but, he said, “This ride actually changed their lives.” Anger believes that the adrenaline produced by certain aerial maneuvers, such as pulling Gs, “supersedes some of the other stuff that kind of sucked in their lives.” The �lights cost about $70,000 a year, including regular aircraft maintenance. Grounded No More is a 501(c)3 nonpro�it entirely funded by donations. When he prays before each �light, Anger quotes Abraham Lincoln: “Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the �ield and serves, as he best can, the same cause.”
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Club Red hopes to reopen in a similar space BY ALEX GALLAGHER Tribune Staff Writer
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fter 15 years of hosting concerts and events, Club Red closed the curtains and its location on University Drive. Club Red co-owner Paul Benson, however, is on the hunt for a new space to call Club Red and he has other business ventures in mind. Benson has been with the company for 13 years and went from an audio intern to co-owner in 2017, two years after the death of original proprietor Kim Commons. Prior to the pandemic, Club Red averaged about 26 to 28 shows per month. That number dropped to eight shows from March to December of 2020, Benson said. “Once stuff started shutting down, we wanted to do everything we could do the right way,” Benson added. “We installed medical-grade �ilters in our air conditioners. We installed ionizers. We put hand sanitizers everywhere. We really did everything we possibly could do to meet the standards to remain open, but we never got the permission to do it.” Benson is frustrated by this. “Unfortunately, with a business like ours, as soon as the government gives us the OK to reopen, it takes four to six weeks to put anything together,” Benson said. “Often, by the time we would hit that four- to six-week period where we had a show planned, we had to cancel it because we were shut back down again.” Club Red staff hoped they would function best by having smaller shows in their larger room. “We completely shut down the small room because it wasn’t a viable option,”
t o Gews? N
The sound of music permeated the halls of Club Red in Mesa for 15 years but the venue has gone silent after the owners closed it down. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Writer) Benson said “We were going to put all of our events in the larger room, even if they were smaller events, so that people would be able to responsibly social distance themselves.” Then Benson had an epiphany. “We realistically have no idea when live music is going to be able to come back to the real market,” Benson said. “Instead of paying another year’s worth of bills, we knew we could build something better in the future and we’d rather do that then sit with an empty building for another year.” The last major show Club Red hosted, Benson said, was by the English speed metal band DragonForce on March 5, 2020. The last show was the local metal group Scylla on March 23, 2020. Local musicians took Club Red’s closure hard. Kenny Barton of As Thick as Thieves
and Note to Self said he is mourning the loss of Club Red. “Honestly, it was like hearing of a good friend passing away,” Barton said. “It just felt sad and then I immediately started reminiscing about all the shows I’ve played there and all the other amazing musicians I’ve shared the stage with there.” Barton played his �irst show at Club Red in 2015 when As Thick as Thieves released its �irst EP. He was a regular at the venue since then. Joey Lawler, also known as rapper Yung Joey, hit the stage there in 2015. “Playing at Club Red was surreal,” Lawler said. “Just knowing that I was on the same stage as so many artists that I’ve seen perform there and looked up to was something I’ll never forget.” He said his fondest memory was �ighting
his way through a crowd at a Vince Staples show so he could see the suede on the rapper’s shoes. Jacob Coleman is the drummer in the metal band Outsiders, who played their �irst show at the venue in December 2017. He was thrilled to open for The Word Alive and Miss May I at Club Red. “It was a huge deal to me because those were both of the �irst bands that I had listened to that got me into metalcore,” said Coleman, who has a Miss May I tattoo. “Getting to open up for some of my biggest in�luences from when I was younger was awesome. “When I think of Club Red, I think of what it means to be a part of the community in Arizona. When you are at a show, you’re with family. That feeling is something I miss so much.” It wasn’t easy for Benson to break the news to his 40-person staff, either. To celebrate the club’s legacy, he hosted a barbecue at the venue for employees. Benson said he hopes it is not a permanent farewell to the Club Red brand. He is hopeful he will �ind a similar space with two stages and two rooms with a 350- and 750-person capacities. Benson also has another business venture he’s excited about — the food truck Red Owl Burgers and Brews. “Our current venture is to take the food truck that we’ve had the past couple of years and start moving it around town,” Benson said. Benson also hopes to open a brick and mortar where he could host release parties or comedy shows. “We’re going to get the food truck out in about a month and we’re looking forward to getting around town and feeding hungry people,” Benson said.
Contact Paul Maryniak at 480-898-5647 or pmaryniak@timespublications.com
BUSINESS
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
Mesa woman closing popular game store
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BY CASEY FLANAGAN Tribune Staff Writer
I
t’s “game over” for a popular Gilbert video game store whose Mesa owner is retiring after 25 years of serving East Valley’s gaming community. Owner Jo Ann Mazak said she is closing Game Zone, a family business, in part because “I’ve been working by myself for quite a while, and with Amazon and the virus, I couldn’t hire employees right now.” She also said it is simply “time for me to retire.” Mazak opened the game store with her husband and son back in 1996, “when the Nintendo 64’s came out.” “My husband and son were there every day and I just helped out at that time,” said Mazak, who has been running the shop herself since her husband and son both passed away about 10 years ago. Game Zone mostly sold older video games and accessories. “The old ones really sell, like the �irst Nintendo 64’s, Game Cubes. People like the old stuff,” said Mazak, who also sold plushies and �igurines. Mazak said she sold the Gilbert Road storefront to Amazing Discoveries, a store just a few doors down that sells games, comics and toys. Amazing Discoveries is “moving everything to their store,” Mazak said, adding that they plan to “get a sign out front, and that way people will know that they have Game Zone games and stuff.” Mazak said people sometimes come to Game Zone and tell her how much they enjoyed the store years ago when they were kids. “They liked me I guess, I don’t know why,” Mazak said humbly. One of those customers was Joe Romero, who is now 39 and lives in San Gabriel, California. Romero painted a mural of Crash Bandicoot, a popular video game character, on
Joe Romero, seen with Game Zone owner Jo Ann Mazak, painted the Crash Bandicoot 25 years ago when he was 15. (Courtesy of Cheryl Smerekar)
the store’s wall when he was a teenager in 1997, he said. Romero came back to the store recently with his father and his own children, he said. When Mazak broke the news that the store is closing, “it was a moment for me,” Romero said, because Mazak had allowed him to “do a little piece of artwork and she kept it for that long.” “My daughters are into artwork too, so it was kind of nice for them to see, ‘look, this is something that I did way back when.’” “Nowadays, there’s other options to go,” Romero added, but to people he knows in Gilbert, “she’s like a legend, you know, it’s a really big part of the community.” Chandler resident Chaz Schober, who grew up with the Mazaks and used to test game systems after Mazak’s husband repaired them, had a similar sentiment about the store. “If you wanted nostalgia, and you want-
ed a retro throwback to the 80s and 90s, that was the store,” Schober said. Schober said big chains became hard to compete with for newer games and systems, but the nostalgic factor was “the pillar, the little niche that she �illed in the community.” Some loyal fans were upset to hear Mazak sold the store, she said, “but I just couldn’t do it anymore, it was a lot of work.” Despite this, she added “I miss it, I miss all the people. I might go back and just Game Zone owner Jo Ann Mazak holds little Chandler Roof, a second-generation fan of the closing store. sit there.” Mazak left a sign on the door (Courtesy of Cheryl Smerekar) announcing that Game Zone would close, Schober said, and when they of handwritten notes and phone numbers,” came back to the store there were “a bunch from customers sad to see it go.
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The Mesa Way: Supporting equality, diversity BY MAYOR JOHN GILES Tribune Guest Writer
F
ollowing years of extensive and passionate community conversations, our city recently passed a non-discrimination ordinance supporting diversity, inclusiveness, and religious freedom. Mesa’s ordinance is about fairness. It is about protecting civil rights and constitutional rights, fundamental rights we are all entitled to enjoy. This is Mesa’s ordinance. It was not dictated to us by any outside groups and celebrates the common ground we share of respect and equality. In 2014, our Human Relations Advisory Board brought the issue to the City Council as a result of a survey on discrimination. In the following six-plus years, the language in the ordinance went through signi�icant community review from business groups, faith leaders, and individual citizens.
When the ordinance passed on March 1, Mesa joined 20 states and 320 other cities in adopting an ordinance that prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and places of public accommodation. It is balanced and measured. We’ve learned from the experiences of other cities. The legal questions and enforcement concerns that caused us to initially pause, have been successfully addressed. Opponents of the ordinance have suggested that it will result in dark scenarios. More than two million people live in Arizona cities that have enacted non-discrimination ordinances and they haven’t experienced the concerns raised. Nor have those problems occurred in other states where similar ordinances exist. Our ordinance does not pretend to address the complicated issues surrounding gender identity, rather it is an effort to avoid con�lict and promote unity. As a parent and now a grandfather of four sweet little girls who live in Mesa, I would never put my family members in
danger. I understand that privacy is a reasonable concern. The ordinance does not override criminal laws, anything that was illegal and inappropriate before the ordinance, remains so. Practical policies and rules enacted by businesses to protect safety and privacy do not con�lict with the ordinance. Single-sex restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms are still allowed and everyone in Mesa can have an expectation of privacy while using them. The ordinance does not infringe on the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, religion or expression. Churches and religious businesses are speci�ically exempted and creative artists will not be required to do work that con�licts with their personal beliefs. Schools, including their sports programs and facilities, are also exempt from the ordinance. Single-sex gyms, sports leagues, and teams are still allowed for all ages. We respect the sacri�ices required to run a small business. The ordinance does not
require businesses to retro�it their facilities. Given our city’s reputation for being welcoming and friendly, some have asked why we need a non-discrimination ordinance. This is a positive step forward for Mesa because, not only is it the right thing to do morally, it’s good for business and tourism. As the 35th largest city in the nation and one of the fastest growing, Mesa is competing on a global scale to attract high-quality jobs and world-class events. We want everyone to know that our city embraces diversity and inclusiveness. Mesa’s growth is not accidental. It’s the result of an intentional effort to nurture what makes our city great and build upon that foundation. Our non-discrimination ordinance demonstrates our commitment to dignity, respect and quality of life for all who live in or visit Mesa. It also respects our rich faith traditions by including protections for religious freedom. Both of these are key to a prosperous future and to building on Mesa’s legacy of being a warm and welcoming city.
tenced to death in 1998 for the 1995 coldblooded execution of legendary Arizona state trooper Bob Martin. Martinez was speeding along the Beeline Highway seven miles north of Shea Boulevard when he passed Martin, a 28-year Department of Public Safety veteran known by his colleagues as “Mother Martin” for the way he took care of his fellow cops. As Martin approached the stolen Monte Carlo Martinez was driving, Martinez �ired four times. Martin died at the scene from a fatal chest wound, lying face up in the middle of the highway he patrolled for more than 20 years. Martinez was captured a day later in California, though not before he murdered a convenience store clerk in Blythe. He used Bob Martin’s service weapon to commit that murder. Even on Death Row, Martinez hasn’t been idle. His prison record shows 27 dis-
ciplinary infractions, including multiple assaults and weapons charges. I’ve heard all the arguments against the death penalty over the years. None of them justify allowing Martinez to escape ultimate justice for a quarter century. There’s zero doubt Martinez committed this murder. He has exhausted every last appeal – as have nearly two dozen Death Row residents. He’s even been gifted with an additional seven years of life while antideath-penalty attorneys thumb-wrestled with the state in a silly lawsuit over which drugs can be used to execute inmates. On an April day 23 years ago, I witnessed Jose Roberto Villafuerte receive lethal injection for the murder of Amelia Schoville. Villafuerte hog-tied his victim, then raped her. Schoville choked to death on the grimy sheet he stuffed down her throat to keep her quiet. Villafuerte enjoyed a sumptuous repast
of broiled chicken, tortillas and rice before he was sent off the great beyond. The following year, I witnessed Michael Poland get a lethal needle. Poland chose breakfast food for his last meal – eggs sunny side up, bacon, hash browns, toast and Raisin Bran. I often wonder why we bother letting the condemned choose what to eat. It would have been far more �itting to read to Poland short biographies of the two men he and his brother Patrick killed: Cecil Newkirk and Russell Dempsey, armored car guards the Polands kidnapped, beat, tasered, stuffed in canvas bags and dumped in Lake Mead to drown. Villafuerte and Poland seemed to doze off as the poison surged towards their hearts. It was a peaceful end for both men, unlike the mayhem they visited on their
Scales of justice out of whack on Death Row BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ Tribune Columnist
I
f you believe in the criminal justice system, �ile this under good news: The Arizona Department of Corrections recently issued a press release reporting it’s once again ready to execute some of the 115 murderers currently housed on Death Row. “At the direction of Governor Doug Ducey, (Corrections) has been working diligently to obtain the drugs necessary to implement executions in the State of Arizona, and to identify sources to prepare the drugs in compliance with Arizona law,” the release explained. “(Corrections) stands ready, with the Attorney General’s Of�ice, to administer justice.” It’s about time. Some of these murderous scumbags have been on Death Row for decades. Like Ernesto Salgado Martinez, sen-
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OPINION
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victims and nothing like the so-called “botched” executions often held up as reasons to abandon the death penalty. Our system of justice is predicated on balance. Scales have long been the metaphor of choice for what happens in our courtrooms. Anything short of execution for the murderers on Death Row, in my mind, leaves these scales out of whack. Ernesto Salgado Martinez and his 114 friends long ago forfeited their lives when they committed murder in the most heinous ways imaginable. The state says it’s ready to mete justice. Let’s dispatch these killers into the hereafter.
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Spring sports make their return after a year hiatus BY ZACH ALVIRA Tribune Sports Editor
I
t’s an announcement that still holds some shock value even a year after it was made by the Arizona Interscholastic Association. COVID-19, at the time a virus still relatively unknown to Arizonans after just few cases had been discovered, of�icially became a global pandemic in March 2020. What followed was mass shutdowns to amusement parks, public venues, schools and on March 30, the spring sports season. The AIA initially suspended the season on March 16, 2020 after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced the closure of schools for two weeks. But as the closure extended, so did the suspension of spring
sports until it was ultimately canceled. “It was brutal for the seniors,” Skyline head baseball coach Pat Herrera said. “I was very close with that group. I knew some of them since they were 8 years old. There were some tears and honestly, they were mad. “The good news is most of them knew where they were going to go to school, so that kind of softened the blow. But they loved Skyline baseball.” The cancellation of the spring season last year hit closer to home for Herrera. Not only did he have to account for his entire team, but his son, Patrick, too. A talented basketball player who surpassed 1,000 career points as a junior during Skyline’s historic season last year, Patrick chose to focus on only baseball his senior year. He’s currently committed
to Northwestern, and thankful the season wasn’t canceled again. “Just talking to my teammates, a whole year off wasn’t fun,” Patrick said. “We’ve been practicing every day to get ready for this moment. We are super hyped. We know now you can’t take any days for granted.” Skyline opened the 2021 season on the road at Cibola in Yuma, a few days before most other teams in the East Valley. A short drive away, Highland was preparing for its season-opener against crosstown rival Gilbert on March 16. Hamilton, which ended as the top-ranked team in the country according to MaxPreps in 2020 and is near the top of the leaderboards again, was busy going through various drills to prepare for its �irst game in over a year on March 16. In Ahwatukee,
both Mountain Pointe and Desert Vista are preparing for spring sports to commence once again. Every year since Herrera took over the program in 2014-15, he has Skyline’s schedule enlarged and hung on the walls of his of�ice near the team dugout. At the end of each season, he has it framed. The 2020 schedule, however, still hangs on the concrete wall with black masking tape. Herrera admits he isn’t quite sure what to do with it yet, but it will always remain part of the program’s history as one of the most dif�icult seasons to date. “I kind of want to throw it away because it’s bad luck,” Herrera said. “But I owe it to those guys to at least hang it for the shortened season. It’s awesome what we’ve turned Skyline into. “It’s another piece of our history.”
Julia Chambers overcomes obstacles, returns to AIA wrestling podium BY BRITTANY BOWYER Tribune Contributing Writer
G
oing into the �inal weeks of her time at Skyline High School, Julia Chambers has successfully managed to accomplish what every athlete dreams of when they �irst set foot on campus: Leave behind a legacy. Chambers became the �irst-ever girls wrestling state champion for the 126-pound weight class in 2019. She then went on to compete in the state track championships, where she was only four inches shy of setting the school’s record in the long jump. In the fall of her junior year, Chambers became the school’s �irst-ever female running back on the football team. But halfway through the season, she suffered a fully torn ACL and damage to her MCL in one of her knees, which required surgery. “It was very dif�icult to stay motivated,” Chambers said, re�lecting on the anxiety she felt when thinking of how long she’d be away from sports. “After the surgery the doctors told me it was a six-month
Skyline High School wrestler Julia Chambers has blazed a path for other girls to compete in any sport they desire and break gender barriers. (Courtesy Andy Morales) recovery.” Nearly instantaneously, the life that Chambers was accustomed to had changed. She was forced to get surgery
in November and was trying to still be around sports and as active as she possibly could. “I pretty much decided when they told
me six months that, ‘no way, I could not be out for six months,’ so I decided after surgery I would do whatever I had to do to make the recovery process as short as possible,” Chambers said. She did what she could on her own to speed up her recovery process and made sure to keep her upper body in shape by lifting weights. When Chambers was nearly �inished with physical therapy, COVID-19’s initial grip started to clamp down on the nation. While she wasn’t able to get cleared for any spring sports, it didn’t set her back too far as the track season had been canceled as a result of the pandemic. Making her return to the state championship wrestling podium was no easy task. The coach she had been with since third grade left the Skyline program. She’d never had anyone else by her side which made for a unique adjustment. Then, the winter sports season was cancelled before the decision was reversed. While she went undefeated in the regular season, there were several coaches who didn’t want
��� CHAMBERS ���� 26
SPORTS
26
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
CHAMBERS ���� ���� 25
their wrestlers to face her. However, the biggest challenge she faced was the lingering fear of re-injuring herself. “The biggest setback was getting out of the mindset of recovering from an injury because I wanted to go out there, but I didn’t want to push past a certain limit because I didn’t want to get hurt,” Chambers said. “I needed to make sure that I wouldn’t get hurt, and eventually, I said I couldn’t be in that mindset or else I’d always have a setback, and I’d always be down one.” Without sectionals and having not wrestled last year, the committee struggled with where to place Chambers in the state wrestling bracket for the 145-pound weight class. Despite putting up her best effort, Chambers lost via decision one match shy of competing for gold. She didn’t get discouraged, though, and was able to �inish her next two matches to become the bronze medalist at the event. “It was fun. I de�initely had higher hopes for what I could do,” Chambers said. “I think of the difference it would have made if I was able to get there (back to wrestling) sooner, or have more training beforehand,
Mesa girls wrestling state placers
Chambers, second from the left, took the bronze medal in the 2021 AIA girls wrestling state championships in the 145-pound class after rehabbing from a knee injury last year. (Courtesy
Andy Morales)
but with only training for a month or two, I think I did really well.” While it wasn’t the results she had been looking for, the determination to overcome the additional adversity and struggles she had to endure last year because
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of her injuries shows the competitive and motivated nature Chambers encompasses in her life. She is now shifting her focus back to track as she hopes her knee will hold up for events like long jump, so she can have
106 pounds Grace Wletschak, Desert Ridge, 3rd 126 pounds Alana’kai Carlson, Dobson, 6th 145 pounds Julia Chambers, Skyline, 3rd Karstin Hollen, Mountain View, 5th 152 pounds Taliyah Armstrong, Westwood, 3rd Ellie Nelson, Mesa, 5th 160 pounds Lillith Reyes, Westwood, 4th 170 pounds Iyanla Thomas, Westwood, 2nd 182 pounds Hannah Keller, Westwood, 4th 195 pounds Stefany Valencia, Westwood, 1st 220 pounds Audrey Jamieson, Mesa, 6th
a shot at setting the school record. But she plans to still compete in the 4x1 and javelin. Chambers will also be �iguring out her plans for the future. After the state championships, she was contacted by a number of coaches who are interested in signing her to their girls wrestling program. She’s also weighing the option of joining the military and exploring the educational pathways it would provide. Chambers hopes that other girls see what she’s been able to accomplish and decide to follow in her footsteps by chasing their dreams, as big or small as they may be. “My little sister is going to be a freshman next year,” Chambers said. “She wants to pursue the legacy I’ve pursued, and I’m very happy about that because she’s a very hard and dedicated worker, as well, and I hope I’ve set the bar for her to be great too, because I know she can be.”
Have an interesting sports story?
Contact Zach Alvira at zalvira@timespublications. com and follow him on Twitter @ZachAlvira.
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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King Crossword ACROSS 1 4 7 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 22 23 27 29 31
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Obituaries Marjorie Ann Stratman Snodgrass
43 44 45 46
Goofed Pulls Goose egg -- impasse
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Marjorie Ann Stratman Snodgrass, 77, of Mesa, AZ, passed away peacefully on Friday, March 5, 2021 surrounded by loved ones. Marjorie was born on February 10, 1944 to Walter and Sophie Stratman in Hildreth, NE. After graduating from Hildreth High School in 1962, she went on to study nursing at Kearney Practical Nursing, and graduated in 1964. After graduation, she moved to Des Moines, IA to work as a nurse at Methodist Hospital. She continued her work in nursing off and on throughout her life. In 1966, she met Jerry Snodgrass, and they wed 6 weeks later! One year later they had her only child, Patty. In 2001, Marjorie moved to Mesa, AZ where she worked for nearly 15 years as a customer service representative at Venture Out Resort. In her free time, and after retiring, she spent her time sewing, making gourds, and crafting, traveling, and spending time with family and friends. Marjorie was predeceased by her husband Jerry Snodgrass, her parents Walter and Sophie Stratman, and her sister-in-law Joan Stratman. She is survived by her daughter Patricia Evans, step-daughter Kathy (Lee) Stewart, her brothers Roger Stratman, Gale (Eileen) Stratman, her grandchildren Megan (Brandon) Peterson, David(DJ) Evans, her great grandchildren Kylie, Blake and Aubrey Peterson, and many nieces and nephews.
Need help writing an obituary? We have articles that will help guide you through the process. Deadline for obituaries is Wednesday at 5pm for Sunday. All obituaries will be approved by our staff prior to being activated. Be aware there may be early deadlines around holidays.
Call 480-898-6465 Mon-Fri 8:30-5 if you have questions. Visit: obituaries.EastValleyTribune.com
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Employment General MetaSoftTech Solutions has openings for Software Engineers in Chandler, AZ area. Reqs US Masters degree/foreign equiv or Bach degree + 5 yrs experience w/ skills in Java/Salesforce/HTML/ Oracle/SQL to analyze/design/develop/ implement/test systems & applications. Email resume to applymst@gmail.com with ref # 2021-19 & ref EVT ad WE’RE ALWAYS HERE TO SERVE YOUR CLASSIFIED NEEDS
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Employment General The Fountain Hills Sanitary District provides first-class wastewater collection and treatment services to our community. We are currently hiring for the following positions:
• Projects/Civil Engineer • Treatment Plant Operator • Maintenance Mechanic • Maintenance Technician The Sanitary District offers competitive wages and benefits, including health plans, retirement saving plan, pension, paid holidays, and personal time off. Please visit our website at www.az-fhsd.gov/employment to apply. Fountain Hills Sanitary District is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). Qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to age, race, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status.
Prayer Announcements O Holy St Jude! Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor for all who invoke you, special patron in time of need; to you I have recourse from the depth of my heart, and humbly beg you, to whom God has given such great power, to come to my assistance; help me now in my urgent need and grant my earnest petition. I will never forget thy graces and favors you obtain for me and I will do my utmost to spread devotion to you. Amen. St. Jude, pray for us and all who honor thee and invoke thy aid. (Say 3 Our Father's, 3 Hail Maryʼs, and 3 Glory Be’s after this.) Correctional Education Site Director, Arizona State Prison Complex - Florence, Central Unit The Correctional Education Program at Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) invites applications for full-time Site Director at the Arizona State Prison Complex - Florence, Central Unit, located in Florence, AZ. For requirements and qualifications and to apply online, go to https://www.ashland.edu/administration/human-resources Ashland University meets fully its obligation of nondiscrimination under federal and state laws and is actively committed to diversity in its workplace. Employment will require a criminal background check.
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HIRING? If One Needs a Job, They Look Every day! For a Quote email: class@times publications.com 480-898-6465
Employment General Microsoft Corporation currently has the following openings in Tempe, AZ (job opportunities available at all levels, e.g., Principal, Senior and Lead levels). Commercial Executive: Design & implement licensing solutions to monetize MSFT's commercially available prod(s) & solutions. Req dom & intl travel up to 25%. Telecommuting permitted. https://jobs-microsoft.icims.com/jobs/22772/go/job Multiple positions available. To view detailed job descriptions and minimum requirements, and to apply, visit the website address listed. EOE. SVB Financial Group has openings for the following positions (various types/levels) in Tempe, AZ: Senior Systems Analyst (781.432) Analyze and translate complex business requirements into a functional system design document and analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan computer specifications and layouts, and peripheral equipment modifications. May telecommute. Some travel is required. Sr. Systems Analyst (781.445) Analyze and translate complex business requirements into a functional system design document and analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan computer specifications and layouts, and peripheral equipment modifications. Travel is required. May telecommute. Senior Software Engineer (781.463) Design and develop technical solutions that meet user needs with respect to functionality, performance, scalability and reliability. May telecommute. Send resume to S.M. at Staffing Operations Team, Silicon Valley Bank, 80 E Rio Salado Pkwy Ste 600, Tempe, AZ 85281. Must reference job #.
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THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
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Advertisement of Sale NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned intends to sell the personal property described below to enforce a lien imposed on said property pursuant to the Arizona Self-Service Storage Act, Arizona Statutes 33-1704, Section H, Enforcement of Lien. The Undersigned will sell at public sale by competitive bidding on or after March 19, 2021 at 9:00am using an online auction at www.storagetreasures.com, said property has been stored and located at US 60 Self Storage, 1661 S. Alma School Rd., Suite 102, Mesa, AZ 85210. Property to be sold as follows: Misc. household goods, personal items, furniture, clothing, toys and/or business fixtures and items belonging to the following: Tenant Name Unit # Jennifer Eisenbise 203 Vanessa Jordan 309 Mike Bulatoich 342 Christina Carnes 408 Eric Cortez 610 Fernando Macias 628 Mark Czarniecki 743 Bril Powell 806 Tina Ferrari 835 Daniel White 2011 Sale subject to cancellation in the event of settlement between owner and obligated party. Items sold “as is”, CASH ONLY, and Buyer must pay a security deposit and broom sweep/clean the unit. Go to www.storagetreasures.com to bid on unit(s). Published: East Valley Tribune Mar. 7, 14, 2020 / 36622
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Public Notices NOTICE TO CREDITORS: In the Matter of the ESTATE OF LOUISE MILLER, Deceased ... NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned has been appointed as the Personal Representative of this Estate. All persons having claims against the Estate are required to present their claims within four (4) months, after the date of the first publication of this Notice or the claims will be forever barred. Claims must be presented by delivering or mailing a written statement of the claim to undersigned Personal Representative at 1510 South 171 st Street, New Berlin, Wisconsin 53151. Ronald Gadberry, /s/ Ronald Gadberry. DATED this 4th day of March, 2021. Published: East Valley Tribune, Mar. 14, 21, 28, 2021. / 36967 TO: Stephens Triplett, DO 1034 S. 105th Place, Apt. 1091 Mesa, AZ 85209 The State Medical Board of Ohio 30 E. Broad Street, 3rd Floor Columbus, OH 43215-6127 In the Matter of: Stephens Triplett, DO 20-CRF-092 On January 14, 2021 the State Medical Board of Ohio mailed an Order of Revocation to Stephens Triplett, DO. The order was sent to Dr. Triplett via certified mail, return receipt requested, at his last known address of record, 1034 S. 105th Place, Apt. 1091, Mesa, AZ 85209. The Order was returned to the Board from the postal service marked “Return to Sender, Not Deliverable as Address, Unable to Forward”. Dr. Triplett may be entitled to an appeal. Such an appeal must be commenced by the filing of a Notice of Appeal with the State Medical Board and the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. The Notice of Appeal must set forth the Order appealed from and state that the State Medical Board’s Order is not supported by reliable, probative, and substantive evidence and is not in accordance with law. The Notice of Appeal may, but is not required to, set forth the specific grounds of the appeal. Any such appeal must be filed within fifteen (15) days after the last date of publication in accordance with the requirements of Section 119.12, Ohio Revised Code. Please contact the undersigned to ascertain the last date of publication. Any questions or correspondence should be addressed to: Jackie Moore Case Control Office 30 E. Broad Street, 3rd Floor Columbus, OH 43215-6127 Jackie.moore@med.ohio.gov Published: East Valley Tribune, Mar. 7, 14, 21, 2021 / 36894
Public Notices TO: Brian James Stebbings 15801 S 48th St., Apt 1127 Phoenix, AZ 85048-0843 The State Medical Board of Ohio 30 E. Broad Street, 3 rd Floor Columbus, OH 43215-6127 In the Matter of: Brian James Stebbings Case No. 21-CRF-0018 On February 21, 2021, the Ohio Medical Board mailed a Notice of Opportunity for Hearing to Brian James Stebbings via certified mail, return receipt requested, at his last known address of record, 15801 S 48th St., Apt 1127, Phoenix, AZ 85048-0843. The Notice was returned to the Board from the postal service marked “return to sender, not deliverable as addressed, unable to forward.” The notice states that the Ohio Medical Board intends to consider denying his application to practice respiratory care in the state of Ohio. Mr. Stebbings is entitled to a hearing in this matter if such hearing is requested within thirty (30) days of the last date of publication of this notice. Mr. Stebbings may appear at such hearing in person, by his attorney, or by such other representative permitted to practice before this agency, or he may present his position, arguments or contentions in writing. At the hearing, Mr. Stebbings may present evidence and examine witnesses appearing for or against him. Please contact the undersigned to ascertain the last date of publication. Any questions or correspondence should be addressed to: Jackie Moore Case Control Office 30 E. Broad Street, 3 rd Floor Columbus, OH 43215-6127 Jackie.Moore@med.ohio.gov Published: East Valley Tribune, Mar. 7, 14, 21, 2021 / 36904
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THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
34
Public Notices CITY OF MESA MESA, ARIZONA
CITY OF MESA MESA, AZ
PUBLIC SAFETY TRAINING FACILITY DRIVING TRACK
DESTINATION AT GATEWAY (BERGE) OFFSITE SEWER ALONG WILLIAMS FIELD ROAD MESA, ARIZONA
3240 N. 40 th Street PROJECT NO. CP0544
PROJECT NO. M99-2021-003
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that sealed bids will be received until Thursday, April 15, 2021, at 1:30 p.m. All sealed bids will be received electronically at EngineeringBids@mesaaz. gov. Bids must be submitted as an unencrypted PDF attachment with a maximum size limit of 20MB. Any bid received after the time specified will be returned without any consideration.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that sealed bids will be received until March 25, 2021 at 1:00p.m. All sealed bids will be received electronically. Bids shall be submitted to the following email: EngineeringBids@mesaaz.gov. Bids must be submitted as an unencrypted PDF attachment with a maximum file size of 20MB. Please ensure that your email is smaller than this before sending. Submitted bids that are unable to be opened by City staff will not be considered for award. Bidders may request a single opportunity to verify that a test email and attachment are received and can be opened by City staff. Test emails must be sent to EngineeringBids@mesaaz.gov. Any bid received after the time specified will be returned without any consideration. A non-mandatory Pre-Bid Conference will be held via Telephone on Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 1:00p.m. The Conference Bridge call in is 1-480-644-6120 PIN 366642 in order to join the call. There will not be a pre-bid review of the site.
This contract shall be for furnishing all labor, materials, transportation and services for the construction and/or installation of the following work:
This contract shall be for furnishing all labor, materials, transportation and services for the construction and/or installation of the following work: DESTINATION AT GATEWAY (BERGE) OFFSITE SEWER WILLIAMS FIELD ROAD located near the intersection of Signal Butte Road and Williams Field Road as outlined in the Offsite Sewer Plans for E. Williams Field Road. Improvements will include approximately 1,327 Linear Feet of 12-Inch Sanitary Sewer, 3,786 Linear Feet of 15-Inch Sanitary Sewer. and associated appurtenances.
Pavement reconstruction and expansion of existing Public Safety Training Facility driving track and associated drainage improvements. Approximately 72,000 SY of pavement
The Engineer’s Estimate range is $500,000 – $750,000.
The Engineer’s Estimate range is $4,800,000 to $5,300,000.
For all technical, contract, bid-related, or other questions, please contact Stephanie Gishey at stephanie.Gishey@mesaaz.gov. Contact with City Employees. All firms interested in this project (including the firm’s employees, representatives, agents, lobbyists, attorneys, and subconsultants) will refrain, under penalty of disqualification, from direct or indirect contact for the purpose of influencing the selection or creating bias in the selection process with any person who may play a part in the selection process. This policy is intended to create a level playing field for all potential firms, to assure that contract decisions are made in public, and to protect the integrity of the selection process. All contact on this selection process should be addressed to the authorized representative identified above. Contractors desiring to submit proposals may purchase sets of the Bid Documents from ARC Document Solutions, LLC, at https://order.earc.com/arcEOC/PWELL_Main.asp?mem=29. Click on “Go” for the Public Planroom to access plans. NOTE: In order to be placed on the Plan Holders List and to receive notifications and updates regarding this bid (such as addenda) during the bidding period, an order must be placed. The cost of each Bid Set will be no more than $15.00, which is non-refundable. Partial bid packages are not sold. You can view documents on-line (at no cost), order Bid Sets, and access the Plan Holders List on the website at the address listed above. Please verify print lead time prior to arriving for pick-up. For a list of locations nearest you, go to www.e-arc.com. Construction and installation work shall be completed within Ninety-Five (95) calendar days, beginning with the day following the starting date specified in the Notice to Proceed. Final testing, inspection and acceptance cannot be completed until Paving Improvements to Williams Field Road (not a part of this project) are completed. It is anticipated that the Paving Improvements to Williams Field Road will be completed on January 27th, 2022. See Project Special Provision No. 24 for additional information. Bids must be submitted on the Proposal and Schedule Form provided and be accompanied by a Bid Bond, (PERSONAL OR INDIVIDUAL BID BONDS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE) for ten percent (10%) of the total amount of the Bid, payable to BCB GROUP INVESTMENTS, LLC., as a guarantee that the contractor will enter into a contract to perform the proposal in accordance with the plans and specifications. The successful bidder will be required to execute the BCB GROUP INVESTMENTS, LLC. Contract and respective Addenda for construction within ten (10) days after formal Notice of Contact Award. Failure by bidder to properly execute the Contract and provide the required certification as specified shall be considered a breach of Contract by bidder. BCB Group Investments, LLC shall be free to terminate the Contract or, at option, release the successful bidder. Payment and Performance Bonds will be required for this Work. The successful bidder, simultaneously with the execution of the Contract, shall be required to furnish a Paymen t Bond in the amount equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price, and a Performance Bond in an amount equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price. The successful bidder shall name BCB Group Investments, LLC as obligee on both the Payment and Performance Bonds and name the City of Mesa as an additional obligee on the Performance Bond using a Dual Obligee Rider form. An approved Dual Obligee Rider Form is included in Chapter 2 of the Project Manual. The right is hereby reserved to accept or reject any or all bids or parts thereto, to waive any informalities in any proposal and reject the bids of any persons who have been delinquent or unfaithful to any contract with BCB Group Investments, LLC, or the City of Mesa. BETH HUNING City Engineer ATTEST: DeeAnn Mickelsen City Clerk Published: East Valley Tribune Mar 7, 14, 2021 / 36880
For all technical, contract, bid-related, or other questions, please contact Donna Horn at donna. horn@mesaaz.gov. Contact with City Employees. All firms interested in this project (including the firm’s employees, representatives, agents, lobbyists, attorneys, and subconsultants) will refrain, under penalty of disqualification, from direct or indirect contact for the purpose of influencing the selection or creating bias in the selection process with any person who may play a part in the selection process. This policy is intended to create a level playing field for all potential firms, to assure that contract decisions are made in public, and to protect the integrity of the selection process. All contact on this selection process should be addressed to the authorized representative identified above. Contractors desiring to submit proposals may purchase sets of the Bid Documents from ARC Document Solutions, LLC, at https://order.earc.com/arcEOC/PWELL_Main.asp?mem=29. Click on “Go” for the Public Planroom to access plans. NOTE: In order to be placed on the Plan Holders List and to receive notifications and updates regarding this bid (such s addenda) during the bidding period, an order must be placed. The cost of each Bid Set will be no more than $23, which is non-refundable. Partial bid packages are not sold. You can view documents on-line (at no cost), order Bid Sets, and access the Plan Holders List on the website at the address listed above. Please verify print lead time prior to arriving
MORE CLASSIFIED ADS ONLINE! www.EastValleyTribune.com
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
35
Public Notices One set of the Contract Documents is also available for viewing at the City of Mesa’s Engineering Department at 20 East Main Street, Mesa, AZ. Please call 480-644-2251 prior to arriving to ensure that the documents are available for viewing.
CITY OF MESA, ARIZONA ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ) NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Mesa is seeking a qualified firm or team to act as the Construction Manager at Risk for the following: MESA FAMILY ADVOCACY CENTER (MFAC) BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS 222 N. 1st Street PROJECT NO.CP0770
In order for the City to consider alternate products in the bidding process, please follow Arizona Revised Statutes §34.104c. If a pre-bid review of the site has been scheduled, details can be referenced in Project Specific Provision Section #3, titled “Pre-Bid Review of Site.” Work shall be completed within 90 consecutive calendar days, beginning with the day following the starting date specified in the Notice to Proceed. Bids must be submitted on the Proposal Form provided and be accompanied by the Bid Bond for not less than ten percent (10%) of the total bid, payable to the City of Mesa, Arizona, or a certified or cashier’s check. PERSONAL OR INDIVIDUAL SURETY BONDS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE. The successful bidder will be required to execute the standard form of contract for construction within ten (10) days after formal award of contract. In addition, the successful bidder must be registered in the City of Mesa Vendor Self- Service (VSS) System (http:// mesaaz.gov/business/purchasing/vendor-selfservice). The successful bidder, simultaneously with the execution of the Contract, will be required to furnish a Payment Bond in the amount equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price, a Performance Bond in an amount equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price, and the most recent ACORD® Certificate of Liability Insurance form with additional insured endorsements. PUBLISH ON TWO CONSECUTIVE SUNDAYS: MARCH 7 AND MARCH 14, 2021 The right is hereby reserved to accept or reject any or all bids or parts thereto, to waive any informalities in any proposal and reject the bids of any persons who have been delinquent or unfaithful to any contract with the City of Mesa. BETH HUNING City Engineer ATTEST: DeeAnn Mickelsen City Clerk
The City of Mesa is seeking a qualified Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) to provide Pre-Construction Services assistance and complete Construction Services as the CMAR for the MFAC Building Improvements Project. All qualified firms that are interested in providing these services are invited to submit their Statements of Qualifications (SOQ) in accordance with the requirements detailed in the Request for Qualifications (RFQ). The following is a summary of the project. The required tasks will be reviewed with the selected CMAR and defined to meet the needs of the project as part of the contract scoping. The purpose of this project is to complete a major renovation of approximately 28,500 square feet of two (2) Police Department (PD) buildings at 225 North First Street. Multiple PD units are located at this facility including the Mesa Family Advocacy Center (MFAC) unit. The scope of this project includes: 1. Replacement of the existing HVAC systems with new Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) HVAC units, add outside-air volume, new ductwork for supply air and return air. 2. Electrical system improvements that include upgrading the existing service entrance section (SES), replacement of electrical panels and various distribution changes. 3. Replacement of the existing drop ceilings (28,500 SF). 4. Replacement of the existing ceiling lighting with LED fixtures. 5. Replacement of the existing carpeting. 6. Tenant improvements of the existing space (10,600 SF). 7. New shower and locker facilities for staff using the onsite workout room. 8. Correct various ADA doorway clearance issues. 9. Correct spacing on the existing safety railing. The estimated range of the construction cost is $1,830,000 - $2,165,000. The City requires construction completion by June of 2022. A Pre-Submittal Conference will be held on March 31, 2021, at 9:00 AM through Microsoft Teams. If you would like to participate, please send an email to Stephanie Gishey at stephanie.gishey@mesaaz.gov to receive the invite. At this meeting, the project team, including City staff will discuss the scope of work, general contract requirements and respond to questions from the attendees. The Pre-Submittal Conference is not mandatory but recommended. All interested firms may submit a Statement of Qualifications whether they attend the conference or not. All interested firms are encouraged to attend the Pre-Submittal Conference since City staff will not be available for meetings or to respond to individual inquiries regarding the project scope outside of this conference. In addition, there will not be meeting minutes or any other information published from the Pre-Submittal Conference. Contact with City Employees. All firms interested in this project (including the firm’s employees, representatives, agents, lobbyists, attorneys, and subconsultants) will refrain, under penalty of disqualification, from direct or indir ect contact for the purpose of influencing the selection or creating bias in the selection process with any person who may play a part in the selection process. This policy is intended to create a level playing field for all potential firms, to assure that contract decisions are made in public, and to protect the integrity of the selection process. All contact on this selection process should be addressed to the authorized representative identified below. RFQ Lists. The RFQ is available on the City’s website at http://mesaaz.gov/business/engineering/construction-manager-at-risk-and-job-order-contracting-opportunities. The Statement of Qualifications shall include a one-page cover letter that contains current company/firm contact information including a valid phone number and email address, plus a maximum of ten (10) pages to address the SOQ evaluation criteria (excluding PPVF’s and resumes but including an organizational chart with key personnel and their affiliation). Resumes for each team member shall be limited to a maximum length of two pages and should be attached as an appendix to the SOQ. Minimum font size shall be 10pt. Please provide one (1) electronic copy in an unencrypted PDF format to Engineering-RFQ@mesaaz.gov by April 18, 2021, by 2:00PM. Please refer to our website for the most current information on how to submit SOQs. The City reserves the right to accept or reject any and all Statements of Qualifications. The City is an equal opportunity employer. Statement of Qualifications must include the following information (failure to include may result in rejection of Statement of Qualifications). Firms who wish to do business with the City of Mesa must be registered in the City of Mesa Vendor Self Service (VSS) System (http://mesaaz.gov/business/purchasing/vendor-self-service).
Published: East Valley Tribune Mar 7, 14, 2021 / 36842
Questions. Questions pertaining to the Construction Manager at Risk selection process or contract issues should be directed to Stephanie Gishey of the Engineering Department at stephanie.gishey@mesaaz.gov.
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ATTEST: DeeAnn Mickelsen City Clerk Published: East Valley Tribune Mar 14, 21, 2021 / 37028
BETH HUNING City Engineer
THE MESA TRIBUNE | MARCH 14, 2021
36
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