Queen Creek Tribune 05/07/2023

department slammed for approving QC water

BY

State Attorney General Kris Mayes last month told the state Department of Water Resources that it demonstrated poor oversight by allowing Queen Creek’s $27 million deal to bring water from Arizona to bolster the town’s supply.

In letters to the department last month, Mayes scolded department Director Tom Buschatzke for not being strict enough in his oversight of water rights transfers in Arizona and specifically cited the deal to route 2,033 acre-

Town expanding ambulance services

BY

With a decline in private emergency medical services in town, the Queen Creek Fire and Medical Department is filling the gap.

It announced a vast $4.6 million expansion of its ambulance service, which includes a one-time $1.9-million outlay to purchase five new ambulances and $2.7-million dollars in ongoing operating expenses.

The units will be staffed with full time, 24/7 paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

“These water transfers could have grave consequences for local on-river communities and the River,” Mayes warned.

She noted that when the department approved the transfer with the backing of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, it did not consider the long-term impact on either the river or people who live in the vicinity of Cibola.

“When ADWR approved the Queen Creek transfer, it appeared to consider that transfer in isolation, and to ignore the cumulative effect that other anticipated transfers might

have,” Mayes wrote.

“Thus, consideration of the foreseeable cumulative effects of these transfers is necessary to comply with ADWR’s overarching duty to formulate plans and develop programs for the practical and economical development, management, conservation and use of surface water, groundwater and the watersheds in this state, including the management of water quantity and quality,” she added.

Mayes said the agency has legally been required since 1980 to determine there should

MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer

MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer

feet of Colorado River water from GSC Farm in Cibola.

Rotary Club of Queen Creek to hold first

Medic Jacob Olivarez-Giles and firefighter/medic Jake Peloquin of Queen Creek Fire and Medical ambulance based out of Fire Station 4 on Signal Butte Road. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)

be new “active management areas’’ where the are legal restrictions regarding the withdrawal and use of groundwater.

“This statutory requirement recognizes that groundwater conditions in a particular area are dynamic, and groundwater management should adopt to meet those ever-changing circumstances,’’ she wrote.

“Unfortunately, while groundwater circumstances have changed greatly since 1980, ADWR appears not to have engaged in the analysis of potential new AMAs to adjust to those changes.’’

Neither Buschatzke nor Gov. Katie Hobbs, who agreed to keep him on after she took office in January from former Gov. Doug Ducey, would comment.

The letter was written as Mayes continued a separate battle, at least in part with Hobbs, over the lease of state land to Fondomonte, a Saudi firm that pumps groundwater to grow alfalfa on the property to feed cattle in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi law precludes the growing of alfalfa which is considered too water-demanding for the desert.

Mayes campaigned last year on a promise to cancel the lease along with

Queen Creek will import water for $27 million from a farm in Cibola, over 200 miles west of the town. (Tribune file image)

the right to withdraw groundwater from the La Paz County property, which is outside any active management area. But Hobbs, who inherited the lease when she also took office in January, said that’s not legally possible.

“It’s a very complex issue, and not something that the AG has the authority to, frankly, do on her own,’’ the governor said in late January.

Three Western Arizona counties are suing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for approv-

ing the Queen Creek deal with GSC Farm Mohave, La Paz and Yuma counties last month lost an effort to temporarily stop the water transfer until a thorough Environmental Impact Assessment could be undertaken.

Although U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi denied their request for a temporary injunction, the counties are pressing for a full trial on their complaint.

The counties claim that the Bureau of Reclamation’s “finding of no significant

impact” on the environment did not consider the full long-term impact of taking water from the river.

Mayes told Buschatzke to revise the department’s new policy, known as CR 11, titled “Policy and Procedure for Transferring an Entitlement of Colorado River Water.” That policy was implemented the same day the department signed off on the GSC Farm-Queen Creek deal.

“I urge you to revise CR 11 to require consideration of foreseeable cumulative effects, and to carefully scrutinize any future water transfer requests to ensure that any recommended approvals are consistent with ADWR’s overarching duties,” Mayes wrote.

Mohave County Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter, an attorney who helped file the injunction request in federal court, said the Queen Creek contract with GSC sets a bad precedent for future water deals. He also said it further damages the ecosystem in the area and threatens western Arizonans’ livelihoods.

Lingenfelter said companies are buying water rights there to sell to the highest bidder.

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Water a big line item on town’s proposed new budget

BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer

Queen Creek Town Council has tentatively approved an $847.1 million sending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and nearly a fifth of it is set aside to buy water rights to meet the state-mandated 100-year underground water supply.

The budget includes $168.1 million for acquisition of water.

“It’s not for the water we need tomorrow, but the water we are going to need in 10 years,” said Scott McCarty, the town finance director, adding that funding will help the town meet its long-term objective of becoming an assured water provider.

The proposed budget passed town council 5-2.

While supportive of the ideas in the spending plan, Travis Padilla and Leah Martineau voted against it, citing several line items that included a $27.7 million overrun above the original estimated parks and recreation budget .

“There is so much that I agree with in this budget,” Padilla said. “The fact that we do 25% reserves is fiscally responsible. It is very important because many cities and towns around the country don’t do that.”

Spending in the 2023-24 fiscal year by the Town of Queen Creek will increase by $137 million over the current year, though significant reductions in three budget areas are projected. (Town of Queen Creek)

Padilla said he supports investments in infrastructure, roads, utilities, and water. But he did not support the budget’s upper limit.

“We spend a lot of money on water,” Councilwoman Leah Martineau said. “It trumped everything. I don’t know if I have seen that before. Water is important. We do have a huge chunk of the budget going towards acquiring water which is what we need.”

Budget documents state, “Ensuring the Town has adequate water resources is a top priority of the Town Council.”

To put the water expense into perspective, of the $137 million increase in this year’s proposed budget, $108 million, or 80%, is earmarked to buy water rights.

“These water barons from the East Coast are coming in and taking advantage of a water crisis,” Lingenfelter said. “And really taking part in water speculation and leaving with millions and millions of dollars.

“There is harm when you look at the cumulative effects of not only this single transfer, which in our opinion should not be viewed in isolation, but the cumulative effects on the human environment and natural environment, especially with the Colorado River continuing to crash,” he continued.

Mayes echoed those assertions and criticized Buschatzke’s agency for not determining whether crucial watersheds outside active management areas need state protection.

“In our meeting we discussed the fact that hedge funds (and perhaps other financial firms and speculators) have started purchasing land (and the attendant water rights) in areas near the Colorado

River, and are anticipated to seek transfer of those water rights off-river,” she wrote Buschatzke.

Liburdi said while river water entitlement holders might decide to sell their water rights one day, the Bureau of Reclamation is not aware of any current deals, which he implied lessens the need for any immediate legal action like a temporary injunction.

“Any such proposals would initially need to be evaluated by ADWR,” Liburdi ruled. “Accordingly, potential future transfers of Arizona fourth priority Colorado River water are too speculative to bet [sic] considered.”

Liburdi said that while plaintiffs had a case and that the “balance of hardships” favors the opposing counties, “they do not tip sharply in their favor” and said the plaintiffs did not show that an injunction is in the public’s best interest.

Noting that a temporary injunction would impose “significant expectancy costs on Queen Creek and GSC Farm,” he said the public interest “weighs neither

in favor for, nor against, the issuance of a preliminary injunction.”

Queen Creek, pushing hard to keep up with residential and commercial growth, is always on the hunt for more sources of water to bolster its state-mandated 100year underground aquifer.

Utilities Director Paul Gardner has said the town will continue to aggressively search to acquire additional sources of water to not only keep the town’s aquifer full, but to significantly expand it.

Not long after securing the GSC Farm deal, the town announced it purchased the rights to a half million acre-feet of water from the Harquahala Valley Water Association.

That group of landowners and farmers in Maricopa and La Paz counties west of Phoenix sold the rights for $30-million. It is also currently seeking to purchase additional water rights from other entities, which Gardner said he is not currently at liberty to discuss publicly.

Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services contributed to this report. 

An edition of the East Valley Tribune Queen Creek Tribune is published

Short-term rentals must now be licensed in QC

BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer

Short-term rental owners in Queen Creek are now required to register with the town and obtain a business license.

The state Legislature last year empowered municipalities to require short-term rental owners to obtain a business license and impose regulations if they want to.

After some debate, Town Council last fall voted 3-2 in favor of an ordinance that does both in Queen Creek.

Vice Mayor Jeff Brown, council members Robin Benning and Dawn Oliphant voted in favor of the ordinance while Leah Martineau and then Mayor-elect Julia Wheatley voted against it.

In addition to requiring a license, the ordinance also establishes some regulations and penalties for people who do not comply with them.

The owner cannot be a registered sex offender or “convicted of any felony act that resulted in death or serious physical injury, or been convicted of any felony use of a deadly weapon within the last five years.”

The rental must be registered with the county and the owner must have a “lawful presence in the United States.”

The measure also establishes fines of be-

tween $500 and $3,500 for owners who do not abide by the regulations.

“If multiple violations arise out of the same response to an incident at a vacation rental, those violations are considered one violation for the purpose of assessing civil penalties,” the ordinance states.

“It’s not draconian,” Brown said then. “It’s not an example where government is overstepping its bounds.”

Brown argued that the rules make sense in a town with a growing short-term rental market and growing population.

“The ordinance in front of us is for public safety and quality of life,” Brown said then. “These changes are meant to minimize complaints, protect public safety, and prohibit the use of rentals for inappropriate purposes.

“In large part, what we are talking about here are investment type properties, some of which are literally being run like hotels and they are operating in otherwise quiet, family oriented suburban neighborhoods. We’re here to get out in front of the issue.”

Martineau, who has historically not supported increased regulation, said at the time, “to me it’s more regulation, red tape. I think we all have benefitted… I know I have benefitted renting out Airbnb’s or whatever short-term rentals.”

“I think it’s a very creative way that our

society has come about being able to go and visit and to travel and so I’d hate to put any limitation on that or to make it so that anyone might not want to do that because of any type of regulation,” Martineau added.

Wheatly agreed with Martineau’s sentiments, and said the measure would create additional bureaucracy that could eventually require additional staff to oversee its implementation.

“It’s difficult because I definitely see both sides, but for me it’s that additional regulation and how cumbersome that can be,” Wheatley said.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, with this type of thing it truly is something the free market will determine.”

Brown agreed, but countered that while short term rentals have been a largely successful business proposition for the property owners, often the neighbors of these properties complain of excessive noise, drunken parties, vandalism, and other neighborhood rule violations that can sometimes require police presence.

“Queen Creek is not now a magnet for this type of property,” Brown said. “We’re not necessarily near some of the highest attractions in terms of like a Super Bowl or a Phoenix Open golf tournament.”

But Brown went on to say other communities that have adopted more stringent protocols could drive more short-term rental traffic to Queen Creek, making it “the place to go because it’s so much easier to operate,” he said.

“That’s a huge problem for me,” he said.

The short-term rental business license ensures contact information is on file for the property owner in the event of an emergency, provides information on prohibited uses and other helpful information, according to the town.

The fee for a new short-term rental license is $60; the renewal is $40 annually. Licenses run from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. The application and fee must be filed for each property separately.

The short-term rental business license application is available online at www. QueenCreekAZ.gov/ShortTermRentals. 

Fire Chief Vance Gray said “60-70% of the calls that we run are medical in nature.”

“When we have medical calls, we never know what type of manpower we are going to need on those types of calls,” he explained.

“Typically when we run a medical call, we will respond a fire truck and an ambulance because the ambulance is the transport unit to go to the hospital.”

Gray said that figure mirrors the national numbers of emergency calls answered by comparable municipal departments –and that number that is on the rise.

“Those are all medical calls,” he added. “They can be chest pain calls, cardiac arrest. Whatever those calls are in medical nature, they are falling between 60 and 70%.”

Queen Creek Fire and Medical answered 6,118 calls for service in 2022 and of those, 4,115 were considered medical incidents. Of the EMS calls, 2,195 people required transportation to a hospital.

Gray said the department does not always have to send an ambulance to every medical call.

Fire truck crews are trained to handle many medical calls without the need for an ambulance and often a decision on whether to send one can be made during the 911 call.

“Those would be the more serious in nature types of calls like the cardiac arrest as an example,” Gray said. “Where if a call comes in for a cardiac arrest, we will dispatch a fire truck and an ambulance because of the nature of the call, the severity of the call.”

On the other hand, dispatching fire trucks less serious calls can save money.

“If we get dispatched to a call for somebody whose nose might be bleeding and there are no other priority symptoms, our fire trucks are dispatched…There is no transport to the hospital and no cost to pass along to the patient,” Gray added. When an ambulance is dispatched, the patient winds up responsible for the cost of that call.

Responses that only require a fire truck are not billed separately since they are covered by the taxpayer-funded fire department services, which is not the case with ambulance calls.

“When somebody is taken to the hospital, there is a charge for that service and it

does not matter whether you are a municipal government or you are a private company,” Gray explained.

Gray said the state maintains a detailed structure that sets fees for people who need an ambulance.

Until now, Queen Creek has relied largely on a a private ambulance company, American Medical Response, which has served neighboring communities as well.

But as municipalities have grown and started providing their own ambulance services, such as Gilbert, AMR has scaled back.

Queen Creek has had one ambulance in place since 2016, but as AMR’s response times grew longer and the town kept growing, Gray said expansion was inevitable.

“We want to make sure that we provide a very consistent and high-quality level of service to our Queen Creek residents,” Gray said. “And we began to realize some operational deficiencies.

“We were concerned with some response times and staffing levels that AMR was coming forward with.

“That is what’s driving this. It’s not that we are seeing a dramatic increase in the call volume in Queen Creek. We have a steady increase, but that is not what’s driving this. We wanted to maintain the level of service to Queen Creek and we were seeing that suffer.”

The chief said his staff started noticing those shortfalls a year ago, prompting the move to expand.

Gray said when Gilbert launched its own service, AMR removed the half dozen ambulances it had there and that had a domino effect region-wide.

“When you have fewer ambulances in the area or the region, that translates to a lower level of service,” Gray said, adding the Gilbert-based ambulances often were used on Queen Creek calls.

“We would rely on neighboring agencies like AMR from Gilbert and if those are not available, that’s what creates the concern over the lengthening response times,” Gray said.

Queen Creek’s new ambulances will be stationed at each of the town’s five fire stations. Four will be staffed with a full-time paramedic and an EMT 24/7.

“The fifth ambulance will not be staffed,” Gray added. “But what we will do is if we run into those scenarios where we need additional resources or ambulances, we can deploy that fifth ambulance within a 30-minute time frame.”

“We haven’t decided which fire station will have the unstaffed ambulance yet,” he added.

The town plans to announce the expansion in coming weeks and will launch the service in July. 

The new ambulances the town is purchasing will be similar to the one at Fire Station 4. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)

Porn limits stump GOP lawmakers in Arizona

BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

State lawmakers are struggling to find a way to keep minors from accessing internet porn that’s legal, effective and politically acceptable.

And so far, they’ve come up short.

The original proposal by Sen. Wendy Rogers would have required anyone seeking to access “explicit sexual material’’ to first provide the website with a government-issued identification proving age.

“This is a scourge that’s affecting impressionable minds,’’ the Flagstaff Republican told a committee reviewing her legislation. She called it one of several measures this session to “protect the innocence of children.’’

But her idea of adults having to give information like a driver’s license to a website proved to be a non-starter, unable to clear even the Senate.

That led to Plan B to require any website that contains a “substantial portion’’ of material “harmful to minors’’ to use a commercially accepted database or other “commercially reasonable method of age and identity verification’’ before providing access.

Those changes were enough to convince all Senate Republicans and three Democrats to vote in favor.

The House has proven to be a different problem.

“I think we all want to make sure that internet pornography is not being distributed to children,’’ Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, said. But he said SB 1503 as approved by the Senate goes beyond that.

He said it would require adults who want to view those materials to register with documents that could wind up in the hands of the government. “That’s a constitutional problem,’’ he said.

But the question for Kolodin and a handful of other Republicans who found the plan unacceptable goes beyond the legal issues.

“I do not trust the government even a little bit,’’ Kolodin said. “Why would I want to give the government that kind of power?’’

The key, he explained, is the power that would be in the hands of officials who know who has signed up to download what some define as pornography.

“It’s a way for the government to try to blackmail people,’’ Kolodin said. “It’s a way for the government to try to scare off people from what materials they consume.’’

“Yes, it is socially desirable to reduce pornography viewership, I suppose,’’ he said.

“But the government doesn’t get to say ‘This speech is socially undesirable, consume less of it,’” said the attorney and first-term lawmaker. “That is emphatically not our role.’’

The GOP opposition, coupled with the unanimous vote against SB 1503 by the Democrats, doomed that version to defeat.

Now a third version awaits a final House vote. And this one seeks to take the government out of it entirely.

Instead, it essentially would put the burden on parents to take affirmative action, contacting their internet service providers and requiring that those companies block sites determined to have materials the legislation deems offensive.

That, however, raises its own issues.

What would have to be blocked would come down to a three-part test of the materials: whether they appeal to the “prurient, shameful or morbid interest of minors;’’ is “patently offensive’’ to what adults determine is suitable for minors; and lacks “serious, literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors’’ when taken as a whole.

And it’s even more complicated than that.

It is only when a website contains a “substantial portion’’ of the materials meets all three tests that the content provider would have to consult the blacklist to see if that customer asked that the site be blocked. And the legislation defines “substantial’’ as

33 1/3%.

Marilyn Rodriguez, lobbying for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, told lawmakers they are wrong if they think that will keep minors from accessing what they think is unacceptable.

“There are several websites, including Google, Reddit and Twitter that allow access to sensitive content but whose total sensitive information falls beneath the 33% threshold,’’ she said.

Setting up a blacklist to protect children also would block access to those materials to any adult in that household or anyone using that phone or tablet.

Moreover, SB 1503 actually is worded in a way that one spouse could actually limit what her or his partner could see: The provider would not be required to determine if there is a minor child in the house.

The issue clearly caused some heartburn for some lawmakers.

Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, said she personally doesn’t think children should be looking at pornography. But she said that the measure lacks any sort of en-

forcement mechanism.

Rogers said her legislation provides “first steps’’ to regulating those who publish such materials “and gives recourse to those who happen upon it.’’

That “recourse,’’ however, would require parents to hire an attorney to file a civil suit. And they would have to show “damages resulting from a minor’s access’’ to those materials.

Rodriguez told lawmakers they are not considering how such a law would affect the First Amendment rights of adults.

“Courts have repeatedly struck down attempts to prohibit minors from accessing adult content when they burden speech more than necessary to achieve that goal,’’ she testified.

She cited a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a similar federal law. There, the justices wrote, “blocking and filtering software is an alternative that is less restrictive than the (law), and, in addition, likely more effective as a means of restricting children’s access to materials harmful to them.’’

It is not clear yet from whom those rights would be purchased.

Utilities Director Paul Gardner has said that while the town is working on acquiring more water, privacy rules prohibit him from elaborating.

The $867.1 million is the budget ceiling, meaning by law Queen Creek cannot adopt a budget that goes above that amount.

It is not necessarily the amount that the council will a approve when it takes public input and votes on the final budget May 14.

“The town’s largest budget to date,” said Vice Mayor Jeff Brown. “The budget is the spending plan and reflects the priorities of the town council.”

The budget earmarks 70%, or $214 million, of spending next fiscal year for infrastructure – including the acquisition of water but also building facilities identified in the master plans of both police and parks as well as investments in critical infrastructure and additional police staffing.

“You can definitely tell that we are in a growth mode,” Mayor Julia Wheatley said, citing the infrastructure expense. “It’s like the nephew you haven’t seen in a year and he has grown 3 or 4 inches.”

Wheatley said the town is on solid financial footing.

“We have strong population growth. We have strong economic opportunities,” she said. “We estimate 57% growth in revenue over last year. That is so significant.”

The town also saves 25% of its revenue right off the top, she and McCarty added.

The infrastructure spending includes planning for more needs.

“As soon as you build it you need to be thinking about replacing it,” McCarty said.

The budget includes 21 new positions

for the Police Department, as well as funding for the software, hardware, and equipment for these new staffers.

Another $35.3 million will go toward critical facilities identified in the recently adopted Police Master Plan, as well as $17.7 million for the fire/medical portion of the soon-to-be renovated Public Safety Complex on the grounds of the former Barney Family Sports Complex.

The spending plan includes funding to complete Mansel Carter Oasis Park, and build the new 85-acre Frontier Family Park, which will be home to a new Recreation and Aquatic Center.

It also includes $2.1 million and 15 new positions for operating and maintaining the new park facilities that will open at the

end of next year.

Infrastructure spending also covers 25 new employees in other departments, including Public Works, Fleet Services, IT and Human resources departments, among others.

Council has also budgeted a 5% salary increase for town employees.

“The budget also includes additional increases to fund a newly proposed compensation policy for police sworn staff that is designed to stay competitive with our recruitment and retention efforts for law enforcement personnel,” the council materials said.

That means officers could get an additional pay raise when the town revisits their performance and salaries during the

year as municipalities throughout the Valley try to fill scores of vacant patrol jobs.

Budget materials also said that the proposed spending plan was created in an environment of high inflation, tight labor markets, supply-chain issues and uncertainty in the aftermath of the pandemic.

“Those are all fiscally responsible things that I fully support,” Padilla added. “Fiscal responsibility is a commitment that I made to voters during my campaign and there are expenses in this proposal that I can’t justify, especially as the budget limit quickly approaches $1 billion in a town of 70,000 residents.”

Padilla did not elaborate on what line items he does not support, but he recently voted against a 20% budget overrun for the town’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan, as did Martineau.

“This vote is a struggle for me,” Martineau said. “I support most of what is in this budget. Areas that I struggle with is subsidizing. Whenever we are subsidizing onetime projects or even ongoing programs that’s where I struggle philosophically,” she said, referring to the cost of new parks.

Martineau said money for things such as police and fire services, roads and wastewater plans was justified but not for things only some people will use, such as parks.

“Yes, I still love parks,” she said. “I understand the importance of parks. I just have a different view of how much, how big.” Martineau added.

She said she understands the importance of having places for kids to play sports but worried about “being on the hook for years to come” by investing so heavily in parks.

“We know that with aquatic centers and rec centers, you can never charge enough to pay for those,” she said. “That’s

Infrastructure still commands the lion’s share of Queen Creek’s budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. (Town of Queen Creek)

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Our

BUDGET from page 8

something that we will be subsidizing from here on out. The same thing with Horseshoe Park.”

“The poor parks. … They are getting a little bit beat up on,” Vice Mayor Jeff Brown countered. “This is the level of service that we’ve committed to.

“They plunk down their hard-earned money with that in mind,” he added, referring to people who choose to move to Queen Creek based on the promised amenities. 

Chamber seeks contenders

TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF

The Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations for its Sept. 28 awards banquet at Encanterra Country Club.

Awards include Business of the Year, Emerging Business of the Year, Educator of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.

Business of the Year recognizes a Chamber member who has been in business over three years, provides excellence in customer service, has experienced progressive sales/marketing growth, provides innovative products or services, community volunteerism, and/or demonstrates economic support of the Queen Creek business community.

Emerging Business of the Year recognizes a Queen Creek Chamber

member who has been in business less than three years, using the same criteria for Business of the Year.

Educator of the Year recognizes an individual who is dedicated, inspiring and making a difference in the lives of local youth. They can be teachers and/ or educational support personnel.

Volunteer of the Year recognizes a community member who has demonstrated outstanding participation and leadership. Previous winners are eligible after two years have passed.

Nominations should include the nominee’s contact information and a brief summary and/or specific examples of why the person should be considered.

To make a nomination, go to: queencreekchamber.com/business-awards-dinner. To inquire about sponsorships: 480-888-1709. 

EV mega-park owners file for bankruptcy

BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer

The owner of Mesa’s financially troubled Legacy Park, formerly known as Bell Bank Park, last week filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Arizona.

Chapter 11 provides temporary protections from creditors while an entity attempts to reorganize in the hopes of returning to solvency. It is different from Chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which an entity’s assets are liquidated to pay off outstanding debts.

In a statement following the filing, park owner Legacy Cares said it intends to use Chapter 11 bankruptcy “to protect and support the park’s business operations and address Legacy Cares’ debt obligations while working towards an orderly and efficient possible sale of Legacy Cares’ assets in a manner that maximizes their value.”

In the filing, Legacy Cares states that it currently owes $366 million to bondholders, contractors and various service providers.

The filing says it currently possesses $242 million in assets, mostly from the $229 million it figures the structures and improvements at the 320-acre park are worth.

Its assets don’t include the land under the park, which Legacy rents from landowner Pacific Proving for about $300,000 a month.

Legacy reported it had $1.4 million in cash or cash equivalents as of late April and says it also owns $8 million in furniture, fixtures and equipment.

The filing shows that a considerable portion of the technological bells and whistles at the park’s fields are leased: $17 million in leased fixtures and equipment, including scoreboards and audio/visual equipment, are detailed in the filing.

Legacy said it “anticipates” finalizing a sale of its assets in the park by August 2023. Until then, the park “will continue to be open and operate in the normal course of business” during the bankruptcy case.

In the statement released following the filing, Legacy Cares said “all (employee) wages will be paid on time and in full” and all vendors doing business with the park after the filing will also be paid.

The organization said it is working on securing debtor-in-possession financing from its existing lender, subject to court approval, to support its day-to-day operations in the coming months.

Debtor-in-possession financing is a

The owner of Legacy Park in Mesa filed for reorganization in federal bankruptcy court last week, listing debts totaling $366 million. (Tribune file photo)

LEGACY from page 11

specialty loan for companies in Chapter 11 bankruptcy that takes priority over other debts and allows the organization to continue operating.

The bankruptcy filing requires Legacy to detail many of its expenditures during the year prior to the filing and the document reveals large compensation packages for the principals of the park.

The filing shows that Legacy Cares President Douglas Moss was paid $298,982 in salary and expense in the past 12 months.

It also indicates that Legacy Cares had a “fee agreement” for an undisclosed amount with a company Moss owns called Kingdog Enterprises in Scottsdale. Legacy paid its Chief Financial Officer Lawrence White $641,012 in “professional fees” rather than a salary, according to the filing.

The nonprofit Legacy Cares owns the park, which was necessary for it to sell tax-exempt municipal bonds to investors through the Arizona Industrial Development Authority.

But it was managed until last month

by Legacy Sports USA, a for-profit whose principals included Randy Miller and his sons Chad and Brett, the masterminds of Legacy Park.

According to the filing, Legacy Cares paid Legacy Sports $3.5 million to manage the park in the past year.

Last month, Legacy Cares announced a management change, ostensibly firing Legacy Sports and hiring a new manager, Elite Sports Group LLC, an entity formed just two months ago.

As the park has wrangled with its creditors over the past months, there had been talk of the senior bondholders requiring management changes if they were to continue forbearing on their rights under the terms of the loan default, but it’s not clear to what degree Elite Sports Group actually represents new management.

Elite Sports Group did not respond to request for more information about it and the names of its principals.

A document included in Legacy’s Chapter 11 filing lists Brett Miller as a managing member of Elite Sports Group, suggesting the Millers have not exited the park yet.

Online, Legacy Sports’ website redi-

rects to Elite Sports’ website, which is very similar in look and design as the Legacy Sports website.

Legacy Sports’ social media feeds have also seamlessly transitioned to Elite Sports Group content.

Whatever Elite Sports Group’s connection to Legacy Sports, Legacy Cares said one of its own employees, Rodney Reese, would “oversee the day-to-day management.”

Reese previously worked at the park as director of sports business development under Oak View Group, a national sports and entertainment company that had a management agreement with Legacy Sports.

He left the park when the management change occurred last month.

The general manager and executive chef at the park under OVG are no longer at Legacy Park.

Legacy Cares’ bankruptcy filing fulfills a prediction made by an accountant in Rhode Island eight months ago at a time when people associated with the park were still puffing up the project and local officials eyed the promise of youth sports tourism filling up hotel rooms.

Griffin saw trouble brewing after he read about the park and caught the attention of federal agencies. He is assisting the SEC and others on fraud-related investigations.

Griffin said he doesn’t think the bankruptcy filing is anywhere close to the end of the story for Legacy Park and its developers.

“I think we are only in the second inning,” he said. “The bankruptcy process will be messy and lengthy. However, civil litigation will begin to fly in multiple directions.”

“In addition, regulators will step into the mix due the amount of the losses and nature of the securities (tax-exempt bonds) via a conduit such as the Arizona Industrial Development Authority,” Griffin continued.

He said the park’s primary investors are large institutional investors, including Vanguard and PIMCO, which manage retirement accounts and pensions, Griffin said.

Vanguard and PIMCO “simply managed money for Main Street investors (like) retirees and widows,” he said. “$284 million is a sizeable amount to flush.” 

QC Rotary to hold inaugural fundraiser

BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer

Ready to strike out on its own as an independent organization, the Queen Creek Rotary Club will hold its inaugural fundraising event this weekend.

While designed to raise money the Rotary Run for Resilience also will help club organizers in charting a future course for increasing community awareness of the fledgling service group.

The run will start at 7 a.m. Saturday, May 13, at Horseshoe Park and builds on the message the club established last year while it was still a satellite of the Gilbert Rotary Club.

“Our inaugural 5K Run/Walk extends our message from last fall’s hugely successful community event, ‘Raising Resilient Kids,’ and is a great family friendly event to kick off Mother’s Day weekend,” said Queen Creek Rotary President Jason Jantzen.

Jantzen said it is common for a Rotary club to operate as a satellite wing of a more established club when it is brand new.

He added that the club will become fully independent following this weekend’s 5k fundraiser.

The Queen Creek Rotary club has a sharp, well-defined mission focused on a growing problem among teens – mental health.

“We are raising money to support some of the organizations that we feel will help our community mitigate mental health issues and mitigate teen suicide,” Jantzen said.

Jantzen said Rotary clubs, while active in the community in a variety of ways, often focus on a single area on which members think they can have the most impact.

Queen Creek Rotary has settled on “bringing awareness to the many issues that affect teen mental wellness and providing resources to the community,” he added.

Jantzen said setting the right tone with the Rotary Club’s inaugural fundraiser will be key to the group’s success,

Then, it can set a course that not only raises awareness but also makes a difference in critical areas of need.

He said the fundraiser is helping the club “make the transition from raising awareness and providing access to resources for the many teen mental health issues that exist.”

Now it can start focusing on “funding actionable programs through our partners that help raise resiliency and build self confidence in teens.”

The club will partner with other Valley organizations that have a similar focus, according to Jantzen.

That would include the HOPE Founda-

tion, which provides youth mental health counseling.

The foundation is one of three providers that Chandler Unified School District is partnering with to address an increase in teen suicides.

Jantzen added that taking the time to choose like-minded partners helps the Rotary settle on the right goals and partner with the most effective allies to achieve them.

“We’ll offer a scholarship or a grant to help pay for those services for people,” Jantzen said.

He said the Rotary will also make scholarships available to Life Skills for Confi-

dence, a Queen Creek nonprofit that helps teens and pre-teens “learn communication and other life skills, a sense of purpose and self-love,” according to its website.

“We want to help these teenagers on the ground level who might be going through some distress or mental health issues and kind of attacking that before it becomes a major problem,” Jantzen said.

The Queen Creek Rotary is also raising funds to purchase a therapy animal for the Queen Creek Police Department to be used during calls involving mental health crises.

Jason Jantzen, president of the relatively new Rotary Club of Queen Creek, said its first event last fall was a big success. (Facebook)

“The primary job of this animal would be to de-escalate situations,” Jantzen said. “Especially in the schools, the high schools where maybe this teen is going through distress, helps calm them down and helps serve our community that way, too.”

This weekend’s 5K will bring together local vendors and mental health professionals, race participants, families and community members alike.

People participating in the 5K can walk or run and make it as competitive as they want to.

“We’ve partnered with StartLine Racing to make this an official chip-timed event for the active runner, along with participants who prefer to walk or jog at their own pace,” said Rotary board Ron Valerio.

“We are also hosting a Kids Dash to start off the event,” he added.

All net proceeds will benefit the Rotary Club of Queen Creek’s local programs designed to improve youth mental resilience.

According to the website Pediatric Success, which tracks mental illness statistics in adolescents and teens, 16% of youth surveyed reported having at least one major depressive episode in the past year, more than 2.7 million children and adolescents are living with severe major depression, 60% of youth with major depression receive no mental health treatment.

“Over 6% of youth surveyed reported having a substance use disorder in the past year. Of that number, 2.85% reported using alcohol, and 4.85% reported using illicit drugs,” the website said. “One in 10 children covered under private insurance cannot access care for mental or emotional difficulties through their insurance.”

Jantzen said addressing mental health issues is a big and expensive lift.

“We would love to be over the $10,000 mark. I think we’ll get there,” he said. “We want to make it a community event where people can come out and visit the mental health vendors who are there.” 

If You Go...

What: Rotary Run for Resilience

Where: Horseshoe Park, 20464 E. Riggs Road, Queen Creek

When: 7 a.m. Saturday, May 13

Cost: $35 (includes T-shirt and medal)

Info: rotaryclubqc.com, info@ rotaryclubqc.com.

DBACKS.COM/TICKETS

Mammoth plan near Gateway Airport advances

BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer

The Mesa Planning and Zoning Board has approved a Planned Area Development and special use permits for a 273-acre mixed-use development in the southeast corner of the Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport known as Gateway East.

The airport’s master plan designated the large parcel of vacant land for non-aeronautical development.

Its proximity to the Eastmark and Cadence master-planned communities to the east as well as the 320-acre Legacy Park (formerly Bell Bank Park), could make its development significant for southeast Mesa and the nearby communities of Queen Creek and Gilbert.

For one, Gateway East provides another potential site for entertainment, dining and hospitality, something residents in the area have said is currently in short supply.

In a public comment read into the record before the planning board unanimously approved the PAD and permit requests, a resident of Queen Creek expressed hope that Gateway East would deliver highquality commercial.

“We’re really excited to be getting this development nearby. We have needed more hotel, restaurant and shopping options for a long time,” the commenter wrote.

“Hopefully, there is a higher-end hotel in the mix. The hotels around here are not the best. We don’t need a Four Seasons, but a Westin-level hotel would be nice.”

In June, the airport’s board of directors approved a 40-year agreement with the Boyer Company of Salt Lake City to serve as master developer for Gateway East.

The deal envisions a mixed-use commercial area developed in three phases at Gateway East, but the airport authority is giving Boyer freedom to hammer out the details of development.

Boyer describes itself on its website as

one of the nation’s largest developers in the nation and a full-service development company and manager of office, retail, industrial, medical, government, and other specialty property types, including schools and residential communities.

It has developed over 43 million square feet of commercial space since 1972 and has over $700 million of additional development in progress.

By the terms of Gateway East deal, Boyer will pay the airport 55 cents per square foot for developed lots in addition to a 10%

revenue share.

The FAA allows federally funded airports to create non-aviation facilities to develop revenue streams to support the aeronautical function of the airport, which is the purpose of Gateway East, as well as to support regional economic development.

The PAD approved by P&Z last week grants Boyer a lot of flexibility in the design standards for Gateway East, which could be useful for the company in marketing the development to a wide range of users.

The deviations from the current light in-

dustrial zoning include raising the maximum allowed building height from 40 feet to 165 feet in the upper half of the parcel, and 90 feet in the bottom half which sits closer to the runway.

The council use permit approved by the planning board allows hotels and large commercial developments in Gateway East; the special use permit allows service stations and heliports.

Wendy Riddell, an attorney for Boyer,

The 373-acre Gateway East mixed-use development promises a significant commercial and entertainment addition to the Southeast Valley. (City of Mesa)

told board members that the company did not have any prospective heliport users currently.

“We simply wanted to provide that opportunity because we know there are employers out there that have those types of uses,” she said.

P&Z Chairman Jeff Crockett said that even though the airport had signed off the plans, the maximum heights made him “nervous,” and he asked what type of development the maximum heights were intended to accommodate.

“The thought was … to create the best possible opportunity for hotels, for employers to come in,” Riddell said. “We’re hoping that height is attractive to those types of uses.”

Riddell assured board members that the airport and FAA would have the final say over all designs.

The plans for Gateway East don’t include a lot of details at this point beyond phasing, and a proposed road network with sidewalks, green spaces and a “potential future multi-use path” along the eastern edge of the development.

In a presentation to the PMGA board of directors, Boyer imagined 26 acres of retail, 17 acres of hospitality and the rest office and industrial uses.

In addition to the PAD and permits, Mesa planning department staff told the board that the city is working on a development agreement for Gateway East with Boyer.

The agreement would likely include restrictions on certain types of uses for the land.

Staff said the DA would be going before Mesa City Council in May, along with the PAD and permits.

Riddell told the planning and zoning board that Boyer has fielded interest in

Gateway East, from “what we think would be very good employers.”

One project for Gateway East has already had a pre-submittal meeting with city staff, and Riddell expected another one “very shortly.”

The first project proposed for Gateway East bodes well for the development.

Montreal-based XNRGY Climate Systems proposed to build a $145 million, 250,000-square-foot manufacturing facility with office space for producing hightech HVAC systems.

XNRGY produces specialized climate control systems for data centers, labs and producers of semiconductors and batteries, among other industries.

In June, the company submitted a proposal to put the facility at the southwest corner of Elliot and Signal Butte Roads, south of the Apple data center, but in February it resubmitted the plan for Gateway East. 

Bible-hiding lawmaker should be punished

BY JD HAYWORTH Tribune Columnist

If novelist Erle Stanley Gardner still dwelt among us, he might have entitled this infamous and idiotic incident “The Case of the Kleptomaniac Cleric.”

Or perhaps he would have named this shameful saga “The Case of the Purloining Politician.”

But the culprit involved would no doubt insist that it should be called “The Case of the Playful Presbyterian.”

“Perry Mason,” it ain’t. Instead, it is another real-life escapade from the Arizona Legislature.

Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D-Tuc-

son) took it upon herself—on no less than three occasions—to take two copies of the Bible, long available to legislators in the Members Lounge, and hide them from her colleagues.

Adding to the irony and the infamy of this story is the fact that Rep. Stahl Hamilton is an ordained Presbyterian minister, who received her Masters of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

You just can’t make this stuff up…and yet, stories like this seem to emanate from 1700 West Washington St. in Phoenix with predictable regularity. It is not an institutional failing.

Instead, as the Good Book itself explains, it is both individual and universal.

Beyond the Holy Writ itself, there is nothing sacred about this bizarre tale. Yet it does affirm this basic truth found in scripture—specifically, from the Apostle Paul’s inspired letter to fellow believers in Rome: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

But Paul’s accurate assessment of the “human condition”— and God’s eternal gift of Grace for those who believe—do not excuse Stahl Hamilton from earthly consequences.

And as this column is being written, those consequences apparently remain undetermined.

Stahl Hamilton’s role in “Biblegate” is undisputed. Video from a hidden camera caught her in the act of hiding Holy Scripture— not hiding those words in her heart, as the Psalmist commands.

Moreover, she chose to flee from a Phoenix TV reporter when he obtained the video and confronted her about her conduct.

Only later did she offer a lame rationalization to the reporter. “Just a playful commentary on the separation of church and state.”

Playful? Please. Inaccurate? Indubitably. Mistaken? Most assuredly.

As noted before in this space, the phrase “separation of church and state” appears nowhere in the Constitution.

It first appeared in a letter from President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptists. Jefferson employed it to describe a wall protecting re-

ligion from the state.

Only later did leftists twist it into the dubious interpretation that it somehow “protects” the state from religion.

But that was Stahl Hamilton’s story and she was sticking to it.

When she took to the House floor to make her apology, it included this inane utterance: “I acknowledge that a conversation about church and state should have began [sic] with a conversation. And for that, I apologize.”

Perhaps in view of her own conduct, she should also apologize for filing an ethics complaint against ex-state Rep. Liz Harris (R-Chandler).

After all, in her complaint, Stahl Hamilton claimed that Harris had made Arizona a “national joke.”

Et tu, Stephanie?

Recall that former Harris was expelled for her invitation to a committee witness who made scandalous claims about the Democrats who now occupy Arizona’s highest offices…and also about the Republican House Speaker.

The witness made those comments, not Harris. Yet Harris was held personally accountable and thrown out of the House.

Why should Stahl Hamilton, who is directly responsible for this latest episode attracting the “national spotlight of shame” upon the Arizona Legislature, escape the same fate?

That would bring a fitting conclusion to “The Case of the Irreverent Reverend.” 

How to get a letter published

E-mail: pmaryniak@timeslocalmedia.com

Queen Creek Tribune welcomes letters that express readers’ opinion on current topics. Letters must include the writer’s full name, address (including city) and telephone number. Queen Creek Tribune will print the writer’s name and city of residence only. Letters without the requisite identifying information will not be published. Letters are published in the order received, and they are subject to editing. Queen Creek Tribune will not publish consumer complaints, form letters, clippings from other publications or poetry. Letters’ authors, not Queen Creek Tribune, are responsible for the “facts” presented in letters.

Casteel hires Overhiser as next wrestling coach

BY ZACH ALVIRA Tribune Sports Editor

Jimmy Overhiser is used to a challenge.

Growing up in New York, he was one of the top wrestlers in the state in high school, where he won a state title and was named National Prep All-American. He also helped elevate his team to become the top wrestling program in the nation.

He battled through injuries throughout his college career but used those to find his way into coaching at the college level. But now, he’s ready to run his own program.

And he just so happens to be filling the shoes of one of the state’s best at Casteel High School.

“I wanted to go to a place that wanted to win,” Overhiser said. “The foundation is set (at Casteel). They have an established team with good culture. The things that need to be done to be successful are already there. I love that it’s ready to go.”

Overhiser’s impressive high school resume as a competitor, along with his high GPA, helped him earn a scholarship to continue his wrestling career at Cornell.

But it was there he began to suffer from injuries, including an ACL tear his senior year that virtually ended his wrestling career.

“My competitive experience was a little different than most,” Overhiser said. “I competed extensively my redshirt year but that’s about it. I think that’s where my passion for coaching comes from. As a competitor, I failed.”

Overhiser built relationships during his time at Cornell and while dealing with injuries that kept him away from the mat. He began running camps, clinics and helping out at local high schools. He eventually joined the staff at Reinhardt University before making his way to Wisconsin-Whitewater and eventually, Army West Point.

As a coach, he helped produce two national champions, three All-Americans and 17 national qualifiers. He also spent time as the Director of Operations for the Califor-

Jimmy Overhiser, who previously coached at the Division I college level, has been hired to take over the Casteel High School wrestling program after former coach Bob Callison announced his resignation in March. (Courtesy Jimmy Overhiser)

nia Olympic Regional Training Center.

Now he aims to bring that experience to Casteel.

“I think it’s important to remember the things that are important to us as athletes and be able to instill those as coaches,” Overhiser said. “When someone tells me, ‘Hey, this is my goal, to reach the Division I level,’ or whatever it is, adjust the training accordingly.

“If that’s your goal, here’s what it takes.”

Overhiser knows the caliber of program Casteel is. The program hired former coach Bob Callison away from Mountain View in 2016.

It was widely received as a home-run hire for the Colts, which were a new program at the time. Callison had already established himself as one of the top coaches in the state, winning back-to-back state titles in 2014 and 2015 before placing third in his final season with the Toros.

He was in the midst of building a dynasty at Mountain View, one that began 11 years before his departure to Casteel.

Callison’s expertise in wrestling carried over to the Colts’ program. In just his second season he produced the program’s first state champion. In 2018, he was inducted into the Arizona High School Coaches Hall of Fame for his work in both wrestling and football.

Following his induction, he went on to produce several more state champions at Casteel during his tenure. He also led the Colts to back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022.

This past season Casteel placed fifth overall. It was the program’s first season at the Division I level. Callison announced his resignation in March.

“There are things that I plan on changing here and there,” Overhiser said. “But I describe it in a way where coach Callison has built an amazing house. I plan on redecorating a little, but that’s all it really needs.”

Overhiser is still in the process of work-

ing out a timeline to make his move to the Valley permanent. For now, he remains at West Point.

He hopes to make it out to Casteel for a few weekends and settle somewhere in the Valley come the summer. That’s when he also plans to bring his family, too.

Overhiser knows the pressure that comes with taking over a program that has become accustomed to success in short order. But like he did during his own wrestling career and coaching at the Division I college level, he embraces the challenge and is excited for the opportunity to begin making his mark on the Casteel program.

“High school kids, their level of excitement for the sport is on another level because they have so much ahead of them,” Overhiser said. “They’re all chasing something, and they all have a goal. The level of excitement they have is unmatched and I’m really excited to experience that again.” 

Overhiser, “right,” brings extensive experience to the Casteel program. He was a state champion wrestler in high school before competing at Cornell and becoming a Division I coach. His most recent job was at Army West Point as an assistant. (Courtesy Jimmy Overhiser)

Limelight presents ‘High School Musical’ sequel

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Tribune Arts Editor

As report cards begin to be filled out and children plot summer plans, nearly 30 East Valley thespians are winding up the school year by taking part in Limelight Performing Arts production of “High School Musical 2 JR.”

The play follows a group of high schoolers preparing for some fun in the sun during summer break. Once the characters realize that they are low on cash, they end up getting jobs to pay for that fun.

The plot thickens when one of the main characters, Troy Bolton, begins working at a ritzy resort owned by the family of the Sharpay Evans, who hires him with an ulterior motive in mind.

When the Limelight cast first learned that the Gilbert theater company was presenting the second installment in the “High School Musical” trilogy, they leapt at the chance to audition.

“I’ve seen ‘High School Musical 2’ so

Staff Photographer.

many times … it’s about a bunch of friends who go through fights but are still like friends in the end and then there’s romance and then there’s singing and danc-

ing and it’s just everything you could ever want,” said Daisy Cuddihy, 13, of Chandler, who plays the role of Zeke Baylor in the play.

Some cast members, including like Addison Roundy, 13, of Gilbert, had been begging director Emma England for years to put on the show.

Now, Addison not only is seeing her wish come true but also has landed her biggest role yet as Gabriella Montez, Bolton’s love interest.

“I’ve been begging (England) to do ‘High School Musical’ and when she finally did it ,I said ‘I’ve got to audition.’ And I wanted to get a bigger role this time. That was when I had to get realistic about my comfort zone,” Addison explained.

Others fit naturally into the cast, such as Mesa’s Cannon Williams, 12, who plays Bolton.

Cannon had starred in the Limelight rendition of another hit Disney film, “The Lion King,” and got too caught up in that performance to realize that the nonprofit performing arts program had opened up casting for “High School Musical 2 JR.”

‘Unwanted Man’ Aaron Watson returns to Mesa

BY JOSH ORTEGA GetOut Staff Writer

For 25 years, country singer Aaron Watson has toured and he’s not letting surgery on his voice slow him down.

Last summer, the 45-year-old Texas native spent four months recovering from an operation on his vocal cords.

From surviving the lows of the COVID-19 pandemic to the highs of touring again at places like Mesa’s Denim & Diamonds on Friday, May 12, Watson said he just keeps putting one foot in front of the other.

“It feels great to be back,” Watson said. “We’ve had a lot of time to work on the show, and I feel like we’re back better than ever.”

Fans didn’t miss a second of his voice

while he recovered, thanks to the release of his 18th and newest album “Unwanted Man” last June 2022, with three more on the way.

Since 1999, Watson has made a name for himself as an independent country artist with only songs he writes himself and no corporate backers.

That has translated to success in the form of reaching the Top 10 of Billboard’s Country Album chart five times.

He made history as the first independen, male country artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart with his 10th studio album “The Underdog” in 2015.

While critics could point to other country artists who walk into Nashville and become massive brands that can

Kariah Thurston of Queen Creek, center, plays Peaches in Limelight Performing Arts’ production of “High School Musical 2 JR.” (David Minton/GetOut

Country country sensation Aaron Watson will strut into Denim & Diamonds in Mesa Friday, May,12

Once he found out, show programmers realized he was perfect for the role of playing the popular, ultimate cool guy, when he nonchalantly responded “Oh, that’s cool” when he heard the news about the play.

Williams eventually auditioned for the role and after getting it, didn’t have much time to celebrate as he only had just over a handful of weeks to learn his lines, attend two rehearsals a week and juggle the other challenges, like school work, that the rest of the cast had to manage.

Though the extracurricular activity of community theater can be time-consuming, the show has generate a tight bond among the cast.

Their camaraderie has created fond memories during the buildup to the show, which officially opened last Friday, May 5.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s been

from page 20

37,000 tickets in one day, Watson said he focuses on the longevity of his career and not the size of the venue he sells out.

“For me, I like the opportunity to play anything that I want to play,” Watson said.

Whether it’s 500 people in a small dance hall or a 50,000-seat rodeo, Watson said he loves both those experiences and doesn’t hold animosity for other artists have had bigger careers because that’s not his pursuit.

Besides, Watson said for every big name on a major label, there are hundreds of artists on that same label who didn’t have that kind of luck.

Instead, he looks to create “a very en-

so fun,” said Mesa’s Jovie Pond, 14, who is sharing the stage with Roundy as the two will alternate playing the role of Montez.

“It’s my first show here and I’ve made so many friends already and I just I love the environment that they create here,” Jovie said.

This has been especially remarkable to England especially since the cast “has a very wide age range.”

“But we’ve seen the older kids and the younger kids supporting each other and the older ones are embracing them and helping out which is nice,” England added.

The kids also see similarities between their characters and themselves as the rehearsals progressed.

“It’s my first time ever playing a male character – and it’s actually one of my first times that I will actually be acting onstage since I’m usually ensemble,” Daisy said.

“Playing a male is not super different, because my personality matches (my

ergetic honky-tonkin’ country show” that may occasionally lead to fan requests and throwing in covers of Merle Haggard, George Strait and Waylon Jennings.

It’s names like that Watson draws inspiration from.

He likes to remind people of Willie Nelson’s “Country Music Concert” — a live album recorded in 1966 over two nights at Panther Hall in Fort Worth, Texas.

Success for Nelson didn’t arrive until a decade later when became the “Red Headed Stranger” — his breakout album released in 1975.

“I do feel like the biggest moments of my career are in the future and it’s exciting,” Watson said.

When he’s not on the spending three

characters).”

Others have embraced the opportunity to escape reality by pretending to be someone else.

“When you’re onstage, you’re kind of like a different person – literally,” Jovie added. “There are so many stresses of like school and other things that when I’m onstage it makes me happy and I like being able to show people what I love and hopefully it (positively) affects others.”

In addition to putting on a fun and unforgettable performance during the show’s five remaining performances – which resume Tuesday, May 9 – England hopes to inspire a sense of confidence among her cast and audiences.

“I think my biggest thing is building confidence and being able to walk on that stage and walk off after performance feeling like you did amazing and you put your best foot forward,” she said.

to four days on the road opening for legendary country icons like Alan Jackson, Watson returns home to “middle-of-nowhere,” Texas, to his wife Kimberly and their three teenagers.

“There’s no reset in my mind,” Watson said. “I’m a dad by day, honky-tonk-er by night.”

Whether he needs to mow the yard, take out the trash or repair the swimming pool filter, Watson takes to his responsibilities without skipping a beat.

Perhaps that comes from his humble upbringing by a father who worked as a custodian and mother who worked as a schoolteacher.

“I tell people what I don’t have in talent, I make up for with heart and hustle,”

The cast also includes Canon Williams, Edward Oster, Oliver Manwaring, Rachel Buckwalter, Suzie Peifer, Elaenor Boyle, Maeli Kemp, Kaylee Forth, Kariah Thurston, Elianna Gonzalez, Eden Lee, Gabriela Montufar, Charli Stahlecker, Kynzli Parks, Chase Wildung, Dominic Montufar, Zachary Orr, Mackenna Grover, Emma Kleniewski, Piper Perea, Eva Orbegozo, Krysta Wildung, Kali Kappes, Lucy Peifer and Scarlett Cullimore. 

If You Go...

What: Limelight Performing Arts presents: “High School Musical 2 Jr.”

Where: Limelight Performing Arts is located at 511 W. Guadalupe Road, Suite 12, Gilbert

When: 7 p.m. May 9; 7 p.m. May 12 and 19; 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., May 20

Cost: Tickets start at $15

Info: limelight.ticketleap.com

Watson said.

Whatever the future holds, Watson said he will sleep well simply knowing he gave his best effort on stage making music that makes people happy.

“I promise we’re not going to disappoint, that’s a fact,” Watson said. “We’re going to bring it.” 

If you go ...

What: Aaron Watson

When: 6 p.m. Friday, May 12

Where: Denim & Diamonds, 7336 E. Main Street, Mesa

Cost: Tickets start at $20  Info: aaronwatson.com/tour

HIRING NOW FOR:

• General Laborers

• Shipping & Inventory Crane Operators

• Maintenance Mechanics/ Electricians

• Production Operators And more!

Two Day Hiring Event

When: Friday, May 19; 9 am - 2 pm Saturday, May 20; 8 am - 1 pm

Where: CMC Steel Arizona 11444 E Germann Rd. Mesa, AZ 85212

CMC Steel Arizona has proudly been making the steel that builds America since 2009.

Come tour our facility and learn about our openings and potentially receive an on-thespot offer! At CMC, we offer great benefits and provide all necessary training and certifications.