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Assault Claim Against
AJPD Employee Unfounded
 Newly hired police captain resigns
within 5 months
By Jill Jones
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- An investigation
into an alleged assault involving
the claimant in a sexual
harassment allegation leveled
against Apache Junction Police
Department (AJPD) Chief Glenn
Walp is unfounded, according to
the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office
(PCSO).
Jenny Lewis, a 39-year-old AJPD
administrative assistant of Hispanic
descent, recently reclassified
as a crime analyst technician,
claimed she was personally assaulted
by Records Clerk Sharon
Aldaco on May 17, 2007 in retaliation
for Lewis’ filing an Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint
against Aldaco,
in addition to other EEOC complaints
Lewis filed involving other
employees.
Lewis claims she has faced workplace
retaliation and harassment
from employees and management
after leveling a sexual harassment
complaint against Walp in March
2007. Walp’s actions, though
deemed inappropriate, were found
to be innocent based on the situation
and his former role as a minister,
according to an investigation
conducted by the Law Office of
Ford and Harrison.
See
A-1
and see AJPD ,
A-5
RUCO Seeks Rehearing
On G.C. Sewer Rates
 Petition drive to protest rate increase
being mounted
By Jill Jones
The News
The Residential Utility Consumer
Office (RUCO), which represents
residential utility ratepayer’s
interests
in rate proceedings before the
Arizona Corporation Commission
(ACC), is requesting a rehearing on
the 72.02 percent Gold Canyon
Sewer Company (GCSC) rate increase,
which the ACC approved
on June 28, 2007.
In its rehearing request submitted
on July 18, 2007, RUCO contends
the rate increase was “not reasonable,
nor fair to ratepayers under
the facts and circumstances of the
case” and further contends that the
decision “heavily favors the
company’s (GCSC) interests over
the interests of the ratepayers.”
The ACC denied GCSC’s request
for a 102 percent rate increase but
allowed a 72.02 percent increase,
which puts the rates of GCSC at one
of the highest in the state at $60.37
per month for single family residences,
up from the previous
monthly rate of $35.07. The ACC did
however impose a fine on the
GCSC of $15,000 due to the fact that
a GCSC official previously told
ratepayers that rates would not increase
as a result of the costs associated
with the improvements to
the facility. But, instead of that
$15,000 being used to offset costs
to ratepayers as both GCSC and
RUCO suggested, the commission
determined that the fine would be
paid into a state fund.
See
A-1
and see Sewer ,
A-5
AJPD Graduates Four
Recruits
 New officers will complete on-the-job
training by mid-October
By Sarah Owen
The News
APACHE JUNCTION – The
Apache Junction Police Department
added four new members to
their staff on July 13, 2007. Police
academy graduates Seth Painter,
Justin Griffith, Joseph Denman and
Gregg Janke are the newest officers
in AJPD’s Patrol Division.
The academy graduates will go
through an extensive on-the-job
training program, working alongside
tenured officers for the next 12
weeks. After completing the training
program, the recruits will be assigned
to various areas within in
the Patrol Division.
The cadets, who graduated from
the Mesa Police Department Academy,
reflect a policy change at
AJPD. In the past, police recruits
were sent to the Central Arizona
Regional Law Officers Training
Academy (CARLOTA). However,
Commander Jay Swart says the
department is now sending recruits
to “any academy that’s open,” in
an effort to speed up the training
process for the understaffed department.
CARLOTA and other academies
often have waiting lists, which force
police departments to postpone
training for new hires. AJPD’s new
plan enables recruits to immediately
complete training at whichever
academy is available, expediting the
training process and getting officers
on the streets more quickly.
Swart says the department is still
understaffed and is actively recruiting
to fill at least four more vacancies.
CHEER Camp
 AJHS cheerleaders to head to NAU camp
this weekend
By Chuck Baker
The News
Apache Junction High School
cheer coaches, mother and
daughter, Amy and Holly Dalby,
and members of the AJHS varsity
cheer squad conducted their
annual Summer Cheer Camp
AJHS cheerleaders to head to NAU camp
this weekend
this past week inside the south
campus gymnasium. The high
spirited and enthusiastic camp
for girls in the first through fifth
grades was cosponsored by the
Apache Junction Parks and Recreation
Department and was a
huge success.
The young girls learned various
routines, chants, cheers and
maneuvers such as tumbling,
cartwheels and handstands and
then performed for parents and
family members.
The cheer program under the
leadership of the Dalbys is ready for
the 2007 sports seasons.
The varsity squad is sixteen
members strong for the
upcoming season, the junior varsity
squad has eleven members
and for the first time in several
years, AJHS will also field a
freshmen cheer squad.
See
C-1
and see CHEER ,
C-6
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