Council Directs Staff To Define ‘Front Yard’
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- The Apache Junction City Council voted to direct staff to create a definition of a front yard last week.
   During its Tuesday, May 20, 2008, meeting in council chambers, Councilman Chip Wilson said, “This has come to light because there is some restriction of front-yard usages. If the house is set all the way back — 100 feet, 150 feet, even as far as 200 feet back from the property — it very limits what their abilities can be used.”
   Wilson said he would like to work with city staff to come up with a definition of a front yard. Vice Mayor R.E. Eck suggested that it would help homeowners as well as those who enforce city codes.
   City Councilman Rick Dietz commented he thought the front yard was always the address side of the house. City Councilman Joe Severs and Eck answered it’s not that easy.
   “That’s what I thought too, until you see houses sitting sideways,” Severs said.
In a show of solidarity, Severs added, “I and we have taken a lot of criticism lately for wasting time on ridiculous items like front yards. (But) the public needs to know there are hundreds of people in the community who are affected by the lack of clear definition of what our front yards are. We’re not doing this to be wasting time or nitpicking or helping small groups of people. This is something that needs to be corrected because it does affect a major portion of our population. Thank you Chip for working on this.”

See A-1

Recall Petitions Rejected
Recall paperwork on Severs not properly prepared
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- Petitions to recall City Councilman Joe Severs were rejected last week according to a May 19 letter from City Clerk Kathy Connelly. The letter said the petitions lacked a petition serial number in the lower right-hand corner of each side.
   In the letter to petitioner Sharon Diehl, Connelly said the number placed on the lower right-hand corner of the Affidavit of Circulator side of each signature sheet is not the assigned serial number as required under Arizona Revised Statute 19-202.01 (B) or by the Application for Recall Petition Serial Number filed with her office on Jan. 14, 2008, and referenced in her confirmation letter of Jan. 16, 2008.
   According to the statute, Connelly must remove the pages that do not carry the assigned serial number. In this case, all 23 pages were removed, Connelly said in the letter.
   “I’m not exactly sure what was wrong with it,” Diehl said in a brief phone interview Friday. “There is some confusion and I did call the secretary of state’s office. I would have to lay the blame on me but I’m not saying it’s the serial number.”
   Attached to the letter from Connelly were copies of the state laws, Diehl’s Application for Recall Petition Serial Number and Connelly’s confirmation letter dated Jan. 16, 2008, which Diehl received on Jan. 22, 2008.

See A-1 and See Recall A-3

AJ 4th Grader Wins NAU’s ‘Moral Courage Award’
Katy Pederson intervened in campus bullying incident
By Meghan McCoy
The News
A fourth grade student at Gold Canyon Elementary School (GCES) was one of three Arizona individuals who received the Moral Courage Award last month from the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University (NAU), which was shown off at the Apache Junction Unified School District board meeting on May 13, 2008.
   Katy Pederson, daughter of Celita and Steve Pederson, demonstrated to fellow students and staff what kind of moral courage she had when she helped a special needs student escape from being bullied. The 10-year-old said she witnessed other students teasing and bullying a special needs student and asked them to stop. When they continued she reminded them about the Anti-Bullying Program GCES has been applying for the past four years, which still did provide her with the results she was looking for.
   Pederson said she then decided to tell an adult about the situation. Pederson said she decided to step in and help the student because bullying is just not right. “You should treat people how you want to be treated and you should not hurt anyone else’s feelings,” she said. “It is better to help than harm people.”
   GCES Counselor and Academic Coach Linda Donnelly received an email regarding the Moral Courage Award and immediately thought of one student who demonstrated an amazing amount of moral courage when she was a 2nd grade student.
   Donnelly said what Katy did for another student was extremely remarkable and she is very proud of her. “She is a great example of how we want our students to act,” she said.

See A-1 and See Courage Award A-3

A.J. Little League All Stars Gearing Up For District
By Chuck Baker
The News

Apache Junction Little League recently wrapped up its 2008 regular season which means that All Star games in both baseball and softball divisions will be forthcoming.
   According to the Arizona District 7 Little League website (www.az7littleleague.org), the first post season action will be the newly instituted District 7 “Majors” Tournament of Champions to be played June 6-11 at Pollack Field, located at Rhodes Junior High School, 1860 South Longmore, in Mesa. The Tournament of Champions is designed to allow the top teams from all of the District 7 leagues the chance to advance to a mini-district tournament before All Star games begin.
   The Apache Junction Majors baseball team consisting of 11 and 12-year-olds will play their first TOC game on June 9th at 6:30 p.m. and will take on the winner of a June 6 game between Mesa Western and Mesa Southern.
   As for the District 7 Little League All Star Tournaments, the Minors (9 and 10-year-olds) baseball and softball divisions will be the first to begin All Star play on June 16 at Countryside Park in Mesa. The 10 and 11-year-old division in baseball will start up All Star play on June 24, also at Countryside Park, Majors and Juniors (13 to 15-year-olds) baseball divisions are both schedule to start June 30 – the Majors at Quail Run Park in Mesa, the Juniors at Gene Autry Park in Mesa – and the Majors and Juniors softball All Stars begin District 7 Tournament play July 7 at Quail Run Park.

See C-1 and see All Stars, C-3