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Paulson Pleads Not
Guilty In Stabbing
 Pre-trial exam set for 17 year-old on
Aug. 19
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
FLORENCE- Seventeen-year-old David
Paulson, accused of killing a fellow
Apache
Junction teen, pleaded not guilty to one
charge
of first degree murder with
premeditation at
his arraignment Tuesday, July 8, 2008,
in Pinal
County Superior Court.
Paulson, who is being held in Florence
without
bond, appeared in court with his lawyer
Michael
Villarreal. He is next scheduled to
appear
in court at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19,
for a
pre-trial exam.
On Monday, July 7, he was extradited
from
Salt Lake City, Utah, to Florence
accompanied
by Pinal County deputies.
Paulson is accused of stabbing
17-year-old
Randall Davis-Mercier 20 times in the
chest
and leg on Friday, June 20, according to
Apache
Junction Police Department (AJPD)
Captain
Tom Kelly.
The attack, which began in Gold Canyon
and
ended in the 1000 block of North
Tomahawk
Road, occurred between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.
June
20. Authorities suspect that the attack
was the
result of jealousy between two boys over
one
girl, Kelly said.
The attack took place after Paulson, 17,
allegedly
told Meaghan Rice, 16, that he was going
to kill Mercier, Kelly explained.
Rice was allegedly directed by Paulson
to pick up Mercier,
while Paulson hid in the back seat of a
crew cab
truck under a blanket. Paulson allegedly
waited for Rice
to utter a code word before he lunged
from the back seat stabbing Mercier.
Mercier was able to escape from the
truck after
he was attacked. He staggered down North
Tomahawk Road and collapsed in a ditch
from
loss of blood, according to Kelly.
See
A-1
School & Fire Boards
OK ‘08-’09 Budgets
Fire District Budget $21.5M
Tax rate
reduced from $2.285 to $2
APACHE
JUNCTION- Besides the general
monthly business of the Apache
Junction Fire Board, a public
hearing on the budget was held
last week as
required by state statutes after
the proposed new budget had been
advertised
for 30 days. There were no
members of the general public
who attended last
week’s meeting to speak about
the budget.
By a unanimous 5-0 vote, the fire board adopted the fiscal year
2008/2009
budget as presented.
The total budget for fiscal year 08/09 is $21,527,828.78, and
breaks down
as follows:
-
Maintenance & Operating
Funds - $14,465,207: These
funds include all
personnel, program,
readiness and
equipment-related costs.
Funds represent
the costs of providing
emergency services for the
community. This also
includes
financial reserves as
recommended by an
independent auditor in order
to meet recommended
accounting standards. The
budget includes funds for
the addition of 12
firefighters to be hired
related to the opening of
Gold Canyon
Station 265.
- Capital
Project Funds - $754,300 has
been allocated for capital
projects for
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School Board OKs $54.8M
Total school
budget down by 5.5%APACHE
JUNCTION- A 2008-2009
Maintenance and Operation (M&O)
Budget of $33,834,460, down
$885,000 from last year, was
approved by
AJUSD Governing Board members at
a July 8, 2008, special meeting
following
a budget hearing. The entire
aggregate budget, including bond
building
fund monies, soft capital money
from state funding, food
service, federal
projects, etc., was $54,829, 320
down 5.5 percent from the
previous year.
The $885,000 in cuts had been made to the M&O budget in line with
this
being the first year of a
three-year override phasing out
process necessitated
when the Override Renewal
measure failed to get voter
approval in November
2007.
Associate Superintendent for Business Jim Lockwood told the board
that
the budget the state legislature
passed did not cut soft capital
funding which
pays for software, classroom
equipment, buses, etc., and that
provisions had
been made in the budget for
districts to resolve their
excess utilities problems
without Arizona school districts
having to come up with large
sums of
money to cover them out of their
own budgets.
That portion of the overall tax rate going to AJUSD schools should
be set in
the next week or two, according
to Lockwood. He said that he
expects the tax
rate will drop again this year
as it has each year for more
than 16 years. |
See
A-1 and see
Fire Budget
A-3
Vice Mayor Assaulted
At His Home
 Mesa man flees the scene— Incident not
connected to politics or recall effort
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- A
37-year-old Mesa man has
been arrested for assaulting
Vice Mayor R.E. Eck, 47, on
Thursday, July 10, 2008, at
the city official’s home leaving
him with a broken rib, as
well as a bruised abdomen
and ribs.
Vincent Carlos Sanchez was
scheduled to be arraigned
Friday, July 11, 2008, on two
felony charges of aggravated
assault and one count of
burglary in the incident that
started in Apache Junction at
11:40 a.m. and ended with a
standoff at Sanchez’s Mesa
home, police said. The attack
was unrelated to an ongoing
recall effort of Eck and four
other members of the Apache
Junction City Council.
Eck said he was watching
television when he heard a
truck quickly pull up in front
of his home. He exited the
home thinking it was a Federal
Express truck. Instead,
Sanchez confronted him
about what he believed was
the vice mayor’s involvement
in Sanchez’s divorce.
In an interview on Friday,
July 11, Eck, who, like Sanchez, is from
the small town
of Kearney in eastern Pinal
County, explained he last saw
the man a year ago before
Sanchez was jailed on domestic
violence charges.
Eck said the reunion on
Thursday quickly turned violent.
See
A-1 and see
Assault,
A-3
Majors Softball All
Stars Pick Up Tourney Win
 By Chuck Baker
The News
The Majors Softball All
Stars became the second
Apache Junction Little
League team to earn a victory
in its District 7 Tournament
when its defeated
Red Mountain National
15-6 in a game played
this past Monday at Quail
Run Park in Mesa.
The 11- and 12-year-old
girls from Apache Junction
led Red Mountain
just 7-6 before scoring
eight runs in the fifth inning
to ice the win.
Five All Stars from
Apache Junction Little
League competed in District
7 tournaments, going
a combined 3-17.
The only other All Star
team to pick up a tournament
win was the Juniors
Baseball All Stars
of 13 and 14 year olds,
who won two tournament
games and advanced to
the semifinals before losing
to Mesa North Central.
In the big win for the
Majors Softball All Stars,
Christina Duarte pitched
four innings of four-hit
ball and struck out eight
Red Mountain batters to
get the win. Duarte also
had a RBI triple and later
walked and scored.
Payton Swaim and
Georgie Stambaugh both
had a RBI singles, Jenna
Skinner walked twice
and scored a pair of runs
and Taylor Tinkham, Sky
Saathoff, Courtney Parker,
Brooklyn Tylicki and
Talon Welk all reached
base via a walk or hit
batsmen and scored.
See
C-1
and see All Stars,
page
C-6
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