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Graffiti Program
Marked For Success
 Goal is removal of graffiti within 3
days
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
Employees with the City’s
Public Works Department’s
Pilot Graffiti Program have
spent 500 hours monitoring
the city’s arterial streets, alleys,
ditches, culverts and
washes searching for tagging
in the last 10 months. So far,
the program has been dubbed
a success.
“We’ve had great feedback
from the citizens that they’ve
been happy with the removal
of the graffiti in a timely manner,”
said Heather Hodgman,
Public Works management
assistant.
“I think our city looks great.
We’re getting out there and
noticing the graffiti and getting
it covered up as soon as
possible.”
Since the program began
July 24, 2008, 87 locations
have been hit with graffiti.
There is one full-time staff member,
Ruben Diaz, assigned
to the program, but the
police department, code compliance
and public works collaborate
to rid the city of the
problem.
“We are striving for the goal
of removing graffiti from
90 percent of property owners
within three days,” said
Hodgman, who discussed
the topic at the Monday, May
18, City Council work session.
“We are currently at a
9.3-day average turnaround
which includes holidays and
weekends.”
According to Hodgman,
nine locations refused city
assistance.
See
A-1 and see
Graffiti,
A-5
Holiday DUI Patrol
 Sheriff’s
task force to focus on folks returning
from lake
The Pinal County Sheriff’s
Office, working in cooperation
with the Governor’s Office
of Highway Safety, will
host a Pinal County DUI Task
Force from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Monday, May 25, in conjunction
with the Memorial Day
holiday. The focus for this
detail will be those returning
from Memorial Day festivities
at the lake, in the Apache
Junction area.
The Pinal County DUI Task
force consists of law enforcement
officers from agencies
throughout Pinal County. The
participating officers and their
agencies have joined forces
and committed to removing
impaired drivers from the
roadways and thereby ensuring safer
roads for the motoring public.
The law enforcement officers
assigned to the Pinal County
DUI Task Force will saturate
the Apache Junction area and
arrest those who operate their
vehicles while impaired following
their celebration of
Memorial Day.
Agencies participating in the
Pinal County DUI Task Force
include the Sheriff’s Office,
Arizona Department of
Public Safety, Casa Grande,
Gila River, Apache Junction,
Coolidge, Florence, Eloy,
Ak-Chin and Maricopa Police
Departments.
Police Tear Gas
Barricaded Man
 By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
An Apache Junction man
was arrested Monday, May
18, after leading police on
a chase that eventually led
to a five-hour standoff in an
Apache Junction neighborhood,
according to the Pinal
County Sheriff’s Office.
Landon Ferguson, 26, of
Mesa, was initially pulled
over by a deputy for a routine
traffic stop for a missing license
plate at Pima and Ironwood
roads at 4 a.m., said Lt.
Tami Villar, sheriff’s office
spokeswoman. He was driving
a truck owned by 34-yearold
passenger Tige Pittman of
Apache Junction.
When the deputy returned to
his car, Ferguson and Pittman
fled in the truck.
A chase ensued, resulting in
a second deputy putting stop
sticks in the road and deflating
the truck’s tires. Ferguson lost
control near 25th Street and
Mariposa, according to Villar,
and crashed into a wall.
The duo fled on foot to the
Apache Junction home of
Pittman’s parents, Villar said.
Tige Pittman
Ferguson gave up peacefully
to Pinal County sheriff’s
deputies.
After attempting to talk
Pittman out of the house, the
sheriff’s SWAT team used a
robot to find him within the
house. Then, they used several
canisters of tear gas to
force him out.
Ferguson is charged with
unlawful flight from law
enforcement, possession of
drugs, and two counts of
criminal damage.
Pittman faces charges of
drug possession and false
reporting of an emergency to
the police department.
State Track Wrap Up
 More controversy leaves AJHS boys 4x800
relay out of State just like the girls
were
By Chuck Baker
The News
A second relay team from
Apache Junction was kept
out of the 4A-I State Track
and Field Championships
held May 13 and 16, making
it four separate events
where AJHS runners did
not receive the at-large
bids they deserved.
The AJHS boys 4x800
meter relay squad of Colt
Grandstaff, Armando Zuniga,
Andrew Frost and
Zane Morgan joined the
AJHS girls 4x800 relay
team which was also kept
from competing at State
even though both teams
had earned the right to
compete based on their
performance at the Statequalifying
Desert Sky
Region Meet held May 3
and 5 at Phoenix Shadow
Mountain High School.
Instead, the boys relay
team from Scottsdale
Saguaro received the atlarge
bid and advanced to
the State Championships,
even though they finished
behind the AJHS foursome
at the region meet.
The relay team from
Apache Junction had finished
6th at the region meet
with a time of 8:30.63. The
team from Saguaro ran 7th
at the region meet with a
time of 8:54.50, and received
the at-large bid to
State. At the State Championships,
the Saguaro squad
ran 14th overall with a time
of 8:42.41.
The way qualifying for
the State Championships
is suppose to work is the
top three finishers in each
event from all five 4A-I regions
from across the State
receive automatic bids to
State. Because their are
eighteen spots available at
State, three at-large bids
are awarded based on the
fastest times turned in at the
region meets. As it turned
out in this case, all three
of those at-large bids went
to teams from the Desert
Sky Region Meet, Phoenix
Shadow Mountain, who
ran fourth, Paradise Valley,
who ran fifth, and Saguaro,
who ran seventh.
See
B-1 and see
State,
B-6
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