By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
Shelly Donnelly and Sue Shaffer are on a mission.
   They have dedicated their time to creating signs that they hope will deter visitors to the Sonoran Desert from breaking the law with activities such as dumping, off-road traveling and target shooting.
   “It’s a big problem, especially when you’re horseback riding,” said Donnelly, who owns Don Donnelly’s D-Spur Ranch, 15371 Ojo Road, Gold Canyon. “You don’t want to get shot at.”
   Donnelly has seen washing machines, computers and television sets dumped on the State Land that surrounds her 5,800-acre property.
   “They leave all the stuff they bring,” Donnelly said. “They shoot up the cactus. They shoot up the signs. There’s a lot of partiers and campers. Some of our people have had a bullet whiz overhead.
   “I’ve had the sheriff out here several times.”
Shaffer, who boards her horse with Donnelly in the winter, said the gunshots can sometimes scare the horses.
   “For horse people who may not be aware, sometimes the horses can react badly,” Shaffer said. “We’ve heard stories of riders coming off their horses because the horses were spooked with the gunfire.

See A-1 and see Desert, A-3

Arizona Water Co. Files For Rate Hike
Average 21% increase requested—Hearing set for 9:30 a.m. Monday, August 31
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
Arizona Water Co. has filed an application with the Arizona Corporation Commission to raise its rates about 21 percent.
   The ACC will hold a hearing on the matter at 9:30 a.m. Monday, August 31, at the commission’s offices, hearing room No. 1, 1200 W. Washington St., Phoenix.
   For its Superstition water system, the average customer with a 5/8- x 3/4-inch meter in Apache Junction would experience an increase of $7.05 or 20.80 percent per month, based on the average usage of 7,438 gallons.
   “The company has made major investments in new plant and experienced significant increases in its operating expenses since its last rate case,” said Joseph D. Harris, vice president and treasurer of Arizona Water Co.
   “The last general rate in crease was effective in early 2004 and was based on investment and operating expenses as of the end of 2001.”
   With the rate application, the water company requested in September an overall companywide increase in base revenues of $15,441,290 or 35.61 percent. Arizona Water Co. has various surcharges in effect which collectively represent $4,962,997 in annual revenues. These surcharges will be eliminated or resent to zero as a result of this proceeding, thereby reducing the actual increase over current revenues proposed by the water company to $10,478,293 or 24.16 percent.

See A-1

Council To Mull Equine Boarding
Wilson to ask for delay in June 16 vote—will be out of town
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
The City Council will hold a public hearing about proposed changes to the City’s equine regulations, the majority of which concern commercial horse boarding, during its 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, meeting.
   It arrives on the city councilmember's’ agenda after lengthy discussion and public hearings at the hands of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
   Councilman Chip Wilson, who also serves as the president of the Arizona State Horsemen’s Association, initiated the conversation.
   “It traces back, basically, three years ago this July or August time frame,” Wilson said. “It was before I ran for City Council.”
   Wilson explained he brought up the subject of equine regulations over citations for two horse boarding facilities. City officials, he said, claimed the owners were using their facilities to store trailers.
   “They were claiming they were becoming a storage lot,” said Wilson, who is also a member of the Superstition Horsemen’s Association.
   “What we did was we got together the horse-boarding owners and got them to speak out as to what they would like to see written down as to how they can operate their businesses,” he added.
   Horse boarding owners discussed previous citations they had received. For example, City officials, he said, wanted to require these facilities to have a special use permit when Girl Scout troops traveled to the boarding facilities because they were not boarding horses.

See A-1 and see Council, A-5

Prospectors Tip Off Summer Hoops
By Chuck Baker
The News
The Prospector basketball squad is in full swing in the Mesa Skyline Summer League playing three games this past Wednesday, including a splitsquad double dipper that may have left both teams short-handed.
   After taking on Tempe with a full roster in the early game scheduled for 5:00 p.m. and because a team did not show up for the 7:00 p.m. games, Apache Junction split up into two separate squads, one playing against Skyline in the regularly scheduled 7:00 p.m., the other taking on the same Tempe team by replacing the school that didn’t show up.
   Apache Junction fielded a team of seven players against Skyline and after playing the Coyotes close in the first half, trailing by just six, 30-24, starting center Lawrence Johnson scored his first bucket of the game just seconds into the second half but then went down an ankle injury on the defensive side of the court and sat out all but the final two minutes of the second half.
   That injury to Johnson left squad number one with just six available players and no center on the court. As a result, the Prospectors struggled inside the paint and rebounding in the second half as Skyline pulled away for a 62-41 victory.
   Apache Junction’s backup center, Paul Miles, was on the other court playing Tempe in a 7:00 p.m. along with Armando Zuniga, T.J. Johnson, Richie Pagels, Jared Kraps and Jeremy Abbatacola. This squad, minus the starting backcourt of Colt Grandstaff and Mike Cano who were playing the Skyline game, struggled against Tempe’s quickness and trapping defense and lost their game 71-29.

See B-1 and see Hoops, B-6

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