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Animal Control Faces
Tough Choices
 Economic recession means 20% lower
budget for city department
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
Police Chief Jerald Monahan
admitted that managing the
Animal Control Unit can be a
heartbreaking experience.
“The reality is we operate
a shelter that has a certain
amount of space,” Monahan
said. “When that fills, then
decisions have to be made
about rescuing, transporting,
euthanizing and adopting. We
attempt to use all of those at
our disposal.
“But the reality for me is
the dollars are either there or
they’re not. So we do have to
manage within the budget that
we’re given. But there are a
lot of opportunities and a lot
of resources available to us to
deal with overcrowding. The
reality for us is we do euthanize.
In a perfect world, we
wouldn’t have to. But it’s not
a perfect world.”
Monahan explained that the
police department practices
euthanasia humanely.
“The City provides us the
materials to carry it out,” he
said. “Then we use an actual
pet mortuary that takes delivery
of those animals when
they are euthanized. We turn
those animals over to a pet
mortuary.”
Monahan, along with Cmdr.
Troy Mullender, who heads
up the Animal Control Unit,
was speaking in response to
a letter to the editor, “Money
vs. Pets,” that the Apache
Junction/Gold Canyon News
received and ran in the paper
the week of August 24. In the letter,
Monahan said, there
were a number of inaccuracies.
See
A-1
and see Animal
Control,
A-3
Police Seek Help In
Abuse Case
 Juvenile sexually abused near Southern
and Cortez
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
Apache Junction Police Department is
seeking
the public’s help in identifying a
sexual predator
who allegedly abused a female juvenile
in
the area of Southern Avenue and Cortez
Drive
on Thursday, August 20.
According to the complainant, the man
was
white, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, and
150 to 160
pounds. He wore a black hoodie,
light-colored
blue jeans and blue and white Nike gym
shoes.
The juvenile said the man then
immediately
ran away to an unknown location.
Anyone with information is requested to
contact
the Criminal Investigation Division and
ask for either Investigator Gary Vance
or Capt.
Tom Kelly at (480) 982-8260. Anyone
wanting
to provide anonymous information is
directed
to the Apache Junction Crime Information
line
at (480) 474-8585.
Council To Discuss
Equine Regulation
 Will hear presentation about RV camping
at boarding facilities
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
The Apache Junction City
Council will hear a presentation
regarding RV camping at
horse boarding facilities during
its 7 p.m. Monday, August
31, work session in chambers,
300 E. Superstition Blvd.
The City Council, on July
7, approved Ordinance No.
1343, amendments to Equine
Regulations, particularly focusing
on new rules for horse
boarding facilities.
The council chose to remove
a couple of proposed provisisions
from draft Ordinance
No. 1343, including the issue
of possibly allowing RV
camping at boarding facilities,
for separate discussion
and consideration.
“When it came to the City
Council meeting of July 7,
basically they approved everything
except they extracted
the section on RV camping
and extracted from it the section
that had to do with allowing
6-foot fences,” said Rudy
Esquivias, the City’s senior
planner.
“The portion on 6-foot
fences went back to P&Z
(Planning and Zoning Commission).
The council said,
‘With RV camping, bring that back to us
for a separate
discussion under a separate
ordinance number.’ So that’s
what we’re doing—we’re
taking the RV camping issue
back to them under further
discussion.”
See
A-1
and see City
Council,
A-3
Prospectors Roll,
41-12, In Season Opener
 By J.J. Digos
The News
With the off-season finally
over and many questions
waiting to be answered, the
Apache Junction Prospectors
varsity football team
took the field at home last
Friday night to open the
2009 season against Prescott
Valley Bradshaw Mountain.
Despite losing 2008 Desert
Sky Region “defensive
player of the year,” Rusty
Fernando, and current Arizona
State freshman safety
Shane McCullen from the
core of their defense from
last season, the Prospectors
answered most of their
defensive questions in their
first series with a trio of
strong defensive stops by
seniors Cy Maughmer and
Nate Scola, forcing a threeand-
out by the Bears from
Bradshaw Mountain.
On the ensuing punt, junior
wide receiver David
Fernando, (who scored 13
touchdowns last season on
the AJHS junior varsity
squad) returned the kick
47 yards to the end zone
for the first touchdown of
the season for the Prospectors.
Then, in their second
defensive series, senior cornerback
Kyrel Parker intercepted
a pass from the Bradshaw
Mountain quarterback
and brought it back 80 yards
for a score. Without an offensive
series in the first
quarter, the Prospectors led
by a score of 12-0.
See
page
B-1
S
and see A.J.,
B-6
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