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Council Discusses
Horse Regulation
 Governing body hears presentation about
RV camping at horse-boarding facilities
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
Will allowing RV parking on
2.5 acre horse boarding facility
sites constitute a breach of
low density zoning? That is
the question raised during the
Monday, August 31, Apache
Junction City Council work
session addressing the allowance
of RV parking on horse
boarding sites.
Previously, on July 7, 2009,
the City Council 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 the proposed
provisions from draft
Ordinance No. 1343, including
the issue of possibly allowing
RV camping at boarding
facilities, for separate
discussion and consideration.
According to Ordinance
1343, in order to have a commercial
horse boarding facility,
it the site must have be a minimum of
2.5 acres and in
a low density area.
On August 31, the council
heard a presentation from senior
planner Rudy Esquivias
about text amendment case,
AM-6-09, addressing the RV
camping issue. Afterward,
each councilmember spoke
with divergent viewpoints being
expressed.
To quell the controversy,
Vice Mayor R.E. Eck suggested
the City survey neighbors
of horse boarding facilities
to hear their thoughts on
RV camping.
“I don’t think we’re necessarily
getting all the input that
we should be getting,” Eck
said.
See
A-1
and see Horses,
A-5
AJFD Aids
California’s Wildfire Efforts
 3
AJ fire personnel sent to Sylmar
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
On Friday, August 28, the
Apache Junction Fire District
sent three fire personnel and
a fire truck to the California
wildfires that have ravaged a
national forest and dozens of
homes north of Los Angeles.
Those who made the trek
are Engine Boss Capt. Brian
Logsdon, Engineer Capt. Jeff
Cranmer and Firefighter Ruben
Briones.
“We received a request from
the State Land Department
for a type three engine (Brush
Truck) through the Central
Arizona Wildland Response
Team (CAWRT),” said
Apache Junction Fire District Public
Information Officer
Dave Montgomery.
“CAWRT is the group of fire
entities that have wildland
resources and can respond to
these types of fires. Requests
are on a rotational basis.”
Brush 261 (squad 262) was
sent to Sylmar, Calif., north
of Los Angeles, for up to a
21-day deployment, he said.
“They’re doing structural
protection, basic protection
of structures,” said Battalion
Chief Mike Farber.
“They’re protecting the
houses there and as they first
pulled in right away a spark
landed on a rain gutter. There
were some leaves in the gutter
and it caught the roof on
fire. That’s pretty much what
they were doing.”
Farber said he spoke to the
trio on Tuesday, September 1,
and they were digging lines
and ridding the area of brush.
The fire was caused by arson,
a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman
said Thursday.
According to CNN, a homicide
investigation has been
initiated by the Los Angeles
County Sheriff’s Department
into the deaths of two firefighters
as a result of the Station
fire, said spokeswoman
Rita Wears. The firefighters
died Sunday, August 30, in a
vehicle crash while trying to
escape fast-moving flames.
The fire was at 38 percent
containment Thursday, September
3.
Woman Charged In AJ
Fraud
 Pruitt arrested on 26 counts
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
A 33-year-old Mesa woman
was arrested Saturday, August
15, on 26 counts of fraud,
concluding a short investigation.
Brandy Pruitt is being held
at the Pinal County Detention
Center in Florence with a
bond set at $16,500 secured.
According to Apache Junction
Police Chief Jerald Monahan,
in August, his Criminal
Investigation Division (CID)
initiated an investigation into
a female suspect involved in
numerous fraudulent activities
in Apache Junction.
This suspect was implicated
in a variety of fraudulent activities,
which included aggravated
identification theft,
possession of forged instruments,
fraud schemes, etc.
Detective Michael Ramirez
was assigned as the lead investigator.
“Ramirez discovered similarities
in a variety of previously reported
cases involving
businesses and residents
of Apache Junction and on
August 15, a person matching
the description of the
suspect came to his attention,”
Monahan said in a
press release.
“This suspect (Pruitt) was
later detained by patrol personnel
and turned over to
CID. Additional investigation
revealed evidence that
tied this subject, Brandy
Pruitt, to the other fraud
cases.”
AJHS Volleyball Soars
 By Chuck Baker
The News
Contrary to the sparkling
gold capes donned by the
Lady Prospector varsity volleyball
team in their home
openers this past week, they
cannot fly. Soar? Perhaps,
as in “to new heights.”
For a team that has won
only three region matches
the past two years and gone
16-46 overall during that
two-year stretch, perhaps
what was most impressive
about last week’s wins over
(Goodyear) Desert Edge
and Maricopa was the way
the AJHS girls won them.
In straight games. And by
lopsided scores.
Laden with ten seniors
who have played together
for four seasons now when
victories have been hard to
come by, the Lady Prospectors
opened their 2009 season
on Wednesday thumping
Desert Ridge 25-17,
25-10, 25-10, and then
by crushing Maricopa on
Thursday by the scores of
25-11, 25-18, 25-18.
I don’t think the gold capes had as much
to do with their
easy wins as the experienced
seniors. Catalina Ovalle had
eight kills against Desert
Edge, middle blocker Jessica
Iniguez had five kills and
13 blocks, middle blocker
Kylie Bocskay added two
kills and eight blocks and
setter Katie Karbo handed
out 17 assists.
Against Maricopa, Karbo
handed out another 17 assists
and Iniguez blocked 13
more balls at the net while
contributing eight kills.
Also in the win over Desert
Edge, senior Diana Woodruff
came up with 17 digs,
Ovalle added 10 digs, senior
Amber Thillmony pitched in
with four kills and five digs,
and junior Sierra Aulik contributed
four kills, eight digs
and four blocks.
See
page
B-1
and see V-Ball,
B-2
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