Voters Indicate Their Discontent
Many incumbents voted out, school budget override goes down big
By Betty Swanson
The News
The attitude of voters in Apache Junction, Pinal County and Arizona on Election Day seemed to mirror “the stormy mood” of voters across the nation as described by USA Today.
  Charlie Fox, a Pinal County Republican committeeman who sat outside the 75-foot limit and chatted with voters entering and exiting the polls on November 2, said, “People are dissatisfied with what’s going on in this country. They are ready for some change.”
  One voter exiting the polls even wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Change” in big, black letters, as if to underscore Fox’s comments.
  And change there will be as voters in Pinal County and the state seemed to ignore incumbency; in many cases disdaining experience and the “status quo” and opting for new faces.
  Locally, the Apache Junction Unified School District School Governing Board race was an exception to this trend as district voters returned veteran board members Lucy Young and Debbie Skinner to the boardroom.
  The Override question posed by AJUSD for a seven-year 10 percent boost in funding didn’t fare so well and seemed to be a lightening rod for voters’ wrath as it went down by an almost two-to-one margin, the worst defeat of a funding question, override or bonding, in the 50-plus-year history of the school district.
  On November 3, AJUSD released a statement from the superintendent regarding the loss (see page A-3).

See A-1 and See Election, A-5

Ailing Vietnam Vet Aided By Businesses, Vets’ Advocates
Receives medical help, hospice care & family reunion
By Betty Swanson
The News
A local desert-dwelling Vietnam War vet has been reunited with his family and is receiving the VA medical and hospice care he so badly needs, thanks to the kindness and concern of the owners of a local business, and aid from members of the Sons of the American Legion, Post 27.
  This summer, Leonard E. Nichols, 63, was living in a tent in the desert. Lacking transportation, he would walk into Apache Junction each day to buy drinking water. He would often seek shade and rest on a bench in front of The Cut Hut located at 300 W. Apache Trail in the plaza at the intersection of Apache Trail and Highway 88.
  Cut Hut owners Janine and Chuck Beck and their daughter, Nicole, herself a U.S. Navy Seabee veteran, would sometimes invite Nichols in side to cool off and they got to know him. Nichols has cancer. He was in very bad shape and failing rapidly, and he shared his worries with the Becks as to where he would be buried when he passed away.
  Nicole urged him to contact the VA Hospital and try to obtain the help he was rightly due because of his service to his country as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam. But, because of his situation, Nichols was overwhelmed by the logistics involved in seeking the help he needed.

See A-1 and See Veteran, A-3

CAC Honors Local ‘82 Grad
Robin Barker— teacher, businesswoman, City Council member earns a place on college’s ‘Wall of Success’
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
Apache Junction’s Robin Barker was one of 10 Central Arizona College alumni (1982) to earn a place on the Wall of Success during an induction dinner held Saturday, November 6, at the college’s Signal Peak Campus.
  Also honored were graduates Connie S. Clark, Vivian A. Denson, Robert W. England, Antonio Lopez Estrada, Gayle Haro, Garrett C. Hurt, Jennifer Lehman, Mary E. Metzger and Kevin Weatherly.
  Barker, an elected member of the Apache Junction City Council, is a retired teacher and one of the owners of The Apache Junction/Gold Canyon News. She said she is “certainly honored” and cherished her time at CAC.
  “Central Arizona College was a major stepping stone to my being able to get my teaching degree,” Barker said. “Without CAC, I don’t think I would have been able to do it.
  “It was close (to home). It was not as expensive as the universities. There was a lot more support from faculty. They had day care, and that was important. It made it easier for a working mom to move up.”
  After earning her Associate’s Degree at CAC, Barker went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree at Arizona State University and a Master’s Degree from Northern Arizona University.
  Wall of Success Board Member Tom Di Camillo, who serves as director of media and community events at CAC, said Barker was a logical choice for the award.
  “This was started last year for our 40th anniversary as a way of honoring the people who have gone to CAC that have had success in their careers, personal and professional lives,” Di Camillo said.
  “We saw her succcess with the schools and also being a businessperson, and an owner of a newspaper, one of the more prominent newspapers in Pinal County.”

See A-1 and See College, A-3

Panthers Advance To CAA Semifinals
Imagine Prep to get rematch with unbeaten Scholars Academy this Saturday in 1A Division semifinals
By Chuck Baker
The News
Jacob Ayers scored six, first-half touchdowns totaling 396 yards, had a seventh long TD called back, and then returned an interception 33 yards to set up another first-half score, and the Imagine Prep Panthers stormed past the Mesa Prep Monsoons 64-22 last Friday night at Prospector Park to win their first ever Charter Athletic Association (CAA) playoff game.
  Imagine Prep will now get a rematch with unbeaten Scholars Academy in the CAA 1A Division semifinals this Saturday, November 13, hoping to avenge a 38-30 loss to Scholars Academy in a game played two weeks ago in Quartzite. The difference this time around is that the CAA semifinal game will played at a neutral site, at Phoenix Christian High School, this Saturday with kickoff at 1:45 p.m. Phoenix Christian HS is located at 4002 North 18th Avenue in Phoenix. Admission for the semifinal game is $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for students.
  Ayers scored on a 77-yard punt return, a 28-yard run, a 66-yard pass reception and a 78-yard kickoff return, all in the first quarter, as the Panthers jumped out to a 28-14 lead. Ayers added a 70-yard pass reception for a score, an 85-yard punt return for a score, and then just before the end of the first half, picked off a Mesa Prep pass and returned it 33 yards to the Monsoons 11-yard line, where quarterback Aaron Cvitonavich ran into the end zone on the first play to give Imagine Prep a commanding 50-14 halftime lead.

See B-1 and see Prep, B-6