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Gold Canyon Fights New
Fire Station Site
 Fire District wants additional station,
residents of custom home community
concerned with proposed location
By Jill Jones
The News
GOLD CANYON- Apache Junction
Fire District (AJFD) officials
arranged a meeting with
homeowners in the Quail Canyon
subdivision last Wednesday, February
28, 2007 to discuss the
district’s interest in property located
within the subdivision of
luxury custom built homes, as a
potential site for a second fire station
facility in Gold Canyon
Residents of surrounding communities,
real estate representatives
and members of the press were
banned from the “open board meeting”
held at the Jomar Association
Services office in Gold Canyon,
where AJFD Fire Mashall Dave
Montgomery and Battalion Chief
Doug Taylor shared the district’s
reasons for choosing the site and
attempted to address homeowner
concerns.
According to Montgomery, Quail
Canyon was identified as a potential
site for providing optimal response
times to north Gold Canyon communities
by using computerized
modeling and mapping strategies.
See
A-1
Fire Station,
page
A-6
Robbery Suspect Caught
In The Act
 Undercover police operation proves
successful
By Cindy McSperitt
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- An
Apache
Junction man was arrested last
week as he attempted to rob the
Subway restaurant in the Fry’s
Shopping Plaza on S. Phelps Drive.
Police arrested Andrew Steven
McCormick, 25, of Apache Junction,
after he reportedly entered the
Subway at approximately 7 p.m. on
Saturday, February 24, 2007,
jumped the counter and proceeded
to rob employees with a handgun.
Hiding in the back of the restaurant
were two undercover officers
who came forth and apprehended
McCormick without incident. The
hand gun turned out to be a toy
gun made to look real.
Police say that in the past few
weeks several businesses in the
Fry’s Shopping Plaza have been the
target of robberies. This prompted
the Division of Criminal Investigation
of the Apache Junction Police Department
(AJPD) to begin an undercover
surveillance of some of
the businesses located in the plaza.
See
A-1
and see Caught
A-2
Students Advance To
State Level In Word Challenge
Competition
 Part of top 100 in Reader’s Digest
sponsored competition
Desert Shadows Middle School
eighth grade students Sabrina
Crawford and Christopher Davis
and seventh grader John Young
have scored among the top 100 students
in Arizona at their grade levels
in The Reader’s Digest Word
Power Challenge. As part of the top
100, they have qualified to advance
to the State Championship round
at which they will compete for the
State Champion title and the right
to represent Arizona at the Reader's
Digest National Word Power Challenge
Championship at Orlando,
Florida.
The Reader’s Digest Word Power
Challenge is a vocabulary contest
designed for students in grades
four through eight in schools
throughout the nation. Questions
address the subject of vocabulary
in a variety of question formats.
Some questions require a straight
definition; others require knowledge
of a word's antonym or its
proper use in a sentence. Students
may be asked questions about
words derived from other languages and
words categorized by
different themes or topics.
National prizes are as follows: First
Place: A $25,000 college scholarship,
plus Reader's Digest products
for the student's school; Second
Place: A $15,000 college scholarship,
plus Reader's Digest products
for the student's school; Third
Place: A $10,000 college scholarship,
plus Reader's Digest products
for the student's school.
See
A-1
AJHS Baseball IS Back!
 Open season 2-0 which is one more win
than all of last season
By Chuck Baker
The News
Only one athletic program at
Apache Junction High School has
had more success than baseball
through the years, and that is
wrestling. Although both sports
have produced three State Championship
titles, a slight edge goes
to the wrestling program, which
has also garnered twelve region,division
or conference titles compared
with the nine titles won by
AJHS baseball teams.
Despite all that past success on
the diamond, it has been quite a
while since Apache Junction
baseball fans could get excited
about the prospects of a new season.
Over the past three years,
AJHS teams have gone a combined
13-55 and they may have
hit rock bottom a year ago when the team
finished the season 1-
20.
But just two games into the 2007
season, a 14-4 win over Glendale
Independence last Tuesday and
a 6-3 victory over Buckeye on
Thursday, the Prospectors already
have surpassed their win
total from all of last season, and
may be on the verge of bringing
back the glory days of Prospector
baseball.
Scoring 10 runs in the top half
of the sixth inning to break a 4-4
tie, Apache Junction defeated
Glendale Independence 14-4 in
their season opener last Tuesday
in Glendale.
See
C-1
and see
Baseball
C-2
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