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City Election This
Week
 Voters to pick mayor, three for city
council on Tuesday, March 13
By Ed Barker
The News
APACHE JUNCTION - City voters
will go to the polls this week to
elect a new mayor and fill three
seats on the city council. This is a
Primary Election and will be held
Tuesday, March 13, 2007. A list of
the polling places appears elsewhere
on Page A-1 of this week’s
News.
For the first time in twelve years
Mayor Doug Coleman’s name will
not be on the ballot. Coleman, first
elected mayor in 1995, is the only
Apache Junction mayor to be reelected
in the city’s nearly 30 year
history, and he accomplished that
feat five times during his tenure in
office. Prior to Coleman, no mayor
had ever been elected to more than
one two-year term in office.
Since this week’s election is a Primary
Election, if not all the offices
are filled by candidates securing
more than 50% of the votes cast in
the Primary, a General Election will
be held in May to finish the election
process.
See
A-1
City Election,
page
A-3
 Tempers Flare Over
Mesa Eyeing Pinal Land South Of AJ
“It’s immoral,” — Mayor Doug Coleman
By Jill Jones
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- Mayor
Douglas Coleman’s reaction was
swift and scathing in response to a
Mesa City Council move to add
10.6 square miles of Pinal County
land to Mesa’s planning area.
“It’s immoral,” said Coleman, adding
that he believes that Mesa is
using Williams Gateway Airport as
an excuse to move across the
county line into Pinal.
Mesa City Council approved the
addition of the Pinal County parcel
by a 6 to 1 vote last Thursday,
March 8, 2007, with Councilman
Tom Rawles casting the lone dissenting
vote.
Rawles told the press that he believes
this is the first step in Mesa’s
move to annex the land and indicated
that he is “adamantly opposed”
to Mesa’s attempts
“gobble” up any more land.
The area in question sits east of
the Williams Gateway Airport,
which is why Mesa officials say
they want to plan the land, presumably
in the interest of protecting flight
corridors from future development, which
they say could potentially
threaten flight operations.
Mesa officials say they want to
avoid future planning problems and
point to the traffic and road problems
plaguing Johnson Ranch in
Queen Creek is a an example of “bad
planning”, and something they
would like to avoid when it comes
to Williams Gateway Airport access.
The “turf war” between Mesa and
Apache Junction is nothing new,
but has remained relatively quiet
since the last flare up in January
2003, over state land, when
Maricopa County Supervisor Don
Stapely told a reporter, “What Mesa
ought to be doing is figuring out
how to cut off Apache Junction.”
See
A-1
Credit Requirements
For Graduation From AJUSD Could Increase
 AJUSD governing board may decide issue
on March 20, 2007
By Cindy McSperitt
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- A change
in the number of credits required
for high school graduation could
be decided at the next governing
board meeting of the Apache Junction
Unified School District
(AJUSD). The meeting is scheduled
to be held on Tuesday, March
20, 2007 at 7 p.m. at Four Peaks
Elementary
School, 1755 N. Idaho
Road, Apache Junction.
Currently, three (3) credits of math
and three (3) credits of science are
required for students to graduate.
Dr. Wyman, superintendent forAJUSD, is
proposing that the number
be raised to four (4) credits for
both math and science. This would
make the total number of credits
needed to graduate increase from 21
to 23. The change would start with
this year’s eighth graders, the class
of 2011.
The AJUSD governing board discussed
this proposal at a special work
session held on March 5, 2007. Dr.
Wyman stated he believes this
change is necessary in order for
students
to be better prepared to compete
in a global economy. He cited
Bureau of Labor statistics that indicate
a rising need in the job market
for skilled labor. It is predicted that
by the year 2020, as much as 70% of
the job market could be skilled labor.
See
A-1
AJ Schools,
page
A-2
 Boys Tennis Team Gets
First Two Wins
By Chuck Baker
The News
The Prospector boys tennis
team picked up their first two
wins of the season last week,
defeating Copper Canyon 8-1 on
Tuesday and downing Buckeye
7-2 on Thursday.
In the win over Copper Canyon,
John Sortais, playing number
one singles, won his match
6-3, 6-3 while Frankie Iniguez
and Gary Williams both pitched
shutouts at number two and
three singles respectively, winning
6-0, 6-0. Apache Junction
also earned two singles victories
via forfeits.
In doubles play, Sortais and
Williams paired up for an 8-2
victory while Iniguez and Justin
Fields won their doubles
match 8-0. AJHS also won a
third doubles match via a for- Boys
Track Team
Beats Pinnacle
Prospector tennis player Colton Smith
gets ready to hit a backhand
shot during a recent home match
feit.
In beating Buckeye, Sortais
rallied to win in singles 4-6, 6-4
(7-2 tie-breaker), Iniguez prevailed
6-1, 6-2, Williams won
his match 6-0, 6-3, Fields won
7-5, 6-1, and Cody Beck earned
a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Daniel Bos,
playing number six singles, fell
by the scores of 6-2, 6-2.
In doubles versus Buckeye,
Sortais and Williams won their
match 8-6, Fields and Iniguez
teamed up for an 8-1 victory
while Bos and Beck lost in
doubles by the score of 8-2.
Because of Spring Break all
this week, the Prospectors
won’t play again until Tuesday,
May 20 when they host Higley.
See
C-1
and see
Tennis
C-3
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