Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 4

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC Thursday, May 22, 1986 Americans boosting fitness effort, poll says The nation gets a health-awareness report card carrying a better grade than in yesteryear but saying that people can do better in looking after themselves. B7. 1 Dilot wins Wes By MARY JO PITZL Arizona Republic Staff asids gap lie Joined over firing to 45,000 verdic rganizers of Hands Across America said Wednesday that they plan a helicopter rendezvous to create a symbolic link Sunday along a 94-mile gap in by copters Halfway-point rendezvous to 'link' line across desert Hands Across America route in Arizona Sunday at noon Lup, Sunday at noon Lup, August 1983, were wrong in the way they treated Wells. Punitive damages were assessed in an effort to stop the company from treating other people the same way, they said. America West denied Wells' allegations that he was fired because he was suspected by company officials of reporting safety violations to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Lawrence A. Katz, an attorney for the airline, termed the jury award excessive and said the company probably will want to appeal. "We certainly don't feel that the verdict is justified by the evidence," Katz said. Michael L. McAllister, attorney for Wells, had asked for more than $2 million in damages but described the verdict as "a real victory for working people." McAllister said the case is one of the first to go to trial since a June 1985 decision by the Arizona Supreme Court that allows employers to be held liable for damages for firings that violate "public policy" of the state.

He told jurors during closing arguments that the firing violated public policy in that it was done because airline officials believed incorrectly that Wells had reported safety violations to the federal agency. Wells is a former FAA inspector. Pilot, B7 By BRENT WHITING Arizona Republic Staff A former co-pilot for America West Airlines won $945,000 Wednesday in a lawsuit accusing the Tempe-based firm of wrongfully firing him after falsely suspecting that he was a whistle blower. In an 8-0 jury verdict, Tempe resident Daniel J. Wells, 31, was awarded $195,000 in compensatory damages and $750,000 in punitive damages.

"Of course, I'm very pleased," Wells said. "I think that the verdict was a just one. I'm glad to see that it was unanimous." Jurors said they believe officials for America West, which began operations in Winslow. Holbrook Holbrook Enwnberg- A Tonopahl lUnasslgnedl 57 'ar6a Indian School Rd Route fi through Phoenix Number of participants: 425,000 Total line mileage: 323 To reserve a place in line, call 990-1999. Those planning to stand in line should bring at least two gallons of water per person.

It is illegal to stand on the roadside and drink alcohol, the state Department of Public Salety warns. Participants also are advised to wear hats, sunscreen and loose-lilting clothing, and to bring a radio so they can listen to a simulcast of the coast-to-coast event. 35 mph will be the speed limit on the three interstates where the line will run. The daylong restriction applies to the westbound lanes of 1-10, the northbound lanes of 1-17 and the eastbound lanes of 1-40. the western Arizona desert.

The gap, along Interstate 10 from Ehrenberg to Tonopah, will be bridged at noon when helicopters will lift off from each point, fly to Vicksburg a point in between and deposit two people from the lines who will link hands, said Abby Shapiro, press secretary for Hands Across America's Arizona office. The stunt will occur during the estimated 20 minutes when those in line will be singing three songs. There's enough time, Shapiro said. "We timed it." There's been a dry run for the helicopter link, organizers said, but other plans remain to be tested. Interstate-highway traffic will be slowed to 35 mph, but officials said no roads will be closed Sunday when the Hands Across America line forms in Arizona.

Signs will warn motorists on Interstates 10, 17 and 40 to go no faster than 35 mph until the traffic clears. The suggested speed limit applies only to the half of the roads that are expected to be lined with participants, according to the Arizona Transportation Department. That means the lanes of 1-10, the northbound lanes of 1-17 and the eastbound lanes of 1-40 will be affected. Other warnings for Sunday's event have been issued by police agencies, the U.S. Forest Service, the state Land Department's forestry division and Hands Across America organizers.

Among the warnings for Sunday: Restrictions imposed by forest officials, who note that fire danger is very high during the coming weekend. "Use your ashtray," said Dale Brown, a fire-management officer with the state Land Department's forestry division. "Most of our man-caused fires are caused by a tossed cigarette, careless smokers, that type of thing." A forecast by the National Weather Service of hot and sunny weather on Sunday. "Bring an egg," meteorologist Craig Ellis said when looking at projected Sunday temperatures. At noon Sunday, he said, Phoenix-area temperatures should be 90 to 92 degrees.

In Flagstaff, the noontime temperature should be 70 degrees, and in Holbrook, 80 degrees. The possibility of traffic jams. Organizers are asking participants to arrive by 10 a.m. "You can picnic, you can play Trivial Pursuit," Shapiro said. "It's a great way to get to know other people." Organizers said line assignments correspond to mile markers on the route.

Any last-minute questions about where to stand should be directed to Hands Across America in Phoenix, 990-1999. Participants should park as close to their assigned spots as possible. Cars should be parked parallel to the roadway, on the shoulder. According to the permit issued to Hands Across America by the state Department of Public Safety, only two wheels are allowed on the pavement, the other two on the shoulder. Participants should stand behind their cars, letting the cars form a barrier between the human chain and the road.

In metropolitan Phoenix, participants will stand on the freeway access road. At noon, when the line is scheduled to link up from coast to coast, participants will sing He Are the World (the theme song from USA for Africa's 1985 fundraiser), Hands Across America and America the Beautiful while clasping hands. The songs will be simulcast in the United States on local radio stations. IW Peler Schwepker Republic Like mother, like job Shauna Yuresko, 5, of Phoenix, re- Central and Ocotillo near Madison which lets her work and stay with her laxes with a Popsicle as her mother, Meadows Elementary School. Yures- daughter at the same time, and Shau-Diana Yuresko, guards a crosswalk at ko has a twofold advantage in her job, na obviously couldn't approve more.

eraminq paraiieS officers, Murl L. "Lee" King, a former sergeant, and Sgt. Jerry J. Giffin. Lawyers for King, 41, and Giffin, 40, claim that Ortega defamed their clients when he used the word "they" in describing to reporters collective misconduct that led to his decision to fire the seven.

However, Ortega told jurors Wednesday that in his meetings with reporters, he cautioned that the seven were fired for different June 1984 order by the Phoenix Civil Service Board reinstating the seven but denying them an estimated $600,000 in back pay. R. Kelly Hocker, attorney for King, and Glynn W. Gilcrease, Giffin's lawyer, told jurors on May 13, at the start of the trial, that although their clients attended the party, they did not commit the serious acts committed by other officers, such as spraying Mace, Orteza, B7 reasons and that not all acts of misconduct were committed by all seven officers. Ortega also testified that The Arizona Republic published an inaccurate news story that implied all seven officers committed the same acts.

The trial is before Judge Cheryl Hendrix of Maricopa County Superior Court. King, Giffin and the others were fired by Ortega on March 1, 1982, after an off-duty drinking party in which some of the officers were accused of spraying Mace, firing a shot, urinating and breaking beer bottles near a Mesa man's vehicle, harassing the man and letting air out of his car tires. An eighth officer who attended the party was given a three-day suspension. The party was held beneath the Seventh Avenue overpass near Buchanan Street. In August 1984, Judge Rudolph Gerber of Superior Court upheld a By BRENT WHITING Arizona Republic Staff Phoenix Police Chief Ruben Ortega denied Wednesday that he defamed two officers when he talked to news reporters in March 1982 about misconduct that led to his firing of seven officers known as the "Seventh Avenue Seven." Ortega took the witness stand to defend himself in a February 1983 defamation suit filed against him and Phoenix by two of the fired Primitive farmers forced from valley by economic woes I By JOHN SCHMIDT Special for The Republic I THATCHER History sometimes repeats itself in I subtle ways.

I In the Gila Valley, many farmers have found themselves I financially overextended and I are being forced to leave their farms. Five centuries ago, prehis omoSovi sites Ruins linked to Hopis get state protection Homolovi means "place of the mounds" in Hopi. Now a constellation of six sites beaded along the Little Colorado River northwest and southeast of Winslow, the cluster pulsed with life from about 1250 until the 1400s. They are settlements rich in prehistory still to be explored by scientists. In the largest of them, a two- to three-story pueblo, as many as 5,000 Indians once shared 1,000 masonry rooms.

There, signing a bill recently enacted by the Legislature, Babbitt looked at the crowd of about 100 people and at least one rattlesnake and smiled. "This probably is the largest crowd here," he said, "since the Ruins, B5 By CARLE HODGE Arizona Republic Science Writer WINSLOW An ancient Anas-azi village was resurrected as an archaeological preserve Wednesday, thanks partly to descendants of those who deserted it six centuries ago. Atop a dusty, wind-battered butte, Gov. Bruce Babbitt penned into reality the Homolovi State Prehistoric Park, the first of its kind in Arizona. What makes the ruins unique, he pointed out, is that they provide "a direct link to a living tribe." Not far to the north rise the Hopi mesas, where members of the Sun and Water clans claim descent from Homolovi.

Archaeological evidence suggests they are right. Phoenix 1 Miles I West Valley road plan 'real good' But questions remain on proposal By SUSAN LEONARD Arizona Republic Staff The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors was receptive Wednesday to a proposal to finance a 28 Vi -mile expressway west of Phoenix with tax-exempt bonds and later to take ownership but declined to approve the plan until several key questions are resolved. The supervisors' questions involve the legality of the proposal, the development planned around the expressway, the cost to the county for the road's maintenance and how the road would affect the county. The $60 million expressway was offered to the county by developer Joe Adams, who said he and 80 other landowners would build the road and give it to the county in exchange for the supervisors' approval of tax-exempt bonding and the formation of a non-profit corporation to oversee the construction. "It sounds real good almost too good," Supervisor Tom Freestone said.

"I want some basic questions answered to make sure it's as good as it sounds." toric Indians were forced off the same land because they, too, had become overextended. Their population, which had become significantly larger than today's combined white and Indian populations along the Gila River, was forced to retreat because of drying conditions and their own limited technology. Left behind, however, is substantial evidence about their lives and why they disappeared. Dr. Pamela Rule, head of Eastern Arizona College's department of anthropology and an avid research archaeologist, does not regard the disappearance of the Hohokam Indians in roughly A.D.

1100 or the Mogollon Indians 400 years later as particularly mysterious. "The Safford area was the eastern perimeter of Hohokam expansion," Rule said. "When there was a change from a wet to a dry period a phenomenon which alternates about every 200 years the Hohokam retreated back toward the Phoenix area, their cultural center." Much later, when their lands Ancient, B5 Eric Baker Republic 1 5 arrested in Payson area after burglary, drug probe were signs of juvenile crime increasing, he said. "We also had constant information of drugs moving there," he said. "Some of the drugs involved were cocaine, Valium and metham-phetamine.

"We put it all together and it started to create a picture." The DPS became involved in the investigation in January, when the department used undercover agents Payson, B7 ment, Gila County Sheriffs Office and the DPS. The indictments were a result of an investigation that began in August, when the Payson Police Department started looking into rising burglary and theft rates, according to Gila County Attorney Joe Albo Jr. Schmidt said that from 1984 to 1985, the number of burglaries in Payson increased 45 percent and thefts 31 percent. There also ments were made public Wednesday after the arrests. Two people named in the indictment are believed to have left the state, said Sgt.

Allan Schmidt, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The charges deal with trafficking or attempting to traffic in stolen property and possession or sale of narcotics. The arrests took about an hour and were made by officers from the Payson Police Depart By PAMELA MANSON Arizona Republic Staff Law-enforcement officers from three agencies Wednesday arrested 15 of 17 Payson-area residents who have been indicted after a nine-month investigation into the rising burglary rate in the area. A Gila County grand jury May 15 indicted the 17, including some -prominent business owners, on 80 stolen-property and drug charges, 72 of them felonies. The indict.