Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 6

FINAL CHASER I I INSIDE: Life Leisure The Arizona Republic monday. march 6, 1989 Canyon rocked by temblor 3.9 aftershock called moderate VA3L 4 are killed in iBery collision of small planes Crash followed Casa Grande show Phoenixl iT I V. Phoenix I not fl Atm In 1 V. 11 detail I Site of midair collision ft Mifej vVr V'5a 't Lt i V-Casa Grands i Municipal Airport im (Xvasa Grande 10 miles By Art Thomason and Tina Daunt The Arizona Republic CASA GRANDE Two small airplanes collided in midair and crashed into a field about six miles west of Casa Grande on Sunday afternoon, killing a man who was flying a home-built aircraft and the pilot and two passengers of a Cessna, authorities said. The pilot of the home-built plane was tentatively identified as a 67-year-old Phoenix man.

Pinal County sheriffs deputies would not release his name pending notification of relatives. The bodies of the Cessna pilot and passengers were badly burned and had not been identified late Sunday, deputies said. Cpl. Gordon McGregor of the Sheriffs Department said the planes crashed at 12:41 p.m. just south of the Casa Grande-Maricopa Highway.

Deputies said they found the planes about 75 yards apart in an open field. Parts of both were scattered up to a half-mile from the main crash site. It appears to be "a case of two planes losing sight of each other," said Larry Bessette, regional investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration. Officers said the white, four-seat Cessna 170B, was registered in California. It was burned except for the tail and wing tips.

The home-built craft was bright red The Arizona Republic with white stripes, deputies said. McGregor said it was registered in Arizona. Jim O'Neal, an attendant at Casa Grande Municipal Airport, said the description of the home-built plane matches that of an aerobatic plane operated by a pilot who had attended the 31st annual Cactus Fly-in earlier in the day at the airport. The fly-in featured antique and experimental aircraft. O'Neal said most of the 350 planes involved in the show had flown out before the time of the crash.

Sonny Zapata, who owns an aviation business at the airport, said the planes had taken off from the airport, about six miles from the crash site. He did not know whether either See 4 KILLED, pageB7 United Press International GRAND CANYON VILLAGE An aftershock from a moderate earthquake rocked Grand Canyon National Park early Sunday but caused no damage or injuries, federal seismologists reported. U.S. Geological Survey seismologists at Menlo Park, said the aftershock measured 3.9 on the Richter scale and occurred at 2:18 a.m. The epicenter, they said, was in the same area as Saturday's 4.0 temblor.

The strongest earthquake to hit Arizona in 13 years rattled the Grand Canyon on Saturday, causing small rockslides in the canyon bottom and scaring pack mules but leaving no damage. The moderate temblor occurred at 5:41 p.m. It was centered 10 miles southwest of Grand Canyon Village. The shock waves from the quake will help seismologists figure out whether a large area of the western United States is slowly settling, or whether great masses of volcanic rock are stirring miles beneath the surface, said Dave Brumbaugh, director of the seismology lab at the University of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Brumbaugh said the last time Arizona had such a large quake was in 1976, when a temblor measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale struck Chino Valley, south of Flagstaff.

The Richter scale measures the force of an earthquake. A 4.0 quake is considered moderate and rarely causes damage. Each number on the scale represents a tenfold increase in energy, so that a 5.0 quake is 10 times as powerful as a 4.0 quake. A light earthquake also shook an area 40 miles northwest of Seattle on Saturday night. The quake registered 4.4 on the Richter scale and caused no injuries or property damage.

In the Grand Canyon quake, Walter Rihl, who works the desk at Bright Angel Lodge, said that the 53-year-old hotel perched at the canyon's edge received no damage and that many guests thought the quake was a sonic boom or an explosion. "Sometimes, we get sonic booms from military jets that fly patterns across the canyons," Rihl said. "But we realized pretty quick it was an earthquake. No damage though, just some shook-up guests. They thought they were at the Grand Canyon, not Los Angeles." The quake Saturday hit in the same area where several other quakes Suzanne StarrThe Arizona Republic Pinal County sheriff's deputies sort through the wreckage of one of the planes that crashed.

The other plane is in the background. Parts of both aircraft were scattered over a half-mile area. Amphitheater battle nears heated climax Land near caverns annexed by Bnsoii Annexatfonl area I ri I) Area of Coronado datai National 11 By Sam Negri Southern Arizona Bureau Terry Goddard "It's a chance to attract, at reasonable prices, significant entertainment." Officials in this community, con-state's economic beginning to tilt BENSON Cochise County vinccd that the ground floor is Ul Kartchner I Caverns )) Whetstone Mountains 10 miles toward a nearby pristine cave, have from the interstate to Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista. Benson, which has a 2 percent sales tax, annexed the land because it hopes to boost its revenues from the motels and restaurants that are expected to be built around Exit 302, City Manager Paul Nordin said. Until about three years ago, Nordin said, Benson was bringing in roughly $475,000 a year in sales taxes.

The opening of a motel, a shopping center and a nursing home since then has boosted that figure to $600,000. Nordin said the city can collect an additional $200,000 a year once the state park opens and commercial tourist facilities arc built on the annexed 1,000 acres where tourist facilities are expected to be built. The annexed land straddles Interstate 10 and Arizona 90, which in the next few years will be the main access to the site of the exotic cave, which is being developed into the 550-acrc Kartchner Caverns State Park. The park site is 7.5 miles south of 302, which connects with Arizona 90. It also is the main route Joe Willie SmithThe Arizona Republic annexed land.

The anticipated $200,000 "is strictly a seat-of-the-pants guess," he said, "not based on anything." Nevertheless, local optimism is so high that the City Council last month 5ce BENSON, pageB2 measuring in the magnitude 3.0 range struck in September, Finlcy said. It was -also in the same area were a 4.5 shaker occurred on Jan. 10, 1935. this article was The Contributing to Arizona Republic. By Venita Hawthorne James The Arizona Republic What began as a neighborhood zoning issue has turned into an angry symbol of public cynicism at Phoenix City Hall.

That anger will be given voice Tuesday night when the City Council decides whether to grant a use permit for a city-owned amphitheater, which would be operated by Florida entrepreneur Zev Bufman. "It's almost like a parent-child situation, where the city people are saying, 'It's good for you, so you should want said Joe Farinclla, who moved with his bride in December to a new home less than a half-mile from from the proposed theater site. "People are getting a little angry that city government can do whatever it wants." The $13.4 million, amphitheater would be built northeast of Union Hills Drive and Tatum Boulevard. If the council approves the deal, opponents plan to take out petitions Wednesday morning to seek a referendum to overturn the council decision. The neighborhood group also plans to launch an initiative drive that would require voter approval of similar taxpayer-subsidized projects.

"We've been educated that the Rise in armed pupils frightens school officials process is a political machine and that we are not components," said Shari Howard, a leader for the Alliance of Northeast Phoenix Residents. Alan Chait, another alliance organizer, said there is growing sentiment that city officials are ignoring their constituents. 5 "It's not just a neighborhood issue. It's all over the city," Chait said. "People are upset at the way things have been ramrodded through." Mayor Terry Goddard, who helped woo Bufman to the amphitheater site, disputes any idea that the issue has made the public more pessimistic.

"It's regrettable that those people who are in opposition didn't express those views earlier," Goddard said. Despite recent neighborhood complaints, the mayor said, the city sought public comment last year about the amphitheater, and the plans were widely publicized. But the anger that exists centers on how the city handled the project from the beginning. Because the city is building the amphitheater itself, it did not seek bids. The contract granting Bufman a Sec AMPHITHEATER, page U2 being killed or seriously injured.

Phoenix City Councilwoman Mary Rose Wilcox- is pushing legislation that would require all weapons discovered on public-school campuses to be turned over to the police. "The way the laws are set up, the guns are just being turned over to the parents, and a few days later, they are getting right back to the kids," said Wilcox, who has launched a drive to promote weapons-free schools. Under a measure introduced by Senate Education Committee Chair By Steve Yozwiak The Arizona Republic Valley children in increasing numbers arc bringing guns, knives and other weapons -to schools, according to principals alarmed over the potential danger those weapons pose to pupils, teachers and other school employees. Police say the possession of weapons by pupils, mostly in junior-high and high schools, often is associated with drug sales and gang activities. To reduce the likelihood of pupils' inner-city Phoenix schools, but at schools throughout the Valley.

Various Valley principals agree. "Students found with weapons are on the increase in our community," Glendale High School Principal Jim Kicffer wrote in a letter supporting the legislation. James Curlctt, principal of Mountain View High School in Mesa, said he has had several confrontations ith pupils brandishing weapons. "I have had several experiences See RISE, page B4 woman Jacque Steiner, a central Phoenix Republican, would have to follow a somewhat complicated procedure under the state's forfeiture laws to get their weapons back. Norris Nordvold, a lobbyist for Phoenix, said the forfeiture procedures can involve fines and long waits, and reduce the chance that the weapons fall back into the hands of children.

Wilcox said the problem of weapons in schools has arisen not only in 2 faces of Phoenix: Neither shows slightest hint of fairness his is a tale of two neighborhoods. One has political power, the other has only persistence. One has a pet stri E.J. M0NT1N1 Republic Columnist that the people who wanted it removed are you guessed it the political friends of the mayor and the council. As a result: The amphitheater deal was signed before any neighbors knew about it.

Ncurocare went through all the proper procedures, only to have its rich neighbors get state Rep. Jane Hull to force a bill through the Legislature that would allow the council to kick it out anyway. Which it did. The politicians said, with Ncurocare, they were protecting residents against a greedy out-of-state developer. With the amphitheater, the council wants to give an out-of-state developer millions and ignore neighborhood complaints.

Although Ncurocare fit right into the neighborhood, it was asked to leave. It's operating quietly right now while it tries to find a place to relocate. The amphitheater would cut a giant wedge into the desert, then hack out a spot to park 6,000 cars. The mayor and the council were willing to fight for Central Avenue neighbors. The people living near the proposed amphitheater, however, are being denigrated by a public-relations campaign that the council has launched against them using the tax money of those same citizens.

The council essentially dared Ncurocare to sue the city over its unfair treatment, saying it was worth the risk to preserve the neighborhood. With the amphitheater, the city is daring its own citizens to sue. Neurocarc didn't ask the mayor or the council for any money. The amphitheater developer, Bufman, asked for, and could be getting, about $14 million. I suppose it was only a matter of time before Goddard, ho wants to be governor and needs a big campaign war chest, found people such as Bufman and his profiteers.

Maybe that's why Goddard, ho once was called a neighborhood's best friend, has become their worst nightmare, a that would look. Think of the impact on property values. So the city is kicking Ncurocare out. The people getting ravaged are about 10,000 north Phoenix residents who can't convince the City Council or the mayor that a commercial amphitheater for 18,000 people would ruin their neighborhoods, disrupt traffic, cause noise and dust pollution, and destroy a lovely tract of desert. In fact, the City Council and the mayor have already signed contracts to give Florida developer Zev Bufman about $14 million to build the amphitheater.

You might think that these politicians need good reasons for removing a home for injured people on Central Avenue while allowing an amphitheater in north Phoenix. You'd be wrong. The only reason for an amphitheater is that the people who will make the most money off it are political friends of the mayor and the council. The reason for dumping Neurocarc is mayor cozy with developers such as Bob Gosncll, promoters such as Bufman, wealthy lawyers such as Dick Mallcry and pro-team owners such as Jerry Colangclo. In turn, maybe that's why the neighbors in north Phoenix got tired of getting ravaged by their one-time friend and decided to get even.

They said they'll launch a referendum drive to kill the amphitheater deal if the council approves it Tuesday. And they plan an initiative drive to keep politicians from giving away millions to people such as Bufman without voter approval. There's a lesson here. Remember when you were required in school to read Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, and you never quite understood how he could say, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times" when he was talking about the same time and the same place.

Well, the answer is simple: different neighborhoods. peeve, the other has a real problem. One is getting "rescued" by local politicians. The other is getting ravaged. The people getting rescued live on North Central Avenue, where many of the city's rich and powerful reside.

The City Council came to their rescue. Mayor Terry Goddard said North Central Avenue was "threatened" by a sinister commercial venture. The villain, according to the mayor and his rich pals is a home dedicated to helping head-injured people return to normal lives. It's called Ncurocarc. Of course, you wouldn't notice Ncuro-care if you passed it.

It's supposed to look like a house, and it does. It is a house. But the wealthy neighbors don't like the idea of a handful of injured, recovering people living nearby. Who knows, someone might see a patient limping on the street's famous bndal path. Think of how unattractive.