Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 15

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC ir CELESTIAL TRIFECTA Sunday brings a rare triple treat for Arizona stargazers. B2 LIVE WIRE Ex-APS executive still a quipster. Clancy Tropiano, B6 TUESDAY MARCH 18, 1997 Editor, John D'Anna 271-8222 bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb Camas of concrete TV Burton Barr memorial proposed Governor asks lawmakers' to fund up to $250,000 EJ. MONTINI Republic Columnist A Stargazer misses fame, moves on 'w fry Irs nix a '11; T.U. mm me.

Paul F. GeroThe Arizona Republic As the sun highlights the wall, Sam Rivas, 19, of Phoenix, continues his creation at the Maryvale Corp. Community Center at 4318 W. Clarendon Phoenix. The center provides the wall, and eager youths provide the paint and talent.

Gay-pride parade short 2 marshals Object seen over state a puzzle was it UFO? By Kris Mayes The Arizona Republic State lawmakers are being asked to come up with as much as a quarter of a million dollars for a fountain honoring the late political legend Burton Barr. -The request was one of several made by Qov. Fife Symington on Monday during the Legislature's budget negotiations. The fountain, which would cost up to $250,000, would be placed in the Capitol Mall and be accompanied by other improvements to the mall, such as signs and benches. No plans for the fountain have been been designed.

A spokesman for Symington said the price tag of the fountain is small in comparison to the value of the man it would honor. "This is to honor a person who was a pivotal figure in modern Arizona politics, and we feel it's only fitting that his memory live on," said Doug Cole, the governor's deputy chief of staff. The Barr memorial probably would be built on a site that is covered by purple pansies, halfway between the House and Senate chambers. Barr, a World War II hero who served in the House for 22 years before leaving office to run for governor in 1986, died in January after a lengthy illness. He is often mentioned as one of the state's most influential legislators, and was renowned for his negotiating skills.

Cole said the project probably would require hiring an architect, an engineer, and plumbing and electrical expertise. "It would have to go out in a place of prominence, and it has to be designed to be appropriate for the master plan of the Capitol Mall," he said. These are among the other expenditures Symington requested Monday: $1 million for a helicopter to be used by the Department of Public Safety in northern Arizona. $773,000 for expansion of the DPS anti-gang program. $436,000 for international marketing by the state Department of Tourism.

$400,000 for the arts in 1998, and another $400,000 in 1999. $65,000 from the state's tobacco tax for health-care services in Salome. By Susie Steckner The Arizona Republic The first call reportedly came from a former police officer, who spotted the strange cluster of lights moving very quickly across the night sky near Paulden, north of Prescott in Yavapai County. The bright red-orange lights formed the shape of a boomerang, he said, with a larger grouping in the lead followed by a single light. Reports poured in Thursday to Luke Air Force Base, the National Weather Service and the National UFO Reporting Center in which logged the call from the unidentified former offi explanation for the object, described as both a triangle and a straight line, and varying from bright red to white to bluish white.

"We are confused about the exact details, but make no mistake about it," said Peter Davenport, director of the Seattle UFO center, "there was a dramatic event that took place in Arizona that night." The National Weather Service can't offer any answers. Same goes for the officials at Luke. "We just know it was not one of our planes," Lt. Col. Mike Hauser said.

"Everybody is telling me that we have UFOs stashed all over the Air See OBJECT, page B2 cer. Four days later, there is no clear Can I get a lift? Magistrate, RV, 'busybody' add up to strange court case By Chris Fiscus The Arizona Republic When Phoenix's gay- and lesbian-pride parade begins later this month, the grand marshals' chairs may be noticeably empty. As of Monday morning, parade organizers still were expecting two openly gay politicians, Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano and state Rep. Ken Cheuvront, to serve as grand marshals. But Giuliano and Cheuvront say they won't be able to attend.

"They called me about three weeks ago, but I'll be out of town," Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, said Monday, explaining that he will be away on political business. And Cheuvront said he probably wouldn't serve as grand marshal anyway. "I'm not a big parade person," he said. At least Cheuvront got a call. A spokesman for Giuliano said the mayor was "never contacted or asked to be the grand marshal." He also will be out of town.

That was news to Beth Verity, president of Arizona Central Pride, which is organizing the parade. "We had a commitment from him (Guiliano) a long time ago," Verity said Monday morning. She said she also was told that Cheuvront had promised to serve as grand marshal. Later Monday, she said there apparently was a miscommunica-tion within her organization, adding that it "absolutely" was not a case of political backpedaling by Cheuvront or Giuliano. "I believe it's a matter of something falling through the cracks or a real misunderstanding," Verity said.

Organizers now face a big problem: finding a grand marshal in time for the March 29 parade down Central Avenue. "We have some options, and I will handle them Verity said. The parade, from 10 a.m. to about noon, is from Park Central Mall to Margaret T. Hance Park, with an all-day rally in the park.

He worked the graveyard shift at a truck-parts store near McDowell Road and the freeway, stepping into the gray light of Monday morning, tired and hungry, but determined to make it home in time to see his pal Tom Bopp on the Today show. Instead, Jim Stevens saw that his car had been broken into. "Dopers," he grumbled. "They were probably just looking for something to pawn. 'What can you do?" Thenar radio was gone, and Stevens' wallet, and a pair of high-powered binoculars he used to scan the night sky for evidence of celestial grace, order and tranquility, none of which exist near McDowell Road and the freeway.

"That's life," he said. "You move on. I still was able to catch Tom on the TV I thought he did good." Yes, but did you think it should have been you on the TV? he was asked. Stevens laughed. "It would only be like that if I had told a lie," he said.

"And then, getting your name on a comet, like Tom did, wouldn't be worth a thing. It's fine with way things are." And so, what some people call the cosmic show of the decade, perhaps of olir lifetime, will now and forever be known as Comet Hale-Bopp. Not Comet Hale-Stevens. 'Like winning a lottery' "It was like winning a lottery for Tom," Stevens says. "A guy like me doesn't look at stars in order to win the lottery.

The stars are the lottery." One warm July evening in 1995, Stevens and a group of stargazing friends drove far into the desert, away from the pollution of city lights, to study the great dome of the heavens. Stevens invited Bopp to join the group. They'd met one day at work, and Bopp told Stevens that he'd been interested in astronomy since he was a kid. Stevens figures he's spent a thousand evenings outside, looking up. You wish upon an unknown star; he knows its name.

That night, Stevens set up one of the six telescopes he has built over the years, and pointed it at a cluster named M-70 in the constellation Sagittarius. "I looked for a while, then asked Tom if he wanted to have a look," Stevens said. It was that simple. The Earth turned, as it always does. The field of stars drifted from right to left in the telescope's viewfinder.

As it did, Bopp noticed a fuzzy dot at the edges. At about the same time, New Mexico astronomer Alan Hale noticed the same thing. "We're weren't looking for comets," Stevens said. "It just happened. Tom saw it first, so he gets his name on it.

The rest of us plotted location, stuff like that. We all feel like we're a part of it." Still, it's Bopp who appears on the 7b-day show. And Bopp who gets invited to lecture throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. And Bopp who'll go on a comet-watching Caribbean cruise. 'That doesn't matter," Stevens said.

'What matters is seeing it." 'A couple of days ago, at 5 a.mi, I sat on the roof of my house looking toward the northeast, which is what the guy in the Camera store told me I should do. There it was. Slip of the brush It was as if the guy painting on the stars had a slip of the brush, making a white blotch and feathery tail on the black canvas of night. Comet Hale-Bopp is a block of ice about 25 miles wide and 100 million miles away. And you can see it from your driveway, or your back yard, or your roof.

"That's the reward," Stevens said. "You'll be able to see it in the early evening soon (toward the northwest). Isn't that amazing? Everything else Everything else passes. Television shows. Lecture tours.

Caribbean cruises. Even Hale-Bopp will pass, leaving behind the night, the stars, the spinning Earth. "I've got nothing to complain about," Stevens said. "Nothing but the usuaT small stuff." Like trying to replace the cards and identification in a stolen wallet. Or having to save up for a new pair of binoculars.

Or working the graveyard shift. That last one, especially. The stars all out, him in. By Carol Sowers The Arizona Republic In her 12 years as town magistrate, Carol Lynn de Szendeffy has ruled on zoning squabbles in Carefree, a desert community of upscale homes and wide desert vistas. But now, the town's original and only magistrate is on the other side of the law.

She and her husband, Rod, were convicted in Scottsdale Justice Court in February of violating a Carefree zoning ordinance. Their offense was keeping a 12-foot-tall, 40-foot-long motor home in their side yard and not screening it from adjacent property What seems a minor infraction to the couple has taken on major proportions, evolving into arguments like these: What is See CAREFREE, page B2 Lottery Commission chairman resigns over 'grave disagreements' with director affect the future of the Lottery," Petchel said in his March 1 1 letter of resignation to Gov. Fife Symington that was obtained late Monday by The Arizona Republic. "Therefore, I will not allow my name and professional reputation to be associated with the Lottery any longer." See LOTTERY, page B2 By Jerry Kammer The Arizona Republic Citing "grave professional disagreements" with state Lottery Director Jody Spicola, Michael Petchel has resigned as chairman of the Arizona Lottery Commission. "I do not agree with several recent key decisions that Mr.

Spicola has made which Mark HavenThe Arizona Republic Nucara Cobert, 2, has a swinging time after the Black Youth Recognition Conference at ASU's Gammage Auditorium. Helping out are her grandmother, Brenda Jarrett, and cousin, Aaron Jarrett. VALLEY STATE NEWSIN BRIEF Public aid asked in manhunt for 3 suspects in triple killing Hospital to unveil bronze of Ali today PHOENIX The unveiling of a bronze of boxer Muhammad Ali will take place at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center Parking Lot at 1 :30 p.m. today.

The bronze, Fighting Flame, will be presented by four local elementary schools. A St. Joseph's spokeswoman said the bronze symbolizes the courage of Ali and others who live with Parkinson's disease. Those attending the unveiling should turn north on Fifth Avenue at Thomas Road and follow the signs for parking. Arson investigated in motor-home fatality PHOENIX A fire early Sunday that killed a 40-year-old man is being investigated as possible arson, a Phoenix Fire Department spokesman said.

Fire crews found David Wayne Edgar dead in his motor home, which was consumed by the 5 a.m. fire. The vehicle was parked on a cluttered strip of land between a cocktail lounge and motel near 41st and Van Buren streets. Wayne recently was released from a hospital for burns suffered during a previous fire. That fire may have involved a propane tank, Fire Department spokesman Bob Kahn said.

Mercado to become village for fiesta PHOENIX The Mercado in downtown will be transformed next month into a Mexican fiesta to celebrate Festival del Nino. The center will become a Mexican village, with a traditional marketplace, music and dancing, and arts and crafts. Event organizers say Mexican art exhibits will fill now-vacant storefronts. The festival will include authentic south-of-the-border foods, youth soccer exhibitions, and Mexican dancers and musicians. The festival will run from 10 a.m.

to 6 p.m. on April 26. The Mercado is at Seventh and Van Buren streets. 6 feet, 1 83 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. The suspects were last seen in Sedano 's green 1995 Ford Crown Victoria.

The three victims included two brothers and their uncle. They are: Ubaldo Garcia, 23, Jose Garcia, 26, and Rufino Garcia Lopez, 26. Police said one of the brothers was pulling his car to the back of his house when he got into an argument with the suspects. The brother and uncle came to help, but all three died in a fusillade of bullets. Anyone with information should call police at 262-6141.

PHOENIX Police are asking for the public's help in finding suspects in a triple homicide that took place Thursday in the 4000 block 'of East Belleview Street. The three victims were killed during an apparent traffic altercation by a man armed with a rifle. Police say the shooter, known now only as Jose, is about 20, 6 feet tall and weighs 1 60 pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes and a mustache. A second suspect, Guillermo Sedano, is 21, 5 feet 9 inches, weighs 165 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes.

The third suspect, Belen Dominguez, is 34,.