Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 159

Scottsdale Foothills Carefree Cave Creek Fountain Hills Northeast Phoenix Paradise Valley Rio Verde Scottsdale TI IE ARIZONA REPUBLIC Wednesday, July 30, 1997 8 Cholla Trail neighbors want last concerns fixed TOWN OMMUNITY you see rr? By Diana Balazs The Arizona Republic PHOENIX Residents who live near Cholla Trail will meet next Wednesday with city officials to address lingering concerns they have about fire and police protection and other issues. Neighbors will meet with Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio; Jack, Tevlin, deputy city manager; Jim Burke, deputy parks and recreation director; and Police, Fire and Street Deparment officials. Residents concerned about the impact the trail's reopening will have want to see some sort of police, fire and street plan for the area, said John.Londelius, who is hosting the meeting. "This is just for the neighbors who live here to meet, to ask for what assurances we're going to get from the police, the Fire Department and Street Department to control it," he said. The city is finalizing an easement agreement with the Phoenician resort to provide a new access to the trail, which has been closed for more than two years.

On April 24, 1995, Phoenix shut the trail, which is on Camelback Mountain's eastern side, because the, city was unable to maintain an access easement granted by a private landowner or deal adequately with neighbors' complaints about vandalism, parties, fires and other problems. That access to the trail will remain closed. The Phoenician is providing new public access west of 64th Street and south Please see MORE, Page 8 (outlet Ihikiwtra1 1 CLOSED i 1ZM More moieyj more buses Sky lights: We needed something to add a little extraterrestrial life to a slow, hot, Earth-stuck sum mer. And nearly a quarter of Phoenix voters believe those lovable, large-headed creatures didn't let us down. A July survey reports that 22 per cent of 436 Phoenix residents say the mysterious lights seen over the city on March 13 came to us from outer space.

Twenty-nine percent of those polled July 1 7-20 are unsure. The rest credit "natural phenomenon" for creating the light show. The poll was sponsored by Channel 8 (KAET-TV) and Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and has a margin of er ror of plus or rninus 4.7 percentage pun us. i The Maryland Air National Guard reported Thursday that it was responsible for the lights. i HELFili'G HAI2D Support group: A seemingly sim ple condition called tinnitus forced John Nichols, a former lawyer, to retire early from a successful career.

After consulting with neurosurgeons, Nichols found that the best of doctors had few medical solu- tions. According to the Oregon-based American Tinnitus Association, 44 million people nationwide and 300,000 people in the Valley have a condition they say is "debilitating." .7 This buzzing, roaring, whistling, hissing, high-pitched screeching or cricket noise In one's ears can, in its severe stages, sound as loud as a jet airplane. The PhoenixJinnitus Support Group, a branch of the national or- ganization, helps Valley people manage the stress and depression caused by tinnitus. As the group's facilitator, Nichols recommends listening to classical meditation, prayer and strenuous exercise such as hiking as useful tools. The Tinnitus Support Group meets the first Monday of each month at North Phoenix Baptist Church, Fellowship Hall, Room 101, 5757 N.

Central Phoenix. Information: 860-5758. hie Lovely lamp: "It's a very unusual lamp, so, yes, it was a very exciting situation. I mean, you know, I took a little time to be sure what it was supposed to be." Louise Luther of Skinner, an auctioneering and appraising firm, who valued a 1 91 0 or thereabouts Tiffany lamp owned by two Scottsdale sisters at $100,000 during a recent Valley visit of the Antiques Roadshow television show Heard something interesting? Let us know, we'll spread it Around Town. Call us at 675-7479, fax us at 675-7488, or drop a note to Around Town, 5111 N.

Scottsdale Road, Suite 150, Scottsdale, AZ 85250. We also can be reached at nenewspni.com on the Internet. PRESSURE Emm lor a quick question. for telling us what you think. Transit vote would increase sales tax By Alexa Haussler The Arizona Republic SCOTTSDALE It's a typical after noon on southbound Route 72.

One man is snoozing. Another gazes forward, absorbed in tunes on his Walkman. A woman is jostled in her seat as she tries to flip through a Newsweek. The Scottsdale bus riders are calling it a night, heading home i TfliiflSIT ELECTIONS from work. And they are in for a long haul.

Like bus riders Valley-wide, they endure bus treks that could take hours, delays and hoofing it for miles to get to bus stops, woes some say could be eased by raising the local sales tax by a half-penny. Voters will cast their ballots Sept. 9 on Proposition 1: a 0.5 percent sales tax Please see SALES TAX, Page 8 FYI Special election facts Scottsdale polls for the special election will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept.

9. Voters can vote early starting Aug. 11 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays until Sept.

5 at elections central in Scottsdale City Hall, 3939 N. Civic Center Blvd. Registered Scottsdale voters can request early ballots by calling the City Clerk's Office at 994-2412. The early ballots will be mailed in mid-August. Voter registration deadline for the special election is Aug.

11. Mail-in voter registration forms are available at the City Clerk's Office. For more election information, call the City Clerk's Office at 994-2412. Mark HavenThe Arizona Republic Scottsdale would not rely solely on contractors to provide bus service, as it does now, if a tax increase is approved. Voters will decide the issue on Sept.

9. SCOTTSDALE BUS RIDERSHIP On any given day last year, 3,500 people rode buses in Scottsdale. 3 8 regional; 2 express. The old access to Cholla Trail on Camelback Mountain will remain shut when a new public access to the trail opens later this year. The Arizona Republic Amberjack developers hanging in Opposition promises hard-fought battle, too By Alexa Haussler The Arizona Republic SCOTTSDALE Developers will persevere with plans for the controversial Amberjack development, the project's planner announced last week.

And that, opponents means they are in for a fight. "At the moment, it is. a specific plan that we have no choice but to resist," said Marcita Ryon of the Pinnacle Peak a group opposing the north Scottsdale development. It's a challenge the developer has agreed to take. "Showdown time probably is not only inevitable, but probably quite appropriate," said Vern Swaback, the project's principal architect.

Amberjack, a proposed master-planned community would include an 18-hole golf course, 80-room resort, small town center and 757 homes at Scottsdale and Lone Mountain roads. Preservationists have blasted the proposed community, saying it will kill wildlife and destroy the desert. The Scottsdale Planning Commission in June postponed a decision 'on rezoning plans for the 860-acre site until Sept. 24. At that point, Amberjack a subsidiary of State Farm Insurance, pondered selling the land and allowing another developer to take over.

But last week, Swaback got word Stale Farm will stick with the plan. "We are now in it for the long haul," he said. Swaback said the developer will host a public forum the first week Of September to gather input from the community on the proposed devel- Please see AMBERJACK, Page 9 Diane Harris looks over the last Versace piece at Secret's Consignment Boutique in Scottsdale. Tom TingleThe Arizona Republic and there was a trace of marijuana in her system. Yet Gloria Schulze was not arrested that night or later on, when she was discharged from the hospital.

Rose Marie Maher never could understand that. "The day I buried my daughter I called the county attorney from the funeral home," Maher said. "I couldn't understand why she was walking the streets while I was burying my daughter." Don't worry, she was told. These things take time. It's been three years now, and Maher is still waiting.

Gloria Schulze has never spent even a day behind bars. In fact, she didn't even lose her driver's license. Friday: How the system let Gloria Schulze slip away. Laurie Roberts can be reached at 675-7477 or at laurie.robertspni.com via e-mail. 4 3,530 3,000, 2,500 1,500 1,000 500 3 Death causes prices to soar on Versace's hip fashions a -n By Shawn Zeller The Arizona Republic SCOTTSDALE Shoppers stand by the racks ogling at that bright orange sport coat.

They gawk at the price tag, $750. But prices don't seem to matter now. Since the death of Gianni Versace on July 15, the Valley's hip and rich have '92-'93 '93-'94 '94-'95 '95 1 First three quarters only Source: Regional Public Transportation Authority been scooping up his fashions at a record pace. According to salespeople at the trendi-est of trendy clothiers in the Valley, the famed fashion mogul is proving to be a far greater draw for the Valley's chic now Please see DEATH, Page 9 drinking and driving, was dead. Killed by a drunken driver, not five minutes from her home.

Not five months before she would have graduated from Creighton University and gone on to pursue her dream of becoming a diplomat. She would have made it, too, people said. Angela was the kind of girl people were drawn to. The kind whose easy smile said there were no strangers. The kind who stepped up when there was work to be done.

During her senior" year at Xavier, she founded a chapter of Students Against Driving Drunk. One of her friends, Jeffrey Dawes, had been accidently shot and killed by a DPS officer that year after a freeway chase. Dawes had been driving drunk. At his funeral, Angela vowed that it wouldn't happen again to another of her friends. '96 '96-'97 i Gus WalkerThe Arizona Republic "In high school, she was always the designated driver," Rose Marie Maher said.

"I'd say, 'Gee, why is it always, cur car, and she'd said 'Mom, because I want to know I'm going to get I "I'll never forget her saying that. 'I want to know I'm going to get 1 After leaving home that July night, i Angela turned right onto Scottsdale Road and headed south, toward Stixx. The maroon van had just pulled out of I Thunder and Lightning, a bar near Scottsdale and Shea. It was moving north on Scottsdale when it drifted across the center line, striking one vehicle, then hitting Angela's car head on. Angela died at the scene.

The driver of the van, Gloria Schulze, had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and smelled of alcohol. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.15 percent, well over the legal limit, -I i miiinn-mii'rTiii iii Her daughter dead, mother can only wait and hope for justice It was 10 minutes until 10 p.m. when 21 -year-old Angela Maher climbed into her mother's white Oldsmobile. She'd been home from college for just a few days, home to celebrate her mother's 57th birthday. Her father had died four years earlier, and she hadn't wanted her mother to spend her birthday alone.

On this night, an old high school friend had called and asked for a ride home from Stixx, one of Scottsdale's hot spots. It was a familiar drill for Angela. She, after all, had always been the designated driver in high school, the responsible one who made sure everyone got home safely. And so at 10 minutes until 10 p.m. on 4f- Friday, July 29, 1994, Angela climbed into her mother's Olds and drove off to fetch her friend.

Shortly after midnight, Rose Marie Maher started to worry. Angela had said she'd be home by midnight, and if Angela said she'd be home, you could count on it. She was that kind of girl. Besides, she knew her mother would never go to sleep until her children were safely home, no matter how old they were. Rose Marie was that kind of mother.

Laurie Roberts It was 10 minutes until 1 a.m. when the knock on the door came. It was the police. "They wanted to know if I had a white Oldsmobile," Maher said. Angela Marie Maher, the girl who in high school had tried to do something about.