Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 19

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC SFECU1TCFICS Wednesday EDUCATION Friday SCIENCE DISCOVERY Saturday CONSUMER ISSUES THURSDAY JANUARY 7, 1999 Senior Editor, David Fritze 444-8222 david.fritzepni.com i. JLi; 1X lu Jt totobbbbbtolabtobbblabbb eanrclh yiel die um' tMj Jl I I IIIHIL IIHI a Jeep report no help in hunt for Mesa girl ej. mm Republic Columnist Sgt. Earle Lloyd said. At the time of Mikelle's apparent abduction, a copper-colored Jeep CJ was seen in her neighborhood, near El Moro Drive and Toltec Street.

With so few leads, police decided to search the area, but all they found was a stolen vehicle believed unconnected to the case. Despite the lack: of progress, family members managed to keep a positive attitude, even though police admit the odds of finding Mikelle unharmed are worsening. Neighbors along El Moro showed their support for the Biggs family by tying yellow ribbons to their mailboxes. Please see SEARCH, Page 3 i i I yj vf i i.w AiL ti Bidwill's star shines over state ONLINE: Read previous stories about missing Mesa girt Mikelle Biggs on Arizona Central, www.azcentral.com on the Internet. searchers found no evidence of.

Mikelle Biggs, who disappeared Saturday evening while waiting for an ice cream truck. The search, near Power and Thomas roads, was prompted by a tip to police that a copper Jeep CJ had been seen parked on a dirt road nearby, police By Jim Walsh The Arizona Republic Another frustrating day passed without any luck in the search for an 11 -year-old Mesa girl who seems to have vanished without a trace. About 100 Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputies and posse members spent nearly 24 hours searching a lush desert area northeast of Mesa frequented by Salt River tubers. But Sgt. Dave Trombi, a sheriff's spokesman, said Suzanne StanThe Arizona Republic Members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Posse return to base Wednesday to rest their horses after searching Coon Bluff Recreation Area Son hel vA Hk I I I fi 1 'V in mom's beheading Recycler finds body; neighbor was fearful MM.

mi 1 Ron Unz, a supporter of English for the Children of Arizona, a group that opposes bilingual education, tries to avoid protesters who support bilingual education as he leaves a Tucson community center. By Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic Pat Chambers said Wednesday that she knew something bad was going to happen to her next-door neighbor, Kathleen "Kitty" Kibler. Very bad. Chambers had called police in March when Kibler's son, Charles, beat down his mom's door and mailbox and started slapping her around. He also attacked a police officer, Chambers said, and it took four cops to pin him to A ir the ground.

Xavier GallegosTucson Citizen 1 Stl11' Kathleen KJO'e'" i oosted her son's bond. liowdowe over laege So Chambers said she had a sinking feeling when Kibler told her Dec. 27 she was going to ask police to force her unemployed son to leave because she didn't have the money to support him. Chambers never saw Drive begins to end bilingual education Charles Kibler Toward the end of the Cowboys game last weekend, a TV camera focused on the happy Cardinals sideline, panning along a row of smiling players until finally zeroing in on a slouching man with a beard wearing a baggy trench coat, the team's owner, Bill Bidwill. On my answering machine the next day was a message from a fan who'd seen the game at a Phoenix sports bar.

"So, the camera gets to Bidwill, right," he says, "and, I swear, these guys in the bar start cheering. They were like, 'Yeah, Can you (expletive) believe that, man? I swear it's true. I never thought I'd see the day. And did you see Bidwill? Even he was smiling. I never thought I'd see that, either.

But there he was. I swear." I saw him, too, grinning behind his beard, beneath the trench coat, as if Lt. Columbo had entered an Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest and won. In a state where the most powerful businessman is a sports franchise owner named Colangelo, and the most powerful (behind the scenes) politician is a sports franchise owner named Colangelo, and the most powerful person, period, is a sports franchise owner named Colangelo, the Arizona businessman standing front and center on the national stage these days is a sports franchise owner named His Cardinals won a playoff game at a when Colangelo's basketball team was locked out of its arena and Colangelo's baseball team was making zillionaires of major-league head cases. Bidwill, meantime, re-signed the most popular athlete in the state, quarterback Jake Plummet New phenomenon Astronomers at Kitt Peak must have ticed the strange new arch in the celestial sphere.

All of a sudden, Bidwill's moon has passed in front of Colangelo's sun. For this brief moment, there's a total eclipse. "He's enjoying all the positive reaction," one of Bidwill's friends told me. "It's a good time for his family and his football team. But he's enjoying it in his own way, quietly." This has always been Bidwill's dilemma.

He's a too-private man in a too-public business. He doesn't like center stage. He prefers it off to the side. Or better yet, behind the curtain. These days it's his son, Michael, who speaks publicly for the team.

He's comfortable in front of the cameras. Savvy. When I talked to him Wednesday, though, he was just a kid who's really happy for his dad. And proud of him. "It would be difficult to put into words what the past few weeks have been like for my father," Michael said.

"I'd guess he's received telephone calls from every owner in the league, wishing him well. He's put in a lot of long, difficult years. It's great to see him enjoying this." The Phoenix Coyotes placed an ad in the newspaper congratulating the Cardinals. Michael Bidwill-got a letter saying the same thing from Bryan Colangelo, Jerry's son. "Everyone has been so gracious," Michael said.

Another side Lately, he carries around pictures of his father taken by the leam photographer at the end of the San Diego game, when a last-second field goal put the Cardinals in the playoffs. "Look at him," Michael said, pointing io an image of Bill Bidwill, arms raised and shouting with joy. "I wish more people knew this side of him." A few close friends see it. And family. And you hear about it from people like Sister Martha Carpenter, who's mission on the Gila River Indian Reservation has been supported by the Bidwills for years.

As with many other subjects, Bidwill doesn't discuss his charity work, perhaps believing what the nuns taught me long ago in Catholic school: If you want credit for it, it's not charity. That doesn't mean there aren't payoffs, though; Real ones. At the Cardinals kickoff luncheon back in August, Sister Martha was asked to give the invocation. In it she said, "Bless the Cardinal fans, and may their numbers increase." E.J. Montini can be reached at 444-8978 or at ed.montinipnj.com via e-mail.

i of California's recent law against bilingual education, more than a dozen members of English for the Children registered the initiative later Wednesday with the Secretary of State's Office in Phoenix. While raising funds for the Arizona effort, Unz said that Colorado and Massachusetts are possible future targets of initiatives against bilingual education and that he is lobbying the New York Legislature for a ban as well. At least one leader of the pro-initiative group said he felt threatened by opponents in Tucson. "We were practically attacked by a mob," said Hector Ayala, an English teacher at Tucson's Cholla High School and a founder of the Arizona initiative. "But I don't think there is one Mexican immigrant who disagrees with us." The pro-initiative group held a news conference at El Rio Neighborhood Center in a west-side Hispanic community, where initiative leader Maria Men-doza said the jeers and opposition were expected.

If 101,762 valid voter signatures are gathered by July 6, 2000, and the voters approve, the initiative would reverse Arizona's bilingual-education law. Instead of teaching English-deficient students in their native language, they would be immersed in English. Some supporters of bilingual education say English immersion would rob stu- Please see GROUP, Page B2 her friend again. On Tuesday, Kitty Kibler's headless body was found by workers at Hudson Baylor West, a recycling company in the 1900 block of East University Drive. She had been dumped in a garbage, can for recy-clables, police said; an address in the 7700 block of West Meadowbrook Avenue on mail next to her body led officers to her home.

Kibler's head has not been found. There was evidence of a struggle in her home, Phoenix police Sgt. Mike Torres said, and Charles Edward Kibler, 22, was arrested Please see WOMAN'S, Page B2 By Mike McCloy The Arizona Republic The battle over bilingual education erupted Wednesday in Arizona with an angry protest over a. California-like initiative to abolish the program. Nearly 100 demonstrators shouted and pressed members of English for the Children of Arizona against a wall in Tucson as the group launched a signature campaign to place its ban on the November 2000 general election ballot.

Accompanied by Ron Unz, the leader Police probe turns up steroid use at AJ. High "Obviously, we believe where there's smoke, there's fire," said Carol Shepherd, spokeswoman for Apache Junction schools. "We believe there was steroid use." School officials plan to use the case to reinforce their stance against drug use. They Please see STUDENTS, Page B2 football player, followed allegations that as many as 20 students were using and selling the illegally obtained drug, according to a police report released Wednesday. No charges were filed, authorities said, because of the lack of strong evidence.

But school officials say they hardly find that comforting. finished their investigation this week, three athletes admitted to using the muscle-enhancing drug, casting a pall on the football team's performance and prompting the possibility of random drug testing of student athletes. The confessions by the three teenage boys, including a former basketball top scorer and By Kelly Pearce The Arizona Republic The charge first surfaced near the start of the school year: Some student athletes at Apache Junction High School were selling and using anabolic steroids, administrators were told. By the time Apache Junction police VALLEY i STATE NEWS IN BRIEF NTSB takes over investigation of charter's emergency landing APS employee killed in Scottsdale crash SCOTTSDALE An Arizona Public Service Co. employee was killed Wednesday when he apparently ran a stop sign and his truck was struck by a van, police said.

Frank Eugene Phillips, 59, of Phoenix, was pronounced dead at the scene, Sgt. Doug Dirren said. Phillips was driving north on Miller Road about 8 a.m. Wednesday when he apparently ran a stop sign at Miller and Pinnacle Peak roads, Dirren said. Phillips' APS vehicle was struck by an eastbound US West van driven by Tom Espinoza, 51, of Phoenix.

Espinoza was flown to Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and later released. West-side area code will be 623, panel says PHOENIX Anyone calling Phoenix's west suburbs starting March 1 will have to dial a new 623 area code announced Wednesday by the Arizona Corporation Commission. The commission decided last month to split the Phoenix metro area into three area codes. Calls between Phoenix area codes will require that the area code and number be dialed, but there will be no charge. The current plan allows central and south Phoenix to retain the 602 area code.

A second area code 480 will be assigned to the east suburbs, and the 623 will be given to phone numbers in the west suburbs as well as in north Phoenix. Police give name of slaying victim GLENDALE The identity of a slain woman whose body was discovered Monday near Glendale Municipal Airport was disclosed by police on Wednesday. Officers said the victim, Cindy Frye, 39, address unknown, last was seen Sunday in the 7100 block of North 80th Avenue in the company of a man with shoulder-length blond hair and wire-frame glasses. The man is described as 25 to 30 years old, 6 feet tall and about 1 70 pounds. I Ie was driving a small to midsize green car with tinted windows.

People with information about the case are urged to call Glendale investigators at 930-3300. showered with the fuel. William Shumann, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said that fuel dumping is a fairly common practice in emergency situations. Planes have to dump fuel to get to their required landing weight or else they risk collapsing the plane's landing gear. Jet fuel, which is largely kerosene, evaporates when dumped from altitudes of 2,000 feet and higher.

Even at lower elevations, such as during Tuesday's incident, the effects are generally harmless, although people should scrub up after contact with the fuel, he said. PHOENIX The National Transportation Safety Board has taken over the investigation into why a charter plane had to abruptly turn back to Sky Harbor International Airport on Tuesday, dumping 9,000 pounds of fuel over the metro area. There were no details Wednes-. day on the investigation's status. Passengers noticed an open cargo door shortly after takeoff.

The plane was full of University of Tennessee fans on their way home from the Fiesta Bowl. No one was injured, but parts of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe under the plane's flight path wtie.