SanTanValley.com

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shots fired call at a construction site in the Magma Ranch area that resulted in the arrest of a man angered about the minority workforce in the area.

Several Pinal County Sheriff deputies responded to a shots fired call on Monday at 11:50 a.m. in the area of Marigold Lane and Primrose in the Magma Ranch housing development. One deputy located a male matching the suspect’s description in his vehicle. The suspect, Danny Davis, 53-years-old, of Florence, pointed the rifle out the passenger side window and fired a single round in the direction of the deputy’s patrol car.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors recently passed a tentative budget for the upcoming fiscal year.  The vote was unanimous for passage of this document.  The tentative budget came out to $373,723,558.

As your district representative to the board, I would like to tell you what is in this tentative budget.  I am pleased to tell all of you that there are two significant road projects coming to our area.  Many of you know that the Hunt Highway expansion is currently underway.  This budget has money set aside for the phase 1 and 2 of this project which is north of Gary Road.  

Is it fair that families who live within city or town limits receive more than double the police protection?  Almost 212,000 Pinal residents do not live in a city or town and are the primary responsibility of the Sheriff’s Office. We have 209 deputies for 212,000 residents who live in the unincorporated county areas like San Tan Valley, Gold Canyon, Hidden Valley, Queen Valley, Arizona City, San Manuel, Oracle, Saddlebrooke and portions of Casa Grande and Apache Junction.  Local Police Departments have over 540 full time Police Officers to protect 170,000 residents within the city limits and tribal reservations.

A theater chain is one step closer to build­ing an entertainment complex in down­town Queen Creek. During their June 5 meeting, members of the Queen Creek Town Council voted unani­mously to approve a site plan for phase one of the movie theater complex being proposed by Los Angeles-based Maya Cinemas. If complet­ed as planned, the complex would occupy a 19-acre parcel of town- owned property north of Maya Boulevard, south of Rittenhouse Road, east of Ellsworth Loop Road and west of Ellsworth Road, according to a staff report to the council.

The town would serve as landlord for the project, but could negotiate a sale or lease of the property, according to Wayne Balmer, the town’s planning administrator.

Phase one of the three-phase plan includes a 59,000-square-foot, 2,300-seat theater; 7,500 square feet of restaurants, retail space and parking, according to the report.

County crews are preparing to apply chip seal to several roads in the San Tan Heights area.  The road resurfacing work is anticipated to last from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14.

A protective rock and emulsion seal will be applied on the road surface to extend the life of the roads.  The application of this material is highly weather-dependent with ideal conditions taking place in the spring and fall.

San Tan Toastmasters is excited to be celebrating its third anniversary. The club was formed by San Tan Valley resident Ric Wattier and Queen Creek resi­dent Diane Travers Shipman. Their dream was to create a Toastmasters club that would reach out to adults and youth in the San Tan Valley, helping them with their communication and leaderships skills.

It’s wonderful to see someone scared of public speaking to become a great mo­tivational speaker. San Tan Valley residents have benefited from two local residents’ dreams. Thank you, Ric and Diane.

On May 22, 2013, the Maricopa Association of Governments Regional Council voted unanimously to expand its membership to include the Town of Florence and the City of Maricopa.

“The Town of Florence’s inclusion into MAG provides us with additional planning and transportation resources that will enhance our ability to properly plan for our future”, said Florence Mayor Tom J. Rankin.

Contributions Based on Number of Hours of Employee Volunteers

Salt River Project employees are turning their volunteer hours into much-needed funds for the nonprofit organizations they assist through the SRP Dollars for Doers program.

The program contributes funds, ranging from $250 to $1,000, directly to community nonprofits based upon the number of volunteer hours donated during the 2012 calendar year by SRP employees. The grant program is designed to provide funding to nonprofit agencies that are also supported by the volunteer efforts of SRP employees.

The Arizona Department of Envi­ronmental Quality is testing water samples taken from the lakes at the entrance to The Villages, a community in San Tan Heights, along West Hunt High­way near Gary Road in San Tan Valley, Mark Shaffer, communications director for ADEQ, confirmed Thursday night.

On May 13, Channel 12 News in Phoe­nix reported sewage had backed up into the lakes flanking the West Hunt Highway entrance to the community.

This evening around 9:30pm a silver Honda Civic took a wide turn around a corner and t-boned a parked SUV sitting in the driveway at 157 W Yellowbee in San Tan Valley.

A power box had been hit and power was shut off to the neighborhood following the accident.

Luckily no injuries were reported.  Witnesses state that it was a male driver with a female passenger, however after the collision, the male and female switched seats.