33 Years of Service ~ 2009 - School of Journalism

33 Years of Service ~ 2009 - School of Journalism

EL
INDEPENDIENTE
1976 ~ 33 Years of Service ~ 2009
www.elindenews.com
Free/gratis
May 8 / 8 de mayo 2009
More Women, Children Homeless
By Jessica Marinucci
A car accident put Jeanne Cote out
of work for several months, and
when she was finally ready to
return to her job, it was no longer
available.
Now she is forced to turn to
Casa Maria’s soup kitchen when
she runs out of food stamps.
“I have a variety of experiences
and I’ve been out looking for jobs,
but there is nothing,” Cote said.
“There are a lot of people out here
with skills, but they are hitting
closed doors left and right.”
Cote has a 1-year-old daughter
and her husband, Michael
Schoeneck, is on disability. They
are not homeless yet, but
Schoeneck’s entire monthly Social
Security check goes toward rent.
Across Tucson, people have lost
their jobs and are struggling to stay
in their homes and feed their families, but more and more families
are becoming homeless and living
on the streets.
“Because they are not sitting on
street corners, begging with their
kids in tow, people underestimate
the number of families that are
homeless,” said Jennifer Anderson,
director of programs for New
INSIDE
Fronteras, Mexico,
Women’s Group
Fights for Jobs
When the town’s only industry, a Levelor window blinds
factory, closed in 2002, its
people were left praying for
answers. But in Fronteras,
divine intervention only follows human sweat – and tears.
PHOTO
BY
COLLEEN KEEFE
Cheryl Rada and her 16-year-old daughter Katie Rada have been living at a Primavera shelter since May 1 and can stay
in the transitional housing for up to 90 days. Cheryl lost her job at Circle K and child support stopped several weeks
ago, leaving the pair homeless. She begins chemotherapy for colon cancer on the 11th.
Beginnings for Women and
Children, an organization dedicated to helping homeless women and
children in Tucson.
Anderson added that before the
economy crashed, they were at full
capacity, but the number of people
needing assistance has been
“steady or increasing for about a
year.”
The Tucson Planning Council
‘Homeless Families’/see page 6
...see pages 4 and 5
South Side Neighborhoods More Stable, Border Patrol’s New Scanner
Experience Fewer Foreclosure Problems Nabs Drugs, Human Contraband
By Michael Luke
Manny Grijalva chuckles at his
current situation. He struggles to
make money as a busboy at Old
Pueblo Grille and is a self-proclaimed “nervous wreck” when bill
due dates approach.
But one bill he doesn’t have to
worry about is a mortgage on his
house.
His south side home was paid
for by his grandparents more than
50 years ago. He notes that some of
the people he grew up with have
much higher paying jobs, but struggle to make their house payments.
Like other areas of Tucson, the
south side has forclosures, but the
impact is less than might be expected because of the greater number of
older homes in the area.
The older neighborhoods in
south side Tucson are more stable.
Homes are often in families for
generations. Fewer new houses
have been built, and as a result,
fewer mortgages and fewer forclosures.
In contrast, the newly developed
areas in the northwest and southeast have high foreclosure rates
largely because they had so many
new home mortgages.
“Parts of town that expanded
the most are the ones that are really
being affected right now,” said Jeri
Szach, of Szach Realty.
As of January 2009, Arizona
and Nevada had two of the highest
foreclosure rates in the country.
According to Szach, both states
were hot migration points and they
experienced rapidly expanding new
housing projects.
Phoenix and Tucson grew over
PHOTO
BY
MIKE LUKE
Manny Grijalva talks with his neighbor over the back yard fence. Like many
south siders, Grijalva’s home has been in his family for decades.
the past decade causing the need
for new housing construction.
From 2000 to 2007 alone, Tucson’s
population increased by nearly
40,000 while Phoenix increased by
more than 230,000.
Currently, 50 percent of all
houses on the market in Phoenix
and 15 percent in Tucson are foreclosed, according to data from the
National Realtors Association.
Szach points out that many
people in Tucson who received illadvised loans were looking to
move into the rapidly developing
southeast and northwest sides of
Tucson. The south side of Tucson
didn’t undergo nearly as much
development.
“There are many people on the
south side of Tucson who are
absolutely benefiting from the
large amount of older houses in that
area,” Szach said. “Many older
houses are especially prevalent in
the south part of Tucson, and a lot
of those homes tend to have been in
the family for along time.”
Grijalva feels blessed to be living in his south side home. He has
a tremendous bond with many of
the people in his neighborhood.
“I love this area,” Grijalva said.
“It may look a little run down to
some, but a lot of people are happy
they have an older house because
that’s one less bill to pay.”
In fact, Grijalva realizes how
much more difficult his life would
be if he faced a monthly mortgage,
“I have no clue where I would live
or if I would be on the street.”
By Lourdes Villarreal
The U.S. Border Patrol has an
innovative new tool to catch smugglers – X-ray vision.
The agency has implemented Xray technology at the Interstate 19
checkpoint south of Tucson to
detect contraband.
The Border Patrol inspects
vehicles for hidden drugs, humans
and other contraband with a
mobile device loaded on a Ford F550 chasse called the Z
Backscatter Van.
The van looks like a horse trailer stalled on the side of the road. A
scanner mounted inside provides
better shape and accuracy of what
is inside the vehicle they want to
inspect.
“It finds the exact location, its
quicker, it's more assertive in what
we are looking for,” said Mario
Escalante, public information officer for the Border Patrol’s Tucson
Sector.
The Backscatter radiation van
drives around a vehicle emitting a
beam of an X-ray, which bounces
back to the system. Once the information is gathered, it is transmitted
and displayed on a laptop located
inside the van.
“It scans and bounces off the
organic material and gives it
shape,” Escalante said.
The radiation emitted from the
van is minimal, equivalent to one
chest X-ray.
Still, for safety purposes, passengers are told to leave their vehicles while the scan is in progress.
Since the device was deployed
in February, it has detected 2,969
pounds of marijuana, 31 pounds of
cocaine and 17 pounds of heroin
and seven concealed illegal immigrants.
The Border Patrol currently has
four of these devices — one in
Arizona, one in California and two
in Texas.
PHOTO COURTESY
Backscatter radiation shows 1,321 pounds of marijuana.
OF
U.S. BORDER PATROL
EL INDEPENDIENTE
Page 2 / Página 2
May 8 / 8 de Mayo 2009
Garcia Sentenced; HNS Back From the Brink
33 Months in Prison
By Kelly Grove
By Dan Sullivan
Richard Robles Garcia, a former
South Tucson Police Department
lieutenant, was sentenced to 33
months in federal prison April 10
for embezzling more than $560,000
from the police department and the
city, court documents show.
Garcia was also ordered by the
U.S. District Court to pay
$454,963.45 in $200 monthly
installments for his crimes.
It will take many lifetimes for
Garcia to repay the city, said
Enrique Serna, South Tucson city
manager.
“We were victimized again,” he
said. “There’s no real restitution.”
Garcia’s actions may have
added to the burden the city is facing, he said. Half of the more than
$560,000 Garcia stole would have
gone to South Tucson’s general
fund.
Garcia pleaded guilty Jan. 26 to
the U.S. District Court. He was sentenced to the minimum sentence
arranged in his plea agreement.
Garcia, 47, who was the police
department’s second in command,
ran the STPD’s asset-forfeiture
program. He was the sole custodian of its evidence room and court
documents show he embezzled
money between February 2004 and
May 2008.
Garcia was a 13-year veteran of
the STPD, but was fired in June
following an investigation in May
by the FBI and the Internal
Revenue Service.
The investigation revealed
Garcia received STPD checks
from vehicle impounds and asset
forfeitures then deposited them
into his own checking account or
withdrew money from the department’s account.
Garcia said he stole because of
his gambling habit, but said he
tried to pay the city back with his
gambling winnings, according to
court documents.
“We won’t ever put this behind
us,” Serna said. “Garcia’s actions
will always have an impact on the
city, especially its police.”
EL
INDEPENDIENTE
South Tucson’s Bilingual Newspaper
El Independiente encourages letters from all its readers, but reserves the
right to edit correspondence for grammar, style, clarity and length.
www.elindenews.com
UA Journalism
P.O. Box 210158B
Tucson, AZ 85721
Phone: 621-3618
[email protected]
Advisor
Por Dan Sullivan
Traducido por Liliana Gracia
Student Advisor
Colleen Keefe
La ciudad del Sur de Tucsón
realizará una elección para el
Consejo de la Ciudad el 19 de
mayo.
El titular Ildefonso Green se
enfrentará al oponente John Felix
para el escaño en el Consejo de la
Graphics and Layout Advisor
John deDios
Managing Editor
Taylor Avey
Photographers
Nyssa Baca
News Editor
Dan Sullivan
Designers
Spanish Editor
Alex Dalenberg
Melisa Terán
Max Voege
Lourdes Villarreal
Design Chief
Reporters
Sara Santana
Mike Luke
Ryan Timothy Greer
Photo Editor
Jessica Jaco
Community Events Editor
Ali Vieth
Translators
Liliana Gracia
Nabil Hourieh
Diana Núñez
Amanda Campos Arenas
News Room Manager
Copy Chief
Veronica Cruz
PHOTO BY KELLY GROVE
Kids work on computers at the House of Neighborly Service which offers after
school programs to students.
sands of bags of groceries for more
than 150 seniors.
The HNS offers a number of
regular programs that focus on
improving socialization and
enhancing quality of life.
Among these is a seniors’ program which consists of providing
well-balanced meals for seniors to
gather and socialize several times a
week.
Currently, more than 30 seniors
participate.
“The senior program is wonderful,” Lopez said. “I sometimes join
in their activities and I always have
a great time.”
The HNS also offers a popular
after school program for elementary-aged kids focused on improving literacy and socialization skills.
A computer literacy program
for teenagers meets every afternoon.
“I’ve been coming to the House
of Neighborly Service for three
years now, and I really like it,” said
13-year-old, Ricardo Martinez.
“The computer and reading programs are fun and help me do better in school.”
Prevention specialist, Vicky
Buelna, who works with elementary children for the HNS said,
“It’s been a pleasure working with
the children. I enjoy it because I
feel I am making a positive difference in their lives by helping them
prepare for the future.”
The HNS also has a youth program that teaches kids how to build
self-esteem, teamwork and socialization skills all through jump-roping and other activities said Victor
Quiros, program manager of community services for Our Family.
“I attended The House of
Neighborly Service as a child, and
remember being a teenager cleaning yards and painting houses
through their programs,” Lopez
said. “The House of Neighborly
Service is wonderful and has
always been in my life, I can’t
imagine what it would be like without it.”
Elecciónes en el Sur de Tucsón Clínica ofrece
Maggy Zanger
Kathleen Stevens
At risk of closing last fall because
of a lack of funding, the House of
Neighborly Service has found
renewed life through the financial
and operational support from Our
Family Services.
Today, the House of Neighborly
Service serves more than 1,000
low-income children, young adults
and seniors throughout South
Tucson with a variety of programs
designed to enhance their education, life skills, local culture and
quality of life.
The House of Neighborly
Service (HNS), 243 W 33 St., has a
long legacy of serving the South
Tucson area.
Founded in 1948, the organization operated successfully through
donations until 2008 when a
$50,000 budget shortfall forced it
to close in September.
The organization reopened
early this year after Our Family
Service moved quickly to handle
its operations and keep their programs running.
“Our Family shares a like vision
with The House of Neighborly
Service, striving to make South
Tucson a better place to grow up
and grow old,” said Arlene Lopez,
HNS board member.
Lopez added that Our Family
Services is running the programs
with grants received from Pima
County, but allows the HNS to
retain control of its board and overall direction.
In 2008, even with its funding
issues, the HNS provided more
than 200 hours of tutoring for more
than 50 South Tucson children, 21
tattoo removal treatments and
1,259 hours of prevention, fitness
and recreation services for hundreds of children.
They also provided 3,526
meals, a dozen field trips and thou-
Translation and Interpretation
Department
of Spanish and Portuguese
and Mexican American Studies
Copy Editors
Taylor Avey
Lindsey Turner
Jessica Marinucci
Community events for the fall can be submitted to El
Independiente at [email protected]. The next issue will be in
September 2009.
Ciudad.
Los candidatos ganadores necesitan el 50% de los votos más uno.
El ganador acompañará a Pete
Tadeo y a Carlos Salaz en el
Consejo de la Ciudad del Sur de
Tucsón.
Si desea información sobre los centros de votación, llame al 7922424.
La Cámara Hispana de Comercio
celebra su 20 aniversario
Por Kelly Grove
Traducido por Amanda
Campos Aravena
La Cámara Hispana de Comercio
celebrará 20 años de servicio a la
ciudad de Tucsón en su baile de
gala anual que tomará lugar el 19
de septiembre en el Skyline
Country Club.
“El baile de gala anual será una
gran manera de celebrar nuestro
aniversario y numerosas contribuciones a la comunidad de Tucsón”,
dijo Carmen Noriega, coordinadora
de programas de la Cámara
Hispana de Comercio. Durante el
evento, también nombrarán a el
empresario y la empresaria del año.
Desde el 18 de mayo de 1989 la
Cámara Hispana de Comercio continúa su misión de impulsar el
desarrollo económico, mejorar el
comercio hispano, y proveer acceso
al mercado hispano.
Hoy, la organización cuenta con
cientos de miembros entre los
negocios locales y se considera una
de las cámaras de comercio de más
rápido crecimiento en el país.
“La Cámara Hispana de Comercio
es distinta a otras organizaciones
semejantes en Tucsón porque está
tratando de ofrecer a las compañías,
que pertencen a ella la capacidad de
conectarse con el floreciente mercado hispano”, dijo Noriega.
“Todos nuestros eventos y actividades están diseñados para darles a
los miembros la oportunidad de
conectarse con clientes potenciales
y de formar sociedades mercantiles
entre sí”.
La organización también contribuye a la educación de los estudiantes hispanos necesitados al
otorgar becas anuales a estudiantes,
en su último año de bachillerato
que cumplan los requisitos.
Estos estudiantes asistirán a una
universidad o escuela vocacional
acreditada.
“El próximo baile de gala anual
nos dará la oportunidad de celebrar
todos nuestros logros de no tan sólo
este año, sino de los últimos 20
años”, dijo Noriega.
cuidado médico
gratis los lunes
Por Michael Luke
Traducido por Nabil Hourieh, Jr.
Cada lunes, la Clínica Amistad
ofrece cuidado médico primario y
preventivo gratis a los que no
tienen seguro, en la oficina de WIC
cerca de la iglesia Southside
Presbyterian.
La clínica, localizada en 1631 S.
10th Ave., ofrece varios servicios,
incluyendo cuidado de urgencia y
medicamentos junto con fisioterapia y acupuntura.
También hay médicos y enfermeras disponibles para aconsejar
sobre nutrición y estilos de vida
saludables.
El equipo de voluntarios incluye
médicos, asistentes médicos, enfermeras e intérpretes de español,
todos trabajando como voluntarios.
Varios
estudiantes
de
la
Universidad de Arizona y de Pima
Community College trabajan como
intérpretes en la clínica.
La clínica siempre busca a intérpretes porque la mayoría de las
personas que van a las clínicas son
hispanohablantes.
Todos los días excepto el lunes
por la tarde, la clínica es la sede de
la oficina de Mujeres, Bebés y
Niños (WIC, por sus siglas en
inglés).
Para más información llame al
520-237-5434.
www.elindenews.com
EL INDEPENDIENTE
May 8 / 8 de Mayo 2009
Page 3 / Página 3
SUSD Wins Multiple Medals
in Special Olympics Games
Election Time
By Dan Sullivan
The City of South Tucson will hold
a city council election May 19.
Incumbent Ildefonso Green will
face challenger John Felix for a
seat on the city council.
The winner will join Pete Tadeo
and Carlos Salaz on the South
Tucson City Council.
For information on polling stations, call 792-2424.
By Max Voege
tary groups” to “young adult
groups,” Zuniga said.
“We had 55 athletes compete in
The Olympics may have ended this
past summer, but the Sunnyside March in Mesa,” Zuniga said. “At
Unified School District is still par- Sunnyside we have around 200 athticipating in their own Special letes and it is the largest program in
Arizona.”
Olympics.
The 200 athletes at SUSD play
The Special Olympics of
Arizona takes place year-round. On a variety of sports including bowling,
March 27 and 28 SUSD had partic- floor hockey, and track and field.
The athletes range in age and
ipants in the basketball and cheerleading events, which took place in ability levels, but one of
Sunnyside’s basketball teams is
Mesa, Ariz.
For SUSD, the three basketball “almost high school caliber,”
Zuniga said.
teams that partici“It’s different
pated received a
with
Special
gold medal, silver
Olympics sports,”
medal and fifth
Chrisman
said.
place.
These kids just
“They have a good
The gold medal
excel over and
time, win or lose.
came from the eleabove what we
They do want to
mentary-middle
win, but winning
school division.
sometimes think
isn’t everything.
SUSD’s cheerthey can do.
It’s the competileading squad also
tion.”
captured the gold in
–Harry Parks
Along with the
the same division.
SUSD Special
coaches,
the
Barb Zuniga, a
Olympics Coach
Sunnyside
prospecial education
teacher at Ocotillo Elementary for gram also relies on the help of volthird through fifth grade, is one of unteers and former participants who
three coaches from the SUSD pro- stay with the program.
“Lots of participants stay after
gram.
The other two coaches are Lori they graduate and become peer
Chrisman of Esperanza Elementary coaches here,” Zuniga said.
Zuniga said the Special
and Harry Parks, also of Ocotillo.
Combined they have over 75 Olympics is a “costly event”
because of its size.
years of coaching experience.
However, Sunnyside receives
Participants in the Special
Olympics range from kids to young a lot of money from fundraising
and a small percentage from the
adults.
They are then separated into district.
The funding is used for
divisions ranging from “elemen-
Free Health Care
Offered Mondays
By Mike Luke
“
”
Patrulla Fronteriza adapta la
inspección de alta tecnología
Por Lourdes Villareal
Traducido por Nabil Hourieh, Jr.
La patrulla fronteriza de los EE.UU
tiene una nueva herramienta innovadora para capturar a los contrabandistas – visión de rayos X.
La agencia ha implementado la
tecnología de rayos X en el punto de
inspección de la Interstate-19
(Carretera interestatal 19) en el sur de
Tucsón para detectar el contrabando.
La patrulla fronteriza inspecciona los vehículos para detectar
drogas escondidas, seres humanos
u otras clases de contrabando con
un aparato móvil llamado Z
Backscatter Van, colocado en el
chasis de una camioneta Ford F550.
El Z Backscatter Van parece ser
simplemente un tráiler para transportar caballos que esta atascado al
lado de la carretera, pero el escáner
instalado dentro de esta furgoneta
puede detectar mejor la forma de lo
que hay dentro del vehículo que
desean inspeccionar, y con más
precisión.
“Encuentra el lugar exacto, es
más rápido y más específico con lo
que estamos buscando”, dice
Un agente de la Patrulla
Fronteriza observa el
vehículo siendo escandeado dentro del Z
Backscatter Van.
La mayor parte del tiempo, encuentran drogas
hasta seres humanos.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE U.S
BORDER PATROL
Mario Escalante, el agente de
información pública para la patrulla fronteriza del sector de Tucsón.
La furgoneta con radiación
retrodispersiva se desplaza alrededor de un vehículo y emite un rayo
X, que rebota de regreso al sistema.
Al recopilar la información, se
transmite y se presenta en un
coomputador portátil localizado
dentro de la furgoneta.
“Escanea el material orgánico,
rebota y le da forma”, dijo
Escalante.
La radiación que emite la furgoneta es mínima, el equivalente a
un examen de rayos X del pecho.
Pero todavía, por razones de
seguridad, se les instruye a los
pasajeros que abandonen el vehículo mientras se lleva a cabo el examen.
Desde su introducción en
febrero, este aparato ha detectado
2.969 libras de mariguana, 31
libras de cocaína, 17 libras de
heroína y 7 inmigrantes ilegales
ocultados.
La patrulla fronteriza tiene cuatro de estos aparatos en su posesión: uno en Arizona, dos en
Texas y uno en California.
PHOTO COURTESY
OF
ANNE HILLMAN
The Sunnyside Unified School District Special Olympic cheerleading team
posed for a photo at the 2009 Special Oympics where they won a gold medal.
The team is coached by Barb Zuniga, Lori Chrisman and Harry Parks.
expenses like transportation and
hotel rooms.
“We go to Flagstaff every winter and we take a charter bus,”
Zuniga said. “We also take a trip
there in September for some training, camaraderie and to learn how
to play as a team. It is a lot of help
with life skills.”
There are many divisions within
Special Olympics beginning with
the school district division.
Next is county, then state, national and ultimately international.
“These kids just excel over
and above what we sometimes
think they can do,” Parks said.
“Ninety percent of the time its
over and above what I think they
can do.”
Perhaps under the tutelage of
Zuniga, Chrisman and Parks,
Sunnyside may have an international Special Olympics contender and possibly a winner in
the years to come.
“It’s a great achievement to
watch them grow,” Parks said.
“They succeed in the Special
Olympics and their personal lives
as well.”
Every Monday, Clinica Amistad
offers free primary and preventive
healthcare to those without insurance at the WIC office near
Southside Presbyterian Church.
The clinic, located at 1631 S.
10th Ave., offers a variety of services, including urgent care and
medications along with physical
therapy and acupuncture.
Doctors and nurses are also
available to give nutritional and
healthy-living advice.
The staff of volunteers includes
doctors, physician’s assistants,
nurses and Spanish interpreters all
working on a volunteer basis.
Many college students from the
University of Arizona and Pima
Community College work as interpreters at the clinic. The clinic is
always looking for interpreters.
Every day except Monday
afternoons, the clinic is known as
the Women, Infant and Children
office.
For more information call 520237-5434.
Pueblo High School Club Attends
Robotics World Championship
By Kathleen Stevens
The Pueblo High School Robotics
Club placed 88th out of 300 with
their robot, Flavor of the Month in
this year’s VEX Robotics World
Championship.
Their other robot, El Diablo,
placed 105th.
The 15-member club, which
some members refer to as
“Robotics Asylum,” spent the last
several months creating and sculpting unique robots for their first ever
competition.
The robots, creatively named,
Flavor of the Month, and El
Diablo traveled along with seven
club members to compete at the
VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas, along side
competitors hailing from 12 countries including Brazil, China and
Chile.
Daniel Carrillo, president of the
robotics club, hopes to one day
become a mechanical engineer
after he graduates high school.
The students came up with the
unique names for each robot at the
last minute at one of their early
competitions.
The VEX Robotics World
Championship poses different
challenges for the teams each
year.
This year teams had to lift
foam blocks with their robots and
place them in structures ranging
in height from nine to 21 inches
tall while racing against a threeminute time limit.
“It’s demanding…we all have
fun in this class,” said Juan
Almeida another senior member of
PHOTO COURTESY
OF
PUEBLO HIGH SCHOOL ROBOTICS CLUB
Members of the Pueblo High School robotics club showcase their robots at the
VEX Robotics World Championship. The oporators of Flavor of the Month
placed 88, while the oporators of El Diablo placed 105 out of 300.
the team.
Almeida hopes to attend Pima
Community College and work for
Tucson Electric Power as an
apprentice.
In order to qualify for the world
championship the team attended a
qualifying match at Sahuarita High
School on January 17.
We looked at the competition
and what would be more efficient,
said Carrillo.
Students worked along side
their teacher and club advisor
Herman Lathrop, a retired Air
Force master sergeant who worked
in the aviation electronics field.
“Our first design only took
about two weeks,” said Carrillo.
“I would stay after school, and
work during class, 10 to 15 hours
a week.”
The
students
did
very
respectable and made their instructor proud, Lathrop said.
Texas Instruments sponsored
the robotics club to help offset the
cost of the $5,000 trip. The sponsorship also helped pay for parts,
kits and shirts.
This club has become like family, said Carrillo.
For more results from the
VEX Robotics World
Championship Competition
visit:
www.vexrobtics.com/cham
pionship/2009/results.php
EL INDEPENDIENTE
Page / Página 4
May 8 / 8 de mayo 2009
Women’s Collective in Fronteras, Mex.
Braves Bureaucracy to Create Jobs
By Alex Dalenberg
and Taylor Avey
FRONTERAS, Sonora – This
country demands patience.
“In Mexico, you never get anything done on the first trip, there’s
always a suprise,” Alice Valenzuela
often says of her adopted homeland.
It also requires faith.
“Whenever there’s a problem,
we all sink to our knees and wait
for the next miracle,” she says.
“That’s the best thing to do. You
can’t rely on flawed human
beings.”
In Fronteras, a small town about
40 miles south of the U.S. border at
Douglas, Ariz., the long-awaited
miracle is jobs. When the town’s
only industry, a Levolor window
blinds factory, that employed 435
people, closed in 2002, its people
were left praying for answers.
Three years later, some of those
prayers have been answered. But in
Fronteras, divine intervention only
follows human sweat – and tears.
The Valenzuelas
Alice Valenzuela, 55, easily refers
to herself as a gringa, “I’m the only
one around, usually,” she says.
She has broken down on lonely
roads in the Sonora countryside
and been recognized by passersby
whose faces she herself can’t
remember. The sort-of strangers
always stop to offer her a lift. In
these parts, it’s hard to forget Alice
Valenzuela.
Even though she may not look
like her neighbors, she calls
Fronteras home.
“I’m Mexican now,” she says. “I
love where I live. I want to die
here.”
Valenzuela and her husband,
Roberto, 58, live an hour outside
Fronteras on the ranch Roberto
inherited from his father. In this
rural part of the country, the spaces
are wide-open; things are far apart.
With only 1,500 people, Fronteras
is the seat of a municipality of only
7,000; it’s the biggest thing around.
The Valenzuelas met as students
at the University of Arizona. After
more than a decade working in
Northern California – Roberto as
an executive for Hewlett-Packard,
Alice as a newspaper publisher –
the couple returned to Mexico to
raise a family. They planned to live
on the ranch for a few years and
then maybe move back to the
United States where their children
could go to school. Instead, they
never left.
In their second career, the newly
minted ranchers won a reputation
Alice Valenzuela
for their charity efforts and volunteer work in the state. The women
of Fronteras naturally turned to the
Valenzuelas when the few jobs
vanished with Levolor and people
were left hungry.
When trouble hit Fronteras,
when the few jobs vanished and
people were left hungry, the
women of the town turned to the
Valenzuelas.
Alice Valenzuela balked at first.
The ranch was already struggling
through an extended drought. She
and Roberto had their own problems to deal with, she said, without
taking on the crushing problems
facing Fronteras.
“I said, we’re going out of business and you want us to create
jobs?”
She told them, Fronteras doesn’t
have enough paved roads, that it
doesn’t have restaurants, that it
would take three years, maybe five,
to find any company willing to
invest in the town.
“You don’t have anything,” she
said. But, even saying those things,
Alice Valenzuela said she knew she
had to help in whatever way she
could. It wasn’t a choice.
She tells a story about a phone
call she once received from a
neighbor.
“Alicia, what do you think of
the pueblo?”
“What about it?”
“The pueblo, how do you think
things are going?”
“About the same I guess.”
“Yes. It has never changed. I
haven’t seen any change in my
whole life. Things have never gotten better. Only worse.”
And the woman, her friend,
started crying.
“That really hit me,” Alice
Valenzuela said.
She agreed to help the women
of the town in whatever way she
could.
“You don’t know how tough
this is going to be,” she told them.
PHOTO
PHOTO
BY
TAYLOR AVEY
TAYLOR AVEY
Retroworks de México
In Middlebury, Vt, more than 2,500
miles away, Robin Ingenthron
received a very strange phone call
from a friend in faraway Bisbee,
Ariz.
“I found this place in
Fronteras,” the friend said.
“Where?”
Ingenthron is the president of
American Retroworks Inc., a recycling management and consulting
company. He’s made a 20-year
career in the industry in both the
public and private sectors. His specialty is electronics recycling and
he is a recognized expert in the
field.
The friend, Mike Rohrbach, a
Bisbee
philanthropist,
told
Ingenthron that he had found the
perfect place for Ingenthron to
expand his electronics recycling
business. Rohrbach told Ingenthron
about a group of women in the
town who had formed a collective
that was trying to bring jobs to the
area.
It was the same group of women
who had met with the Valenzuelas.
Ingenthron had toyed with the
idea of recycling in Mexico in the
past, but he wasn’t interested.
“It just sounded like a crazy farfetched idea,” Ingenthron said, “I
told him no.”
Ingenthron visited Fronteras,
but he wasn’t sold. He told
Rohrbach and the Valenzuelas that
they would have to hire him as a
consultant. If they wanted his help,
they’d have to pay him a $5,000
retainer check.
“I honestly thought they would
go away, ” Ingenthron said.
A few days later, Ingenthron
found a check in the mail. He was
floored. These women were serious.
He flew to Mexico to give them
their check back – and go into business.
“I don’t know if it was their
prayers or what – but I had to try,”
he said.
Miracle Number 18
Employees at Retroworks de México wear long-sleeved work clothes, safety
goggles and heavy gloves, even during the hot summer months.
BY
Retroworks de México occupies the same abandoned schoolhouse left behind by a Levolor window blinds factory. When
the Levolor maquiladora closed, more than 400 people in the town of Fronteras were left unemployed.
After
meeting
with
the
Valenzuelas, the women of
Fronteras formed a non-profit collective. The Valenzuelas laid out
two conditions – everyone does
PHOTO
BY
TAYLOR AVEY
An employee at Retroworks de México disassembles a computer. Much of the
labor in electronics recycling is devoted to breaking down equipment into
reusable parts, said Robin Ingenthron, president of Retroworks.
their fair share and not one penny
be paid in bribes.
“No one has any expectation of
clean government here,” Alice
Valenzuela says, “That’s why we
have to do things clean.”
The women tried first with a
Valenzuelas
The
restaurant.
thought the cooperative might be
able to promote tourism in
Fronteras. They won a $40,000
grant from the government’s agricultural extension for economic
development in the town. They
sold tamales to a Soroptimist Club
in Phoenix. It wasn’t enough.
When Ingenthron came to
Fronteras, it seemed like a prayer
had been answered.
“Miracle number 18,” Alice
Valenzuela calls it, though she
admits she’s long lost count.
The women would move
Ingenthron’s recycling business
into the old Levolor plant, which
they’d taken over. The Levolor factory itself sat in an abandoned
school – the building is used to
being recycled. The women would
disassemble computers, televisions
and other electronics imported into
Mexico, break them down into
their usable parts, salvaging valuables like copper and plastic, and
then sell that scrap.
But there was a catch. Every
single piece of every computer
imported into Mexico had to be
documented and logged for make
and model – an impossible amount
of paperwork.
The only way out of the problem was to change federal law,
Alice Valenzuela said.
They did.
Red Tape
Members of the collective met with
Sonora’s freshman senator –
Alfonso Elias Serrano – who had
been a friend and acquaintance of
the Valenzuelas.
They asked him to help change
the law.
Serrano said it would be easier
to get $1 million for an industrial
park. Appropriations are one thing
– bureaucracy is another, he said.
But he promised to try.
A year and a half later, the
phone rang.
“Get to Mexico City. I’m sorry
it’s taken this long,” Serrano said.
The Valenzuelas met with representatives of the treasury and the
economic development ministry.
Officials told them that the ministries had signatory power to
change the law, but that it would
take time – and more meetings.
They would have to come back.
On another trip, another meeting – this time in the boardroom of
a 40-story office building - assembled government officials prepared
to lay down their verdict. A tremendous clutch of men in suits and ties
were laying down business cards.
Valenzuela had a bad feeling.
“I thought, ‘No, no. The more
‘Fronteras’/see page 5
EL INDEPENDIENTE
May 8 / 8 de mayo 2009
Page / Página 5
PHOTOS
BY
TAYLOR AVEY
Employees at Retroworks de México, including Myrta Rico Armenta (left), disassemble computers into their component parts to be recycled.
‘Fronteras’ continued from pg. 4
people involved, the worse.’ … It’s an overwhelming bureaucracy.”
“We don’t want Mexico to become a
dumping ground,” they told Valenzuela.
“How do we know you won’t just resell
these computers, in violation of the law?,”
they asked.
Valenzuela almost broke down, thinking it
was a lost cause.
“I’m a tough broad. My husband has only
seen me cry about three times in 33 years of
marriage”
She told them: “At this minute, the people
in Fronteras are praying. Can I go home and
tell my neighbors that this is their Christmas
present?”
They said, “How about sooner? How about
September, Independence Day?”
The deed was done.
“In Mexico, you never get anything done
on the first trip,” Valenzuela says.
women’s motives, Valenzuela said.
And the women have stood up to him in
the past. At a town meeting, the women
demanded that he create more jobs because so
many people in town were unemployed.
“One of the people in the audience told us
to be bravas (fierce),” said Virginia Ponce
Mercado who works in the recycling plant.
“Because we didn’t give a damn. What we
wanted were jobs for Fronteras, to lead dignified lives.”
The name stuck. The women are now
known in Fronteras as Las Chicas Bravas.
The power may be off, but the women
have cleared the pigeon nests out of the formerly abandoned building. It took three trips
to Nogales, Sonora, to secure the proper tax
numbers, but the Chicas keep going. They
have no other choice.
“We all have to keep going for the same
reason,” said Myrta Rico Armenta, who also
works in the factory, “So that everything
we’ve done is worth it all.”
Las Chicas Bravas
Looking to the Future
Now there is a factory. For the eight women
and two men who make up the collective,
there are jobs.
But no electricity – the mayor pulled the
plug. The state owns the utilities here and he’s
jealous of the collective, and suspicious of the
Americans ought to care about what happens
in Fronteras, Alice Valenzuela says, it’s on its
doorstep. Times are better for the Chicas, but
times are still hard. For most of Fronteras, it’s
an uphill struggle, she says.
“If you want a job in Fronteras, you can
work for a local drug dealer, or jump the border and work illegally,” Alice Valenzuela
says.
Many of the Chicas, including Mercado
and Armenta, have worked illegally in the
United States.
“We needed something to motivate us to
stay here in Fronteras,” Mercado said.
Ingenthron hopes to expand the relatively
small recycling operation in Fronteras. For
now, the plant employs only the Chicas.
“But that’s the way it started up here (in
Vermont), five years ago – with me and a
truck,” Ingenthron said.
He said he hopes to employ at least 1,000
people, at Fronteras and elsewhere, in the next
five years.
“We’re just getting started,” he said.
Even better, the Chicas are 50 percent
shareholders in the new company, Retroworks
de México.
“I tell them I want them to become executives some day,” Alice Valenzuela says.
But for the Chicas, a steady job is a prayer
answered.
“I know I will wake up every morning and
I will have enough money to get by,” Armenta
said.
“We really didn’t have anything before… I
hope in other towns there are chicas bravas
like us.”
PHOTOS
BY
TAYLOR AVEY
(Top to bottom) Alice Valenzuela demonstrates which parts of a computer can be salvaged. (2) Rows of computer monitors await
recycling in the factory. (3) Myrta Rico
Armenta dismantles a computer. (4) Tons of
computer parts await recycling by the factory’s 10 workers. (5) Roberto Valenzuela, who
has poured much of his own money into the
factory, poses for a picture outside.
University Architecture Students Design Plan for Fronteras
By Taylor Avey
The small pueblos that splinter the
US-Mexico border are hot spots for
drug traffickers and coyotes but
one adventurous professor and several of his students have designed
new plans that will offer the people
of Fronteras, Mexico a town they
can proudly call home.
The tiny pueblo of Fronteras
rests 40 miles south of Douglas,
Ariz., along Highway 80 and
across from old railroad tracks. The
town of modest homes and a few
struggling shops sits on a riverbed
surrounded by acres of lush, green
farmland.
Fronteras has been plagued by a
declining economy and corrupt
politics, prompting business owners, Alice and Roberto Valenzuela,
to contact Mark Frederickson, a
professor in the School of
Landscape Architecture at the
University of Arizona, to help
design a renovation plan for the
floundering community.
I knew the town needed a lot of
work so I started sending out emails trying to find someone who
could help us create a plan, said
Alice Valenzuela who owns a recycling factory with her husband in
Fronteras.
Frederickson and eight of his
PHOTO
BY
TAYLOR AVEY
Much of Fronteras remains underdeveloped. The Tejido group aims to provide
the town with a sustainable plan for future development.
students who refer to themselves as
the Tejido group, embraced the task
of designing plans to renovate the
humble town to attract tourists,
while preserving its history and
taking advantage of the land that is
available.
“We have been developing a
conceptual master plan and giving
ideas for what the town could be,”
said Olivia Alicea, a second-year
landscape architect student.
“We wanted to create a place
where people will come into the
town, stay in the town and invigorate their [economic] situation,”
Alicea said.
Alicea is referring to the town’s
grave economic situation, which
Frederickson and his team hope to
counter by designing more of a
pedestrian-friendly atmosphere
with sidewalks and pagodas so the
town can host markets and festivals
and eventually build restaurants to
attract tourist.
The Valenzuelas hope to apply
for grant money with the new
design plans to help make the
Tejido group’s vision a reality.
“If you have a plan, you can
propose it and get funding,” Alice
Valenzuela said.
The new plans also include
ideas for an agriculture research
facility and aim to promote better
waste and water management.
“In our business,” Frederickson
said. “Where poop goes is always
important.”
One of the things we did is go
around the town looking at the
appropriate locations for [trash]
and drainage patterns, said Matt
Bossler, a landscape architecture
graduate student.
Although everyone on the team
would agree the town is in dire
need of a facelift, the most important thing is to stimulate job opportunities so families don’t have to be
separated.
“If you want dad around, you
have to create jobs,” Frederickson
said. “We’re working on diversifying the economy so dad can come
home.”
The team hopes to provide the
people and the town of Fronteras
with the tools they need to create
opportunities for themselves.
“Socially we think in a simplis-
tic way…if we put in a Holiday Inn
then all the money goes to
Memphis,” Frederickson said, “but
if we can get them to generate a
system of bed and breakfast places,
then the whole family benefits.”
He has made a career out of
helping struggling, small towns
prosper by using natural resources
and adding a few simple solutions.
But he admits it’s rare that he ever
sees his plans come to fruition.
“In this business you’re lucky if
10 to 20 percent of your work gets
done,” he says.
“I have to tell my students,
‘look guys we’re just opening the
doors for possibilities.’”
In early May the project will
come to a close when Frederickson
and his students present Alice and
Roberto Valenzuela with a book of
all the potential renovations. The
responsibility will then fall on the
people of Fronteras to use the plans
and create a better future for the
town.
“It’s going to go somewhere,”
Valenzuela said. “Tejido group is
just one piece.”
For more reporting from
Fronteras, go online to
www.elindenews.com
EL INDEPENDIENTE
May 8/ 8 de mayo 2009
Page / Página 6
Economy Creates Homeless Families Residentes del sur tienen
un sentido comunitario
‘Homeless Families’ Continued from page 1
for the Homeless counts all visible
homeless people and those in shelters every January, and the number
has been increasing each year. In
2008, there were approximately
3,100 homeless counted. In 2009,
the number increased to 3,652.
The current number is estimated
to be closer to 5,000 in the metro
area, according to Leslie Carlson,
coordinator for the Plan to End
Homelessness for Tucson and Pima
County. Some people aren’t seen
because they are hiding in washes
or in cars for protection and others
are temporarily staying with
friends or family.
“When I talk to people who
work every day with the homeless,
everyone says there are more people,” Carlson said. “And they are
saying that some of the increase is
newly homeless and families.”
Shelters around Tucson report
that the number of homeless families is on the rise, even though single men are still the highest percentage of homeless.
Tamara McElwee, public relations director for the Salvation
Army, said they have seen almost a
70 percent increase in people needing assistance since the beginning
of the fall. She said many people
need help because they have lost
jobs in construction, real estate or
with car companies.
“The number of families needing our help has probably grown by
10 or 20 percent, I’d say,” said
Brian Flagg, coordinator for Casa
Maria, which operates Guadalupe’s
kitchen. “And it’s mainly that people can’t find work. They’ve lost
their jobs or had their hours cut
back. ”
When parents lose jobs, children suffer.
In the 2007 to 2008 school year,
there were 3,561 homeless children
Por Michael Luke
Traducido por Nabil Hourieh, Jr.
PHOTO
BY
COLLEEN KEEFE
Katie Rada and her mother, Cheryl Rada, who are living in a Primavera shelter,
look over a list of soup kitchens and food banks for their next meal. The list was
provided by a local church.
in Pima County, Carlson said.
Each school district is required
by the U.S. Department of
Education to have a homeless liaison to work with and track the
homeless students and provide
transportation and money for food
and supplies.
In the Sunnyside School District
there are 666 students considered
homeless so far this year, said
Andrea Foster, the homeless liaison. Of those 666 students, 531
have temporarily moved in with
family members or friends, 101 are
in shelters, 14 live in motels and 20
are unsheltered.
Unlike other districts in Tucson,
Sunnyside has about the same
number of homeless students as
last year, Foster said.
She said it is possible that the
numbers haven’t increased because
families with foreclosures don’t
always identify as being homeless
and don’t get help, or they pick up
and move to a completely different
place when they lose their home.
Typically, people only consider
themselves homeless once they
have to go to shelters because they
have exhausted their social network
and have run out of relatives or
friends to stay with, Anderson said.
The Tucson Unified School
District and the Marana District
have both seen an increase in
homeless children in the last year,
Foster said.
During the last school year,
there were 1,387 students considered homeless in TUSD and
already this school year there are
1,441.
As more people lose their jobs
and homes, the face of homelessness is beginning to change.
“When we say ‘homeless,’ people usually think of a man on the
street or someone that smells,”
Foster said. “But that’s not the situation anymore.”
Manny Grijalva se ríe de su
situación actual. Se esfuerza para
ganar dinero como ayudante de
camarero en el Old Pueblo Grille y
se autoproclama un “manojo de
nervios” cuando se acerca la fecha
de pagar las cuentas.
Pero la única cuenta que no se
tiene que preocupar de pagar es la
cuenta hipotecaria. Esto ocurre
porque sus abuelos que vivían en
esa misma casa en el sur de
Tucsón, la pagaron al contado hace
50 años. Grijalva menciona que a
muchos de sus contemporáneos les
pagan mucho más en sus trabajos,
pero se les hace difícil hacer los
pagos hipotecarios.
Como en cada parte de la ciudad, el sur de Tucsón sufre los
efectos de las ejecuciones hipotecarias, pero el impacto fue menos
de lo anticipado por causa de la
gran cantidad de casas en el área
que ya tienen muchos años.
Los vecindarios más viejos del
sur de Tucsón son más estables
porque han pertenecido a las mismas familias por generaciones. Se
han construido menos casas
nuevas, resultando en menos
hipotecas.
Por otra parte, en las recientes
urbanizaciones nuevas en las áreas
del noroeste y suroeste hay un gran
número de ejecuciones hipotecarias porque existen muchas
hipotecas para casas nuevas.
“Las partes de la ciudad que
más se han expandido son las que
están más afectadas ahora”, dijo
Jeri Szach, el agente inmobiliario
principal de Szach Realty.
Desde enero del 2009, Arizona
y Nevada han tenido los porcentajes más altos de ejecuciones
hipotecarias del país por dos
razones principales. Según Szach,
los dos estados recibieron grandes
cantidades de migración y experimentaron nuevas urbanizaciones
de expansión rápida.
Entre los años 2000 y 2007 la
población de Tucsón ha aumentado
en casi 40.000 habitantes, mientras
que la de Phoenix aumento en más
de 230.000.
En la actualidad, el 50% de
todas las casas en el mercado en
Phoenix y el 15% en Tucsón son
ejecuciones hipotecarias, según los
datos de National Realtors
Association (La Asociación Nacio
nal de Agentes Inmobiliarios).
Szach indica que muchas de las
personas que recibieron malos consejos en sus préstamos estaban buscando cómo mudarse a las áreas de
urbanización rápida en el sureste y
noroeste de Tucsón. El sur de
Tucsón no experimentó tanta
urbanización como en esas áreas.
“Hay muchas personas en el sur
de Tucsón que se están beneficiando de la gran cantidad de casas viejas en esa área”, dijo Szach. “Son
más comunes las casas viejas en el
sur de Tucsón, y muchas de estas
casas suelen permanecer en las
familias por mucho tiempo”,
Grijalva se siente bendecido por
vivir en su hogar en el sur de
Tucsón. Tiene un vínculo fuerte
con muchas personas en su vecindario.
“Me encanta esta área”, dijo
Grijalva. “Parece estar en malas
condiciones un poco, pero muchos
aquí están contentos de tener sus
casas viejas porque tienen una
cuenta menos que pagar”.
De hecho, Grijalva se da cuenta
de lo difícil que sería su vida si
tuviera pagos hipotecarios cada
mes, “No tengo la mínima idea
dónde viviría o si estaría en la
calle”, dijo Grijalva.
City Cuts Budget; Peace Garden’s Youth Employees Laid Off
By Veronica Cruz
The desert landscape of the Manny
Herrera Jr. Park is an expanse of
washed out greens and dull
browns. But one corner of the park
is bursting with blossoming roses
and snap dragons shaded by large
trees, providing a welcoming
atmosphere.
In the Sunnyside Peace Garden,
5901 S. Fiesta Ave., blooms of yellow, purple and pink flowers dot
the desert landscape, surrounding
hand-painted blue and white
benches.
Since 2003, Beki Quintero president
of
the
Sunnyside
Neighborhood Association has
tended to the garden, enlisting the
help of neighborhood youth
employed to clean, plant flowers
and trees, and assist with bi-weekly craft projects for kids.
Like other youth employment
programs supported by the city,
however, the peace garden will lose
its funding beginning in July.
In February, the Tucson City
Council voted to suspend funding
for youth employment programs to
keep $240,000 in the general fund,
which is currently in deficit of $80
million, said Diana Rhodes a council aide for Ward 1 council member
Regina Romero.
“We always end up with a balanced budget,” Rhodes said. “This
is the worst budget deficit in 30
years.”
The majority of the money in
the general fund comes from city
and state sales taxes, but people
aren’t spending as much money as
they used to, Rhodes said.
“Nobody is buying
anything expensive and
it all adds up,” Rhodes
added.
In the past, each
ward was allocated
$40,000 to use for different projects that
employ 14-to-18 yearolds in their neighborhoods. But starting this
fiscal year funds will
no longer be available,
Rhodes said.
Rhodes
said
Romero is a strong supporter of the youth
employment programs
and feels terrible about
having to cut such projects. However, the goal
of the mayor and council is to help keep city
staff jobs intact and
avoid having to lay off
city employees.
PHOTO BY VERONICA CRUZ
Quintero says the
Sunnyside
Peace Employee Felipe Moreno, 15, checks on strawGarden has relied on berry plants at the Sunnyside Peace Garden.
the $12,000 it receives
from the city to pay workers and from filling out a job application to
purchase canvasses, paints, tiles preparing for an interview and
and other materials needed to con- showing up for work on time.
The teens learn “how to budget,
tinue activities for neighborhood
how to have responsibility and
children.
Five teens, including Luis De work ethic,” Quintero said. “We
Luna, 18, Omar Galindo, 16, and also do some self-esteem building
Felipe Moreno, 15, work six hours so they will know how to sell themevery other Saturday in the garden, selves, how to dress and how to
earning $40, Quintero said. But the present themselves.”
The teen employees are learning
skills they learn are worth far more
the importance of saving their
than a paycheck.
Quintero teaches the teens what wages to buy things that are imporit’s like to be part of the work force, tant to them, like De Luna who is
saving to buy his first car, Galindo
who likes buying the latest video
games and Moreno who buys parts
to restore his 1964 Chevrolet
Impala.
One of the teens who works in the
garden makes sure to ask his mom if
she needs help, before spending his
paycheck, Quintero said.
“He asks his mom if she needs
to pay any bills, if there’s anything
the household needs first,”
Quintero said. “He’s very conscientious about it.”
Quintero will soon run out of
funds and without this money, she
is unsure how the garden will continue to flourish.
“We’ll do what we can,” said
Quintero, who remains hopeful and
has set aside some money to continue planned activities for Father’s
Day and 4th of July.
Quintero also receives help
from about 20 volunteers ranging
in ages from 5 to senior citizens,
who help her maintain the garden.
She has also received donations of
supplies from members of the
neighborhood.
“There’s a lot of community
support,” Quintero said. “I just
hope it will continue.”
Quintero came up with the idea
for the peace garden in 2002 when
kids from the neighborhood began
to help her clean up Manny Herrera
Jr. Park over their summer break.
At the time Quintero worked
with the city’s graffiti abatement
program and adopted the park to
keep it graffiti-free.
“We were seeing destruction on
the boulders, and on cactuses,”
Quintero said. “We thought ‘how
do we reach these kids?’”
She had been thinking about
gardening as a way to help the kids
and her ideas were confirmed when
the students began to take an active
role in keeping the park clean.
“We wanted to reach kids who
had no direction, who don’t know
about respect,” Quintero said.
Quintero received a lot of help
clearing a small area of the park
and preparing it for planting.
Community members offered
what they could, such as lights
and a table made by a student in
his welding class, to help start the
garden.
Since then, the garden has
become home to a variety of flowers and vegetables including strawberries, peas, peppers, tomatoes
and eggplants. The kids who come
to the garden are welcome to pick
and take home any of the food that
grows there, Quintero said.
“Kids love to go in there
because it’s a safe place,” Quintero
said. “I want it to be the place they
can go to for peace.”
Two years ago Quintero wrote a
children’s book, “In the Peace
Garden” and all of the proceeds
from the book sales will go to help
continue her work.
The book is available at
Bookmans and Antigone book
stores and can be purchased at
http://projectrestore.us.
“I’m hoping that the book will
take off in some places,” said
Quintero who is also applying for a
grant to help cover the costs of the
kid’s activities.
EL INDEPENDIENTE
May 8 / 8 de mayo 2009
Page / Página 7
LULAC Award Honors Tucson Educator
By Ryan Timothy Greer
Suzanne Miles realized the importance of a good education when she
saw her mother, widowed at 32 and
raising three daughters, go back to
school to get her library science
degree.
“It was tough, but we didn’t
know that we were being raised by
a single parent,” Miles said. “We
weren’t identified as victims or
anything.”
Miles got her bachelor’s degree
in speech, and a master’s in communication. Finally she went on to
the University of Arizona to complete a doctorate in philosophy
with a minor in higher education.
Now, the League of United
Latin American Citizens has honored her for her exceptional community leadership.
In March Miles, 56, received
the
National
Presidential
Community
Service
Award,
LULAC’s most prestigious honor,
along side Nicholas I. Clement,
Manuel L. Isquierdo, Louis
Hollingsworth, Armando de Leon,
Thomas W. Warne and Steve Leal.
Before starting her graduate
studies in Arizona, Miles was eager
to pursue a career in radio or television.
“I knew I needed to start out in
a small market in order to move
up,” she said.
She moved to Anchorage and
Fairbanks, Ala., to take jobs with
ABC and CBS. Miles said she
enjoyed her time in Alaska but
when she married, she decided to
move to Arizona to go back to
school.
While attending the University
of Arizona, Miles was mentored by
Dr. Kristen Valentine, who emphasized education and helped Miles
refocus her goals.
“She said, you can go into
radio and television, but heads up,
there aren’t many women who get
their doctorates and have leadership positions in the media,” Miles
said.
At that point she shifted her
focus on education.
Miles began teaching speech
and communication at Pima
Community College in 1988.
She’s spent the last 24 years working her way from adjunct professor to provost and vice chancellor
for PCC.
Miles also noted that pursuing
high-level degrees helped her gain
ground in her career. She pointed
out that the generation of her children, Miles Mason, 28, and
Maraka Mason, 26, are not seeking the higher-level degrees that
Mile’s generation aspired to gain.
“Unfortunately, we have state
legislators who don’t value education,” she said. “If that message is
[felt] state and nationwide then we
won’t value education as much as
we should.”
Miles also said that the message
portrayed by state legislators is the
reason why other countries are
beginning to move ahead of the
U.S. in terms of education.
Miles
studied
Jeane
Kirkpatrick, the first official female
U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations, while completing her doctoral dissertation, and was influenced by her success.
“[Kirkpatrick] had to play both
sides of working in a man’s world
when it was a difficult thing to do,”
she said.
According to Miles, Kirkpatrick
had to structure public presenta-
PHOTO BY NYSSA BACA
Suzanne Miles received the National Presidential Community Service Award
the League of United Latin American Citizens this year.
tions in the manner males did, in
order to be respected. Although
Kirkpatrick had her Ph.D. she was
never
introduced
as
Dr.
Kirkpatrick, but was always
referred to as Mrs. Kirkpatrick.
“She walked that balance
between grace and strong leadership,” Miles said.
Miles married Robert Mason
34 years ago and they have two
children. Looking back, Miles said
she wishes she had taken more
time from work to focus on family
and the arts.
“You just get so immersed in
your job sometimes that you kind of
move those things aside,” she said.
Miles plans to take more time
in retirement to be an advocate for
the arts.
Carrillo Students Promote History of El Tiradito
Carol Cribbet-Bell helped who created a non-profit organization 10 years ago
that founded La Pilita Museum, next to El Tiradito.
The current site of El Tiradito is its third location. The story says that the young lover was killed in the middle of the street
and that the women of the barrio put flowers and candles on the spot where he died. This caused traffic problems and
the site has been moved twice since then.
PHOTOS
Gabriel Lujan, 11, a student from Carrillo Elementary School, participates in an
after-school program at La Pilita Museum where he and other students learn
the history of the neighborhood and give tours of El Tiradito.
“If you light a candle and it stays lit all night, the wish you made comes true,"
said Gabriel Lujan, a participant in La Pilita's after-school program, while giving a tour of El Tiradito.
BY
NYSSA BACA
El Tiradito has become a landmark for
Tucsonans and has an especially rich tradition in the neighborhood.
Locals believe it is a place of miracles. A non-profit organization, formed
10
years ago, founded La Pilita
Museum, which is next door to El
Tiridito.
The organization's mission is to
“maintain the integrity of the site and to
promote regional history of the area.” La
Pilita is a seasonal museum and will be
closed during the summer.
La Pilita's after-school program
teaches children about the history of the
barrio and allows them to give tours of El
Tiradito.
The young tour guides tell people to
“speak in a quiet voice” as El Tiradito is
a “very sacred place.”
Go to www.elindenews.com for a
multimedia slideshow
about El Tiridito
accompanied by the children’s
version of the story.
The story of El Tiradito has many versions. The students participating in
the after school program at La Pilita Museum like Gabriel Lujan tell a "PG"
version of the original story during their tours.
EL INDEPENDIENTE
Page / Página 8
?
By Ali Vieth
QUÉ PASA?
les proveerá de desayuno, almuerzo y un bocado. El campamento
está abierto a niños de preescolar
hasta menores de 12 años, de
lunes a viernes, de 6 a.m. a 6 p.m.
El costo es de $112 semanales. Si
desea más información, llame al
294-1449 o visite tucsónymca.org/index.php.
May - August
Summer Swimming
Tired of the summer heat? Cool
off at one of the City of Tucson
Parks and Recreations 27 pools.
General admission is 25 cents for
children and $1 for adults.
Summer programs include swimming and diving lessons, water
polo and a variety of fitness classes for adults. Tucson Parks and
Rec also offers junior lifeguard
and water safety instructors and
employs nearly 300 lifeguards,
instructor and pool supervisors
each year. To find a pool closest to
you, call 791-4245 or visit ci.tucson.az.us/parksandrec/aquatics.php.
Del 1 al 26 de junio
Arts Express Inc.
Los menores de cuarto a octavo
grado pueden participar en el
teatro musical juvenil. Aprenderán
sobre las audiciones, a memorizar,
cantar, bailar, actuar, trabajo en
grupo y diseño de escenarios y
accesorios. Al final del programa,
los estudiantes actuarán el 24 y el
25 de junio en Naylor Middle
School, 1701 S. Columbus Blvd.
El costo del campamento es $225.
La Academia de Bellas Artes para
Jóvenes (Fine Arts Youth
Academy) es un programa de verano de artes para menores desde
cuarto hasta octavo grados. Los
participantes asistirán a dos clases
diarias de banda, coro, cerámica o
artes visuales. La academia ofrece
la oportunidad de explorar y
sumergirse en las bellas artes. Las
clases son de lunes a viernes, de 1
a 5 p.m. El costo es de $225.
Inscríbase en la red para el Teatro
Musical Juvenil o la Academia de
Bellas Artes para Jóvenes en artsexpress.org.
May 26 - August 3
Lohse Family YMCA
The Lohse Family YMCA will
offer a summer day camp for children 5 to 12 years old at Jacobs
YMCA, 1010 W. Lind St. The
days will be filled with arts and
crafts, sports, games, swimming
and field trips. The Lohse Family
YMCA will also offer a “Leaders
in Training" summer day camp to
children ages 12 to 14. Camp
counselors will help children learn
the importance of leadership,
respect and good choices.
Campers will also participate in
field trips, swimming, service
projects, art, music and group
teamwork. Camp costs range from
$100 to $135 per week and camp
hours are from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information, call 6235200 or visit tucsonymca.org/index.php.
Photos By Jessica Jaco
Top: Legion Riders of Tucson, post
59, led the Grande Ave. Street Fair
Parade. Legion Riders are veterans
who share a love of motorcycles and
helping the community.
June 1 - August 7
Camp Wannago
Camp Wannago is a great place
for children to spend their summer days. Campers at the
Mulcahy YMCA, 5085 S.
Nogales Hwy., will participate in
swimming, sports, educational
programs and field trips.
Campers will be provided breakfast, lunch and a snack. The
camp is open for kindergarten
children to 12 year olds, Monday
through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6
p.m. Cost is $112 per week. For
more information, call 294-1449
or visit tucsonymca.org/index.php.
June 1 - 26
Arts Express Inc.
Children in fourth through eighth
grade can participate in Junior
Musical Theatre. They will learn
about auditioning, memorizing,
singing, dancing, acting, and set
and prop design. At the end of the
program, the students will perform
on June 24 and 25 at Naylor
Middle School, 1701 S. Columbus
Blvd. The Fine Arts Youth
Academy is a summer arts program for children entering fourth
grade through eighth grade.
Participants will attend two classes
each day in band, choir, ceramics
or visual arts. The academy provides children the opportunity to
explore and be immersed in fine
arts. Classes are Monday through
Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. Costs for
the camps are $225. Register
online for the Junior Musical
Theatre or the Fine Arts Youth
Academy at arts-express.org.
May 8 / 8 de mayo 2009
Left, middle left: Girls from the El Rio
Neighborhood Center display their
dancing garb in the parade.
Middle right: The Tucson High
School marching band made its
debut in this year's Fiesta Grande.
July 1 - 31
Traducido por Diana Núñez
Santa Rosa
Mayo - Agosto
Schoolz Out Camp will be held
during summer break for children
ages 5 to 11, Monday through
Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Registration Fees are $75 for half
day and $150 for a full day. Call
573-3933 to register or visit
ezeereg.com. Double Digits Teen
Club is for pre-teens ages 10 to 13
on Tuesdays and Thursdays from
5:00 to 7 p.m. The club is free and
participants will take part in
sports, crafts, trips and cooking.
For more information, call 7914589 or visit tucsonaz.gov/parksandrec/santarosa.pdf.
August 3 - 14
Quincie Douglas
Schoolz Out Camp is for children
ages 5 to 11, Monday through
Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at
the Quincie Douglas Neighborhood
Center, 1575 E. 36th St. Children
will be able to enjoy various safe
summer activities. Registration
begins on July 20 and costs $2 per
day. For more information, call
791-2507 or visit tucsonaz.gov/parksandrec/qd.pdf.
Cursos de natación
durante el verano
¿Está cansado del calor del verano?
Refrésquese en las 27 albercas del
Departamento de Parques y
Jardines de la ciudad de Tucsón
(City of Tucson Parks and
Recreation). La entrada general es
de 25 centavos para menores y $1
para adultos. Los programas de verano incluyen clases de natación y
clavados, polo acuático y variedad
de clases de acondicionamiento físico para adultos. El Departamento
de Parques de Tucsón dispone de
personal salvavidas e instructores
para realizar las actividades acuáticas con seguridad, y emplea a casi
300 salvavidas, instructores y supervisores del albercas cada año. Para
encontrar una alberca cercana,
llame al 791-4245 o visite ci.tucsón.az.us/parksandrec/aquatics.php.
Del 26 de mayo al 3 de agosto
Lohse Family YMCA
El YMCA de la familia Lohse ofrecerá un campamento de verano
para menores de 5 a 12 años de
edad en YMCA Jacobs, 101 W.
Lind St. Durante el día se ofrecerán
actividades artísticas, deportes, juegos educativos, natación y viajes
instructivos. El YMCA de la familia Lohse también ofrecerá un campamento
de verano de día,
“Capacitación de líderes” (Leaders
in Training) a menores de 12 a 14
años de edad. Los consejeros del
campamento ayudaran a los niños a
aprender sobre la importancia del
liderazgo, el respeto y las buenas
decisiones. Los campistas también
participarán en viajes educacionales, natación, proyectos de
servicio, arte, música y trabajo en
equipo. El campamento cuesta de
$100 a $135 semanales y las horas
de campamento son de 7 a.m. a 6
p.m. Si desea más información
llame al 623-5200 o visite tucsónymca.org/index.php.
Del 1 de junio al 7 de agosto
Campamento Wannago
El Campamento Wannago es un
lugar estupendo para que los niños
disfruten de sus días de verano.
Los campistas en el YMCA
Mulcahy, 5085 S. Nogales Hwy.,
participarán en natación, deportes,
programas educacionales y viajes
educacionales. A los campistas se
Del 1 al 31 de julio
Santa Rosa
El Campamento Schoolz Out
(Schoolz Out Camp), para
menores de 5 a 11 años de edad,
se llevará a cabo durante las vacaciones de verano, de lunes a
viernes, de 7:30 a.m. a 6 p.m. Los
cobros de inscripción son $75 por
medio día y $150 por un día completo. Llame al 573-3933 para
inscribirse o visite ezeereg.com.
El Club de Adolescentes Double
Digits es para pre-adolescentes de
10 a 13 años de edad, de martes a
jueves, de 5:30 a 7 p.m. El club es
gratuito y los participantes participarán en deportes, artesanía, viajes
y cocina. Si desea más información llame al 791-4589 o visite
tucsonaz.gov/parksandrec/santarosa.pdf.
Del 3 al 14 de agosto
Quincie Douglas
El Campamento Schoolz Out
(Schoolz Out Camp) es para
menores de 5 a 11 años de edad,
de lunes a viernes, de 7:30 a.m. a
6 p.m. en el Quincie Douglas
Neighborhood Center, 1575 E.
36th St. Los niños podrán disfrutar
de varias actividades veraniegas
seguras. Las inscripciones comenzarán el 20 de julio y el costo es
de $2 diarios. Si desea más infor-
Upcoming community
events can be
submitted to
El Independiente at
[email protected].
Events must be
received at least two
weeks in advance.