Blanche White (left) visits with laundromat owners Michael and Clarisse Kostolny on Thursday at the Northgate Laundromat & Cleaners, 3993 E. Grant Road. White is president of the Oak Flower Neighborhood Association, which will be honoring the laundromat for neighborly service.

Some people who live near the intersection of East Grant Road and North Alvernon Way used to avoid shops there.

“People want to shop near their homes,” said Blanche White, 73, president of the Oak Flower Neighborhood Association, one of four neighborhoods bordering the intersection.

But “in one neighborhood meeting, someone said, ‘I don’t feel safe there, so I drive to another place farther away.’

“That was really eye-opening, I think.”

Since that meeting some months back, the four neighborhood associations – Oak Flower, Garden District, Palo Verde and Dodge Flower – have worked with area businesses and organizations to make shopping a safer and more pleasant experience.

The associations are honoring seven with Business Good Neighbor Awards at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Tucson Botanical Gardens Pavilion, 2150 N. Alvernon Way.

The Botanical Gardens is one of the honorees for offering its facilities for neighborhood meetings and special events.

The others are Specialists in Dermatology, Northgate Laundromat & Cleaners, Fry’s, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Sign-A-Rama and Emerge!

Those honored will get a certificate and a placard proclaiming they make good neighbors to place in their front windows.

“We have a lot of neighborhood businesses that are deserving,” White said. She added that more awards will be forthcoming.

The two businesses in her neighborhood, Specialists in Dermatology and Northgate Laundromat & Cleaners, both had good reason to nab the awards.

The dermatology practice worked with residents even before the office was built a few years back. Some employees have attended neighborhood cleanups.

The laundromat has increased security by making sure a worker is always present and posting a security guard at night.

“One of the problems we have is the panhandlers that hang out in the parking lot,” White said. “Businesses have made more efforts to put security guards out, to walk people to their cars if they don’t feel safe. It’s improved considerably.”

The entire area has improved, said Tucson Police Department Capt. David Neri, who is in charge of the midtown division.

The Good Neighbor Awards are just one phase of a larger program, the Alvernon-Grant Initiative. Those involved include the associations, area businesses, Tucson police, City Council Wards 3 and 6, and Pima County Supervisor Districts 3 and 5.

Efforts began about four years ago, Neri said. One of the most successful phases started in February 2008.

“In our first monthly report, we removed in excess of 40 weapons off the street,” Neri said. A number of arrests and confiscated narcotics also were part of the effort.

“It’s far safer now than it has ever been.”

Progress has been marked from February 2008 to February 2009 with a 60 percent reduction in burglaries, auto thefts and all types of fraud, leading to a 13 percent overall dip in crime.

“It’s really a great project,” said George Pettit, spokesman for Councilwoman Karin Uhlich’s Ward 3 office. “People are working hard trying to turn around the neighborhood. It’s really a feel good kind of thing.”

Laundry attendant Lynda Rae Cody helps customer Omar Daniel Cruz at Northgate Laundromat & Cleaners.

The Tucson Citizen will publish at least through May 9, its owner said Wednesday.

Kate Marymont, vice president/news for Gannett Co. Inc., told interim editor Jennifer Boice that nothing would happen regarding sale or closure of the Citizen before May 9.

Gannett announced Jan. 16 that it was putting some of the assets of the newspaper up for sale and would close the paper March 21 if no buyer was found.

Negotiations with potential buyers went beyond that date and Citizen employees were told they were publishing on a “day to day” basis.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said an investigation of the Citizen’s sale continues, but would not say what the department is investigating.

Says city needs better public safety, planning

Buehler-Garcia

Ben Buehler-Garcia wants to represent the North Side on the Tucson City Council because he’s heartbroken at Tucson’s recent path.

“It wasn’t just one thing. It accumulated,” the 47-year-old Republican said. Rio Nuevo, crime, keeping up the city’s appearance – “We’ve lost our way.”

But don’t take Buehler-Garcia for a cynic or a pessimist.

That’s what he says he’s campaigning against, other than Councilwoman Karin Uhlich, the Democrat who holds the seat representing Ward 3, an area roughly north of Grant Road from Interstate 10 to North Alvernon Way.

“So much of it comes down to the will for positive change,” he said. “I’m doing this because I love this community.”

Buehler-Garcia moved to Tucson in 1979 to get a University of Arizona bachelor’s degree in public administration.

He worked for the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and for the past 12 years has been a self-employed consultant.

The focus of Buehler’s consulting is economic and community development, small-business advocacy and nonprofit management, he said.

That’s meant he’s spent most of his career working with government and with businesses, something Buehler-Garcia thinks puts him in a good position to advocate for change.

At the top of Buehler-Garcia’s list are improvements to public safety, aggressive recruitment of new industry and a new land use code, which he hopes will make doing business in Tucson easier.

The council, led by Uhlich, has been working on revising the land use code, but Buehler-Garcia thinks it might be easier to start over.

Buehler-Garcia is executive director of the Tucson chapter of Stand Up for Kids, a nonprofit working with homeless teens.

He’s also been on the city’s Industrial Development Authority board and the National Bank of Arizona nonprofit advisory board.

Steve Kozachik is campaigning for the midtown City Council seat on what he describes as “a dysfunctional council with a dysfunctional mayor.”

The Republican’s run to represent Ward 6 – which stretches from downtown to Wilmot Road between Grant Road and 22nd Street – will have no flashy start, Kozachik said.

The closest to a formal announcement will be a picnic May 3 at Himmel Park, he said.

“I’m not your cookie cutter, party regular type of politician,” he said in explanation. “I’m not a politician.”

He views that as an asset.

Kozachik, 55, has worked for the University of Arizona for more than 20 years, now as associate athletic director for facilities and capital projects.

He recently oversaw the design and construction of the new practice facility near McKale Center, an experience he thinks bodes well for the city’s planned construction of an arena downtown.

Kozachik said that within hours of filing his papers to run for the seat held by Democrat Nina Trasoff, he called southern Arizona’s state legislators about Rio Nuevo and to introduce himself.

While downplaying political associations, Kozachik plays up ties to business owners.

To create jobs, he advocates cutting red tape and speeding up bureaucratic practices, and espouses a policy of clear delegation of responsibilities.

On City Manager Mike Hein’s recent firing, Kozachik said: “It never should have come to a situation where we’re playing brinkmanship. Nobody can claim the moral high ground for letting it get to that point.”

He cites his job experience “forming teams of professionals with varying skill sets, setting egos at the door” as a model of potential change.

“The philosophical orientation needs to change,” he said. “They’re in this circular firing squad where they’re all just shooting each other.”

Kozachik also puts public safety high on his list of priorities.

“I will not vote for a city budget that cuts the operating budget for police and fire,” he said.

The spotlight will be on small businesses at a town hall-style meeting held by City Councilman Rodney Glassman’s office April 24.

Directors of the city’s Development Services, Urban Planning & Design, and the Procurement departments, as well as a representative of the Office of Equal Opportunity, are scheduled to speak.

Talks will include the planned restructuring of Development Services and potential changes to the land use code, said a news release from the Ward 2 office.

The meeting is set for noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Eastside City Hall, 7575 E. Speedway Blvd.

To RSVP, call 791-4687.

Freeport-McMoRan Sierrita will pay the state $105,000 under a consent judgment for dust violations that affected many Green Valley residents in 2006, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality reported.

The Sierrita Mine had excessive dust emissions on five occasions in August and September 2006. The settlement also covers two dust violations at the open pit copper mine in August and October 2008, ADEQ said in a release.

Freeport McMoRan told ADEQ the company spent $170,000 to clean and reimburse homeowners for cleaning more than 600 homes in the Green Valley area.

The $105,000 settlement includes a $45,000 penalty for violating the air quality permit and $60,000 toward buying a diesel-electric hybrid school bus for the Sahuarita Unified School District.

Glendale is hardening its concerns about a Tohono O’odham casino planned near the city’s sports and entertainment district into official opposition.

Glendale officials say the project would present more costs to the city than benefits, citing a recent economic impact study conducted by Scottsdale-based Elliott Pollack & Co.

Until now, Glendale had warned that the $600 million complex would require the city to pay for waterlines and public safety and conceded that if the 24/7 casino and resort opened, the city would make the most of its projected 1.2 million yearly visitors.

A statement released by Glendale on Wednesday, however, introduced harsher criticisms.

“The land in question has no historic relationship to the Tohono O’odham Nation. The Nation’s only interest in the land is for an economic development project, the impact of which will be detrimental to the substantial private and public investment in the area,” the city’s statement reads.

“Creation of an Indian reservation in the manner proposed by the tribe, with the effect that it will have on the community, is contrary to the intent of federal law.”

The tribe could not be immediately reached for reaction. It earlier stated its willingness to meet with Glendale officials to work out any objections to the project, which would be the state’s largest casino operation.

Negatives highlighted by the city in the study include:

• Of the 6,000 construction jobs estimated by the tribe, only an estimated 10 percent would be filled by Glendale residents, and of the ongoing casino and resort jobs, only one-third would be filled by Glendale residents.

• Studies indicate casino patrons decrease their spending on goods and services to reserve discretionary income for gambling. It is estimated that the substitution effect could be as high as 75 percent.

• The city’s cost to provide basic services to the site would be substantial, including the construction of a new fire station. Ongoing operations costs for public safety could be as high as $3.5 million annually, and additional water, wastewater and traffic issues would add substantial costs.

• The site would be considered a sovereign nation and would place a reservation at that location.

A casino proposed near Glendale’s sports and entertainment district has wide support among Maricopa County voters, according to a recent poll commissioned by the Tohono O’odham Nation, which is seeking to build the complex.

Nearly three in four respondents said the $600 million resort and casino would be “a good project for the West Valley,” according to the executive summary on the research.

The study was conducted by Phoenix-based Behavior Research Center Inc. The tribe did not immediately release the full report, including interview questions and detailed methodology.

The Tohono O’odham Nation stunned Glendale officials and opponents of casino gambling when it announced in January its plans for the casino on 134 acres of land owned by the tribe at 91st and Northern avenues.

City officials have expressed concerns the 24/7 casino could cost the city for infrastructure, alter plans to widen nearby Northern Parkway into a high-speed superstreet and hamper business at hotels and restaurants in the sports and entertainment district just south of the planned casino.

Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. has countered that the facility would create 6,000 construction jobs and 3,000 jobs within the casino and resort and make a local economic impact of $300 million.

Four other tribes with casinos have come out in opposition, saying the Tohono O’odham plan would amount to an urban casino, possibly voiding the tribes’ compact with Arizona allowing gambling operations.

Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs has said the city would work with the tribe to make the most of the 1.2 million visitors expected each year.

The tribe is awaiting word on its federal application to deem the unincorporated Maricopa County land a reservation, which would pave the way for the state’s largest casino.

Meanwhile, Norris and other tribal leaders have been working to build support throughout the Valley.

The recent study suggests residents are “eager (for the tribe) to build upon the strong sports and entertainment district in place,” Norris said in a statement.

Pollsters conducted 601 interviews in Maricopa County between March 12 and 16, with 401 voters in the West Valley and 200 in the East Valley.

The margin of error was between 5 percent and 7.1 percent, depending on the side of the Valley.

The tribe highlighted findings such as:

• Half of respondents indicated they were familiar with the project, even though the plan was announced less than two months ago.

• Two-thirds said they believed the Tohono O’odham would build a quality facility and use the revenue effectively.

• Sixty-six percent said the resort would complement the existing entertainment and sports district in Glendale.

• Nine in 10 either patronize tribal gaming facilities or support having them available as an entertainment option.

Support for the casino cut across demographic lines, including gender, age, income and political affiliation. Both East and West Valley residents backed the casino almost equally, with 71 percent support on the east side of Interstate 17 and 74 percent on the west.

Glendale Councilwoman Joyce Clark, however, was skeptical of the results. “You can do a poll and get any results you want depending on the way you ask the questions,” Clark said.

She also said the margin of error seemed high and quibbled with the poll being Valley-wide.

“If they wanted a meaningful poll, it should have been Glendale residents, specifically those people who live near the proposed site,” Clark said.

Norris responded by saying he didn’t want to debate “whether the poll should have been in this neighborhood or that neighborhood.”

The purpose of the survey was “to get a sense for what the entire area’s sentiment was for this project,” he said.

The 37 staffers get room to ‘breathe,’ walk

Jeanne Alegria (from left), Cathy Day and Theresa Durand of MEB Management Services use their lunch hour to exercise and get some fresh air. The workers, being new to downtown, take various routes so they can get to know the area.

A major local apartment management firm has brought a buzz to the core of downtown since moving into the restored 1901 Hittinger Building, 120 E. Congress St.

The 37 employees at the headquarters office for Morrison, Ekre & Bart Management Services have staked out several downtown haunts since moving in at the end of December.

“I bet if you go next door to the Grill, they will say their revenue went up $100 a week since we moved in,” co-owner Melanie Morrison said. “We had Café 54 cater a lunch for us last week. That was great. I think Subway’s probably benefitted quite a bit.”

Grill manager Karlen Ross said of MEB, “Any new business downtown is more than welcome.”

MEB workers quickly embraced the urban transit mode: walking – whether to an eatery, the bank, lawyers to handle receiverships or just for the sake of walking.

“It’s really nice that a lot of places are walking distance,” said Luz Bruscini, an MEB district manager. “I really love not having to get in a car to go somewhere. I really like Subway.”

MEB staffers also find their way to On a Roll, the sushi restaurant that opened last year a block to the west.

“They’re great,” On a Roll owner Dominic Moreno said. “They’re in here maybe two, three times a week. All the ladies are awesome over there. They always come in a group. They add some liveliness. They create the buzz.”

MEB has 600 employees scattered across Tucson and Phoenix. Apartment and district managers often venture to the headquarters.

“We keep an extra parking pass for them,” Morrison said. “We keep a roll of quarters at the front desk.”

MEB and HSL Properties are the two leading apartment management companies in Tucson.

MEB manages (but does not own) 37 apartment complexes in Tucson with about 8,500 units (20,000 units, including Phoenix and elsewhere in Arizona). HSL Properties owns and manages 29 complexes in Tucson with 7,655 units.

MEB moved from an old 5,000-square-foot house with several small rooms at 1039 N. Sixth Ave. near Speedway Boulevard into the 11,400-square-foot, three-story Hittinger Building, which gives everybody their own space. At the old location, Morrison shared her office with two others. Now she has an office to herself with a 15-foot high window and a view of the mountains.

Morrison looked for a bigger office for about year and had an offer in for an Alvernon Way office before buying the Hittinger Building for about $1.1 million plus $650,000 for tenant improvements.

“We love the building. We didn’t just want to be in a bland office building,” Morrison said. “What we paid (to buy and do tenant improvements) is pretty similar to what we would have paid for a B office building midtown.”

What does moving downtown allow MEB employees to do?

“Breathe,” said Theresa Durand, a human resources administrative assistant and a teaching golf pro on the side.

The downtown setting inspired Durand to lead twice-a-week noon walks for any staffers who want to join her. The Wednesday walk is a mile and Friday it’s two miles at “a brisker pace.”

The noon start time so far has been fine for the three to 10 people who join Durand. What about summer with the same start time?

“It’s going to be hot,” Durand said.

People from The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St., across the street wandered over to welcome MEB to the neighborhood.

“They could have gone anywhere in Tucson,” said Mia Schnaible, The Screening Room’s marketing director. “They chose to come downtown. It really shows downtown is coming around. Dinnerware Artspace just had a huge art show. One North Fifth (Apartments) is almost all full up. You can really see the activity coming down here.”

The Screening Room people got an impromptu tour of the MEB offices, fashioned by architect Bill Williams, partner at Engberg Anderson, and photographer Kerry Schwartz. Williams said he outfitted the interior with a “fun, exciting, dynamic, visual environment for the people working there.”

The purple, green and rusty orange walls play off the MEB corporate colors. The roll-up glass garage door that serves as the downstairs conference room’s hallway wall plays off Williams’ imagination.

“(Morrison) was looking for a conference room that could accommodate the entire staff and also be small enough for a few people,” Williams said. “If we could have a wall that could move . . . One was the idea of a glass garage door.”

The district managers’ and accountants’ offices upstairs fill a big, high-ceilinged room with cubicles set off with partitions that curve downward from wall to hallway. That maintains open space but provides some privacy closer to the wall.

“We wanted to do something a little more sculptural,” Williams said. “In an open environment, people still want some privacy.”

Interior work also involved restoring the original wood floors upstairs.

“They were painted, chipped with holes, tacked over with license plates,” Williams said. “(Crews) salvaged wood where they cut holes for stairs.”

Schwartz shot the 47-photo downtown series she calls Tucson Details that adorns walls throughout MEB. Some are recognizable images, but for many she focused on small details.

“Just like the desert, downtown is just full of these subtleties,” Schwartz said. “I was discovering things all over the place. It’s all about looking deeper at the details. I discovered the fascinating details of downtown.”

All the photos are mounted on metal grille backdrops. The grilles give the photos a more industrial feel and expand the size of the image, Schwartz said.

“I’m not interested in the whole mural or whole downtown,” Schwartz said. “I’m looking at the components that tell the whole story. So many people know nothing about downtown. I like to photograph the details and subtleties.”

One photo is of a sign that says “Hope.” Morrison knew where she wanted that photo.

“We put up the Hope picture in the accounts payable department,” Morrison said.

Tom McNeil, owner of TM Design, built the two zinc laminated conference room tables and the computer table behind Morrison’s desk, and refashioned a 1950s desk for Morrison’s office.

“We took a postwar metal desk and applied zinc to the top of that,” said McNeil, who also crafted the zinc-top bar at Maynards Kitchen in the Historic Depot, 400 E. Toole Ave.

The artsy work setting makes sense for the MEB crew. Along with Durand’s golf and walking passions, Morrison is a guitarist and songwriter whose CD “On the Inside” raised $12,000 for New Beginnings for Women and Children. Sabra Faulk is better known for her bass playing around town and her CD “28 Churches 5 Bars,” but her day job is in accounts payable at MEB.

Downtown frustrations do come into play. Morrison wasn’t allowed to have her own garbage bin so she arranged to share Grill’s bin.

MEB could negotiate only six parking spaces in the county-owned parking lot behind its building, but negotiated a deal at undisclosed “under market” rates to lease spaces at the Santa Rita Hotel, which is owned by Humberto S. Lopez, MEB’s chief rival in the local apartment management arena.

“There’s not enough of it and it costs money,” Morrison said about parking.

Otherwise, though, Morrison and her crew are delighted to be downtown.

“The rewards are it’s a great, fun atmosphere,” she said. “You just can’t find a place like this anywhere else. You couldn’t walk anyplace (for lunch). We have lunch together a lot more.”

The Hittinger Building's original 1901 neoclassical facade was restored in 2002, replacing a drab 1940s look.

Melanie Morrison of MEB Management Services Inc. shows off the headquarters' conference room. The business, which manages apartment complexes, relocated to 120 E. Congress St., in the heart of downtown, in December.

Bankrupt Tucson-based Asarco agreed to sell all its copper mining assets to a subsidiary of Sterlite Industries of India for $1.7 billion, Asarco announced Friday.

This includes the Mission, Silver Bell and the Ray open-pit mines near Tucson.

The sale, which involves $1.1 billion in cash and a nine-year promissory note for $600 million, requires bankruptcy court approval. Until then Asarco can still shop for other buyers.

Asarco, with 2,500 employees, is the third largest copper producer in the United States, and Sterlite is India’s largest copper producer.

The Asarco mines have an estimated 5 million tons of copper. Asarco sold 237,000 tons of refined copper in 2008 with revenue of $1.9 billion, the company reported.

Mr. Emerine

Stephen E. Emerine, 73, former Tucson Citizen and Arizona Daily Star journalist, Pima County assessor, public relations specialist and taxpayer advocate, died early Friday after complications from surgery.

Mr. Emerine was well-known and respected in Tucson’s journalism, business and political circles. He was a frequent critic of local government policies, especially concerning property taxes and spending.

“I’d like him to be remembered as a guy who really cared about his community,” his son, Edward Emerine, said Friday.

“He really was one of the good guys.”

Retired Tucson Citizen managing editors Clyde Lowery and George Rosenberg worked with Mr. Emerine in the 1960s.

“He was a great reporter,” Lowery recalled Friday. “He asked hard questions and wanted straight answers.”

“I’ve been thinking about my 20 years at the Citizen and the people I loved,” Rosenberg reflected. “Steve’s face kept popping up.”

Mr. Emerine was born in Scottsbluff, Neb., in 1935 and worked at newspapers in the Midwest before moving to Tucson in 1960. He was a reporter and assistant editor at the Tucson Citizen from 1960 until 1967.

Mr. Emerine briefly taught journalism at the University of Arizona before leaving to become a co-owner of the then-weekly Green Valley News and, later, the Nogales International.

From 1973 until 1980, he was the Pima County assessor.

Mr. Emerine was a managing editor of the Arizona Daily Star in the 1980s.

Mr. Emerine also was associate director of News Services at the University of Arizona and was chief spokesman for the UA’s Mount Graham telescope project in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Mr. Emerine, a Democrat, was a frequent visitor to the meetings of local elected government bodies, often to speak on spending policies, property taxes or proposed bond packages.

“He was capable and likable and fearless,” Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, a Republican, said.

A jazz lover, Mr. Emerine was a past president of the Tucson Jazz Society, former wife Carolyn Emerine said.

“He ate, slept and breathed jazz,” she said. “I’m sure he’s up there now swinging with the best of them – Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton.”

Mr. Emerine wanted to have a jazz funeral, and his family is trying to accommodate his wishes, she said.

Being president of the jazz society “was the most wonderful thing in the world to him,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anyone in Tucson who had a bigger jazz collection than Steve. Jazz and politics, that was Steve.”

Mr. Emerine also had been a state Democratic committeeman and remained active in Pima County Democratic politics.

Mr. Emerine was a longtime member of the Pima Taxpayers Association.

“He wanted government to be good and honest and transparent,” said Mary Schuh of the taxpayers association.

Mr. Emerine started a business, Steve Emerine Strategic Public Relations, in 1994 and was a columnist for Inside Tucson Business.

He is survived by his wife, Claudine; daughter Keely Mix Emerine of Idaho; and son Edward Emerine of Tucson.

Memorial services are pending, his son said Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mr. Emerine

Into the darkness of bad budget news at the University of Arizona, Cox Communications is shining a $100,000 bright light.

UA announced Tuesday that Cox has become the first member of the Arizona Assurance scholarship program’s Corporate Circle by donating $100,000.

“I think it’s a great program and given what is going on with the state budget and cuts at the university level, we feel good we can invest in something that is good for our state and good for our companies,” said Lisa Lovallo, Cox Communications vice president and system manager for southern Arizona.

Launched last fall by UA President Robert N. Shelton, Arizona Assurance covers all college costs for in-state students from families with an adjusted gross income of $42,400 or less per year.

Funding for this year’s inaugural class of 600 Arizona Assurance scholars came from a mix of federal Pell grants and money normally earmarked by UA for merit-based aid. Edith Auslander, a former assistant to Shelton, was hired by the UA Foundation last fall to spearhead private fundraising for the program.

“We’ve had a variety of gifts, but nothing this large,” Auslander said. “We had one for $10,000 and one for $25,000 (but) this is our first Corporate Circle gift, which has a minimum of $100,000. Our hope is that other major businesses will participate in this way.”

The money goes into an endowment that is invested by the UA Foundation to develop a continuous income stream for the program, which funds scholars for four years as long as the students maintain a C grade point average.

Auslander said 45 percent of the scholars made better than a B average during the fall semester.

Auslander said she and Shelton’s wife, Adrian, have been talking with potential Arizona Assurance donors and “there is unanimous support for the program” but the economic downturn has made donors cautious.

“There is complete support that this is an important program that will positively affect the state,” Auslander said.

Lovallo concurred.

“Source code for telecom is written by mathematicians,” Lovallo said. “We need to have folks who can do that type of technology and they’ll get that at a university. While it’s the right thing to do to give these kids a chance at a university education, it is also just business: We need people who can do that code.”

Lovallo said Auslander approached her about a company donation late last year. Lovallo is a 1987 UA alumna who served as director of student affairs and advancement for the university before joining Cox almost a year ago.

“When the state economy is what it is, there are going to be things that bubble over and private businesses are going to have to decide if they value those things or not and offer funding,” Lovallo said. “It is important for the state and for business.”

Arizona Assurance scholars are paired with faculty mentors during their time at UA in an effort to increase student retention. They also have internship opportunities at companies such as Cox and are expected to contribute $2,400 annually to their schooling through work-study programs or employment off campus.

———

Where does the money come from?

Each Arizona Assurance Scholar is granted about $14,300 annually, as long as he or she maintains at least a C average. That funding comes from a variety of sources:

Federal Pell Grant: $4,731

UA scholarships and grants: $3,200

Employment (work-study program or off-campus): $2,400

UA Foundation financial aid endowment: $4,023

Facts about finances:

• Students who receive education grants are 50 percent more likely to graduate than students with loans.

• Arizona is among the states providing the lowest level of financial commitment to student financial aid at $4.4 million last year. Florida, by comparison, contributes $83 million annually.

• From 2001 to 2010, two million academically qualified students nationally will not go to college because they cannot afford it.

• More than two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies support college readiness and access programs.

Source: UA Foundation, Arizona Assurance program

For service in spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.

South Tucson City Court Judge Ronald Wilson displays the plaque he was given Thursday as recipient of the 29th annual Drum Major Award.

South Tucson Judge Ronald Wilson, who Thursday received the 2009 Drum Major Award, said that he, “like brother Martin,” wants to be remembered for his service.

The 29th annual award was presented to Wilson by Betty Liggins during the Tucson-Southern Arizona Black Chamber of Commerce’s Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast at the Hotel Arizona, 181 W. Broadway. Liggins was the recipient of the first Drum Major award in 1980.

Although born six months after King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, Wilson said it was an honor to be recognized for his community service in remembrance of King’s work.

Wilson has been presiding judge of South Tucson’s City Court since 2002. He works with the Boys & Girls Club, the National Justice Foundation and many young adults at risk in the Tucson community, said Clarence Boykins, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce.

Wilson was the 2006 Tucson Business Edge 40 Under 40 Man of the Year.

The chamber has been giving the Drum Major Award for the past 29 years, Boykins said, to community members who “make things a little bit better for our community.”

He spoke to the dozens of attendees about the significance of the events that will tie together the King holiday weekend with Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.

“Monday, we will celebrate a person who gave it all so that the person that we hope will give us all could celebrate on the 20th,” Boykins said.

His speech included anecdotes of a time when “a person who looked like me was not equal here,” to a time when an African-American man born from a multicultural relationship will be “the most powerful individual in the world.”

Boykins finished his emotional speech saying “It’s our time. It’s our time. It’s our time.”

Jonathan Paton, who will be a Republican member of the state Senate when the Legislature convenes in three weeks, has what may be a good idea.

He wants to change the way citizens of Tucson elect their City Council members.

And while that may be a good idea, it is not Paton’s decision to make – at least, not as a member of the Legislature.

Paton is a local resident and in that capacity, he has the same rights as other Tucsonans to start a petition drive to change the city’s elections procedures.

But as a legislator, we invite him to butt out.

In the 2009 legislative session, which begins Jan. 12, Paton plans to introduce a bill that would mandate nonpartisan municipal elections – a change that would apply only to Tucson. If the change were in effect, Tucsonans would not elect Democrats or Republicans – just council members.

Tucson voters have consistently rejected nonpartisan elections, most recently in 1993.

Paton also wants the Legislature to abolish the Tucson-only process in which council candidates are nominated within their wards in the general election, then elected in a citywide election. It is a process Tucson has found adequate since 1929. A city initiative drive to change that failed in 2007.

Tucson is out of step with every other Arizona city. Nogales and South Tucson were the other two partisan election holdouts, but voters in both cites switched to nonpartisan elections in recent years.

That’s how it should be done. Incorporated cities should be allowed wide operational latitude based on what their citizens want.

It would be different if Tucson were doing something illegal or that impacted other cities. But how Tucsonans choose to elect council members is of no consequence to anyone other than Tucsonans.

There are arguments on both sides of both changes proposed by Paton.

Ward-only elections may make council members too provincial. But they also don’t give voice to a political party strong in a single ward, but outnumbered citywide.

Nonpartisan elections make sense because most municipal issues – picking up trash, patching streets, running police and fire departments – don’t have Democratic or Republican sides. But fewer voters are drawn to cast ballots in nonpartisan elections.

However, all of that should be hashed out and debated by city residents – not by state legislators, whose job is to deal with matters affecting the entire state, not residents of a single city.

We thank Sen.-elect Paton for his concern for the well-being of Tucson’s election process. But let us decide how we want to elect our council members.

Complaint says 2 vets allowed others to give steroid shots; one defends her services

Opponents of greyhound racing in Tucson have filed complaints with the state against veterinarians who monitor the dogs at Tucson Greyhound Park.

Tucson vet Janet Forrer and Susan Via, a retired assistant U.S. attorney and head of Tucson Dog Protection, filed the complaints with the Arizona State Veterinary Medical Examining Board.

The complaints claim that Andrew Carlton, the Arizona Department of Racing veterinarian, and track vets Betty Menke and Paul Pullen are in violation of the Veterinary Practice Act.

Some of the alleged violations include:

• Steroids being administered by people other than the dual-licensed vets, who are the only ones authorized to do so.

• Track vets turning a blind eye to the steroid injections that are clearly in violation of the act, either because of “negligence or indifference.”

• Lack of records outlining the drugs or treatments given to the animals, which should be submitted to the Arizona Department of Racing.

• Lack of oversight by Carlton, who, as state racing veterinarian, should be supervising the track vets’ practices.

• Pullen not notifying theVeterinary Medical Examining Board of a change of address, or having a listed phone number. The last two practices where Pullen worked have disconnected telephone numbers.

Via also filed a complaint with the Department of Racing about unlicensed workers administering steroids. This complaint is against the vets as well as against Tom Taylor, the track’s CEO and general manager, and track employees.

State vet board Executive Director Jenna Jones and Department of Racing Director Luis Marquez confirmed complaints were filed with their organizations but would not comment because the investigations are still open.

Menke said the purpose of track vets is to be there for the dogs while they are racing.

She said any other care the track vets provide is done as a courtesy, at no charge, and is not considered part of a practice.

“Our position is, we are not practicing because we are not offering services to the public and we’re not charging anybody for these services,” she said.

Department of Racing vet Carlton said the investigative committee of the Veterinary Medical Examining Board recommended the complaint against him be dismissed. He referred questions about the complaint filed with the Department of Racing to that agency.

Pullen couldn’t be reached for comment.

Taylor said he was unaware of the complaints but was aware of the passage of the Tucson Dog Protection Act, a South Tucson voter initiative on the November election ballot. South Tucson’s City Council will certify the initiative Monday .

Tucson Dog Protection put the initiative on the ballot.

The act prohibits feeding dogs low-quality raw meat and administering anabolic steroids. It also mandates dogs be let out of their kennels at least six hours out of every 24.

“We haven’t decided on the course of action we need to take,” Taylor said, “but we plan on following the letter of the law.”