Citizen Staff Writer
OBITUARY

RYN GARGULINSKI

rynski@tucsoncitizen.com

Jennifer Van Kirk was able not only to turn her passion into a way of life, she also was able to pass it on to others.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of paramedics were touched by her care, compassion and emergency training.

Mrs. Van Kirk’s life was cut short when she died Dec. 8 in a crash during a hailstorm on a road south of Benson.

She lost control of her pickup truck and ran into a concrete culvert. The state Department of Public Safety reported she had not been wearing a seat belt.

“She was the unsung hero of emergency medicine in southern Arizona,” said her husband of 35 years, Stewart Van Kirk, 58. “She was never big into getting any praise, although she touched so many people’s lives.

“One of her students credits her teaching with his decision to go on to becoming a neurosurgeon.”

Van Kirk, who is retired from law enforcement, said his wife’s memorial service Saturday will include a tribute by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department Honor Guard and, because she was also trained to work on emergency helicopters, a medevac flying overhead.

Jennifer Van Kirk’s career kicked off with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Arizona with minors in biology, zoology, chemistry and psychiatry.

She was a registered nurse for 36 years, working in the education and emergency departments at Tucson Medical Center for 23 years and earning licensure or certification in a handful of fields ranging from disaster services to trauma life support.

“Jenni taught me everything I needed to know in order to do what I love and I am forever grateful to her,” said Dana Barnes, a firefighter and paramedic for Rural/Metro Fire Department.

“There’s not a fire station in town that doesn’t know her or have medics trained by her. Her death is a blow to the entire EMS community. She was a remarkable lady.”

“We were shocked to hear of her untimely death,” said Mike Nervik, who was a student of Mrs. Van Kirk in 1985. “She was well-loved and respected by many.”

She was even following her passion when she and her husband met.

It was at the scene of a fatal accident, he said.

Stewart Van Kirk was cruising around with his friend, both new to law enforcement, when they heard about a crash on the radio.

They arrived at the site, near Interstate 10 and Cortaro Road, to find that his friend knew the nurse working the scene. That nurse was Jennifer.

“It was a cold January night and she was in the back of the ambulance,” he recalled. All three got in the ambulance to warm up and his friend introduced the two.

“That’s how I met her,” Stewart Van Kirk said. “Three months later, I proposed in the break room of the emergency room at St. Mary’s (Hospital).”

While her main passions were nursing and teaching, her husband said she also had a deep love of animals.

“We kind of called it Jenni’s zoo,” he said of the household’s menagerie of four dogs, three cats, three parrots and two ferrets.

One of Mrs. Van Kirk’s children preceded her in death. In addition to her husband, she is survived by three sons, one daughter, two daughters-in-law, three grandchildren and a sister.

The service is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Saint John on the Desert Presbyterian Church, 2695 N. Houghton Road.

Citizen Staff Writer

SHERYL KORNMAN

skornman@tucsoncitizen.com

The key suspects in two recent homicides are both in the United States illegally, according to court documents filed in their cases.

Gildardo Lopez and Jose Luis Razo both told a judge at their initial court appearances that they are from Mexico and “have no legal authority” to be in the U.S., according to documents filed in the cases.

Lopez, 32, said he is from “Almazo,” Mexico. He is accused of killing two men Dec. 6 at Feliz Paseo Park west of Tucson after a drug-related kidnapping, sheriff’s deputies said.

The bodies of Jose Daniel Alvarez, 23, and Jesus Martinez Gonzales, 24, were found in a wash by a hiker.

Lopez told jail booking staff he was an unemployed laborer but later told the county’s Pretrial Services he was employed full time as a laborer. The name of his employer was withheld.

Razo, 21, said he is from Nogales, Son. He is charged with killing Efrain Ordonez Jr., 39, on Nov. 9 while Ordonez was walking his dog.

Razo said he was self-employed as a carpet installer.

Both are being held in Pima County Jail without bond.

Citizen Staff Photographer

Five minutes after the doors opened at the Community Food Bank, about 600 of the books in the Reading Seed program’s “1,000 Books in a Day Giveaway” were on their way to good homes.

It is the second year the nonprofit group, which recruits and trains volunteer reading coaches to help children who are reading below grade level, gave books away at the food bank, 3003 S. Country Club Road. The new or gently used books are holiday gifts for children in families who obtain food boxes at the food bank. The Reading Seed program has given more than 10,000 books to students in kindergarten through 12th grade this year.

Citizen Staff Report

news@tucsoncitizen.com

Citizen Staff Writer

HEIDI ROWLEY

hrowley@tucsoncitizen.com

With an invitation of flowers and love, the Coleman family is inviting Tucsonans to celebrate the 13th anniversary of their son’s heart transplant by donating blood Saturday.

For the sixth year, the family, which owns Mayfield Florist, is offering a dozen roses to anyone who donates during the drive that benefits the American Red Cross.

Sean Coleman was diagnosed days after his birth with a heart defect that leads to the thickening of the heart walls and eventually limits the pumping action of the organ. His parents had lost his older brother, Patrick, to the disease four months before Sean was born.

He was placed on a transplant waiting list and, when he was 4 months old, on Nov. 29, 1995, he became the youngest heart transplant patient at University Medical Center.

“He’s a gift,” Don Coleman said Wednesday of his teenage son. “They really gave him about 12 days to live. Luckily, we got him for four months and now 13 years.”

Other than daily medications and yearly checkups, Sean is an active normal teenager who enjoys playing volleyball.

His father is convinced that without the right amount of blood available, his heart transplant wouldn’t have happened, which is why the family sponsors the yearly blood drive.

Coleman said they generally get 50-60 people who come out to the drive. He orders 60 dozen or more roses every year to hand out to participants.

The American Red Cross will set up a bus in the parking lot of Mayfield Florist, 7181 E. Tanque Verde Road, and will take blood donations from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Donors are advised that the wait is shorter and it is easier on the staff if people make an appointment before Saturday. To make an appointment, call the flower shop at 885-6987.

Coleman said he doesn’t know how many years he will do the annual blood drive.

“As long as they are successful,” said. “I’m not going to have it and not have people show up.

“It takes the Red Cross time and resources to put it on. As long as (people) are willing to donate blood, I’m willing to give them a dozen roses.”

The Arizona Republic

The Arizona Republic

Students at Arizona’s three universities face rising tuition costs, with more of them taking out loans to meet the increased cost of college.

Arizona State University freshman Hosanna Sheeley, 19, scraped together enough money to cover her first year through a combination of the federal Pell Grant, an ASU scholarship, a private scholarship and student loans.

“I’m pretty much taking it year by year,” she said.

More students are finding themselves in similar situations: Even with federal grants, school scholarships and part-time jobs, they often need to take out loans to cover their costs.

Last school year, 53 percent of undergraduate students at Arizona’s three universities graduated with debt, up from 47 percent four years earlier. The average debt was around $17,500.

For graduate students, it’s even greater.

Four years ago, 36 percent of graduate students had accumulated debt by graduation day. That figure is now nearly 54 percent, with the average graduate student carrying nearly $34,300 in debt.

At the same time, tuition and fees have risen every year at the three state universities and are projected to cross the $6,000 threshold for the first time for the 2009-10 school year.

New, in-state undergraduate students could pay 11 percent more at ASU, or $6,257; nearly 13 percent more at the University of Arizona, or $6,257; and 14 percent more at Northern Arizona University, or $6,153.

The Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the state universities, plans to vote on tuition at its Dec. 4 meeting.

University officials point out that current undergraduate students at ASU and NAU will get some relief. In exchange for a double-digit increase that went into effect this school year, ASU and NAU are proposing a more modest 5 percent increase at ASU and a 3 percent increase at NAU for in-state students who are already enrolled this year.

Officials say they recognize it’s tough to be a student in today’s economy.

ASU President Michael Crow sent an e-mail with a video link to students and faculty members Nov. 21, further explaining the rationale behind ASU’s proposed tuition increases and inviting students who were experiencing financial challenges to contact the university’s financial-aid advisers.

In recent years, all three state universities have funneled more money toward financial aid, which helps reduce the overall price tag that many students pay. In addition, Arizona universities are still well below the national average of $6,585 for public, four-year universities, according to the College Board, an association that tracks tuition costs nationwide.

The economic downturn also has meant cuts to university funding. The state trimmed funding for the schools by $50 million, or 3 percent, earlier this year, and more reductions are anticipated.

UA President Robert N. Shelton, at a recent tuition meeting, said it’s important to maintain quality.

“Given the choice between permanent cuts in academics or an increase in tuition, which students have financial options to offset, we choose the latter,” he said.

The Associated Press

The Associated Press

CARMEL, Ind. – An attorney representing the family of a freshman at an Indiana college who died of alcohol poisoning released e-mails Wednesday which he said paint a picture of an out-of-control fraternity house.

The family of 18-year-old Johnny D. Smith of Tucson wants to know whether hazing played a role in his death last month at Wabash College.

“There is no conduct policy at Wabash, there is no alcohol policy. There is a gentlemen’s rule that is no rule,” attorney Stephen Wagner said during a news conference at his suburban Indianapolis office.

Smith was found unconscious at the Delta Tau Delta chapter house on Oct. 5 and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. The college later disbanded the chapter following an investigation.

A spokesman for Wabash College, an all-male liberal arts school of some 900 students, declined comment Wednesday. The Associated Press also left a phone message seeking comment from Delta Tau Delta’s national headquarters, which had suspended the chapter following Smith’s death.

Smith’s death was the second in about a year at Wabash in which alcohol may have played a part. A 19-year-old Wabash freshman died in October 2007 when he slipped and fell from a roof at the campus in Crawfordsville, about 40 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Tests showed he had been drinking.

Wagner said the profanity-laced e-mails and others Smith’s family had uncovered showed “an out-of-control fraternity house where hazing and alcohol abuse were rampant.” While officials with the fraternity’s national office have declined to say whether a party had been held at the house the night before Smith’s death, one of the e-mails indicates a party had been planned for that weekend.

“There will be an abundance of alcohol,” including four beer kegs, the e-mail states.

One e-mail warns members to deny hazing occurs during a visit from a national fraternity representative, while another urges members to haze others if they fail to do kitchen chores.

Delta Tau Delta executive vice president Jim Russell said the national fraternity’s own investigation was ongoing and he would not comment on the materials distributed at the news conference.

He said the news conference seemed contrary to legal ethics prohibiting lawyers from discussing matters under investigation or potential litigation before trial.

Wagner urged anyone who knows anything about what happened the night Smith died to come forward “to put some pressure on Wabash to do the right thing and give these 18-year-olds some instruction before sending them into a fraternity house with no supervision other than the upperclassmen who are encouraging the drinking.”

Smith lived at the Delta Tau Delta house and had pledged to the fraternity, but had not yet been initiated. Alcohol is allowed in the Wabash fraternity houses, but only for students who are 21 years or older.

Citizen Staff Writer

DAVID L. TEIBEL

dteibel@tucsoncitizen.com

Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the Wednesday morning death of a 4-day-old girl southwest of Tucson.

It is unclear how the baby died and an autopsy is scheduled for Thursday, said Detective Lt. Michael G. O’Connor.

It is possible Lysandra Laine died of natural causes, O’Connor said, or an adult sleeping with the infant could have unintentionally smothered her.

When emergency workers arrived at the home in the 6600 block of West Maverick Road about 5:30 a.m., Lysandra was not breathing, Detective Sgt. Jesus Lopez said. The infant was taken to University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 6:42 a.m.

The home is about six miles west of Pima Mine Road and Interstate 19.

Larissa Laine, 32, told deputies she was breast-feeding her daughter when they both fell asleep, O’Connor said. The mother awoke to find Lysandra not breathing.

Deputies were told of the death after an emergency call was made seeking help.

Citizen Staff Writer

RYN GARGULINSKI

rynski@tucsoncitizen.com

When Ernie’s cancer was diagnosed early this year, his veterinarian estimated the daring dog would be dead in a month.

As the feisty, three-legged terrier mix was known to do, he defied the odds.

Ernie died peacefully Monday, said owner Bob Taylor. Ernie was 16. “He was a fighter,” said Taylor, 63. “He never gave up. He had an uncanny will to live.”

That will served the courageous canine well, especially when it came to treating his two bouts with cancer.

Ernie went through chemo therapy and radiation two years ago, which cost him his leg.

When the second bout of cancer hit, Taylor tried the experimental Navy Protocol, which uses a mixture of FDA-approved drugs to starve tumors by cutting off their blood supply.

Named after the golden retriever Navy that was first to receive the treatment in 2000, the protocol has been used only in animals but may one day be approved for people.

Ernie was in remission by August. Taylor dubbed him “Tucson’s miracle dog.”

But one lung still was affected, Taylor said, where the cancer metastasized.

“His heart was not able to pump blood through the lung,” Taylor said. “It got worse within the last 48 hours. When it was time, we had to put him down. He died in my arms.”

Donations in Ernie’s honor may be made to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona to the attention of Meredith Moore.

Taylor also is planning to set up a foundation to help other dogs with cancer receive treatment.

“Navy Protocol may not be the cure for all dogs,” Taylor said, “but it certainly abated Ernie’s untimely and rapid death.”

Ernie started his life as a desert dog, running with coyotes around the Catalina Pueblo neighborhood, near North Campbell Avenue and East Skyline Drive.

The plucky pooch’s most extensive contact with humans was snatching bones off the porch left by Taylor and his wife, Lori, 62.

Ernie became man’s best friend when Bob Taylor came home from back surgery in 1999 and the dog jumped on his bed.

Taylor was soon taking Ernie everywhere, from his office at Long Realty to First United Methodist Church services.

Ernie also had a private table at Blanco Tacos + Tequila and a little red stroller Taylor would take to frequent outdoor concerts and Rillito River walks.

Ernie’s last public appearance was at the church’s blessing of the animals Oct. 26. After the Tucson Citizen ran his story the following day, Taylor was contacted by other publications and a television documentary crew.

“Ernie’s magical,” Taylor said. “He attracted people, everyone. He was just a gift from God.”

DONATIONS

Donations in Ernie’s honor can be made to:

The Humane Society of Southern Arizona, Attn: Meredith Moore, 3450 N. Kelvin Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85716.

Citizen Staff Writer

GARRY DUFFY

gduffy@tucsoncitizen.com

The widening of Interstate 10 by the Arizona Department of Transportation continues to create restrictions for motorists:

Grant Road will have alternate lane closures at the freeway Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. each day.

Grant will be closed at I-10 Thursday and Friday from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Speedway Boulevard at I-10 will be closed in both directions Monday and Wednesday from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Speedway will have alternate lane closures at I-10 Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m..

St. Mary’s Road will be closed at I-10 Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

St. Mary’s will have left lane closures at I-10 Wednesday from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

22nd Street is to be closed westbound at the freeway Monday from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Eastbound 22nd Street at I-10 will be closed Tuesday through Friday from 3 a.m. until 6 a.m. each morning.

Citizen Staff Writer

CARLI BROSSEAU

brosseau@tucsoncitizen.com

Four public hearings are scheduled for Tuesday’s City Council meeting, two related to the proposed realignment of East 22nd Street through midtown.

The council will take comments on the Transportation Department’s recommendations for the road’s path, which would shift it slightly north.

The section in question runs from Kino Parkway to Tucson Boulevard and includes an overpass at the Kino-22nd Street intersection.

The council also will hold a hearing on allowing a self-storage facility at the southeast corner of South Campbell Avenue and East Drexel Road, on 5.9 acres zoned for residential and commercial purposes.

The subject of the fourth hearing is the addition of more off-track betting at the Midtown Bar & Grill, 4915 E. Speedway Blvd.

During its study session, the council will examine University of Arizona professor John Schwarz’s suggestions of how to calculate a more realistic assessment of poverty.

Federal measures of poverty are used by the city to determine who is eligible for certain housing, transit and legal services, as well as utility bill assistance and reduced Parks & Recreation Department fees.

Those figures are based on a calculation performed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture based on food expenditures in 1955 that have been adjusted for inflation since, Schwarz told members of the council during a recent subcommittee meeting.

A decision to revise the poverty measurement could have implications for the city’s budget, which had a projected shortfall of about $51 million as of Oct. 21.

Citizen Staff Writer

GARRY DUFFY

gduffy@tucsoncitizen.com

The reeling housing market is taking a toll on the department that administers permits for new construction here.

“Our revenues are down 47 percent from what we budgeted,” Carmine DeBonis, director of the Pima County Development Services Department, said this week.

The department over the past year has dropped full-time employee rolls from 182 to 114 positions, and DeBonis said additional staff cuts are likely before the new-housing market begins to right itself – possibly 24 months from now.

“It could be as many as 50″ months, he said.

No services by the department will be eliminated, said DeBonis.

“We will continue all services at reduced levels. It possibly will take longer for those services,” DeBonis said.

The department operates almost entirely on “enterprise funds” – revenue from fees paid by developers for licenses, permits and services. The department’s $12.5 million budget in the fiscal year that began July 1 anticipated $11.5 million of those revenues to come from fees for building permits, licenses, and service charges.

Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry earlier this week ordered departments and agencies to cut budgets another 2.5 percent. The Board of Supervisors called for across-the-board cuts of 5 percent last June when it approved a 2008-2009 fiscal year budget of $1.37 billion that included hiring freezes and no raises for county employees.

DeBonis said his already exceeded Huckelberry’s latest cuts of 2.5 percent.

“We’re up to 6 percent,” DeBonis said.

Housing industry officials are experiencing the market slump from the other end.

“We are at a level now that we haven’t seen since 1989,” Ed Taczanowsky, president of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, said Friday.

Area homebuilders in 2005 obtained about 11,900 building permits, Taczanowsky said.

Projections indicate that new -home building permits this calendar year will not exceed about 3,200, Taczanowsky said.

“We are really, really down,” he said.

Industry estimates coincide with DeBonis’ forecast that the housing market will not recover next year, Taczanowsky said.

A report by a consultant for SAHBA indicated that new-housing permits could dip to about 2,900 next year, Taczanowsky said.

Huckelberry blamed most of the county’s budget problems on reductions in state shared revenues to counties from state sales tax revenues, vehicle license tax fees and gasoline tax money from Highway User Revenue Fund receipts.

The county is $3 million to $4 million short of such revenues now and could lag by $12 million to $14 million by the end of the fiscal year without the cuts, Huckelberry said.

Huckelberry has not ruled out additional budget cuts, if needed, before then.

The Arizona Republic

Max Jarman

The Arizona Republic

Science Foundation Arizona, the nonprofit organization formed in 2006 to promote science-based research and learning, is moving to make the state a global center for mineral-resource studies.

On Tuesday, the agency will unveil plans in Phoenix and Tucson for the Institute for Mineral Resources, a team of industry, technical and academic experts who will study the latest sustainable mining technologies related to production, efficiency, education and mining safety. Officials also will make an announcement in Safford/Thatcher on Nov. 20

Science Foundation project director Cara Nanry said more details about the program would be announced Tuesday.

Arizona is one of the largest copper-producing regions in the country, with more that a dozen working mines and more on the drawing board.

The industry pumps $5 billion a year into the state’s economy and provides more than 8,000 jobs. But there is a cost in the form of disturbed land, leftover toxic chemicals and pollution.

Major mining companies such as Resolution Copper, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Asarco LLC have made commitments to make their operations more environmentally sustainable.

Freeport maintains a technology center in Safford, where it studies ways to improve production and reduce its environmental impact.

The company is using bacteria instead of sulfuric acid to leach copper out of ore at Morenci and has found a way to produce copper without the hazardous smelting.

Resolution Copper, which is developing one of the world’s deepest underground mines near Superior, also is studying ways to use technology to minimize the impact on the environment.

“We need to have access to new opportunities that will come through research,’ said Resolution President David Salisbury.

Resolution, Freeport and 15 other mining companies have committed resources to the Institute for Mineral Resources, which will be run out of the University of Arizona in Tucson, with branches in Phoenix and at Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher.

Citizen Staff Writer

RENÉE SCHAFER HORTON

rshorton@tucsoncitizen.com

University of Arizona President Robert N. Shelton will deliver his second State of the University address at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

The address will include an appraisal of UA’s achievements over the past year. Shelton will also discuss the short-term and long-term future of the university, according to a UA media release.

Shelton has said he may use the State of the University address to explain UA’s financial challenges to alumni, donors, policymakers and members of the Tucson community.

In his first State of the University address last year, Shelton unveiled UA’s Arizona Assurance program.

Arizona Assurance offers an all-expenses-paid, four-year education to qualifying in-state students from families with an annual income of up to $42,400.

There are about 600 students in the Arizona Assurance program this year. It was funded by reallocating some of UA’s merit-based financial aid.

In August, the UA Foundation hired Edith S. Auslander, Shelton’s former senior associate, to run Arizona Assurance. Her job is to get the program funded by donors. Shelton hinted this fall that he hoped to announce extensive gifts to the program by December.

The State of the University address will be broadcast live online and televised several times throughout November.

The event will begin with a luncheon in the Irving and Rose Levine Grand Ballroom in UA’s Student Union Memorial Center.

To watch Shelton’s speech live, go to Arizona Public Media at ondemand.azpm.org/live.

The UA Channel – Cox Channel 116 and Comcast Channel 76 – will rebroadcast the speech at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday.

The Arizona Republic

The Arizona Republic

City officials across Arizona say they won’t pay the state for DNA testing and other crime-lab services because they are strapped for cash and believe the imposed fee is unconstitutional.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety was counting on collecting $2.5 million during this fiscal year from cities, towns and counties to provide them with forensic-evidence testing, which until now had been done for free.

Without that revenue stream, state officials say any vacated positions in the lab could go unfilled, deepening a case backlog and potentially delaying court cases. Until recently, the only other state charging for lab work had a backlog up to a year.

Now, only 4 percent of cases submitted to the crime lab in Arizona are more than 30 days old.

When a suspect in the “Chandler Rapist” case was arrested Jan. 12, it took the DPS less than 24 hours to match his DNA to samples found at three crime scenes. DPS officials said that because the program to collect lab fees from cities is new, it is unknown how much revenue will be collected.

“If we collect less than the $2.5 million in charges, we will have to entertain budget cuts, which would result in decreased service levels,” said Phil Case, DPS budget officer.

The fee proposal is expected to have little impact on Tucson’s two major law enforcement agencies, the city police department and the county’s sheriff’s department.

The Tucson Police Department has its own crime lab, and uses the DPS lab only for such things as testing blood for drugs and doing casts of shoe print and tire track impressions, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson police spokesman, adding requests for that kind of lab work are seldom made.

Pima County Sheriff’s Bureau Chief Richard Kastigar said that for DNA testing, his department for years has contracted with a private lab.

DPS has talked to sheriffs’ authorities here about charging for lab work, Kastigar said, but has yet to send a bill.

Kastigar said his department will not pay for DPS lab work as sheriff’s officials and departmental lawyers think DPS is legally required to do the lab work without charge.

Further, Kastigar said, there is no accounting mechanism in place to allow local agencies to pay DPS lab fees.

Both Pacheco and Kastigar feel DPS’ lab fee proposal would hurt smaller law enforcement agencies in the metro area.

Other city and town officials around the state say they, too, are strapped financially and are unable to pay without hurting their basic services.

Consider:

• Police in Douglas, a border town in southeastern Arizona, owe about $23,000 in lab fees. To pay the DPS would mean Douglas police could not hire an officer or buy a squad car, Chief Alberto Melis said. The department has four vacancies.

• Casa Grande owes nearly $52,000, or about the cost of a fully equipped patrol vehicle, Chief Robert Huddleston said.

• Sierra Vista police have been billed about $63,000. Chief Ken Kimmell said the only way to pay for the fees, “whether it’s $190,000 or $60,000, is to reduce our staffing, which really isn’t fair to our constituents.”

Melis of Douglas said, “For me to come up with this money, I’m going to have to do without something. In a profession where 95 percent of your cost is personnel, I might not be able to hire somebody.”

Funding crunch

State lawmakers in June cut $7.8 million from DPS funding in a last-minute effort to pass a balanced budget. In exchange, legislators stipulated for the first time that the DPS had the discretion to charge police, sheriffs and prosecutors who use the state lab.

In an attempt to reduce the burden to city and county agencies, the DPS tapped into dollars from gang and immigration enforcement programs. The remaining $2.5 million has been split based on the cases agencies submitted to the lab in the 2007-08 budget year, which ended June 30.

The actual agency cost for the DPS to process evidence from Casa Grande police in fiscal 2008 was about $288,000. The DPS initially prorated the city’s cost to about $161,000, which was later reduced to about $52,000. The Gilbert Police Department, which sent 2,253 cases to the state lab, owes about $115,000.

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office sent in 1,115 cases and owes about $53,000.

Municipalities say it will be difficult to pay the fees. The concern is not just for this budget year but years to come.

“Although DPS was able to lower the amount significantly, we certainly don’t anticipate that happening next year,” Casa Grande’s Huddleston said.

Little recourse

The four DPS crime labs, which provide scientific analysis of evidence, crime-scene assistance and evidence storage, are expected to spend more than $20 million combined in the current fiscal year.

If agencies do not pay the $2.5 million, the DPS has little recourse.

Officials have assured the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, a voluntary membership organization of 90 incorporated municipalities, that they will continue to process cases even if municipalities do not pay.

“We don’t think we have a lot of options in that regard,” Case said.

“We would have to consider prioritizing the work of the agencies that pay while balancing this with public-safety needs.

“In other words, the work for an agency that didn’t pay would not grind to a complete halt, but it might slow somewhat.”

Adding to the lag would be the department’s potential inability to fill vacated positions.

State crime labs now process nearly double the amount of cases they received just six years ago. DPS records show agencies submitted 29,425 cases for testing in fiscal 1999-2000.

By fiscal 2006-07, that number had grown to 52,026.

The amount of evidence requiring blood/DNA testing had more than doubled since July 1999, to 4,435 cases from 2,194. Submissions for toxicology testing also grew about 156 percent in the same period.

To meet the demand, crime-lab staffing has increased by more than 50 positions to 158 full-time slots. As of Oct. 31, there were 10 vacancies for jobs including criminalist, lab tech and supervisor.

DPS officials expect the fee system to be permanent, or at the very least a multiyear feature.

Citizen Staff Writer

CARLI BROSSEAU

brosseau@tucsoncitizen.com

The Tucson Parks & Recreation Department will close six of its nine year-round pools for the winter, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The city, which had a budget shortfall of more than $50 million in October, will save an estimated $374,000 with the closures, spokesman Richard Symchak said.

Edith Ball Adaptive Recreation Center at Reid Park, 3455 E. Zoo Court; Catalina High School Pool, 2004 N. Dodge Blvd.; and Sunnyside High School Pool, 1725 E. Bilby Road, will remain open through the winter.

Archer, Clements, El Pueblo, Fort Lowell, Quincie Douglas and Udall pools will close Nov. 16 and re-open April 1, Symchak said. The rest of the city’s 27 pools will open for the summer May 27.

Symchak said the decision on which pools to close was based on geographical distribution, use, cost and city contracts.

The Edith Ball pool is heated with solar energy. The Catalina and Sunnyside pools are operated by the city under agreements with school districts, Symchak said.

For more information, call 791-4245 or 791-5352.