Casa Grande Dispatch (Newspaper) - February 13, 2006, Casa Grande, Arizona PAGE 9B CG school news Final Countys Daily Newspaper Gold silver for women in halfpipe Maricopa wrestlers claim 4 state titles GRANDE A m Dispatch Monday CASA GRANDE ARIZONA 85222 FEBRUARY 13 2006 NO 36 VOL 95 Freeway noise issue still before council 500 per copy Subdivision walls may be alternative By HAROLD Staff Writer The freeway noise issue is much like the rote of against the coastal rocks a rushing rising roar followed by an ebbing into calm Its not much different as the Casa Grande City Council tries to come to grips with how to keep the sides of Interstate 10 fairly open instead of hanging a concrete curtain of sound walls across the land scape During last weeks council meeting the city came in with a roar about what is or is not wanted along Interstate 10 then ebbed into conciliation TWJ Associates was asking the city to change land use on acres on the south side of Selma Highway up against to allow residential units four to eight per acre and to change all of 370 acres to a planned area devel for Mountain Shadows sion units would be to the south of the area The company had earlier asked for a change to put commercial sites next to the interstate but now contends that Selma Highway is built too high to allow easy access It now wants to junk the commer cial area completely Complicating the issue is that in Decem the council over the strong objections of Councilman Dick Powell approved a land use change allowing homes north of Selma Highway borderin the east side of 110 As originally outlined the 320acre Nichols Ranch planned area development at that location was to have had a commer cial area at the intersection helping buffer the residential areas The developer citing the same access problems asked to move housing ily units into the 110 area and pushing commercial sites to Hacienda Road And hovering in the background is the Arizona Department of Transportation which has warned cities that the agency is receiving more and more complaints about noise from freeways affecting new Freeway Page 3A Play ball Staff photo by Steven King Members of the Cubs Tun the traditional lap around the pitchers mound dur for the Little League baseball season held Saturday K Vittle Each of the teams instructional teams baseball and Softball teams were Produced to run their lap before honored guest Frank District tossed Judge allows FEMA direct payment for hotel stays rr x rn r NEW ORLEANS AP A judge let the federal government today drop some families made homeless by last years hurri canes from a program that has put them up at hotels nationwide FEMA has promised the evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that they will still receive federal assistance that they can use toward hotel stays or fixing their ruined homes although the agency will no longer pay for the hotels directly Attorneys for the evacuees tried to get District Judge Stanwood Duval to issue a tem restraining order saying the ing money from FEMA wont be enough for reasonable living accommodations or for hotel stays 2 buddies suspected in church fires BIRMINGHAM Ala AP Investigators believe a pair of men in 20s or bosom are responsible for a string of church fires in rural Alabama as authorities confirmed the latest blaze at a Baptist church was the 10th case of arson The latest fire severely damaged Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church in northwest Alabama near the Mississippi line The white wood frame church sat about 150 yards off a county road and had an alarm system that alerted to the blaze Its definitely state fire Ragan Ingram said Sunday Fire marshals are investigating whether the Saturday afternoon blare was linked to the other nine this month which all were set in the predawn hours Last week Gov Bob Riley said the nine earli er church fires appear linked A federal investigator said wit ness reports and behavioral profil ers led authorities to believe that two white men were for the fires Witnesses said they saw two men in a sport utility vehicle near a number of the fires Theyre not youths or teens Its probably someone in their 20s or 30s We believe theyre pretty much inseparable Theyre some thing like bosom said Eric Kehn a spokesman for the federal Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives agency Evidence from one of the earlier fires indicates the perpetrators may have been briefly trapped inside the building and may have been hurt said Jim Cavanaugh ATF regional director 1 killed on Final Ave Staff photo by Oscar Perez A Casa Grande firefighter tends to one of three children involved in a fatal col Drive Saturday afternoon Five people wei were fown to hospitals and one on Page 2A the second not Fellow hunter in stable condition after being wounded by Cheney CORPUS CHRIST Texas AP A 78 yearold hunting companion of Vice Presi dent Dick Cheney was recovering in stable condition today after Cheney accidentally shot him during a weekend quail hunting trip a hospital official said Whittington rested well last said Peter Banko hospital administrator at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial The hos pital listed condition as very he said Whittington an Austin attorney was flown to the hospital after Cheney tally shot him Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch hitting him with Its not critical Its not Banko said at a morning briefing He said admitting Whittington to the care unit was a fairly common procedure for a patient hit by a spray of the small I dont know how much spray he has Banko said My understanding from the physicians is that after you get peppered sometimes they need to do exploratory surg eries if it gets lodged in a little deeper Some times its Banko said he did not know when Whit tington would be released The accident was not reported publicly by the vice presidents office for nearly 24 hours and then only after the Corpus Christ reported it Sunday Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said the vice presidents office did not tell reporters about the accident Saturday because they were deferring to the ranch owner to announce what happened on her property Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said today that Bush and senior aides were told Saturday night by the staff of the White House Situation Room that somebody in the Cheneys hunting party was shot but he said he was not told until Sunday morning that Cheney was the shooter He said he contact ed the vice presidents office and everyone agreed they needed to get the information to the public quickly The vice president visited Whittington and his wife before returning to Washington on Sunday Cheney was pleased to see that hes doing fine and in good said McBride said Whittington sent word through a hospital official that he would not comment Air Force Band concert in Peart Park Members of the Air Force Band of the Wests Dimensions in Blue performed for a crowd estimated to be more than Sun day afternoon at Peart Park in Casa Grande The concert featuring standards and jazz was sponsored by the Casa Grande Commu Services Depart ment and Casa Grande Valley News papers Inc At near left 3yearold Sy Lament enjoys the music the sunshine and the companion ship of his mother Jessica center and his aunt Katie Staff photos by Steven King Bush Economy benefiting from good workers WASHINGTON AP Innovai tive and efficient workers are impor tant contributors to the economys good health now and in the President Bush said today as he another year of solid ic growth To build upon worker pro and keep the economy nourishing Bush made a fresh pitch in his annual economic report to Congress for sharpening the coun trys competitive edge He also renewed his call to lawmakers to make his tax cuts permanent Our economys fundamental strength comes from the ingenuity and hard work of our Bush in the introduction to the report which examines economic Innovative Page 3A
