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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
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Happy Holidays AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS ODOR HUNT
‘Drugged driving’ is the new menace on the road BY JIM WALSH AFN Staff Writer
ter a blood test revealed a .08 percent blood alcohol reading, the level at which drivers are presumed under the influence in Arizona. But police also detected the odor of marijuana in driver Shannon Marie Scott’s car. They suspect she may have been impaired by a combination of alcohol and pot. In what is a deadly trend throughout Arizona and the nation, police are seeing more DUI cases in which alcohol is combined with potent drugs, including powerful painkillers
and even heroin. Although the results of blood tests are still pending, Hilts’ death Nov. 2 appears to be the result of “a mixture of possible intoxicants,’’ said Phoenix Police Lt. David Moore, supervisor of the Vehicular Crimes Unit. “Sometimes what is overlooked is you have two lives destroyed’’ by one person’s irresponsible decision to drive while impaired, he said,
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arly one morning in November, an Ahwatukee mom on an early-morning jog suddenly turned into a tragic symbol of the growing number of driving under the influence cases. Martha Hilts, a 36-year-old mother of two, was struck and fatally injured by a woman who was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter af-
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DUI on page 12
At Sunshine Acres, kids without A stitch in time a home find a family and love BY RALPH ZUBIATE AFN Managing Editor
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or kids who are apart from their families, Christmas can be a sad time. But Sunshine Acres Children’s Home in Mesa makes sure kids are loved and cared for that day and every day. The only facility of its kind in the Valley, Sunshine Acres was founded in 1954 by Rev. Jim and Vera Dingman. Children come there for a variety of reasons. Their parents may be homeless, ill, in financial straits or incarcerated. The children also may be in the custody of grandparents who can’t care for them anymore. All the placements are voluntary, which doesn’t make it any easier for the kids. “I hurt for them,” said Shara Markwell, program administrator and greatgranddaughter of the founders. “I have four kids myself.
“When I hear what they’ve endured, I just want to take that away,” she added. “Every staff member feels that way.” Christmas day is a special day for the kids at Sunshine Acres. The kids live on campus in homes of 10 or so children with a house family. For them all, it’s a big, family Christmas. “Christmas day (for them) is like any normal family,” Markwell said. “The younger ones wake up super-early and the teens want to sleep in.” Usually, the youngest kids win and race to see what Santa left. They all open gifts and start playing. “There’s paper all around the house afterward,” Markwell said. The children then eat a big Christmas dinner in their house instead of the dining hall, where they usually take their meals. See
SUNSHINE on page 18
(Cheryl Haselhorst/AFN Contributor)
Kimberly Lewis put on her annual Nutcracker production. Behind the scenes: Page 16.