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Inside This Week
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2023
Police identify student in Mt. Pointe threats probe BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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COMMUNITY ........ 21 Ahwatukee YMCA plans an exclusive fundraiser.
www.ahwatukee.com
he Mountain Pointe High School community and Tempe Union administration were breathing a sigh of relief last week after police identified a student who had been posting online threats against the school since mid-January. Principal Tomika Banks told students and families on Feb. 22 that a “suspect in the social media threats against our campus has
been identified and charges will be submitted by the Phoenix Police Department to the County Attorney’s office.” Phoenix Police Sgt. Brian Bower on Sunday provided no details about the case except to say, “The student was submitted for charges, no arrest was made.” Two days earlier Bower told AFN, “Detectives are still working this actively and have been in good communication with the school administration. We also have a school resource officer on campus so any
new information will be looked into.” The day after her Feb. 22 email to her school community, Banks discontinued the elevated security that had been in place at Mountain Pointe since Jan. 30. Since that date, students entering the building were subject to ID checks and bag inspections. Banks’ email to parents also intimated that she had more than enough information from
see THREATS page 7
Thunder thespians meld The Bard, Mad Max BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
BUSINESS .......... 27 New vehicle repair shop here boasts neighborly love.
SPORTS.................... 36 Desert Vista girls win first round in basketball championship series. COMMUNITY............................. 21 BUSINESS ................................ 27 OPINION .................................. 32 SPORTS ................................... 36 GETOUT ................................... 40 CLASSIFIEDS ............................47
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ake William Shakespeare and add the atmosphere of a Mad Max movie and you have a good idea of how the Desert Vista Thunder Theatre is reimagining “Romeo and Juliet” this weekend. By a landslide student cast vote, director Jesse Ploog-Bacik has set The Bard’s classic tale of tragic love in the dystopian world reminiscent of the 2016 Academy Award for Best Picture “Mad Max: Fury Road.” True, there are no big-wheeled monster trucks equipped with diabolical flame throwers rumbling across a barren desert. But then there are no frilly gowns, togas or castles, either. But Shakespeare’s poetic yet sometimes daunting language remains in the theater company’s rendition of “Romeo
and Juliet” at 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 3, and 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday March 4 at Desert Vista’s Black Box Theatre, 16440 S. 32nd St., Ahwatukee. Tickets are $8 at the student book store and $10 at the door. “We are using Shakespeare’s original text while changing the location/ technical elements of the performance to set the show in a fictional, post-nuclear apocalyptic world rather than 14th/15th century Verona,” Ploog-
see PLAY page 16 Desert Vista High School sophomore Talya Myers as Juliet and Collin Bridge as Romeo rehearse for the timeless classic that will be presented by the Desert Vista Thunder Theatre Company at the school at 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 3, and 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday March 4. (David Minton/AFN
Staff Photographer)
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Kyrene Summer Registration begins March 21 at 6:30 am