AHWATUKEEFOOTHILLS NEWS Running the race

Celebrating 35 years of service
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Volume 37, Number 37
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS
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INSIDE Neighborhood p3, Community p6, Money p22, Opinion p24, Arts & Life p25, Sports & Rec p33, Classified p36
COVER STORY
Free of charge
SAFETY
MP, DV
students
finalists in
Phoenix PD
PSA contest
Today: High 86, Low 63, mostly
cloudy
Tomorrow: High 87, Low 64,
mostly sunny
COMMUNITY:
Paying it
forward
By Diana Martinez
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS
Central
Christian
gives
more than
100,000
in reverse
donation;
p6
Bowden, 15, has Down syndrome
and is participating as an athlete on
the school’s track and field team for
the first time this year. But more
than just participating, according to
Louise, being part of the team has
been inspiring for Bowden.
“You could just see him glow and
beam during practices,” she said.
Bowden, who will start his freshman year at Mountain Pointe High
School next year, will compete in a
track and field meet on April 4 at
Centennial, and just completed an-
Spreading a message to teens
about the consequences of underage drinking, the Phoenix Police Department started a Public
Service Announcement (PSA)
contest for high school students
around the Valley.
The “Too Young to Drink” PSA
contest was created this year and
will award the first place winner
with $5,000 for classroom video
and audio equipment.
Desert Vista and Mountain
Pointe
high
schools’ media
departments
each created
a minute-long
video,
ahwatukee.com PSA
Watch the videos at the
along with nearhome of the Ahwatukee
ly eight other
Foothills News
schools.
An awards
ceremony will be hosted at North
Canyon High School in May where
winners will be announced.
“We’ll never know how many
kids we will reach, but the message is that getting a DUI has
the ability to impact your life for
years to come,” said Sgt. Tommy
Thompson of the Phoenix Police
Department.
Each taking a slightly different topic regarding teen drinking, Mountain Pointe students
aimed to reach viewers on an
emotional level. Students surrounded their PSA about the
death of friends from underage
drinking and driving.
“They wanted it to be meaningful,” said technology and TV
productions teacher Jacqueline
Adamson.
>> See Bowden on page 13
>> See PSA on page 13
ARTS & LIFE:
Lane change
Ahwatukee band shifts
into the fast lane; p25
Ahwatukee eighth-grader Joshua Bowden at Kyrene Centennial Middle School on Saturday, March 23. [David Jolkovski/AFN]
Running the race
By Diana Martinez
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS
SPORTS:
Leading man
MP’s Lucas one of many
local stars at Rotary; p33
During his first track and field
meet, Ahwatukee eighth-grader
Joshua Bowden drew cheers and
support from the crowd earlier this
month.
“There was a contagious enthusiasm running down the track as
Joshua passed people and they suddenly got up and cheered for him,”
his father, Christopher Bowden,
said.
As Kyrene Centennial Middle
School’s first special needs stu-
Centennial special
needs student first
to race in school
track and field
dent to be part of the track and field
team, Joshua Bowden has set an
example for the rest of the school
community.
“It’s to be part of the community
as a whole, and not just of a special
needs community,” said Bowden’s
mom, Louise.
ahwatukee.com | Ahwatukee Foothills News | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
2 books
too
similar
not to
compare,
review
together
SPECIAL TO AFN
I have read so many
good books lately I
couldn’t decide which one
to review. It was a toss
up between “The Obituary Writer,” by Ann Hood
and “The Secret Keeper,”
by Kate Norton (I don’t
know about you but any title that contains the word
“secret”
draws me
like a magnet —
maybe it
was that
early NanVy Armour cy Drew
conditioning).
Then I
realized these two books
have several common elements. Both tell the story from two points of view
spanning many years and
generations; both are fiction yet use specific historical events as their framework; both are passionate
love stories dealing with
loss and grief; both contain deathbed confessions between mothers
and daughters; and both
would make great book
club choices, especially
multi-generational discussions. Oh, did I mention
murder and unfaithfulness? Sure to spice up any
discussion.
In “The Obituary Writer,” the narrator is 23year-old Vivian, telling
her story in 1919 after she
survived the Great San
Francisco Earthquake.
She kisses her lover, David, goodbye as he leaves
for work on the morning of April 18, 1906, at 5
a.m. Twelve minutes later, her world is turned upside down in two ways.
Not only does the city
crumble; it sends Vivian
on a 13-year quest for David, who she wholeheartedly believes survived the
earthquake and is wandering around with amnesia from an injury, possibly
a blow to the head. Dur>> See Armour on page 28
Arts Life
ahwatukee.com
Movies, dining, travel, music, theater, books
Ahwatukee Foothills News online
25
MUSIC
LANE CHANGE
Ahwatukee band
shifts into the
fast lane
By Brittany Stehmer
SPECIAL TO AFN
Lane Change is practicing a
new song for its set list, Cheap
Trick’s “I Want You to Want
Me.” The manager is coaching the vocalists on the harmonies: “This note needs to
be higher.” “This part is too
early.” “Let’s start from this
part.” Then they start at the
recognizable chorus.
It’s a typical practice. The
Ahwatukee band has a few
shows coming up and they
want to be ready. But the
band isn’t typical.
The members of Lane
Change are teenagers, their
manager is also the drummer’s dad, and their practice
room is his living room.
The four musicians came
together six months ago at a
local youth music program.
Sam Lehtinen, 17, Elijah Alvarez, 15, Riley Bash, 14, and
Cameron Holladay, 13, quickly moved past the program
and became a band in their
own right.
And this rock band is good.
And not just good for a bunch
of teenagers. They are just
plain good.
Formed in early September of last year, their first
show came in just a few short
weeks. With three songs and
a few practices under their
belts, Lane Change took the
stage at the Brett Saks Safety Festival on Sept. 30.
Riley Bash and drummer Cameron Holladay, of the local band Lane Change, practice on March 4 in Ahwatukee Foothills. [David Jolkovski/AFN]
“We’d never played before,”
Lehtinen said. “We’d all been
on stage separately, but as a
group we’d never been on
stage together. It was a different experience.”
But that performance, as
raw as the band was, showed
there was something there.
“It was enough to know we
had something to move forward with,” said Kevin Holla-
day, the band’s manager.
And move forward they
did. Six months, a half a
dozen shows and a demo recording later, Lane Change
has gathered quite a following in the Valley.
“It’s crazy, like six months
ago we knew three songs and
we were playing at the Brett
Saks bicycle thing. It’s amazing how quickly people are re-
acting and how quickly we’ve
grown together,” Lehtinen
said.
Despite their ages, Lane
Change shows a level of maturity some adult bands don’t
show.
“It’s not hard to find gigs
for these guys,” Holladay said.
“Most people realize their not
just a bunch of kids and they
see the professionalism that
they play with.”
When it comes to the band,
these teenagers show a level
of commitment some of their
peers lack.
“Committing to always
coming to practice, learning
your part, it’s a full-time job,
that’s why I’m not even going
to traditional high school anymore,” Lehtinen said. “Taking
>> See Lane Change on page 30
GIVING BACK
Ahwatukee man shares golf passion with all ages
By Brittany Stehmer
SPECIAL TO AFN
Kent Chase works with a young golf student at Whirlwind Golf Resort. Chase
has lived in Ahwatukee Foothills for the past 24 years.
[Submitted photo]
Kent Chase really wanted
to golf as a kid.
“All I ever did was figure
out a way to get to the golf
course,” the Ahwatukee Foothills resident said.
After moving to the Valley
from Chicago, his father put
all four of his boys into golf,
but it only stuck with 9-yearold Chase.
“None of my brothers loved
it,” he said. “They did their
own thing and I was this golf
nut.”
So Chase convinced his par-
ents to let him ride his bike 10
miles to the golf course with
his golf clubs on his back. It
was on the fourth day that the
car hit him.
“Bam, there I went flying out into the street and I
thought, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Chase
said.
Cut up, bruised, and with a
bike that wouldn’t roll, Chase
begged the driver not to call
an ambulance. He knew if his
parents found out, his privilege of riding his bike to the
golf course would be revoked.
When the driver insisted on
calling, Chase ran, golf clubs
on his back, pushing his unrollable bike into the orange
grove. He found his way out
the other side and made it
to the pro shop on the golf
course.
“I said, ‘You gotta help me
I’m going to lose my privilege. Can you get my bike to
work?’ and they go, ‘Look at
your clothes, you’re cut up,
your mom’s gonna see that.’”
Chase said.
The pro shop gave him a
new pair of golf slacks and
long-sleeved shirt. They even
got his bike to roll again. When
>> See Chase on page 29
30
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013 | Ahwatukee Foothills News | ahwatukee.com
GALLERY
The Ahwatukee Blue Jays are introduced before the first Bronco Division game
during the PONY Baseball Opening Day ceremonies at Kyrene Akimel A-al
Middle School on Saturday. [David Jolkovski/AFN]
Lane Change
>> From page 25
all of my classes online takes
up less of my time.”
Lehtinen is finishing high
school online at Primavera
Online High School to concentrate on being a musician, but the other three still
have to attend school every
week.
“It’s crazy,” Lehtinen said. “I
don’t understand how these
guys do it, but it takes up a lot
of time. The hardest part is
being committed and learning all of the songs and coming to practice prepared.”
These teenagers know that
school is important. They all
keep their grades up and if
need be, take time out of the
band for school. But they admit that being in a rock band
has its benefits.
“It’s made me a little more
popular and gotten me more
attention,” Holladay said.
And Bash says it’s nice
“having stuff to look forward
to besides school.”
Lane Change practices two
to three times a week in the
Holladay’s living room. The
couches and end tables have
been replaced by amplifiers
and microphones. But Kev-
ahwatukee.com
See more at the home of the
Ahwatukee Foothills News
in Holladay says furniture
is overrated anyway. If you
want to sit, there is always
an amplifier.
Despite the level of maturity the band shows, they are
still teenagers.
“Everything gets passed
through the parents and we
make sure that everybody approves. They kind of trust me
to make those decisions, and
if there’s a question about it,
to make sure everybody’s
on the same page,” Holladay said.
What’s up next for Lane
Change?
Original music.
Each member as taken
a stab at writing, but nothing has happened as a band,
but they are up for the challenge.
And these four young musicians would love to continue to grow as a band.
“I’d love to keep playing,
these guys are a lot of fun,”
Lehtinen said.
Being part of a growing
band is an experience like
no other.
“It’s fun to witness, it’s fun
to be a part of, but it’s really fun when we’re out of this
room and we’re doing stuff
collectively,” Holladay said.
“To sit back and not be band
manager or band dad or whatever, and watch these four interact. It’s really cool.”
To learn more about Lane
Change, including its upcoming performance schedule, visit www.lanechangerocks.com or call (480)
845-9272.
• Brittany Stehmer is a senior
at the Walter Cronkite School
of Journalism and Mass
Communication at Arizona State
University. She is interning this
semester for the AFN.