Dr. Max Chartrand

Special by Amy Polzin

Oracle, AZ—On Tuesday, May 22, from noon to 3:30 p.m., the public is invited to attend an important seminar and workshop titled “How to Overcome and Prevent Mild and Moderate Alzheimer’s Disease without Harmful Drugs” to be held at the Oracle Community Center, 685 East American Avenue. The seminar is free to interested individuals and their families and starts with a complimentary lunch to be served at noon.

The special guest speaker will be Dr. Max Stanley Chartrand, Ph.D., a professor of Behavioral Medicine, who has chaired a number of doctoral research committees on various health topics, including Parkinson’s, fibromyalgia, diabetes Type 2, Depression, and attentional deficit in children. His work is featured in many publications and websites worldwide.

“My message is vital,” said Dr. Chartrand. “Far too many older Americans are misdiagnosed or overdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s, when in fact most of them suffer hearing impairment combined with normal aging, polypharmacy and dietary and nutritional factors. To be diagnosed without removal of the auditory component means unnecessary loss of personal independence, material assets, and an otherwise long, happy, healthy life.”

During the presentation, he will talk about the dietary trends that cause symptoms of Alzheimer’s, as well as medications can cause memory loss. He will also present data showing why amyloid plaques are immunological protection to at risk neurons of the brain, and not the cause of Alzheimer’s as currently believed. He says that dehydrated brains can be rehydrated and with appropriate rehabilitation that memory and cognitive function can be restored for many AD sufferers.

Dr. Chartrand is profoundly deaf and utilizes a cochlear implant, having lost his hearing to a childhood disease at age three. This makes it no small matter that he is also a world class jazz and symphonic musician, and a former recording artist. He attributes music to helping him develop cognitively, communicatively, and academically.

During the seminar, he will demonstrate the cognitive benefits of developing musical talent. Then, he will conduct a Video Otoscopy Biomarker Workshop, at which time all attendees will have an opportunity to learn about the interaction of health biomarkers and health status.

“We are most fortunate to have Dr. Chartrand with us for this special seminar,” said Ric Felder, Managing Director of The Hearing Centers of Arizona, and sponsor of the program. “We hope everyone will come out and enjoy the lunch, the lecture, the music, and the workshop.”

Advance registration is requested by contacting Maggie at the Community Center at 520-896-9520. There is no cost for the lunch or seminar and consumer education materials will be provided.

Vying for the title of Fiesta de la Primavera Queen are (in no particular order) Selena Aguilar, Elizabeth LaPrada, Rosa McBride and Jessica Lake. (Submitted photo)

   From arts and crafts to drinks, food and games, from horse shoes and live entertainment to crowning of a queen (see related story),

St. Bartholomew’s Fiesta de la Primavera offers a variety of entertainment and diversion this Saturday from 11 am until 10 pm at St. Bartholomew’s Catholic church at the corner of Main and Park in San Manuel.  There is no charge for the dance, starting at 7 p.m. in the parish hall. 

   Local musicians, The Cardells, and folk singer John Huntington (Huntington Chiropractic, Oracle) will entertain along with Tucson’s Mariachi Alma and Ballet Folklorico from Naco, Arizona.  

   A blind draw horse shoe tournament, directed by Roberto Estrada (385-4285), will start at 1 p.m.  Cost is $15 per player.  A group of Pinal County judges, led by Justice of the Peace Arnold Estrada, have donated trophies to the top four teams.

   The Knights of Columbus will host their second annual co-ed softball tournament at the San Manuel softball field across the street from the fiesta.  The cost is $120 per team along with two 12” softballs.  A large screen TV will be raffled during the tournament.  Contact Caesar Zazueta (520) 390-2655 for details.

By Chaille McGrew

Board of Trustees, Chairperson

The San Manuel Library is proud to present the 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award to Susan Ammos.  Susan has volunteered at the library for almost two years.  During this time she has served with a willingness that went above and beyond what is asked of volunteers. 

Susan is a nine year resident of San Manuel.  She previously lived in Colorado where she was an engineering coordinator.   Volunteers such as Susan are what keep the San Manuel Library functioning so smoothly. Susan works at the library on Thursday afternoons so drop by and congratulate her on this honor.

Several years ago, I came to the realization that I would no longer be able to homeschool my daughter. Faced with this, I started looking for a school that would work best for her. The school year had already started and she had not been in a traditional school setting since preschool. I hoped to find a school that had small class sizes so that the change would be easier for her. At first, I thought I might have to drive her in to Tucson, every day. I was unaware that there would be a school in the Tri-Community that would fit my needs.

One day, while I was in Oracle, I drove by a school called Sierra Oaks and it got my attention. I made the decision to call them and find out more about their school. To my surprise, I found out that Sierra Oaks is a tuition free charter school accredited by the state. They offered to give me a tour.

I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere and I knew this was where my daughter needed to go. She started in December 2009. At first she struggled and had a hard time adjusting. The teachers and staff worked with our family to help her. Now she is an Honor Roll student.

As time went on, I became more active at the school. This school year, several of the parents and I started the PTO. We began to work with the teachers and staff in order to improve our school. There have been many changes and in order for the school to continue to change and grow, we needed to start doing fundraisers. We started with small fundraisers, here and there. Then the decision was made to change the curriculum.

As the fundraising coordinator, I was asked if I might know of a way to have a huge fundraiser. So, I brought up the idea of having a concert. Within a week, I had rock and metal bands contacting me for information about how they could help. Next thing I knew, my small concert idea had turned into a huge even for the Tri-Community and to help raise money for our school.

On June 2, Sierra Oaks will be hosting the Tri-Community Palooza. There will be eight bands performing onstage in the San Manuel High School auditorium. I am honored that so many bands of this caliber were willing to donate their time and talent to play at this event.

We will be featuring Dirtnap, Snakes in Love, Legion, Finding Clarity, D2D, Butcher, Newtronn 1 Project and Switching Tides.

All of this would still be a dream and not an event getting ready to take place, if it weren’t for the help of the following businesses: Aladdin Graphics, Dale’s Auto, Mammoth Lumber, New Moon Haven, Romo’s and San Pedro Pizza, just to name a few! We are still working with several local businesses and haven’t received final confirmation, yet.

While the concert is going on in the auditorium, there will be plenty of activities to please everyone’s unique tastes such as raffles, a jumping castle, games and activities for the kids, vendors, food booths, a Shine ‘N’ Show Car Show, and even a junk car to be destroyed in the parking lot.

The concert ticket price is $8, and each paying adult may bring up to two children, under the age of 10, for free. The ticket price includes access to all the music, games and good food to purchase that you can handle, for all day fun, starting at noon.

Come on down to the San Manuel High School auditorium and help support Sierra Oaks Community School!

/s/ Alicia Allmendinger

The Mammoth Public Library has been selected as one of 20 libraries in the United States to take part in the pilot program, “Pushing the Limits: Making Sense of Science: a reading, viewing and discussion series for rural libraries.”

The Califa Group a California based library consortium is sponsoring the pilot program. The program will provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) programming for adults. The program brings the building blocks of science literacy to rural libraries and the adults in the communities they serve. Community members will be able to engage in science adventures by exploring ideas through a discussion led by a STEM professional and your local librarian. There will also be feature film quality videos and recommended book reading. The theme for Pushing the Limits is “real people, real stories and real science.”

Librarian Diana Stirling will be working with one of the universities and people such as scientist Dr. Linda Leigh to provide STEM professionals for discussion and learning programs.

Diana and the Mammoth Library have been pushing the limit in other ways. The library continues to improve with the addition of computers, new DVDs and books (Spanish and English), quality lectures by authors and guest speakers, educational programs for kids and adults, arts and craft classes, guitar lessons and entertainment such as the recent Craig Davis magic show. What is more amazing is that all of their events and programs are free to the public.

Diana has been doing an excellent job to keep the library up to date and engage the community in library activities. In a town with a population of 1,645 residents (last census), there are 1,200 library card holders.

For more information about the Pushing the Limits program or library activities contact Stirling at (520) 487-2026.

Top prize …

All but one lucky San Manuel High School graduate will be seeing green with envy when this beautiful bright blue (you’ll have to trust us on that) beauty is awarded on the morning after graduation. This gorgeous car will be the top prize for the eighth annual San Manuel Elks Grad Night Party. Mark Phelps of Oracle Ford, left, helped the Grad Night Squad procure the truck. All high school graduates are invited to the special party following graduation. Kids will be locked in for an all-night extravaganza of fun, food and fabulous prizes. (James Carnes photo)

It was the end of the road for the Miners in the Semi-Finals of the 2012 playoffs. (Submitted photo)

By Frank Smith

The San Manuel Miners varsity baseball team ended their incredible run in the Division IV Playoffs after taking a 4-10 loss to eventual Champion St. David who won the State Title last Saturday by defeating Yuma Catholic 14 – 4 in six innings.

San Manuel began its run into the playoffs by nabbing a #22 seed as only the top 24 teams in their respective division qualified for the playoffs. The Miners defeated #11 Ash Fork, then shocked #6 Desert Christian, and dominated #19 Valley Union to give San Manuel one of the top four spots in the state, setting up a showdown with #2 St. David in the semi-finals.

On Friday, May 11, the Miners traveled to Diablo Stadium in Tempe for the first game of the evening against the St. David Tigers with #1 Phoenix Christian and #4 Yuma Catholic slated to face off in the second game of the night; the winners would match up on Saturday.

San Manuel was the designated visiting team and had first bats, in the top of the first inning the Miners went scoreless with no runs, no hits, no errors, and left one runner on base; St. David came to bat in the bottom half of the first inning also going scoreless with no runs, on two hits, no errors, and left two runners on base.

In the top of the second inning, the Miners did not push any runs across the plate, collecting two hits, no errors, and left two runners on base; the Tigers were held scoreless with no hits, no errors, and one runner left on base.

San Manuel remained scoreless in the third inning producing one hit, no errors, and left one runner on base; St. David broke the silence scoring three runs on two hits, with no errors, and left three runners on base to take the lead 3 – 0.

In the fourth inning, the Miners would not answer the call as they scored no runs, with one hit, no errors, and no runners left on base; the Tigers added to their lead scoring four runs on two hits, with two errors, and left two runners stranded for a 7 – 0 lead.

The Miners still could not push a run across in the fifth inning, with one hit, reaching base on one error, and left two runners on base; the Tigers scored two more runs on three hits, reached on one error, and left two runners on base to extend their lead 9 – 0.

San Manuel battled back in the sixth inning scoring two runs on one hit, reached base on two errors, and left one runner on base to cut into the lead 2 – 9; St. David scored one more run on no hits, reached on one error, and left two runners on base for a 2 – 10 lead.

The Miners would not go away quietly in the top of the seventh inning as they scored two more runs on three hits, with no errors, and left one runner on base to bring the final score to 4 – 10 in favor of the Tigers.

The Miners scored two runs in the sixth inning and two runs in the seventh inning while the Tigers scored three runs in the third inning, four runs in the fourth, two runs in the fifth, and one run in the sixth inning.

San Manuel scored four runs on nine hits and committed five errors; St. David scored 10 runs on nine hits and committed four errors.

On the mound for the Miners was Jacob Marquez with John Ruiz coming in to relieve and Christian Dietz catching. Marquez took the loss allowing nine hits-two for doubles, 10 runs-five earned, recorded eight strike outs, walked 10 batters, and had four wild pitches.

Offensively, John Ruiz went 2 for 3 with two runs scored, a double, one RBI, and one walk; Vinnie Valdez went 2 for 4 with one run scored, and one RBI; and T.J Brown went 3 for 3 with a double, and two RBIs.

“The middle innings really hurt us, too many walks and errors. You can’t do that against a good team,” said head coach Mike Sloan. “I am really proud of the boys and the way they finished the season. I want to thank the three seniors Alex Smith, Vinnie Valdez, and Nate Johnston for their leadership this year. The future looks bright with 22 out of 25 players returning next year.”

Way to go, guys! Your fans are very proud of you.

Winners – all of them! Miner track posted several medal winners including, from left, Dual state champion Wayne Newman 110 and 300 Hurdles (fourth place 4x400), Kyle Bowman (fourth place 4x400), Nathaniel Lopez (fourth place 4x400) and Marcos Sierra (fourth place 4x400). (Submitted photo)

By Frank Smith

The San Manuel Miner track team competed at the State Championships on May 11 and 12 in Phoenix, completing the season on a high note with Wayne Newman bringing home two individual state titles in the 110m High Hurdles and the 300m Intermediate Hurdles. Wayne blew away his competitors in both prelims and the finals.

In the Boys competition, the 4x400m relay finished in fourth place, only tenths of seconds separating third and fourth places.

Results for the Miners: In the 110m Hurdles:finishing in firth place was Wayne Newman with a time of 14.80, in 11^th place was Kyle Bowman with a time of 17.65, and in 17^th place was Colten Smith with a time of 18.34. In the 100m: finishing in 15^th place was Marcos Sierra with a time of 11.81, and Jared I. Gonzales with a time of 13.52. In the 400m: finishing in seventh place was Marcos Sierra with a time of 51.80, and in12th place was Nathaniel Lopez with a time of 53.46.

In the1600m: finishing in 22^nd place was PJ Mortensen with a time of 5:00.12. In the 300m Hurdles: taking firth place was Wayne Newman with a time of 39.79, and in ninth place was Kyle Bowman with a time of 45.35.

In the Triple Jump: finishing in 18^th place was Colten Smith with a distance of 37’1.75”. In the High Jump: finishing in 22^nd place was Ani Robles with a jump of 4’2”, and she finished in 23^rd place in the Discus with at throw of 9.3”. In the 4x400m Relay: (Nathaniel Lopez, Wayne Newman, Kyle Bowman, Marcos Sierra) placed fourth with a time of 3:31.49.

Wayne Newman will compete at the Track Meet of Champions this Wednesday in Phoenix.

President, Friends of Oracle State Park

The reopening this spring of Oracle State Park Center for Environmental Education, though limited to Saturdays only, was an unconditional success by all measures.

During the 13 Saturdays of February, March, and April, more than 3,200 visitors of all ages enjoyed the park trails, vistas, ranch house, and scheduled activities; 513 school kids participated in more than a dozen park environmental education programs; and $6,100 in revenue was collected including $1,200 in annual state park passes sold at the entrance gate.

We expect to see the same or better numbers in the fall when the park reopens on Saturdays in September, October, and November.

After being closed for more than two years due to the state budget crisis, the park reopened on February 4 with a bang. A thousand people flocked through the gates, demonstrating the park’s importance to businesses in the local community, outdoor enthusiasts across the entire region, and area corporations.

The celebration was the culmination of hard work and donated dollars.

Friends of Oracle State Park, a non-profit organization, put on two big events, a golf outing at SaddleBrooke Ranch and a Wine-Tasting and Cheese Party at the park. These events brought in nearly $6,000 to help offset the $10,500 which Friends provided to state parks as part of the $21,000 committed in a partnership agreement to get the park open.

Throughout the three months, dozens of park volunteers gave thousands of hours putting together programs, presentations, and workshops; organizing guided hikes and ranch house tours; taking classes to teach school programs; greeting visitors at the gatehouse, and putting together a spectacular line-up of Earth Day Saturday activities.

On-site ranger, Jennifer Rinio, coordinated events while re-energizing school program participation.

Friends of Oracle State Park is excited about these outstanding successes. It is gratifying that the hard work by all has paid off. With such outstanding support, we have exceeded all expectations. There is no question that the public values our park.

Now, we begin work on programs and fund-raising events for the fall season. More Friends members and more park volunteers are always welcome. Learn more about the park at www.azstateparks.com. Visit our Friends website for photos of our activities, history, and membership information: www.friendsOSP.org.

The open house in Oracle will be held Wednesday, May 23, from 6-8 p.m. at the Oracle Community Center, 685 East American Avenue, Oracle.

The open house in Summerhaven will be held Thursday, May 24, from 6-8 p.m. at the Mt. Lemmon Community Center, 12949 North Sabino Canyon Parkway, Mt. Lemmon.

The Oracle Ridge Mine is an inactive, small-scale underground copper mine located on private property in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is in the permitting and design detail stage for resuming operations using state-of-the-art best available demonstrated control technology. The proposed mine operation would utilize as much as possible the same surface footprint as in previous operations. The existing reclaimed tailings facility, also located on private property, would be expanded to accommodate the current mine plan. As designed, the tailings facility would be a state-of-the-art lined dry-stack facility.

Before operations may resume, a number of environmental studies must be completed and permits obtained.

More information is available at www.oracleridgecopper.com.