The vice president of the Higley Unified School Board, Anna Van Hoek, received a package with an apparent threat of violence from a leftist parent.
The package, sent from Amazon, contained a rope and a book containing sexually explicit content, “Homegoing.” Following a report from Van Hoek, Gilbert Police submitted a warrant to Amazon and identified the sender as Queen Creek mother Lindzie Head.
Lindzie Head sent a copy of “Homegoing” along with a rope to Higley school board member Anna Van Hoek.
Head is a medical technologist (clinical lab scientist) at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center who serves on the Queen Creek Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. She previously held leadership roles with the PTO for Cortina Elementary School and Sossaman Middle School.
Van Hoek has taken stances on issues such as removing dirty books from classrooms and barring boys (identifying as transgender girls) from girls’ sports, in alliance with organizations such as Arizona Women of Action.
The package came after a high school English teacher, Brittany O’Neill, came under investigation for assigning the very book Head sent to Van Hoek, “Homegoing.” The book is a historical fiction addressing slavery that contains a number of passages depicting sex and rape, as well as abuse and drug use.
State law prevents the provision of sexually explicit books unless the materials are deemed educational, and parents give their consent. The Gilbert Police Department notified the district that it was investigating O’Neill over the assignment last month.
In that controversy, Van Hoek sided with the aggrieved parents who believe the book shouldn’t have been assigned to minors due to its content.
Van Hoek said in a statement that Head and her husband, Kyle Head, indicated to police that they have retained legal counsel.
In her statement, Van Hoek also said that she would not tolerate this threatening behavior. Van Hoek advised that she had previously endured an attack on her property: her tire was slashed during a board meeting last October.
“I want to make it unequivocally clear that I will not tolerate this kind of harassment and threats directed not only at myself but also at our district parents,” said Van Hoek. “Everyone has a right to express their concerns and speak out without fear of intimidation.”
Van Hoek also advised that another district parent had received the same sexually explicit book in an anonymous package from Head (confirmed by Gilbert Police) with the following message:
“Read the book and maybe you’ll learn something,” said Head’s message.
The same district parent who received Head’s package reported having his identifying information doxed on social media.
Van Hoek said that no additional information about the incidents could be provided due to an ongoing investigation.
These unwelcome packages appear to be the latest efforts by Head to become more civically involved.
Last May, Head participated in and graduated from the town of Queen Creek’s Citizen Leadership Institute. It was several months after this graduation that she applied for (and was given) the board member role for the Queen Creek Parks and Recreation Board.
Last October, Head wrote an opinion piece for the Daily Independent asking Congress to work in a bipartisan manner and pass the budget.
Head’s Instagram bio reads, “You can sit with me. Here to be unreasonable. Uninformed and relying on hearsay.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
The Queen Creek Town Council unanimously passed Resolution #1611-24 this week in a bid to push back on ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ or ‘DEI’ practices, which serve to discriminate against people based upon race and gender.
As reported by The Heritage Foundation, the council voted Wednesday on the new ordinance that will prohibit town tax dollars from being spent on any policies advancing the inherently discriminatory practices.
Queen Creek Councilman Travis Padilla said, “In Queen Creek, we want to focus on things that unite us like individual success and achievement, not things that divide us like political ideology.” He observed at the council meeting that the new ordinance will allow the city’s officials to target equal opportunities rather than artificially constructed equal outcomes.
In the text of the revised ordinance, the town states, “It is the policy of the Town Council that all recruitment and selection decisions for Town employment are based on merit.” The new law adds to the Equal Opportunity Employment ordinance that it is “the Town’s intention to (…) Not compel an applicant or employee to endorse any statement that provides preferential treatment to or discriminating against any individual as a condition of hire, promotion or transfer,” and “Not require nor support any affirmative action policies or practices.”
Another @GoldwaterInst victory agst DEI initiatives: Queen Creek’s city council unanimously passed a new ordinance that ensures taxpayer $$ won't be spent on policies that further race- & sex-based discrimination. https://t.co/uOfnCe0wBx
The new ordinance further goes on to prohibit the central tenets of DEI, “Training programs, workshops, and educational materials that are specific to and explicitly promote (…)
Any form of racial or gender superiority or inferiority.
Assigning guilt, blame, or responsibility to individuals based on their race or gender, such as unconscious bias, cultural appropriation, micro aggressions, or any related concepts.
Any content that promotes division or animosity among employees based on race, color, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, identity, or any other characteristic.”
Although the town “acknowledges that there will be external training and education classes that may address prohibited content topics as part of an overall conference, workshop or college level course,” the policy makes clear that ”the Town will refrain from conducting internal classes or workshops that are exclusively focused on those specific topics.”
The revision of the city’s personnel policy also included updates to the recruitment and selection process to make them explicitly “merit-based.”
As noted by Austin VanDerHeyden, the Director of Municipal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute, the development in Queen Creek comes only a few months after Goldwater exposed the Town of Gilbert for its mandated DEI training for all new hires, occurring unbeknownst to citizens and town councilmembers alike.
VanDerHeyden observed in a release from the Goldwater Institute, “Queen Creek stands in stark contrast to the localities like Gilbert who have fully embraced divisive and dangerous ideologies on the taxpayers’ dime.”
He added that the policy enacted by Queen Creek is “a hallmark of Goldwater’s work to dismantle DEI across the country,” observing that diversity statements along these lines have been used as litmus tests in other towns “for ideological alignment, screening out candidates who do not adhere to specific progressive ideologies.”
He concluded, “It’s welcome news that Queen Creek has decided to stand apart among Arizona municipalities in promoting merit-based hiring practices, while keeping divisive and corrosive DEI policies and trainings out of the town. This is a huge win for the residents of the town, who can now be confident that their elected officials and town staff are focusing on actual town business, not obsessing about identity politics like so many of their neighboring communities have been doing for far too long.”
It’s time for COVID mandates to go away forever. And last month, one Arizona town took a step in this direction when it passed a resolution that needs to be a trend in every city throughout our state.
With a desire to take proactive measures to protect citizens’ constitutional rights, the Queen Creek Town Council passed Resolution No. 1540-23 with a unanimous vote during its regular meeting in September. And it’s quite clear. While the town recommends that people exercise personal responsibility to prevent illness, it committed to not implementing mandates concerning masks, vaccines, business closures, curfews, or “any similar measure.”
The town of Queen Creek has committed to not enforce pandemic-related mandates in the future, namely concerning COVID-19.
The Queen Creek Town Council issued a resolution during its regular meeting last week to not implement mandates concerning masks, vaccines, business closures, curfews, or “any similar measure,” effectively refusing to establish emergency orders that would put its citizens through a repeat of this recent COVID-19 pandemic.
The council declared that their resolution was passed to counter a trend among other local and state governments that have been, once again, implementing COVID-19 mandates. The council declared that they were taking the proactive measure to assure their citizens’ “God-given rights and liberties.”
“The Queen Creek Town Council believes the decision to wear a mask and receive a COVID-19 vaccination are personal decisions, not something to be mandated by the government,” stated the resolution. “[The council] believes in the right and liberty of individuals to make personal decisions according to their convictions.”
The resolution recommended town employees practice personal responsibility for illness prevention and declared that the town’s policy would be to allow employees to make their own decisions on vaccines and mask-wearing. The resolution also declared that no employee would be fired for refusing to wear a mask or receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Councilman Travis Padilla said that the resolution affirmed Queen Creek’s commitment to not allowing a repeat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a loud and clear message we are sending, that it is important for our town to make a statement that says what happened in the past is not going to happen in the future,” said Padilla.
Almost all other local governments in the state enforced mask mandates, including: Avondale, Bisbee, Buckeye, Casa Grande, Carefree, Clarkdale, Clifton, Coolidge, Cottonwood, Douglas, El Mirage, Flagstaff, Fountain Hills, Gila Bend, Glendale, Globe, Goodyear, Guadalupe, Jerome, Kingman, Litchfield Park, Mammoth, Mesa, Miami, Nogales, Oro Valley, Paradise Valley, Payson, Peoria, Phoenix, San Luis, Sedona, Scottsdale, Somerton, Superior, Surprise, Tempe, Tolleson, Tucson, Youngtown, and Yuma.
Tucson and Phoenix also enforced vaccine mandates. Tucson maintained their vaccine mandate, even fighting against a legal challenge from former Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Phoenix suspended their enforcement due to federal ruling against the Biden administration’s federal contractor vaccine mandate.
Pima County also enforced a vaccine mandate up until the legislature passed a ban against the practice last year.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
More of Arizona’s municipalities are increasing their water conservation efforts, leading taxpayers to pay more for less.
Preexisting sustainability goals and the burgeoning Colorado River drought have offered justification for these municipalities’ efforts, which have now resulted in lawn bans, increased water rates, and restricted water usage over the last few years.
Multiple cities recently traded in their Colorado River water rights in exchange for federal funding: Tucson, Phoenix, Peoria, Glendale, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Mesa, Surprise, Queen Creek, along with the state, Apache Junction Domestic Water Improvement District, Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District in Tucson, Salt River Project, and EPCOR.
Last month, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) ban on the construction of new Phoenix homes that would rely on groundwater.
These progressive restrictions and charges also continue despite noted successes in conservation in comparison to past years with smaller populations.
The answer may lie with other developments in the state over the years. Big Tech’s data centers may be one of the major drains on water supply outweighing the net savings of residents’ water conservation efforts.
Mesa
In comparison to the other cities, Mesa doesn’t impose major water conservation restrictions. It does offer $1,000 in rebates for grass removal, with an additional $100 maximum for planting native trees.
However, the city may be contributing to the water burdens faced by its neighbors. In 2019, it approved the development of a data center for Google that could use one to four million gallons of water daily. Arizona residents average about 146 gallons daily currently.
Yet, as Time pointed out, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMUA) — an organization that Mesa helped found — chastised Arizona residents several weeks after the deal between Mesa and Google for using 120 gallons on average daily.
Meta (formerly Facebook, which also owns Instagram) is now building a data center there as well. The year they broke ground in Arizona, they promised to be “water positive” — meaning, restoring more water than they consume — by 2030.
Like Google centers, data centers could use around one to five million gallons of water a day according to Texas Tech University’s Water Resources Center director, Venkatesh Uddameri.
Microsoft also operates data centers out of El Mirage and Goodyear. They made the same promise to be water positive by 2030.
Over 30 percent of the world’s data centers are located in the U.S.
Scottsdale
Scottsdale banned lawns on new builds earlier this month.
The city also offers to pay residents up to $5,000 for lawn removals, and up to $1 per square foot of water surface area plus $400 for pool or spa removals. For multifamily properties, homeowner associations (HOAs), and commercial businesses, the city offered up to $40,000 to remove their lawns, with an additional $10,000 bonus for grass strips adjacent to streets.
Since Scottsdale launched its rebate program in 1992, total rebates amounted to over $4.7 million; about half of which came from grass removals. The city has removed 94 acres of grass since the program’s launch. This fiscal year’s rebate budget sits at $450,000.
Last September, Scottsdale banned HOAs from requiring overseeding lawns.
Residents surpassed the city’s goal of 10 percent water conservation, achieving 12 percent over the last two years.
Tucson
Last month, Tucson banned lawns and reduced water flow in new constructions. The city also required all new residential dwelling units to include piping for a separate discharge of gray water for direct irrigation: the untreated, leftover water from washing machines, bathtubs, and sinks.
In 2008, Tucson required all commercial development and site plans to include a rainwater harvesting plan that provided for 50 percent of the annual landscape water supply.
In 2014, Tucson passed a water waste ordinance fining individuals $250 on the first offense and $500 on subsequent offenses up to $2,500 for allowing water to escape or pool onto public property; washing driveways, sidewalks, parking areas with a hose (unless a residential customer); operating a misting system in unoccupied non-residential areas; having an irrigation head or emitter that’s broken or spraying more than 10 percent onto a street, parking lot, or sidewalk; failing to control a leak; and failing to meet the 50 percent rainwater harvesting requirement for landscape irrigation.
Tucson also offers multiple rebates: $100 per residential, multi-family, or commercial premium high-efficiency toilet; $150 for a flushometer valve/bowl combination; $200 for high-efficiency or water-free urinal installation; $100 or $200 for a residential high-efficiency clothes washer; up to $2,000 for a residential rainwater harvesting system; and up to $1,000 for a gray water system. The city also offers special incentives for low-income residents: free high-efficiency toilets, grants up to $1,000 and loans up to $2,000 for a rainwater harvesting system, grants and loans up to $500 for a gray water harvesting system, discounted high-efficiency clothes washers, and free plumbing repairs.
Each year, Tucson makes available up to $250,000 in grant money to establish stormwater harvesting in neighborhoods.
Phoenix
Last month, the Phoenix City Council approved the Sustainable Desert Development Policy, requiring rezoning cases on new developments to satisfy city-approved standards on EPA WaterSense efficiency certifications; drought tolerant and/or native landscaping; restrictions on turf usage; outdoor irrigation efficiency standards; green infrastructure or low-impact development provisions for surface parking areas, streets, and sidewalks; participation in the city’s Efficiency Checkup program; new swimming pool standards; new wet-cooling system standards; and preservation of natural open spaces.
Additionally, the policy will require any entities that use over 250,000 gallons of water per day to submit a water conservation plan, approved by city staff. Any entities that use over 500,000 gallons of water per day must derive 30 percent of their water consumption from a recycled or conserved water source.
Entities dubbed “large water users,” may be denied operation even if their conservation plan is acceptable to the city. The policy stated that the city may reject the large water user if there’s inadequate water resource availability in their proposed location, inconsistency with the city’s planning documents; undesirable economic value and impact of their proposed water use; undesirable impact to water rates; or incompatibility with the city’s definition of a key industry beneficial to the economy.
The city doesn’t offer any rebate programs, though last December city officials expressed a desire to launch one to incentivize lawn removals. The city signed a joint pledge between locales in California and Nevada to remove ornamental turf.
The city also imposes an ordinance onto new developers, the Water Resources Acquisition Fee (WRAF) ordinance, which may be mitigated via credit if the developer provides a permanent reduction in annual water demand on the city.
The city has promised that it won’t institute mandatory water use restrictions in the near future, though it warned that severe or worsening drought conditions within the next 10-15 years may warrant such restrictions. Policy changes could include water waste punishments similar to Tucson’s, requiring child safe pool covers to reduce evaporation, banning turf irrigation, and banning car washing.
Flagstaff
Flagstaff has stricter water use requirements than some of the other Arizona cities.
The city has a watering allowance schedule during which residents may water their landscape: even-numbered addresses on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and odd-numbered addresses on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Nobody may water on Mondays, and the city prohibits watering between 9 am and 5 pm. Gardeners wishing to water by hand — “incidental hand watering” — may do so on any day, except from 9 am to 5 pm. However, vehicle washing is not subject to the water schedule restrictions.
The schedule is only permitted to be used when the city is at the first stages of burdened water demand. At level two, the city bans irrigation; car washing at home; driveway, sidewalk, and tennis court washing; filling of fountains, ponds, streams, or pools over 100 gallons. The city also increases water rates for those using over 6,400 gallons, and potable standpipe rates increase by 130 percent. At level three, potable water use is banned outside.
Those who violate the rules within any of the three levels are subject to fines starting at $25, doubling with each violation.
The city implements a diverse set of rebate programs. Commercial properties may receive free high-efficiency sink aerators, free high-efficiency shower heads, free pre-rinse spray valves, $86 rebate or 50 percent of project cost for commercial toilets, $158 or 50 percent of project cost for hotel toilets; and $157 or 50 percent of the project cost for commercial urinals.
Both residential and commercial properties may receive a rebate at 25 cents per square foot for converting to low-water landscaping. They may also receive a $100 rebate on installation of a rainwater harvesting system with 1000-gallon minimum capacity, and free 55-gallon rainwater harvesting barrels.
The city reported that their conservation efforts, beginning in 1988, have yielded a 50 percent water use reduction.
Gilbert
The town of Gilbert is offering up to $800 to residents and up to $3,000 to non-residential customers who swap their lawns for desert landscaping that uses less water. The city set aside $60,000 for the residential program, and $15,000 for the non-residential program.
A Gilbert spokesperson told AZ Free News that they have a total of $120,000 per year to issue on their rebate programs, and that the allocated funding within that budget may change from year to year based on the popularity of each program.
Anyone who receives $600 or more in water bill credits must complete a W9 for the Gilbert Water Conservation, as per the Biden administration IRS reporting requirement enacted last year.
Those aren’t the only water conservation financial incentives that Gilbert has offered. The town introduced rebates up to $250 for residential, $400 for non-residential properties to install smart irrigation controllers.
In May, the town applied for a $3 million grant from the Water Conservation Fund to replace grass on government property with desert-tolerant landscaping. The grant money ultimately comes from federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Gilbert announced that it saved 254 million gallons due to its conservation efforts in 2019, and 375 million in 2018.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
