Since he disappeared in Decem-ber 2009, Baby Gabriel’s story hasplayed out on tabloid TV and socialmedia around the world.

Today, his mother, ElizabethJohnson, 26, goes on trial in Mar-icopa County Superior Court,charged with kidnapping and custo-dial interference. If convicted, she

could serve up to 24 years. A chargeof child abuse has been dismissed.

Even though the child is pre-sumed dead — the boy’s father

recorded a telephone call in whichJohnson said she suffocated the8-month-old, put him in a diaperbag and dumped him into a trashcan — Johnson has not beencharged with murder. She later toldpolice that she gave the child to acouple at a San Antonio park.

—Michael Kiefer

Trial of Baby Gabriel’s mother set to begin today

news.azcentral.com

To see a live stream of theJohnson trial, visit azcentral.com at 10:30 a.m. today.

SECTION BTHURSDAY, 9.20.2012THE ARIZONA REPUBLICNEWS.AZCENTRAL.COM

REACH US INSIDE B6 EDITORIALS/LETTERS B8 WEATHERMarian Frank, metro editor, 602-444-NEWS or marian.frank@arizonarepublic.com.

THIS DATE INARIZONA HISTORY

AsavaluedArizonaRepublicsubscriber, you canenjoyaccess tothenewsand informationavailablethroughall ofourdigital newsproducts. Togainaccess, you canactivate youraccountbygoing towww.activate.azcentral.com.

Get fullaccess tothe latestnews

The futureofArizona’s stateparks is at risk, a new auditsays, and their long-termfinan-cial sustainability depends onexpanded partnerships andmarketing efforts.

An Auditor General’s Officereport released Wednesdayportrayed the parks system asin dire need of funding. TheLegislatureandGov. JanBrew-er cut funding to about$25.7 million last fiscal yearfrom about $54.7 million in fis-cal 2008, the report said.

Theauditalso foundthat low

and declining visitation wasamong the factors that poselong-term risks for the parks.

Auditors recommended theArizona State Parks Board,which manages the state’s 30parks, continue to expand part-nerships with local govern-ments and organizations andcreate a new marketing cam-paign to showcase the parks.Auditors also said the boardshouldstudyhowtheparkssys-tem can become more finan-cially sustainable.

The 30 state parks cover atotal of 62,000 acres, with

Audit: Stateparks’ futureis in dangerMarketing, partnerships encouraged

By YvonneWingett SanchezThe Republic | azcentral.com

See PARKS, Page B4

In 1927, Leo, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion, wasbeing flown from SanDiego to New York whenthe Ryan monoplane withits specially constructedcage of glass over steelbars, crashed on the Mogo-llon Rim. Leo was rescued.

Phoenix’s police chief explains how his department willenforce a controversial section of Senate Bill 1070. B3

Lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and Valley spring-trainingfixture Bob Beck dies at 91. B5

Arizona State University opened its mostexpensive building to date on Wednesday, aseven-story research facility that houses doz-ensofhigh-tech laboratoriesdevotedtospace-science, renewable-energy and security anddefense research.

Unlike most university buildings, whereresearch is tuckedaway, the first two floors ofthe $185 million facility feature educationalexhibits and glass-walled labs where the pub-lic can see scientists at work. One of the mostnotable exhibits is just inside the front door: alife-size replica of theMars rover Curiosity, a

The glass-walled labs of the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building IV make their Tempedebut Wednesday. At $185 million, the structure is ASU’s most expensive. CHARLIE LEIGHT/THE REPUBLIC

ASU’SWINDOWINTO SCIENCE

See BUILDING, Page B4

New research facility designed to offer peek at lab work

By Anne RymanThe Republic | azcentral.com

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s mas-sive financial advantage overhis challengers in the Novem-ber election is well document-ed and on display on Valley air-wavesdailyastelevisionadver-tisements tout his 20 years inoffice.

But an independent expen-diture group formed late lastmonth aims to raise money tohighlight thesheriff’smistakesand buy airtime for ads focus-ing on fiscal mismanagement,

misguided investigations andother issues. The group said itsads will be designed to appealtoabaseofconservativevoterswho view some of the sheriff’sprojects with increasing skep-ticism.

The founders of Citizens forProfessional LawEnforcementhave a track record of success.The group’s chairman, Phoenixattorney Jesse Wulsin, and itstreasurer, Phoenix attorneyStephen Benedetto, were alsobehind a non-profit political

Group plans adsattacking ArpaioCampaign will target skeptics in GOPBy JJ HensleyThe Republic | azcentral.com

See SHERIFF’S RACE, Page B7

Standing in front of heavyequipment at a small businessin industrial Phoenix, Republi-can congressional candidateVernon Parker promised topush for changes in Washing-ton to help companies hireworkers if voters in District 9

elect him.Parker was visiting Arizona

Hi-Lift as part of a “Road toProsperity” tour he is taking ofbusinesses to talk about creat-ing jobs. Though two of Park-er’svisitswere in theswingdis-trict, his west Phoenix stop onTuesday landed him in Demo-

Parker, Sinema presseconomic prescriptionsBy Rebekah L. SandersThe Republic | azcentral.com

See DISTRICT 9, Page B4

ELECTION 2012 | CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 9

Carlos Martinez has two en-gineering degrees from theUniversity of Arizona, but hehas never been able to use thembecause he is an illegal immi-grant.

Butsoon, theTucsonresidentwill beable towork legallyafterbecomingoneof thefirstundoc-umented immigrants in the

country to be approved for awork permit under PresidentBarack Obama’s controversialdeferred-action program.

Martinez, 30, said he was no-tified Friday that he had beengranted permission to stay inthe country temporarily for twoyears and that his work permitwas being processed. He re-ceived a second notification on

PHOTO COURTESYOF CARLOS MARTINEZ

Young Ariz. migrantgets deferred action ‘‘I have had job

offers, butbecause of my legalstatus, they couldn’t hireme because I was living inthe U.S. illegally. Theycould not sponsor me,either.”CARLOSMARTINEZArizona resident, who is one of thefirst illegal immigrants in the countryto be approved for a work permitunder the deferred-action program

By Daniel GonzálezThe Republic | azcentral.com

See IMMIGRATION, Page B3

craft that landed on the RedPlanet inAugust. The roverhaslinks to ASU because severalscientists and alumni are onteams that operate Curiosity’sinstruments.

ASU officials planned theareas togive thepublica lookatwhatgoesonbehind thescenes.

“Wewant touse thisbuildingto motivate and inspire youth,”said Sethuraman Panchanath-an, senior vice president withASU’sOffice ofKnowledgeEn-terprise Development.

The facility, called the Inter-disciplinary Science and Tech-nology Building IV, was a longtime in the making. The Arizo-na Board of Regents approvedthe project in 2008 even thoughthe economywas in a nosedive.

Some regents had reserva-tions about constructing build-ings while the state cut the uni-versity’s operating budget.ASU officials argued that thefacility was necessary to ex-pand research in vital areas.

Funding for the buildingcame from research grants inwhich a portion of the grants

cented inside with red brickandwood, isdesigned togiveanopen feel, using glass and natu-ral light to encourage facultyand students to connect, saidSteven Ehrlich, one of the ar-chitects.

The carpet in the five-storyatrium has a special scientifictouch.Eachsquarecontains theimage of a different crater onMars, the moon and Earth. Theimages were taken by ASU in-struments, and scientistspicked out their favorite im-ages to become part of the rug.

AtWednesday’s grand open-ing, ASU President MichaelCrow said the building will al-low researchers to move for-ward onmany levels, includingmaking new discoveries andteaching the next generation.

“The way for us to be suc-cessful as a society is to teachthe next generation better thanwewere taught, to enable themto do things that we couldn’t doandcan’tdoandcan’t conceptu-alize,” he told the crowd gath-ered outside the building.

After Crow’s remarks, athree-wheeled robot calledRA-VEN rolled through the ribbonin front of the building, “cut-ting” the ribbon and officiallyopening the facility.

tists survey the asteroid andpick the best place to retrieve asample. Visitors to the ASUbuilding will be able to watchthe instrument being assem-bledthroughwindows inafirst-floor lab.

In the past, space instru-ments have been built in Cali-fornia because universitiestypically don’t have the facili-ties, said ASU professor PhilChristensen, who is buildingthe instrument.

“The dream of mine hasbeen ... to do this here on theASU campus,” he said.

In another lab, researchersare doing work for the MarsroversOpportunityandCurios-ity.

ASU professor Jim Bell isthe lead scientist for the colorcameras aboard Opportunity.He also is a science-teammem-ber for the newer Curiosityrover. He jokes that his formerresearchspacewas the sizeof a“broom closet.”

In the new building, Bellshares a glassed-in lab on thefirst floor. On Wednesday, heand a half-dozen other scien-tists pored over images thathad been downloaded fromOp-portunity.

The concrete building, ac-

could be used for capital ex-penses.

ASU officials say the build-ing is the university’s most ex-pensive to date because of itssize and specialized researchfunctions. The facility is thelargest research building onthe Tempe campus, covering293,000 square feet with 166labs housed within its walls.

The expanded researchspace helps attract new scien-tists with grant funding, uni-versity officials say, and thebenefits extendwellbeyondac-ademiaand into the localecono-my. Scientific discoveries canlead to patents and then startupcompanies that create jobs. Ex-isting research also benefitsfrom more and better space,they say.

The new building “is actual-ly enabling our ability to reallyramp up our space-based re-search,” said Kip Hodges, di-rector of ASU’s School of Earthand Space Exploration.

One of the most notable ini-tial projects will be construc-tion of an instrument forNASA’s OSIRIS-REx, an un-manned spacecraft that willvisit an asteroid after 2016 andreturn with a sample to Earth.The instrument will help scien-

BuildingContinued from Page B1

B4 THURSDAY , SEPTEMBER 20 , 2012 © THE AR IZONA REPUBL IC

SinceMay, the dog-waste di-gester at Cosmo Dog Park inGilbert has beckoned users.

Well, almost.Hailed as an experiment to

encourage people to dispose oftheir dogs’ doo-doo in an envi-ronmentally friendly way, thedog-waste digester hasn’tseemed to register with canineowners.

The apparatus has a feedingtube and a rotating blade — allin red — and what looks likeSnoopy’s house with a solarpanel strapped to its roof. Nextto it isastatelystreet lamp.Bio-degradable bags are stuck tothe nearby fence.

Beneath the contraption, in-visible to the eye, is a large re-pository tank that containssludge from a town wastewa-ter-treatment plant and dogpoop, for anaerobic digestion.

Nearby is a bulletin boardoutlining the project and in-structing park users to deposittheir dog’s waste in the feedingtube and rotate the blade. Thewaste and sludge are supposedto continuously breakdownwith the help of microbes toproduce methane, which canlight the lamp.

ButCosmoParkvisitorsonarecent day strolled past the de-vicewith their dogswith nary aglance in its direction.

Tanya Moore of Mesa, who

visits Cosmo weekly with herdog,Buddha, hadnoknowledgeof the gadget’s technology,billed as Energy Transforma-tion Using Reactive Digestionor E-TURD.

“I’ve seen it, but I didn’tknowwhat itwas. I figured thatit had something to do with thecity and that they were takingcare of it,” she said, adding thathenceforth, she would depositdog waste as directed.

The same initial reactionwas shared by Chandler resi-dent Michelle Florea and herdaughter Christine, who hadtheir golden retriever, Sputnik,and griffon-terrier mix, Syd-ney, in tow.

Richard Smith, visiting Cos-mo for the first time, said theidea behind the digester was“pretty clever” and that he will

use it during his next visit.Thedigesterdebuted inMay

after months of discussion bytown officials.

It was designed and con-structed by graduate studentsat Arizona State University’sCollege of Technology and In-novation at its Polytechniccampus in Mesa.

They approached the pro-ject as a solution to a real-worldproblem. The goal was to re-duce the amount of dog wastethrown into the landfills and re-duce some of the $9,000 thetown spends annually to cleanup dog waste at Cosmo.

The project cost $25,000 toset up, and the funds wereraised with the help of privatecompanies, includingPetSmartand Republic Services.

Lack of public awarenesshas been the biggest drawbackto the project’s success.

“I generally don’t think peo-ple know that much about it;theydon’t knowwhat it is,” saidpark attendant Jake Verrue,who says he is around CosmoPark almost every day.

When Gilbert Environmen-tal Services manager LouisAndersen acknowledges thatpublic education about thewaste digester and its role is amust.

“It’s like anything new,” An-dersen said. “It just takes sometime for folks to get familiarwith it.Onlyasmallpercentageof the community knows aboutthe digester and that it’s therefor that.”

Waste device pooh-poohedDog owners notusing digesterat Gilbert parkBy Srianthi PereraThe Republic | azcentral.com

Kim Cerio of Apache Junction plays with dogs at Gilbert’s Cosmo DogPark, whose pet-waste device hasn’t caught on. MARK HENLE/THE REPUBLIC

COSMO DOG PARKLocation: 2502 E. Ray Road, at thenortheastern corner of Ray Roadand Loop 202.

Features for people: One largegroup ramada and three picnicramadas, lighted basketball court,tot lot and trails.

For canines: Four fenced-in acres,pet drinking fountains and washstations, dog lake, beach with adock.

More details: gilbertaz.gov/parks/popups/cosmo-park.cfm.

28 percentof the landownedbythe state and 72 percent leasedor under easement from feder-al and state entities.

There are four types ofparks, ranging from environ-mental-educationparkssuchasBoyceThompsonArboretumtorecreation areas such asKartchner Caverns. About2 million people visited thestateparks in fiscal 2011, there-port said.

Cristie Statler, executive di-rector of the Arizona StateParks Foundation, said the au-dit results were no surprise

givenyearsofdeepbudgetcutsto parks funding by the gover-nor and lawmakers.

“They swept entrance fees,gift-shop money, donations, aswell as eliminated the $10 mil-lion annual Heritage Fund allo-cation to state parks,” she said.

Statlerpointedout that, timeand again, surveys say Arizo-nans overwhelmingly supportstate parks and open spacesand believe such areas add to aregion's economic health.

“The only reason we havestate parks open right now isbecause partners around thestate, municipalities and non-profits, have supported … ahuge number of state parks —about 19 across the state,” Stat-ler said. “Were it not for these

partnerships— I kid you not—these parks would be closed.”

In some partnerships, forexample, cities will agree toshare certain park expenses.Statler said she understandsthe need to continue to expandsuch partnerships but ques-tioned auditors’ recommenda-tion of a marketing campaign.

“If you don’t have money,how can you promote theparks?” she asked. “To admon-ish the state parks board or di-rect themtocontinue toexpandpartnerships is to relinquishany state responsibility for thestate’s park system.”

The audit also found:» Arizona has one of the low-

est number of park visitsamong Western states, and

state parks competewithmanynational and local parks for vis-itors.

» The loss of state fundingforparkoperationshas createda need for the system to transi-tion from being supplementedfrom state coffers to earningenough revenue to cover itsown operating expenses. His-torically, park revenue has notcovered operating expendi-tures, until recently.

» The board has taken stepsto increase revenue, includingadding electrical hookups atcampsites, an improved reser-vations system and a new feeschedule that charges lowerfees to attract campers duringthe off-season and higher feeswhen sites are at a premium.

ParksContinued from Page B1

crat U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor’s dis-trict. Parker’s campaign sayspolicies in Congress affect allbusinesses, no matter the dis-trict.

Parker and his District 9Democratic opponent, KyrstenSinema, are courting votersconcerned about the economyin pursuit of the newly createdtoss-up seat, which coversnorth-central Phoenix, part ofParadise Valley, south Scotts-dale, Tempe, west Mesa, westChandler and Ahwatukee Foot-hills.

Sinema also touts ideas forspurring job growth. She re-leased a detailed, 12-point planduring her primary bid, whichshe won Aug. 28.

While Parker and Sinemaagree that families and smallbusinessesneedhelp, theyofferdiffering opinions on what thegovernment should do, reflect-ing the partisan debate takingplace in the presidential elec-tion, as Arizona’s 8.3 percent

unemployment rate hoversnear the national rate of 8.1per-cent.

Parker, following the GOPplatform, advocates lower tax-es, fewer federal regulationsand replacing the AffordableCare Act. Sinema, taking cuesfrom Democratic talkingpoints, calls for raising taxes onthewealthy, offering taxbreaksfor technology research and in-vesting in infrastructure.

Business groups echo Park-er’s call for cutting red tape.

Farrell Quinlan, Arizona di-rector for the National Federa-tion for Independent Businessand a formerRepublican lobby-ist, said that some regulationsare important but that othersmerely make doing businessharder. He said that althoughstates and cities also make reg-ulations, it’s the federal rulesthat have ballooned.

“We could regulate our-selves right out of any recoveryfrom this recession,” Quinlansaid.

But critics say regulationsare essential to protectinghealth, worker safety and theenvironment. Washington Post

fact-checkersnote that theOba-ma’s administration has issuedfewer regulations in the firstthree years than the same peri-od under President George W.Bush. However, the number of“economically significant”rules increased under Presi-dent Barack Obama.

Parker, flanked by ArizonaHi-Lift owner Doug Click andRepublican state TreasurerDoug Ducey, blamed the slug-gish recovery on “uncertainty”caused by regulations.

“There are certain thingsthat get undermy skin,” Parkersaid. “When you have a regula-tory system that is uncertain,coupled with the highest corpo-rate income tax in the world,jobs are fleeing America andthey aregoing overseas.When Iget to Congress, I am going towork with both parties to en-sure that we bring jobs back toAmerica and that we preservesmall businesses such as this.”

Parker added that the feder-al deficit and Obama’s health-care reforms stifle job growth.

The economy has improvedsince Obama took office. Sincethe worst of the crash, about

4.6 millionjobshavebeencreat-ed and the pace of private-sec-tor job creation is now greaterthan the pace in either ofBush’sterms, according to the NewYork Times.

Republicans say that the re-coveryhasnotbeen fast enoughand that their approach willlead to greater job growth.Democrats say that the countryis on track but that it is takingtime to come back after such asteep recession.

Though Parker plans to adddetail to his proposals after thejob tour, his basic plan is to re-duce the corporate income tax,implement a small-business taxdeduction and reduce the low-est tax rates for individuals. Hewants to replace thehealth-carelaw with “private-sector initia-tives” such as risk pools andbuying insurance across statelines.

Parker wants Congress tovote on all federal regulationsand to implement amoratoriumon federal agencies creatingnew regulations during thetransition between presidentialadministrations.

Sinema’s plan addresses tax-

es and regulations but in differ-ent ways.

She believes the Bush taxcuts should be allowed to expirefor Americans making morethan $250,000 a year. She callsfor eliminating tax breaks forcompanies that send jobs over-seas, increasing federal loans tosmall businesses, offering taxincentives for companies to in-vest in research and spendingmore on infrastructure.

On regulations, Sinema ad-vocates a streamlined federalwebsite sobusinesses canapplyfor permits in one place.

Quinlan said that doesn’tsolve the problem of burden-some regulations. “A better-fit-ting and streamlined straitjack-et is still a straitjacket,” he said.

Sinema argues that she ispushingfor“commonsense”so-lutions to help struggling fam-ilies and small businesses rath-er thanbenefitingcorporations.

Sinema spokesman JustinUnga said Sinema’s plan would“create good-paying, high-techjobs here in Arizona” whilekeeping “taxes low for 98 per-cent of Americans.”

District 9Continued from Page B1

Yavapai judgeprohibitssales of synthetic drugs

CAMP VERDE — A judge isbarring 12 Yavapai County re-tailers from selling powderedsynthetic drugs that authoritiescall dangerous to those usingthem and threatening to public-safety personnel.

The orders bar the business-es from selling synthetic drugssold under such names as“spice,” “K2” and “bath salts.”

The judge says the drugs cancause serious injury or evendeath to users.

Some retailers previouslyagreed not to sell the syntheticdrugs.

2 communities to keeptabs onBig Chinowater

PRESCOTT — Officials inPrescott andPrescottValleyap-proved a plan Wednesday tomonitor thepumpingofground-water in the nearby Big Chinosub-basin.

Thecommunitiesagreed twoyears ago to resolve a battlewith the Salt River Project towater rights in the basin, whichincludes the headwaters of theVerde River.

The communities plan to tapinto groundwater at the site andpipe it 30 miles south.

SRP supplies water to thePhoenix area, some of whichcomes from reservoirs fed bythe Verde River.

EPA cleanupunderwayonuranium-mining sites

COVE — Three areas of theNavajo Reservation that arecontaminated with uranium-miningwaste are being cleanedup.

The work has started inCove, where uranium ore wasstockpiled before trucks took itto a nearby mill for processing.The so-called transfer stationsstill contain some waste, whichwill be consolidated and sealeduntil a permanent disposal siteis found.

TheU.S. Environmental Pro-tection Agency says it will putupfencingandmonitorairqual-ity tomake sure residents in thearea are protected from dust.

Vehicles inNorthKaibabget smaller driving area

FREDONIA — The miles ofroads open to vehicle traffic inthe North Kaibab Ranger Dis-trict in northernArizonawill bereducedbyabout 20percentun-der a travel-management deci-sion issued by forest officials.

The decision came Tuesdayafter years of planning. Thepublic has 45 days to appeal.

The rules limit motorizedtraffic towithin30feetof roads,except in camping corridors.Vehicles will be allowed off-road to retrieve firewood andlegally harvested bison or elk.

In all, the decision cuts themilesofopenroad in thedistrictto about 1,475 from about 1,850.

2 teenagers are arrestedin robbery of British pair

CORDES LAKES — Arizonadeputies have arrested twoteenagers on suspicion of rob-bing two London tourists whowere sleeping in a rental car.

Television station KPHO re-ported Wednesday that the vic-tims were worn out from theirinternational flight Sunday anddecided to rest at a gas stationparking lot along Interstate 17.

Yavapai County sheriff’sdeputies say when the 17-year-olds approached, the victimsinitially thought they were se-curity guards. One teen pulledout a gun and ordered the tour-ists out of the vehicle. The teenstook the rental car, a GPS unit,$1,000 in cash and cellphones.

—Associated Press

AROUND ARIZONA