The document summarizes the trial of Elizabeth Johnson, the mother of Baby Gabriel, who disappeared in 2009. Johnson is charged with kidnapping and custodial interference for the disappearance of her 8-month old son, Gabriel. She has also previously stated that she suffocated the baby, though she has not been charged with murder. The trial is set to begin today in Maricopa County court, where Johnson could face up to 24 years in prison if convicted.

1. Since he disappeared in Decem-
ber 2009, Baby Gabriel’s story has
played out on tabloid TV and social
media around the world.
Today, his mother, Elizabeth
Johnson, 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 charge
of child abuse has been dismissed.
Even though the child is pre-
sumed dead — the boy’s father
recorded a telephone call in which
Johnson said she suffocated the
8-month-old, put him in a diaper
bag and dumped him into a trash
can — Johnson has not been
charged with murder. She later told
police that she gave the child to a
couple 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 the
Johnson trial, visit azcentral
.com at 10:30 a.m. today.
SECTION B
THURSDAY, 9.20.2012
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
NEWS.AZCENTRAL.COM
REACH US INSIDE B6 EDITORIALS/LETTERS B8 WEATHERMarian Frank, metro editor, 602-444-NEWS or marian.frank@arizonarepublic.com.
THIS DATE IN
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The future of Arizona’s state
parks is at risk, a new audit
says, and their long-term finan-
cial sustainability depends on
expanded partnerships and
marketing efforts.
An Auditor General’s Office
report released Wednesday
portrayed the parks system as
in dire need of funding. The
Legislature and Gov. Jan Brew-
er cut funding to about
$25.7 million last fiscal year
from about $54.7 million in fis-
cal 2008, the report said.
Theauditalsofoundthatlow
and declining visitation was
among the factors that pose
long-term risks for the parks.
Auditors recommended the
Arizona State Parks Board,
which manages the state’s 30
parks, continue to expand part-
nerships with local govern-
ments and organizations and
create a new marketing cam-
paign to showcase the parks.
Auditors also said the board
shouldstudyhowtheparkssys-
tem can become more finan-
cially sustainable.
The 30 state parks cover a
total of 62,000 acres, with
Audit: State
parks’ future
is in danger
Marketing, partnerships encouraged
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
The Republic | azcentral.com
See PARKS, Page B4
In 1927, Leo, the Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer lion, was
being flown from San
Diego to New York when
the Ryan monoplane with
its specially constructed
cage of glass over steel
bars, crashed on the Mogo-
llon Rim. Leo was rescued.
Phoenix’s police chief explains how his department will
enforce a controversial section of Senate Bill 1070. B3
Lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and Valley spring-training
fixture Bob Beck dies at 91. B5
Arizona State University opened its most
expensive building to date on Wednesday, a
seven-story research facility that houses doz-
ensofhigh-techlaboratoriesdevotedtospace-
science, renewable-energy and security and
defense research.
Unlike most university buildings, where
research is tucked away, the first two floors of
the $185 million facility feature educational
exhibits and glass-walled labs where the pub-
lic can see scientists at work. One of the most
notable exhibits is just inside the front door: a
life-size replica of the Mars rover Curiosity, a
The glass-walled labs of the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building IV make their Tempe
debut Wednesday. At $185 million, the structure is ASU’s most expensive. CHARLIE LEIGHT/THE REPUBLIC
ASU’S WINDOW
INTO SCIENCE
See BUILDING, Page B4
New research facility designed to offer peek at lab work
By Anne Ryman
The Republic | azcentral.com
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s mas-
sive financial advantage over
his challengers in the Novem-
ber election is well document-
ed and on display on Valley air-
wavesdailyastelevisionadver-
tisements tout his 20 years in
office.
But an independent expen-
diture group formed late last
month aims to raise money to
highlightthesheriff’smistakes
and buy airtime for ads focus-
ing on fiscal mismanagement,
misguided investigations and
other issues. The group said its
ads will be designed to appeal
toabaseofconservativevoters
who view some of the sheriff’s
projects with increasing skep-
ticism.
The founders of Citizens for
Professional Law Enforcement
have a track record of success.
The group’s chairman, Phoenix
attorney Jesse Wulsin, and its
treasurer, Phoenix attorney
Stephen Benedetto, were also
behind a non-profit political
Group plans ads
attacking Arpaio
Campaign will target skeptics in GOP
By JJ Hensley
The Republic | azcentral.com
See SHERIFF’S RACE, Page B7
Standing in front of heavy
equipment at a small business
in industrial Phoenix, Republi-
can congressional candidate
Vernon Parker promised to
push for changes in Washing-
ton to help companies hire
workers if voters in District 9
elect him.
Parker was visiting Arizona
Hi-Lift as part of a “Road to
Prosperity” tour he is taking of
businesses to talk about creat-
ing jobs. Though two of Park-
er’svisitswereintheswingdis-
trict, his west Phoenix stop on
Tuesday landed him in Demo-
Parker, Sinema press
economic prescriptions
By Rebekah L. Sanders
The Republic | azcentral.com
See DISTRICT 9, Page B4
ELECTION 2012 | CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 9
Carlos Martinez has two en-
gineering degrees from the
University of Arizona, but he
has never been able to use them
because he is an illegal immi-
grant.
Butsoon,theTucsonresident
willbeabletoworklegallyafter
becomingoneofthefirstundoc-
umented immigrants in the
country to be approved for a
work permit under President
Barack Obama’s controversial
deferred-action program.
Martinez, 30, said he was no-
tified Friday that he had been
granted permission to stay in
the country temporarily for two
years and that his work permit
was being processed. He re-
ceived a second notification on
PHOTO COURTESY
OF CARLOS MARTINEZ
Young Ariz. migrant
gets deferred action ‘‘
I have had job
offers, but
because of my legal
status, they couldn’t hire
me because I was living in
the U.S. illegally. They
could not sponsor me,
either.”
CARLOS MARTINEZ
Arizona resident, who is one of the
first illegal immigrants in the country
to be approved for a work permit
under the deferred-action program
By Daniel González
The Republic | azcentral.com
See IMMIGRATION, Page B3

2. craft that landed on the Red
Planet in August. The rover has
links to ASU because several
scientists and alumni are on
teams that operate Curiosity’s
instruments.
ASU officials planned the
areastogivethepublicalookat
whatgoesonbehindthescenes.
“Wewanttousethisbuilding
to motivate and inspire youth,”
said Sethuraman Panchanath-
an, senior vice president with
ASU’s Office of Knowledge En-
terprise Development.
The facility, called the Inter-
disciplinary Science and Tech-
nology Building IV, was a long
time in the making. The Arizo-
na Board of Regents approved
the project in 2008 even though
the economy was 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 the
facility was necessary to ex-
pand research in vital areas.
Funding for the building
came from research grants in
which a portion of the grants
cented inside with red brick
andwood,isdesignedtogivean
open feel, using glass and natu-
ral light to encourage faculty
and students to connect, said
Steven Ehrlich, one of the ar-
chitects.
The carpet in the five-story
atrium has a special scientific
touch.Eachsquarecontainsthe
image of a different crater on
Mars, the moon and Earth. The
images were taken by ASU in-
struments, and scientists
picked out their favorite im-
ages to become part of the rug.
At Wednesday’s grand open-
ing, ASU President Michael
Crow said the building will al-
low researchers to move for-
ward on many levels, including
making new discoveries and
teaching the next generation.
“The way for us to be suc-
cessful as a society is to teach
the next generation better than
we were taught, to enable them
to do things that we couldn’t do
andcan’tdoandcan’tconceptu-
alize,” he told the crowd gath-
ered outside the building.
After Crow’s remarks, a
three-wheeled robot called RA-
VEN rolled through the ribbon
in front of the building, “cut-
ting” the ribbon and officially
opening the facility.
tists survey the asteroid and
pick the best place to retrieve a
sample. Visitors to the ASU
building will be able to watch
the instrument being assem-
bledthroughwindowsinafirst-
floor lab.
In the past, space instru-
ments have been built in Cali-
fornia because universities
typically don’t have the facili-
ties, said ASU professor Phil
Christensen, who is building
the instrument.
“The dream of mine has
been ... to do this here on the
ASU campus,” he said.
In another lab, researchers
are doing work for the Mars
roversOpportunityandCurios-
ity.
ASU professor Jim Bell is
the lead scientist for the color
cameras aboard Opportunity.
He also is a science-team mem-
ber for the newer Curiosity
rover. He jokes that his former
research space was the size of a
“broom closet.”
In the new building, Bell
shares a glassed-in lab on the
first floor. On Wednesday, he
and a half-dozen other scien-
tists pored over images that
had been downloaded from Op-
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 its
size and specialized research
functions. The facility is the
largest research building on
the Tempe campus, covering
293,000 square feet with 166
labs housed within its walls.
The expanded research
space helps attract new scien-
tists with grant funding, uni-
versity officials say, and the
benefitsextendwellbeyondac-
ademiaandintothelocalecono-
my. Scientific discoveries can
lead to patents and then startup
companies that create jobs. Ex-
isting research also benefits
from more and better space,
they say.
The new building “is actual-
ly enabling our ability to really
ramp up our space-based re-
search,” said Kip Hodges, di-
rector of ASU’s School of Earth
and Space Exploration.
One of the most notable ini-
tial projects will be construc-
tion of an instrument for
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, an un-
manned spacecraft that will
visit an asteroid after 2016 and
return with a sample to Earth.
The instrument will help scien-
Building
Continued from Page B1
B4 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 © THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Since May, the dog-waste di-
gester at Cosmo Dog Park in
Gilbert has beckoned users.
Well, almost.
Hailed as an experiment to
encourage people to dispose of
their dogs’ doo-doo in an envi-
ronmentally friendly way, the
dog-waste digester hasn’t
seemed to register with canine
owners.
The apparatus has a feeding
tube and a rotating blade — all
in red — and what looks like
Snoopy’s house with a solar
panel strapped to its roof. Next
toitisastatelystreetlamp.Bio-
degradable bags are stuck to
the nearby fence.
Beneath the contraption, in-
visible to the eye, is a large re-
pository tank that contains
sludge from a town wastewa-
ter-treatment plant and dog
poop, for anaerobic digestion.
Nearby is a bulletin board
outlining the project and in-
structing park users to deposit
their dog’s waste in the feeding
tube and rotate the blade. The
waste and sludge are supposed
to continuously breakdown
with the help of microbes to
produce methane, which can
light the lamp.
ButCosmoParkvisitorsona
recent day strolled past the de-
vice with their dogs with nary a
glance in its direction.
Tanya Moore of Mesa, who
visits Cosmo weekly with her
dog, Buddha, had no knowledge
of the gadget’s technology,
billed as Energy Transforma-
tion Using Reactive Digestion
or E-TURD.
“I’ve seen it, but I didn’t
know what it was. I figured that
it had something to do with the
city and that they were taking
care of it,” she said, adding that
henceforth, she would deposit
dog waste as directed.
The same initial reaction
was shared by Chandler resi-
dent Michelle Florea and her
daughter Christine, who had
their golden retriever, Sputnik,
and griffon-terrier mix, Syd-
ney, in tow.
Richard Smith, visiting Cos-
mo for the first time, said the
idea behind the digester was
“pretty clever” and that he will
use it during his next visit.
ThedigesterdebutedinMay
after months of discussion by
town officials.
It was designed and con-
structed by graduate students
at Arizona State University’s
College of Technology and In-
novation at its Polytechnic
campus in Mesa.
They approached the pro-
ject as a solution to a real-world
problem. The goal was to re-
duce the amount of dog waste
thrown into the landfills and re-
duce some of the $9,000 the
town spends annually to clean
up dog waste at Cosmo.
The project cost $25,000 to
set up, and the funds were
raised with the help of private
companies,includingPetSmart
and Republic Services.
Lack of public awareness
has been the biggest drawback
to the project’s success.
“I generally don’t think peo-
ple know that much about it;
they don’t know what it is,” said
park attendant Jake Verrue,
who says he is around Cosmo
Park almost every day.
When Gilbert Environmen-
tal Services manager Louis
Andersen acknowledges that
public education about the
waste digester and its role is a
must.
“It’s like anything new,” An-
dersen said. “It just takes some
time for folks to get familiar
withit.Onlyasmallpercentage
of the community knows about
the digester and that it’s there
for that.”
Waste device pooh-poohed
Dog owners not
using digester
at Gilbert park
By Srianthi Perera
The Republic | azcentral.com
Kim Cerio of Apache Junction plays with dogs at Gilbert’s Cosmo Dog
Park, whose pet-waste device hasn’t caught on. MARK HENLE/THE REPUBLIC
COSMO DOG PARK
Location: 2502 E. Ray Road, at the
northeastern corner of Ray Road
and Loop 202.
Features for people: One large
group ramada and three picnic
ramadas, lighted basketball court,
tot lot and trails.
For canines: Four fenced-in acres,
pet drinking fountains and wash
stations, dog lake, beach with a
dock.
More details: gilbertaz.gov/parks/
popups/cosmo-park.cfm.
28 percentofthelandownedby
the state and 72 percent leased
or under easement from feder-
al and state entities.
There are four types of
parks, ranging from environ-
mental-educationparkssuchas
BoyceThompsonArboretumto
recreation areas such as
Kartchner Caverns. About
2 million people visited the
stateparksinfiscal2011,there-
port said.
Cristie Statler, executive di-
rector of the Arizona State
Parks Foundation, said the au-
dit results were no surprise
givenyearsofdeepbudgetcuts
to parks funding by the gover-
nor and lawmakers.
“They swept entrance fees,
gift-shop money, donations, as
well as eliminated the $10 mil-
lion annual Heritage Fund allo-
cation to state parks,” she said.
Statler pointed out that, time
and again, surveys say Arizo-
nans overwhelmingly support
state parks and open spaces
and believe such areas add to a
region's economic health.
“The only reason we have
state parks open right now is
because partners around the
state, municipalities and non-
profits, have supported … a
huge 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, for
example, cities will agree to
share certain park expenses.
Statler said she understands
the need to continue to expand
such partnerships but ques-
tioned auditors’ recommenda-
tion of a marketing campaign.
“If you don’t have money,
how can you promote the
parks?” she asked. “To admon-
ish the state parks board or di-
rect them to continue to expand
partnerships is to relinquish
any state responsibility for the
state’s park system.”
The audit also found:
» Arizona has one of the low-
est number of park visits
among Western states, and
state parks compete with many
national and local parks for vis-
itors.
» The loss of state funding
for park operations has created
a need for the system to transi-
tion from being supplemented
from state coffers to earning
enough revenue to cover its
own operating expenses. His-
torically, park revenue has not
covered operating expendi-
tures, until recently.
» The board has taken steps
to increase revenue, including
adding electrical hookups at
campsites, an improved reser-
vations system and a new fee
schedule that charges lower
fees to attract campers during
the off-season and higher fees
when sites are at a premium.
Parks
Continued from Page B1
crat U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor’s dis-
trict. Parker’s campaign says
policies in Congress affect all
businesses, no matter the dis-
trict.
Parker and his District 9
Democratic opponent, Kyrsten
Sinema, are courting voters
concerned about the economy
in pursuit of the newly created
toss-up seat, which covers
north-central Phoenix, part of
Paradise Valley, south Scotts-
dale, Tempe, west Mesa, west
Chandler and Ahwatukee Foot-
hills.
Sinema also touts ideas for
spurring job growth. She re-
leased a detailed, 12-point plan
during her primary bid, which
she won Aug. 28.
While Parker and Sinema
agree that families and small
businessesneedhelp,theyoffer
differing opinions on what the
government should do, reflect-
ing the partisan debate taking
place in the presidential elec-
tion, as Arizona’s 8.3 percent
unemployment rate hovers
near the national rate of 8.1per-
cent.
Parker, following the GOP
platform, advocates lower tax-
es, fewer federal regulations
and replacing the Affordable
Care Act. Sinema, taking cues
from Democratic talking
points, calls for raising taxes on
the wealthy, offering tax breaks
for 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 Business
and a former Republican lobby-
ist, said that some regulations
are important but that others
merely make doing business
harder. He said that although
states and cities also make reg-
ulations, it’s the federal rules
that have ballooned.
“We could regulate our-
selves right out of any recovery
from this recession,” Quinlan
said.
But critics say regulations
are essential to protecting
health, worker safety and the
environment. Washington Post
fact-checkersnotethattheOba-
ma’s administration has issued
fewer regulations in the first
three 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 Arizona
Hi-Lift owner Doug Click and
Republican state Treasurer
Doug Ducey, blamed the slug-
gish recovery on “uncertainty”
caused by regulations.
“There are certain things
that get under my skin,” Parker
said. “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 and
they are going overseas. When I
get to Congress, I am going to
work with both parties to en-
sure that we bring jobs back to
America and that we preserve
small businesses such as this.”
Parker added that the feder-
al deficit and Obama’s health-
care reforms stifle job growth.
The economy has improved
since Obama took office. Since
the worst of the crash, about
4.6 millionjobshavebeencreat-
ed and the pace of private-sec-
tor job creation is now greater
than the pace in either of Bush’s
terms, according to the New
York Times.
Republicans say that the re-
covery has not been fast enough
and that their approach will
lead to greater job growth.
Democrats say that the country
is on track but that it is taking
time to come back after such a
steep recession.
Though Parker plans to add
detail to his proposals after the
job tour, his basic plan is to re-
duce the corporate income tax,
implement a small-business tax
deduction and reduce the low-
est tax rates for individuals. He
wantstoreplacethehealth-care
law with “private-sector initia-
tives” such as risk pools and
buying insurance across state
lines.
Parker wants Congress to
vote on all federal regulations
and to implement a moratorium
on federal agencies creating
new regulations during the
transition between presidential
administrations.
Sinema’s plan addresses tax-
es and regulations but in differ-
ent ways.
She believes the Bush tax
cuts should be allowed to expire
for Americans making more
than $250,000 a year. She calls
for eliminating tax breaks for
companies that send jobs over-
seas, increasing federal loans to
small businesses, offering tax
incentives for companies to in-
vest in research and spending
more on infrastructure.
On regulations, Sinema ad-
vocates a streamlined federal
website so businesses can apply
for permits in one place.
Quinlan said that doesn’t
solve the problem of burden-
some regulations. “A better-fit-
ting and streamlined straitjack-
et is still a straitjacket,” he said.
Sinema argues that she is
pushingfor“commonsense”so-
lutions to help struggling fam-
ilies and small businesses rath-
er than benefiting corporations.
Sinema spokesman Justin
Unga said Sinema’s plan would
“create good-paying, high-tech
jobs here in Arizona” while
keeping “taxes low for 98 per-
cent of Americans.”
District 9
Continued from Page B1
Yavapai judge prohibits
sales of synthetic drugs
CAMP VERDE — A judge is
barring 12 Yavapai County re-
tailers from selling powdered
synthetic drugs that authorities
call dangerous to those using
them and threatening to public-
safety personnel.
The orders bar the business-
es from selling synthetic drugs
sold under such names as
“spice,” “K2” and “bath salts.”
The judge says the drugs can
cause serious injury or even
death to users.
Some retailers previously
agreed not to sell the synthetic
drugs.
2 communities to keep
tabs on Big Chino water
PRESCOTT — Officials in
Prescott and Prescott Valley ap-
proved a plan Wednesday to
monitorthepumpingofground-
water in the nearby Big Chino
sub-basin.
Thecommunitiesagreedtwo
years ago to resolve a battle
with the Salt River Project to
water rights in the basin, which
includes the headwaters of the
Verde River.
The communities plan to tap
into groundwater at the site and
pipe it 30 miles south.
SRP supplies water to the
Phoenix area, some of which
comes from reservoirs fed by
the Verde River.
EPA cleanup under way
on uranium-mining sites
COVE — Three areas of the
Navajo Reservation that are
contaminated with uranium-
mining waste are being cleaned
up.
The work has started in
Cove, where uranium ore was
stockpiled before trucks took it
to a nearby mill for processing.
The so-called transfer stations
still contain some waste, which
will be consolidated and sealed
until a permanent disposal site
is found.
The U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency says it will put
upfencingandmonitorairqual-
ity to make sure residents in the
area are protected from dust.
Vehicles in North Kaibab
get smaller driving area
FREDONIA — The miles of
roads open to vehicle traffic in
the North Kaibab Ranger Dis-
trict in northern Arizona will be
reduced by about 20 percent un-
der a travel-management deci-
sion issued by forest officials.
The decision came Tuesday
after years of planning. The
public has 45 days to appeal.
The rules limit motorized
traffictowithin30feetofroads,
except in camping corridors.
Vehicles will be allowed off-
road to retrieve firewood and
legally harvested bison or elk.
In all, the decision cuts the
milesofopenroadinthedistrict
to about 1,475 from about 1,850.
2 teenagers are arrested
in robbery of British pair
CORDES LAKES — Arizona
deputies have arrested two
teenagers on suspicion of rob-
bing two London tourists who
were sleeping in a rental car.
Television station KPHO re-
ported Wednesday that the vic-
tims were worn out from their
international flight Sunday and
decided to rest at a gas station
parking lot along Interstate 17.
Yavapai County sheriff’s
deputies say when the 17-year-
olds approached, the victims
initially thought they were se-
curity guards. One teen pulled
out a gun and ordered the tour-
ists out of the vehicle. The teens
took the rental car, a GPS unit,
$1,000 in cash and cellphones.
— Associated Press
AROUND ARIZONA