6 MAY 2017 ARCAD A NEWS Find us on Personal Banking - Checking, Savings, Money Market Accounts, Home Equity Lines of Credit, Mortgages and Credit Cards. Business Banking - Checking, Savings, Business Lines of Credit, Business Term Loans, Business Packages and Remote Deposit. Commercial Lending - Commercial Real Estate, Working Capital, Equipment, Construction and Income-Producing Property Lending. At Academy Bank, we understand the importance of providing the right financial tools to grow your personal finances or business. Experience the benefits of community banking, fast decision making, customized solutions, local expertise, and responsive flexible service. GET MORE INFORMATION TODAY! CALL 480-482-4720 or email kfarmer@academybank.com Kristi Farmer, Branch Manager NMLS 1607977 7150 E. Camelback RD, Suite 100 Scottsdale, AZ 85251 Academy Bank NMLS 716627/Equal Housing Opportunity Congratulations! The Saint Theresa Parish and Catholic School community extends its warmest congratulations and best wishes to our 2017 graduating class! Graduation is the celebration that reflects your hard work and commitment to the fulfillment of our mission. It rewards your dedication and growth with opportunities in high school, college and beyond that you might create a legacy of integrity while living out the values of the Gospel. 602-840-0010 x200  5001 E. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85018  WWW.STCS.US A 2010 National Blue Ribbon School, Saint Theresa Catholic School offers a rigorous curriculum designed to prepare students spiritually, academically and socially for the high school of their choice. Preschool through Grade 8 Accredited by Western Catholic Education Association (WCEA) GRADUATING CLASS OF 2017 Saint Theresa Catholic School By Jeannine Hinds While splashing around in the pool is a great way to cool off, be sure to have proper supervision and a p p r o p r i a t e s a fe t y measures in place. The Centers for Disease Control says approximately 10 people die from unintentional drownings every day. Two out of those 10 drownings involve children 14 or younger. Among that age group, toddlers and adolescent boys seem to be at the greatest risk. The best drowning prevention? Supervision. Parents and children alike need to follow some simple steps to prevent pool- related injuries and deaths: 1. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends “touch supervision,” meaning children younger than 5 should never be more than an arm’s reach away from an adult. 2. It’s important for the supervising adult to know how to swim and perform CPR, if needed. 3. Rescue equipment such as a shepherd’s hook and a life preserver should be available. 4. Inflatable swimming aids are not reliable and should not be used in the place of life jackets. The inflatables give the swimmer a false sense of security. 5. Some parents assume that enrolling their kids in swimming lessons early in life can prevent drowning deaths. Studies have shown that while children with some formal swimming instruction may be at lower risk of drowning, swimming programs may also reduce a child’s fear of water and may encourage the child to enter the water without supervision. 6. Be sure home pools are surrounded on all sides by a fence at least four feet tall. Consider installing alarms that will be triggered if the gate is opened. 7. Have a certified pool technician check drains and drain covers. Make sure suction fittings are updated with anti- entrapment covers. Even a strong swimmer may become trapped underwater due to faulty drain systems. — Jeannine Hinds, MD, specializes in Family Medicine with Honor Health Medical Group. 7 simple pool safety steps HEALTHY TIDBITS

7 MAY 2017 ARCAD A NEWS D H T a s a s c O T o t r A I d d a t P I t U i b © 2017 Elements Therapeutic Massage, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Massage session includes time for consultation and dressing. Each Elements Massage ® studio is independently owned and operated. 4325 E. Indian School Rd Suite 105 Arcadia Gateway Shopping Center elementsmassage.com/phoenix-arcadia Phoenix Arcadia 480.445.9111 s Arcadia News 25 th Anniversary Feature By Greg A. Bruns This Mother’s Day I would like to acknowledge the best employee I have ever had on the payroll: my mom, the proofreader. She happily reads every single word of this publication, and this paper is nearly error-free because of her commitment. As a retired teacher, mom had some outstanding credentials, and was considered a blue chip prospect for the position. I had to let a proofreader go, who came with the paper when I bought it many years ago. I figured that former employee understood the reason. It was a good idea to hire mom. She sort of keeps the balance here. When it gets stressful at deadline and everything seems out of control and on the verge of outright violence, I remember that my mother works here and that helps me reel everything in a tad. Now she works for me, but a long time ago I used to work for her. Mom used to do some envelope stuffing, labeling and mailing for a small business owner. I was about 5-years- old, and I could help out by licking stamps and sealing envelopes. My dad was in law school at night, so this little bit of work mom had was an important part of our family’s income. There is a long history of work in my family. Our family tree is a well-aged hardwood, with branches of labor both physical and mental. Like most Americans, some of my family’s forefathers arrived here from some European country (Holland / Netherlands / Germany) a few centuries ago, and they showed up early for work the next day. This work ethic has been passed down from previous generations and still continues today. I can remember quite well being put to work on my grandparent’s farm in Indiana. I was around 7 or 8, and already they were eyeing my spine, hoping it was going to be mule- strong so they could get some mileage out of me. The next chapter of the Bruns family has already taken the baton in this race and is off to a serious lead. Our son Hambone * has contracted some bizarre adult work disorder. The kid would rather work than play, and I don’t mean he’s excited to come to the office and pay a little visit. I mean the kid would rather have a job at this point in life, complete with a salary, benefits and a good chance for promotion. It’s something we’re still trying to figure out. If you want to occupy Hambone’s entire afternoon, put him on trash and recycle duty at the Arcadia News office. Yardwork does the trick, too – he loves to work a broom, but the hose is his favorite for cleanup time. And even though he isn’t allowed to operate the gardening sheers, he’s all over the entire operation, directing movements and explaining duties, especially the ones that have been overlooked. (Daddy. Daaaaaady. Daaaaaaaa-DEE! You missed a spot.) Our fear at this stage is that Hambone is going to burn himself out before he even gets into grade school. I expect the kid to hold a job through college, but at this rate he may not make it out of the third grade. If Hambone goes over to my mom and dad’s house for a weekend, it’s fairly certain that he will want to work for the entire visit. Being the good grandparents they are, my parents make sure they save a lot of the little house duties that Hambone can help out with. By the time he comes back home, he’s got colorful stories about work gloves, some tree trimming tips, and basic lawn maintenance concepts that we should be utilizing on our own property. Toss in a visit to Home Depot and the entire weekend is a raging success, better than any visit to any amusement park in the country. That’s good work ethics through genetics, I suppose. Like mother, like son; like father, like son. *To prevent preschool ostracizing, this is the name our first son has been given for this column. My Mother is on my payroll As part of our anniversary celebration throughout 2017, we will feature some of our favorite stories from the past 25 years. These will include some of our award-winning stories and photos, and re-prints of the unique articles that make this publication special. These stories are easily identified with our “25th Anniversary Feature” banner. How Straight Up with a Twist was born Two weeks before my 30 th birthday, I resigned from a successful ten-year career in sales and decided it was time to do something else. I tossed some clothes, a sleeping bag, a toothbrush and a borrowed laptop into my 1993 Jeep Wrangler and embarked on a cross-country journey. I figured I would chronicle the experience and sell it as a book, which is a naïvely ambitious way to kick off a writing career. The length of this trip would be limited only by my savings account, which turned out to be about three months. Through the fall of 1996, I drove 10,000 miles, mostly on back roads, through 26 states and wrote a book along the way, titled “Tales from the Scenic Route.” I had no prior writing experience, except for a couple weak short stories I wrote in a creative writing class in college. After I returned, I crafted a series of humor columns about my life and growing up in the area, influenced by some of my favorite humor writers: Carl Hiaasen, Dave Barry and Hunter Thompson. In 1998, six months after changing careers, I walked into the office of the Arcadia News with a couple writing samples and met the husband and wife who owned the paper. I was hoping they would hire me as a reporter, so I was ecstatic when I received a phone call a couple days later, asking me to be the new humor columnist for the Arcadia News. Drinks were on me that night, and that’s where I came up with the title for the column: Straight Up with a Twist. I felt like an actual professional writer… a columnist! When my friends asked me how much a humor columnist gets paid, I felt so stupid: I never even asked about money. When we interview writers today, the ones who don’t ask about the money – or ask about it last – are usually in it for the love of writing. Community newspapers are not exactly lucrative writing gigs. From 1998-2012, I penned 152 Straight Up columns. Not all of them were home runs, but they were fun to write. Fans of the column followed me through my stages of life: carefree single man, newspaper owner, home owner, married man and eventually, father of two. Toward the end, it was getting tough to come up with new ideas and material, so I put the column on an indefinite hold. Over the next few months, we will revisit some of my personal favorites from the archives of Straight Up with a Twist. This one lines up a little with Mother’s Day, as it involves my #1 employee. — Greg A. Bruns