Sandra Day O'Connor's appointment as the
first U.S. Supreme Court justice easily led the
I allot for the top Arizona news in 1981, but even
' ,en the vote was far from unanimous.
Though not really in the running for the Top
n, Arizona Associated Press member editors
and news directors gave at least some consideration to such other events as the successful
transcontinental SuperChicken balloon journey
and the unsuccessful predictions in Tucson for
"rapture," the day when all Christians were to be
taken up bodily into beaten.
It was an eventful year and the diversity of the
voting reflected the variation . But with a few exceptions, the events deemed the most newswor -
thy over the past 12 months centered more on individuals than on situations.
Arizona's economy, the copper industry's
depression, an Apache Cowity tax revolt, a variety of natural gas leaks, plane crashes, murder
trials, a group suicide and other deaths - these
all drew a scattering of votes but wound up far
down the list. •
Second place went to the return of Marine Sgt.
James Lopez, career diplomat Robert Ode and
the other Americans held hostage in Iran for 444
days.
A strong third was the Arizona lottery and its
ticket sales that far exceeded expectations . The
Orme Dam controversy and its resolution was
No. 4 in the voting, followed by Arizona's passage
of its alternative to Medicaid.
Eight of those voting gave top honors to the
O'Connor story, and only the hostage return drew
more than one first-place vote.
Selected as the sixth-place story of the year was
the dual concern over Arizona's deterioriating
roads and the multibillion-dollar highway
revenue shortage officials predicted. Lawmakers
approved a boost in gasoline taxes to pay for'the
program, but opponents succeeded in placing the
decision on the ballot for 1982. •
Redistricting and the Hanigan trial tied for
seventh place. As might have been predicted,
rongressional and legislative redistrictin g
brought partisan political positions; but with the
help of four conservative Democrats,
Republicans overrode Gov. Bruce Babbitt's veto
of their plans.
In the courts, Thomas and Patrick Hanigan
went through yet another trial on charges stemming from allegations they tortured and robbed
three undocwnented Mexicans. This time Patrick
was fowid guilty and Thomas innocent by
separate juries.
The No. 9 story was another trial - that of
former U.S. Attorney General Richard Kleindiest. The Tucson lawyer was found innocent of
perjury charges stemming from his role in an
insurance-premiwn siphoning scheme, but the
Arizona Bar Association still asked the state
Supreme Court to suspend him for a year.
In 10th place was a ·record $3.3 million robbery.
Four masked gunmen overpowered a Tucson
bank manager and a janitor in the largest cash
bank heist in the nation's history.
A scant single point from making the list was
yet another story of individual success - that of
Mary Gohlke, the Mesa newspaper advertising
executive who became the world's first successful heart and lung transplant recipient.
Also cited with some frequency by the voting
editors were the flash flood which swept eight
people to their deaths below Tanque Verde Falls
near Tucson and the traffic crash which killed
Rep. Claire Dunn, the Legislature's only nun.
The copper depression, which cost 11,500 of
Arizona's about 21,800 copper workers their jobs
for varying periods - many of them indefinitely
- also almost made the list.
So did the controversy at Miracle Valley which
began with the deaths of several children wose
parents refused to seek medical aid and
culminated in a bomb explosion that killed a
passenger in a church van.
Also mentioned by some was the continuing
concern with the state's open meeting law.
Charges that Tucson City Cowicil members
violated the law ultimately were dropped, but the
allegations led to new examination of the law and
its uses and abuses.