South Tucson's El Independiente, 1983-12-03

              Taking post was 'hard decision,' newjudge says
Phefl,eouflesy of The Amoco 0oiiy She.
Lina S. Rodriguez
By COLLEEN J MEYER
Staff Writer
After three years of research, Tony L.
Gallego has brought well-deserved
recognition to his grandfather and great
uncle.
A new school in the Sunnyside Unified
School District was named Gallego
Elementaiy on Wednesday, in memory of
the Gallego brothers, who donated the land
and incorporated the district.
The honor has been long in coming, and
neither man has lived to enjoy it.
In 1921, Francisco Gallego, Tony's
grandfather, circulated the petition that
started the one-school district The first
Sunnyside classes were held in a rough-hesos
building located one-half mile south
of Irvington Road on South Sixth Avenue.
The next year, Francisco's brother
Ygnacio, who homesteaded about 160
acres just south of Tucson, donated five
acres of land and built a one-room
schoolhouse at Old Nogales Highway and
East Valencia Road. This building served
the children in the arca for about three
years. When a larger school was built in
1927, Ygnacio's little schoolhouse was
converted into a maintenance building.
As a child, Tony heard stories about
what his grandfather and great uncle had
done. But three years ago, when Tony
visited a Sunnyside District heritage-day
display at a shopping mall, he found no
mention of their contributions.
"I thought for sure I'd find my
By COI I FF J. MEYER
Staff Writer
From her ninth-floor office window,
Lina S. Rodriguez has a good view of the
Superior Court building where she will be
spending her time as Pima County's newest
judge.
The 34-year-old Rodríguez, who also
will be the county's youngest judge, was
appointed by Goy. Bruce E. Babbitt to
replace Robert J. Hooker, who announced
his resignation in July.
Sitting behind a well-polished desk in her
book-lined office, Rodríguez said accepting
the post "was a very hard decision to
make."
"1 really love practicing law, and I really
love the people that I work with," she said.
Rodriguez was one of three fmalists
considered by Babbitt for the post. The
other two were Lawrence FI. Fleischman, a
deputy public defender, and Nanette M.
Warner, a lawyer in private practice.
Gallego school named
for district's founders
grandfather's name," Tony said. "But I
looked and looked, and I didn't find
anything. I didn't think that was right."
So Tony began searching through old
records and newspxpees and asking
questions of relatives and school hoard
officials.
What he found was that most of the
records had been destroyed, and many of
the people who were living at that time are
now dead.
"It was disappointing to hear that most
of the records were gone," Tony said.
"And, if I had only begun 13 years ago,
my grandfather would still have been alive.
But now, where do you go?"
A deed, kept in the Sunnyside records,
listing Ygnacio Gallego as the contributor,
gave Tony a start. He also visited such
places as the Arizona Historical Society, the
Pima County Archives and the office of
the Pima County Board of Supervisors.
"Everybody helped," Tony said. And,
just when he thought he "was at the end of
the road," a cousin came up with a
wooden box containing two letters signed
by his grandfather as trustee of the district.
Tony presented his information to the
Sunnyside Unified School District Board
and asked that the next school built be
named for his relatives. On Dec. 14, 1982,
the hoard voted to name the new
elementary school for the Gallego brothers.
"My grandfather and great uncle were
concerned because the kids in their area
didn't have a school to attend," Tony
Continued on page 2
City Council denies rezoning
By PAT BRENNAN traffic to the area. They also said the
Staff Writer proposed site was too close to homes.
Barraza told the council that the bar
A local businessman's dream of a $1 would attract business to South Tucson,
million nightclub on South Sixth Avenue that he could lease land for extra parking
will not be realized after a South Tucson across the street from a friend, and that he
City Council decision Monday, when did not believe vandalism would increase if
members voted unanimously to deny a the bar was built.
rezoning request. He also said the bar would not compete
Complaints from property owners in the with others in the area because it would be
area apparently carried more weight than more expensive, according to one council
businessman Ruben Barraras descriptions member.
of the bar and restaurant, which would Alfonsa S. McKenna said she liked the
have been built on the ground floor of the idea of the bar, but voted against it because
Ying On Association of Tucson, 1931 5. of the proposed location.
Sixth Ave. In other action, the council expressed
Property owners said the bar would unammous support for a federally-backed
attract vagrants, vandals, and too much loan to help pay to relocate the Tucson
"I received an incredible amount of
support from a lot of people in the
community," she said.
Rodriguez is the first woman appointed
to the Pima County Superior Court bench
since 1976 when judges slatted being
appointed by the governor, rather than
being elected. The other women she joins
on the bench are Lillian S. Fisher, who was
elected in 1975, and Alice Truman, who
was elected in 1963.
Rodriguez has been an associate in the
Tucson law finn of Bilby, Shoenhair,
Wamock and Dolph since her graduation
from the University of Arizona Law
School in 1977.
She received her bachelor's degree in
education from the UA in 1972 and taught
English for two years at Apollo Junior
High School in the Sunnyside Unified
School District.
Teaching gave her a chance to rest from
studying and earn enough money to go to
law school, Rodrgtiez said.
Piol, b, L0Il, J. M,,,,
AROUND AND DOWN-- Students at Gallego Elementary School find the quick trip
to the ground, worth the climb to the top.
Container Corp. in South Tucson.
Corporation President Richard G. De
La Cerda said the endorsement will help
the company obtain an Urban
Development Action Grant that will
provide 20 percent of the money needed to
move the package-manufacturing plant
from a hangar at Tucson International
Airport to South Sixth Avenue. He said the
City Council's next step is to approve
rezoning for a vacant tot on the 230) block
of South Sixth, where the company wants
to build the new plant
De La Cerda said the purpose of the
move is to expand his operation. "We have
to," he explained. "We just have no more
room at the hangar."
The company will double its current
Her last year at Apollo, she taught
school year-round. "I was still making out
report cards the first day of law school,"
the new judge recalled with a smile.
An honors student as an undergraduate,
Rodríguez found the UA law school
"incredibly hard. I was outstandingly
average," she insisted
Rodríguez said she faced prejudice from
some students who felt she had an
advantage getting into law school because
she was a woman and a Hispanic.
"I am the superminority," she admitted.
"But the reason I got into law school was
that I had a good undergraduate record
and a pretty decent LSAT (Law School
Admission Test) score."
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised
in Oracle, Ariz., where her father worked
at a copper mine, Rodríguez said she spoke
only Spanish until she was 6 years old.
"I was told I had to learn English well to
Continued on page 2
workforce of 18 over the next two years if
things go as planned, he said.
The remainder of the funds for the new
plant will come from the Small Business
AdmInistration and from the company
itself, De La Cerda said.
He described his operation as a
"production" rather than "high-tech"
industry, and said he witt draw all new
employees from the local labor pool.
The firm makes everything from cookie-boxes
to cremation containers, he said.
The firm considered several sites in
Tucson, but chose the South Tucson parcel
because it is close to interstates 10 and 17,
and because of an attractive financial
climate, De La Cerda said. Current plans
call for a 40,0X1 square foot building.
request for $ I million bar
South Tucson's
El Independiente
Vol. IX No. 4 Published by the Department of Journalism The University of Arizona Dec. 3, 983