El Independiente

              South Tucson's Newspaper EI Periódico de South Tucson
El Independiente
Free/gratis 1976 25 Years of Serving South Tucson 2002
Storm causes gas leak
eHy RashkilE/ I,izpzdife
The storm on Sept. 10 broke a gas line at 2416 8th Ave. Firefighters were
cal/ed to the scene when a resident became ill because of the fumes.
Retired priest accused
of child assault ¡n '80s
By Rachel Williamson
Staff Writer
A retired Catholic
priest who once resided in
South Tucson was arrested
Thursday, Sept. 12 in connec-tion
with sexually assaulting
a teenage boy.
The incidents hap-pened
in South Tucson and at
St. Odilia's Parish, said
Bryce Gardner, detective in
the South Tucson Police
Department.
Sergio Enrique
Flores filed a report against
Thomas Patrick Purcell, stat-ing
that Purcell sexually
abused him between 1982
and 1983.
Purcell was an asso-ciate
pastor at the time for St.
Odilia Parish, 7570 Paseo del
Norte.
Flores, who was a
13-year-old resident of South
Tucson, was not a parishioner
at St. Odilia's. The'church is
about 12 miles away from
South Tucson. -
Although Purcell
lived in the church rectory,
he also lived in South Tucson
sometime during those years,
according to South Tucson
police reports.
"It is not normal for
a parish priest to have a sepa-rate
private residence in
another city," said Fred
Allison, spokesperson for the
Tucson diocese.
"It appears to be
something that he did on his
own without the knowledge
of the diocese or any connec-tion
to the ministry."
No complaints or
allegations of child abuse or
sexual misconduct were filed
against Purcell in 1982-1983,
Allison said.
See Priest page 6
Sept. 16 fiestas
lose popularity
By Cheryl Lange
Staff Writer
Parades, city congre-gations
and traditional
Mexican food once abound-ed
in South Tucson every
year on Sept. 16, commemo-rating
that day in 1810 when
Mexico began its war for
independence against Spain.
Now, aside from
activities in the schools and
a mariachi performance, the
traditional celebrations are
declining.
"We've aotten away
from being too ethnic. We
don't crave this anymore,"
said Tosca Sanchez, a recep-tionist
for South Tucson's
Service Employment
Redevelopment and resident
of the city since the l940s.
Sanchez said a huge
parade with elaborate cos-tumes
used to be one of the
big traditions celebrating
Mexican Independence Day.
Manuel Romero,
program coordinator of New
Horizons at Project YES,
said he remembers six or
seven years ago when most
South Tucsonans congregat-ed
at the city hall to cele-brate
with feasts and music.
"We had the mayor
of South Tucson there, we
had the entire police and fire
department there too," said
Romero.
Two Ochoa
Elementary School teachers,
Alejandra Elias-Calles and
Delia Barcelo, said until
about six years ago, a group
of teachers created lesson
plans to help students learn
about Sept. 16. Now, only
Elias-Calles, Barcelo and
September/septiembre 2002
one or two other Ochoa teach-ers
prepare lessons about
Mexican Independence Day.
Barcelo said she plans
a week of activities every year
around Sept. 16 for her stu-dents
to learn about Mexico.
Students watch videos, create
plays, make puppets and write
short stories about
Independence Day.
"Every day I talk to
them a little about the history
of the independence," said
"We've gotten away
from being too ethnic.
We don't crave this
anymore."
-Tosca Sanchez
city resident
Barcelo.
Elias-Calles said her
second- and third-grade stu-dents
write short research
papers with stories and pictures
about the Mexican lifestyle,
food, cities, and celebrations.
She also tries to bring them to
a Mexican restaurant to experi-ence
traditional Mexican food.
Elias-Calles said teach-ing
about the Independence
Day is important because many
students are not taught the his-tory
at home.
"Some of the kids may
not know their roots," she said.
Barcelo said few teach-ers
at Ochoa now teach about
Mexican independence because
most do not have strong ties to
Mexico. Most of the teachers
who taught at Ochoa six years
ago, including Barcelo and
Elias-Calles, were natives of
Mexico.
See Fiestas page 2
r1.
INSIDE
*First full-time judge for city.
Page 2.
*Nuevo juez para la ciuäad.
Página 3.
*Communjty 9/11 memorial.
Page 6.
*Evento marca 9/11.
I Página 7.