Reporter Caitlin Schmidt's Fave Five

Star investigation: Stopping sexual misconduct on campus

I learned after completing my Solutions Journalism Network project about schools that have made improvements to the way they educate, prevent and adjudicate sexual misconduct completed that the in-depth look into this topic was the first of its kind. I had fun taking a positive approach to a topic that had been largely negative for the previous year, and I was proud to give our readers a comprehensive look at successful methods to address an issue that at the time, had become a serious problem for the University of Arizona.

─ Caitlin Schmidt

The Star partnered with Solutions Journalism Network to travel to schools that have made recent changes to their Title IX programs in response to crisis or on their own volition. The deep dive into Title IX improvements and enforcement is believed to be one of the first of its kind.

Listen: Title Wave podcast

Click here to listen to the series

For 88-pound Tucson wrestling phenom, it's international tournament now, hopefully Olympics later

This was the first story I found and wrote for my new job on the sports desk, covering investigations, enterprise stories and longform features. Coming from a hard-news background, I was skeptical about the feature reporting part of the beat and whether I would actually enjoy it. After 20 minutes with Audrey Jimenez and her father, all of my doubt was gone. I loved spending time with this family in the weeks that I spent reporting the story and was almost sad to complete the article, knowing that our time together would come to an end.

─ Caitlin Schmidt

It’s 94 degrees on an early October afternoon and Audrey Jimenez is training again.

The 13-year-old wrestler bounds up and across the metal steps inside Sunnyside High School’s football stadium. When she comes down it’s only to jog onto the track and run laps around the Sunnyside High football team, which is on the field practicing.

She’s just finished a two-day fast during which she drank nothing but water, and before that came a week of cutting weight for a development camp in Colorado during which she’ll learn techniques, nutrition and tips from national coaches.

Wrestlers compete within a designated weight class, and frequently have to shed ounces or even pounds before a match’s official weigh-in. Audrey, who wrestles at a weight of 88 pounds, had 2 pounds to drop in preparation for a match the following week that would determine whether she earned a spot on the national team.

Today, she runs lap after lap around the boys on the field, and the symbolism is obvious. Few athletes train as hard, or are as dedicated to their sport.

“I’ll be completely honest, I’ve never seen anyone do it like that at her age,” says Bobby Rodriguez, one of her trainers. “She just sets the tone like I’ve never seen a middle schooler do it.”

Audrey is stoic before and during her workout. She is tired, but her focus is unwavering.

Audrey’s father, Billy Jimenez, says wrestling is her calling, and her coaches and trainers believe she’s destined for greatness. Only two years into the sport, Audrey, a member of the Sunnyside Wrestling Academy, is ranked sixth in the nation on USA Wrestling’s 2018-19 Future Olympian Rankings’ 14 Under division. This spring, she won first place in the Women’s Freestyle Nationals and on Oct. 18, she earned a spot on USA Wrestling’s National Team.

An eighth grader at Gallego Intermediate Fine Arts Magnet School, Audrey is also a 4.0 student and plays the vihuela, a guitar-like string instrument, in her school’s mariachi band. She gets up at 4:30 a.m. during the week to train before school. She returns home after 6 p.m., when she starts her homework.

Audrey is no stranger to hard work: She took up softball at age 4, playing every position and traveling to tournaments across the country. She thrived in the sport, but once she discovered wrestling it became her passion.

“I like that it’s an individual sport, and I learn a lot of stuff from my coaches and trainers,” she says.

A softball standout has a revelation

Audrey was introduced to wrestling by her father’s cousin, Tucson MMA fighter Anthony “El Toro” Birchak, during a visit to his jiujitsu gym, 10th Planet.

She excelled at the sport, taking to it immediately.

She competed in her first match after a week of training, and although she lost, she was able to fight her way out of a rear naked choke, a powerful move that’s extremely difficult to escape because the opponent is behind the wrestler being held. Her skill, calmness and determination earned her respect from her peers.

Audrey initially split her time between wrestling and softball, but turned her focus to the mat following a particularly agonizing softball defeat. Birchak said Audrey came to him, upset about the loss, and he explained that sometimes when you play on a team, not every player tries his or her hardest.

“In wrestling, it’s just you,” Birchak says. “As soon as I told her that, I could see the little wheels in her head turning.”

Audrey quit softball and hasn’t looked back.

“I realized if I was really serious, I needed to catch up with everyone else,” she says.

Her rise in the wrestling world has been steady, and anything but slow: She won state and national championships early into her career and continues to climb the short list for the 2024 Olympics.

Women’s wrestling was introduced at the 2004 Olympics, with four events to the men’s 14. Wrestling as a whole faced an uncertain future at the Olympics six years ago, when it was almost removed from the lineup for 2020. But a change in leadership at United World Wrestling and several changes to the 2016 Olympic program — including two more women’s events — led to the sport’s reinstatement.

“Her success is a testament to her work ethic and athleticism,” Birchak said, adding that no other family members aside from Audrey and him have wrestled outside the United States. “I’m glad there’s another international athlete coming out of Tucson, Arizona, and it just so happens to be part of my bloodline.”

On Nov. 1, Audrey will travel to Panama for the U15 Pan American Championship, an international competition hosted by United World Wrestling, the international governing body for amateur wrestling. The organization oversees wrestling at the Olympics and hosts tournaments around the world in an effort to promote and develop wrestling in all its forms on all continents.

Audrey seems unfazed by the trip, saying she’s used to traveling for softball. But the trip to Panama is different: It will mark the first time she’s been out of the country.

“They’d never really seen a girl wrestle”

If Audrey is nervous her first international appearance, it doesn’t show. She’s focused only on her craft and on her future.

It’s a future that increasingly includes women.

In June, the NCAA recommended that women’s wrestling be added as an emerging sport for all three divisions in 2020. Twenty-three NCAA schools have women’s wrestling teams, and another 13 plan to add the sport in the next two years , USA Wrestling says.

Audrey competes against girls in her age and weight group. She trains mostly with boys, since there are so few girls on the Sunnyside club.

“At first, the boys weren’t sure what to do. They’d never really seen a girl wrestle,” Audrey says of her teammates at Sunnyside. “But they became really accepting and now I’ve made more friends.”

Anthony Leon, one of Audrey’s coaches, is quick to say her talents are special.

“I’ve been around a lot of good ones, but she’s special,” Leon says, praising her work ethic and adding that she leads by example. “It’s hard for high school kids to not be motivated when an eighth-grade female is outworking them” during practice.

Before running laps one afternoon, Audrey grapples with Sunnyside teammate Angel Serrano, repeatedly tossing him over her shoulder like a backpack. Her stoicism is impossible to ignore and seemingly infectious: While hoots and hollers from the basketball practice next door slip through the closed gym doors, it’s quiet as a church in the Sunnyside wrestling room as Audrey and Serrano square off, their movements as graceful as a ballet.

In July, Audrey will head to Fargo, North Dakota, for the nationals, where she’ll compete as an eighth grader. But from there, her future is up in the air.

While it’s clear that Sunnyside’s coaches would love for her to wrestle for their high school team during the 2020-21 school year, Audrey and her father are considering Wyoming Seminary, a boarding school in Pennsylvania that boasts a top-ranked wrestling program.

The choice will be difficult, and Billy Jimenez is clearly torn. Part of him wants his daughter to stay at home and train near her family, but he wants Audrey to have every chance to succeed.

Billy knows about loss and the importance of seizing opportunities. He earned a football scholarship to NAU only to have his dreams dashed days before his high school graduation. A car accident wiped out his dreams of playing football.

Wrestling is his daughter’s calling, Jimenez says. “I have to do everything I can do to get her where I can get her.”

“I can’t believe this girl is doing it at this young of an age”

For Audrey’s father, “everything” means early wake-up calls, long hours in the gym and the expenses — airfare, entry fees, hotel rooms — that come with competitive sports.

Last spring, Audrey started working out at Jet Sports Training under owner Bobby Rodriguez, a 2007 Sunnyside High School graduate who studied jiujitsu and mixed martial arts in Brazil.

Audrey is ready to work when she arrives in the morning and takes her workouts seriously, as she does everything else related to wrestling.

“We start at 4:45 in the morning and she’s literally a machine,” Rodriguez says. “She’s programmed herself to be disciplined in a way where there’s no complaining and no negotiations as far as the workouts.”

Rodriguez, a professional bullrider who was a wrestler and football player during his time at Sunnyside, says it’s important to him to give back to the programs that gave him so much.

“When I was at Sunnyside, I remember our first-period class was football class and I remember the importance of getting to school on time to get that class in,” Rodriguez says. These days he works out the high school’s wrestling team during first period, while also making it to early morning training sessions with Audrey five days a week.

Audrey’s support system is clearly proud of her. Hours after Billy Jimenez posted on social media about her advancement to the Pan American Championships, Jet Sports Training shared the news on its Facebook page, posting a picture of Rodriguez and Audrey. Rodriguez routinely showcases the talents of athletes that work out at his gym, but he’s open in admitting that he believes Audrey is unique.

“In my soul, I really think that we’re going to see her in women’s wrestling for years to come at a world-class level,” Rodriguez says. “Sometimes it’s like I can’t believe this girl is doing it at this young of an age. It’s almost scary to think about what she can do in like five or 10 years.”

Mike Bravo, another of Audrey’s coaches and the grandfather of Sunnyside alumnus and Penn State wrestler Roman Bravo-Young, also sees a future in wrestling for Audrey. Bravo travels with her and her father to tournaments, serving as Audrey’s “corner man.”

“The sacrifices they make are incredible,” Bravo says of the Jimenezes.

The Jimenez family cuts costs whenever possible, staying with friends when they travel and often cooking their own meals. Still, even out-of-town tournaments in Arizona and California are expensive, and Billy hopes a sponsorship is in his daughter’s future.

An effort is underway to make Sunnyside an official Regional Training Center for USA Wrestling, with the club already attracting out-of-town wrestlers due to Tucson’s climate. Regional Training Centers attract sponsors that pay for tournament travel, provided athletes follow strict criteria to earn and keep the designation.

It’s uncertain if that will happen during Audrey’s time with the club, but Billy Jimenez remains hopeful that sponsors will watch Audrey as she steps onto a larger stage next month, representing the United States in the Pan American Championship.

An easy victory — for once

Audrey takes a long pause when asked how she likes to spend her free time, perhaps because she has so little of it.

“I’m a foodie,” she says, “but I’m always on weight management.”

Audrey’s mother, Denise Jimenez, works for UPS Freight and was a serious softball player. She initially struggled with Audrey’s decision to quit the sport, but now she’s “super supportive,” helping out when Audrey needs to cut weight and cheering on her daughter at workouts.

Audrey’s sister, a sophomore at Pima Community College, was the wrestling manager at Tucson High School during her junior and senior years. Once Audrey began to get interested in the sport, her sister would bring her to practices with her.

“I was just blessed with two amazing daughters,” Denise Jimenez says.

Billy Jimenez serves as a caregiver for his parents. While it’s not easy work, the schedule provides him the freedom to transport Audrey to workouts, treatments and practice.

He and Audrey leave for Panama on Wednesday.

“I’m looking forward to wrestling people from different cultures who learned in different ways,” Audrey says.

After Panama, she plans to take a little break. Her elbow has been sore from growing pains.

But her planned routine during that so-called break is more rigorous than most people’s exercise routines: She plans to keep running, but will cut her practices — maybe to just three a week.

During her preparation for last week’s camp, and up until weigh-ins, Audrey was under the impression she’d be competing for her spot on the national team, but she received an automatic bid after her opponent failed to make weight.

“My dad asked me if I was disappointed because of the work I put in, but I didn’t work hard just for that match, I actually worked hard for the Pan Am” Championships, Audrey says. “I wasn’t mad that I didn’t wrestle her, because everything I did for that match was worth it and it’s still paying off.”

UA sexual assault survivor transformed trauma into advocacy work

This story is of personal significance, because the subject decided to go on record about her experience for the very first time to me. It means a lot as a reporter to cultivate that kind of trust with a source. The initial plan was to run Jackie’s story anonymously, but she ultimately made the decision to use her name, saying that her abusers had already gained too much from her staying silent. I spoke to Jackie after the story ran and she told me that going on record and using her name was the hardest decision she’d ever made but also one of the best, in terms of what it meant towards her healing process.

─ Caitlin Schmidt

Jacquelyn Hinek said her chance at a traditional college experience imploded eight months after she arrived on the University of Arizona campus.

On April 19, 2013, Hinek — a freshman — went to a party attended by multiple UA football players, some of whom she knew from her job as a student equipment manager for the team.

Hinek later told police that she had a few drinks while talking to a friend. Eventually, she saw some people she knew go into one of the apartment’s bedrooms and followed them.

Hinek sat down on the bed and, she said, everything went dark. She later told police she must have passed out. She woke up sometime later, unable to move her body.

Hinek said she slipped in and out of consciousness over the next several hours as she was sexually assaulted and beaten by five men associated with the football program — one of whom was Hinek’s supervisor. She said at least three other men watched the attack. Someone recorded the incident on a cell phone, later sharing the video with other students.

Ultimately, three of the men involved in her assault were disciplined by the school.

While the experience itself was horrific, Hinek said it got worse once she decided to report the incident to police and the UA. She said the lack of services available on campus left her isolated and pushed her to the brink.

In the years following her assault, Hinek has learned that what happened to her is more common than she realized at the time: 23% of undergraduate women experience sexual assault on college campuses, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

The Star reported on Hinek’s assault in January, along with six other incidents involving football players accused of sexual assault, harassment or domestic violence. Some of the incidents took place while Hinek still was a student. She told the Star that her experience would have been different had she known there were other victims on campus.

“I really didn’t know. I feel like there must have been such a community of us without even knowing it,” Hinek told the Star in March, speaking publicly about her assault for the first time. “If I had known someone else, that would have changed a lot for me, because I wouldn’t have felt so alone and I would have had other people to lean on instead of myself.”

Hinek graduated from the UA and channeled her experience into a career. She now runs a Southern California emergency shelter for victims of sexual assault and intimate partner abuse, and also heads up a countywide emergency hotline to connect victims with services.

She acknowledges that had she not been assaulted, she may not be working in her field now.

“It feels really sad, but my college experience ended in April 2013,” Hinek said. “From then until two years later, it was just an absolute nightmare. I lost so much, but a big piece of it was losing my ability to just be a college student. I didn’t sign up for that. (The UA) owed me more than that.”

• • •

Hinek wasn’t interested in a career in sports when she took the scholarship position with the football team.

“It was really just a job that seemed probably cooler than working at the cafeteria,” she said. “It sounded interesting and I thought I can make money and do something that’s a little more fun.”

She continued working with the football program for about six months after her assault, but she said pervasive sexual harassment eventually led her to quit.

In talking about her assault, Hinek says that she can break the aftermath into two distinct parts: before she reported, and after she reported.

“In the direct aftermath … I was really just trying to kind of keep going,” she said.

She was also confused about what had happened to her, saying she didn’t know a lot about sexual assault and people that she talked to for the most part told her the experience didn’t amount to rape.

“Me now, knowing as much as I do and being older and wiser, I’m like, ‘Hell no, that was so messed up. That was sexual assault,’” she said. “At the time, I was getting a lot of input from other people that caused me to question what happened to me, so I kind of just said, ‘This happened, and I’m going to move on.’”

Hinek initially decided to move on without reporting, which she said was hard. She was having nightmares, and she said players and other students were telling her to keep quiet about the incident.

Then she took an internship with the UA group Students Promoting Empowerment and Consent (SPEAC) and ended up working at Campus Health’s Oasis Sexual Assault and Trauma Services. While there, she connected with a woman who became her support system. Hinek decided to report.

Hinek told officers that she wanted to be able to one day tell her kids she did the right thing.

She first reported the assault to campus police, even though it had happened at an apartment off campus. She called her encounter with the University of Arizona Police Department terrible, saying that the officer who took her report told her she was the type of person he told his daughter not to become. She ended up filing a complaint with the school about him.

Her experience with the Tucson Police Department was completely different.

“I mean, it was hard. No matter how great they are, it’s a difficult experience, but the detectives I worked with were supportive and caring,” she said.

TPD’s investigation lasted for several months, but none of the men involved in the assault were charged with a crime. Prosecutors said they couldn’t prove that the sex wasn’t consensual.

Hinek still wasn’t sure if she wanted to alert school officials. Then Susan Wilson in the UA’s Title IX office reached out to Hinek to interview her regarding the sexual assault of a student Hinek knew. That student’s situation also involved members of the football team.

“I just felt like, ‘this is meant to be.’ I’d been considering it, and for her to reach out, it kind of felt like a bridge and a connection,” Hinek said. “I also thought this happening to someone else in the athletic department was ridiculous. It’s easier when you think it doesn’t affect anyone else. I could live with that. But when I was realizing that it was happening to other people, I just felt sick about that and I felt like the school needed to know.”

• • •

Hinek calls the subsequent Title IX investigation, which took roughly six months, the worst experience of her life.

“I think about it a lot and I regret that I didn’t fight harder. I’ll always look back and wonder, could I have done more?” she said. “But I’m proud of myself, because while I kind of lost that fight a bit, I was up against (the UA). It was just me, by myself, completely alone against them.”

Hinek said she didn’t think the investigation would be as lengthy or arduous as it turned out to be.

“I think for a while I really believed in them and felt like (the investigation) may be going somewhere,” Hinek said. “They were asking questions and wanted to know about my experience, but when I look at the results, it’s just this realization that they never intended to help me.”

By the time the UA closed its investigation in April 2015, two of the men who were ultimately disciplined had already left school. Student equipment manager Dale Stewlow, who was Hinek’s supervisor when she worked for the team, had taken a job at the University of Nevada prior to the school issuing its one-year suspension for sexual misconduct. Clive Georges, a wide receiver who appeared on the UA’s 2012 and 2013 rosters, transferred to North Dakota in January 2015, four months before he was expelled from the UA for his role in the assault.

UA officials told Hinek they had scheduled interviews between Tucson police, and that players would meet detectives on campus to help facilitate them. She learned differently when she read the Star’s story. Tucson police reports say that when they arrived on campus, school officials told them that on the advice of university attorneys, they would only tell the suspects and witnesses that the police wanted to talk to them. It would be up to the individuals to decide if they wanted to participate in the investigation.

“When I read that, it didn’t surprise me at all,” Hinek said. “I understand that when they have police coming on site, they might have a lawyer for those students … but if I’m a student as well, don’t they have to kind of ride that line in between?”

After Hinek reported the situation to the UA in October, she was told that because it was football season, the school would have to wait for a break to interview the players. On her end, though, Hinek felt like the investigation consumed her life.

“They would tell me to come in and I was there. Granted, I was motivated to do it because I wanted this process, but it was such a big part of my life,” she said. “Responding to emails and going to meetings and preparing for things. Making sure that I provided everything that they wanted.”

At one point, Hinek said she was told that she needed to be more considerate of the players and what they were going through during the process. When Hinek would confront the school about the length of the investigation, she said she was given excuses about the players’ schedules.

“I just thought, ‘this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be,’ but I was not empowered at all. I think back and I realize I was a teen-ager dealing with this on my own, and they have unlimited resources and so much knowledge and know-how,” she said. “The fact that they would let me do that on my own is astounding. That they didn’t say, ‘Hey, this is a really complicated process for a lot of people. Are you needing us to provide you with someone to consult with?’”

Hinek said she asked the school to connect her with a counselor or financial support to pay for one. She said her requests were denied.

The Star reached out to the UA last week for a response to some of Hinek’s statements. A university spokesman said: “The University, out of respect for the survivor’s account and understanding that this event occurred six years ago, will not challenge the survivor’s remembrance.”

• • •

In the past year, the UA launched its Survivor Advocacy program and made numerous changes to its Title IX office.

In November, the school hired former South Tucson judge Ron Wilson as its Title IX director, and in January changed his title to president for equity and inclusion and Title IX director.

Wilson has rewritten the school’s Title IX policy and is awaiting approval of the draft. He’s also hired Thea Cola, formerly from the Women and Gender Resource Center, to create curriculum surrounding consent and Title IX for students and faculty. The school also recently launched a Consortium on Gender-Based Violence, which is working with the Title IX office to create a curriculum around bystander intervention, toxic masculinity, sexual assault awareness and prevention and mental health.

The Survivor Advocacy program, launched in August, includes two full-time sexual assault advocates. The program’s website directs students to campus resources, including counseling, psychological and legal services, and also has links to outside agencies that can provide help.

Meetings with advocates are confidential and don’t lock a student into filing a formal complaint or initiating an investigation. Advocates help students understand their rights and options and can provide emotional support, safety planning, help with academic and housing accommodations, mental health support, assistance navigating the Title IX, UA appeal process and filing a police report.

Advocates can also help students obtain an order of protection and connect them with an outside agency that will send someone to accompany them to court, should a criminal case progress to that level.

Brenda Anderson Wadley, one of the program’s two full-time survivor advocates, said she has connected with hundreds of students since the program’s launch.

Wadley says the first few weeks of classes and final exams are the busiest times of each semester. She refers to those stress-filled times as “the red zone.” College students nationwide tend to seek more services during those times, Wadley said.

There are also more social activities happening during those times, which can lead to an increase in sexual assault.

Wadley said the program made contact with 170 students during the fall semester. This semester, advocates have already contacted more than 100 students.

Things were especially busy in January, when UA President Robert C. Robbins sent out a campus-wide email about the program and other available services. Contact from students also increased during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation hearings, Wadley said.

Services for students don’t end after initial contact with a survivor advocate, Wadley said. Many students continuously visit, and some students have been seeking support since the beginning of the year. Most students are seeking mental health and academic accommodations. Some professors are supportive, Wadley said; she meets with the ones who initially aren’t.

Wadley said she lets students guide the advocacy process, telling her and her colleague what they need.

“A lot of time when violence happens, folks’ agency is taken away,” Wadley said. “My whole job is focused on how am I giving this student their agency back? How am I supporting the student and centering their needs and wants?”

Wadley said that while she’s excited to work with Wilson in the Title IX office, there needs to be a culture shift on campus. She’d like to see athletics, Greek life and the law school involved, instead of the handful of specialty programs that have currently taken up the cause.

It “has to be a university-wide thing,” she said.

Wadley said she’s seen some students who have come to the program for help teach other students how to become their own advocates. She thinks the university is doing a good job and has taken significant steps, but there’s still more work to be done.

• • •

By the time the school issued its decision in April 2015, Hinek had taken her finals early and gone home for the summer. She graduated that December, a semester early, but said the ongoing investigation left her feeling like she had to be available at a moment’s notice and prevented her from traveling during spring break or studying abroad.

While she was interning with SPEAC, Hinek saw a presentation by a Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault advocate and realized that’s what she wanted to do with her life.

Prior to graduation, Hinek began working full-time at the SACASA, which while challenging at first, helped her to give back and helped other people with experiences similar to her own.

“My experience with the assault and aftermath has really inspired me to help other people,” Hinek said. “For me, I didn’t even know what my options were, so a big driving force for me is that I don’t care if someone chooses to do nothing, as long as they know that they can do something. As long as they know what their options are, whatever they decide is fine with me.”

She says that when she talks to other survivors, she provides education on healthy relationships and consent, but lets each person define his or her experience.

While the work is empowering and makes her feel good, she also feels melancholy at times, knowing the potential path survivors are headed down when they decide to go forward.

April 19 marked the six-year anniversary of Hinek’s assault, and she says time has helped her heal.

“What I would want to go back and tell myself is that what happened to me is not OK and, ‘Trust yourself,’” Hinek said. When she decided to report, “it just became so obvious that no matter what they’re trying to make me feel, that was rape. I knew that I had to do something about it, and somewhat naively I thought that would be the right thing to do and I would make an impact and change.”

Hinek said that she constantly asks herself if she would report her assault to the UA again, if given the choice to do so. She says that she’s grateful for the career and relationships she’s made, so it’s difficult to say she wishes she hadn’t reported because she doesn’t know where she’d be if she hadn’t.

“I’m glad that I reported it, but I regret that the following years were what they were,” she said.

The decision to go public is not one she took lightly. But silence and anonymity for the past six years has done nothing but protect the men who assaulted her, she said.

“I think there’s been this unspoken contract where they just bet I wouldn’t say anything to anyone and what they did to me was so horrifying that I’d be too embarrassed to tell and just keep it secret for the rest of my life,” Hinek said. “I’m proud of myself and what I went through and I have no regrets. I have nothing to hide and there’s nothing that I won’t stand behind.”

By putting a name to her story, Hinek hopes to legitimize her assault in the eyes of people who may think that her anonymity lessened what happened to her and to help other survivors struggling to cope with their own experiences.

Hinek’s one regret is that her lack of resources and inability to hire an attorney perhaps allowed the school to fall short in its duty to her, to provide support and a timely investigative process.

“I was just up against a lot more than I ever thought I was up against,” she said. “I thought I was up against the men who raped me. I didn’t know I was up against them and the University of Arizona.”

Tucson program pairing prison inmates with high-risk shelter dogs builds confidence, boosts adoptions

As a self-professed dog lover and animal rescue advocate, this story was so much fun to report on and write. As part of my government reporting beat at the time, I often wrote about criminal justice reform efforts, so this story basically combined two of my interests. It was inspiring to learn about the efforts of the couple behind the creation of the New Beginnings program, Tom and Linda Grissom, to develop and build this program in Tucson.

─ Caitlin Schmidt

Dozens of dogs have gotten a second chance thanks to a Humane Society of Southern Arizona program that pairs prison inmates with behaviorally challenged canines.

The New Beginnings Canine Program started at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona in 2018 and has seen 60 dogs go through the program. Of those, 50 have been adopted out, with the remaining dogs either awaiting adoption or completing the program. Inmates with the Arizona Department of Corrections work with dogs at a higher risk of euthanasia due to behavioral issues, training the dogs in areas such as eye contact, leash walking, basic commands, socialization, agility, and door and crate training.

Diana Cannon, the HSSA’s chief development officer, said the program is the first of its kind in the state and is modeled after a similar program in Lancaster, California, that partners prisoners serving a life sentence with dogs from a local shelter.

The program came to the HSSA thanks to Tucson couple Tom and Linda Grissom, who were inspired after seeing a video about the Lancaster program.

The couple reached out to prison officials in California to inquire about the program and were invited to attend a graduation ceremony for inmates and dogs. Once they saw the connection fostered between the human and canine participants, they knew the program had to be implemented in Tucson, Linda Grissom told the Star.

The HSSA has been working with the Arizona Department of Corrections for about a decade, with inmates being transported to the shelter daily to help with feeding, cleaning, maintenance and just about everything else, Cannon said.

On a good day, there will be up to 18 inmates at the shelter doing everything from maintenance work, cleaning, socialization and enrichment activities with dogs and cats. Three are currently participating in the New Beginnings program, which takes the partnership a step further.

Six inmates have gone through the New Beginnings program, but hundreds more have worked with the HSSA over the years.

UNDENIABLE BOND

Some of the dogs coming into the HSSA have behavioral problems, including fearfulness, aggression, overstimulation and disobedience.

In addition to affecting the dog’s health and happiness, the behaviors make them more difficult to adopt, and sometimes when they are adopted, they’ll be returned to the shelter.

Bailey Heater, the HSSA’s behavioral supervisor, works with New Beginnings participants to implement a solutions-based training program, teaching the dogs obedience and agility skills.

On a Thursday morning in late May, two inmates were on the agility course with dogs Phoebe and Murphy, supervising the dogs as they played and trying to get them to work off some excess energy so training could begin. The course, which opened earlier in the month, was entirely built by inmates, with the large grass field holding tunnels, poles and jumps, with a kiddie pool on the outskirts for the dogs to cool off in.

One of the men loads up the pockets of his orange prison pants with tennis balls, saying that Phoebe is extremely toy-motivated. The pair runs through the course, with Phoebe enthusiastically responding to squeaks from the tennis balls as she bounds over jump rails and through tunnels to chase her prize.

The bond between the pair is undeniable, with Phoebe responsive to her trainer’s commands and eager to receive pets and a hug.

The HSSA values its relationship with the Department of Corrections, Cannon said, adding that the new shelter has a dedicated break room for inmate workers, including a kitchenette and restroom. The Grissoms also purchased a van so that the HSSA can transport inmates on its own, instead of relying on the DOC to provide transportation.

To participate in New Beginnings, an inmate must be in good standing at the prison, have a GED or high school diploma and complete an application explaining why they want to join the program.

The inmates that work at HSSA and participate in New Beginnings have no write-ups and demonstrate good behavior that deems them trustworthy. Inmate workers at the HSSA have not committed any crimes of a violent or sexual nature, said Christian Gonzalez, the HSSA’s director of operations.

The HSSA has never had an inmate worker walk off the site and there have been no major issues, Gonzalez said, adding that there are policies and procedures in place to keep the public and inmates safe.

Applicants are also vetted to make sure they are the right fit.

Dogs can read behavior cues and temperament, and for the training program to be successful, the inmate will need to be able to bring a scared or nervous dog out of its shell, Cannon said.

“Some are so passionate about animals, I’ve seen tears in their eyes when the dog they’ve been working with gets adopted,” Cannon said, adding that in addition to the benefits of training, the affection the inmates give to the dogs is of vital importance.

The canines aren’t the only ones who benefit — the program provides inmates with confidence and a new skill set, Gonzalez said.

The HSSA is one of several partnerships the Arizona Department of Corrections has had in place for many years to help inmates prepare for their return to the community, said department spokesman Major Dwayne Morman.

"Many of our partnerships assist the community, gives inmates new job skills or keeps their skills honed," Morman said. "These various partnerships lets them have a positive impact on the community and prepares them for a successful transition back into the society. "

MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL

The program is designed for eight weeks, but it’s ultimately tailored around how long it takes for a particular dog to respond.

Heater evaluates all the dogs that participate in the program, deciding when they’re done and if they need extra work. The extended one-on-one time that inmate trainers spend with the dogs allows the HSSA staff to learn more about the animals and their particular behavioral traits, which Heater says helps cut down on the number of animals who are returned post-adoption.

The majority of dogs taken in by the HSSA have been let go by their owners, with many being relinquished because of behavioral issues, Cannon said. A regular training program helps relieve stress and reinforce good behavior.

The Grissoms, who provide some financial backing, and the HSSA hope to expand the New Beginnings program, but they’re pleased with its success.

Tom and Linda Grissom had dogs before they had one another.

After they married, they had as many as five dogs at a time, but now they’re down to just two. While the Grissoms have always been supporters of the HSSA, they didn’t become intimately involved with the organization until they brought up the idea of New Beginnings.

Tom Grissom, who is an advocate of criminal-justice reform, said that New Beginnings gives inmates structure and allows them to make choices. It also gives them a marketable skill when they get out of prison.

Some of the inmates who’ve had the HSSA as their prison work assignment have even gone on to get jobs at the shelter after their release, Gonzalez said.

Having the inmates on hand at the HSSA provides a world of benefits to the staff and animals, Gonzalez said, adding that the interaction between inmates and the dogs they work with is “pretty much the extent of the affection they’ve seen in quite some time.”

With inmates assisting on tasks such as cleaning and maintenance, paid HSSA workers are freed up for other duties, allowing the shelter to have extensive programs for children, educators and community members.

“I’ve been here 16 years, so I know what it’s like not to have them,” Gonzalez said. “We can save more lives with them here. We treat them as humans and they’re priceless to us.”

'They mean everything': Meet some of the Tucson Roadrunners' biggest fans

This story started as a conversation between myself and our sports and photo editor and evolved into our Thanksgiving Day sports centerpiece. It was fun to see it grow and evolve in terms of how we were going to cover it, and I had a great time getting to know the fans that we profiled for the story. There’s never been any doubt in my mind that Tucson is a big sports town, but I always felt like most of that love was centered around the UA. It was nice to explore the fandom surrounding another local team, and I got to watch some great hockey in the process!

─ Caitlin Schmidt

Bob Hoffman has a ritual for the first Saturday in February.

The Tucson Roadrunners president starts his night in front of the Tucson Arena box office, waiting to greet some international visitors in town for the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. For the past three years, several groups of businessmen from far-flung places like New Zealand and Japan have made the Roadrunners game a part of their annual visit.

Hoffman said it’s fan experiences like this one that make Tucson unlike any of the six other hockey markets in which he has lived and worked. And the Roadrunners’ biggest fans, their season ticket holders, have exceeded his expectations in more ways than one.

The Roadrunners had 1,082 season ticket holders for the 2016-17 season, their first in Tucson. That number has grown steadily each year and now sits at 1,519, Hoffman said, a 50% increase from Year 1.

Hoffman and the Roadrunners have a marketing and sales staff, but it’s the season ticket holders, he said, who deserve the credit for growing the Roadrunners audience.

“They come to the games, they come each and every night and are passionate about it. They live and die with our players and our team and they want to see us succeed,” Hoffman said. “They’re talking about us, whether it’s at work or in the neighborhood or to friends, and they’re our best advocates because they bring people to games — and many people for the first time.”

During the Roadrunners’ first season, Hoffman conducted a 90-day review to determine who the team’s fans were. Hoffman and his staff targeted everyone with promotions and marketing, and soon learned that the largest group was families. The team responded accordingly, keeping the games affordable for families in terms of ticket and food pricing, offering giveaway and promotional events geared at kids and teens and providing in-game entertainment that’s family friendly.

Attendance on promotional nights is always strong, Hoffman said, but it kicks up to another level on the team’s annual youth jersey giveaway. Hoffman said that for that game, a line starts to form outside the box office 30 minutes before the doors open and by the time people are allowed in, it’s typically 100 fans deep.

“That loyalty and that affinity to us, you can’t gauge it when you come to town and you can’t beg for it,” Hoffman said. “It’s amazing, and we’re certainly grateful that it happened.”

Hoffman said that when he meets people who have never been to a Roadrunners game, he issues them a challenge: Come to a game (sometimes on the house) and try not to love it.

“I truly believe if you’ve never seen it before and you come and try it once you’re going to love it, and if you come back a second time, you’re addicted,” Hoffman said. “That’s what we’re trying to do: Come back that second time.”

Some of the Roadrunners’ season ticket holders were all-in on the team before it even arrived. Others needed a game — or maybe two — to fall in love. Here’s a look at the Roadrunners’ loudest and most loyal fans:

“It’s unlike any other game that you’ll watch in person”

Katie and Steve Ferencik purchased season tickets on a whim at a June 2016 event announcing the name of Tucson’s soon-to-arrive AHL team. The couple was attending a home show at the Tucson Convention Center and accidentally stumbled upon the event.

“It was a little like fate,” Steve said. The couple had heard Tucson was getting a team, but didn’t know much more at the time. “We got our seats and never looked back.”

Steve, 51, grew up in North Dakota and Minnesota, where, he says, “they start you on skates when you’re a toddler.”

He says he was never really dedicated to a professional team growing up, but adopted the Colorado Avalanche as an adult.

Katie, 36, lived in Michigan for six years, and was a Red Wings fan by default.

“There was a rivalry when we first met,” Steve said.

“But now, we’ve united over the Coyotes,” Katie chimed in, laughing.

“Since we started going to the Roadrunners game, you watch the players go from the Roadrunners and up to the Coyotes, and you kind of naturally become a Coyotes fan,” Steve said. “It’s so much fun because you remember watching them down here in Tucson and they’re so accessible at the (Roadrunners) games.”

Katie also played ice hockey growing up, but hasn’t been on the ice since she returned from a deployment in Afghanistan about eight years ago. A tech scout in the Army, Katie is in her 18th year of service. Steve retired from the Army a few years ago following 28 years of service.

The couple lived in Las Vegas during Steve’s last tour of duty. They made the decision to move back to Tucson after he retired, shortly after which it was announced that Las Vegas would be getting an NHL team, the Golden Knights.

“All of our friends are buying season tickets and we were just completely devastated because we were leaving,” Katie said. “But, when we got here, the next year they announced that they were getting a professional team and we were so excited.”

The Ferenciks initially went to the games by themselves. Last season, they added two more seats and started taking Steve’s granddaughters to the games. The couple formally adopted 4-year-old Dani and 7-year-old Olivia in September. Steve says the girls are now hockey lovers.

“The little one is crazy about it,” Katie said. “She wears her hockey gloves to the games. It’s so cute.”

The Ferenciks took their places behind the visiting team’s bench Friday night, both girls wearing bulky ear protection and Dani (as promised) sporting her hockey gloves. The family’s enthusiasm did not waver, with Kate and Steve lifting the girls on their shoulders to celebrate the first goal of the game.

Steve says it’s been great to be in with the team from the very beginning.

“It’s really fun to see our friends or strangers who have never been to a game before come and discover hockey,” Katie said. “Tucson is a super-small town … and I think that’s one good thing we have, is a really strong community. I think (the Roadrunners) have positioned themselves really well as community partners and it’s just going to grow from there.”

Steve and Katie agree that it’s better to be a hockey fan in Tucson than in Phoenix because of cheaper parking, easier access to the arena and better seats.

“Everywhere you sit (at Tucson Arena) is close to the ice,” he said.

The perks for Roadrunners’ season ticket holders, which include player signings, blankets, jerseys and more, are icing on the cake for the Ferenciks.

“I love sitting at the bench and watching the changes, watching the coaches and players get heated,” Katie said. “I just love the intensity and fire in these young guys who are just really going for it.”

Tickets “work wonders all over the place”

Daniel Butler was raised on the Chicago Blackhawks, but is quick to say that Roadrunners games are hockey at its best.

“The first year, I went to maybe seven games. I was buying them through Ticketmaster and I was buying two tickets at a time and it was costing me so much money that the next year, I just bought season tickets,” Butler said. “I’ve bought them for the last three years.”

Butler is a member of Dusty’s Force, a season ticket membership group that’s 175 fans strong, and he says, the perks from the club pay off. Members of Dusty’s Force get Coyotes tickets and extra giveaways.

“My favorite part about the Roadrunners is that they’re a bunch of young kids trying to make their dreams come true,” Butler said. “They always have a great team, they’re always a bunch of great guys. They’re right on the cutting edge and it’s great hockey to watch.”

Butler goes to most of the season’s 34 home games, taking hockey-fan family members and friends. On occasion, he’s even given his tickets to clients of his home repair business, saying, “they work wonders all over the place.”

“Even when I give them away, I still just buy myself tickets and go,” Butler said. Like many Roadrunners fans, Butler is still a fan of former Roadrunners forward Conor Garland, who was called up to the Coyotes last December. Garland returned to the Roadrunners at the end of last season to help the team in an unsuccessful bid to make the playoffs. Now that Garland’s gone, Butler says his favorite player is right wing Nick Merkley.

“I like his enthusiasm. He’s young, he’s a good guy,” Butler said.

At Friday night’s game, Butler sat in the stands with his niece, daughter and his daughter’s friend. Wearing a throwback “Roadrunners Fight Cancer” T-shirt from a previous season, Butler served as an informal concierge for his guests, making the trip up the steps to buy snacks and stopping to chat and exchange high-fives with other season ticket holders seated in his section.

Butler’s advice to Tucsonans who’ve never been to a Roadrunners game?

“You’ve got to go: it’s hockey at it’s best,” Butler said. “The NHL has calmed down a lot and it’s more of a skills game, so for the folks that like to see full-style hockey, the AHL is where it’s at. They still bring all the flair, and these players are on the cusp of making their dreams come true.”

“You get to know them on a personal level”

It’s easy to spot Jana Salcito at Roadrunners games. She sits right on the ice, next to the penalty box, and always holds a posterboard sign with Tucson’s kachina logo and all the players’ names. Last year, she got 95% of the team to autograph the sign. This year, she’s hoping to get everybody.

Jana, 47, says her love of sports started when she was a 3-year-old child living in Maine. She played floor hockey in elementary school; it was decades before she attended a professional game.

In 1997, Jana met her husband Dwayne in New Hampshire. After they got married, they began following the AHL affiliate in their town, the Manchester Monarchs.

Dwayne, 55, had also been a lifelong hockey fan, having been born in Connecticut.

The Salcitos moved to Tucson in 2007. They said they were “thrilled” when the Roadrunners came to town.

Despite their love for hockey, the couple admits it took them a little while to get to their first game. They’ve made up for their tardiness with nearly two years of loyalty as season ticket holders and unofficial ambassadors for the team.

“I remember seeing people wearing the jerseys the first season and I thought, ‘that’s cool, we need to go to a game,’” Jana said. “Well, we never got out to a game that season.”

The next season, the Salcitos’ church held a hockey night — and they went.

“That got us hooked,” Jana said. They went to another game, then a third and then the playoffs.

“We started talking to the reps at the Roadrunners. Our son was still living at home at the time and he wanted to enjoy it with us, so we decided to do it and we haven’t looked back,” Jana said. “It’s been the best thing.”

Jana hasn’t missed a home game since they signed up for season tickets and Dwayne says he’s only missed one.

Jana paused to show off her customized jersey autographed by center Lane Pederson, her favorite player.

“He’s a fan player, he loves his fans. He’s always approachable,” Jana said. “But they’re all like that. They’re so humble, they love their fans and they appreciate their fans coming out.”

Between the two of them, Jana and Dwayne own nine jerseys. Jana wears a Roadrunners hat to work every day and has enough team T-shirts to wear every day for two weeks straight.

Jana and Dwayne are planning a hockey room in their new house for all their Roadrunners memorabilia. They’re collecting more than just gear: A person who was sitting several rows back two seasons ago moved next to the Salcitos this year, as did another couple. Jana has also made some friends that she lovingly refers to as her “hockey sisters.”

At Friday night’s game, Jana and Anna Jones, one of the hockey sisters, exchanged impromptu gifts: a jersey for Anna and a custom-made eyeglass holder adorned with Dusty the Roadrunner for Jana. The two talked excitedly about plans to attend a Coyotes game in Phoenix later in the weekend, a perk of their Dusty’s Force membership.

Their son is away at college this year, meaning it’s Jana and Dwayne at the games. It was clear Friday night that Roadrunners games still feel like a family affair.

“It’s our second home,” Dwayne said.

“Part of the community”

Cathy Soltero has her very own wall of fame inside her Chandler home. Two walls, actually. The right side of her hallway is reserved for photos and jerseys associated with Roadrunners players. Once a player is called up to the NHL, Soltero moves their stuff to the opposite wall.

“I’ve spent more money on jerseys than anyone,” Soltero, 66, said, adding that her most expensive purchase was a $3,100 Conor Garland jersey that she bought at a charity auction. The purchase price set an AHL record, but for Soltero, the purchase was worth it: Garland addressed his signature to his “#1 Fan.”

“The AHL is special because of the interaction with players,” Soltero said. “They’re people, and you’re people to them.”

Soltero said she’s always loved hockey, but had a minimal understanding of the sport until 2015, when she attended a Coyotes prospect camp in Chandler. That’s where she saw Garland, who she calls “The Conor.” Soltero bought her season tickets after a Roadrunners representative assured her that Garland would be with the team.

“The Conor is what turned me into a total fanatic and student of the game,” Soltero said.

While Garland has since moved on, Soltero’s allegiance to the team has not.

Soltero is a former juvenile probation officer. Never having children of her own, Soltero said that her probationers used to be her kids.

The Roadrunners “have replaced my caseload,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t have pictures of my kids to put on the wall, but I have jerseys.”

She and her husband made the 210-mile round trip from Chandler to the Tucson for games for awhile, then purchased a time share in Tucson so that they could stay in town on weekends with back-to-back games.

During the break between first and second periods at Friday night’s game, Soltero took photos and chatted next to the food vendors with a group of men decked out in Roadrunners jerseys. During breaks in the game, she talked to season ticket holders seated nearby. While the puck was in play, Soltero’s eyes were glued to the ice.

“I love the culture of hockey, it’s unlike any other sport,” Soltero said. “When someone scores a goal, they give accolades all the way down. In hockey, the individual is never as important as the team.”

Soltero said she treasures her relationships with the players. Last year, she had to thin out her jersey collection after it became too large, and decided to send jerseys back to players who had since left the Roadrunners. She could’ve made some money by selling her prized possessions, but opted to give them away.

“The Roadrunners players live in Tucson’s neighborhoods and they’re part of the community,” Soltero said. “With the Coyotes, the likelihood of living next door to a player is slim to none.”

“They mean everything”

The love coming from Roadrunners’ die-hards is felt — and often reciprocated.

“The fans here have been great. I’ve been here for four years now and every year they seem to be getting better and better with more people in the stands,” defenseman Dysin Mayo said. “They’re really invested in us, you can tell. They’re always standing out here after games and talking to us. It’s nice to have that kind of support.”

Left wing Michael Bunting, who is in his fourth year with the Roadrunners, said that he appreciates the dedication of the team’s biggest fans, and that it’s nice to continue to see the same people that were coming to games during his first year.

“They mean everything. They’re like the seventh man out there when we play,” Bunting said. “When they’re going, it kind of gives us a little energy, and it’s good to see familiar faces come back every weekend.”