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A previous version of this article stated that, according to GVR Foundation President Tim Stewart, the GVR Pickleball Club supported a dog park at Canoa Ranch. Stewart has since told the Green Valley News that the GVR Pickleball Club has not issued official support.

Green Valley loves its dogs, but for those looking for open spaces, it’s a long drive to the two public dog parks in Sahuarita.

The GVR Foundation and a group of dog-loving GVR members are looking to change that with a proposed private dog park coinciding with a yet-to-be-formalized Canine Club.

The GVR Planning and Evaluation Committee on Thursday discussed several projects identified as having interest among members, including a dog park.

Leslie Kush is president of the Canine Club, a newly formed group of about 50 GVR members who have submitted an application to become a GVR club. They have met each week since mid-December to develop ideas for the club and to research what it would take to make a dog park a possibility.

“A lot of GVR members who use the Pima County dog parks find they’re very much on the outskirts of our boundaries,” she said. “We sat around and dreamed of a park closer in, frequented by people we knew, knew their dogs. We saw an opportunity to bring more attention to our need.”

Kush said for many Green Valley residents, packing their dogs in the car and getting to Sahuarita — which operates two public dog parks — can be challenging.

“I think it could be so helpful as seniors can so often be challenged with mobility or balance, briefly or for a long period,” she said. “A dog park becomes an essential part of having a happy household at that point.”

Kush said a 2018 GVR survey showed about 50% of GVR members are dog owners, and the desire for a Green Valley park comes up a lot, even among people who don’t have dogs.

“We figure the more we talk about a dog park the more likely we are to have one,” she said. “We don't think a dog park is an entitlement and we really want to help.”

If the dog park is approved by the P&E Committee, it would be a GVR members-only park. Kush said the concept of a membership park has a lot of benefits.

"When people know each other they seem to come at the same time, then they look after each other,” she said. “If someone’s mobility is impaired, other people are cleaning up after the dog for them, making sure their dog’s ball gets thrown.”

“We think there's a lot to be said for a well-managed membership park where people can know who they are mixing with and what dogs, (and) have some kind of control over the environment, and that makes it safer and cleaner usually.”

The GVR Foundation supports a dog park and has been instrumental in getting the Canine Club going.

Foundation President Tim Stewart said he and fellow P&E Committee member Carol Lambert contacted dog owners about a club.

“When we are out talking with folks, they say, ‘Gee, we need a dog park.’ It’s something we hear repeatedly,” he said. “Carol, having a gorgeous dog, said, ‘Hey, I'll work with you on that. Let's see what we can do.'”

“It was always my contention that there was a massive need and there would be great enthusiasm for it. Dog people are very passionate about their dogs.”

Stewart said the Foundation’s part in the dog park will be funding efforts and helping to plan.

“We’re a partner and that's what we want to be,” he said. “We will work with staff to give them input. Once you identify a location for a park and what you need, you can do fundraising.”

The foundation has suggested an unused area by the pickleball courts at Canoa Ranch, a location Stewart said is ideal for the type of dog park they are looking for.

“I think it would work well there. It’s on the south side of Green Valley and we have nothing over there,” he said. “That's the place we recommended to GVR. They would have to do engineering but we’ve never heard it committed to any purpose, it’s not additional courts.”

He said the area already has certain infrastructure in place, such as water and restrooms, and does not intrude on homes. He also said the GVR Pickleball Club supports a dog park there.

It meets the main needs Kush sees for a Green Valley dog park — space to separate dogs of different sizes and types, clean water, level land for ADA accessibility and a convenient location for residents.

During the meeting, GVR members also brought up concerns and questions, including liability, location, cost and timing. Some questioned whether there were potential insurance liabilities due to the possibility of dog bites.

CEO Scott Sommers said that’s something they are still exploring the cost of with their insurance provider.

The original estimated budget presented for the project was $95,000. It has now gone up to as high as $270,000.

GVR Director Kathi Bachelor raised her concerns with the project’s timing and unforeseen costs during the meeting as an audience member.

Bachelor added that she didn’t want this project to be rushed when costs hadn’t been locked down.

Director Bart Hillyer, who also was in the audience, was skeptical of GVR taking on a dog park and listed several questions for the committee to consider.

“How many GVR members actually own dogs? How many GVR members use the dog parks in Sahuarita? I don't know the answer to that,” Hillyer said. “How many HOAs have dog park areas? I don't know the answer to that question either but I can tell you that my HOA does.”

Hillyer argued that a dog park would make more sense to be managed by a municipality or an HOA, rather than GVR.

“It seems to me that the first step ought to be a coordinated lobbying effort with GVR Foundation, the Greater Green Valley Community Foundation, the Canine Club and individual dog owners all lobby Pima County to have a park,” Hillyer said. “To me it just doesn't make much sense for GVR to have a dog park when it doesn't have any people parks.”

Sahuarita's two dog parks at are Quail Creek-Veterans Memorial Park and Anamax Park. Quail Creek and Rancho Sahuarita have private dog parks for residents.

The Canine Club and GVR Foundation said the county has no plans to bring a dog park to Green Valley, and the possibility of adding a dog park to the Canoa Hills Trail Park has been ruled out.

Kush believes safety concerns could easily be mitigated by the dog park etiquette class they plan to require of Canine Club members.

The committee voted to move forward with the dog park, collaborating with Canine Club members to determine amenities and location and then present a recommendation to the committee next month.

Kush is hopeful for the dog park and said the Canine Club will be considered for approval in the March meeting and hope to have a kick-off event in the fall.

The Canine Club will also unveil a website featuring local resources for dog owners soon.

Santa Cruz Valley Regional Hospital in Green Valley announced Friday it will close the doors permanently at noon June 30.

The decision comes less than a week after notifying 300 employees that there was a strong possibility it could cease operations by the end of summer.

CEO Steve Harris said the decision came after they were unable to secure staffing for emergency room services over the Fourth of July weekend.

On Monday, the 49-bed hospital triggered a WARN Act notice, a federal action required at least 60 days before a mass layoff or plant closure. The hospital will pay employees through Aug. 20, in accordance with the act.

The slide to the end started in early June, when Tucson Medical Center announced it would not pursue purchasing the hospital after considering it for seven months.

Hospital owner Lateral GV, an offshoot of California-based Lateral Investment Management, sold the hospital building and land last year to Broadstone, a real estate investment trust in New York. Officials at Lateral, which continued to operate the hospital, did not immediately answer requests for comment Friday. An official from Broadstone said they had no comment.

Nearby medical buildings and physicians clinics planned for Tubac and Nogales are not affected by the closure.

The closure will leave the Green Valley/Sahuarita area with one hospital. The 18-bed Northwest Medical Center Sahuarita opened at Interstate 19 and Sahuarita Road in 2020.

The Sahuarita hospital released a statement Friday that read, in part, “Closing a hospital is never an easy decision, and we acknowledge and respect the team at Santa Cruz Valley Regional Hospital for the care they have provided to the community. Northwest Medical Center Sahuarita is strong, and we are continuously evaluating additional ways we can serve the community. We believe that it's important for patients to have access to healthcare close to home, and we will continue to provide that care locally.”

Northwest officials did not specifically address whether they would increase care options or open more beds in Sahuarita as a result of the Green Valley closure.

“It’s been a long, painful, agonizing process basically since day one,” Christy said. “It kind of rocks you when all of the sudden you realize they expended every avenue and every pathway to try to stay open and there’s just nothing left.”

Christy said the hospital would be a tough sell to investors given its history of financial instability.

Sue Koeller said she’d gone to the Green Valley hospital once as a patient.

“The only time I went out there I needed an MRI and the machine was broken,” she said. They gave her a CAT scan; she had to get an MRI elsewhere.

Even so, Koeller sees a specialist who works out of the hospital and said the closure will have an adverse impact on the area.

A broken ankle sent Judy Moulton to hospital’s emergency room. She was told she needed surgery, but the appointment they scheduled her for in Tucson was set for just 15 minutes after her discharge in Green Valley.

“That was several years ago and they’ve been through a lot of ups and downs,” she said. “I am sad to see it close. It seems like it’s been in trouble since day one.”

“Tucson is available,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s inconvenient.”

Santa Cruz opened as Green Valley Hospital in May 2015, financed through the U.S. government’s EV-5 Investor Visa program.

It filed for bankruptcy in 2017, and was purchased by Lateral, the lone bidder in a deal finalized by the courts in July 2018. Shortly thereafter, Northwest Healthcare announced an 18-bed hospital in Sahuarita, nine miles north.

IRS-certified volunteers are ready to assist residents in the Sahuarita/Green Valley area with their income tax preparation and e-filing needs at four locations.The operations will differ slightly at each location.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program will operate sites at St. Francis-In-The-Valley Episcopal Church and the Sahuarita Food Bank. AARP Tax-Aide will operate a tax site at La Posada. All East Center appointments are taken.

Tax preparers in both programs go through a rigorous training and certification process, then must pass IRS certification tests before they can meet with clients. The difference between the two tax programs is their primary customer focus.

•VITA focuses on younger families that may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit and other beneficial IRS programs.

•AARP Tax-Aide focuses on seniors aged 50 and above.

But both programs will prepare and e-file tax returns for anyone who falls within the guidelines determined by the IRS. Neither program can prepare business returns, but many self-employed individuals can utilize the free tax services. Due to Arizona being a community property state, neither program can prepare Married Filing Separately tax returns. Neither program can prepare returns containing farm income. VITA has income restrictions, AARP does not.

Due to continuing COVID issues, the tax preparation process at each site will involve minimum person-to-person contact. Face masks are required for all interactions between volunteers and clients, unless posted otherwise.

Anyone who feels ill, has been in recent contact with someone with COVID-19, or has tested Positive for COVID within the previous five days should not come to any of the Green Valley tax sites until they feel better or test negative. This health precaution applies to both clients and volunteers.

GVR East Center, 7 S. Abrego Drive, Green Valley: ALL APPOINTMENTS TAKEN.

St. Francis-In-The-Valley Episcopal Church, 600 S. La Canada, Green Valley: Curbside service only (no appointments), at the rear of the church. This tax site will see clients every Monday, noon to 1:30, and Friday, 9:30-11 a.m., beginning Feb. 4 and ending April 18. Clients will complete an IRS intake sheet and VITA consent forms, then leave that paperwork and their tax documents with a volunteer at their appointment time. The documents will be given to a counselor for preparation of the tax return, then passed on to another counselor for quality review. If any interview questions arise, the preparer or reviewer will contact the client at the phone number listed on their intake sheet. When the tax return is complete, the client(s) will be notified and asked to return to the site to review the completed tax return. Completed tax returns will be e-filed with the IRS and the applicable state(s). For married couples, only one member can be present when completing the initial paperwork, as a COVID precaution. When the tax return is completed, both members need to sign the final paperwork. For further information on this tax site, contact Pat Murphy at 520-329-3818.

Sahuarita Food Bank, at Good Shepherd United Church of Christ Community Resource Center, 17750 S La Canada Drive, Sahuarita: Curbside service only, until the COVID situation subsides. The site will be open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 9-11 a.m., beginning Feb 1 and ending April 13. Volunteers will meet taxpayers in the parking lot with the required paperwork. Clients will complete the forms in their vehicles and hand them over to a volunteer for review. Tax counselors will prepare and review each return over the next few days, and clients will be called when it’s time to review and sign for their completed return(s). The site will also be open on Thursdays from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. for same-day service, beginning Feb. 3 and ending April 14. The drop-off process will be the same as described above, and clients will be called when their return(s) are completed. If COVID conditions subside, tax counselors may resume face-to-face preparation before the end of the tax season.

La Posada Recreation Building, 685 S La Posada Circle: This is Green Valley’s AARP tax site. It runs Wednesdays and Fridays, beginning Feb. 2 and ending April 15. All dropped off tax return information will be accepted by the site via appointment only. The only state counselors receive training in is Arizona; tax returns for other states cannot be prepared. Appointments can be scheduling, beginning Jan. 18, by accessing an online scheduling program at appt.link/gv-laposada-taxaide. Clients can select from multiple appointment choices, and they will get a confirmation e-mail after their selection is finalized. Clients without computer access and a valid e-mail address may call 520-222-7652. Please leave a voice message, as necessary. Tax preparation procedures will be similar to those described earlier for St.-Francis-in-the-Valley. Clients may pick up the necessary tax preparation paperwork at Valley Assistance Services, 3950 S. Camino Heroe (in The Springs development), beginning Jan. 25.

Procedures above are all based on the most recent COVID-19 restrictions. If those restrictions change, tax site procedures could also change. Our primary goal is to keep everyone safe during this pandemic. The final day for this year’s tax filing season is April 18. For further information, contact Mark Haskoe at 520-300-6407.

His final mission was certainly the most dangerous and, perhaps, the most life-changing. And Green Valley played a part in it.

My brother Pat returns to Arizona from Ukraine on Thursday to consider his next move after spending a total of three months there since the war broke out Feb. 24.

Less than a week before his trip home he set out on a mission — as he calls them — and the entire family was along for the ride via WhatsApp, which keeps us all connected in real time through texting. Here’s how it played out.

“EXTREMELY URGENT: Driver and vehicle needed for immediate extraction of very sick little girl with cancer tumor in head… The child cannot sit up and needs to be able to lay down in the vehicle. This is an EXTREMELY urgent case…”

An ambulance and several others declined to go because the girl's village was being shelled and curfew in eastern Ukraine near the front is strict — if you're out after hours, anything could happen.

Pat thought about it — probably not for very long — and texted us: “This might be my purpose."

He told the dispatchers he would go, along with Graham, his 20-year-old sidekick from Virginia who’d been with him for weeks.

We would later learn that a large group of volunteers in the dispatch chat immediately tried to talk him out of it. The child was in a village outside Kharkiv where the pitted roads, unstable military situation and bombs going off indiscriminately rendered it a near impossible task.

“We actually had some really tough arguments with many,” Pat wrote to us. “Eventually, there were a few who sent us personal messages telling us they understood why we went, but there were many who kept telling us that 4 dead people wouldn't bring back one.”

The dispatchers sent Pat a photo of the child — actually, a young woman of 20 — to brace him for what he’d be dealing with. A cancerous tumor had more than doubled the size of her head. Pat said when they arrived, it was actually far worse. The woman weighed about 60 pounds, skin and bones. Her name is Viktoria.

Just before deciding to go, Pat had dropped off a load of child-sized quilts at an orphanage. They were handmade by a group of women from Desert Hills Lutheran Church in Green Valley. One of his early texts after arriving in Viktoria's village unveils what we call a God moment:

“She can't breath, she can't hold her head up. She can't eat. She is skinny as a rail. Sleeping means suffocating. We have a paramedic on the phone constantly, we were told originally one was riding with us, but that info was wrong,” he wrote. “God told me to hold on to 5 of the quilts Danny's ladies sent and it was a life saver. They were perfect to make a laying down place for her and to keep her warm.”

Then they started the slow, frustrating, arduous drive out of eastern Ukraine. Pat said they couldn’t go over 10 mph the first few hours because of the awful roads. They hadn’t slept in a day, and had to stop every hour so Viktoria’s mother could clean out her mouth to allow her to breath. Choking to death was a very real possibility. All the while, missiles flew overhead.

Pat points out more challenges on the journey to and from eastern Ukraine:

“The checkpoints out this far east are beyond strict at curfew. We had machine guns pointed at us each time we were stopped and searched. But each time, the soldiers told us how sorry they were but had to do their jobs. They said, 'We are human and we wish you luck on your mission.' This was before we got to her. Now, they look in the window, jump away and wave us on.”

Along the way, Pat kept us informed of what was happening, hour by hour. We prayed, we offered ideas, we encouraged him. We knew much of this Pat had to maneuver alone. How could we possibly understand what he was going through from 6,000 miles away? But what we all shared at times was a sense of despair. And, as we had all along, anger at this damned, meaningless war.

About 7 p.m. Friday, Pat told us he had 14 hours to go “just to meet a real ambulance.” Then he said it might be closer to 20, which turned out to be accurate.

“Every time I hit a bump she groans in pain and it reminds me of how I have no right to ever complain again about my own comfort.”

They were in constant contact with a paramedic team during the ride.

“The hardest part is looking at her mother’s face knowing that her pain of not being able to stop her daughter’s pain is just as real and painful.”

At one point they passed a village that, three hours later, was hit by 24 missiles. Pat got a firsthand report on the damage from somebody he knows in a nearby town.

“My house shook terribly,” she wrote to him. “It was very scary.”

Along the way, an ambulance team agreed to meet them at a warehouse in Lviv and to take Viktoria to Berlin.

“After we got her in the ambulance, her mom started to cry so hard,” Pat wrote. “I honestly don’t know what to think… I don’t know if there is any hope. My guess is no. I hope I am wrong.”

He also wrote, “Those quilts were a huge help to support her head and keep her warm. Her mom says they will keep them forever.”

Hours later, Pat gave us a couple of updates.

“I just found out that the warehouse that we met the ambulance at last night was blown up with missiles this morning here in Lviv.”

He also said he had a request from officials to stay in Ukraine longer to help evacuate people from the east, and he was strongly considering it. A couple of days later, he decided it was time to come home for a while. We all think he made the right decision. He wasn’t so sure.

“I am going to have these feelings of abandoning people,” he wrote.

Our family reminded him of the hundreds of people he’d helped, how he had conducted himself with honor, made good decisions, and knew when to move forward and when to pause. All of that kept him useful and alive.

“There will never be a good time to leave,” he eventually conceded.

On Tuesday morning, we asked if there were any updates on Viktoria. Pat told us he'd met some volunteers in Lviv. He was putting some equipment into his donated bright-yellow van when a couple of volunteer drivers approached and said, ‘Is this the famous yellow submarine?! OMG, dude, you’re a legend! We’ve been talking about you for days now! You saved Viktoria!'”

They told him they wanted to form a team with him when Pat returns to Ukraine. Then they showed him a video of Viktoria being delivered to a Berlin hospital in the ambulance, then photos of her in a hospital bed, looking rested and well cared for. She has a very long road ahead, but she just might make it.

— Dan Shearer

This week marks one month since Green Valley resident Johnnie Huff went missing from his Pueblo Estates home, and the case is still turning up more questions than answers.

Huff, 71, was last seen on Jan. 10 around 10 p.m. near his home on the 200 block of West Palma Drive wearing a gray shirt and jeans.

Lt. Paul Hill, commander of the Green Valley substation of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, said two detectives have been assigned to the case but as of Friday, still had no updates.

“They’re still working the case and have, for lack of a better term, a lot of irons in the fire and they’re currently waiting on results from some of the things they’re looking into, but no specifics and no updates,” Hill said.

“We’ve disseminated a lot more pictures to a lot of places in town, and the family is still really involved which is good, but really just nothing new has come up. It’s frustrating because it’s just kind of a weird case,” he said.

Friends, family, neighbors and even strangers have rallied around search efforts to find Huff over the past few weeks, looking through washes and remote desert areas for any sign of where he might be.

Chris Natalini, a hiker and long-distance runner from Amado, has personally logged more than 60 miles on foot in her own search for Huff alongside her dog and other volunteers.

“We truly appreciate everyone that helps search and is spreading the word,” Natalini wrote in a post on the Nextdoor group, “Let’s Find Johnnie Huff.”

“We’re doing our best and I believe every little clue can lead us closer to bringing Mr. Huff home,” she wrote.

Last month, a local UPS store helped volunteers print hundreds of copies of posters with Johnnie Huff’s image, free of charge. Store owner Bill Berk said it was the least they could do.

“We’re a part of this community here, and we thought it was just a small thing we could do to help out,” he said.

Volunteers have spent several evenings distributing flyers and posters around Green Valley, all the while still running into people who had no idea he was missing or believed he was already found, Natalini said.

Like others still searching for answers, they are not giving up hope, Natalini said, but acknowledged that “every day that passes makes this harder to solve.”

Anyone with information on Johnnie Huff’s whereabouts is encouraged to call 911. Huff is described as 5-foot-11 inches, approximately 171 pounds and has early stages of memory loss, according to a PCSD spokesman.