Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page C001

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012 SECTION Editor: Hipolito R. Corella 520-573-4101 metroazstarnet.com 0V Hospital to pay patient $5M Fall left him paraplegic; such judgments aren't typically made public By Stephanie Innes ARIZONA DAILY STAR Mike Beatty walked out of Oro Valley Hospital alone, on morphine, in the middle of a December night. As the 43-year-old father of two made his way along a dark appeal and agreed to a $5 million judgment. Beatty agreed, too, provided the hospital accept responsibility and that the judgment be public. "We are pleased to have reached a resolution in this case from 2007," See HOSPITAL, C6 On StarNet: Find more science, technology and health stories at azstarnet.comnewsscience road near the hospital, he saw a car go by.

Thinking it was his wife, he walked to catch her. With no idea that he was on a bridge, he fell more than 15 feet into a wash, where he lay injured for hours until a passer-by heard his cries for help. Beatty, now paralyzed from the fall, hopes the $5 million the hospital is paying him will result in improved patient safety. The $5 million judgment against the hospital, recorded in Pima County Superior Court last month, followed a 2011 trial in which a jury found the hospital responsible for Beatty's injury. The case is unusual because most medical lawsuits involving patient safety do not result in a public payout.

Beatty's Tucson attorney, Dev Sethi, had argued that Oro Valley Hospital officials were negligent for allowing Beatty to leave the emergency room alone when he was under the influence of a narcotic drug. Sethi says it's a hospital's obligation to ensure a patient impaired by medication has someone with them when they leave. After a jury found the hospital liable last year, a second trial to determine the amount of damages was scheduled to begin this summer. But before the second trial, the hospital waived its right to an This nana served country, family before passing at 91 New US Attorney Leonardo seeks to buff office's image ByTim Steller ARIZONA DAILY STAR John Leonardo knows the reputation of the U.S. Attorney's Office is tarnished.

Otherwise, he might not be there. Leonardo, who was a federal prosecutor for 20 years before becoming a judge in 1993, retired from Pima County Superi A variety of incidents in recent years have dragged down that level of respect, most recently Operation Fast and Furious. That gun -trafficking investigation began in Phoenix in 2009 and ended up allowing hundreds of weapons to flow across the border into Mexico, in part because of decisions by the lead prosecutor on the case. Former U.S. Attor 1 or Court in February only to have President Obama nominate him in March as the top federal prosecutor in Arizona.

After Senate confirmation in June, he took office in early July. ney Dennis Burke resigned in August 2011 as a result of his actions in the aftermath of the operation, which Leonardo would not discuss in detail in the interview. But before that oper "I can't really think John Leonardo ation and since, a series of controversies has plagued the office. Former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton resigned in early 2007, one of a group of federal prosecutors forced out over differences with Bush administration officials.

That set in motion See LEONARDO, C5 of another job I would have come out of retirement for," Leonardo said in an interview with the Star this month. "I have no further ambitions beyond this. I only seek to return this office to the historical position of respect that I think it's had and earned in Arizona and in the country." Like so many nanas in this town, Naya Ortiz was de -voted to her family and a devout Catholic. She was a housewife and a great cook. In her later years, when she couldn't remember dates or faces or told jokes over and over, she would still color her hair to look a little younger.

Again, just like so many nanas in this town. But here's the twist in this story: She was also a parachute mechanic in the Women's Army Corps during World War II, which meant sometimes she found herself doing a little skydiving to test things out. She was one of the few Mexican-American women from Tucson to serve as a WAC and she glided through a man's world gracefully (her mechanic certification from the Army uses the adjective "When the guys saw her packing their chutes, and they got a little nervous," Mike Ortiz, her adult son told me last week. "She would say, 'Don't worry. If it doesn't work, you can bring it That was typical Naya.

Always quick with a joke dirty or clean. "She was pretty outrageous, actually," Pat Ortiz, Naya's daughter, said. She was born in Tucson in 1921. Her parents had come here from Mexico back when that kind of thing was no big deal. She grew up in Barrio Anita, and as a kid she loved to play with frogs down in an irrigation ditch.

Water flowed during those years. When she was a teenager, her father began clearing land and planting orchards for Rancho Nezhone Navajo for beautiful ranch on the northwest side. The ranch was the creation of Leonie Boutall, a wealthy Southern woman who moved to Tucson to help bronchial troubles. Eventually Naya Ortiz's family, there were 10 children, moved into two bungalows on the property. It was easier to stay there than drive in from Barrio Anita for work.

At the ranch, she met celebrities like Kate Smith and Barbara Stanwyck. She also looked after Boutall's nieces and often traveled across the country. "I was like a nanny to them," Naya Ortiz told the Star's Bonnie Henry in 19 93. Wf v- Fewer polling stations for Tuesday's primary COURTESYOFPAT AND MICHAEL ORTIZ Naya Ortiz served in the Women's Army Corps between 1943 and 1945. She was stationed at Luke Air Force Base as a parachute mechanic.

"My nana was not happy about that," Pat Ortiz said. "Mexican-American women just didn't do that in those times." She served from 1943 to 1945, heading to Iowa for training before getting stationed at Luke Air Force Base where she made parachutes. Many of the women she served with were from back East "She was kind of like the local tour guide," Mike Ortiz said. After the war came marriage and family. But the military was always a part of family life.

Her husband, Ygnacio Ortiz, had served in World War II; and her sons later served in the military as well. In recent years, dementia took So if you are voting in person, it's vital to know where to go By Brady McCombs ARIZONA DAILY STAR The crush of contenders for federal, state and county elected offices will be trimmed down on Tuesday in this year's primary election. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. for voters who want to cast a ballot at a polling place, or for those who need to drop off an early ballot they haven't mailed.

Pima County has reduced the number of polling places this year by nearly one -third, so don't assume you can go to the same place you did two years ago. All voters should have already received a sample ballot showing their polling place, but if you still don't know, go to www.pima.govelections and click on "Where to vote The reduction in polling places is a result of the rapid rise in early voting, which has exploded over the last 14 years. More than 75 percent of votes are now cast by early ballots in Pima County elections compared with about 25 percent in 1998. You can also call 724-4330 for information on polling locations or ID requirements. See VOTE, C3 Ml' J.

Josh Brodesky She had fond memories of the ranch, which had a magical feel with monkeys and parrots in the trees. "There were peacocks and tame deer we could go feed," she said. When World War II came, Naya Ortiz and her sister Mary Clark joined the Women's Army Corps on a whim. They were walking downtown when a recruiter stopped them, and they went for it See BRODESKY, C6 Catalina Sky Survey keeps watch for threats to Earth from afar I making improvements in its equipment to do so, with NASA funding boosted from $4.5 million a year to about $20 million. NASA also wants the survey to find potential targets for a future human mission to an asteroid.

The data collected by the survey is proving useful to its partners at Cal-tech, who have mined it to find other transient objects in the night sky including 1,380 exploding stars known as supernovae. The hunt for asteroids that might impact Earth was pioneered by astro-geologist Eugene Shoemaker in the 1970s at Palomar Mountain, back when comparing film images was the only way to spot moving objects. University of Arizona astronomers Tom Gehrels and Robert McMillan first used digital cameras and computers to search for near-Earth objects from Kitt Peak when they created the Spacewatch program in 1980. Sources: NASA, Arizona Daily Star archives, Steve Larson On StarNet: Covering topics from the cosmos to the invisible world of nanotechnology: the Scientific Bent blogat azstarnet.com scientificbent The Arizona Daily Star's Centennial salute to science in Arizona runs all summer. Each day for 100 days, we'll record a milestone in the state's scientific history.

By Tom Beal ARIZONA DAILY STAR It was a first for science when astronomer Rich Kowalski spotted a little asteroid from a Catalina Sky Survey telescope on Mount Lemmon less than 24 hours before it exploded in the atmosphere over Sudan on Oct. 7, 2008. The survey, which operates two telescopes in the Santa Catalina Mountains and a third in Australia, wasn't set up to look for objects that small (about 6 feet long). NASA's Near Earth Object Program funded it originally to look for objects one kilometer (five -eighths of a mile) or larger in diameter that would have global consequences if they hit Earth. "That threat has been retired," said Steve Larson of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Lab, who is principal investigator for the survey.

JEFFRY SCOTT ARIZONA DAILY STAR 2007 This 60-inch telescope on Mount Lemmon is one of two in the Santa Catalina Mountains that are part of the Catalina Sky Survey. There is a third in Australia. "We know of no object that big on a collision course with Earth to a better than 96 or 97 percent probability." The larger objects were found and their orbits plotted by a number of pro grams, with Catalina Sky Survey finding about 70 percent of them. Now Congress and NASA have asked the sky watchers to look for objects as small as 140 meters, and the survey is.