A 2021 Anthem area high school graduate received a prestigious honor June 17 for his work with the Civil Air Patrol, the Arizona Wing of the group announced. Arizona’s Civil Air Patrol …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
A 2021 Anthem area high school graduate received a prestigious honor June 17 for his work with the Civil Air Patrol, the Arizona Wing of the group announced.
Arizona’s Civil Air Patrol announced Weiss O’Connor of Anthem, a cadet colonel, was awarded the General Carl A. Spaatz Award — the highest honor a cadet can receive.
O’Connor, a 2021 graduate of Boulder Creek High School in Anthem, is a member of the Civil Air Patrol’s Deer Valley Composite Squadron in Phoenix. He joined CAP in 2016. He became cadet commander at the Deer Valley squadron last February.
On June 23, he will report to Colorado Springs as a member of the class of 2025 at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
“Working with cadets, watching them develop their leadership skills, seeing them choose to continue to serve in the military as Col. O’Connor will do — it just doesn’t get much better than that,” said Arizona Wing Commander Col. Rob Pinckard. “CAP cadets like Col. O’Connor give me hope for the future of our country.”
The award is presented to cadets who have demonstrated excellence in leadership, character, fitness, and aerospace education. Cadets qualify for this prestigious award after devoting an average of five years to progress through 16 achievements in the CAP Cadet Program.
Brent Ruffner Lead News Reporter | Daily Independent @AzNewsmedia
Journalism has fascinated Brent Ruffner since junior high school.
Since 2001, his stories have been published in newspapers from the Albuquerque to the Arizona and he has always had a knack for making sure his facts are right and his words are to the point.
Growing up, Brent watched as sports reporters covered his beloved Phoenix Suns, a team he followed since Charles Barkley first arrived in Phoenix via trade in 1992. Sports reporting was a dream back then.
But after gaining some writing experience, Brent found a love for news instead of covering different types of sports. In 2008, he moved to New Mexico and covered crime, schools and city beats all while holding elected officials accountable.
He covered stories that ranged from a DEA drug bust gone bad to an award-winning story on school lunches.
In Arizona, Brent was a freelance writer who covered everything from the importance of citrus in the state to Esteban owning a store in downtown Prescott.
Brent is a 2007 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.