Queen Creek Mayor Julia Wheatley had long planned to create a youth advisory council where teens could give direction to the town on the issues that are important to them. That plan has taken on a new urgency with the rise in youth violence in the southeast Valley.
That youth violence hit home on Oct. 28, when 16-year-old Combs High School student Preston Lord was severely beaten during a house party in Queen Creek. Lord died two days later. At almost every council meeting since, Wheatley has called for justice for Lord, and condemned youth violence.
