Daily Archives: June 20, 2013

Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee plants in St. John’s garden

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L-R: Youth Advisory Committee Chair Sylvia Cardenas, Sergio Cardenas, Vice-Chair Cheyenne Lienhard, Juanita Cardenas and Ethan Reinarz.

L-R: Youth Advisory Committee Chair Sylvia Cardenas, Sergio Cardenas, Vice-Chair Cheyenne Lienhard, Juanita Cardenas and Ethan Reinarz.

WILLIAMS—Members of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee planted vegetables and flowers in the St. John’s Episcopal Church community garden.

The Chair of the advisory committee, Sylvia Cardenas, noted that two other members will be helping to water their plot though they were unable to make it to plant today. Those members are Cortney Fritsinger and Devin McNelly.

High school Sophomores through Seniors are welcome to join the committee. They may also attend the meetings held on the second Monday of each month to voice their opinion to the Mayor.

Of the members pictured here, all have graduated except Sergio. Clint Mann is the only youth to recently apply for a position on the council. They are seeking new members to apply to replace the members who go out on July 1st.

Coconino County Sheriff’s Office and the Flagstaff Police Department Offer Woods Watch Training and Orientation

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FLAGSTAFF—As Coconino County has moved into heightened fire danger season and into greater fire related restrictions, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Flagstaff Police Department, and the US Forest Service are offering “Woods Watch” training and orientation. This volunteer program is similar to Neighborhood Watch and is of vital importance in residential areas that interface with forested land. Volunteers are asked to watch for people accessing closed areas of the forest and for people who are using fire carelessly or against current fire restrictions. These volunteers are trained to be especially vigilant for activity that may be occurring on forested lands in the Flagstaff City limits, unincorporated areas of Coconino County, and on US Forest Service land.

Woods Watch has been very successful in years past. In 2002, approximately 300 volunteers attended the training and assisted Northern Arizona law enforcement officers in watching access points to the forest. Teams of volunteers were trained in the greater Flagstaff area, Mormon Lake, Munds Park and other unincorporated areas of Coconino County. The additional sets of eyes on our community helped keep unlawful fire activity under check. With the extremely dry and windy conditions our community experiences, a fire start may spread very quickly endangering lives and property.

This year, we are offering Woods Watch re-certification and new volunteer training on Friday, June 28, 2013 at 6:00 pm at the Law Enforcement Administration Facility located at 911 E. Sawmill Rd. Citizens who have attended this training in previous years are asked to attend again as a review and to receive updated information. Coconino County Sheriff’s Office also will be providing Woods Watch training to its established volunteer groups of Search and Rescue, existing Neighborhood Watch Programs, and CERT during their regular meetings. The training takes approximately one hour.

The Woods Watch Program area a commitment to join local law enforcement officers with community members to keep our communities and our forests beautiful, safe and free of wild land fires.