Monthly Archives: September 2013

From the Bench: Williams Justice Court Employee spotlight

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krombeem-20130412 009Ruth Alvarado has worked with us at the Williams Justice Court for over seven years now. Ruth is a Justice Court Specialist and her areas of responsibility include the criminal case load for the justice and municipal courts, plus a handful of other tasks as well. Ruth is the clerk who works behind the scenes and in the courtroom to ensure our criminal cases and all motions and activities associated with those cases are properly calendared and scheduled to the Court’s required timelines. That is no easy task considering we typically have over 400 criminal cases a year in both courts and scheduling those cases involves a lot of correspondence with the attorneys and parties involved. Ruth has attended the Coconino County Supervisor Academy so she regularly helps out with managing the court when Court Manager Jennifer Carter is absent. Ruth’s bi-lingual skills come in handy with our court’s Spanish speaking customers. We are thankful Ruth is able to provide those and all the other services she offers our court and customers. We are also very thankful that Ruth and her husband Pascual, along with their one and a half year old son Zuri, have decided and continued to make Williams their home.

Speaking of employees, Williams Justice Court Specialist Carla Dent was recently promoted from Administrative Specialist to Justice Court Specialist. This promotion was the result of the selection process to replace Bonnie Herbert, who is retiring later this month. We are saddened to see Bonnie retire but are excited to see Carla promoted into this position. Carla’s new responsibilities will include being responsible for the Justice Court’s Civil case load and the financial responsibilities and reports for both courts. Please join us in congratulating Carla for her promotion!

The Williams Justice and City Courts have consolidated their phone lines to improve customer service and reduce operational costs. The new number is (928) 679-7698 and the new FAX line is (928) 679-7688.

Both courts will be closed on October 25th, 2013, for our annual staff retreat. The retreat is an opportunity we look forward to for our staff to discuss plans for the future, ideas, and changes relevant to the administration of our courts. Information and instructions will be available and posted at the court for customers appearing for emergency orders and any other critical services that are needed that day.

Two neighborhood watch meetings scheduled for this week

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Flagstaff––Coconino County Sheriff, Bill Pribil and Coconino County Supervisor Liz Archuleta invite residents of the Timberline and Fernwood communities to the monthly Neighborhood Watch meeting on Tuesday, October 1, 2013. The meeting will be held from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at Summit Fire Station 33, located at 6050 Firehouse Lane, off of North Highway 89.

Judy Weiss who is the Director of the Coconino County Parks and Recreation Department will give an update on Peaks View Park. Dave Ramos, Public Safety and Health Department Chairperson and Gayle Benton, Director of Human Resources for Coconino Community College will give an update on recent programs.

District 4 Supervisor Mandy Metzger will join Sheriff Pribil to speak to residents of the Doney Park community to attend the monthly Neighborhood Watch meeting on Thursday, October 3, 2013. The meeting will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Cromer School, located at 7150 E. Silver Saddle Road.

Coconino County Sheriff Bill Pribil will be at the meeting to encourage continued neighborhood participation and to share information. Doney Park Community Deputies will be available to answer questions and provide support to this partnership between law abiding citizens, law enforcement and county government. District 4 Supervisor Mandy Metzger will be present to share information from Coconino County Government.

At the request of Neighborhood Watch participants, Shelly Shepherd who is the Information and Education Program Manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department will speak about laws pertaining to hunting and will also talk about the dangers of interacting with wild animals in their natural habitat.

AMAC supports democrat elder abuse protection bill

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The Association of Mature American Citizens organization issued a letter of support to Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) for his bill, H.R. 3090, the Elder Protection and Abuse Prevention Act of 2013. Arizona democrats Ron Barber and Raul Grijalva—of Arizona’s 2nd and 3rd districts respectively—are among 43 co-sponsors of the bill.

Andrew Mangione, on the AMAC web site, wrote, “This piece of legislation sheds light on elder abuse and institutes a number of legal protective measures to ensure that incidents of abuse are properly reported and reduced nationwide. To put an end to these injustices, H.R. 3090 strengthens the definitions of elder abuse, neglect, and elder justice and defines the terms financial exploitation and adult protective services for the first time in the Older Americans Act (OAA) of 1965.”

H.R. 3090 seeks to strengthen the definitions of abuse in Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, section of the United States Code. It also provides funding for various government and private agencies in the area of elder abuse neglect and financial exploitation.

AMAC is a conservative alternate group to AARP.

Swedes develop drug to combat bee deaths

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20110505-028Researchers in Sweden said Friday they had developed a new medicine to protect bees from diseases that kill entire populations of the insect in the US and Europe.

A team of microbiologists at Lund University have patented the treatment, known as SymBeeotic — made from lactic acid bacteria from the stomachs of healthy bees — which they described as a major “boost” to bees’ immune system and are hopeful that it could slow down the rate at which bees are dying.

“The bacteria in this product is active against both American and European foulbrood disease,” Dr Alejandra Vasquez, who co-developed the product, told AFP. Foulbrood is the fatal bacterial disease which threatens bees.

“We hope that beekeepers will see this as a good preventative medicine so that they can avoid using antibiotics.”

Read more at The Local – Sweden

North County Health Care Health Fair and Open House this Saturday

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WILLIAMS—The North County HealthCare clinic in Williams will hold a Health Fair and Open House this Saturday the 29th between 8 am and 12 pm. The clinic is located at 301 South 7th Street. The event includes a tour of the clinic, a raffle, health information and more.

There will be a cholesterol screening (if you fast for 10 hours prior), blood pressure and glucose checks and cancer screening programs.

Community agencies will be represented for information and assistance. You can call 928-635-4441 for more information.

Arizona Firearms and Collectibles gun show this weekend

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FLAGSTAFF—The Arizona Collectibles and Firearms gun show will be held this Saturday and Sunday the 21st and 22nd at the Coconino County Fairgrounds on Ft. Tuthill loop. The show times are from 9 am to 5 pm and 9 am to 4 pm respectively. The cost to enter the show is $7 for one day and $10 for both days. Look for a $2 discount coupon. Gun show dealers and purchasers are reminded that they are obligated to follow all applicable laws.

The Shocking Ingredients In Beer

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I have to confess, I’m not a beer drinker, but there’s someone in my household that loves it, so I had to figure out the truth. Is beer really healthy? Why are the ingredients not listed on the label? Which brands can we trust? Which brands are trying to slowly poison us with cheap and harmful ingredients? All of these questions were going through my head at once at lightning speed. So a year ago, I started to research what was really in beer and after questioning several beer companies, reading books about food science, and talking to experts, the information I discovered was downright shocking.

I see it all the time. Someone who eats organic, makes the right choices at the grocery store, is fit and lives an extraordinarily healthy lifestyle but then drinks beer like it is going out of style.

Caring about what you eat doesn’t necessarily translate into caring about what you drink and this is a HUGE MISTAKE.

Before we get into what exactly is in beer that you should be worried about, let’s talk about how body reacts to alcohol in general.

Read more by the Food Babe

Aeroscraft – Mega Airship Back in the air in Tustin, California

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aeroscraft_silver650Two days after receiving experimental airworthiness certification from the Federal Aviation Administration Aeros Corp. began flight-testing the Aeroscraft airship. For safety, the current flights are tethered, and, according to John Kiehle, communications director at Aeros, untethered flights are expected to follow within few weeks. Francis Govers of Gizmag reports.

The Aeroscraft half scale prototype is 266 ft (79 m) long and 97 ft (29.5m) wide. The final design is expected to be more than 400 feet (121m) long and be able to lift a cargo weight of 66 tons. The prototype is powered by three swiveling engines – two on the sides and one in the back – that provide both lift and thrust to lift the airship into the air and propel it forward. The rear engine gives control at low airspeeds by pushing the tail around, side to side or up and down. Two sets of wing-like control surfaces are mounted fore and aft, and two large rudders push up vertically from the tail end. These aerodynamic surfaces will be used at higher speeds (above 20 mph / 30 kph).

Read more at Defense Update

Man Seriously Injured By Rock Slide

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rock-slide-01

Photos courtesy of Coconino County Sheriff

FLAGSTAFF—A twenty seven year-old man of the Phoenix area was crushed and trapped by a large boulder weighing more than thirty tons that slid down the mountain side. He was standing on Elden Lookout Road attempting to move another large boulder that had previously fallen into the road.

On Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at about 7:23 am the Coconino County Sheriff’ Office received the report of a man that was crushed by a rock slide on the Mount Elden Lookout Road located approximately 3.3 miles up from the bottom of the mountain. Dispatch immediately sent first responders from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, the Summit Fire Department and Guardian Medical Transport. The Arizona Department of Public Safety Air Rescue Helicopter was placed on a standby status pending the arrival of emergency personnel who would assess the conditions and determine if a safe landing zone was available.

rock-slide-02The first to arrive were a Sheriff’s Office patrol Sergeant and Corporal. They observed two very large boulders blocking the road and learned that the four men the victim was traveling with removed him from underneath the boulder. The victim’s legs and pelvic area appeared to have been crushed and severely injured by the weight of the boulder. Due to the condition of the road the responding ambulance and fire truck were not able to drive to the victim’s location. A Sheriff’s Sergeant and a Guardian Battalion Chief who were both operating four wheel drive vehicles were able to drive additional rescue personnel to the scene. A Search and Rescue Coordinator was not able to identify a safe landing zone for air transportation. The victim was prepared for transport and placed in the rear of a Sheriff’s Commander’s assigned SUV and driven to the waiting ambulance, at which point the patient was transferred to the ambulance and transported to the Flagstaff Medical Center.

Investigators learned that the men were from the Phoenix area and were headed up the mountain with the intent of working on one of the radio towers.

The Coconino National Forest has closed Elden Lookout Road and may be temporarily closing other trails and areas affected by the recent rains. Current conditions can be found on their website at www.fs.usda.gov/coconino.

Rainy days ahead

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The long-range forecast shows rain through Wednesday for the Williams area.

Rain is expected through tonight with an 80% chance for rain tomorrow. It drops to 60% Tuesday dropping again to 50% on Wednesday. While this is likely to change, Thursday through next weekend the weather service shows a chance of thundershowers.

Please make sure that you take appropriate precautions such as reducing speed and adding extra time to get where you are going.