Monthly Archives: April 2015

Habitat for Humanity Grand Opry Night This Friday

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grand-opryWILLIAMS – Habitat for Humanity will hold their annual Grand Opry Night fundraiser this Friday, April 10 starting at 6:30 p.m. The event will be held at the Williams Rodeo Barn on Rodeo Road. Tickets may be purchased at the door.

The music will be provided by the William Opry Band and the event features live and silent auctions, raffles, door prizes and more. Hot dogs, soda and water will also be available.

The cost is $3 for students and seniors, $6 per adult or $15 for a family of 4 or more.

The proceeds benefit the Williams Area Habitat for Humanity. For more information call (928)635-4393.

POW remembrance day this Thursday

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pow-mia-banner-2Arizona Revised Statute 1-301 designates the April 9 as Prisoners of War Remembrance day. This is not a legal holiday.

The law further declares that the governor make a proclamation to “…commemorate the sacrifices of men and women who suffered captivity in foreign lands while in the service of our country.”

It further requires that the governor urge teachers and students of the schools of this State observe this day with appropriate exercises and encourage citizens to contemplate the plight of Americans who have been held captive of an enemy nation.

The Northern Arizona Gazette urges that the Governor and Arizona Legislature use this opportunity to demand that the Prisoners Of War from the Vietnam conflict be be allowed access to the records and documents concerning their time as prisoners in the conflict. The current administration—applauded by Senator John McCain—has denied prisoners of war from Vietnam access even to their own records. These are the only records held secret by the U.S. Government. The regular service records of Vietnam veterans—or any other veteran—and POW records from other wars are not held secret.

One must wonder why John McCain demand all records remain secret.

Is there snow in your future?

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20121214flagFLAGSTAFF/WILLIAMS — The long-rage weather forecast shows a slight chance of rain and snow on Wednesday for Williams and Flagstaff. There is another chance next Sunday. Little or no accumulation is expected.

Otherwise temperatures will hang between 50 and 60 during the day with temperatures just above 20s at night.

There is a hazardous wind advisory for tomorrow for Apache, Coconino, Northern Gila, Navajo and Yavapai counties. Wind gusts of 40 miles-per-hour are expected across Coconino County.

A fire watch will be in effect Monday for the northeast quarter of the State.

Thanks to those volunteers who helped for Easter

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640-Volunteers15-04-04-01WILLIAMS — Though a record crowd did not show up for the community Easter Egg Hunt, the volunteers still worked hard to set up the event.
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Not only did they set up and clean up, they fed the hungry crowd and handed out prizes to the hunters.
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Not pictured are the number of police, Sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and other public safety officials who kept the peace missing out on the festivities.

ADOT receives Employer of the Year award

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PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Transportation has been honored for its support and advancement of women in transportation. The department received the Employer of the Year award from the Phoenix Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar at the organization’s annual scholarships and awards ceremony.

In an industry typically dominated by men, ADOT was recognized for its upward movement and promotion of women, along with its workforce development program, which supports, engages and empowers employees, recognizing the fundamental contributions of both women and men, which are necessary to achieve a high-performing organization.

“I am proud to lead an agency that recognizes the talents of so many dedicated and hard-working individuals, both women and men, who make a difference every day as we work together to provide a safe, efficient and reliable transportation system for the people of Arizona,” said ADOT Director John Halikowski, who accepted the award Saturday night with a team of top ADOT managers alongside him.

“There is strength in numbers, and the women of ADOT have done an outstanding job not only in the field of transportation, but in supporting each other through leadership and mentoring. This environment is part of the overall culture at ADOT, one that fosters success as an individual and success as an entire agency.”

One of ADOT’s most successful programs is the Women Information Network, or WIN. This program, which is led by a group of female supervisors and managers, provides opportunities for all female employees at ADOT when it comes to networking, discussion and mentoring, in order to identify and implement advancement and leadership opportunities within the agency. WIN provides a variety of events throughout the year for female employees through brown-bag lunch programs with relevant topics, an ongoing mentoring program, and education encouragement for working women.

“WTS celebrates ADOT’s initiative to provide women with workforce enhancement and management opportunities,” said Susan Tierney, president of the WTS Metropolitan Phoenix Chapter. “ADOT leadership clearly recognizes that providing opportunities for women to learn and thrive in the workplace is a rock-solid strategy.”

Doctor refusing to treat child of gay couple not Biblical

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6764771_GDETROIT — According to a report by FOX Dertroit, a Dr. Vesna Roi apparently “prayed” and decided that she could not act as the pediatrician for the baby of a lesbian couple in Detroit in February.

Apparently, when the gay couple arrived at the pediatrician’s office, they claim:

“The first thing Dr. Karam said was ‘I’ll be your doctor, I’ll be seeing you today because Dr. Roi decided this morning that she prayed on it and she won’t be able to care for Bay,” Jami said.

This is an example of someone who has not studied their Bible. The question here is who is the sinner?

It is perfectly Constitutional and legitimate to refuse service to homosexual couples for a Christian. To not participate in so-called “marriage” ceremonies between such couples by providing photographic, bakery, flowers and other such services and the use of true Christian property is perfectly in compliance with the First Amendment. It should be noted that it does not matter if man calls this “marriage.” It is not. Only God sanctifies marriage and he has clearly defined the conditions.

The child of a homosexual couple is another matter entirely. Would you refuse to treat the baby of a couple who engages in identity theft? Would you, as a doctor, refuse to treat the brother, sister, mother or father of a homosexual couple? Yes, it is exactly the same thing.

Some point to Deuteronomy 5:9 which reads:

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

You see, they say. God punishes the generations of sinners.

The observant of you may notice the comma at the end of this making it clause taken out of a greater thought. It continues in Deuteronomy 5:10:

And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

God is not the author of confusion. The second clause means that if a child of a sinner turns to God, he—or she—will certainly be accepted. A child can break the curse of the parents. Indeed, even the parents can be saved should they chose to be.

There have been instances of children brought up in the home of a homosexual couple rejecting their “parents” lifestyle, in fact.

This is expressed in Ezekiel 18:20:

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Dr. Roi might well believe that she is following the dictates of God, but I believe it not to be so. The Bible is as clear on this matter as it is on the sin of homosexuality. Particularly with children who have not reached the age of discernment.

Gosar submits bill for cull hunt of bison at Grand Canyon

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(Because of the deadline for this article, the office of Representative Gosar could not be reached for comment)

White Bison at Bearizona Wildlife Park.

White Bison at Bearizona Wildlife Park.

WASHINGTON — In 1906, Charles “Buffalo” Jones brought bison to northern Arizona in an unsuccessful attempt to breed them with cattle. The descendants of these bison have been managed since 1950 by the state of Arizona in the House Rock Wildlife Area (HRWA) on the Kaibab National Forest, through an inter-agency agreement with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In 1990 the 1990 the bison started moving to the top of the Kaibab Plateau and into the Grand Canyon National Park.

The Grand Canyon National Park began a request for input on a Bison Management Plan that ended in June of 2014. The effort was an attempt to balance their mission to secure natural vegetation, archeological sites and water resources while maintaining the bison as wildlife.

On March 18, Paul Gosar [R-AZ-4] submitted H.R. 1443 (S. 782 in the Senate by McCain) to permit a cull hunt for Bison at the Grand Canyon National Park.

The bill calls for the Secretary of the Interior to publish a management plan for Bison no later than 180 days after H.R. 1443 is enacted. The plan would be to reduce, through humane lethal culling by skilled public volunteers and other non-lethal means the population of Bison in the park.

Skilled public volunteers are defines as those with a valid hunting license issued by the State of Arizona and other qualifications the Secretary may require after consulting with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Kirby Shedlowski, Acting Public Affairs Officer at Grand Canyon National Park, said, “In order have allowed cull, there’s usually a very large management planning process.”

She said, “There has never been a cull hunt for bison at the Grand Canyon. There has been a cull on the forest. On the Kaibab Forest on the north side.”

Kirby said she was not sure of cull hunts for Bison in other parks, such as Yellowstone. “There are different culling hunts in different parks for different animals. Rocky Mountain did it for elk. Rock Creek Park has done it for white-tail deer. Getteysburg has done it for white-tail deer. But, as far as Bison go—I’m not sure. But Grand Canyon National Park has never had a cull for Bison.”

Good Friday procession down Route 66

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40-GF04-03-37WILLIAMS — As the sun set in Williams, the Williams Police Department safely escorted those carrying the cross in the Good Friday procession.
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The procession traveled the length of the city down Route 66 from the Mustang gas station to the Family Harvest Church. The event attracted a crowd from all faiths in Williams.
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(NM) Hal Stratton: Civil asset forfeiture bill is needed reform for state

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[NEW MEXICO] —

I still am against crime and a strong advocate for law enforcement. But there is no bigger miscarriage of justice than when those who are charged to protect us abuse that duty and cause harm to innocent and sometimes helpless citizens.

By Hal Stratton

Guest column
Posted: 04/02/2015 10:30:07 AM MDT

For those New Mexicans who believe in bipartisan government, reaching across the aisle and the political spectrum — there is good news. The New Mexico Legislature has just unanimously passed HB 560, without a single dissenting vote in either house. HB 560 revises the procedure involved in the forfeiting of citizens’ assets by government agencies, a practice referred to as “asset forfeiture.” Every year, federal and state law enforcement agents seize billions of dollars during traffic stops, simply by alleging the money is connected to some illegal activity. Under federal and New Mexico’s laws, these agencies are entitled to keep most (and sometimes all) of the money and property, even if the property owner is never convicted and, in some cases, never charged with a crime.

Why would law enforcement agencies, whose mission is to protect citizens and their property, engage in forfeiture? That question was candidly answered last November by the city attorney from Las Cruces who said that forfeiture could be a “gold mine” for city law enforcement agencies. “We could be czars. We could own the city. We could be in the real estate business” he stated further noting that the Las Cruces law enforcement agency collected about $1 million from residents through forfeiture since 2006. And these funds that are forfeited go directly into the law enforcement agencies coffers outside of the appropriations process and legislative oversight.

Read more at Ruidoso News

Good Friday procession begins Easter weekend

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todo-2WILLIAMS — Easter holiday begins today with a Good Friday procession starting at the Mustang Gas Station on the east end of Route 66 at 6:30. The procession will travel west down Railroad Avenue to the Family Harvest Church. Father Killian, of St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, announced at the Younglife steak dinner fundraiser that they could use eight strong men or seven women to carry the cross for the procession.

The annual Community Easter Egg hunt will be held at the Recreation Center on Railroad Avenue on Saturday, April 4. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

On Sunday, Friends of the Williams Aquatic Center will hold their 5th Annual Ducky Egg Race. Tickets can be purchased at Safeway, today, and at the Community Easter Egg Hunt.

Except for some cold gusty winds, as high as 28 mph Saturday and 37 on Sunday, the weather for the weekend appears clear and warm.