Category Archives: Education

WEMS Seventh grade students speak out

Posted on by

WEMS-15-05-18-1WILLIAMS — Several groups of Williams Elementary-Middle School seventh-grade students were encourage to Speak Out under the tutelage of Language Arts Teacher Lela Schober. During the presentation, she might have had second thoughts when one group learned during their study that she used the most paper in the school.

The students were encouraged to tackle a problem they felt the school had, collect data on the problem and present a solution.

Ms. Schober introduced the program and said that they conducted this experiment last year, but this year there was an addition. Citizens from the community attended the presentation, asked questions and also added their suggestions.
WEMS-15-05-18-8On the paper trail, one group revealed that too much paper was being used by teachers and students at the school. Their solution was to issue iPads to the students to conduct their work. They said that students would be responsible for replacing the equipment if they damaged it.

Also on the technology front, one group desired to have Wi-Fi access restored to students. They explained that Wi-Fi was available until one student abused the privilege. The infrastructure still exists.

Three groups cited a problem with electives. Either the electives are not fun or there are not enough. The presentation by Sasha Adrian, Kaylee Robertson and Mary Martinez included a hand-out which said that the WEMS middle school deserves electives to provide skills that prepare them for adulthood.

Among the electives suggested by all of the groups were shop class, home economics, ceramics, robotics and even forensics. One group suggested that teachers could volunteer to teach more electives during their preparation hour.

Three groups noted a problem with sports equipment and facilities at the school. There were suggestions that the school could conduct fundraisers for new equipment and donate the old equipment. One very effective presentation included photographs of the poor condition of the gym and sports facilities.

Apparently students and others attending sporting events have received splinters from the wooden bleachers in the gym. The students said that the floor gets dirty and slippery.

Carol Glassburn suggested the students might get in touch with the Arizona sports teams to see if the could contribute replacement sports equipment.
WEMS-15-05-18-3
One group believed that there was not enough time for lunch.Their solution was to start school fifteen-minutes earlier. Another group added that the school needed better lunches with a vegetable and a fruit choice.

One group with the best power point display pointed out that there should be a study hour. They cited studies that indicated homework stress. They said that students that have extracurricular activity have little time for homework and a study hour would assist in resolving the problem.

One group cited the prairie dog problem at the school. They noted that during track, students tended to fall into prairie dog holes.

Superintendent Rachel Savage, in attendance at the presentation, explained that there was a plan worked out with Arizona Game and Fish to relocate the animals. The person they were working with, however, was moved to another jurisdiction before the plan could be put into effect.

One group, surprisingly, pointed out that the school needs more discipline. They felt that disturbing influences distracted from learning.

Hillsdale College new course on Federalist Papers

Posted on by

640-federalistpapersMICHIGAN — Hillsdale College of Michigan has been doing courses on the Constitution for a couple of years, now. Their most recent course on the Federalist Papers is available for immediate sign up.

The Federalist Papers course concentrates on the government-approved arguments to ratify the Constitution of the United States. These papers are considered to have been written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and the Father of the Constitution James Madison.

The courses run 10-weeks with an examination at the end of each week. The course has already started so a couple of weeks of courses may be available. It is recommended, however, that you take your time and read all of the course material.

These were not the only papers arguing for and against the new form of government.

Once you sign up, you can find a list of their older courses including a course on great historic literature. You will, of course, receive the inevitable emails asking for donations and a subscription to their Imprimis Magazine. They even give you a certificate suitable for framing when you complete each course.

The course should inspire you to look at all of the arguments surrounding the ratification of the Constitution. I believe they are incorrect in their premise that the anti-Federalist, those opposed to the Constitution, wanted slavery, for example. If you read the anti-Federalist arguments you will find that many of them were written in the North—very much against slavery. Still the online video lectures and reading material provided are all free and give you a good basis for further research on your own.

The biggest contribution by the anti-Federalists was to convince James Madison—formerly against a Bill of Rights in the Federalist Papers—to change his mind and lobby for an inalienable Bill of Rights.

Archaeology Comes Alive on the Kaibab

Posted on by

WILLIAMS –  Two free Archaeology Month evening lectures will be held at  6:30 PM at the Mills 326 Café, 326 West Route 66, Williams, Arizona. There is limited seating so please call 928-635-5600 for reservations. To order food ahead of time call, 928-635-0777.
326-cafe

  • March 5: (Williams and Tusayan Ranger District Archaeologist Neil Weintraub) –Williams Youth Conservation Corps: Getting’ Dirty Preserving Kaibab National Forest Historic Sites. This presentation will discuss the history of how the Williams Youth Conservation Corps has helped to protect and enhance dozens of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites on the Williams Ranger District.
  • March 19: (Kaibab National Forest Archaeologist Margaret Hangan and Neil Weintraub) – History of Kaibab National Forest Managed Fires and Cultural Resource Protection Efforts during the Summer 2014 Sitgreaves Fire. For the past decade when conditions are appropriate during monsoon season, the Kaibab National Forest fire staff has managed wild fires across large portions of its fire adapted landscape. Archaeologists will discuss how Kaibab National Forest fire staff managed the summer 2014 Sitgreaves Fire to treat a steep mountain landscape while protecting and reducing fuels on dozens of significant cultural resources.

Kaibab archaeologists will also lead free educational hikes to the Keyhole Sink Petroglyph site at 2 PM on March 14 and March 28. Please call ahead for reservations, 928-635-5600.
640-keyhole-sink-038
Bring boots and warm clothing as this 3/4-mile hike each way will take place whether there is rain, snow or sun. Be prepared to get wet as a waterfall often cascades off the lava flow requiring crossings in ankle deep water to access the petroglyphs.

To attend, meet at the Oak Hill Snow Play area, 4 miles west of Parks Arizona on the south side of Route 66. From Flagstaff, take I-40 west to exit 178, turn right at top of ramp and then left on to Route 66. Drive about 4 miles west to the Oak Hill Snow Play Area.

From Williams, drive east on I-40 to Exit 171 and at top of off ramp make a right and then another right onto Route 66. Drive east on 66 about 2 miles to the Oak Hill Snow Play Area.

Lectures are Wheelchair Accessible; petroglyphs are not.

Babbitt-Polson Warehouse Stage exposed

Posted on by

UPDATED: Feb. 15, 8:35
640-bp-bw-i-001WILLIAMS – We discussed a little about the history of the Babbitt-Polson warehouse in our last article. The warehouse is the last example of warehouses that lined the railroad.

Eventually shipping via the road declined with the expansion of Route 66. These use of these warehouses as temporary storage for trade goods gave way to other uses. Like many other abandon buildings, there was also the inevitable graffiti. Opal Means obtained one of the warehouses and said that the inside wood had been removed, so any history is gone. This warehouse seems to be the only one with graffiti remaining.
640-bp-bw-i-002
The inside is a conspiracy theory tribute to one of the truly forgotten wars fought by the United States. The now imprisoned isle of Cuba was seeking independence from Spain which began in 1895. What is interesting is that the American media was used to portray the brutality of the Spanish in an effort to gain support for the war. It worked. It was this event that caused the term yellow journalism to be coined. An article in Wikipedia explains:

The most famous example of a claim is the apocryphal story that artist Frederic Remington telegrammed Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba and “There will be no war.” Hearst responded “Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” Historians now believe that no such telegrams ever were sent.

But Hearst became a war hawk after a rebellion broke out in Cuba in 1895. Stories of Cuban virtue and Spanish brutality soon dominated his front page. While the accounts were of dubious accuracy, the newspaper readers of the 19th century did not expect, or necessarily want, his stories to be pure nonfiction. Historian Michael Robertson has said that “Newspaper reporters and readers of the 1890s were much less concerned with distinguishing among fact-based reporting, opinion and literature.”

The sinking of the Maine on February 15, 1898 was the impetus for this war.

There is a local Arizona historic connection with the sinking of the USS Maine. Along Route 66 in Parks you will find a railroad sign that says Maine. There is a town which still exists called Maine near Parks. They took on the name after the sinking of the Maine. There is no downtown Maine, of course. The metropolitan of Parks absorbed the town of Maine over time. The Parks school is still the Maine Consolidated School district.

640-uss-maine-article
The national government and the media portrayed it as a sinking by a Spanish mine. Because of the media fervor, no one questioned it. It was only years later that it began to leak that the USS Maine was probably sunk because of an explosion in their own magazine. This was probably not a “false flag” like the Gulf of Tonkin. It was probably just a happy coincidence for Theodore Roosevelt who was pining for war. He was able to convince President McKinley to convince Congress to declare war over the incident. Particularly since public opinion was set by the media.

The result of the war was the acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and other territories from Spain.

It appears from the dates that the warehouses probably were abandon around 1911. That is when the graffiti seems to have started. Some of the graffiti in the warehouse refer to the sinking of the USS Maine. Some of the graffiti are simply names of people in Williams history.
Continue reading →

Babbitt-Polson Warehouse Stage move

Posted on by
640px-Stage-001

Northern Arizona Citizen photo.

WILLIAMS – You have probably seen the Babbitt-Polson Warehouse Stage in the visitor center parking lot. Some may remember its construction in 2011. A few may remember when the warehouse was moved into its present location around October of 1997. You may have never seen this one if not for the efforts of Laura Cole and the Historic Committee at the time.

Photo by Opal Means.

Photo by Opal Means.

The example in Williams is not the only one that was built. According to Vice-Mayor Don Dent—councilman when the warehouse was moved—these warehouses were built all along the road. This is one of the last examples in existence.

He credits Laura Cole for saving this historic piece. It was her efforts that led to obtaining the grant to move it to its present location.

640-BP-Opal-02

Photo by Opal Means.

The Babbitt-Polson warehouse was not the only warehouse. There were a few in the area where the Skate Park is located now. They were used by Tru-Value Hardware when they were located in what is now the Recreation Center.

In October of 1997, they were moved out of the area to make room for the Skate Park. The Babbitt-Polson Warehouse was moved into its present location by Dale Perkins. Williams resident Opal Means said that she acquired one of the warehouses for her own property.

The Williams Historical Society originally hoped to turn it into a museum. It eventually morphed into its original use as a warehouse by the City of Williams. Mr. Dent stated that this was not intentional. He explained that after the $35,000 grant to move the building was used up, it left little money to do any repairs or set up.

Northern Arizona Citizen photo.

Northern Arizona Citizen photo.

He said that the cost of making the warehouse safe for a museum in addition to hiring a full-time curator turned out to be prohibitive at the time. He did say that using the building as a warehouse is not necessarily the final use. If the city receives a proposal for a better use for the structure they will consider it.

In July of 2011 the community stage addition was approved and completed by the end of the year.

The interesting thing about the warehouse is the inside.
Continue reading →

Apparently, not everyone remembers the dream

Posted on by

Today is Martin Luther King day. Today is meant to celebrate the civil rights leader of the sixties who made the following speech on August 28th, 1963.

Almost 52-years later, Mark Dice, a political activist in San Diego, asked people about King. The trick is that he asks in the same way that he does many historic topics. His claim to the people is that Martin Luther King just passed away and he wanted to know if they people were going to attend the memorial services.

Bear in mind that he edits the videos showing the goofiest answers he received. He did show one person who knew who the civil rights leader actually was and there were probably other examples.

What is sad is that even when he went off the deep end, as he often does in his videos, some people followed simply because they had a camera in their face.

Time capsule dating to 1795 included coins, newspapers

Posted on by

capsuleinternal8989BOSTON – Early residents of Boston valued a robust press as much as their history and currency if the contents of a time capsule dating back to the years just after the Revolutionary War are any guide.

When conservators at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston gingerly removed items from the box Tuesday, they found five tightly folded newspapers, a medal depicting George Washington, a silver plaque, two dozen coins, including one dating to 1655, and the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

While some of the coins appeared corroded, other items were in good condition and fingerprints could be seen on the silver plaque.

The capsule was embedded in a cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse when construction began in 1795. It was placed there by Revolutionary era luminaries including Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, governor of Massachusetts at the time.

Read more at FOX News

Happy Birthday John Marshall

Posted on by

john-marshall

The power to tax involves the power to destroy,” wrote Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819.

The thirteen original States were a band of brothers, who suffered, fought, bled, and triumphed together; they might, perhaps, have safely confided each his separate interest to the general will; but if ever the day should come, when representatives from beyond the Rocky Mountains shall sit in this capitol; if ever a numerous and inland delegation shall wield the exclusive power of making regulations for our foreign commerce, without community of interest or knowledge of our local circumstances, the Union will not stand; it cannot stand; it cannot be the ordinance of God or nature, that it should stand. It has been said by very high authority, that the power of Congress to regulate commerce, ‘sweeps away the whole subject matter.’ If so, it makes a wreck of State legislation, leaving only a few standing ruins, that mark the extent of the desolation. – Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824

Chief Justice John Marshall was born this day in 1755. He was not only a brilliant jurist, but also fought in a War for Independence. McCulloch v. Maryland is one of his much quoted cases; particularly in the area of the Tenth Amendment.

His decision in the case of Gibbons v. Ogden was so maligned by subsequent Supreme Courts (Mainly during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt era) that the actual decision in the case has been lost.

Chief Justice Marshall is quoted by the so-called left when it serves their “decades of precedence” on gun control. They do not refer to this case when it comes to the matter of the bureaucracies they have created. In this case Chief Justice Story ruled bureaucracies, and particularly “private” agencies such as the Federal Reserve, unconstitutional. In Gibbons he wrote:

…for the power which is exclusively delegated to Congress, can only be exercised by Congress itself, and cannot be sub-delegated by it.

Article I, Section 1 states:

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Only CONGRESS has the power to make law or to effect anything that can be construed as law. They cannot delegate that authority to a bureaucracy.

Article I, Section 8, Clauses 2 and 5 give CONGRESS the power to:

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
AND
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

Therefore that cannot be turned over to any other authority.

For a brief introduction to this Chief Justice, see American Minute with Bill Federer

A journey through history

Posted on by

Opinion By Glen Davis

640-790700-001

640-780800-001

Earning the Order of the Locks in 1978.

You may have heard that the Panama Canal recently celebrated its 100th anniversary on August 15. That news, no doubt, sparked every response from raucous partying to a shrug of the shoulders. If you heard about it at all. I cannot be sure about the raucous parties, either, as I was not invited to any of them.
640-790700-002
To explain the significance of the event to me; in short I passed through the Panama Canal in March of 1978 when it was a mere 64-years-old.

Please, please. Hold your applause.

When I joined the Navy in 1977, my first assignment was aboard the pre-commissioning unit for the USS Oldendorf (DD-972). The ship was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ship was homeported in San Diego. As a consequence, after commissioning in March of 1978 we passed through the Panama Canal to get to the Pacific side.

Our first mission was to kick the tires and check the oil looking for any “warranty” items needing repairs. That required returning to Pascagoula giving us another chance to pass through the canal.

What I remember being most impressed about was what an engineering marvel it was to that day. I recalled the hundreds of lives lost to accident and disease to accomplish this feat.
640-790700-005
To pass through the canal, the ship was pulled into the locks by engines set on tracks on the sides of the canal. The ship is raised or lowered to get it to the appropriate level to travel to the next stage whether it be to the next lock or one of the lakes created in between. All of this is accomplished by the force of the water, itself. There are no pumps, as I understand it.

640-790700-004While this may seem insignificant to you, as I will someday grow old, I look back on some of the places I visited in my Naval career. I reflect on the changes I have witnessed.
Continue reading →