Category Archives: Business

Zip Line ride proposed for Williams

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WILLIAMS—At the City Council meeting March 28th, Mike Brown of Western Destinations proposed the instillation of a ride called Zip Line perhaps in the area of Cureton Park. The proposed cost of rides would be approximately $39 with a re-ride costing half of that. Williams residents would get a discounted price.

The ride, Mr. Brown indicated, could provide as many as forty jobs in Williams. Local residents would be trained to conduct the ride safely and the ride would be insured for $5 million.

Councilman Don Dent considered what affect such a ride would have on the Route 66 image that Williams has built up. Joplin Missouri and Branson Missouri have theme parks along, or in the area of, Route 66 both trading off on the Route 66 name. Knight’s Action Park operates in Springfield, Illinois along the Mother Road.

Blog BatesLine by Michael Bates of Tulsa Okalahoma asked: Wouldn’t it be cool to restore Crystal City on Historic Route 66 as an amusement park, right next to a restored Red Fork Main Street?

Dwayne the canoe guy commented:

This is great news. There is a small amusement ‘park’ on Route 66 in Joplin but it would be great to have a good sized park like Bell’s rockin & rollin on the Mother Road. Especially with a minigolf with 66 icons (wigwam motel, round barn, gemini giant, cadillac ranch)

Right here in Williams, Napolitano approved a special taxing district for a theme park in Williams that never developed. That action even caused the County Board of Supervisors to raise property taxes for a short time. So you now know what a “special taxing district” is.

Flagstaff operates a smaller version of the Zip Line ride at their Extreme Adventure Course near the fairgrounds as seen in the following video.

There are currently Zip Line rides in Indianapolis, Las Vegas and Hawaii. For the longest and fastest Zip Line in the world, you will need a ticket to South Africa.

Mr. Brown indicated that the ride would be “low impact” meaning that it could be easily removed leaving no marks if it did not do well. However, the engineering in the videos presented does not appear to bear that out. It appears that Williams would have to build a large tower to make the ride. It is also unclear how the project would impact softball and little league games at the park.

While the project does not seem appropriate in the indicated area, it could be an interesting compliment to the Bearizona drive through wildlife park. Another area of possible interest might be the Williams snow play area.

Four Arizona House bills to benefit veterans.

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PHOENIX—There are four bills originating in the legislature of the Great State of Arizona from both sides of the aisle to benefit veterans in the State. Benefits would be in the area of employment, taxes, and lower hunting and fishing license fees.

Republican freshman Bob Thorpe of District 6 has introduced two bills. HB 2470(PDF) would create a Hiring Our Heroes award. He has also offered HB 2468(PDF) which would reduce hunting and fishing license fees for veterans.

HB 2470 would add 41-610 to Title 41, Article 7 (Department of Veterans’ Services) of the Arizona Revised Statute to read:

The department [of Veterans Affairs] shall develop and implement a hiring our heroes award to recognize Arizona businesses that provide job opportunities to veterans. The department shall hold an annual awards dinner to recognize Arizona businesses that have demonstrated a commitment to our returning soldiers. The department shall give the winning business a commendation, post the commendation on the department’s website and issue a press release praising the business.

HB 2468 would amend Title 17 of the Game and Fish laws to allow Game and Fish to offer reduced fees to veterans for fishing and hunting licenses. The Bill would amend 17-336 to allow the Game and Fish to reduced fees to honorably discharged veterans based on the number of years served. They would be able to reduce the fees by ten-percent for every four years of the veteran’s service in the military. This would also apply to members who served in the National Guard or a reserve component of the United States military. Those members would have to have been in Arizona for at least one-year prior to their application for the license.

Active duty military in the Great State of Arizona for thirty-days can purchase a residence license for hunting and fishing. The bill would allow them to apply for the same discount fees as the veterans above.

Justin Pierce, Republican from District , has introduced HB 2391 (PDF) which would amend to 43-1022 of the Arizona Revised Statue paragraph 38 which reads:

The full amount received as retired or retainer pay of the uniformed services of the United States by a taxpayer who is an honorably discharged veteran.

On the Democratic side of the aisle, Representative Mark Cardenas from District 19 proposes HB 2484(PDF) which has both Democrat and Republican cosponsors. The bill amends Title 38 and 43 of the A.R.S. concerning tax credits for hiring veterans.

HB 2484 would allow a tax credit for businesses who hire veterans (as defined in 41-601) for tax years from December 31, 2012 to December 31, 2015. The amount of the tax credit would be the lowest of the following:

(1) 10-percent of the salary earned and paid to the employee during the taxable year.
(2) Two-thousand dollars per employee.
(3) Four-thousand dollars for veterans who were honorably separated and has a service-connected disability or is receiving compensation or disability retirement benefits under the laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the armed services.

People who have a partnership in businesses that hire veterans could receive benefits based on their percentage of ownership.

New business in Flagstaff appropriately named.

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2nd-amendment-storeA new store opened in Flagstaff at 2500 S. Woodlands Village Blvd. #25. The gun dealer appropriately named his business the 2nd Amendment store. Their Facebook page is a flurry of activity and we wish them the best of success.

Source: Flagstaff Independent Press

Northern Arizona Authors Association first meeting of the year.

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nawa-20130112 001WILLIAMS—The Northern Arizona Authors Association held their first meeting of the new year this weekend. The meeting was held at the Wild West Junction on Route 66 in Williams.

Cozette Riggs of Inspired Originals announced that Angels and Miracles by local author Jessie Medeiros is selling well.

Mark Warden of the Williams Nursery displayed artist renderings of the Renaissance park project and gave an update.

Authors gave readings of their current works in progress. Award winning novelist Gary McCarthy is working on a spec script for his novel River Thunder under the title of Wind Warrior. It could be filmed in Williams as an independent film project.

Local author Karen Colson is working on a rewrite of Murder on Route 66.

The next meeting is slated for February 2nd in Flagstaff from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

To Sidestep Obamacare, Wendy’s Reduces Hours for Hundreds in Nebraska

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Employees at various Wendy’s restaurant locations in Nebraska will work fewer hours this year, reportedly due to costs associated with Obamacare.

Under the new healthcare law, businesses with 50 or more “full-time” employees must offer health benefits to their staffers working between 32 and 38 hours. Non-managerial workers at Omaha-area Wendy’s will see their hours cut to 28 hours a week, according to local NBC affiliate WOWT.

Gary Burdette, vice president of operations for the Wendy’s franchise, acknowledged the cuts are an attempt by the franchise owner to reduce the number of full-time employees at his Wendy’s locations to avoid offering health care benefits to his staff, according to WOWT.

Wendy’s spokesman Denny Lynch stressed in a Huffington Post interview that the decision of franchise owner Scott King was his alone and not “a company decision.”

“Our franchisees are independent businesspeople, and they make the decisions regarding their restaurant teams. As small-business employers, our franchisees are facing rising food and operating costs and many new government regulations,” Lynch said.

Read more at Newsmax.com

Gun Makers May Leave if States Pass Mircrostamping Laws

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ILION, N.Y. — Executives of the historic firearms companies on America’s East Coast may not all be young men, but they might want to follow Horace Greeley’s advice, anyway. They may want to go west if legislators pass laws that would limit their sales while driving up their costs.

That could be the fate of the Remington Arms Company plant in Ilion, New York, the economic lifeblood of the small New York town lying halfway between Albany and Syracuse. The company’s roots in the town go back nearly 200 years, since Eliphalet Remington, Jr. forged his first rifle barrel there. Today the company employs about 1,000 workers in a town with a population of just over 8,000. But the company has suggested, none too subtly, that it may move its Ilion plant to another state if Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state’s lawmakers enact gun legislation now under consideration in Albany.

The proposals, the New York Times reported Friday, include a limit in firearms sales of no more than one per month to any one person and a background check of anyone purchasing ammunition. Most troubling to the manufacturers, however, is a plan to require, for the purpose of ballistics identification, the microstamping of every semiautomatic pistol sold in the state. The law would require manufacturers to laser-engrave the gun’s make, model, and serial number on the firing pin of each handgun so the information is imprinted on the cartridge casing when the gun is fired. Gun makers say the method is flawed, could easily be defeated, and would require a retooling of the industry that would add what Remington executive Stephen P. Jackson, Jr. called “astronomical sums” to the cost of manufacturing.

Read more at The New American

Where has all the ammo gone?

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For weeks news of massive purchases of ammunition have sparked concerns across the Internet that the government was preparing for possible clashes with American citizens.

Reports are the DHS has ordered a million rounds of ammunition and large amounts of riot gear. It has even been reported that the amount of ammunition has been redacted from official government documents available to the public. The amount of .223 ammunition purchased by the DHS and ICE is over 4-million dollars.

While some might consider the purchase by these law enforcement agencies as nothing extraordinary, even the least cautious might find in curious that the Social Security Administration and the National Weather service is also stocking up on ammunition.

Redacted information on DHS forms — Courtesy Prison Planet.com

California, at the same time, is considering legislation that would red flag any person purchasing 1000 rounds of ammunition or more.

Private owners are finding it difficult to find ammunition at a reasonable price in the calibers ordered by the government. Charges have been levied by some gun dealers that the State Department has ordered ammunition being shipped into the United States to be held in storage—at the expense of the business ordering the ammunition—for the sole purpose of driving the price of ammunition up.

Concern is also raised over the United Nations small arms treaty still making its way through the consideration process. Reports are that the small arms treaty effectively nullifies the Second Amendment protection and bans virtually all weapons from private ownership. While the Supreme Court has ruled that treaties cannot violate the Constitution of the United States, fears are that the government could proceed to confiscate and destroy weapons until an elongated court battle could be conducted.

Why The Gov’t Purchase Of Ammunition Should Scare The Hell Out Of You

I Scream!

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Ice cream truck back in Williams.

WILLIAMS—I did something today that I have not done in a long time. Bought an ice cream off of an old-fashioned ice cream truck in Williams.

An ice cream truck used to travel from Flagstaff to Williams, but ceased several years ago. Now Tracy Ross has filled the void after a six-month renovation and the musical sound of the ice cream truck can once again be heard. The Four Kids Ice Cream truck was introduced at the Independence Day parade in Williams. They are working out a schedule to find the best time to travel through Williams. If you have suggestions or would like to have the truck at your birthday party or special event, you can call 928-499-8339.

The truck evokes nostalgic memories of the days of kids waiting roadside to listen for the musical sound of the approaching ice cream truck. At least that is what older people tell me. I’m not old enough to have such memories.

Gun show scheduled for July 28th and 29th

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WILLIAMS—Arizona Collectibles and Firearms will present its third annual Williams Arizona Gun Show on Saturday the 28th from 9 am to 5 pm and Sunday the 29th from 9 am to 3 pm. The show will be held at the Bob Dean Rodeo and Fair Grounds. Admission is $7 and features guns, ammunition, knives and accessories.

For more information or to purchase a table, call Rusty at 928-607-1103 or Dennis at 928-310-8544.