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From the KATO Newsroom
William Perry - News Director

April 2007 Archive

For all of you citizens who still smoke cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, Tuesday, March 1st, will be the day that the Proposition 201, the Arizona Smoke Free Law goes into effect.

The actual no smoking enforcement doesn't officially start until 12:01, Tuesday morning.

There is still a lot of confusion on the part of bar and restaurant employees as well as customers themselves.

The best way to know that you are "in the right" is, don't smoke inside any building and if you have to smoke, go outside or onto a patio, and stay at least 20-feet from a door way.

Bar owners and patrons across the state will wait and see how the new no smoking ban effects their business.

       

Greenlee County Sheriff, Steve Tucker is glad to be back home after his three day - non-stop pursuit and capture of escaped Greenlee County inmate Clifford Bea Fowler.

Tucker said that the pursuit of Fowler, that took himself and several Greenlee County Deputies to Tucson, Mesa, and Phoenix, was very difficult but satisfying.

Fowler's escape has made Tucker realize that he needs to make the 30-year-old Greenlee County Jail facility more secure. He said that he will be going around the jail facility and looking for weaknesses in the system. "We can learn from our mistakes", Tucker said. Tucker also said that "the buck stops hear. It's my responsibility to make sure that inmates don't escape from this facility".

Sheriff Tucker explained that when his jail personnel realized that Fowler was gone, they immediately set up a perimeter in Greenlee County from 3-way to the middle of Clifton.

They set up road blocks and and vehicle check stations and called in search dogs to try and track Fowler.

They also checked the visitor log and the video tape inside the jail and realized that Fowler had a new female visitor on the day that he escaped.

They checked the information on the woman who visited Fowler on Sunday, April 22nd and found that she was from Tucson.

After his escape, tracking dogs were able to follow Fowler's trail to Highway 191, where his scent disappeared.

With help from Tucson Police, Sheriff Tucker and his men were able to find the woman who visited Fowler in jail, where she worked.

At first she denied everything but when the officers told her that they were going

to take fingerprints of her vehicle, she admitted that she was waiting outside the jail to pick up Fowler the night he escaped.

Talking to the woman, who has not been identified but should be arrested soon, led the officers to East Mesa, where she dropped Fowler off very close to a known Arian Brotherhood flop house.

Tucker and his men, with help from U.S.Marshalls, Mesa Gang Units, Phoenix and Mesa Police, Safford Police, and DPS, were able to capture Fowler on Wednesday, April 25th, at around 10:30am.

He was hiding in an attic on Adams Street, according to Tucker. At the time of Fowler's arrest, Tucker said that there were approximately 75 to 85 police officers at the scene.

Tucker was very impressed and grateful for all of the cooperation that he received from all of the law enforcement agencies that participated in Fowler's arrest.

       

If you have driven through downtown Safford in the past few weeks, the intersections could be best described as looking like a Baghdad blast area, intersections in Kabul, Afganistan, or what downtown Safford might have looked like in 1905.

There's no need to be upset. The City of Safford and a Tucson road construction company, Granite Construction, have announced that starting Monday, April 30th, paving of those Main Street intersections will begin.

The plan is to have at least Main Street paved and looking good for the Cinco de Mayo Parade scheduled to take place Saturday morning, May 5th.

City of Safford crews have been working on curbs and sidewalks, mainly on 5th Avenue, from Highway 70, South, to 7th Street.

They hope to have these completed by Saturday, May 5th.

The city of Safford would like to thank the downtown merchants and citizens of the community for their patience and support throughout this construction project.

       

The 27th Annual Spring Sing starts up at EAC, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Eastern Arizona College's Choral Music Department will present the very popular Spring Sing, Thursday April 26th and Friday, April 27th, starting at

7:30pm, in the Eastern Arizona College Fine Arts Auditorium. A Matinee will also be performed on Saturday, April 28th, at 2:00pm.

The 27th annual Spring Sing is a fabulous musical event that is great entertainment for the whole family.

Tickets are $5.00 per person with EAC students, with I.D. admitted free.

Ticket sale go to support the EAC Music Department.

       

Arizona District 1 Congressman Rick Renzi has temporarily stepped down from two more House committees because of investigations into his alleged involvement in a land swap deal in Sonoita.

Renzi said in a statement Tuesday that he was taking a leave of absence from the House Financial Services and Natural Resources committees. He stepped down from the House Intelligence Committee last week.

Renzi said he had been "the subject of leaking stories, conjecture, and false attacks" about a 2005 land exchange. Meanwhile, he became entangled in the U.S.Attorney's probe when his chief of staff acknowledged calling the Arizona prosecutor's office to discuss the matter.

The prosecutor, Paul Charlton, was one of the eight prosecutors fired by the Justice Department during the winter.

According to state records and officials involved in the land deal, Renzi helped promote the sale of land that netted his former business partner, James Sandlin, $4.5-million.

The property eventually was to be part of swap in which potential buyers could exchange it for land owned by the federal government. Such deals are common in the West, where the government owns vast tracks of land.

Renzi said that he wanted to prevent encroaching development near Ft. Huachuca and to protect the environmentally threatened San Pedro River.

       

A Greenlee County inmate who escaped from jail early Monday morning, was caught in Phoenix, Wednesday morning, and is now back in custody.

Clifford Bea Fowler, 32, apparently broke through a bulletproof window inside the Greenlee County Jail at around 11:30pm, Sunday night. He was able to get outside the jail and was picked up by a female Tucson resident who drove him to the home of an Aryan Brotherhood associate in east Mesa.

From Mesa, a man took Fowler to an apartment in Phoenix where he hid in an attic until he was arrested at around 10:30am, Wednesday morning.

According to Greenlee County Sheriff, Steve Tucker; finding Fowler was "a lot of hard work". A call to Silent Witness on Tuesday morning tipped off authorities to Fowler's where-abouts.

The names of the couple who helped Fowler escape were not released.

Fowler now faces additional charges of escaping jail and breaking the window in the jail. Both are felony charges.

Before his escape, Fowler had a hearing scheduled for Monday during which he was expected to accept a plea bargain on a fatal hit-and-run and and extreme DUI.

       

The job market in Graham and Greenlee Counties has increased many times with the advent of the construction of the new Phelps Dodge mines.

If you still haven't found work or are looking for employment in the Gila Valley or in Greenlee County, the best place to start is Job Service in the Department of Economic Security Office in Safford.

Job Service has lists of at least 25 companies in the area who are looking for skilled workers and laborers, mostly in the construction trades, but there are several jobs available for janitors, cooks, cashiers, and maid service workers.

Job Service has gone to an "on line" job search program that will help the unemployed worker a chance to search for a job "on line".

You can find out more information by stopping by Job Service, at 1938 West Thatcher Boulavard in the Mt. Graham Shopping Center in Safford.

The "on-line" Job Services can be found at www.arizonavirtualonestop.com.

       

If your driving by the car wash on the north side of Highway 70 and 6th Avenue in Safford, and you glance over, you might get more of an eye-full than you bargained for.

Safford Officers were called to Pollack's Car wash Saturday afternoon, at around 2:00pm, responding to complaints of an unknown man who was allegedly "mooning" people as they drove by.

Safford officers observed a Thatcher man drive away from the car wash. They stopped the man and he was driving the vehicle and had the same license plate number as was described by those who had been allegedly "mooned".

Safford Officers had several witnesses to the "moonings" but the witnesses wanted to remain anonymous apparently not wanting to admit that they had been "mooned".

The victims - "the Moon-ees"- were not available for prosecution so the unnamed man the alleged "Mooner" - was released from the scene and allowed to return home.

       

The search for escaped Greenlee County Jail inmate Clifford Bea Fowler, 33, continues through out Arizona.

Fowler escaped from the Greenlee County Jail, just after midnight, Monday morning. How Fowler escaped is still under investigation.

When jail personnel discovered Fowler was missing, an Attempt to Locate was immediately dispatched to law enforcement agencies through out Greenlee and Graham Counties and road blocks were set up.

Fowler was being held in connection with a fatal hit and run, including charges of Manslaughter and extreme DUI.

According to Greenlee County authorities, Tuesday morning, Fowler could possibly be in the Phoenix area.

Greenlee County Sheriff Steve Tucker received information, Monday afternoon, that Fowler could be in the Phoenix area.

Tucker is in the Phoenix area and is searching for Fowler with help from U.S. Marshalls and Phoenix law enforcement.

Fowler is 33 years old, 5-feet 10-inches tall - 190-pounds - and has the words "skin head" tattooed on the front of his neck.

Fowler should be considered armed and dangerous.

       

A patrolling Safford Officer stopped a vehicle traveling Eastbound near the 1500 block of Highway 70, at around 2:45am, Monday morning.

The officer said that he stopped the vehicle because the license plate light on the vehicle was dangling down and shining toward the rear of the vehicle.

The officer contacted the driver of the vehicle, identified as David Francisco Meza, and asked for his drivers license. A second Safford Officer arrived at the scene and contacted the passenger in the vehicle. The first officer observed the second Safford officer take the passenger out of the vehicle and place him into handcuffs.

The second officer said that he witnessed the passenger, identified as Mario G. Arbizo, stuff something in between the seats of the vehicle. He looked in between the seats and found a small baggie with a white powdery substance.

The second officer frisked Arbizo and found several clear plastic baggies in his pocket.

Meza was searched and the officers found a smoking pipe and another baggie containing white powder. Both men were arrested and the officers searched the vehicle.

While searching the vehicle they found a Wal-Mart bag that contained about half a pound of marijuana.

Meza told the officers that the white powdery substance that they found on him was cocaine. The marijuana was also his. He had bought it in Tucson. None of the other drugs in the car were his.

Arbizo refused to speak to officers. Both were arrested and taken to the Graham County Jail.

       

Southeastern Arizona Law Enforcement is searching for a man who escaped from the Greenlee County Jail, early Monday morning.

Clifford Bea Fowler escaped from the Greenlee County Jail just after midnight, Monday morning.

Fowler was being held in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident, with charges of manslaughter and extreme DUI.

Fowler is 5-feet 10 inches tall, and weighs 190 pounds. He is considered armed and dangerous.

He is a member of a white-supremacist group and has the words "skin head" tattooed on the front of his neck.

Contact the Greenlee County Sheriff's Office if you have any information leading to the where-abouts of Clifford Bea Fowler.

       

Attorney General Terry Goddard is warning consumers about a Social Security scam that is targeting Arizona. Consumers are receiving calls from scam artists claiming to be from the Social Security Administration.

The callers say they need to verify the consumer's Social Security number, and ask the consumer to provide the first three digits of their Social Security number.

Once the consumer gives the first three digits, the caller then tries to guess the next two digits, and in doing so, often prompts the consumer to provide those numbers.

Goddard says don't buy it. It's a scam.

He says the Social Security Administration will never call to confirm a Social Security number and that Arizonans need to be vigilant.

       

Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi has stepped down temporarily from the House Intelligence Committee after the

F-B-I raided his family's business. The action is part of an ongoing federal investigation. In a statement issued Thursday night, Renzi says agents took documents.

Renzi says he views the actions as "the first step in bringing out the truth."

Renzi added he intends to fully cooperate with the investigation.

A Capitol Hill newspaper first reported the F-B-I raid late Thursday.

It says federal agents went to the Patriot Insurance Agency in Sonoita.

In a financial disclosure statement, Renzi reported his wife owned the agency. He valued the business at between one (m) million and five (m) million dollars.

Renzi has been under federal investigation for months, but the subject of the probe has never been made public.

       

A grass-roots campaign to help Arizona homeowners with bad loans stave off foreclosure was launched Thursday.

Members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- or ACORN -- plan to go door to door to offer help to people in the Phoenix and Tucson areas with subprime loans.

Foreclosures in metro Phoenix increased tenfold in the past year. The number of people in danger of losing their homes is at a four-year high.

ACORN's national Stop Foreclosures Campaign began in Arizona at ten in the morning, Thursday, on the state Capitol lawn. Similar campaigns are being launched in other cities with foreclosure problems.

ACORN is also calling for a nationwide one-year moratorium on predatory-loan foreclosures.

The group's help line is 1-866-67-ACORN.

       

Safford Police officers were able to catch 7 illegal immigrants who were traveling through Safford and Thatcher in a stolen car out of Phoenix.

Two Safford officers were on patrol Monday night when they got behind a 1995 Honda Accord, traveling West on Highway 70.

The Honda Accord had a Sonora, Mexico, license plate and looked like it had a heavy load because of the way the rear of the vehicle was riding low.

The officers followed the Honda into Thatcher. They pulled along side and saw a driver and a passenger and several subjects lying on top of each other in the back seat.

The Safford officers pulled the vehicle over in the LJ's mini-market parking lot and contacted the driver. The officers determined that the occupants in the Honda Accord were illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Safford Police with help from two Thatcher Officers discovered that there were four illegals lying on top of each other in the back seat, along with another one in the trunk.

They ran the vehicle's ID number and discovered that the Honda Accord had been stolen in Phoenix in March.

The officers photographed the vehicle, and the illegal immigrants, and contacted Border Patrol to come and get the illegals.

The driver of the Accord was arrested for vehicle theft.

       

The new smoking ban - Proposition 201 - that was approved by voters in November, and goes into effect on Tuesday, May 1st, looks to be a relief for non-smokers and a hassle fo r those who still smoke cigarettes, cigars, or a pipe.

The "Smoke Free Arizona" law will require those who go to a bar and who wish to smoke, to go outside, and stay 20-feet away from the entrance - or if the establisment has a patio, customers can smoke in an area less than 20-feet away from the thresholds as long as the smoke does not drift inside the bar.

As far as smoking in bars, Don Isaacson, a lawyer for the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association, seems optimistic about the smoking law.

He told a group of Southeastern Arizona bar owners at the American Legion in Tombstone, Monday night, that bar owners may find themselves a new stripe of clientele. "I think they're going to stay with you."

Smoking will be allowed in veterans' and fraternal clubs, but only when they are not open to the general public.

If a customer come into a public establishment and won't put out their smoking material, the ALBA advises calling the police, who will issue a citation to the uncooperative smoker.

No smoking signs must be posted inside and outside the establishment and ashtrays cannot be inside the non-smoking area.

       

Arizona legislators are moving toward requiring D-U-I offenders to use ignition interlocks for at least a year when resuming driving after first convictions.

The House is poised to vote on a D-U-I sentencing bill recently amended to add a requirement that convicted D-U-I offenders equip their vehicles with the breath-test devices. Before the engine starts, the device analyzes a person's blood-alcohol content.

Arizona already requires that some D-U-I offenders use ignition interlocks when their driving privileges are restored but not for first offenders of regular D-U-I.

       

A family living in Pima reported that their daughter's 1998 Green Dodge Neon was stolen from in front of their house, early Sunday morning.

Justin and Deborah Burnette told a Graham County Deputy that they had purchased the Dodge Neon last July for their daughter Calli to drive.

They stated that they got up at around 6:30am, Sunday morning and the vehicle was gone.

Calli told the deputy that she got home, Saturday night at around 11:00pm, but she didn't lock the vehicle. She also said that the vehicle would start without the key and she had about $400.00 worth of stereo equipment installed in the vehicle.

Graham County dispatch issued and Attempt To Locate advisory on the 1998 Green Dodge Neon and entered it as stolen.

       

A patrolling Safford officer attempted to stop a suspicious Ford van, Saturday night, and with help from other officers, was able to detain 9 illegal immigrants.

The officer noticed a Ford van traveling Northbound on Highway 191 with no license plate that he could see.

The officer continued to follow the van until it turned off of Highway 191, and headed Eastbound on Solomon Road.

The officer initiated a traffic stop - turned on his emergency lights, but the van continued Eastbound, traveling at 35-MPH.

The driver of the van turned North on a dirt road and then turned West on another road until it came to a dead end at 398 Upper Solomon Road.

When the van stopped, 12 to 13 men jumped out and ran in every direction. The officer began a foot chase, following the driver and calling for back up.

The officer was unable to catch the driver so when other officers arrived, they set up a perimeter around a small pond, just North of Tri County Materials on Upper Solomon Road.

The officers were able to locate and detain 7 illegal immigrants hiding in the bushes and take them to the Graham County Jail.

The Ford van was impounded. It was registered to Frontier Towing Inc. in Tucson. It was taken to the Safford City Yard.

Later that evening, the same Safford Officer who was back out on patrol detained two more illegal immigrants who were located at the intersection of Highway 191 and Lonestar Road.

They admitted that they were both in the Ford van when it was stopped earlier that evening.

The two illegals were also taken to the Graham County Jail and were detained with the other 7. Border Patrol in Willcox was called and they came and picked up the detainees.

       

Three vehicles were burglarized Thursday night, in a Phelps Dodge employee parking lot just off of Discovery Park Blvd.

Miquel Garcia, Julio Medina jr., and Gabriel Maldonado, Phelps Dodge employees who work in Morenci but live in Safford, returned from work and found that their vehicles had been burglarized.

Garcia and Maldonado both had their vehicles side windows broken and their CD players stolen. Medina had a side window broken but said that he never leaves anything of value in his vehicle when it's parked in the parking lot, and had nothing stolen.

Safford Police said that the burglars are probably looking for something of value to trade for methamphetamine.

Burglaries in that particular P.D. parking lot had dropped of after street lights were installed last year. Police say that Phelps Dodge will now probably install video cameras in the parking lot to try to catch some of the vandals stealing from their employees.

       

It seem like the Safford - Thatcher area is not the only area of the state that is experiencing an economic "boom" because of the recent new construction of the new Phelps Dodge mines. The Globe-Miami area is apparently already experiencing an increase of population, lack of housing, and an increase in traffic congestion due to renewed copper mining activity in the area.

An article by Max Jarman from the Arizona Republic reports that 1,000-new jobs should be created in the Globe-Miami area due to copper mines in the area that had been shut down, are now being readied to start up operations again.

Just like Safford and Thatcher, neither Miami or Globe have enough housing available to accommodate all the new miners coming in and their families.

Currently, there are about 575 construction workers employed in the area getting Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd.'s closed Pinto Valley Mine ready to reopen this fall.

Hundreds more workers are expected to arrive in June to begin work on the new Carlota Copper Mine near Pinto Valley. And it's possible that Phelps Dodge could reopen its shuttered Miami Mine, putting more people to work.

According to Mark Blakely, project manager for the new Carlota Mine, "It's going to get pretty busy around here when we get up and running. There will be a lot of jobs and a lot of money being spent."

       

One of Mesa's newest residents is a more than two (m) million-year-old prehistoric mammoth.

The huge beast has been transported from Safford to the Mesa Southwest Museum.

Once paleontologists haul its giant skull to Mesa, the skeleton will become one of the largest pieces to date at the museum.

The Rhynchotherium is an extinct elephant relative with four tusks that died out around the start of the Ice Age.

The beast was discovered in 2005 in the San Simon River Valley, between Bowie and Safford, by a geologist with the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The animal only lived in southern latitudes.

It's fossilized bones have been found in Central America, Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico and Florida.

       

If you are a frequent visitor to downtown Safford, you will notice that construction crews are busy working on Phase 3 of Safford road construction.

According to Safford City Engineer, Randy Petty, city crews have been called in to replace sidewalks and curbing on 5th Avenue, and Granite Construction from Tucson has been contracted to lengthen and flatten some of the dips at several intersections on Main Street.

Granite Construction crews will also mill down the old asphalt at the intersections on 7th Street, 7th Avenue, 6th Avenue, 5th Avenue, and Central Avenue, and replace it with new asphalt.

Baring any major construction problems, the repaving and new construction of those downtown intersections should be completed by mid-May, according to Petty.

       

A married couple who had just bought a home in Safford discovered two marijuana plants growing in the back yard.

The wife went to the Safford Police Department to report that she thought that there was marijuana growing in her back yard and she wanted Safford Officers to check it out.

The wife and her husband had just bought a house from a local realtor on 8th Avenue and had not moved in yet.

Sure enough, a Safford Officer went to the residence and found two marijuana plants growing in the middle of the back yard.

The realtor told the new owners that the house had been vacant for approximately 3 months.

Photos were taken and the two plants were collected and destroyed.

       

No if's, ands or butts, Arizona's voter-approved smoking ban is just weeks away.

Many establishments are looking at possible loopholes including outdoor patios that allow patrons to puff away.

Arizona's Department of Health Services last week unveiled no-smoking rules for bars, restaurants and other businesses. The rules take effect May first.

Establishments and offices must ensure a 20-foot smoke-free zone around building entrances.

No-smoking signs must be posted and indoor ash trays removed.

D-H-S will oversee the smoking ban, but will contract with county health departments to enforce it. County health inspectors will drop in at restaurants and bars as part of their routine food inspections.

       

The Safford City Council schedules their meetings to be held usually twice a month, on Monday nights in the Phelps Dodge Room of the City of Safford- Graham County Library.

Several "Agenda items" are placed on the Council schedule for discussion by City Staff Members, and the City Council.

Monday night, the Council gathered to discuss these "Agenda items" and agreed to place an article on the City ballot to exceed the expenditure limit of the City of Safford for fiscal year 2007 - 2008, by the amount of $20-million.

They also agreed to adopt a resolution authorizing the Safford City Manager to execute a development agreement with Newcastle Development and Providence Development to provide utilities to a new housing development known as Copper Canyon I.

A resolution passed by a close vote of 3 to 2, to adopt a resolution to abandon a portion of Central Avenue, North of Highway 70, and proceed with a property exchange previously approved with the Shafford Hotel Group to build a hotel on the Northeast corner of Central Avenue and Highway 70.

Near the end of the Council meeting, when the agenda calls for Council or Staff Requests for Agenda items, Safford Mayor Ron Green brought to the attention of the Council that neither he nor Councilman Ed Zappia are able to place any Agenda items that they think are important on the Agenda.

Approximately a year ago, the Council adopted a resolution saying that if any Councilman has an Agenda item, that he needs the signature of two other Councilmen to have the Agenda item placed on the schedule for discussion.

Apparently, none of the other Safford City Councilmen will agree to sign an Agenda item brought up by either Mayor Green or Councilman Zappia.

After a Councilman warned and threatened the Mayor about whether the substance of material topics while attempting to place an item on the Agenda was or was not a violation of the "Open Meeting Law", the discussion was dropped and the Council went into executive session.

       

A Safford Patrol officer observed a pickup truck traveling around Safford like the driver was lost.

The truck stopped in front of Pollack's Car Wash on Highway 70 and the Safford Officer pulled up behind her.

The officer asked if she needed any directions and she said that she used to live in Safford and didn't need any help.

She was identified as Anna Smith and she told the officer that the truck she was driving belonged to her boyfriend. They had been stopped earlier in the day for a broken windshield and he was arrested for an outstanding warrant.

The truck had no insurance and the officer asked if he could search her purse and the truck.

She allowed the search, but when the officer found what looked like a marijuana cigarette in her purse, she suddenly got a gall bladder attack and officer had to call an ambulance.

Ambulance personnel attended to Smith and several Safford officers searched the truck. They found two pipes used to smoke meth and about 1.75-grams of methamphetamine.

Smith was transported to the Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center, a blood sample was taken, the drugs and drug paraphernalia were taken as evidence, and the truck was towed by Nutcracker Towing.

       

Graham County Deputies and ambulance personnel were dispatched to Bryce-Eden Road, just past Safford Bryce Road to investigate a single-vehicle rollover at around 8:00pm, Friday night.

When the deputies arrived, Pima Rescue had requested two Helicopters to fly to the scene for two seriously injured victims. They also found a blue Chevy Blazer upside down in the middle of Bryce-Eden Road, with seven individuals laying in the roadway and on the road easement area. All seven had been ejected from the vehicle when it rolled over three times.

Southwest Ambulance transported Asa Stock, 9, David Stock, 13, Skyler Stock, 14, Billy Stock, 27, and Jasmine Kellems, 28, to Mt. Graham Regional Hospital. Steven Stock, 29, and Jason Grugle, 33, of St. Johns, were airlifted from the scene to University Medical Center in Tucson.

On Saturday, April 7th, the investigating Deputy received a phone call from Steven Brown with Organ Association Co. Brown said that the family of Jason Grugle had signed authorization for them to collect his organs. The UMC doctor had told the family of Jason Grugle that his injuries were so severe that he would not survive the accident.

An investigation into the accident and the severity of the victims injuries is still under investigation.

Authorities suspect that alcohol was involved in the accident.

       

A study finds changing climate will mean increasing drought in the Southwest -- a region where water already is in tight supply.

Richard Seager of Columbia University is lead author of the study in the journal Science.

Seager says the bottom line is people better start planning for a Southwest region in which water resources are increasingly stretched.

Researchers studied 19 computer models of the climate, using data dating back to 1860 and projecting into the future.

The consensus was that climate in the southwestern U-S and parts of northern Mexico began a transition to drier conditions late in the 20th century.

Seager says a reduction in rainfall could reach levels of the 1930s dust bowl.

       

It's almost wildfire season.

The state forester says he expects regular blazes as early this month.

And he bets they'll last until the first monsoon rains in mid-July.

State Forester Kirk Rowdabaugh made his predictions Thursday.

Rowdabaugh says that much of the state is dried to a crisp after years of drought.

Disease and bark beetles have prematurely killed off many trees, adding an extra layer of dead, dry fuel that could feed wildfires.

If the season goes as expected, fighting fires could be a bigger challenge than normal.

Rowdabaugh says the federal government has cut 700 (m) million dollars from its budget for stopping wildfires.

Governor Napolitano says she hasn't decided whether to press federal lawmakers to send more money.

       

According to Education Week, Arizona students lag behind their national counterparts in access to technology

The publication says only 40 percent of Arizona's students have a computer in their classroom, compared with a national average of 50 percent.

Arizona also falls below average when it comes to access to a computer lab or media center: 71 percent of Arizona students have access to a computer lab. The national average is 77 percent.

State schools chief Tom Horne says the report "underscores the importance of my initiative of a laptop for every student."

In January, Horne asked the Legislature to support an initiative to offer a laptop computer to every student at seven high schools in Arizona. Eventually, Horne hopes to offer every Arizona student a laptop.

       

Law enforcement agencies in the Gila Valley are becoming concerned about the increase in reported burglaries in the area.

There has been a definite increase in police reports of suspected major and minor burglaries through out the Gila Valley.

On Monday morning, April 2nd, a Safford Police Officer was dispatched to 803 Thatcher Blvd in reference to a break-in.

The officer arrived at the "Southeastern Arizona Consumer Run Services" and met with Elvin Corder and Sunny Trujillo who run the "Opportunity for Recovery and Empowerment" out of the address.

Corder told the investigating officer that when he arrived for work at around 7:30am, he thought that someone had broken in through the back door and broke it off of the hinges.

Safford Detectives arrived and Corder told them that the burglars took a microwave, a DVD player, various food items, candy bars, pizza pockets, and other food items that belonged to the center.

It appeared that the burglars entered the premises through the ceiling and exited by breaking out through the back door.

Safford Detectives continue to work on the case.

       

In the world of illegal drugs, it looks like methamphetamine manufacturers and dealers are trying to appeal to a younger age group by providing flavored meth.

A new flavor of meth, known as "Strawberry Quick" has been popping up across the western states; being reported in California, Nevada, and Washington. Experts say it's just a matter of time before it comes to Arizona.

While much has been made of the meth epidemic, first-time meth users age 12 and older declined from 318,000 in 2004 to 192,000 in 2005, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Moreover, the use of meth among teenagers has been declining since 2000, according to the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center.

The Drug Center says that in 2000, 4.3-percent of 12th graders used meth. In 2005, about 2.5-percent of 12-graders used meth.

For more local information about methamphetamine abuse and prevention, the Second Annual Graham/Greenlee Meth Awareness Conference 2007, will be held on Wednesday, April 4th, at the Eastern Arizona College Activities Center, starting at 8:00am.