Globe And Safford Both Benefitting From Main Street Grants

To make it easier for out-of-state and Arizona tourists to find their way to and enjoy the atmosphere of historic downtown businesses is a major goal of Main Street Grants awarded by the Arizona Department of Commerce. The communities of Safford and Globe, both of which are an integral part of Arizona's rich history will benefit from the latest round of awards.

The awards total $34,000; descriptions of what they are to be used for are below:

In Safford:

* $15,000 will help the city install an audio system along Main Street to play music during business hours, creating an inviting setting downtown. During special events, advertisements will encourage visitors to stay and shop local.
* The city will receive $15,000 to help pay for analysis and design consultation as it begins restoration of the historic theater, which closed in 1981.

In Globe:

* In July 2005, the four-story building adjacent to the Globe Theater was devastated by fire and its upper floors collapsed into the theater. All that remained was the façade, the entry, and the "Globe" marquee. Construction of a new theater is set to begin in January 2009, and the funding will help pay for restoration of the historic marquee.

"Historic commercial cores are revitalized with these grants, which focus on attracting purchasers to Arizona's retail and transaction centers," said Marco A. López, Jr., Commerce Director. "Downtowns thrive when we focus on assisting communities, enhancing the character of cities for the benefit of residents and visitors.”

The Main Street Program fosters economic development within the context of historic preservation by working as a partner with local and state agencies, property owners and business people to revitalize downtown areas. Established by the Arizona state legislature, the Main Street Program is administered through Commerce to stimulate the preservation and revitalization of downtown areas in smaller communities statewide. Commerce assists Main Street Program participants in creating local organizations that manage both revitalization and promotion of central business districts in their respective communities.

Gila County Drug Interdiction Unit Scores A Big Hit

At approx. 9:36 am on Dec. 28th, a Gila County Drug Interdiction Unit conducted a traffic stop at Highway 60 & Milepost 255. Upon contact with the driver, the agent detected signs of criminal activity. The agent's K-9 unit was then deployed and alerted on the vehicle. A false compartment was located containing 289.5 pounds of marijuana inside worth an estimated street value of $290,000. The driver, Salvador Gamino, age 62 of Texas was arrested and booked into the Gila County Jail on charges of drugs for sale and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Suspect Dies After Confrontation With Pinal County Sheriff's Deputies

At approx. 3 am this morning, Pinal County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a domestic violence call on the 4500 block of Rolling Ridge Road in unincorporated Pinal County east of the town of Queen Creek. According to investigators, when the deputies arrived, a suspect was outside waiting for them and fired a shot toward the deputies. At that time, deputies returned fire to neutralize the threat and the suspect. The suspect, David Hogue, 55, of Queen Creek, sustained life-threatening injuries and was flown via helicopter to Scottsdale Osbourn Hospital. Hogue later died at the hospital from his injuries.

missing hiker found

The missing hiker was found, minutes ago, by workers at BHP after four bitterly cold days. The earliest on-site assessment by a medical team, was that of possible frost bite to the feet. BHP is using their helipad to help fly the person to a Valley hospital.

Burnette Singers Apache Song & Dance Ceremony

Everyone is welcome to countdown the new year with a free New Years Eve Celebration Night from 6 pm to Midnight on Dec. 31st, at Burnette's Ceremony Holyground in Canyonday on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. There is no open alcohol drinking on or near the Canyonday Holyground.

Casa Grande Father and Daughter Dance

The City of Casa Grande Parks and Recreation Department is sponsoring a Father and Daughter Dance that is to be held on Friday, Jan. 9th, at the Dorothy Powell Senior Adult Center (405 E 6th St.) from 6 pm to 8 pm. There will be food, crafts, games and dancing. Each couple will take home a keepsake photograph. The fee is $20 for every couple ($5 for each additional daughter). For any questions, please call 421-8677.

2008 City of Globe Christmas Lighting Contest Winners

The winners of the 2008 City of Globe Christmas Lighting Contest are:

1st Place & $125: Neil & Sue Mitchell (745 W. Kitt Peak Rd.)
2nd Place & $75: Danny & Linda Michels (1655 N. Radonovich Blvd.)
3rd Place & $50: Bob & Renee Nims (917 S. Jess Hayes Rd.)

Besh-ba-Gowah Festival Of Lights

On Dec. 21st, at no charge, the Besh-ba-Gowah Archeological Park will celebrate the holiday with 1,600 luminaries lit up around the ruins for the 21st Annual Festival of Lights. The Globe High School JROTC will perform the opening ceremony and Donna Anderson will again emcee the program. Visitors can enjoy performances by; flutist Robert Wilson, the Globe High School Apache Club's Crown Dancer group, "The 40 Somethings", Moe and his Amigos will play traditional and Spanish Christmas music in the auditorium. Weather permitting, all performances will be in the Central Plaza lit by a large bonfire. Santa Claus will be there taking pictures with the children for a modest $2 donation.

Visitors can warm up around the bonfire at the center of the historic pueblo ruins; hot cider, coffee, tea, & cookies will be served as you wander the trails and enjoy the peaceful holiday atmospere.

The luminaries will be filled and placed on the wall during the afternoon by staff and volunteers and lit at 5 pm. The entertainment will begin at approx. 5:30 pm & the park will close at 9 pm.

The Besh-ba-Gowah Archeological Park is located on Jess Hayes Road in Globe. For more info call, (928) 425-0320.

Florence Inmate Discovered Hanging In Shower

Pinal County Sheriff's Office Homicide Detectives are actively investigating a scene involving human remains about three miles south of the U.S. 60 and Picket Post. Superior PD initially took the call from a camper who discovered a freezer with human remains inside with a sack placed on top of the freezer. The camper called 911 as soon as he was within reception. Superior PD secured the scene around noon and PCSO detectives arrived on scene at about 1 pm and are currently investigating. The identity, including the sex, of the remains is not available.

Two Die In Crash Carrying Undocumented Aliens

At approx. 7:25 am on Dec. 14th, a fatality accident involving a vehicle containing undocumented aliens was reported to the Pinalc County Sheriff's Office.

The accident occurred West of Sunland Gin and Aries to the West of Silverbell Estates. Border Patrol responded and located the two deceased individuals and ten other victims. Three medical helicopters were dispatched for the more severe trauma patients. The injuries of the 10 are unknown at this moment. So far, the mutual aid response from medical has been reported as being from Southwest Ambulance, Az City Fire, Casa Grande Fire, & Eloy Fire.

The driver of the vehicle reportedly left the scene on foot. The vehicle involved is a stolen truck out of Buckeye PD.

Arizona Emergency Care Receives Overall Grade Of D+

Citing a critical physician workforce shortage and severe challenges in meeting a growing population that needs emergency services, Arizona ranked 45th in the nation, scoring near the bottom with an overall grade of D+, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians’ (ACEP’s) National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine. The Report Card comes at the time when the national picture looks bleak: job and insurance losses, a rapidly growing senior population and a recent survey forecasting critical shortages of primary care doctors all point to escalating emergency patient populations.

Arizona received an impressive A- for Disaster Preparedness and a national ranking of 9th in this category. In contrast, Arizona’s other grades were failing or below average, except for the Quality & Patient Safety Environment category, where the state earned a C.

In the most heavily weighted category, Access to Emergency Care, Arizona received a grade of F and a near-the-bottom ranking of 48th in the nation. A major contributing factor included a shortage of registered nurses – just 560.8 per 100,000 people. Additionally, there are only 7.1 emergency departments and 1.1 trauma centers per 1 million people. In addition, 22.3% of adults and 17% of children in Arizona lack health insurance, significantly more than the national average of 17.2% of adults and 11.7% of children who are uninsured.

“In Arizona, we're facing serious crowding and boarding issues in emergency departments and hospitals, as well as a general workforce shortage and lack of on-call specialists,” said Craig Norquist, MD, president of the Arizona Chapter of ACEP. “This is a crisis, and we need to work closely with hospitals and other facilities to identify ways to increase capacity and serve a larger population before the situation gets worse.”

With relatively high medical liability insurance premiums for primary care physicians and specialists ($22,798 and $87,175, respectively), no additional liability protections for EMTALA-mandated emergency care, no caps on medical liability non-economic damages and no pretrial screening panels to discourage frivolous lawsuits, Arizona received its second F grade in the Medical Liability Environment category, with a ranking of 48th in the nation.

“This may seem obvious, but if Arizona wants to continue to attract and maintain a broader workforce, we need to take immediate action to improve the Medical Liability Environment,” said Dr. Norquist. “Otherwise doctors will not want to practice here and our current personnel shortcomings will continue to worsen.”

Arizona closely avoided its third failing grade, receiving a D- in Public Health and Injury Prevention. The state’s greatest shortcoming in this category is its especially low immunization rates. Fewer than three-quarters of Arizona’s children between the age of 19 and 35 months are immunized (74.8%), compared with 80.5 % nationally. Additionally, less than two-thirds of adults aged 65 years and older received influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations (65.4% and 66.5%, respectively). Arizona also has one and a half times the national average in unintentional fall-related fatalities, yet the state spends nothing on fall injury education or prevention and is near the bottom (47th) in total injury prevention funds. On Arizona’s roads, 45% of all traffic fatalities are alcohol-related and there is no helmet law for motorcyclists. The numbers in this category also reveal a higher than average homicide and suicide rate.

“Prevention has to be a bigger part of our overall program and more children and adults need to have adequate health insurance,” said Dr. Norquist. “The high rates of uninsured patients, lack of health education and a depleted workforce hamper access to adequate preventive and emergency care, which I sincerely believe will further strain the medical system.”

Arizona fared better in the Quality & Patient Safety Environment category earning a C. Over 90% of Arizona counties have Emergency 911 service and 40% of hospitals have electronic medical records. While most items in the category were on par with national averages, the number of emergency medicine residents was very low – only 10.6 for every 1 million people. Arizona also does not have a uniform system for providing pre-arrival instructions in their emergency departments or require adverse event or hospital-based infections reporting.

As mentioned previously, Arizona ranked near the top (9th) of the nation in Disaster Preparedness, with a grade of A-. Despite receiving only $9.51 per person for disaster preparedness (the national average is $13.82 per person), Arizona has established a statewide patient tracking system as well as a statewide syndromic surveillance system. Arizona also was highly ranked in regard to the per capita percentage of nurses and physicians registered in the state-based Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals program.

“The weakened economy combined with a failing health care system mean that growing numbers of people will need emergency care,” said Dr. Nick Jouriles, president of ACEP. “In fact, the role of emergency care has never been more critical to this nation, which is why emergency patients must become a top priority for health care reform. We are urging President-elect Obama and the new Congress to strengthen emergency departments, because they are a health care safety net for us all.”

The nation’s failure to support emergency patients resulted in a C- for the country overall. Massachusetts earned the highest overall grade of a B and Arkansas ranked last (51st) in the nation with a D-. The national grade was calculated using the same methodology used for the overall state grades and is a weighted average of the nation’s category grades.

The grades are from ACEP’s National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine, a comprehensive analysis of the support that states provide for emergency patients. The new Report Card contains more than twice the measures of ACEP’s first Report Card in 2006, as well as a new category for disaster preparedness, which makes it more comprehensive, although not directly comparable to the previous Report Card.

The five Report Card categories (and weightings) are: Access to Emergency Care (30%), Quality and Patient Safety Environment (20%), Medical Liability Environment (20%), Public Health and Injury Prevention (15%) and Disaster Preparedness (15%).

The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine was made possible, in part, by funding from the Emergency Medicine Foundation, which gratefully acknowledges the support of The WellPoint Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Arizona College of Emergency Physicians is a state chapter of ACEP, a national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine with more than 27,000 members. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.

Mesa Animal Control Has A New Phone Number

A new phone number has been established for the City of Mesa Animal Control Unit, which was recently transferred from Mesa Police to Neighborhood Services. The new number to call in order to report an animal problem or to request information is (480) 644-2268. Animal Control officers are available Monday through Friday from 7 am to 4 pm. Messages can be left after hours and calls will be returned the next business day.

The new Animal Control phone number can be used for such issues as animal bites, animal pickups, barking dogs, dogs running loose, livestock restrictions and violations, animal abuse and dead animal pickup. If there is an immediate danger to health, such as a dog attack in progress or an animal in traffic, call 911. If you have a lost pet, contact the Maricopa County Shelter at (602) 506-7387. There are no leash or license laws for cats and no agencies pick up cats.

Evangelist Tommy Seals Appearing At The Globe Christian Center

Evangelist Tommy Seals will be at the Globe Christian Center, 509 East Maple St., for special church services on Dec. 7th, at 11 am & 6:30 pm & will continue through Dec. 10th, with a service at 7 pm each night. Everyone is welcome to attend.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church Bazaar

The St. Paul's Lutheran Church Bazaar is going on right now until 6 pm this evening. The Bazaar will also be held tomorrow, Dec. 6th, from 9am until Noon. Be sure to stop by the Bazaar at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Country Club Manor, odds are you'll find something for everyone.

Indoor Yard Sale

On Dec. 6th, there will be an indoor yard sale in the Mission Building, east of the First Southern Baptist Church in Miami. The yard sale is going to open at 9 am and will end at 3 pm. There will be crafts, a raffle, baked goodies, & lots of other items that are too good to resist. The money raised from the yard sale will go toward paving the parking lot between the two buildings. If you would like more information, please call 425-2919.

HDMS Wrestling Team Car Wash

The High Desert Middle School Wrestling Team is holding a car wash on Dec. 6th, at Autozone between Noon and 4 pm. All donations will be greatfully appreciated.

Whitney And Colorado River Indian Tribal Member Each Given 80 Months In Federal Prison

Stephanie Whitney, 46, of Parker, Az. and a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribe, was sentenced on Nov. 24th, 2008, by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt to 80 months in federal prison. Whitney pleaded guilty on Aug. 11th, 2008 to Assault with a Dangerous Weapon for stabbing her adult male friend with a knife.

On Sept. 14th, 2007, Whitney verbally threatened her friend with a knife, used the knife
to cut his left wrist then later stabbed him in the chest below his left collar bone, barely missing an artery. The victim was transported via helicopter to a hospital in Phoenix where he required multiple stitches for the stab wound.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Raynette Logan and Jennifer E. Green, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Phoenix.