Payson Roundup

Also from January 24

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Bank robbed, man flees on foot

By Alexis Bechman

January 24, 2012

A masked man walked into the Wells Fargo bank, 115 E. Highway 260, about 3:20 p.m. with a handgun and demanded cash, said Payson Police Chief Don Engler. Tellers gave the suspect an undisclosed amount of money and he fled the scene on foot, last seen running into a neighborhood on South Goodnow Road. One witness said the suspect pointed a gun at him and told him to get back into his vehicle as he entered the bank. The man said he called police when he got in his vehicle. In less than three minutes, officers had surrounded the bank, but the suspect was gone.

Payson ‘takes the fright out’ of Star Valley’s water deal

By Alexis Bechman

January 24, 2012

In the event of an emergency, Payson has agreed to provide backup water and help to Star Valley. The Star Valley Town Council lauded the agreement Tuesday night, Jan. 17, as the next step in the town’s development and working relationship with Payson. The town plans on May 1 to take over the Payson Water Company in Star Valley from Brooke Utilities. The town will run the 360-hookup system and is in the process of establishing water ordinances and rates. One of the requirements is having water available in an emergency and an operator on duty around the clock. Star Valley does not have the work force or resources, but Payson has agreed to supply both when needed. Earlier this month, the Payson council approved an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) where Payson would pump water to Star Valley and respond to after-hours calls when Star Valley’s water operator is unavailable. Behind the scenes, Payson’s staff has also helped Star Valley work through the technicalities of establishing a water department.

Clubs and Organizations

January 24, 2012

The Forest Park Homeowners Association board of directors will meet at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 203 N. Parkwood Lane, Payson. Any homeowner with concerns or questions is welcome to attend. The Annual Homeowners Association meeting is planned for Feb. 18; the time and location are to be determined.

Spear wins gold at 2012 Payson Invitational

By Max Foster

January 24, 2012

Payson High School senior Jacob Spear wrestled his way to a gold medal and a prestigious outstanding wrestler award while battling some of Arizona’s finest grapplers entered in the Payson Invitational. In the 22-team fray, which was held Jan. 20 and 21 in Wilson Dome, Spear (138 lbs.) compiled an unbeaten record that included a decision over Camp Verde’s Derrick Brown in the hotly contested championship round. Brown entered the tournament highly regarded with a 39-6 record and a weight class championship with a 6-0 mark earlier this month at the Joseph City Invitational. At the Blackford ASU Invitational while competing against some of the state’s finest “big school” wrestlers, Brown was 5-1 with three pins.

Lady Horns out to end hardwood skid

After this week, only four games remain for girls to corral enough points for advantageous seed in playoff competition

By Max Foster

January 24, 2012

A Lady Longhorn goal tomorrow, Jan. 25, will be to put an end to a three-game losing streak against a visiting Mogollon Lady Mustang team that PHS ran roughshod over, 55-18, earlier this season. Payson’s three-game slide includes losses to Blue Ridge, 58-54, on Jan. 17, and to Snowflake, 70-56, a day later in a rescheduled game that had been postponed on Dec. 13. The streak reached three on Jan. 20 near Scottsdale where Salt River overwhelmed the PHS girls 68-35. SR’s win over Payson High was their second this season. On Jan. 11 in Wilson Dome, Salt River prevailed 49-36. The loss to Snowflake was a bit tough to absorb because the Lady Horns had upset the homestanding Lobos 52-50 on Jan. 5.

Salt River Eagles rise up vs. Payson to slow blowout

By Max Foster

January 24, 2012

Someone forgot to tell Salt River Eagles players they were no match for the Payson Longhorn hardwood stalwarts having been waylaid 69-27 by PHS earlier this season. In the second meeting of the two teams, Jan. 20 near Scottsdale, the game was played to expectations as the Eagles struggled in the first three quarters trailing 52-32 with eight minutes remaining. But in the final stanza, the Eagles rose up from their own ashes much like the mythical Phoenix bird to outscore Payson 27-18 and pull the final score to a respectable 70-59. With Payson’s win, its second consecutive, the team improved to 13-8 overall and 4-3 in Section III. In power point standings, which do not include tournament games, the Horns are 8-4 and ranked fourth in Division III, Section III. Their power point total of 53.769 is about two points better than fifth place Camp Verde and about one less than third place Valley Christian.

Coach says tourney one of the finest in Arizona

By Max Foster

January 24, 2012

Those who took in the Payson Invitational wrestling tournament on Jan. 20 and 21 in Wilson Dome undoubtedly left impressed with the fine performances of the wrestlers, the overall organization of the tournament and the hospitality shown by the town and school. But that’s nothing new — tournament director Don Heizer has been hosting those types of quality tournaments since his arrival in Payson in the mid 1990s. Before that, he was putting on the same quality high school events in Colorado. Heizer is modest and always quick to deflect any credit he receives to his host of dedicated volunteers who serve as the backbone of the Payson Invitational.

Rim Country 4-H clubs to hold open house on Monday

By Teresa McQuerrey

January 24, 2012

Learn about 4-H opportunities at an open house from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday, Jan. 30 at the Payson Public Library. The 4-H program offers a wide variety of projects in which young people can participate, including 4-H Camp. According to Lani Hall, 4-H youth development agent with the University of Arizona Gila County Cooperative Extension Service, if enough young people are interested in a project, every effort will be made to make it available to them. The projects cover everything from aerospace to wildlife skull activity and yeast breads.

Lighting up their brains

Science class helps gifted JRE students devise experiments, prepare for science fair

By Michele Nelson

January 24, 2012

Frank, a chubby, black hamster, scurries through the maze as owner Ellie Hubbard, a fourth-grader at Julia Randall Elementary (JRE), times his dash through the tunnels made of clear plastic cups linked together with Scotch tape. “He did that in 10.7 seconds,” she says. Then Ellie tears apart the maze of tubes to reconfigure them. She has Frank do it all over again. This time, it takes him 26.1 seconds. She writes the results in a notebook. “I’m trying to learn about learning patterns,” she said. Ellie will present the results of her observations at the JRE school-wide science fair on Feb. 9 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the gym. In this weekly program, she and 22 other students spend an hour with Carme Locke, a former Payson teacher who came out of retirement to administer the pullout science program. The particular science class is aimed at children identified with special needs in the gifted and talented education program (GATE).

Forest Service confronts another no-win choice

January 24, 2012

Someone needs to resurrect King Solomon and get him to run the U.S. Forest Service. Hard to figure that anyone else can resolve the agonizing choices facing the folks managing 193 million acres of your land — including 3 million acres in the Tonto National Forest. Hopefully, you recall the story of the wise King Solomon. He is confronted with the claims of two women to a single baby. Unable to discern the real mother, Solomon decreed the baby should be cut in half so each woman would have a share. One woman agreed, the other woman recoiled — and renounced her claim. So Solomon gave the second woman the baby, knowing a real mother would sacrifice her claim to save the child.

Thank you to Rim Country Health and doctors

January 24, 2012

My family and I would like to thank Rim Country Health, also Hospice of Payson, for kindness and help for our loved ones during our need.

Town thanked for supporting human rights

January 24, 2012

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize winning grassroots human rights organization working to protect basic human rights for all people, everywhere in the world.

Boy Scout thanks excavating company for donation

January 24, 2012

I would like to give a huge thank you to Roy Haught Excavating, Star Valley Granite and Materials.

Thanks for helping Kaitie’s Closet

January 24, 2012

Although a bit late, we at Kaitie’s Closet would like to thank the surrounding communities and the Town of Payson for their generous giving, not only at Christmas, but throughout the year to those in need.

Thanks to Payson PAYS

January 24, 2012

My name is Felicity Andren. I am a single mother of two small children and a full-time college student due to graduate this May.

Happy birthday, Woody Guthrie

January 24, 2012

Legendary American folk singer Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday will be celebrated this year.

Community Almanac

January 24, 2012

The Pine/Strawberry Thrift Store at 3916 N. Highway 87 in downtown Pine (at the community center) is having sales Jan. 25 to Jan. 28 on ladies’ and men’s blazers, suits and jackets at 50 percent off the marked prices. Adult shoes will be 50 cents a pair. From Feb. 1 to Feb. 4, Valentine’s and home décor will be featured and there will be a bag sale of clothing for $2 a bag. The store

School board discusses superintendent hiring

By Pete Aleshire

January 24, 2012

The Payson Unified District School Board decided Saturday to set up a screening committee to help sort through applications to replace retiring superintendent Casey O’Brien. The board spent nearly three hours talking about the nationwide search with Karen Beckvar, director of leadership for the Arizona School Boards Association, conducting the search. The board settled on a timetable that will close applications on March 12 and screen the applicants by March 20. Board members and people serving on the five-person screening committee will then rank the applications. The board will consider those rankings in winnowing the field down to a group of probably two to five finalists. Those finalists will appear at an open community forum on March 30, followed by interviews with the board on March 31. After a sometimes-stormy tenure dominated by budget woes, O’Brien recently notified the board he’ll retire in June and probably move to southern Arizona to live on pensions from the state and the Navy, where he served as a fighter pilot.

County sets Presidential Preference Election for Feb. 28

By Michele Nelson

January 24, 2012

The Rim Country Republicans and Greens straw poll will occur Feb. 28. Gila County Supervisors accepted the governor’s proclamation to hold the Presidential Preference Election at a recent county meeting. Presidential elections determine which candidate their state’s delegates support at the Republican and Green conventions. “The public believes this is a primary,” said Linda Eastlick, county director of elections. “The primary isn’t until August.” Eastlick said this is a closed election where only registered voters of the running parties can participate. Since there are fewer people eligible to vote in an election this specialized, fewer precincts will be open. Due to the number of registered voters in Gila County, the county will have one polling place open for every 2,000 registered voters. The county plans to consolidate some precincts into one polling location.

Forest Service releases plan to limit cross country travel

By Pete Aleshire

January 24, 2012

A long-awaited Forest Service plan will limit cross-country vehicle travel on the 3-million-acre Tonto National Forest, but leave an expanded network of 5,300 miles of roads still open. More than two years behind schedule, the Tonto National Forest last week released its congressionally-ordered Travel Management Plan to contain the damage done to watersheds, streams, archaeological sites and wildlife by an explosion of ATV off-road vehicle use. The draft released after years of study adds 1,200 miles of now closed roads and trails to the system in one of the nation’s most heavily used national forests. However, the plan will ban the free-wheeling cross country travel that has added hundreds of miles of informal roads and done damage to streams, wildlife and sensitive sites in recent years. The plan creates four off-road areas of 1,417 acres that would still allow cross country travel — including a large area between Payson and Phoenix. In addition, the plan still allows hunters to go off-road to retrieve animals they’ve killed within 200 yards of an open road.

PSWID’s board meeting heats up

By Max Foster

January 24, 2012

At a stormy meeting Jan. 19, Pine and Strawberry Water Improvement District (PSWID) board members angrily denounced two members of the Water for Pine Strawberry group, a loose-knit organization critical of PSWID policies. The PSWID board also brushed aside public challenges and reinstated current board officers on a 4-2 vote. The clash between several board members and critics dominated the heated session. “I’m sick and tired of the criticism of your watchdog group,” said Gary Lovetro, PSWID board chairman, directing his comments to Water for Pine Strawberry members Sam Schwalm and Pam Mason. Lovetro said all board members had a high threshold for criticism, but Schwalm and Mason had crossed his threshold with their persistent questioning. “I’m fed up … it’s going to cost you very much personally to defend your actions,” Lovetro told Schwalm and Mason.

Supervisor Dawson to retire at term’s end

By Michele Nelson

January 24, 2012

Gila County Supervisor Shirley Dawson will retire at the end of her term this year, opening the door for the possible election of a northern Gila County candidate to the board that controls an array of services. Dawson, a Democrat who lives in Globe, represents District 3, which includes Star Valley, the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and parts of Globe. In a press release, Dawson said, “It has been great working for improvement in our county. I am proud of the works that have been accomplished and take pride that we, as a county, have thus far survived the worst economic crisis in our country’s history.” Gila County has relied on a multi-million-dollar reserve fund to weather three years of state cutbacks in funding for counties. The county has avoided major cuts in services, which include the sheriff’s department, flood control, planning for unincorporated areas and an array of social services.

Chili’s hosting event to support Payson Area Food Drive Wednesday

January 24, 2012

Chili’s Grill & Bar in Payson wants to show off recent renovations, all while donating to a worthy cause. Guests are encouraged to stop by Wednesday, Jan. 25, as the restaurant supports the Payson Area Food Drive (PAFD), whose goal is to see that there are no hungry families in the Payson Area.