Stories
Hiroshima
We get off the train in Hiroshima and it's pouring. We put on our rain coats and pick up our bags for the walk to our hostel for the night, following the always competent Mrs. VanZile. We drop off our bags and then we start the metro ride to something I wasn't ready for.
Community Almanac
The Payson Rodeo Committee needs volunteers to put on the 2012 World’s Oldest Continuous Rodeo. Help is needed in areas like ticket takers, the souvenir booth, 50/50 ticket sales, security and other non-livestock areas. See what it is all about and how you can meet some great people at 6 p.m., Tuesday, July 10 at the Best Western Payson Inn. Meetings will also be held July 17 and 31.
Court bows to Obama
Well, it seems that our U.S. Supreme Court has bowed to Obama again with their ruling on SB 1070!
Stubbs for county sheriff
The value of having a sheriff in office that knows, and acts on the fact he is the highest governmental authority in the county is incalculable.
Amount of taxes paid is not an indication of patriotism
Strange, based on Mr. Brophy’s line of reasoning, the more taxes you pay the bigger or greater a patriot you become!
Feezor for county recorder
It’s time for a more efficient and effective recorder’s office.
Confused over vehicle ownership
What does ownership of a vehicle in Arizona mean?
We can’t go on like this
You can lead a horse to water — but you can’t make him turn in his homework. Then again — if a horse flunks out, you don’t pay the cost in social woes and welfare costs for the rest of his life. So what should we make of social studies teacher Ron Silverman’s insistence that he ended up on the Payson School Board’s layoff list because he insisted on flunking students who didn’t turn in homework and couldn’t pass their tests? When parents complained, Silverman says the administration caved — and approved the wholesale transfer of students from his classes.
Get locked up – For a good cause
The accommodations lack plush towels or Tempur-Pedic beds or extra pillows — and checking out is a nightmare. In fact, it’s the worst hotel you could imagine. So sensible people don’t seek to spend a night in jail — especially if they have to pay for it.
All the world and beyond
Library offers children free books to boost reading rates
Introduce children to books and you give them the passage to the entire world and beyond — their imaginations are their tickets. Both the Payson Public Library and the Isabelle Hunt Memorial Library in Pine participate in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and the Gila County Library District’s programs promoting early literacy.
Second quarter delivers huge sales boost in Pine
Finally, some good news to report. The second quarter of 2012 brought with it an upward trend in home values, that will hopefully continue. The average selling price of homes in both Payson and Pine-Strawberry increased from the first quarter of 2012. Pine-Strawberry showed the increase with home values up 61 percent.
Main Street restaurant will feature steaks, seafood and New Orleans kick
After sitting empty for several years, the former Main Street Grille will reopen as the Journigan House on Labor Day weekend. New owners are injecting fresh life and style into the historic building and bringing some Creole flare to the food. Corey Johnson bought the space in late June and quickly set contractors to work.
PHS graduate receives nursing award
Haylee Huff, RN, a 2005 graduate of Payson High School and daughter of local Realtor and school board member Rory Huff and his wife Brenda, who works for the Town of Payson’s Water Department recently received the prestigious DAISY award for Extraordinary Nurses. “We’re so proud of her,” said Brenda.
A slew of new faces at Payson High School
At the end of the school year and a round of layoffs, Payson High School (PHS) had an empty counseling department, vacated secretary desks and classrooms without a teacher. By the beginning of July, administration had filled most of the unoccupied positions, except for a freshman English teacher and auto shop instructor.
Pine has a blast at centennial bash
Residents of the tiny mountain hamlets of Pine and Strawberry sometimes jokingly refer to themselves as “Pine Cones” as tribute to their laid back lifestyles.
Clubs and Organizations
The Loyal Order of the Moose meetings are at 6 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. The Women of the Moose meet at 6 p.m. the first and third Tuesday of each month at the lodge. The lodge has a Thursday Fish Fry from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and weekly dinner specials are available.
Cooperation from coaches imperative in sports reporting
Nary a month goes by that someone doesn’t ask me how a math teacher and football and baseball coach, such as myself, got involved in journalism. For me, it all began in June of 1983 in Show Low while I was looking for summer employment, which in those days was a financial must for underpaid teachers and coaches.
Stars wage diamond wars
While some Payson Little League softball and baseball teams have been eliminated from postseason Area 1 tournaments, three remain in contention for upcoming District 1 and the Arizona state tournament.
Stodghill heads to national finals
If work ethic and dedication are indeed keys to success, Pine teenager Chelsie Stodghill should soon be reaping the rewards of the hours of practice she spends honing her skills as a high school rodeo performer.
Chance sets sights on Olympics
After competing for just one summer with the Payson Pikes swim team, Garret Chance knew he was hooked on the sport. “That sparked his interest in swimming,” said his mother Cheryl. “His goal now is to make it to the Olympics. “We don’t know if he will ever do it, but it’s his goal.”
Monsoon second in Kingman
small-town Arizona proud by playing to a second-place finish in the ASA State B 14-years-and-under tournament played July 6 to 8 in Kingman.
