From the KATO Newsroom
William Perry - News Director

3/30/06
AZ COUNTY ATTORNEY AND SHERIFF'S ASSOCIATION MAILERS IS NO SCAM
If you received, in the mail, a letter from the Arizona County Attorney and Sheriff's Association, asking for donations, this mailer is not a scam. According to Graham County Sheriff, Frank Hughes, the Arizona County Attorney and Sheriff's Association is a legitimate and legal association that actually does help counties in Arizona.

Hughes said that he had applied for a $9,000 grant last year. He was asking for the money for a senior citizen program in Graham County called "Are You O.K.", from the association - and got it. Hughes says usually Graham County will receive at least $1,000-per-year from the Association to help pay for different county programs.

The Arizona County Attorney and Sheriff's Association is a legitimate organization that really does help those in Arizona, and if you decide to help them financially, you can be assured that your donation will not be wasted.

  

HIKER DEVELOPS APPENDICITIS - CALLS SEARCH AND RESCUE
A hiker who apparently developed an appendicitis, Tuesday night, while hiking with the National Outdoor Leadership School, in the Guluiro Mountains, was rescued and taken to the Northern Cochise County Medical Center in Willcox for treatment.

The National Outdoor Leadership School is an accredited school out of Wyoming that teaches people the skills to lead and operated safely in the outdoors. They teach rock climbing, mountaineering, backpacking, horsepacking and many other outdoor skills.

The Outdoor Leadership School was holding a hiking school near Bonita and when victim Ben Peck, 19, developed the appendicitis. At around 10:00pm, Tuesday night, the group contacted the Graham County Sheriff's Office, requesting Search and Rescue because they might need help transporting Peck to the „trail head‰ where he could be transported to a hospital by ambulance.

Graham County Sheriff's Deputy, Sergeant Mike Wear, was asked to lead the ambulance into the Ashcreek Trail-Head. Wear and the Southwest Ambulance Crew were able to locate the hiking group treat the victim and transport him to Northern Cochise County Medical Center.

There was no further information on the condition of Ben Peck.

    

House signals support for trespassing law to fight illegal immigration
The Arizona House has given preliminary approval to a proposal that would expand Arizona's trespassing law to enable local authorities to arrest illegal immigrants.

Supporters say the approach would help communities catch illegal border-crossers who manage to get past federal authorities. Opponents say the idea won't lead to significant changes and that a similar strategy flopped last year in New Hampshire because states don't have the authority to enforce federal immigration law. The bill now moves to a formal vote by the House.

It would let local police officers ask criminal suspects about their immigration status. That provision is aimed getting rid of "sanctuary policies," which some officials say discourage or prohibit officers from inquiring about a person's immigration status. Opponents say the approach could lead to racial profiling of Latinos.

      

Wildfire burning in Chiricahua's burns 470 acres
Fire officials are crediting higher humidity and cloud cover in helping contain a wildfire burning in the Chiricahua Mountains. The Burro Fire has consumed 470 acres and was 50 percent contained, Tuesday. Full containment is expected by Friday.

The fire is burning in grass and brush on steep slopes about seven miles southwest of Portal in the Chiricahua Wilderness. The fire is difficult for crews to access by foot. Crews are working on containment lines.

Three Hotshot crews, two Arizona Department of Corrections crews from Douglas and Fort Grant and a Coronado National Forest crew are working the fire. The cause is under investigation.

03/29/06
GLOBE WOMAN CAUGHT WITH KIDS IN N. CAROLINA
A 30-year-old Globe woman, who had taken her two kids and became a fugitive was arrested in North Carolina, Friday, on kidnapping charges and accused of posing as the kids father.

The saga culminated Friday when investigators on stakeout in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, spotted a woman dressed as a man enter a residence. Shellie White, who was divorced from her her husband, Ernest Karnes, of Globe, and was living with a female partner, apparently carried out the gender charade so convincingly that even her two children believed she was their father.

After Ms. White was arrested, her children, now ages 6 and 8, asked the Deputy U.S. Marshals, "why they were arresting their daddy?" White told officials that she never knew she was on the run.

Detective Johnny Holmes of the Gila County Sheriff's Office in Globe, confirmed that White and Karnes shared custody of the children when she left Arizona in 2003. However, he said, a parent who takes the children and disappears under those circumstances is committing custodial interference, a felony.

The kids, Erica and Dusty were reunited with their father in Globe, on Monday.

  

TASK FORCE FOILS PRISON DRUG DELIVERY
The Southeastern Arizona Narcotics Task Force were able to foil a Safford Prison drug delivery scheme involving a Tucson woman.

According to a Task Force report, The Narcotics Task Force in cooperation with Department of Corrections Officers at the Safford Prison, learned that a girlfriend of one of the inmates was coming from Tucson to deliver 5-grams of heroin and 5.5-grams of cocaine, to an inmate.

The officers knew from phone taps at the prison and letters that had been screened that Christine Veronica Valenzuela, 32, of Tucson, was coming, Saturday morning, to visit her boyfriend, James "Jaime" Gallegos, 32, who is incarcerated at the Safford Prison.

When Valenzuela arrived at the prison, Task Force officers were waiting for her and asked that she come to the prison office. When confronted about the drug scheme, Valenzuela confessed that she had been told in a letter from an inmate named "D", to go to Casa Grande ˆ pick up the cocaine and heroin ˆ and come to Graham County, on Saturday, to visit her boyfriend. When she got here, she was to take the drugs to the EAC campus and hide them in an orange juice container near the baseball field. The drugs would then be picked up, on Monday, by a work-release prison inmate. Valenzuela took the officers to the EAC ball field and showed them where the drugs were stashed.

Task Force officers confiscated the drugs and arrested Valenzuela and took her to the Graham County Jail. She was charged with Possesssion of narcotic drugs, Possession for sale, Transportation of narcotic drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, and she was arrested on a warrant out of Tucson.

    

Despite rain, climatologists still concerned about warming trend
The Gila Valley and most of Arizona is getting some snow and rain. But it isn't nearly enough to pull us out of the drought.

The head of the University of Arizona's Climate Assessment for the Southwest program, recently wrapped up a study that shows wintertime lows have been increasing in the state for 70 years. According to the study, average wintertime lows rose more than one-degree a decade in Mesa, where the biggest warm-up was reported.

While the effects are clear with longer growing seasons and drier soils, climatologists say the long-term impact on the climate is harder to figure out.

      

03/28/06
SPD CATCHES TWO IN BOWLING ALLEY BURGLARY
Safford Police officers were dispatched to the Safford Bowling Alley, at around 2:00am, Saturday morning, in reference to a burglar alarm going off.

Safford Officers, who were responding to the burglar alarm, approached the scene. They turned off their headlights as they slowly approached the Safford Bowling Alley and witnessed two male subjects running across the street and toward the Quality Inn. Several officers surrounded the area and began searching the South side of the Quality Inn property.

A suspect was located, hiding in some bushes near the Southwest corner of the motel. Chris Whitlock, age unknown, was ordered at gunpoint to get on the ground. He was handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle.

Thatcher Police came to assist Safford PD, and they found another suspect, Joshua Mata, breathing and sweating heavily, hiding inside a car in the back seat. Mata was handcuffed and detained for his possible involvement. Officers then went back to the Bowling Alley to assess the damage. No one was found in the building. Extensive damage was done to the East-Side door of the Bowling Alley.

A victims rights report was given to the Bowling Alley owner to take inventory and see what was missing. Both Whitlock and Mata were taken to the Graham County Jail.

    

2-TUCSON MEN KILLED IN ROLL OVER ON TANQUE ROAD
Graham County Sheriff's Deputies were called to a single-vehicle roll over accident that killed two Tucson men, and injured three other passengers, Saturday evening.

The roll over accident happened about 4.4-miles south-west of the Hot Wells on Tanque Road, around 5:30pm, Saturday evening. The driver, 34-year-old Daniel Gasper Ochoa, of Tucson, and a front seat passenger, Julio Lomas Jr., 40, were both killed in the crash.

According to a Sheriff's Department report of the accident, Ochoa, Lomas, and a female, middle-front seat passenger, Elizabeth Calanchi, 44, also of Tucson, had met 30-year-old Israel Christopher Mendoza of Benson, and Cheryl Brathupt, 43, address unknown, in a bar in Willcox. The three from Tucson asked Brathupt and Mendoza to show them where the Hot Wells and Tanque Dunes were.

Brathupt and Mendoza got in the back of the 1999 Ford F-150 EX-Cab and were on their way to the Dunes when the roll-over occurred. Ochoa and Lomas were both pronounced dead at the scene. Calanchi, who was complaining of chest pain and difficulty breathing, was air-lifted to University Medical Center in Tucson. Brathupt and Mendoza were both transported by ambulance to Northern Cochise County Medical Center in Willcox, suffering from cuts and bruses.

The accident is still under investigation.

      

Soldier arrested for allegedly abusing his baby stepdaughter
A Fort Huachuca soldier has been arrested in connection with the abuse of his three-year-old stepdaughter.

Sierra Vista police 23-year-old Curtis R. Dailey was taken into custody Friday, on Post, and booked into the Cochise County jail on one count of child abuse. His bond is a half million dollars.

Dailey's arrest came more than two months after Sierra Vista police were notified by the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center ER that the girl had been brought in for breathing problems. After she was examined, the girl was immediately flown to UMC in Tucson where she would undergo three surgeries for abdominal injuries.

Police determined the girl was injured while in Dailey's care either in a car or at their apartment while her mother was at work.

3/27/06
State jobless rate falls in February
Arizona's jobless rate has dipped slightly.

The state says unemployment in February was four-point-four percent, down four-tenths of a percent from January. Economists attribute the decrease to a healthy rise in hiring normal for the month and strong construction and hospitality industry activity.

The state Department of Economic Security says the state's economy added nearly 37,000 non-farm jobs in February and is on track to have the highest-ever employment level in the next few months.

      

Judge dismisses charges against two men in player slaying
A judge has dismissed homicide charge against two Tucson men accused of gunning down a college football player last year.

Twenty-year-old Nicholas Lee Arnold and two fellow students from Western New Mexico University, in Silver City, New Mexico, were shot at while in a car at a fast-food restaurant in Tucson on February 6th, 2005. Authorities say more than 15 bullets hit the car and Arnold died at the scene. His friends survived.

In April, police accused 20-year-old Juan Jose Olivares and Mark A. Romero of the drive-by shooting. Earlier this month, a Pima County Superior Court Judge threw out Olivares's confession.

The judge says gang detectives wrongfully coerced Olivares into giving them statements after he invoked his right to remain silent. The judge dismissed the case without prejudice March 14th but prosecutors say they're working to refile charges.

3/24/06
BODY AND PIPE BOMB FOUND IN SILVER CITY, N. MEXICO
The body of a man and a pipe bomb were found, this week, in Silver City, New Mexico Silver City police have identified the body of a man found, Monday morning, on the 4100 Block of North Silver City Boulevard.

The body of 43-year-old Michael J. Schwiegart was found by city workers at around 11:30am, Monday. The body was found in an empty lot. According to police, there were no outward signs of foul play. The body has been sent to the Office of the Medical Investigation for autopsy.

Also in Silver City, Construction workers at a new housing development on Sara Court In Silver City, discovered a live pope bomb, Wednesday afternoon, where they were working on an excavation project. It's the third such device discovered in the town in less than two weeks.

The New Mexico State Police, the FBI, and the ATF were notified and the State Police later detonated the device.

    

FORMER SAFFORD MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL ACCUSED OF FILMING TEENAGE GIRL IN WASHINGTON
A former Safford Middle School Principal has been accused of taking at least 100-videos of a nude and partially clothed 15-year-old girl at his home in Port Townsend, Washington, Tuesday.

Rex E. Whipple, who is now principal of Chimacum High School in Port Townsend, Washington, was formerly charged with "voyeurism", Tuesday, in Jefferson County, Washington, Superior Court. Whipple appeared in front of Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser in the County Jail in Port Hadlock, Washington.

Voyeurism is defined in the charge as photographing or filming a person without their knowledge or consent, while they are in a place where they would have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Whipple's wife turned her husband into authorities after finding out about the videos. She learned about the videos from her daughter-in-law while Whipple was visiting Arizona, a report states.

The daughter-in-law found the videos on Whipple's school laptop computer. Whipple told the judge that he had lost the laptop on his return trip from Arizona. Judge Verser raised concern that Whipple might be a flight risk and ordered bail set at $25,000. Whipple was arrested Monday and was carring almost $4,000 in cash. He had allegedly discussed leaving Wednesday for Hawaii.

In Washington State, voyeurism is considered a Class C Felony and carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

      

House OKs proposal on official language
The Arizona House has approved a proposed ballot measure that would make English the state's official language and require that government functions be conducted in English. Supporters say the measure was needed to encourage assimilation of immigrants, while opponents say the proposal was divisive and fanned flames of intolerance.

A similar proposal made it through the Republican-led Legislature last year, but was vetoed by Governor Napolitano. She had said she believed non-English speakers should be encouraged to learn the language, but that the bill didn't do anything toward that end. The House's 34-to-22 vote nearly along party lines sent the resolution to the Senate. If approved by the full Legislature, this year's proposal would bypass the governor and be decided by voters in November.

A similar law approved by votes in 1988 to make English the state's official language was overturned in 1998. That law was declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court, which ruled that the change violated free-speech rights.

3/23/06
House signals support for ballot measure on immunity for policE
The Arizona House has given preliminary approval to a proposed ballot measure that would provide legal immunity to law enforcement officers for using "police tools" on people who are committing felonies.

Proponents say police tools include handcuffs, guns and other items used to stop suspects. Opponents say the proposal was meant to protect Scottsdale-based stun-gun maker Taser International Incorporated.

The proposal also would provide civil immunity to crime victims, local governments and manufacturers of police tools if a person is harmed by the tools while committing or attempting to commit a felony or fleeing while committing a felony. The immunity wouldn't apply if the tools were used in intentional misconduct.

The proposal, if approved by the full Legislature, would appear on the November ballot.

      

RICHARD MACK TO RUN FOR U.S. SENATE
Former Graham County Sheriff, Richard Mack, has announced that he will be running for the U.S. Senate between now and the first Tuesday in November. Mack is a native Arizonan and grew up in Safford. He graduated from EAC in 1975, and later received his BA degree from BYU in Latin-American Studies and Sociology.

Mack started his law enforcement career in Provo, Utah. He served as communications Supervisor, an undercover narcotics agent, a detective, and sergeant. In 1988, Mack moved back to Graham County and was elected twice as Graham County Sheriff. Mack says that the reason he is running for U.S. Senate is that he feels that our country is in a most precarious position. He says, "We are under an historic and disastrous debt."

Our military is being misused and spread far too thin, security is still enormously inadequate at our borders and freedom has sadly become a meaningless word used by politicians at Fourth of July ceremonies." Mack says he's "not a politician." He supports the decriminalization of marijuana and expects the Federal Government to get out of the way let the States take care of marijuana enforcement.

Richard Mack is the son of G. Wayne and Ruth Mack. He has been married to Dawn Beals for 31 years and they have five children.

3/20/06
22-UDA'S CAUGHT IN SAFFORD
A County deputy on patrol early Wednesday morning found 22-undocument illegal immigrants inside a van that he had stopped for a traffic violation. At around 4:50am, the patrolling deputy was passed by a blue 1985 Ford van with a tail light missing and no license plate.

The deputy turned on his overhead lights and signaled for the van to stop. The vehicle was west bound on highway 70 and continued into the parking lot of an old Chevron gas station, just East of McDonalds. As the van began to slow down, the driver and passenger doors opened and three male subjects jumped from the moving vehicle and began to run North into a cotton field.

The van continued to roll across the parking lot; the open passenger side door hit a metal post and the vehicle continued to roll toward a brick fence. Luckily the van stopped before it hit anything else. The deputy got out and looked inside the van and found 22 illegal immigrants crammed into the back of the van.

All of the passengers were illegal immigrants. They were taken by a Sheriff's van to the Graham County Jail where they were held for Willcox Border Patrol. The van was towed to the Graham County Yard.

    

3/17/06
Kyl immigration measure would spend $2 billion on enforcement
Under a measure added to a Senate budget proposal by Senator Jon Kyl, the government would spend two billion dollars more to enforce immigration laws.

Kyl's provision would provide money for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which reimburses states and local governments for the cost of incarcerating criminal illegal immigrants. It would increase the number of federal prison beds and workers and increase to three-thousand the number of Border Patrol agents added in 2007. The measure also allows the government to set up a nationwide system that would help employers verify workers' citizenship status.

      

THATCHER GIRL INJURED AND FLOWN TO TUCSON
Graham County Search and Rescue had to be called out on Friday evening, to search for a missing 13-year-old girl. Stephenie McClure, 13, of Thatcher had told her 15-year-old brother that she was going to ride around on her 4-wheeler, at around 2:00pm, Friday afternoon. She left the house and didn't come home.

Meanwhile, Stephenie's mom, who was pregnant, had earlier that day had gone into premature labor and had to be flown to University Medical Center in Tucson. According to Mike McEuen, Thatcher Police Chief, Stephenie's father, Randall McClure had gone to Tucson to be with his wife during the emergency and arranged for an aunt to come and be with the kids. The aunt could not come to the house immediately and Stephenie had left before the aunt arrived.

After waiting for Stephenie for approximately 4-and-one-half-hours, the aunt decided to contact law enforcement at around 6:30pm and then Search and Rescue was called out at around 7:30pm. Law enforcement searched for about an hour-and-a-half until they found Stephenie near the Thatcher Sewer Ponds. She had wrecked earlier that day and had been trapped under her 4-wheeler for approximately 4-hours.

Medical personnel arrived at the scene and had Stephenie airlifted to Tucson. Stephenie said that she could not feel her legs and she was suffering from exposure, and hypothermia. There is no word yet on Stephenie's condition.

3/09/06
UPDATED: Road near Bisbee still closed; propane burn-off slower than expected
It's taking longer than expected to burn off propane gas in an overturned tanker truck that plunged down a mountainside a few miles west of Bisbee yesterday morning. State Route 80 west of the Mule Mountain tunnel to the junction with State Route 90 remains closed until that can be done.

Officials had hoped to have the highway reopened by noon today. But DPS says it will be tonight at the earliest, and possibly not until Friday morning, before that will happen. DPS says overnight low temperatures slowed down the burning off of the propane. In addition, it says once that's completed it will take several hours for wreckers to remove the tanker from the bottom of the ravine.

The driver of the tanker was hurt when the truck crashed through a guard rail Wednesday morning and plummeted 80 feet down an embankment. The cab caught fire, scorching the tanker.

    

PROPANE TANKER CRASHES - INTACT WEST OF BISBEE
Authorities say a tanker truck with 93 hundred gallons of propane gas stayed intact, though the cab caught on fire, after the truck plunged down a mountainside, west of Bisbee, Wednesday. Arizona Department of Safety spokesman, Jim Oien says DPS Hazardous materials personnel arrived at the scene, Wednesday afternoon.

The tanker was scorched but did not leak during crash. The tanker was eastbound on Arizona 80 when it drifted off the road, crashed through a guard rail, and plunged down an 80-foot embankment and flopped onto its side.

The driver was air-lifted with nonlife-threatening injuries by helicopter to University Medical Center in Tucson. The accident occurred about two miles west of the Mule Mountain tunnel leading into Bisbee.

There were no businesses near where the truck rolled off the road, and no homes or businesses had to be evacuated.

      

Arizona Senate approves National Guard proposal
The state Senate has approved a proposal requiring Governor Napolitano to follow through on her idea to put National Guard troops at the Arizona-Mexico border to crack down on illegal immigration. The bill also would provide ten million dollars in state money for that effort. It was approved in an 18-to-11 vote and could receive a final vote by the state House as early as tomorrow.

The governor has asked the military to pay for sending unspecified number of additional troops to work at crossing points, assist with cargo inspection and operate cameras and mobile observation points so they can report suspicious activity.

Last week, though, Napolitano said she was prepared to spend state money for the project. She also has said the proposal would intrude on her authority to command the Arizona National Guard. Arizona already has about 170 National Guard troops at the border assisting federal and state officers with communications, fence construction and anti-drug efforts.

Senate approves $1 billion to help poor with energy costs
The US Senate has approved and sent to the House a bill providing an extra one billion dollars to help low-income families cope with rising energy costs.

The measure met resistance from Senator Jon Kyl, who said the money is slanted toward heating, rather than cooling, and tends to dry up by the time low-income people need help in the summer.

Kyl says funding from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program reaches only four percent of those eligible for assistance in Arizona. He pushed for a formula that would guarantee all states a fair share.

The Senate approved a compromise, which calls for half of the new money for energy bill assistance to be distributed according to the existing formula. The rest would be considered emergency spending. Kyl says it should provide Arizona a 57 percent increase over what the original bill would have offered.

  

3/07/06
Estimate: Illegal immigrant population hits 12 million
A new report estimates the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to as high as 12 million.

The Pew Hispanic Center report estimates that undocumented workers fill one out of every four agricultural jobs, 17 percent of all office and house cleaning positions, 14 percent of construction jobs, and 12 percent of those who work in food preparation. The report found that the pace of illegal immigration is increasing, despite government efforts to crack down.

President Bush has called for a program that would grant temporary worker status to illegal immigrants already here. The House rejected the program and instead passed a border security bill last year that pleased those calling for a crackdown on illegal immigration. The Senate is trying to address both border security and the temporary worker program, but consensus has been elusive.

    

CHURCH OF COGNIZACE SERVED SEARCH WARRANT FOR POT
Graham County Sheriff's Deputies along with the Graham County Narcotics Task Force and agents from the DEA, served a search warrant on the Church of Cognizance, on Klondyke Road, Friday morning, in search of a load of marijuana.

The Church of Cognizace, which gives Pima, Arizona as the address of their World Headquarters, considers marijuana a "religious sacrament", and allegedly use and smoke marijuana in their religious ceremonies.

The agents and deputies who served the search warrant at the Church of Cognizance, located about one-half-mile, South of Highway 70, on Klondyke Road, did not find any marijuana on the church property, Friday.

According to Graham County Under-Sheriff, Dave Boyd, Dan and Mary Quiantaince, who are the leaders of the Church of Cognizace, and live at the Klondyke Road church compound, had been arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico, for possession and transportation of 172-pounds of marijuana, a few days earlier. The brother-in-law of Mary Quiantaince, named Joseph Buttz, 47, of Pima, was also arrested by the DEA, about three weeks ago in Missouri for possession and transportation of 332-pounds of marijuana.

Graham County officials did not find any illegal drug activity at the Church compound but they did confiscate 5-church lap-top computers, two regular church computers, and 4-or-5 burlap backpacks used to smuggle marijuana across the US-Mexico border.

      

SV MAN GIVEN PROBATION FOR KILLING ROOMMATE
A 26-year-old Sierra Vista man was given 4 years supervised probation from a Cochise County Superior Court Judge, for accidentally killing his roommate, on May 17, 2005.

Eric Michael McCray pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in connection with the death of Todd Stansbury, 21, whom he shot in the neck with an semi-automatic pistol in the home they shared in Sierra Vista.

According to court testimony, McCray was married to the daughter of one of Todd Stansburry's aunts. Also, evidence showed that McCray and Stansbury had been arguing when McCray pointed the handgun at Stansbury and pulled the trigger.

Senate backs 'three sentencing' sentencing law
The State Senate has voted to ask Arizona voters to approve a ``three strikes'' law to get tough on violent crime by requiring life sentences for felons convicted twice before of violent or certain other serious crimes. The Senate's 17-to-12 vote sent the resolution to the House. Passage by that chamber would put it on the November ballot.

Arizona law already provides for longer prison sentences for repeat offenders, but the state doesn't have a three-strikes law. The measure would require a life term for a third conviction for any of an assortment of offenses. No early release would be permitted except for commutation of sentence after 35 years.

More than 20 other states have three-strikes law, and the bill's sponsor said failure to enact a similar law would encourage hardened, violent criminals to move to Arizona.

  

3/05/06
SPD CHASES AND ARRESTS MOTORCYCLE RIDER
Safford Police were called to the Valley Apartments, early Monday morning, to a call of a man beating on an apartment door and threatening the resident. When Safford Police arrived they talked to the resident and he said the man who threatened him took off on a motorcycle.

Just about that time, a motorcycle rider was seen leaving the Valley Apartments parking lot at a high rate of speed. Officers tried to flag him down but he went around one officer on foot with a flashlight and a patrol car in the parking lot before speeding off into the night.

Safford officers chased the motorcycle rider through the southernstreets of Safford, until he ended up near the Safford Stake Center, off of 20th Street. The persued rider wrecked his bike on the grass of a residents near the Stake Center and took off on foot, but was quickly captured and handcuffed by pursuing Safford Officers.

34-year-old Francisco Rene Perez, of Safford, told officers that he thought he broke his shoulder when he wrecked his bike. The officers took him to the Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center for medical care.

Meanwhile, officers found out that there was a warrant out for Perez's arrest. He was wanted for Theft of Transportation, a Class 3 Felony, Trafficing in stolen property, a class 2 Felony, and Theft, a Class 6 Felony. After being treated at the hospital, Perez was taken to the Graham County Jail.

    

Drought pushing more animals into southern Arizona communities
Wild animals left parched by the ongoing southern Arizona drought are increasingly venturing into area communities as they search for water and food.

An Arizona Game and Fish Department official says droughts often lead to more animals visiting populated areas. The official, Bob Fink, says the water used on golf courses is ideal for wildlife, as are other areas where water is stored, such as bird baths.

      

Local elections are first test of new voter ID requirement
Local elections on March 14th will serve as the first test of a new requirement that Arizonans show their identification when casting votes. The requirement is part of Proposition 200, a 2004 voter-approved that also denies some government benefits to illegal immigrants. Voters with insufficient identification can cast a provisional ballot, but may be asked to return to an election office with valid ID within 72 hours to have their ballot counted.

Officials say they don't know whether people with ID problems will return to prove their ballots should be counted. Election officials are hopeful a blitz of media attention and public education efforts by the government and public groups have hit the mark. Supporters of the new requirement say it will help deter voter fraud, while critics say it will hinder voter participation.

3/03/06
PRESCRIBED BURN ON 4-BAR MESA
The U.S. Forest Service and the Clifton Ranger District will be conducting a prescribed burn on 4-Bar Mesa in Northern Greenlee County this weekend. Forest Service personel will attempt to burn 350-acres of pinon, juniper, and grassland in the area, which is near Highway 191.

Motorists and campers can expect smoke to visable from the 4-Bar Mesa area through this weekend.

      

Report finds sharp rise in treatment rates for meth abuse
The number of people seeking treatment for methamphetamine abuse is rising sharply.

A government report finds the number more than quadrupled from 1993 to 2003. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report says 28,000 people were admitted across the country for treatment in 1993. That number rose to nearly 136,000 patients in 2003. The study also finds more states in the West than in any other region exceeded the national average of admissions for meth treatment.

But Arizona was only one of those states to have an admissions rate below the national average. Arizona had 36 admissions per 100,000 people ages 12 or older in 2003. That's compared to the national average of 56 admissions per 100,000 people.

  

Study: Lifting weights helps control belly fat in women
Researchers say just two one-hour sessions of weightlifting a week can help women battle bulging bellies.

A new study focuses on intra-abdominal fat. That's the deep fat that wraps around organs and is linked to heart disease. A cardiologist at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City says ``the number-one complaint'' for aging women is tummy growth.

The study broke 164 overweight and obese Minnesota women from 24 to 44 years old into two groups. One participated in a two-year weight-training program. The other got a brochure recommending 30 to 60 minutes of exercise most days of the week.

The weight-training women had just a seven percent gain in intra-abdominal fat. That compares to 21 percent for the other group. And the weight-lifters also cut body fat percentage by almost four percent. The National Institutes of Health paid for the study presented Friday at an American Heart Association conference in Phoenix.

    

Immigration debate begins in Senate
The US Senate has takn up what a key senator called the ``gigantic task'' of tightening US borders against illegal immigration. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding the first of what are expected to be a series of session trying to put together an immigration reform bill.

Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania chairs the panel. He says the aim is to protect the nation's borders while maintaining the flow of low-wage workers for US business.

The House passed a border security bill last year -- to the satisfaction of conservatives clamoring for an immigration crackdown. But that came only after House leaders beat back an attempt by some GOP members to include President Bush's proposal for a temporary worker program. In contrast, the Senate is wading right into the thorny guest worker issue.

      

Governor prepared to have state pay for troops at the border
Governor Janet Napolitano says she's prepared to use state money to pay for sending National Guard troops to the Arizona-Mexico border to crack down illegal immigration if the military declines to pick up the bill.

Yesterday's statement is the closest the governor has come to committing state money for her proposal to send troops to the border. When asking the military in late December to pay for her proposal, Napolitano had said her plan would be impossible without complete federal funding.

Last week, she didn't rule out state funding for her plan, but cautioned that doing so would likely reduce Arizona's immigration assistance from the federal government. Her idea is to expand the National Guard's border presence from its current role in helping in anti-drug efforts to performing other duties to give federal agents more time catch illegal border-crossers.

The governor says the military has made no decision on her request.

03/02/06
MAN OFFERS TRUCK DRIVER 25K FOR LOAD OF COPPER
The price of copper is getting so high that truck drivers are being offer top dollar for their loads.

That's just what happened to Jim Berry, a truck driver for J & B Trucking, as he was hauling a load of copper from Morenci to Miami, Tuesday afternoon. Berry was having problems with his semi truck on Highway 70, coming into Safford from Morenci, with a full load of copper ingots.

Berry was checking the fluids in his semi when saw a van with two men in the vehicle pull up behind his rig. The passenger got out and asked if he needed any help. Berry said "no", if he couldn't fix the truck, he had a cell phone and he could call someone if he needed help.

The man then told Berry that he would give him $25,000-dollars, cash, for the 44,000-pound load of copper on his truck, and he asked he would deliver it to someplace in Phoenix. Berry refused. The man then asked him if he would alow them to get another vehicle and transport the copper themselves for the same price. Berry refused again. The man left and Berry contacted the Safford Police Department and reported the incident. Berry told officers that he didn't know if the incident was a prank or possibly a test of some sort.

      

Senate hearing focuses on immigration issues
Senators are giving a glimpse of immigration issues that are expected to come to the forefront in Congress.

A subcommittee was told Wednesday that smugglers coming across the US-Mexico border are getting more violent. One Arizona sheriff says deputies now expect to be attacked as they patrol the region. Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever says smugglers themselves will confront and attack rival gangs in shootouts on public streets. One landowner complained that hundreds of illegal immigrants are moving past his ranch every night.

President Bush and President Vicente Fox of Mexico spoke last week about how to improve security along the border. Tension flared between the two countries in January when men in military-style uniforms were filmed in Texas unloading what appeared to be bundles of marijuana. Some alleged the men were from Mexico, others claimed they were American soldiers.

SEARCH CONTINUES FOR COCHISE COUNTY MAN
The Cochise County Sheriff's Department continues to investigate a missing person case involving Ronald Harland Stanwood Jr., who was last seen May 2005, in the Pearce/Sunazona area.

According to Stanwood's sister, Laura, who lives in Safford, her missing brother is a "nationally known" monster truck driver, who appeared on television with "The Rock", "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and "The Gravedigger".

According to Laura, Ronald moved to Arizona when was 13. Stanwood is currently taking medication and if he does not have it available, he may experience episodes of amnesia. Ronald Stanwood is 31-years-old, 5-feet, 7-inches tall, and 145-pounds.

Anyone with any information about Ronald Stanwood Jr., is encouraged to contact the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.

  

MAN INJURED IN SINGLE-VEHICLE ACCIDENT
Graham County dispatch received a call from a man who had assisted a single-vehicle accident victim, Monday night, and gave him a ride home.

Adam Torrio, 25, of Solomon was traveling on Solomon Road and noticed a wrecked vehicle and an injured man on the side of the road. Torrio stopped to help the man who was identified as Gary Scott Attebery, 53, who lives on Stockton Road.

Attebery was bleeding from the back of his head and he asked Torrio to give him a ride home. Torrio drove Atteberry home and then called Graham County Dispatch to report the accident. Deputies weren't able to find Attebery until around 11:00am, Tuesday morning.

Attebery told deputies that he was Westbound on Solomon road, at around 9:00pm, Monday night when a coyote ran out infront of his vehicle. He swerved to miss the coyote and lost control of his vehicle. No citation was issued in the incident.

    

OVER 1000-LBS OF POT FOUND OVER WEEKEND
Law enforcement in Southeastern Arizona seized over 1000-lbs of marijuana over the weekend.

At around 6:30am, Saturday on U.S. Highway 191, North of Douglas, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered two men driving a stolen Dodge pickup heading North.

When agents attempted to stop the vehicle, the men turned around and headed back south. Agents temporarily lost sight of the pickup but found it again near Arizona 80 and Golf Course Road in east Douglas. There, the two men hit an impassable wash and ran from the pickup. Officers from the Douglas Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement got involved and helped capture the men. The agents found 659-pounds of marijuana in the truck.

On Sunday morning on Arizona 82, just north of Patagonia, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies found 364-pounds of marijuana in an abandoned 1998 Chevy Van, according to Sheriff Tony Estrada. He said the driver probably had car problems and abandoned the load.

      

Western-state governors call for guest worker plan, immigration reform
The Western Governors Association has called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform including a temporary guest worker program.

The proposal sponsored by Governor Napolitano and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman calls for a guest worker program to supplement areas where there are documented shortages of US workers. It says there should be proper background checks and screening by the federal government for immigrants allowed to work under the program.

The proposal also calls for reimbursement for local and state governments for costs associated with dealing with illegal immigration. In addition, it seeks passage of a comprehensive national immigration policy that will strengthen security along the US-Mexico border.