Flagstaff Today - News and Photos

December 9, 2006

Grab your mittens, bring a thermos of hot cocoa and join us for the 2006 APS Northern Lights Holiday Parade, presented by the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce. The parade will be on Saturday, Dec. 9 starting promptly at 6 p.m. Lighted floats with the theme “Shining Bright with Holiday Lights” will start at Beaver and Elm, continue down Beaver to Aspen, turn east on Aspen and parade to San Francisco and then up San Francisco to Elm. For more information, call Events Coordinator Debbi Grogan at 774.4505 or email her at dgrogan@flagstaffchamber.com.

Venue: Museum of Northern Arizona | Address: Highway 182 | Time: 10a.m.-1p.m.

Bell ringers, storytellers, student performers, and craft projects are all part of the free holiday festivities at the Museum of Northern Arizona’s Community Holiday Party, Saturday, December 2 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. MNA’s community partners will be making hands-on learning activities for kids of all ages to take home with them. Cookies, hot chocolate, and coffee. call for info…more info: 928.774.5213.

Arizona Reporter

GALLUP — In a public event, Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. answered a question still on the minds of Navajo voters: What happened between him and the president?

As a keynote speaker at the Native American Day and Veterans Day event at GIMC, Dayish touched upon the disgruntled relationship after talking briefly about the work his office has carried out with veterans and veteran programs.

A hushed crowd of about 70 people listened attentively as Dayish briefly explained in Navajo the reason for their “break-up.”

In Navajo, Dayish said he “became aware of him (President Joe Shirley, Jr.)” when they began working together.

Dayish used the term “ba’oh hw ni z” translating literally to “because I’m sitting right by him, I found out what kind of person he is.” The term can also mean that he became aware of his work, and leadership. For this reason, Dayish further stated in Navajo, he and his staff decided to make a bid for the Office of the President.

Gallup Independent

When Karen Underhill took the helm as archivist at Northern Arizona University in 1990, her eyes were opened to a new world of storing Native American cultural information. Certain documents may be blessed by medicine men, images can have the power to affect the health of the viewer, and some photographs shouldn’t even be seen by most people.As Underhill’s understanding and respect for the Native traditions grew, so did her desire to share them with others. She is working with representatives from 15 indigenous communities and three non-Native colleagues to create “Protocols for Native American Archive Materials,” a best practices document for archiving material from Native cultures that she hopes will be adopted worldwide.

“Indigenous cultures create, organize and maintain information very differently than Western society,” said Underhill, head of special collections and archives at NAU’s Cline Library. “We need to be able to balance the Western approach with a Native American approach.”

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A total of $811,000 in state funding has been awarded for the construction of an alcohol and drug detoxification center in Holbrook.

“We were awarded the entire amount that we requested,” remarked Northern Arizona Regional Behavioral Health Authority (NARBHA) Director of Clinical Operations Rivers Carpenter. “We’re very, very happy about that.”

The funding was requested by NARBHA following a series of meetings in both Holbrook and Winslow to determine the need for and the appropriate community in which to build a detoxification center. NARBHA will receive and administer the funds, which includes enough to construct and furnish the facility.

AzJournal.com

Call it the opening day of fender-bender season. The first snowstorm of the season Tuesday night produced dozens of accidents Wednesday morning, including 15 in Flagstaff and 11 more on the highways around the city.

Eastbound Interstate 40 near Bellemont was closed between 8 and 10 a.m. and backed up for about 6 miles after a minor collision between two tractor trailers.

Farther east, the Holbrook district of the Department of Public Safety fielded 113 calls for service between 4 a.m. and noon, with many of them involving accidents.

Arizona Daily Sun

The odds still favor the Grand Canyon as the winnowing process continues toward final selection of a design for Arizona’s state quarter. But don’t count out the saguaro cactus or the Navajo Codetalkers.

A commission appointed by Gov. Janet Napolitano this week screened 19 preliminary designs offered by the U.S. Mint and selected five for final consideration. The mint’s designers produced the 19 preliminary designs to illustrate five narratives previously submitted by the commission.

One of the chosen five preliminary designs shows a multi-rayed sun peeking over a rim of the Grand Canyon, with numerous promontories visible inside the vast chasm.

A second alternative combines much of the first design’s Grand Canyon image with a separate view of a Saguaro amid other desert plants. It has a “Grand Canyon State” banner crossing much of the quarter’s equator to separate the two images of scenes that in real life would be located at least 200 miles distant.

FOX11AZ.com

On November 17, 2006, about 1930 mountain standard time, a Beech J35 airplane, N8246D, lost engine power, and impacted a tree on final approach for runway 21 at the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG), Flagstaff, Arizona. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant, was seriously injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed for the cross-country flight that originated from Chinle, Arizona, at an unknown time. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The accident site was located at 35 degrees 09.03 minutes north latitude and 111 degrees 39.48 minutes west longitude.

According to a witness located near the airport, he heard the airplane flying an approach to the airport. He described the conditions as dark night with little-to-no illumination from the moon. He heard the airplane’s engine surge and rev loudly three times before going silent. He believed the pilot would be able to glide the airplane to the airport since he was on final approach; however, after about 10 seconds following the loss of engine power he heard a loud crash. He proceeded in the direction of the crash and found the airplane near one of the outlying lights of the approach lighting system. He approached the airplane from the left side and noted that the left wing was missing. He also noted that there was no smell of fuel at the accident site. He checked the condition of the pilot and then left the scene to get help.

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A proposed hotel on the site of the notorious “Chainsaw Massacre” won preliminary approval from the Flagstaff Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday night.

But it will need to reappear before the panel again prior to receiving its building permits.

The 164-room Courtyard Marriott next goes to the city council for final rezoning approval.

Concerns over the roofline and revegetation of the denuded limestone hillside dominated the discussion, prompting commissioners to attach a long list of conditions to the rezoning, which was approved, 5-2.

Included in those conditions were instructions to the applicant to return early next year for final approval of a redesigned plan with replanted trees and a building height that could go as tall as three stories, as sought by the developer.

Arizona Daily Sun

American golfer Notah Begay III has revealed how his love affair with football has “reignited the passion” he feels for his own sport.

The 34-year-old has been suffering with a serious back injury for six years but now believes he is over the problem.

After seven years on the PGA Tour, in which he won four titles, Begay has recently earned a card for next season’s European Tour.

And he is looking forward to being able to indulge his love for soccer, having set up a school for Navajo children back in his native New Mexico.

Golf365

Three dogs were shot and killed by authorities after they attacked three people in a Flagstaff-area neighborhood.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office says one of the victims who was attacked is a woman who is six month’s pregnant. It says besides dog bites on her arm and leg, she suffered additional injuries while fleeing the dogs when she jumped a fence and fell to the ground.

Two men also were bitten in the attacks. The sheriff’s office says a deputy shot and killed two of the dogs and the third dog was shot and killed after the deputy and a D-P-S officer shot at it.

A man who lives in the area (the 77-hundred block of Moonbeam) has been identified as the dogs’ owners. The sheriff’s office is continuing an investigation.

KVOA

It was down-to-the-wire time at Little America Hotel Friday as workers scrambled to put in place the last-minute touches for tonight’s 13th annual Holiday Lights Festival.

A seven-member outdoor crew checked holiday lights for any burned-out bulbs. A crew of five from the sales office worked inside to transform the Rouge Room, a small conference room, into Santa’s own house.

“There’s a fireplace with stockings and Santa’s big chair,” said Gina Leingang, hotel sales manager. “We have all kinds of fake snow and multiple-color icicle lights, and we have a Christmas tree.”

More than 2,500 visitors came to Little America last year to enjoy the kickoff of the lights festival, which lasts into the new year.

Arizona Daily Sun

As people prepare to depart for one of the biggest travel holidays of the year, nationwide gas prices have begun to stabilize.

Here in Arizona, gas prices are rising.

Triple-A says Arizona motorists are paying an average of two-dollars and 25-cents a gallon for unleaded.

That’s an increase of nearly two cents over last week.

Phoenix drivers saw the largest increase this week at two-point-four cents, while Flagstaff drivers saw the smallest increase at two-tenths of a cent.

KOLD

Staff at the Chinle hospital where a Flagstaff podiatrist, injured in a plane crash Friday night, flew daily, are wishing for the doctor to make a speedy recovery.Dr. James Levitt was the only occupant of the single-eingine Beechcraft Bonanza, when it crashed at about 8 p.m. The plane hit a tree, sheared off a wing and crashed about 400 yards short of the runway at Flagstaff’s Pulliam Airport.

Levitt was taken by ambulance to Flagstaff Medical Center. He was then transferred to a hospital in Phoenix, where he was listed in critical condition.

No word was available Monday as to his condition.

Levitt flew daily to Chinle, which is about 150 miles northeast of Flagstaff on the Navajo Nation.

Marla Stuart, director of quality management at the hospital in Chinle, said staff at the hospital have been notified of Levitt’s crash.

Arizona Daily Sun

Note: Flagstaff Today estimates that the crash was actually around 850 yards short of the runway.

Nevada Highway Patrolman Eddie Dutchover wasn’t expecting much when he stopped the maroon 2007 Cadillac Escalade heading north out of Las Vegas. All the officer wanted to know was why the car had paper tags rather than license plates. But there was something strange about the tall, thin man in the back seat. The guy seemed nervous, so jittery you could see the main artery in his neck furiously pumping blood up into his face. Plus, he was obsessively eating a salad, refusing to make eye contact with the patrolman.

It was a hunch, but the cop was on the money. He had just pulled over Warren Jeffs, the spiritual leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives, and a man with a $100,000 bounty on his head.

If there is a pope of Mormon polygamy, a powerful prophet who controls the lives of thousands of Americans who still believe in the sanctity of plural marriage, that man is Warren Steed Jeffs. His 10,000-member fundamentalist Mormon sect is the largest of several splinter groups that refuse to accept the mainstream Mormon church’s decision more than a century ago to suspend the practice of polygamy.

more on:  SFGate.com

Stuff Yourself with Some of the Best Food in Flag

This Thanksgiving why not let someone else cook for you? Or maybe you’re looking for someone to take a load off the shoulders of your mother or wife (or husband, if he’s the cook in the family). By taking advantage of one of the many Flagstaff restaurants serving turkey, stuffing, and much more, you can take the time to relax as you reflect on the good things in your life.

Fall is one of the most beautiful times of year in Flagstaff. Most of the leaves have usually fallen by the end of November. But the stark beauty of our mountain town waiting for snow or enveloped in the whiteness can be part of special memories for years to come. During your time of thanks this year, you may wish to visit one of these favorite restaurants.

more… Associated Content

Road improvements will lead to restrictions, delays and closures in the following areas this coming week:

COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE LANE RESTRICTIONS

Lane restrictions will be in effect while crews haul dirt along Country Club Drive for new bridge construction. Expect traffic delays along the northbound and southbound lanes while this work is under way today through Tuesday, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Flaggers will be on site.

ROUTE 66 LANE RESTRICTION

Route 66 will be restricted to one lane periodically while crews work under the new bridge. Expect minor delays along both the eastbound and westbound lanes Monday through Wednesday, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Flaggers will be on site.

INDUSTRIAL DRIVE CLOSURE

Ongoing work associated with the new traffic interchange will require intermittent closures to Industrial Drive between Nestle Purina Avenue and Huntington Drive. Full closures will be occurring intermittently through fall 2006.

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

All construction activities will cease in recognition of the Thanksgiving holiday from Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 26.

Arizona Daily Sun

The presidents of two Arizona public universities are among the highest paid of their profession in the country.

Arizona State University President Michael Crow is the country’s 14th highest-paid public university president at more than 609-thousand dollars a year.

That’s according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which today released its annual report on the presidential salaries of the country’s leading universities.

University of Arizona President Robert Shelton is Number 22 at 570-thousand dollars a year.

Northern Arizona University President John Haeger didn’t make the list. He makes more than 370-thousand dollars.

KOLD

Thousands of cyclists hit the streets for the annual El Tour de Tucson.

More than eight thousand people took part in Saturday’s event. That broke an all time record.

At 4 hours 15 minutes and 53 seconds, Michael Grabinger of Flagstaff crossed the finish line.

This was his first El Tour de Tucson event.

Grabinger says he was a triathalete for five years and in March of 2006 decided to give road cycling a shot.

KVOA

During the Cold War, uranium mines left contaminated waste scattered around the Indians. Homes built with the material silently pulsed with radiation. People developed cancer. And the U.S. did little

MARY AND BILLY BOY HOLIDAY bought their one-room house from a medicine man in 1967. They gave him $50, a sheep and a canvas tent.

For the most part, they were happy with the purchase. Their Navajo hogan was situated well, between a desert mesa and the trading-post road. The eight-sided dwelling proved stout and snug, with walls of stone and wood, and a green-shingle roof.

The single drawback was the bare dirt underfoot. So three years after moving in, the Holidays jumped at the chance to get a real floor. A federally funded program would pay for installation if they bought the materials. The Holidays couldn’t afford to, but the contractor, a friend of theirs, had an idea.

Los Angeles Times