Category: All Stories

In Tombstone, a dispute over the historical record

All Storiesasnsadmin12/11/20130

[caption id="attachment_484" align="alignleft" width="4608"]Tombstone archivist Nancy Sosa manages and restores historic city records[/caption]In a town that defines itself through history, a historian could be in jeopardy.

Nancy Sosa, the historical records manager for the city of Tombstone, could potentially face termination if the city and the Foundation for the Tombstone Archives cannot come up with a solution to help the foundation reduce or pay off money the city claims it is owed.

The Foundation for the Tombstone Archives is an organization established by Sosa and other community members to “provide financial support for the city of Tombstone archivist and archives,” according to its mission statement. Sosa, a city employee, manages, documents and restores Tombstone’s historical records, and also engages in community events to promote historical records preservation and community interests.

Our dark skies: The stars at night

All Storiesasnsadmin12/11/20130

Some parts of the southwest desert are restless, whether it is Las Vegas with its blinding neon signs shining all night or Tucson with its Circle K’s and 24-hour McDonalds illuminated until dawn cracks.

But the old west town of Tombstone goes to sleep early. When the lights go out and the 1,000-something residents get tucked in, something else takes over the street lights and embroiders the sky: the stars.

When the darkness settles, it’s almost like back in the day when cowboys relied on the stars to navigate them through the night.

“The night sky in Tombstone, because of all the ordinances and all that kind of stuff, is absolutely glorious,” said Michael Rice from the O.K. Corral on Allen Street. “You don’t have the big industries all around. You see some glow of the light from Sierra Vista but otherwise, you look up in the sky and it is just chock full of stars.”

Vandalism at Epitaph historic office: Broken window, rising crime

All Storiesasnsadmin12/11/20130

The Tombstone Epitaph was vandalized late last week when someone left a huge hole after breaking one of the front windows.
Bonnie Short, manager of the Epitaph office located at 11 South Fifth St., said she was notified at approximately 11 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 29 by deputy marshals that the window had been broken.
Short said deputies told her that a caller had seen an unidentified female walking away from the Epitaph shortly after the window was broken at approximately 10 p.m.

There was no indication that the vandalism was related to the publications that carry the name of the newspaper, The Tombstone Epitaph [this publication], published by students of the School of Journalism at the University of Arizona or the national edition of Tombstone Epitaph, a monthly publication devoted to Tombstone history. The Epitaph office in Tombstone is now a museum.

Tombstone’s 130-year water odyssey

All Storiesasnsadmin12/11/20130

In the desert, water is life. So, it can be troubling for a town like Tombstone to rely mainly on a 130-year-old pipeline desperately in need of repairs.

“It is an engineering wonder because it’s lasted about 130 years plus,”

Tombstone Mayor Stephen Schmidt said. Tombstone moved closer to beginning repairs on the system early last month. On November 5, Tombstone residents voted in favor of issuing and selling bonds to provide the town with up to $1 million to be used to improve the city’s water system. It was approved with 213 of 408 voters approving.

According to the ballot, “These bonds will be issued as General Obligation Bonds and the issuance of these bonds will result in a property tax increase sufficient to pay the annual debt service on bonds, unless the governing body provides for payment from other sources.”

While Schmidt isn’t sure when the city will see the money from the bonds, the passing of the ballot measure will potentially be the start of needed repairs of damage to the water system that were exacerbated in 2011 by the Monument Fire in the Coronado National Forest.

Regardless, the $1 million from the bonds won’t nearly be enough to pay to fix everything, as the current water system is in worse shape than it was before an earlier fire in 1977, Schmidt said. Parts of the water system are slowly becoming unusable.

Question of safety if wolf population grows

All Storiesasnsadmin12/11/20130

[caption id="attachment_476" align="alignleft" width="793"]A Mexican wolf emerges from a crate for relocation in the Gila National Forest in 2010 Photo courtesy of the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team[/caption]Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? As it turns out: a lot of people in Tombstone are. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering an expansion of the Mexican Wolf Blue Range Reintroduction Project in Cochise County, and some are raising concerns.

The proposed change would mean that the area of land on which Mexican wolves are allowed would be expanded—part of it reaching into Tombstone.

The new zoning would include all of the area in Arizona and New Mexico between Interstate 10 and Interstate 40.

Meetings have been held in both states to gauge reactions and gather public comment on the issue. And the Tombstone Unified School District has weighed in, expressing opposition to the expansion in a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying in part:

“Tombstone Unified School District is a rural area where many of our students walk a sizeable distance to and from school bus stops and have to wait for the bus in isolated areas. Wildlife is very abundant at many of our school bus stops. Tombstone Unified School District Governing Board feels the introduction of predators like the Mexican Gray wolf would be a very real danger to our students, particularly the younger ones.”