Founder of Payson's first drug store dies

Phyllis M. Manthe
1921-2010

Phyllis Mann Manthe, Payson business and community pioneer, died Feb. 5, 2010 at her home in Payson. She was born July 8, 1921 in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.

She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1945 with a degree in Home Economics and Chemistry. After marrying Frank Don Manthe in 1944 and graduating from the university, they moved to Payson in 1949 and built the first drug store, Payson Drug, at 214 W. Main St. Together they administered most of the emergency medical care in the Payson area for many years because the nearest hospital was in Cottonwood.

Phyllis was an integral part of the planning and building of Payson Clinic, the first medical facility in town. While serving on the board of directors, both Phyllis and Don helped recruit the first doctor to practice in the clinic. In 1958 when the Beeline Highway was in progress, the Manthes built another store near the corner of Main and Beeline. They owned and operated Payson Drug until 1971. Phyllis was also very active in many organizations in the growing town.

After selling their business, Phyllis also taught at the Payson school system for several years in addition to obtaining her Masters in Education at Northern Arizona University. Don and Phyllis spent many years pursuing their hobbies of gardening, growing grapes, making wine, and traveling. Between travels Phyllis was active in Rim Area Gardeners, worked with Habitat for Humanity, and made afterschool treats for Mount Cross Lutheran W.O.W.

She is survived by daughters, Carol Powell (Jerry) of Nutrioso, (AZ) and Linda Sparks of Apache Junction, (AZ); son Don (Kellie) Manthe of Scottsdale, (AZ); three granddaughters, Cari Ann P. Foley, Lee Ann P. Aylesworth, and Kiko B. Ulmer; one grandson, Mason Bernal; and seven great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Frank Don Manthe; and one grand daughter, Ruiz Bernal.

Memorial services will be held at Mount Cross Lutheran Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20. Memorial contributions may be made to Payson Hospice Compassus, 511 S. Mud Springs, Payson AZ 85541; Humane Society of Central Arizona (formerly Payson Humane Society), PO Box 242, Payson AZ 85547-0242; or Payson Area Habitat for Humanity, PO Box 1131, Payson AZ 85547-1131.

Golden Gate Bridge by Bill Huddleston

Photo by Bill Huddleston
Gazette photographer Bill Huddleston recently visited the Bay Area.  This shot of the Golden Gate Bridge is one of the gems he brought home.

STAR VALLEY CANDIDATES DEBATE IS ON

Event is Tuesday,
Feb. 9 at Star Valley
Baptist Church

The Rim Country Gazette Blog, KRIM-FM and the Mogollon Connection (the new newspaper coming to the Rim Country Feb. 10) are sponsoring a debate between the candidates for Star Valley mayor and town council from 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, at Star Valley Southern Baptist Church, 4180 E. Arizona Highway 260.

The debate is free and open to the public. The format will consist of timed opening and closing statements, and five questions asked of each candidate.

Gazette Editor Jim Keyworth and Connection Editor Matt Brabb will moderate.

Since time is short, please help spread the word to your Star Valley neighbors.

The old 'no interest payments for 2 years' gimmick

By Sam Schwalm
Gazette Columnist

(The precipitation chart that shows the big storm in January can be found here: http://www.waterforpinestrawberry.com/Hydrology.htm)

In the last two articles, we have looked at how the Pine Strawberry Water Improvement District (PSWID) plans to subsidize the water rates with property taxes and borrowed money. We also looked at how the District is significantly understating operations expenses by about $150,000 per year and how operations cost growth is being selectively applied to make the operations costs look better over time.

In this article we will look at what the revenue would need to be if the subsidies are removed and realistic operations costs are used. The community is stuck with the no interest payments for two years gimmick, so that has been left in. The details of the analysis for the first five years can be found here: http://www.waterforpinestrawberry.com/data%20pages/BudgetDocs.htm . The promises of additional borrowings by the Board have not been included in this analysis. As in the earlier emails, there are only nine months of operations in Fiscal Year Ending (FYE) 2010.

The adjustments needed to the revenues in the Economists.com rate analysis are as follows:

Remove the $25,000 a year being put into the Rate Stabilization fund.
Add $100,000 per year to the operations cost. Comment: Being optimistic that the Board can be more frugal than the $150,000 understatement that WFPS has estimated. If not, then everything is higher.

Use a constant 3.6 percent cost growth rate instead of skipping/reducing some years and not others as is done in the Economists.com analysis. The adjustment for this grows from $30,283 in FYE 2011 to $44,726 in FYE 2014.

Adjust for changes in the amount of debt service when the Compass Bank loans are refinanced at the end of the third year. Debt service in FYE 2013 and FYE 2014 actually drops by about $132,000 a year due to the assumption that the major portion is refinanced with 30 year bonds, instead of the 20 year amortization of the current loan. That change in duration adds about $1.9 million to the total cost.

Once the adjustments are applied and the property tax and borrowed money subsidies are removed, the increase in the water rate revenue needed (and the percentage increase over the water rate revenue estimated by Economists.com) is as follows:

FYE 2010: $349,000 (42.1%)
FYE 2011: $308,883 (27.8%)
FYE 2012: $364,446 (29.4%)
FYE 2013: $95,976 (6.5%)
FYE 2014: $53,510 (3.2%)

It should be noted that the revenue shortfall in the later years decreases because of the rate increases that the Economists.com analysis has proposed and the reduced debt service kicks in.

To give some context, selling a million gallons of water at the current Pine summer rates brings in $6,744 of revenue, on average. Raising the monthly base rate for all meters by $1 a month would bring in $39,012 in additional revenue for a year. Clearly, the revenue shortfalls would have a significant immediate impact on water rates if those rates were not being subsidized with property tax and borrowed money.

So what would the water rate increases be without the subsidies? Assuming that it is too late to do anything about FYE 2010, the water rate increases would be:

FYE 2011:
Pine Summer: 13.9%
Pine Winter: 36.2%
Strawberry E&R: 39.6%
Strawberry Williamson: 88.7%
Strawberry United: 38.2%

FYE 2012: 12.4%

FYE 2013: 0.0%

FYE 2014: 5.4%

FYE 2011 reflects all customers moving to the same set of rates, which are 13.9 percent higher than the current Pine summer rate. The percentages are based upon the increase in the cost of using 3,000 gallons per month. Mitigating some of the impact of this is that the District doesn’t have its hand in your pocket for property taxes and more of the borrowed money can go for actual improvements or debt reduction.

This article is from the group Water For Pine Strawberry. We will be providing an article after each of the PSWID meetings with a summary of what the board did, additional facts that are relevant to what went on, and some commentary. Please refer friends and neighbors who are interested in the local water issues to the blog. Articles on earlier meetings can be accessed by clicking the WATER tab to the right.

Water For Pine Strawberry is a group of residents concerned about the communities water issues and how they can best be resolved. Visit our web site, http://www.waterforpinestrawberry.com/, for more information. The website for PSWID is http://www.pswid.org/ .

Clarifications can be submitted by anyone who is explicitly named, implicitly identifiable, or a board member to items in this article. Clarifications will be posted on our website. We reserve the right to post a response. Clarifications must deal with the topics discussed in the email that relate to the individual or the board. They must be in family friendly language and be non-abusive. When the clarification is accepted, it will be posted to the website and notice of that posting will be added to the next email.

Roosevelt Lake on a sunny winter day

Photo by Jim Keyworth

Roosevelt Lake

World's best native hoop dancers compete

Photo courtesy Heard Museum
Tony Duncan of Mesa, Ariz., is a crowd favorite at the Heard Museum World Champion Hoop Dance Contest. Duncan is one of the Duncan family of Native entertainers and is a former World Teen Champion Hoop Dancer.

Heard Museum’s 20th World Championship Hoop Dance Contest

For the past 20 years, the Heard Museum has hosted one of Indian Country’s top competitions. The Heard Museum World Championship Hoop Dance Contest combines artistry, sheer athleticism and cultural traditions to create a unique competition. You’re invited to join in the 20th anniversary of a truly Native phenomenon—the amazing performances of the intertribal hoop dance.

Top American Indian and Canadian First Nation hoop dancers from the United States and Canada are preparing to compete for the prestigious title of world champion during the two-day event, to be held at Phoenix’s Heard Museum on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13 and 14. The Jay Kahn Memorial Fund sponsors the youth competition prizes and the Arizona Commission on the Arts is a supporter of the contest.

First-time World Champion Brian Hammill, Ho Chunk, 40, of New River, Ariz., is expected to defend his title against some tough competition. He’s likely to face 2008’s World Champion Charles Denny, Chippewa/Cree/Ute, 20, from Fort Duchesne, Utah; Hammill and Denny have scored within three points of each other over the past two years. Also, expect to see seasoned competitors and crowd favorites such as Derrick Suwaima Davis, Hopi/Choctaw, of Old Oraibi, Ariz.; Nakotah La Rance, Hopi/Tewa, from Flagstaff, Ariz.; Alex Wells, Lil Wat First Nation, of Morley, Alberta; and Lowery Begay, Diné, from Jonesborough, Tenn.

Also, check out sisters Waskwane and Beedoskah Stonefish, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa, of Suttons Bay, Mich. The sisters regularly score on top in the Youth Division and have been featured in the national media, and they are likely to rise through the Teen and Adult ranks as they graduate from grammar school.

Both women and men compete on an equal field for the title.

The winners will take home their share of more than $30,000 in prize money. (Final competitor list will be available on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the event.) Hoop dance fans from across the U.S., Canada and Europe are already making plans to cheer their favorite dancers on to glory.

Other categories of competition include Tiny Tot (under 5 years), Youth (5 to 12), Teen (13 to 17) and Senior (40 and older).

For many years, the intertribal hoop dance has expanded to incorporate new and creative designs and extremely intricate footwork. Each dancer presents a unique variation of the intertribal hoop dance, weaving in aspects of his or her distinct tradition and culture. Individual routines are presented using as few as four to as many as 50 hoops, which are manipulated to create a variety of designs including animals, butterflies and globes. Dancers are judged on a slate of five skills – precision, timing/rhythm, showmanship, creativeness and speed. In recent years, younger competitors such as La Rance, who’s also an up-and-coming actor, are incorporating modern dance steps like hip-hop into their routines.

Also, it’s easier to get to the Heard and to our events via light rail! Look for the Heard Museum parking signs along Central Avenue, take the light rail to the Encanto Station and avoid having to locate a parking spot! Or use Park and Ride lots all along the Light Rail route.

WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, February 13 & 14, 2010
9:30 a.m. Grand Entry – Saturday and Sunday

Competition will end at approximately 5 p.m. on Saturday.

The Adult final round will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

WHERE: Heard Museum, 2301 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Ariz.

COST: $12 general admission, $11 seniors (65+), $7 American Indians, $3 children 4-12, FREE for children under 4. Cost is per day and includes the event and museum admission.

INFO: Call 602.252.8848 or visit heard.org/hoop.

Visit heard.org/hoop for video of the competition.

About the Heard Museum - Since 1929, the Heard Museum has educated visitors from around the world about the art and cultures of Native people of the Southwest. With more than 38,500 artifacts in its permanent collection, an education center and award-winning Shop and café, the Heard remains committed to being a place of learning, discovery and unforgettable experiences.

State parks supporters rally at capitol

By Cronkite News Service

PHOENIX (Monday, Feb. 1) - Closing state parks removes access to areas where children can learn to appreciate the environment, wildlife and state history, the head of a state environmental group said Monday.

“These parks are our schools, and by losing them we cut off wonderful educational opportunities,” said Sandy Bahr, conservation director for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, who led a rally at the State Capitol.

Facing massive budget cuts, Arizona State Parks has announced plans to close 13 parks around the state while keeping nine open. Among the closures is Tonto Natural Bridge State Park between Pine and Strawberry.

Rep. Daniel Patterson, D-Tucson, who spoke to several dozen people who attended the Save Our Parks rally, said the public is angry because Gov. Jan Brewer and Republican leaders failed to look at ways officials could easily have kept parks open.

“Residents are here because they are rightfully angry, and they need to let legislators know that this is an unacceptable situation,” Patterson said.

“These are not just state parks,” said Rep. Jack Brown, D-St. Johns. “It is important to our heritage and our communities and we need to do everything we can to assure they stay open.”