Fire Restrictions Begin on Tonto National Forest

Target shooting prohibited while fire restrictions in place, fireworks and explosives prohibited year-round

PHOENIX, June 2, 2015—For Immediate Release.  Drought conditions, hot temperatures, and increased fire danger have resulted in fire restrictions for the Tonto National Forest beginning at 8 a.m., Friday, June 5, 2015.

Most types of fire or fire-causing activities are prohibited across the entire Tonto National Forest.

Building, maintaining, attending or using a fire, campfire or charcoal-burning device is prohibited outside of metal fire rings and metal pedestal grills provided by the Forest Service in developed recreation sites (see attached list).  The use of petroleum-fueled stoves, lanterns, and heating devices are allowed.

Restrictions also apply to operating internal combustion power tools, using welding equipment or torches with open flames, operating combustion engines without spark-arresting devices in effective working order and meeting either USDA or SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) standards.

Discharging a firearm except for taking game in accordance with Arizona hunting laws.

Smoking is prohibited except within an enclosed vehicle or building, or a developed recreation site.  Please deposit the remains an ashtray or inside a building.  Do not toss or discard on the ground.

“As temperatures reach the 100 degree mark, the abundant grass crop the desert received because of winter rains dry out raising the fire danger to high” said Acting Tonto National Forest Fire Staff Bill Crolly.  “These precautionary measures help prevent human-caused wildfires, preventing unnecessary exposure to firefighters.”

“We are reminding the public that fireworks and the use of exploding targets are always prohibited on the Forest,” emphasized Crolly.

Violation of these fire restrictions is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment for up to six months.

For more information regarding forest recreation sites and fire restrictions, please contact the Tonto National Forest at (602) 225-5200, or check online at www.fs.usda.gov/tonto 

For general information on fire activity and restrictions in Arizona call toll free 877-864-6985, or visit the. Southwest Coordination Center website: http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc or http://firerestrictions.us/az

Useful Websites:

·         Fire Preventions and Restrictions: www.azfireinfo.com

·         Arizona Fire Restrictions: http://firerestrictions.us/az

·         Arizona Emergency Information Network (for ALL hazard emergency and disaster information):  www.azein.gov

·         National Incident Information System www.inciweb.org

·         Southwest Coordination Center: http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc

·         National Interagency Fire Center: www.nifc.gov

·         National Fire Plan: www.forestsandrangelands.gov

·         Firewise: www.firewise.org

 

Fire Restriction Information: Toll free 1 (877) 864-6985

Campfires are allowed in metal fire rings and metal pedestal grills provided by the Forest Service in the following developed recreation sites:

Cave Creek Ranger District

Bartlett Lake Recreation Area

o    Bartlett Lake Marina

o    Rattlesnake Cove

o    SB Cove parking lot ramadas with metal charcoal pedestals

o    Yellow Cliffs parking lot ramadas with metal charcoal pedestals

Lower Verde Recreation Area

o    Needle Rock Day Use Picnic Area

Globe Ranger District

·         Pioneer Pass, in the Pinal Mtns

·         Sulphide Del Ray, in the Pinal Mtns

·         Kellner, in the Pinal Mtns

·         Icehouse CCC Day Use Area

·         Lower Pinal, in the Pinal Mtns

·         Upper Pinal, in the Pinal Mtns

·         Jones Water, off AZ Hwy 77 north of Globe

·         Oak Flat, off AZ Hwy 60 east of Superior

·         Timber Camp

·         Timber Camp Horse Camp

Mesa Ranger District

·         Saguaro Del Norte

·         Butcher Jones

·         Acacia

·         Boulder

·         Laguna

·         Palo Verde

·         Granite Reef

·         Phon D. Sutton

·         Coons Bluff

·         Saguaro Lake Marina

·         Canyon Lake Marina

·         Pebble Beach

·         Blue Point

·         Sheep’s Crossing

·         Water Users

·         Larry Forbis Group Site

Payson Ranger District

·         Houston Mesa Campground

·         Houston Mesa Horse Camp

·         Ponderosa Campground

·         Christopher Creek Campground

·         Sharp Creek Campground

·         Tonto Creek Campground

·         Tonto Creek Walk-In

Pleasant Valley Ranger District

·         Haigler Creek Campground

Tonto Basin Ranger District

·         Apache Lake Marina

·         Vineyard Picnic Site

·         Frazier Campground

·         Frazier Group Site

·         Windy Hill Campground

·         Cholla Campground

·         Grapevine Campground

·         Cottonwood Picnic Site

·         Schoolhouse Campground

·         Burnt Corral Campground

Denton, Texas takes on big oil over fracking

Three protesters locked themselves to the entrance of the first fracking well to reopen in Denton, Texas, after a city ban on fracking was over-ridden by a state law barring the ban. In this photo, a police sergeant is seen thanking the three protesters and shaking their hands before putting them in handcuffs. (photo: Democracy Now!)

Fracking Protests Continue in Texas as New ALEC-Backed Law Bars Towns From Banning Drilling

By Democracy Now!

04 June 15
readersupportednews.org

 

he city of Denton, Texas, is in a showdown with Big Oil after it tried to pass a ban on fracking within its city limits. On Tuesday night, residents of Denton, about 30 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth, packed a city council meeting to oppose a vote to repeal the ban. The vote was ultimately tabled. The move comes after Texas lawmakers passed a new law that prohibits such bans. The measure went into effect on Monday. That same morning, three protesters locked themselves to the entrance of the first fracking well to reopen. It was just this past November that nearly 60 percent of Denton residents supported the ban at the ballot box. But they were immediately threatened with lawsuits by the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Texas General Land Office. Those same interests worked with lawmakers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, to pass this new ban on fracking bans known as House Bill 40. All of this comes as Oklahoma became the second state to ban fracking bans on Friday. Meanwhile, Maryland became the second state, after New York, to ban fracking. We are joined by Tara Linn Hunter, volunteer coordinator for Frack Free Denton. 

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. 

AMY GOODMAN: "The Death of Democracy" by The Frackettes. The lead singer is our next guest. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, we turn now to Texas, where a small town finds itself in a showdown with Big Oil after it tried to pass a ban on fracking within its city limits. On Tuesday night, residents of Denton, about 30 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth, packed a city council meeting to oppose a vote to repeal the ban. The vote was ultimately tabled. The move comes after Texas lawmakers passed a new law that prohibits such bans. The measure went into effect on Monday. That same morning, three protesters locked themselves to the entrance of the first fracking well to reopen. A police sergeant thanked the three and shook their hands before putting them in handcuffs.

AMY GOODMAN: It was just this past November that nearly 60 percent of Denton, Texas, residents supported the ban at the ballot box. But they were immediately threatened with lawsuits by the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Texas General Land Office. Those same interests worked with lawmakers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, to pass this new ban on fracking bans known as House Bill 40. Now residents could consider their own legal tactics. They are represented by the same lawyer who successfully defended a constitutional challenge to a fracking ban in Dryden, New York. All of this comes as Oklahoma became the second state to ban fracking bans on Friday. Meanwhile, Maryland became the second state, after New York, to ban fracking. 

Well, for more, we go to Fort Worth, Texas, where we’re joined by Tara Linn Hunter, volunteer coordinator for Frack Free Denton. She was one of three people arrested Monday. Another three were arrested Tuesday.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Tara. So, explain where Denton stands right now. 

TARA LINN HUNTER: Well, right now, what we’re seeing is that our vote has been disregarded and overturned with the passage of House Bill 40. So that nullifies our ban and makes it unenforceable. And what we’re seeing now is that residents are willing to go out every morning to the frack site and put themselves on the line to enforce their ordinance and make the vote of the people heard.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the lawmakers can even make this ban on the ban retroactive?

TARA LINN HUNTER: Yes, that’s right. Our ban was completely legal. We went through the citizens’ initiative process to get that on the ballot. It’s a petition process. We only needed 500 signatures; we got 2,000. And we put it to a vote to the people of Denton. And they overwhelmingly voted to ban fracking. So it was a completely legal process that we followed. And then, they passed House Bill 40. They basically had to go change the law in order to beat us. So...

AMY GOODMAN: Tara Linn Hunter, before you tell us how you got arrested on Monday, talk about why you got involved with this issue.

TARA LINN HUNTER: Well, I got involved because I moved to Denton to study music, specifically singing. We’re known for our music and art in my town. I’m very proud of that. And while I was there, I developed debilitating adult asthma. So I started looking into our air quality issues, and I realized that Denton—the American Lung Association has given Denton an F-quality air. So I started researching the sources of air pollution, and then I came across fracking pretty quick.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the Legislature in Texas acts even as news has been coming out recently about the huge increase in earthquakes linked to fracking wells in nearby Oklahoma. What’s been the public response to this kind of information getting out throughout Texas?

TARA LINN HUNTER: Sure. People are very concerned. I attended a town hall meeting in Irving that was packed. Hundreds and hundreds of people poured out after feeling there homes shake. There’s injection wells near there. And people are very concerned and very upset.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, right in Denton and in its surrounding area, how much fracking is going on? What are the oil companies involved? Is there any connection to elected officials?

TARA LINN HUNTER: Absolutely. So, in Denton alone, we have 300 gas wells in our city limits. They’re less than 250 feet from homes. Some of the neighborhood signs actually wrap around the walls that surround the frack wells. So this is really—you know, it’s near our hospitals, our schools, so forth. 

Some of the companies that are operating there, one of them is Vantage. One of them is EagleRidge. EagleRidge was caught dumping chemicals into Hickory Creek. Just a few weeks ago, Vantage had one of their wells explode just outside of a neighborhood. That fire went on for about seven hours. EagleRidge had a blowout near our airport. Homes were evacuated. That one, the blowout didn’t stop for 14 hours. And we found levels of benzene when we did air samples. So, these are some of the companies that are operating in our city. 

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you’ve said that your supposed elected officials have sold you out. Could you talk about those officials and their connection to the oil and gas industry?

TARA LINN HUNTER: Yeah, absolutely. So, our representative, Myra Crownover, our senator, Craig Estes, really disregarded their own constituents’ votes and voted for House Bill 40. The Texas Tribune does a wonderful job of laying out potential conflicts of interest, and they show, you know, how many of our politicians, including these two, are really oil-soaked and that they have direct investment in oil and gas and receive contributions, campaign contributions, from the oil and gas industry.

AMY GOODMAN: Three days later after Texas lawmakers voted to prohibit city bans on fracking, lighting struck a frack well in Denton and set it on fire. Resident Leah Strittmatter lives near the well and described what she saw. 

LEAH STRITTMATTER: I saw, out of our kitchen window, orange reflecting off of our children’s playset. And I said, "John, lightning struck somewhere." And I thought lightning had struck there, our yard or their playhouse. And we ran outside, and the heat from the immense flames just smacked us in the face. It was so hot. The flames that were coming off of the compression station was just massive. I kept trying to call 911 over and over, and nobody would answer. It kept going to a fast busy signal.

AMY GOODMAN: The well is operated by Vantage, the same company that opened new fracking sites in Denton this week after Texas lifted city bans on fracking. Just last month, a Vantage gas wellhead malfunctioned and began leaking fracking fluid in nearby Arlington, where dozens of homes were evacuated after the company took two hours to notify officials of the emergency. In December, the company agreed to pay a nearly $1 million fine after it violated waste disposal regulations at one of its oil wells in Franklin Township, Pennsylvania. So, Tara Linn Hunter, as we wrap up, can you talk about your arrest on Monday? I mean, presumably, the police come from your area. The police shook your hand and then handcuffed you?

TARA LINN HUNTER: That’s right. They were thanking us for our community service as they were arresting us. And when we got to the station, they let us out on personal recognizance, you know, saying that we’re not a threat to the community. I think that they’re very sympathetic to the cause, because if you live in Denton, you’re aware of the effects of fracking in your daily life. So I hope that that sympathy continues as we move forward. But it was a very civil exchange.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what are your next steps now, given now that the state Legislature has—and as well as Oklahoma’s Legislature, has banned the bans on fracking? And what do you hope to do next?

TARA LINN HUNTER: I think that our residents are very interested in seeing the city, you know, uphold the vote of the people. And so, last night we packed a city council meeting and unanimously requested that they not be the ones to repeal the ban themselves. So we’re looking at the best strategy moving forward. How can we fight House Bill 40? On a larger scale, how can we really tell—continue to tell our powerful narrative of a small Texas town standing up to a billion-dollar industry? It’s a real David-and-Goliath story. On the ground, we’re continuing our education efforts to get people—

AMY GOODMAN: Tara Linn Hunter, we’re going to have to leave it there. I want to thank you for being with us, volunteer coordinator for Frack Free Denton, arrested Monday as part of the protests to stop the first new fracking well since Denton residents voted to pass a fracking ban last November. And she’s lead singer with The Frackettes.

   
Comments 

+3 # cordleycoit 2015-06-04 09:20

Big oil would never suspend the Constitution unless there was profit for them to do the dirty work. The Texas law makers are not in oil's pocket; bought and paid for, the governor is not energy's bought and paid lackey, oh no.

 

0 # Archie1954 2015-06-04 11:28

Thank you for the satire!

 

0 # jpmarat 2015-06-04 10:42

Here is a new chapter for Civics textbooks in Texas, so carefully censored. Local control is a carefully cultivated myth, one of many BIG LIES (outrageously false, but pounded in)propagated by GlobalCorp plutocrats, who have CRIMINALLY, feloniously corrupted our governments far beyond those of foreign nations we malign. Every day, think about one of those BIG LIES you once believed, maybe still believe, have loved ones who BELIEVE. Did Denton voters also PRAY to Jesus that they would be spared from fracking; some BIG LIES there to reconsider. Obama is determined to see more US public lands coal mined, arctic regions drilled, Baby, along with the Continental Shelf. He talks against Climate Change more than Al Gore, enables it more than Dick Cheney? There is NO Super Hero coming to rescue US from ecocidal catastrophe. WE must be the change we can believe in. We have to leave our keyboards for MASSIVE non-violent ACTIVE PARTICIPATION in the democratic process, as mostly younger Americans did in the Civil Rights Movement, anti-war movement, women's movement, etc. Internet whining from locations of no risk comfort just WILL NOT ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING. ORGANIZE fund raisers(around fun themes...Texans Against Frickin' Frackin'..),sen d $$,ORGANIZE mass protests,assemb le,ORGANIZE sit-ins, march,ORGANIZE boycotts,rally, ORGANIZE voter participation,O RGANIZE public events to expose corrupt officials ("How Did You Vote...for THAT? WHY?" These cannot be done while sitting & whining.

 

0 # tedrey 2015-06-04 11:22

Have the recent flood waters been assayed to see what chemicals may have been widely disseminated from fracking wells? It would be a clue to the "ingredients" they've refused to let the public know.

Feminism Isn't a Label Republicans Can Slap on When It's Convenient

Carly Fiorina has been hailed a feminist despite her conservative positions. (photo: Chris Keane/Reuters)

By Jessica Valenti, Guardian UK

14 May 15
readersupportednews.org

Conservatives who eschewed feminist ideals for years have started to call themselves the real feminists, despite wanting to roll back women's rights

n the lead-up to 2016, Republicans are going to have to perform some serious magic with female voters. They'll have to make all those pesky rape comments disappear, use sleight-of hand to distract us from their idiotic beliefs about women's biology and the fact that the core of their platform is about maintaining inequality.

But the GOP's real abracadabra moment will come if they pull off the trick they've been working on for years: convincing Americans that Republicans are not only good for women, but actual feminists.

Last week, presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina was anointed a "real feminist" by The Week, even though "she has no use for laws mandating 'equal pay' or paid maternity leave or contraceptive coverage." In Jeb Bush's Liberty University commencement speech over the weekend, the likely Republican presidential candidate told his audience that "wherever there is a child waiting to be born, we say choose life," and in the same breath added, without irony, that he derided the "arrogance" of treating women and girls "as possessions without rights and dignity."

And next month, the Independent Women's Forum - a powerful conservative women's group based in DC - is hosting a "Women Lead" summit to "move forward with a positive agenda for women." The speakers include Christina Hoff Sommers (who has defended the misogynist horde known as GamerGate), Naomi Schaefer Riley (who wrote that a woman who was raped and murdered "should have known better" than to be at a bar alone), and Katie Pavlich (who says feminists oppose guns because "modern feminism can't survive without victims" and the movement would rather see women raped than armed). These are the women, we're told, who will "discuss the progressive women's landscape."

But glomming on to the cultural cache of feminism is a losing strategy for Republicans - and has been for years. In 2008, when the Wall Street Journal coined the term "Sarah Palin Feminism", Republicans cynically believed that any woman on the ticket - no matter what she believed - would bring in women's votes. (It didn't.) And as feminism's influence and power has grown over the last decade, conservative women who eschewed feminist ideals for years have started to call themselves the real feminists.

But try as they might, Republicans will not be able to extricate themselves from their anti-choice, anti-birth control positions or convince female voters that said beliefs are actually in line with what's best for women. We know that's not true.

As Naral Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue told me over email, Americans are "embracing the fact that women are the bellweather of economic well-being for the family unit, reproductive freedom and abortion rights are critical to economic opportunity and job security, and that women's rights are human rights."

Republicans won't be able to run away from women's bodies and rights this time - no matter how many times they use the word 'feminist' or 'empowerment'. Because feminism isn't just a label that anyone can slap on themselves when it's politically convenient. It's an actual movement, with actual people behind it - people who aren't willing to let their hard work be co-opted by those who want to see women's rights rolled back while telling us its progress. 

There aren't enough smoke and mirrors in the world for that trick to work.

2 for 1 sale continues at library bookstore

During June the Library Friends of Payson Bookstore will continue the 2 for the price of 1 special on all hardback books.  

Customers may mix and match volumes from all sections of the bookstore.  We will also offer children and young adult books at buy one get two free.  Hurry in for the best selection.  As always, the second item must be of equal or lesser value than the first. 

Also if you thought we had discontinued the 50 cent table, no worries.  It is now a bookcase just to the right of the main doors in the lobby.  It still has all the great buys as in the past. 

Bookstore stock changes rapidly, so stop by often.  Bookstore volunteers are always happy to help you, and all proceeds directly support the library.

The LFOP Bookstore is located to the right of the circulation desk just inside the Payson Public Library, 328 N. McLane Road.  For more information visit the Library Friends of Payson website at www.libraryfriendsofpayson.org    

Arizona wine industry matures

TOP: Javelina Leap is one of several Arizona wineries that uses traditional crushing methods.  (Courtesy of Javelina Leap)
Bottom: Jason Caballero, lead sommelier for Vintage 95 in Chandler, Arizona growers need to learn what types of grapes work best in this climate. (Courtesy of Vintage 95)


By WILL SOWARDS
Cronkite News Service


CORNVILLE – The back roads near Cornville look like many others in Yavapai County, until you turn a corner and find rolling hills filled with vines, tasting rooms and homes that are more Tuscan than Southwestern. 

Javelina Leap Winery sits among grapevines in a small valley outside Cornville. The 10-acre property includes a vineyard, tasting room and production facility.

Owner Rob Snapp was one of the first to start his business in the burgeoning wine region. In the last 15 years, he’s seen the area grow from just a few acres of vineyard to a tight-knit winemaking community. Now, at least 70 acres of vineyard dot the landscape of this northern Arizona region just under an hour from Prescott.

Throughout Arizona, wineries have cropped up in droves. More than 90 locations have farm winery licenses in the state. They’re clustered in three general locations: Sonoita/Elgin in southern Arizona, Willcox in southern Arizona and the Verde Valley near Prescott.

The wine industry grew gradually until 2001 when Arizona began to experience exponential growth. Wine production in the state soared nearly 700 percent in the 14 years since, well above the national average.

The winemakers have come to Arizona for the climate, business environment and love of the drink itself.

Snapp’s passion for wine began in California as a teenager and, like his product, matured as he aged. He became a chef and business owner, managing and cooking at a hotel and restaurant he owned near the Grand Canyon. Eventually, he sold the location and used his profits as seed money to start the winery.

“This was raw land when we got here,” Snapp said. “There wasn’t a road or a building or water or electricity, nothing.”

Snapp spent a lot of time learning the business and managing the estate. While he wouldn’t reveal Javelina Leap’s financial status, he said his business is doing well – and other wineries nearby share the same success.

A 2013 study done by the Arizona Wine Growers Association showed the Yavapai region produced about 72 tons of grapes that year, large enough to make tens of thousands of bottles of wine, but a small percentage when compared to other regions.

Arizona’s reputation has grown on the national stage, especially for wines in Yavapai County. For example, Page Springs Cellars, just down the road from Javelina, has garnered praise from multiple sources, including Wine Aficionado magazine, as a quality wine.

Why Arizona?

In the United States, California dominates the wine industry. The Golden State produces more than 80 percent of the country’s grape crush beverage.

Arizona pales in comparison, coming in at 28th in the U.S., according to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. But, the state has slowly moved up the ranks as wine production has increased. Experts said the state might see its ranking rise even further as Arizona wine grows as a business and commodity.

Many experts, vineyard owners and educators in the wine industry said Arizona has the potential to produce high quality wines, comparing it to regions of Spain, France and Italy.

Rod Keeling with the Arizona Wine Growers Association said Arizona has some key incentives that are attracting newcomers to the wine industry:

• Costs are lower in Arizona. Land is less expensive than in California or other major wine states, and labor can cost less as well.
• The climate in the three major wine growing areas is warm in the day and colder at night. This helps the grapes grow, and some types of grapes, especially those used to produce red wines, need the temperature variations.
• Arizona doesn’t yet have the severe water issue California faces, Keeling said. This makes the state a safer bet when starting a winery.
• The Grand Canyon State offers more flexibility for wine producers than many other states.

Arizona’s three-tier system of liquor distribution allows farm wineries to produce, sell and distribute wine themselves as long as they follow certain regulations, including a production cap.

“There are three licenses that fall under this regulation,” said Lee Hill with the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control. “Wineries, distilleries and microbreweries are able to do all three all under the same roof, so they have amazing privileges.”

Industry trends
According to statistics released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, national wine industry production grew about 43 percent since 2001, and the number of wineries nearly doubled during the same period.

“It’s not just Arizona. The industry has exploded exponentially everywhere,” said Michael Kaiser with WineAmerica, a Washington, D.C.,-based public policy organization. “I think there are a few reasons for that. Obviously, wine consumption in the U.S. has increased. And as the industry has grown, people are realizing that wine doesn’t have to be from California to be good.”

Kaiser said that as younger consumers enter the wine market, they might have more interest in the local vintage.

However, Kaiser warned that the boon isn’t permanent.

“The wine industry will continue to grow, but the growth rate has slowed a bit,” Kaiser said. “One issue that some states have is that winery growth is outpacing vineyard growth and in some cases, there aren’t enough grapes to go around.”

That’s not necessarily the case in Arizona. The study by the Arizona Wine Growers Association indicated that most grapes produced in Arizona are used by the winery or vineyard that grows them, and vineyards sell very few grapes to others, in or outside of the state.

In a saturated national market, experts said the industry must continue to innovate to stay ahead.

So far, it has self regulated. In 2014, the Arizona Wine Growers Association joined other groups in pushing for changes to tasting room licensing, which will allow for greater growth.

“The producers are very innovative, they come up with new ways of using their property,” Hill said. “They now make distilled spirits out of their unused wine stock. These producers are very creative and as the industry grows, they come up with these really fabulous ideas to keep their businesses alive.”

Impact to Arizona
The local wine industry has not conducted a full economic impact study, but the association estimated sales revenue at about $2.2 million for 2013.

Despite this small number, the Arizona wine industry is more than just for hobbyists. It has led to full-time job increases in these regions.

“It’s about seven businesses in one,” Snapp said. “We’re working all the time, bottling, racking, selling.”

One unexpected impact has been to education. Yavapai College in Prescott offers a variety of courses in winemaking and vineyard care in response to industry growth.

The school began with a single acre vineyard in 2010 and now has more than 15 acres and about 100 students.

As part of the program, students can earn a two-year degree and get practical experience through internships with local wineries.

“We are really trying to be a region wide resource, not just local or statewide,” said Michael Pierce, director of the enology (winemaking) program at Yavapai College. “This program didn’t exist 10 years ago. If it would have existed, I would have attended. So to be here and help build it is really cool.”

Some experts said they expect the industry to continue to grow as water becomes more scarce in Arizona.

“Wine grapes are a model for a high value low water use crop,” Pierce said. “Wine grapes don’t take nearly the water use of something like corn or soybeans or cotton would. So hopefully, wine grapes can take that over in the state.”

Challenges ahead
Perhaps the biggest challenge for the Arizona wine industry is the wine itself.

“I think white (wines) are doing really good. They are aromatic, expressive and acidic, which is really nice,” said Jason Caballero, lead sommelier for Vintage 95 in Chandler. “The reds are in a bit of an identity crisis. But when you think about it, we are at only about 30 years of growing, and every year they get only one shot.”

For Caballero, that youth plays a significant role. California has been in the industry since the 1800s and Europe for more than 2,000 years.

He said Arizona growers need to learn what types of grapes work best in this climate. The red identity crisis, he said, is as much from mixing a variety of grape types as from not growing what could work best in the state’s environment.

Price also plays a key role. Caballero said that on average, a bottle of Arizona wine costs $65 to $70, making it a hard sell for many customers.

“I understand people are getting in, and they want to recoup their cost, so I feel like sometimes it’s tough and they price themselves out,” Caballero said. “For that money, there are a lot of wines that many people will gravitate toward instead. I think if people will try it, they’ll like it. But a lot of times, people will go for tried and true kinds.”

Spreading the gospel of Arizona wine isn’t easy. Outside distribution is almost non-existent among Arizona wine growers. Most wineries make direct sales and self distribute, which makes getting wine onto tables more difficult.

And then there’s the state’s reputation as a desert location not suitable for wine growing.

But Snapp doesn’t see this as a problem at all.

“You know what we have more than anybody?” Snapp asked. “Sun! And soil. These are virgin soils in most of the state and volcanic soils. It’s one of the best growing soils in the world. You’d be crazy not to grow Arizona grapes in these soils.”

For Caballero and others, wine in Arizona isn’t a short-term industry but a future investment that is only now paying some dividends.

“Within 10 years, people are going to seek out Arizona wines over many others,” Snapp said. “It’s just the quality of the fruit.”

There Is an Actual Socialist Running for President

Senator Bernie Sanders. (photo: Tom Williams/Getty)

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

readersupportednews.org

 
ne of the funnier things in political journalism is the fact that, every time a Democratic senator runs for president, the National Journal -- home of Ron (Leadership!) Fournier -- concocts a survey purporting to show that the senator in question is the "most liberal" member of the Senate. John Kerry once was the most liberal senator. So was Barack Obama. And the funniest thing, of course, is that, while both of those men were running for president, Bernie Sanders, an actual Socialist, was a member of the Senate from Vermont. Today, of course, as Sanders announced that he would be running for president, the NJ decided to remind Americans that, yes, being a Socialist does in fact make you pretty damn liberal. In fact, it makes you "far left." Nice work, gang.

After all, the term "socialist" most often appears in American political conversations as a pejorative (As in "President Obama's socialist agenda," etc.). There's a reason for that: A majority of Americans hold a negative view of socialism. According to a 2011 Pew poll, 60 percent of respondents indicated they viewed the term "socialism" unfavorably. Of the terms they polled—Libertarian, capitalism, liberal, conservative, progressive—"socialism" was by far the most negatively received. Sanders will run a campaign to the left of Hillary Clinton, taking hard-line positions on fighting income inequality. "This is a rigged economy, which works for the rich and the powerful, and is not working for ordinary Americans," Sanders told the Associated Press after announcing his candidacy. "You know, this country just does not belong to a handful of billionaires."

I suppose that if John Kerry can be the most liberal member of a Senate that also included Bernie Sanders, then anything's possible. What is remarkable about Sanders's platform is how unremarkable it would sound to any run-of-the-mill Democratic politician 40 years ago, and how moderate it would have sounded to Eugene V. Debs, the last major Socialist candidate for president.

"The challenges facing our country are enormous. It's not just that, for 40 years, the middle class has been disappearing. It's that 99 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent, and the grotesque level of wealth and income inequality today is worse than at any time since the late 1920s. The people at the top are grabbing all the new wealth and income for themselves, and the rest of America is being squeezed and left behind. The disastrous decision of the Supreme Court in the Citizens United case and in other related decisions is undermining the very foundations of American democracy, as billionaires rig the system by using their Super PACS to buy politicians and elections. And the peril of global climate change, with catastrophic consequences, is the central challenge of our times and our planet. The middle class in America is at a tipping point. It will not last another generation if we don't boldly change course now."

Lyndon Johnson could have said that. John Kennedy could have said that. Certainly, it's milder than FDR's attacks on the "malefactors of great wealth." In 1912, while running for president in a superheated four-way campaign, Debs accepted the nomination of the Socialist party with a thwacking acceptance speech that makes what Sanders is saying sound like it was written by Evan Bayh.

The world's workers have always been and still are the world's slaves. They have borne all the burdens of the race and built all the monuments along the track of civilization; they have produced all the world's wealth and supported all the world's governments. They have conquered all things but their own freedom. They are still the subject class in every nation on earth and the chief function of every government is to keep them at the mercy of their masters. The workers in the mills and factories, in the mines and on the farms and railways never had a party of their own until the Socialist party was organized. They divided their votes between the parties of their masters. They did not realize that they were using their ballots to forge their own fetters.

That, as the kidz say, is the real shiz-nit right there.

What is Bernie Sanders asking of the country as he begins his presidential campaign? A fairer economic system pried loose from the people who nearly wrecked it all four years ago. Legitimately progressive taxation. That the country acknowledge, with its money, that we all need bridges and roads and water systems. Honest elections. Recognition that environmental crises are national crises.

Theodore Roosevelt could have run on those issues, and once did. 

A long time ago, I met a guy named Frank P. Zeidler. He was a Socialist and once he was the mayor of Milwaukee, the last Socialist to be elected mayor of a major American city. (Milwaukee elected three of them, as Alice Cooper once informed Wayne Campbell.) Zeidler won his first election, as Milwaukee County Surveyor, on the Progressive Party line, as a Bull Moose liberal. Once, I heard him say that, when he was coming up, what made you a Socialist was the fact that you believed your city should fix potholes and that it should have a fire department. As Bernie Sanders begins his run for president in an era in which people scream "Socialist!" as a kind of conjuring word to make moderate reforms vanish, it's probably important to remember that being a Socialist once meant that you shouldn't have to put out your own fires. That's Bernie Sanders's campaign -- he's the last Bull Moose in the forest.