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In this issue:

o Walking in a cowboy's boots

o Rodeo, AeroFair highlights

o Jim Keyworth's tribute to Ed Schwebel

o How many ways can you say 'peppers'?

o New developments at OK Corral

Thanks for supporting fair and honest journalism.

'Tough cowboy' Morder will take last 4 wheel ride

Randy Morder

Randy Morder passed away on May 17 at the Mayo Hospital in Phoenix, Ariz.

Randy was born in Johnstown, Pa. and moved to Phoenix when he was 2 years old. Randy played little league baseball with his brother, Mark; coached by his Dad and close family friend Mr. Fuqua and also played Pop Warner Football.

Randy was a Boy Scout and graduated from Camelback High School where he played baseball and football. He owned Banshee Electric in Payson, Ariz. and also did electrical work for M Electric in Gilbert, Ariz., which was owned by his brother Mark.

Randy was one of those tough cowboys who was not afraid to try anything that was dangerous, which included bull riding, and he also loved to hunt and bow-fish with his friends and tell stories about the big ones that got away. Randy loved to help at the Jr. Hunt Camps and loved to teach kids about the outdoors.

His passion for 4 wheeling with his brother and friends was a big part of his life and Randy will make his last 4 wheel ride up the mountain with his brother Mark who was also his best friend. Randy dearly loved his sister "Sam" who he teased constantly. He tried to teach her how to play softball when she was a little girl and her lack of attention proved to be futile to Randy by showing him that he was not the boss this time. He was the ultimate teaser of his nieces and nephews whom he loved so very much.

Randy had so many wonderful friends that loved him unconditionally. He loved each and every one in his own gentle way and loving heart. His little pal "Gus" had a very special place in his heart. He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends that loved this tough, big hearted cowboy.

Randy is survived by his parents, Duwayne and Catherine Morder as well as his sister Susan "Sam" (Scott) Sours. Randy is also survived by his brother Mark (Connie) Baughman as well as 3 nieces, Sami, Kaity and Randi Lyn and 3 nephews; Heath, Tyler and Scotty.

At the family's request no services are planned at this time. Arrangements were entrusted to Messinger Payson Funeral Home in Payson.

Cross country trek in a Greyhound bus of a car

Sharon and I have just completed a four day, three night drive from Columbia, S.C. to back home here in Payson, Ariz. The reason for the trip was to pick up an automobile left to Sharon by her recently deceased mother.

There were assorted personal items to bring over, also, so the car was pretty well loaded.  It’s a 1998 Buick Custom LeSabre, a big heavy car which rides like a Greyhound bus. The seats are like those found in expensive hotel lobbies, and the sound system is better than the one we have at home.

It’s truly a luxury ride, the kind we complain about when we blame Detroit for all our energy problems. Well. Guess what? This car averaged almost 30 miles per gallon of regular gasoline and ran like a sewing machine! It allowed for a reasonably enjoyable long drive across the country. Here are some of the details:

We drove first to Atlanta, where we still have some things in storage from the time we lived there. We managed to retrieve some treasured items, then move the remaining trove to a smaller unit, thus saving us a considerable amount of money. It was close to 3:00 in the afternoon when we finally finished our work and pulled out to begin our journey.

It began to rain, not heavily, but steadily. The 5:00 Atlanta rush hour which begins around three-thirty was just beginning to form. Traffic on I-285, the perimeter highway around Atlanta, was already bumper to bumper, and the rain wasn’t helping.

Finally, we made our way over to Interstate 75 and turned north. The only noticeable difference was that in some places the road was six lanes wide. Every lane was bumper to bumper. This continued for almost the next 45 minutes as, slowly, commuters dropped off when they reached their suburbs.

The road narrowed from six lanes to five, then four, and eventually the two which led to Chattanooga, our destination for that evening. We made it as far as Ringold, Ga., which is within the shadow of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, home of Rock City and Ruby Falls.

We decided not to test the Chattanooga rush hour.

Ringold is a town right out of The True Southerner’s Handbook. Everyone speaks with a high heavy nasal accent, almost a sing-song, and ends every sentence with a question mark even when there is no question, the last word being about an octave above the one just before. “The room rate is $55 dollars per nite?.” (night) “There’s a nice restaurant “bout two blocks over yonder?” “Y’all want a non-smoking room?”

The young female clerk was absolutely beautiful, with flawless skin and Revelon hair. She was probably around 19 or 20 with a nice little diamond ring on her left hand. She probably weighed around two-fifty. Everyone we encountered was unflinchingly polite and wore a sincere smile.

The next morning, we got around Chattanooga without incident and headed out on Highway 64, which bisects Tennessee, heading toward Memphis. Everywhere we saw evidence of floods and tornadoes. Most of eastern Tennessee has recently suffered some of the worst storms in its history - even flooding The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Streams were still swollen and farm land dotted with large puddles. Farmers who had not already gathered their spring corn lost their entire crops. Tractors could not maneuver in the muddy fields.

The most noticeable features in eastern Tennessee are the dramatic changes in elevation and the absolutely lush, dense foliage. The same can be said for much of the South down the Appalachian Mountains, but for some reason eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina are the epitome. A wet spring contributes to the dense growths of trees, large and small, and bushes, especially thick Rhododendrons bursting with rainbows of color, looking like fancy ball gowns. White, lacy Dogwoods peek out here and there from the myriad shades of green. The ancient gray rock forms a perfect border or background.

The Appalachians are among the world’s oldest mountains, and were once almost as high as Everest is today, according to geologists. Two enormous continents pushed against each other (North America and Africa) and left a huge wrinkle down the southeastern and northeastern portions of North America, forming The Appalachians and The Blue Ridge. Even the Catskills and Pocono’s in New York and Pennsylvania may have been formed in a similar way and have eroded and settled ever since. However it all happened,
some of the world’s most beautiful and interesting landscape resides in the eastern U.S.

It comes with a price, however. High humidity, even in the mountains, and swarms of bugs of every description are currency of the realm. These things vary, of course, but only to a degree when they are adapted to local situations.

The next few days will be filled with stark geological changes and regional differences of lifestyles as we finally join Interstate 40 for the rest of our trip. On through Memphis, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Amarillo and Albuquerque before reaching Arizona at Holbrook, where we turn south down to the Mogollon Rim and our beloved Payson.

More later...

Wine, jazz, cheese, chocolate -- for the animals

Country Wine, Jazz, Cheese & Chocolate Festival benefit for the Animals of the

Humane Society of Central Arizona.

Saturday, June 5, 1 - 4 p.m.

LA CIENEGA RANCH

A beautifully manicured park-like property located off Control Road, with ponds, streams, ramada, trails and gardens, the event will offer wine tastings hosted by Mark Lyon, winemaker at Sebastiani Vineyards, gourmet cheeses and chocolate, carriage rides, Bocce Ball, hiking trails, ranch animals, a Sonoma County wine trip raffle, and LIVE JAZZ featuring

Jazz Artist of the Year, Los Angeles Music Awards

Vocalist Sherry Petta

with

Joel Robin - keyboard

Tony Vacca - sax and flute

John Willis - bass

Gerry Reynolds - drums

A limited number of tickets remain and they are being sold by

individual Humane Society members.

$100 per person/$175 per couple.

For ticket sources contact

Payson Humane Society Board President

Bill Enlund

928-970-0011

Payson water rate hike a sign of the times

Editorial

By Matt Brabb
Connection Editor
The Payson Town Council voted to raise water rates by 10 percent last week, and not without good reason. Of course, there is never a good time to raise rates, but the increase represents a boost of only $3 a month in the bill for the average Payson family.

The town has not raised rates since 2003, even though a plan has been in place to hike rates since 2006. A number of factors have come into play to delay the rate increase. Account growth has slowed, the average amount of water used per customer has declined, and long-term debt assumptions for the town are lower than were forecast in 2006.

Still, it will be important for the council to follow through with its intention to review the plan for rate hikes on a regular basis. Some residents have predicted that revenues from the rate increase will be funneled into the town’s general fund by means of loans from the water department. During the current fiscal year, the water department did in fact loan the town’s general fund $1 million, but council members have maintained that the loan was needed out of necessity because of an unprecedented recession, and that such a strategy will never be used on a regular basis.

In fact, the town may still avoid taking out the $1 million loan. According to Mayor Kenny Evans, the chance the town will need the water department loan is 50-50 at this point. He credited the decision made by the council to reduce hours worked by town employees, and the postponement of capital expenditures for the money saved that may make the loan unnecessary.

The new rate plan will raise the minimum basic service charge for 2,000 gallons a month by nearly $3. Councilor Rick Croy pointed out that setting the bar at 2,000 gallons did little to promote conservation for those who could possibly consume less, and consequently there was no incentive for customers to use fewer than 2,000 gallons a month. That reasoning is sound, and we hope that future changes to rate structures will bear it in mind.

Dan Jackson, of Econmonists.com, agreed with Croy, and said that charging by the gallon, without a minimum, is how many communities now build their rate plans. Jackson worked with representatives from the Payson Water Department to come up with a strategy to balance the water department budget.

The obvious question, one justifiably asked by Payson residents, is why now?  The Payson Water Department reportedly has some $7.5 million in the bank, and its ability to loan $1 million to the Payson general fund would lead one to believe that they are not exactly strapped for cash.

The answer would appear to be twofold. First, Payson really is dealing with an aging water delivery infrastructure. Sections of Payson are served by water mains that are as many as 60 years old. Such piping was not designed to last forever, and it is reasonable to expect that the town needs to prepare for the costs necessary to replace it.

But the town also needs additional revenue to prepare for the imminent arrival of CC Cragin water in 2015. In years past, the town anticipated that impact fees derived from issuing some 200 new residential permits a year would cover the cost of the needed Cragin infrastructure. Because development has been at a virtual standstill during the last few years, those impact fees have failed to materialize.

The sample rate plan in the proposal presented to the council calls for rate increases, though minimal, in every year for the next five to six years. These projections are based on the assumption that there is a continued scarcity of revenue from impact fees, and that the economy continues to muddle along. In effect, it assumes the worst case scenario.

Governments at all levels rarely push back potential revenue streams. If the economy improves, and residential development results in an increase in impact fees, a vigilant Payson citizenry should insist that water rates not climb. The arrival of Cragin water should ease water restrictions for the average Payson family, not jack up their water bill.

AZ Lottery players a little older, a little richer

Lucy and Richard Sterba look at Scratchers tickets at their Gold Canyon home. A Cronkite News Service review found that the Sterbas’ ZIP code, 85218, was the hottest spot for lottery players in fiscal 2009. The review suggests that the most frequent Arizona Lottery players are those who are a little older and who have a little more money. (Cronkite News Service Photo by Kristena Hansen)

A Cronkite News Service Special Report

By KRISTENA HANSEN and RYAN VAN VELZER
Cronkite News Service

GOLD CANYON - When retirees Richard and Lucy Sterba moved from Ohio seven years ago, they settled in a gated community just east of the Phoenix metropolitan area and immediately continued their long tradition of buying lottery scratch-off tickets.

They won a few dollars here and there until March 2009, when they were thrilled to hit a $2,500 jackpot. But mostly they’re in it for fun, Richard Sterba said.

“My wife and I play together and pass the cards,” he said. “It’s really more for recreation.”

The Sterbas have plenty of neighbors who try their luck with Scratchers, Powerball, The Pick and other games: A review of Arizona Lottery data found that their ZIP code, 85218, was the hottest spot for lottery players in the 2009 fiscal year.

Cronkite News Service looked at the number of big winners in each ZIP code _ jackpots of at least $599 are public record _ and used population estimates to develop a ranking of winners per capita. The Sterbas’ ZIP code came out on top with 25 big winners per 10,000 residents, suggesting that people there play most frequently.

Demographic information for each ZIP code with 10,000 or more residents also showed that the Sterbas and their area fit the profile of those most likely to play: a little older and with a little more disposable income.

The top 10 ZIP codes for winners per capita had an estimated median income of $57,000 versus a statewide median of $48,000. Those ZIP codes had an estimated median age of 52 versus a statewide median of 37.

Sales figures point to the same trend: While the top two lottery retailers in terms of annual sales were isolated shops near Nevada, which has no lottery, the next four were in Sun City and Sun City West.

Outside the third-ranked retailer, a Fry’s Food Store along Grand Avenue in Sun City, retiree Florence Roholt said she and her husband have been buying tickets once a week for several years. While the chance of winning is part of the appeal, Roholt said they play mostly for entertainment.

“I hope that we’re going to get lucky someday,” Roholt said.

The Appeal

Stephen Happel, an Arizona State University economics professor, said it makes sense that older people would play the lottery more here: They have more time and like to gamble. Younger people, on the other hand, spend their time trying to hit the jackpot in other ways, such as getting a good job, he said.

“When you’re older there aren’t as many ways to win the ‘lottery’,” Happel said. “It gives people hope.”

But those results run counter to investigative reports by media organizations and researchers in states such as Illinois, Florida and Georgia that found lotteries are most popular among those who are poorer, less educated and members of minority groups.

Leslie Bernal, executive director of the national organization Stop Predatory Gambling, said he was surprised to hear that Arizona doesn’t appear to follow those trends.

“It doesn’t fit with anything we’ve ever seen,” Bernal said. “It’s not possible. Middle class people don’t play the lottery.”

Jeff Hatch-Miller, executive director of the Arizona Lottery, said the lottery’s own research suggests that older people especially enjoy playing because it’s low-cost entertainment and a way to socialize.

“These are people who grew up with the lottery,” he said. “The industry as a whole is maturing.”

However, Hatch-Miller added, the lottery’s goal is reaching the broadest possible audience.

Tim James, an ASU economics professor who has worked with the state lottery, said Arizona could be different because it has a large population of retirees, many of whom could afford to move here from out of state.

“We’ve got more seniors and they are wealthier here; therefore, they are destroying the effect that would be in a ‘normal state,’” James said.

Kathleen Waldron, director of the School of Aging and Lifespan Development at ASU, said gambling is one of the most popular recreational activities in older communities. She said although the lottery is relatively inexpensive, those in middle income brackets are probably the most likely to play.

“While they’re reasonably comfortable, they’re also looking at their retirement portfolio going down,” Waldron said.

The Review

Cronkite News Service examined lottery data for all Arizona ZIP codes and drew from 2008 demographic data _ the most recent that was publicly available _ from ESRI, a Redlands, Calif.-based company specializing in geographic information systems.

State law requires that the list of those winning $599 or more in the Arizona Lottery be public record. That list of nearly 7,000 prizes, obtained through a public records request, included winners’ names and home addresses.

Examining the rate of winners per ZIP code, rather than ZIPs’ sales per-capita, provides a sampling of where lottery players live rather than where they buy their tickets.

The review also suggests that Hispanics, Arizona’s largest minority group, are no more likely to play than anyone else. The top 10 ZIP codes for lottery winners per capita, for example, had a median Hispanic population of 13 percent compared to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimate of 29.6 percent for all of Arizona.

The only ZIP code in the top 10 with a sizable percentage of Hispanic residents was 85735, covering an area southwest of Tucson along State Route 86. Ranking second in winners per capita, it had an estimated Hispanic population of 42 percent.

An Arizona Lottery study found that Hispanics made up roughly 20 percent of all players in the last four fiscal years.

Deputy Director Karen Emery said the lottery found that Hispanics’ interests as lottery players weren’t all that different from those of other players. Although the lottery does some advertising in Spanish, it isn’t cost-effective to directly market to Hispanics or create games appealing to any specific group, she said.

“Because we have a limited amount of product, because we have a limited amount of advertising money, the product has to appeal to the widest audience possible,” Emery said.

Lottery Reliance

Authorized by voters in 1981, the lottery has provided $2.4 billion over the years to state programs, according to a recent report by the State of Arizona Office of the Auditor General. Besides the general fund, its beneficiaries include the Local Transportation Assistance Fund and the Heritage Fund, which distributes up to $20 million in lottery proceeds each year for parks, trails, historic preservation and wildlife conservation.

Sales have risen 90 percent in the last decade, with fiscal 2009 revenues reaching $485 million. During the legislative session that just ended, lawmakers were so confident in the lottery’s consistent sales that they authorized what amounts to borrowing $450 million against future proceeds by year’s end as a way to close the state’s budget gap.

But the Auditor General pointed out that sales growth has been leveling off in recent years. The case was the same for beneficiary distributions, which dropped 12 percent in fiscal 2009 from the year before, the largest drop in nearly two decades. The audit also said Arizona ranked last out of 28 similar lotteries for retailers per capita and 24th for sales per capita in fiscal 2008.

In a response letter, Hatch-Miller said the lottery was implementing the report’s recommendations to increase the number of retailers, expand its player base and better manage prize expenses and advertising costs.

However, Hatch-Miller said Arizona’s rapid population growth was one factor outside the lottery’s control, especially as it related to sales per capita.

“Second, Arizona also has a relatively high proportion of the general population morally opposed to gambling and by extension, the lottery,” he said in the letter.

Targeting Groups?

Alicia Hansen, a writer for The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, said regardless of who plays the most the lottery is regressive because it takes a larger share of a poor person’s income. She said lotteries are notorious for targeting the poor, especially because tickets are inexpensive.

“They may think, ‘The lottery is all I have; it’s my only way out,’” Hansen said. “The 10 to 20 bucks adds up though.”

But David Gale, executive director for the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, said it doesn’t make sense that lotteries would prey on the poor because those with lower incomes don’t have the same financial freedom as those with higher incomes.

“It’s just poor business strategy to target the poor,” Gale said. “We’re scrutinized too much to even try something like that.”

Hatch-Miller said the lottery’s objective is simply offering games that attract a wide variety of people in order to provide revenue for the state.

“The money that the lottery earns goes to great things; we distribute 100 percent of the money we make,” he said.

At Fox Tobacco and Liquor in Gold Canyon, owner Mitchell Fox said he’s seen no evidence in three years of selling tickets that the Arizona Lottery targets any particular group. Although he has some low-income customers who play, those who are older and who seem to have more discretionary income play the most, he said.

“Obviously they like that they have the higher income people coming in to get the tickets,” Fox said of the lottery. “They spend more money and it’s more revenue for the state.”

Despite winning $2,500 last year, Richard Sterba said he’ll still buy Scratchers during his weekly trips to the grocery store because it’s something he and his wife can enjoy together in their retirement.

“It’s not an expense we can’t afford,” he said. “And we have a lot of fun.”

Shirley Dawson gives supervisors gavel to Pastor

Board criticizes loss of private land in exchange

By Carolyn Wall
Connection Correspondent

Gila County Board Chairman Shirley Dawson has turned her gavel over to fellow supervisor Mike Pastor.

“Today is 16 months I’ve been chairman,” Dawson said Tuesday, May 4, at the regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors. “A title is a title is a title. We all serve and represent Gila County. If there’s an emergency, we’re all there. When you become chairman of the board, you’re just signing as chairman of the board. You’re still a member of the board.”

Supervisor Tommie Martin said she thought it was a good idea to rotate the position.

Although the title carries little weight among the three supervisors, as chairman Pastor will have a little more clout when he deals with the state and goes to Washington, D.C. on behalf of Resolution Copper and Tonto Basin Bridge, Martin said.

Pastor said, “You work in your district, but you work for all of the county. I would be very proud to serve as chairman for 16 months.”

Dawson went on to nominate Martin as vice chair of the board, and both she and Pastor voted to approve the nomination.

The supervisors discussed the Resource Advisory Council (RAC) meeting in which Gila County came out with $631,000 in federal funding that is given to rural counties in lieu of the property taxes they would otherwise receive from Forest Service lands.

“We are going to be able to do most of the dangerous portion of the 512 (Young Road),” Dawson said.

“We obsess over our failures,” Martin said. “To come home with that amount of money is a huge win. We just skip right by the things we do. It’s our money. If we had the taxes, we could keep up with our infrastructure. I say ‘attaboy’ – we are getting some big wins.”

But county supervisors also discussed what they agree is a loss - a loss of private lands from their tax rolls in a proposed land exchange between the Lions Foundation of Arizona and the Apache-Sitgreaves, Coronado, Prescott and Tonto National Forests. The Lions Foundation has been working on the land exchange for some 10 years.

The exchange would give them just over 344 acres for Lions Club Camp Tatiyee for youth. The Lions would give the federal government 16 separate parcels totaling over 1,719 acres of private land that they purchased for the exchange.

In a letter to District Ranger Edward W. Collins, of the Lakeside Ranger District of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, the supervisors wrote that they support the exchange of private land for federally owned land “on its face.”

But supervisors also wrote that they find the exchange objectionable in that the 1,719-plus acres will be removed from the tax rolls.

The letter from the supervisors states: “For the Forest Service to bring only 344.06 acres – an untenable 6-1 ratio – to the table for its part of the ‘exchange’ is no less than a predatory and opportunistic growing of its own acreage on the backs of small, rural counties, who, like the rest of the United States, are experiencing the worst economic recession in our history.”

To close the letter, the supervisors suggested that, in the future, exchanging private land for Forest land be a net neutral change in private land within Gila County.

The letter states: “Further, this exchange will be a continuance of the loss of Gila County’s cultural and historic identity by obliterating homestead parcels and their structures.”