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Patagonia Regional Times
It’s Us and Them, Again
Enshrined within the human mind is an Edenic archetype. (Of Paradise. The Promised Land. The Good Old Days. The Golden Age.) But real life’s more complex than that, a spastic seesaw of competing likes/dislikes and urgencies. It’s nice to hope and work for peace, but don’t let that convince you that the mess and stress of the real world is just some temporary fluke. Such struggle is the very stuff—the gist—of nature’s law. Our Eden’s red in fang and claw.
Glimpses Into Our Past: Robert and Anne Rodgers
The Coronado National Forest we know today was originally comprised of nine separate Forest Reserves established in the early 1900s. The Santa Rita Reserve was established in 1902, followed in 1906 by the Huachuca Reserve. Robert Rodgers, the first ranger of the Huachuca Forest Reserve, wrote: “The stock men and others in the Santa Rita Reserve were not impressed favorably with the idea of control, but were not unpleasant about it. The Huachuca Reserve was inhabited with an entirely different kind of men.” Robert received death threats when he took up his post in 1907. [Rodgers, Robert. How and Why I Went Into the Forest Service, undated].
Pie Auction Benefits Garden
Raising money for Patagonia Community Garden was as easy as pie at the annual community pie auction that took place on September 9. Although this year’s auction was only half as large as in years past, the event was still a wonderful way to catch some small-town spirit and sample magnificent pies.
Nominate Your Neighbor for the PRT Good Neighbor Award
The 2nd annual PRT Good Neighbor Award will recognize the efforts of residents who are making exceptional contributions to our communities. Do you have a good neighbor? Are there any unsung heroes in your community? Perhaps somebody has gone above and beyond the normal call of duty during these challenging times. Whether he or she has provided care and support for others, is always on hand when needed, performs acts of kindness, is an active volunteer in the community or has simply been a friendly face around your neighborhood, you can nominate them for the PRT Good Neighbor Award.
Patagonia Teacher Runner-up in County Contest
“I’m really grateful for the support of the community and the recognition of the hard work of the school community,” said Kate Peake, the middle school English language arts teacher at Patagonia Elementary School. Peake was awarded 2nd place in the annual Santa Cruz County Teacher of the Year competition, the second year in a row that the Patagonia School District was honored. Last year, PUHS history teacher Jeff Gudenkauf took home the top honors in the contest.
New Study Focuses on Groundwater
A recent analysis by The New York Times of 84,544 monitoring wells across the nation revealed a developing crisis of over-pumping of groundwater resources. Left unchecked, this drawdown will eventually threaten our standing as a world food superpower. To better understand what is going on with groundwater in southeastern Arizona,...
Patagonia Needs to (Fire)Wise Up
As a national first responder for over 30 years, I cannot help but draw comparisons between the recent wildfire disaster in Lahaina, Hawaii, and the current state of the Town of Patagonia. Maui is an island surrounded by water. The Town of Patagonia is located in the Sky Islands, surrounded...
Partners in Crime
My oldest nephew was born during the height of my father’s illness. My father, finally a grandfather (no thanks to me) couldn’t understand this new role due to Alzheimer’s disease, and faced with the reality that he could no longer be alone while my mother worked, I began making the trip to Tucson twice a week to care for him.
Patagonia’s Jewel Box Church
“The Jewel Box Church” is a fitting nickname for Patagonia’s little 100-year-old Methodist Church. Its contemporary stained glass windows provide clear, jewel-like colors shimmering throughout the sanctuary in the day and glowing out to walkers and highway drivers at night. You might call it an installation piece of radiant art, created primarily by a gifted Patagonia artist, the late Jean Burger.
Rocking Out
At first, it seemed like a no-brainer. A colleague knew of a locale where stone metates, or grinding holes, existed. He suggested it might be easy fodder for a column on prehistoric food preparation involving stones. He drew me a rudimentary map, with an X almost marking the spot in a wash off of a road between Patagonia and Nogales that I was vaguely familiar with. All I had to do was pack some water and grab my camera and I was off to look for signs of an ancient civilization.
Fickle Fall Flowers
Arizona, including our Sky Islands region, tends to be a place associated with wildflowers. Just the southeast quadrant of the state hosts approximately 2,000 species of flowering plants, a good number of which have evolved to blossom in late winter and spring. To say that this early floral pageant is mercurial is to understate the case. Precipitation, or lack thereof, renders this annual affair a decidedly fickle one.
The Autumn Advantage
The other day I felt the shift in the air. Did you? The light is different; the breezes and cooler nights are a signal to me that fall is here. We may not get the beautiful fall leaves like other parts of the country but we do have these little signals. To me this is the time to plant as much as I can!
Ask an Engineer – Oct. 2023
My attention has always been piqued by anything showing a connection to workings of the everyday world. As a result, I find that after 60 years of various engineering careers, I’m brimming with miscellaneous info, admittedly sometimes outdated or useless. Still…much of it can be fascinating to ponder.
Broncs, Boots and Beer
The Sonoita Labor Day Rodeo returned for its 108th edition beneath a cotton-candy sky, with over 4,500 spectators and more than 700 cowboys and cowgirls taking part in the annual Labor Day weekend event. While some early arrivers took advantage of the plentiful food and drink options – wood-fired pizza,...
Town Council Notes – Oct. 2023
In Call to Public, SAACA’s Matt Rolland gave a history of festival attendance and spoke of the incorporation of community input into this year’s plan for the Sky Island Artisans’ Market, planned for the weekend of Oct. 14-15. Linda Shore and Debbie Robinson gave an update on...
Jail Tales and Mischief Making
First, you find out something that most people in Patagonia don’t know about—there was once a jail in a cave right in town. What?! Next, you put on your hiking shoes to see if we can still find it, if it hasn’t been completely overgrown. This is...
Meet the Paton Center’s Resident Birder
“In most social situations, it would be rude to shout out the arrival of a good bird, but at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds, it would be rude not to interrupt,” said Louie Dombroski one recent afternoon. Exclaiming “calliope hummingbird!” to groups of birdwatching visitors is just part of...
Lobos Notch Three Wins
It took only five games for the Patagonia Lobos to double last season’s win total in soccer. But don’t think for a minute that the Lobos are satisfied with that. The Lobos, who had a 1-11 record in 2022, exceeded the win total with back-to-back victories over Bisbee (3- 1) and Leading Edge Academy Gilbert (2-1).
Lady Lobos’ Attitude Bringing Positive Results
Coach Stephanie Padilla saw everything she needed to see from her Patagonia High School volleyball team in its 3-1 victory over Valley Union on Sept. 5 to know this team is capable of big things. Valley Union had already recorded victories over 2A schools Tombstone and Morenci and was undefeated...
Cops, Frustration, Some Clarity at County’s ‘Open House’
Commotion, confusion, complicated engineering charts, public outcry, and a call for back-up deputies dominated an Open House event hosted by Supervisor Bruce Bracker and County Manager Jesus Valdez on September 28 at Cady Hall in Patagonia. More than 100 people attended the event which was structured around visiting four informational...
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Patagonia Regional Times is a free monthly publication serving the Mountain Empire communities of Canelo, Elgin, Patagonia and Sonoita in Santa Cruz County, Arizona.
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