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Patagonia Regional Times
Letters to the Editor – Feb. 2023
I contently find myself back to my home in Patagonia, avoiding another chilly, snowy Colorado winter. A friend recently asked what’s the appeal of this small, quiet AZ town. I decided an appropriate way to inform her would be to describe an active day I recently enjoyed. I arose...
Brisket and Baked Goods
The bakery case is still stocked with pastries and cookies. The same friendly staff is on hand to serve. But Kim Martinez, new owner of the Ovens of Patagonia, has already made some big changes. When you walk in, you’ll notice an open feeling, with heavy wooden tables spread around where there used to be merchandise displays. A large screen TV plays cooking shows or telenovelas. Customers are ordering lattes, and later on, lining up for brisket sandwiches (more on that later). And the cafe/bakery is now open at 4a.m. every day but Saturday and Sunday, when they open at 7a.m.
Glimpses Into Our Past: Sunnyside and the McIntyre Family
We continue the story of the followers of Sam Donnelly and the Sunnyside community begun in the January PRT. From 1888 to 1898, mining was their primary occupation. When the Copper Glance Mine flooded in 1898, most of the residents relocated from the two camps near the mine to the area of Sunnyside Canyon where the community’s sawmill was located. After Donnelly died in 1901 most of his converts left Sunnyside, primarily for economic reasons. But Sunnyside remained in the hearts of many of its residents, and as circumstance permitted, they returned. The remains of Sunnyside are located on private property. For permission to visit the area contact JD Hathaway [hathaway.j.david@gmail.com].
Check It Out at the Library – Feb. 2023
Graphic novels, manga, comic books, and the like continue to be an incredibly misunderstood genre. One of the complaints I hear most often from parents is that their kids keep reading comic books instead of “real books.”. Well, I have great news for all frustrated parents out there: comic...
CHOP Hires Designer for Gopher Field Project
Community Homes of Patagonia (CHOP) believes that if you want to live in this special place, regardless of if you’re young or old, employed or retired, working class or upper income, affordable housing shouldn’t be an issue. That is why our motto is: DIVERSITY HAS A HOME HERE!
Let’s Go Get Stones: Predictions
Yogi Berra, the great Yankees catcher, once observed that, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” I wonder what sort of future prospectors envisioned in the 1800s when they chased narrow veins of copper ore running with seams of hard quartz in these remote southeastern Arizona mountains.
Starstruck: Observation Diary
January 17, 2023: About a week from now, a green comet will zoom by. Best chance to see it will be as it aligns with the handle of the Big Dipper in the northeast. The weather forecast says it will be clear and cold. Looking forward to the moment, but something keeps nagging at me.
Garden Guides: Planting Bare Root Trees
Winter is the time for planting bare root trees and shrubs. Have you ever considered it but felt a little nervous that you might not be successful? Don’t worry, these are very easy to deal with and plant! Often, they are ordered via online or mail order catalog or picked up at the local garden center.
Thank You to Our Generous Donors
The PRT Press Core is a monthly giving program, where supporters of the PRT pledge to give $5 or more per month. Press Core members receive special benefits. Chris Dollaghan and Tom Campbell Charles Doolittle. Nancy Droeger. Shannon Dwyer. Doug Eckman and Carmen Portillo. Donna Edmonds. Cheridyn and Ryan Egan.
Take a Hike!: La Ruta del Jefe
PRT contributor Robert Gay has created a series of trail maps for Patagonia and surrounding areas. This month we are sharing his map of the La Ruta del Jefe bike race and the AZ Trail, superimposed on designated jaguar habitat.
What Is That? – Feb. 2023
The Jail Tree Stump is one of the most asked about items in the Patagonia Museum. Jail trees were used to shackle unruly citizens, mostly during the territorial days in rural communities like Patagonia. Sometimes the arrested individual, after being shackled to the tree and after law enforcement had left...
Prairie Dog Colonies Growing
Arizona’s Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) is reporting significant progress in its program to reintroduce the black-tailed prairie dog to its historic natural habitat in the state. A September 2022 survey by AZGFD scientists determined that the Cieneguita and Sands Ranch prairie dog colony sites, located in the Las...
Mustangs 4-H Club Expands Projects, Teams for 2023
Based in Sonoita, but welcoming members from across Santa Cruz County, the Mustangs 4-H Club are starting off the year strong. Several new leaders and new project topics have been introduced including welding, sewing, dairy goat, local history, and cats. This brings with it new experiences and new knowledge sources to the membership. The current project count is 16 (see list below) but more are in the works. As of the first community meeting, there were 67 members enrolled, with enrollment ongoing.
Anderson Wins “Notable Lady” Award
Janet Clyne Anderson, of the historic Clyne Cattle Ranch of Elgin, was honored as a “Notable Lady of the West” at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Anderson is a former member of the faculty of Patagonia, Nogales and Elgin school districts. Anderson received her engraved...
Life Among the Humans: None of Your Rules Apply to Me!
The huge and timeless stuff, the stuff of myth, is always there beneath the surface of today’s particulars, but like volcanoes or a rosebush, is ignored until the next time it erupts. And so it is in history, or in current events. (Same subject, different vantage point.) From time to time someone extreme, or let’s just say “remarkable,” comes bopping down the pike. They change the game for all of us, establishing new limits, high or low, by which we must then navigate, sometimes for centuries.
New Interns Join PRT
The PRT is pleased to introduce our two new Patagonia Union High School interns. Juniors Aliyah Gallardo and Ayla Kennedy will be reporting on school sports and events, as well as writing features for the paper and for the PRT e-newsletter. Both girls are active in sports. This year, Aliyah...
Fending for Ourselves
If there is one lesson to be learned from events surrounding the container wall along the border in the San Rafael Valley, it is to never underestimate the power of the individual. By now, we are all familiar with the small band of protesters who, concerned by the ecological damage created by this project and frustrated by the inaction of the federal government, shut down the project by blocking construction vehicles. But there is another story to be told, about one woman in Elgin who also felt compelled to take matters into her own hands.
This Is a Story About a Hole
My office at the Art Center faces the highway in the center of town and it is from here that I see everything. From my window I have witnessed a lady crash her van at the Patagonia Market to escape a huge spider on her visor. I have watched in disbelief as a man riding down the highway on a ride-on mower, ear buds in his ears, oblivious to the world around him, cut off a semi truck as it was speeding through town, narrowly avoiding becoming a pancake. I have watched all sorts of weather, clouds of butterflies moving west, and hundreds of law enforcement officials speeding through town kicking up dust. But aside from the lady crashing her van on account of the spider, the most exciting thing to happen on the corner of 3rd and Hwy 82 is the giant hole.
Arrest in Suspected Homicide in Kino Springs
On January 30, 2023, at approximately 5:56 PM, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Kino Springs area regarding a male individual who had been shot and killed. The identity of the deceased individual is being withheld pending the notification of next-of-kin. Santa Cruz County resident George Alan Kelly, age 73, was arrested and booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail on first degree murder charges regarding the death of the individual and is being held on a $1 million bond. Below is the booking photo of George Alan Kelly. The investigation is ongoing.
Ron Pulliam Selected as CFSA’s 2023 Buddy Amos Founders Award Recipient
The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona is pleased to announce that Ron Pulliam, founder of Borderlands Restoration Network in Patagonia, Arizona, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Buddy Amos Founders Award. The Buddy Amos Founders Award was established in 2015 in honor of George H. “Buddy” Amos,...
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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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