Desert Messenger goes online

Quartzsite, AZ- The May 19, 2010 Desert Messenger along with the May 5th issues are now online in an iFlip format. This service will allow RVers travelling around the country to stay in touch with Quartzsite! Readers can see the paper just as it is printed. By the fall, pages will be "hot-linked". Also watch for some exciting changes in September.

Visit http://www.desertmessenger.com/ or

Click here! to sign up and receive email alerts when the next issue becomes available online...FREE! 

The election is over and hopefully there will be lots of good news to share with the community!

Ed Foster will evidently be sworn in as Mayor at the regular Quartzsite Town Council meeting on Tuesday, May 25, 2010.

In other news, the Scholars' Academy launched their new FM radio station, KEQS 91.7. The student run radio station went on air around 11pm on Saturday, May 15th. It has taken 10 years of determination and hard work. The student DJs are working out the kinks and plan on being on air 24/7. Advertising will soon be offered as well as local annoucements and sports.

Stay in touch while out of town with the Desert Messenger, Quartzsite's FREE Community Paper.
Now a proud member of the Association of Free Community Papers!

Click HERE to sign Up to receive your email alerts today for the Desert Messenger online!

Quartzsite Elections Unofficial Results May 18, 2010

What a huge turnout for the Town of Quartzsite voters with 54.2 %.

Ed Foster appears to edges out Wes Huntley for Mayor.
Patricia Anderson, Bob Kelley and Jerry Lukkasson, all incumbents, are at the top of the list.

Below are the latest results from La Paz County website:
http://www.co.la-paz.az.us/Data_Folder/Elections/Elections_051810/051810-58.htm


Election Summary Report


SPECIAL ELECTION

COUNTY OF LA PAZ

MAY 18, 2010

Summary For 058 QUARTZSITE - Prec #(s): 058.1 / 058.2 / 058.3 / 058.4, All Counters, All Races

FINAL UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

ALL BALLOTS COUNTED 05/20/10 --- 17:35:58

Registered Voters 1451 - Cards Cast 787 54.24% Num. Report Precinct 1 - Num. Reporting 1 100.00%

ARIZONA PROPOSITION 100

Total Number of Precincts 1

Precincts Reporting 1 100.0 %

Times Counted 787/1451 54.2 %

Total Votes 697



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YES 302 43.33%

NO 395 56.67%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOWN OF QUARTZSITE MAYOR

Total Number of Precincts 1

Precincts Reporting 1 100.0 %

Times Counted 669/1234 54.2 %

Total Votes 653

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOSTER, ED 338 51.76%

HUNTLEY, WES 311 47.63%

Write-in Votes 4 0.61%




TOWN OF QUARTZSITE COUNCIL MEMBER

Total Number of Precincts 1

Precincts Reporting 1 100.0 %

Times Counted 669/1234 54.2 %

Total Votes 1831
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



ANDERSON, PATRICIA 317 17.31%

HAMILTON, CHAUNCE 309 16.88%

KELLEY, ROBERT 315 17.20%

LUKKASSON, JERRY 322 17.59%

MOORE, BILL 254 13.87%

SIAS, RUSSELL 308 16.82%

Write-in Votes 6 0.33%

AT&T outage for days in Quartzsite

For the past two days, Quartzsite AT&T customers have been having problems "reaching out" to friends and family on their cell phones. After speaking to a rep yesterday after 4 hours of challenges, I was told the towers are fine. The very nice agent on the other end of the line told me he would be contacting the techs and making a report. Well, today brought even more challenges. Again I called 611 as soon as service returned. Once again I was told that AT&T would forward to a tech to check out.
Starr was actually talking to a tech when service again went down right in the middle of their conversation. What timing!

One of the regular customers at Mountain Quail Cafe complained of problems as well. At dinner, customers were allowing use of their phones, as AT&T was on-again-off-again. I know of at least three customers that have contacted AT&T about these outages. But as of 7:19pm there is "No Service"!

I am using a Sprint air card to access the Internet to post this message. Thank goodness for Sprint ~ Hopefully someone from AT&T will read this message and address the issue ASAP!!!

Most full time RVers only have a cell phone and this is their only form of communication. If there is an emergency we can't get out on our cell phones! I love my I Phone, but gotta tell ya, I'm looking around as soon as my contract with AT&T is up.

Earthquake felt in Quartzsite

"Rockin' in Quartzsite"
takes on a new meaning on Easter Sunday!

Today's 7.2 magnitude earthquake centered near Mexicali, Mexico was felt all over town. The quake lasted for about 30-45 seconds. At one point folks thought it was over, and walked outside, only to realize the quake was still continuing.

One neighbor was in her trailer, and suffering from a "qeezy stomach" opened the refrigerator to get some milk, but could not pour the milk into a glass. That's when she knew it was more than her feeling dizzy. A friend told me she thought her television was going to fall off the pedestal. Mary Kay, a waitress at Mountain Quail Cafe, told me the whole west wall was moving back and forth. Customers were still talking about it hours later. There were no reports of damage in town.

CNN had breaking news reports showing reports from citizen journalists. Twitter was slammed within minutes with individual reports. Technology has created a unique way of communicating with the world. Yuma residents reported feeling very scared, with items falling off shelves. The quake was felt from the California coast to Tuscon, Arizona. Over 80 aftershocks were reported in the first 5 hours by the USGS website. I have personally felt between 8-10 aftershocks.

Expect many more aftershocks in the next couple of days with possibly up to 6.0. So if you are feeling a bit off-centered, there may be a good reason.

For more information on southern Arizona earthquakes visit: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/US10/27.37.-120.-110.php

Quartzsite Elections March 9, 2010

 La Paz County released the "Final Unofficial" Results from Tuesday's election. According to Alex Taft, Town Manager, the county manages the run off. It appears Huntley and Foster will face each other in the run off in May. Lizarraga appears to be the only Council Member being placed. To be declared elected at the primary, a candidate must receive votes totaling more than half the ballots cast.

For now, here are the latest numbers as of 17:34:05, 3/10/10.
www.co.la-paz.az.us/

Registered Voters: 1346.   Total cards cast: 506.    37.59%

Quartzsite Mayor:
Incumbent Wes Huntley received 194 votes with  39.43% of the votes.
Ed Foster received 153 votes with 31.10% of the votes.
CK "Charlie" Kukral received 115 votes with 23.37% of the votes.
Hal Davidson received 28 votes with 5.69% of the votes.
There were 2 write-in votes.

Town Council:
Jose Lizarraga received 273 votes with 15.15%.
Robert Kelley received 237 votes with 13.15%.
Patricia Anderson received 208 votes with 11.54%.
Bill Moore received 192 votes with 10.65%,
Chaunce Hamilton received 186 votes with 10.32%.
Jerry Lukkasson received 173 votes with 9.60%.
Russell Sias received 161 votes with 8.93%.
Eric Larson received 139 votes with 7.71%.
Deena Blythe received 131 votes with 7.27%.
Brad Trainer received 99 votes with 5.49%.
There were 3 write-in votes.

Proposition 100
No     254 votes with  57.86%
Yes    185 votes with 42.14%,

www.desertmessenger.com

Desert Messenger just launched http://www.desertmessenger.com/.
It is still under construction and in the next few weeks, I hope to have lots of great info on this site.

Quartzsite was hit hard by a storm on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010. Using everything in sight to hold down the Big Tent, organizers evacuated everyone and the 27th Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show shut down in preparation of the big storm. Alex Taft, Town Manager said, "I'm so glad they took those precautions, as it kept people safe."

Some people did not heed the warnings, as Quartzsite Police were called to rescue stranded motorists in Tyson Wash during the night. The wash was running so strong rescuers resorted to "bucket lift" the occupants to safety. During the night RVs moved to higher ground (even inches help in the desert) as the parking lot at Rice Ranch turned into a lake again, overflowing the bank and flooding vendors and areas around The Gamblers on E. Kuehn.

Strong winds uprooted many saguaros around town and destroyed many vendors' tents. Hard hit was Tyson Wells Showgrounds and Desert Gardens. The next day brought out residents and visitors to view the damage and more calls to the police with "stupid motorist laws" being broken.

Vendors helped each other with packing, and saving merchandise, finding parts and pieces of canopies, and support. Many vendors set up within 24 hours and were back in business for the crowds. Once again, folks got creative and made lemonade from lemons!