Quartzsite has new mayor!

Ed Foster won the election by only 27 votes. However, the agenda for Tuesday night's council meeting puts in question this statement. Item number 2 under new business: "Discussion and possible approval of Resolution No. 10-12; certifying the facts requiring a recount of the vote for the Town of Quartzsite held on May 18, 2010, and authorizing the Town Attorney to file a petition in Superior Court for a recount of the votes and declaring an emergency to exist."

Many local folks have expressed their outrage to me. Anyone who knows me, is aware that I am just a human being trying to help others in a positive way. I can understand their concerns and frustrations. I strongly believe that our society thrives when there are many different opinions. It is how we express ourselves that concerns me. Yelling at me won't get you very far....sharing your opinion in a clear, calm way is a good way of communicating with respect.

Papers have been drawn to recall our newly elected council members, less than 24 hours after the swearing in ceremony on Tuesday, May 25, 2010. People were upset that the sitting council voted to change the mayor's duties. I heard many times, that the council is not listening to the people. Well, the people put them all there! The people actually voted who they want to serve on that council. This is the first time since October, 2008 (when then Mayor Chuck Busby died in office) that there is a fully elected council.

Every decision made by the council will most likely upset someone! They have a job to do and it is my personal opinion to just let them do it. It's very difficult to work at your peak performance when there are constant threats and unrest surrounding you. Every person working at Town Hall is a human being, just doing the best they can. Every council member is a human being also. They all have families, friends, passions, hobbies, hopes and goals.

Let us be supportive of each other, expressing ourselves with respect and compassion.

Arizona Centennial plans going strong

The Arizona Centennial Committee of Quartzsite is planning a year long celebration of Arizona's 100th year of statehood. Quartzsite's political scene has been very intense these past few months. This is the perfect time for folks to come together and help Quartzsite shine again!

The Quartzsite Centennial group was originally started by the GFWC Woman’s club and now has become a Town of Quartzsite Event. The magnitude of this event needs the complete support of our community, so the Woman’s Club asked the Council to reinstate the Town’s Committee. The newly formed Centennial Committee met for the first time on Wed. April 28, 2010 and have been very busy since.

The statewide year-long celebration is from February 14, 2011 through February 14, 2012. Many local events will coordinate with already established events. The kickoff event will begin with the ATV Parade on Feb. 12, 2011 in cooperation of Willpower, Inc. Every organization, business and individual can participate in small or large ways, however when we join forces together, the program as a whole, will be phenomenal.

Quartzsite will get a head start with fundraising beginning this summer into the fall. On October 23, Proud Neighbors of Quartzsite (PNQ) in cooperation with other organizations will host their 2nd Annual Rockin' in Quartzsite - A Celebration of the Arts! Centennial Souvenirs will be available for purchase at this event and others during the season.

Proud Neighbors of Quartzsite (PNQ) recently joined forces with Funding Factory to provide recycling services for ink jet cartridges and cell phones. Just drop off your ink jet or laser cartridges, and old cell phones in the boxes and we'll take care of the details. For the first year of the project, the funds raised will support the Centennial Committee. Stay tuned for locations in Quartzsite. If your business is interested in being a drop off location, please contact Rain at 541-218-2560.

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%,