Free Republic

The mayor of Quartzsite, Ariz., the town seething in vitriol since police forcibly removed a woman from speaking at a public meeting despite the mayor's objections lost in a recall election last night, but claims the "corrupt" town council fixed the results to force him out. "They found a whole bunch of early ballots they could stuff the box with," said Mayor Ed Foster, telling WND the election was "absolutely" stolen. Foster says at the polling place, he was winning by a 2-to-1 margin over former Town Councilman and Quartzsite Fire Department Capt. Jose Lizarraga. But there had been 328...

The Quartzsite, Ariz., police officers who were being dismissed by a police chief described by the mayor as a "Nazi" have been ordered by a judge to be reinstated until after a show cause hearing scheduled Aug. 15 and after hearings before a "neutral decisionmaker." The orders came in two temporary restraining orders issued this week by LaPaz County Superior Court Judge Randolph A. Bartlett, who acted on emergency pleadings by an attorney representing the officers. The weeks-long confrontation erupted in Quartzsite when city officials ordered police to remove a woman from a town meeting, even though the mayor was...

The town of Quartzsite, Ariz., has been in the headlines several times lately, and a state investigation was launched after such odd reports as: * A man was ordered to give up his guns after he allegedly "glared" at a town official. * A woman was forcibly removed from a public town meeting by police even though the mayor pleaded her cause. * Some sort of secret decision was made to quit paying the mayor, as police officers were wrongly being fired. * "Several hundred" emails prompted a declaration of a state of emergency. Now the state has taken the...

The state of Arizona is now investigating allegations of massive corruption among government officials in Quartzsite, Ariz., the town that's the focus of worldwide attention after police forcibly removed a woman from speaking at a town-hall meeting, and where the mayor today says he's not being paid and most local police officers are wrongly being fired and have been ordered not to leave their homes. "I'm no longer getting paid as mayor," said Ed Foster, the elected head of Quartzsite. "That's not a big deal, but it's in the town code that I get a stipend of $400. If they...

The Arizona town that's become a YouTube sensation for its police department hauling away a woman speaking at a town-hall meeting declared a state of emergency this afternoon, leaving many local residents in fear of what officers dressed in full riot gear might do. Jennifer "Jade" Jones, 45, the woman forcibly removed by police from a recent public meeting in Quartzsite, Ariz., despite the vocal objections of the mayor, says an illegal secret meeting was held today with the public locked out of the building. "About noon today, the town council, at the request of the police chief, declared an...

Link post: Geology Picture of the Week, June 23-30, 2002

Richat Structure, Mauritania This prominent circular feature in the Sahara desert of Mauritania has attracted attention since the earliest space missions because it forms a conspicuous bull’s-eye in the otherwise rather featureless expanse of the desert. Described by some as looking like an outsized ammonite in the desert, the structure [which has a diameter of almost 50 kilometers (30 miles)] has become a landmark for shuttle crews. Initially interpreted as a meteorite impact structure because of its high degree of circularity, it is now thought to be merely a symmetrical uplift (circular anticline) that has been laid bare by...