Free Republic

SIERRA VISTA — Cochise County residents are invited to learn how the Army Corps of Engineers plans to clean up decades-old munitions from local World War II-era training sites at a public meeting next week. The meeting, set for Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express at 1902 South Highway 92, will cover the recent investigation by the Corps of two sites, both located within the San Pedro River National Conservation Area. The sites, known as the Artillery, Mortar Ranges and Maneuver Area and the Charleston Maneuver Area, were visited several times by the Corps in an effort...

Our Reader’s Views Group believes in rider, community’s efforts To the Editor: The front-page Sierra Vista Herald article of Aug. 26 and the evening news coverage of the alleged impact of the proposed Renzi Amendment deserve some additional comments from the perspective of the Fort Huachuca 50. First and foremost, The Fort Huachuca 50 believes passage of the rider is absolutely essential to the survival of Fort Huachuca. Indeed, it will obviate Fort Huachuca and potentially other Department of Defense installations from responsibility fro mitigating off-post pumping of ground water. That aspect of the rider incorporates pure common sense. How...

Groups seek help to reject legislation: Want governor to ask McCain to save San Pedro By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEINAssociated Press TUCSON -- Gov. Janet Napolitano is being asked by environmentalists to urge Sen. John McCain to reject a House-approved congressional rider and help save the San Pedro River. Two dozen conservation and advocacy groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity(our local terrorists), Arizona League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife, wrote Napolitano on Monday. They asked her to help stop a rider sponsored by Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., from being adopted by a House-Senate Armed Services conference...

A wildfire in Cochise County that started near the U.S.-Mexican border Sunday spread to about 1,000 acres south of Sierra Vista, officials said. The fire is the first sizable wildfire this year in Southern Arizona. The fire is in an area about 20 miles southeast of Sierra Vista near Palominas on Bureau of Land Management land. David Peters, a BLM spokesman, said the fire was believed to have been started by an illegal entrant. A Border Patrol agent saw a man believed to be an illegal entrant in some tall grass at about 10 a.m. As the agent chased...

Fellow Freepers, this weekend I found what might be the most idyllic camp site in all of Arizona. People would fight over it anywhere here in the southwest. Now picture this: A level grassy spot on a bluff twenty feet above a river, with the gentle murmur of the water passing over the rocks below; slow enough to sound restful, fast enough not to breed mosquitoes. Tall cottonwood trees lining both banks, with their leaves rustling in the breeze. Birds calling in the distance. Ten feet away from the best spot for a tent is the grandmother of all cottonwoods,...