LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS by Chuck Alton, CochiseTALK A near altercation was avoided between Ward 1 Councilman Gene Connors and local Insurance Agent John Everhart over the weekend. Everhart told a friend that Connors showed up at his Warren office and asked John to step out side. Everhart says he told Connors to leave or he would call the police. When police arrived they offered to arrest Connors but Everhart said he just wanted Connors to leave and not return. Apparently the two had a major difference of opinion about the ban of single use plastic bags in Bisbee. According to Connors, the incident was much ado about nothing, but he did offer to meet with Everhart and this reporter so I could hear both sides of the story. The two men have known each other a decade or more according to Connors and have had numerous lengthy discussions about issues of the day. A three-way with the two men is not in the cards. -0- Mayor and Council candidates for Bisbee seats will meet up on Tuesday night at the Senior Center in Warren to be asked questions originated by event sponsor Bisbee C of C, most notably Nick Night. The emphasis for the forum seems to be on running a tightly controlled meeting, even to the point that questions from the audience will be solicited in writing from attendees for use in the third hour, 8-9 pm. Talk around town builds low expectations for the Candidate Forum, and as little as a couple of days ago the Chamber was soliciting help from outside the very secretive and closely held process to improve questions being considered for use on Tuesday night. CochiseTALK will post the entire meeting on the site on Wednesdays at CochiseTALK. Segments, Council candidates, Mayoral candidates, and questions from the public, will be posted separately for easy access to parts of the forum you may be most interested in. -0- At last Tuesdays regular meeting, Bisbee City Council agreed to prepare a letter to be sent to State and County government in support of a ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Bisbee, a mostly symbolic measure, but seen as a precursor to seeking a ban in other Cochise County communities and the county as a whole. The new and aggressive group People for Community Rights had asked the Mayor and Council for the letter. Council agreed with the group that the use of massive quantities of local water and the possibility of contaminating underground aquifers is too great a risk for the community to take any chances with the use of the controversial process that is now blamed for a spate of earthquakes in parts of the country thought until recently to be exempt from any real possibility of such an occurrence, but where fracking has recently taken place. Geologists agree there is a cause and effect connection between the fracking and the earthquakes. There is no indication that fracking will be used in Cochise County. But PFCR doesnt want to take any chances. Evidently, much of the community agrees. -0- Questions about the past concerning Bisbees three Mayoral candidates may have as much to do with deciding who Bisbees next mayor will be as any present and future plans the candidates may have. Media and voters are starting to ask questions about Cynthia Conroys secret agreement with the County Probation Department relative to her exit from that org. David Smiths role in the investigation of the 1970 Pioneer Fire that got a young man convicted for the murder of 28 hotel occupants in Tucsons worst fire disasters is another. The convicted black man Louis Taylor, 16 at the time, was interrogated without legal representation or guardian present according to CBS. No notes or recordings exist. 60 Minutes (https://youtube/watch?v=UKecVbSwKKw) did two stories about the incident in which Smith was interviewed as TPDs juvenile detective who interrogated Taylor. The man was released from prison after 42 years based on a reinvestigation of the fire. Smith has answered media questions on more than one occasion since Taylor was released. And, inquiring voters want to know how Ron Oertle can use his past two terms as mayor of Bisbee to justify yet another. Oertle generally gets low ratings from voters who clam his two 2 year terms as mayor were lacking in any real accomplishment. If some of these questions are not answered during Tuesday nights forum, the local press is likely to step in. -0- Please send any corrections to these stories to news@cochisetalk
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 04:20:59 +0000
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