With their new coach in tow, the students from Tri-City College Prep in Prescott participated in the 11th annual Arizona Environmental Education Competition March 28-29 in Cottonwood.

Yavapai County Sheriff's Office deputies report that Soon Chin Rauls, 61, of Chino Valley is in the Yavapai County Jail on charges of two counts of endangerment, DUI with drugs, criminal damages and four counts of assault causing serious injuries. Rauls collided with two motorcyclists head-on at County Road 10 and mile marker 22 in the Skull Valley area March 26.

"David Hackle yesterday sent in the hides of three Cordes wildcats and one coyote. Bert Jackson sent in the hide of one wildcat. A sack containing the hides of three cats and four coyotes was received. A letter will probably follow telling who sent them."

The Arizona Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol found $112,320 in an electronically concealed compartment of a vehicle during a traffic stop southbound on Interstate 17 at milepost 269, six miles north of Cordes Junction, on April 5.During the stop, an officer's K-9 detected the secret compartment.

Prevent Child Abuse Arizona wants to expand its presence with a one-stop family resource center in Prescott Valley.

The Chino Valley Town Council this week likely will approve issuing a conditional use permit to the City of Prescott that will let the city install arsenic treatment equipment at two of its well sites within town limits.

A Sacred Music Benefit Concert to help raise support for the Prescott Food Pantry will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 13 at the Shepherd of the Hills Church, 1202 Green Lane in Prescott. Opera singer and voice teacher, Uma Errickson and several music students from the Yavapai College Music Department will perform.

PRESCOTT VALLEY -The Arizona Game and Fish Department is hosting a free wildlife fair in Prescott Valley on Thursday.The fair will feature live animals, wildlife education, interactive games and free giveaways.

Throughout the next month, construction activity along Iron Springs Road will result in changing driving conditions from week-to-week.

PRESCOTT - Democrats running for Congress in District One will join in a candidate forum in Prescott Thursday.

A variety of experts on Verde River Basin issues will speak at a public forum in Prescott Friday.

Vivian Lueck is used to calling the shots. Lueck is a dispatcher for the Chino Valley Police Department who followed her own calling and became the owner of a cozy Italian restaurant in May 2007.

Experience is still the best teacher. Thirteen members of the Williams Middle School Table Tennis Club visited the Tri-City Table Tennis Club of Arizona April 2 to learn the finer points of the game from more experienced players.

April is National Gardening Month (www.nationalgardenmonth.org). Sit back and enjoy one of this week's recommended books.

Shalom is not a Jewish word. It is a Hebrew word. The most common definition of shalom is peace.

Some people continue to say our Prescott government should only do what it needs to, and not what we want it to. However, I believe government should do not only what is necessary, but also should do what the public wants. The public clearly wants government to conserve the Granite Dells and other natural jewels for future generations.

Barbara Mary Middleton passed away on April 5, 2008, at Hospice Family Care in Prescott, Ariz. She was 64 years young.

Warren F. Saas passed away April 6, 2008, in Prescott, Ariz., at age 82. He was born Sept. 9, 1925, in Evanston, Ill., to Francis B. Saas and Luella (Vogelsang) Saas.

Angelo J. Scaglione died April 4, 2008, at the VA Medical Center in Prescott.

After reading columnist Al Herron's April 1 anti-war diatribe, it is evident the old gentleman's hatred of President George W. Bush has damaged his brain cells.Herron states, "The only functioning democracy in the Middle East is Iran." The abject stupidity of Iran, by any definition, is a one-party totalitarian theocracy that the unelected Grand Ayatollah Khomeini and his fundamentalist Islamic council rule over. Anyone disagreeing with the theocracy simply doesn't get on the ballot.

Patricia Anne Camberdella, 79, of Prescott Valley, Ariz., born Jan. 4, 1929, in Brooklyn, N.Y., passed away Monday, April 7, 2008, in Prescott, Ariz.

Marjorie E. Bennett, 67, of Chino Valley, Ariz., born Jan. 13, 1941, in Hillsboro, Wash., passed away Monday, April 7, 2008, at Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott, Ariz.

Francis M. Heckethorn, 91, of Prescott, Ariz., born Sept. 21, 1916, in Flagstaff, Ariz., passed away Saturday, April 5, 2008, at the VA Hospital in Prescott.

Madonna Marie Stoks, 79, of Prescott, Ariz., born Aug. 30, 1928, in Porter, Minn., passed away April 6, 2008, in Prescott.

Lois Magers, 91, of Prescott, Ariz., born Jan. 25, 1917, passed away Monday, April 7, 2008.

Edgar L. Moore, 87, of Benicia, Calif., born Oct. 29, 1920, in Buckner, Miss., passed away April 4, 2008, at Hospice Family Care at the Crossings, Prescott, Ariz.

Freddie H. Menke, 80, formerly of Phoenix and Mayer, Ariz., passed away March 27, 2008, in Prescott Valley.

The signs on the school marquis and the banners across downtown streets in Prescott and Cottonwood proclaim that April is Substance Abuse Awareness Month. Prescott, Chino Valley, Camp Verde, Cottonwood and Clarkdale all have issued proclamations and Prescott Valley, Yavapai County, Sedona, the Yavapai-Prescott Tribe, and Prescott Unified School District soon are to follow.

No question ever existed about whether the Salt River Project would play the trump card of its overwhelming political and legal clout on local municipalities' plans to import water from the Big Chino aquifer.The only question was when. The SRP just played its card by convincing the Regulatory Review Council to require the Arizona Department of Water Resources to conduct a public rulemaking process.

Anna Beth Allgood-Pierce, 90, ended her journey on earth peacefully on April 6, 2008, at her home in Prescott.

PRESCOTT - The Prescott Unified School District received more than 20 applications each for the positions of curriculum and testing coordinator, special education director and food service director.The PUSD Governing Board Tuesday evening approved hiring Heidi Atkinson as the new curriculum and testing coordinator; Dan Balcerak as the new special education director; and Robert Toomer as the new food service director.

DEWEY-HUMBOLDT - The Dewey-Humboldt Town Council agreed Tuesday that it needs to better define the roles of its advisory committees in the wake of a misunderstanding between new Town Manager William Emerson and two of those committees' chairpersons.

Some of the details are fuzzy almost a year later, but one thing is for certain: The sound of bullets remains crystal clear.Prescott Valley Officers Paul Dunn, a 12-year officer and eight-year special response team participant, and Mike Pereda, seven-year officer and more than five-year SRT team member, recently received the 2007 Medal of Valor for their involvement in last May's hostage situation on Rockland Drive.

PRESCOTT - By early May, local golfers will be paying about 8 percent more to play at the city's Antelope Hills Golf Course.By unanimous action Tuesday, the Prescott City Council approved a golf-rate hike that will add $2-per-round to most of Antelope Hills' categories of play.

The most potent lineup in the ACCAC (second in hitting, first in doubles and home runs) laid the wood to the Arizona Western pitching staff Tuesday with wins of 10-4 and 17-6.

In October, Yavapai College Athletic Director Bob Bockrath announced he was going to retire.On Tuesday, the school named his successor in Scott Farnsworth, giving him two and a half months to ease into the position.Farnsworth will officially take over for Bockrath as Director of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics on July 1.

Staff photographer Matt Hinshaw traveled to Phoenix on Monday, April 7, 2008 to shoot the Arizona Diamondbacks home opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Here are some of his images from that game that the Diamondbacks won by a score of 9-3.

The Yavapai College softball team dropped two to Central Arizona in Coolidge on Tuesday, the same day fellow conference front-runner Eastern Arizona swept Pima.

It was a tough day on the softball diamond as Chino Valley High School (CVHS) faced Snowflake this past Saturday, losing 11-0 with the game called in the sixth because of the 10-run rule. After giving up two runs in both the first and second innings, the Lady Cougar bats just couldn't heat up, and the Lobos bats just wouldn't cool down.

If life were fair, Samson, the Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary tiger that died recently in Prescott, would have spent his life in the wilds of India.

Editor: I was a patient in Jan. 08 at Yavapai Regional Medical Center. I would like to express my gratitude for the excellent care I received starting with PAC nurse, admitting, pre-opr surgery room, PACU, all the nurses and aides, P.T. on the 3rd floor.

Editor: Over the past several years I have read the ongoing saga of patrons complaining about the postal service in Prescott and Prescott Valley. My comment is, if you think the U.S. Postal Service is a problem; just wait for a single-payer health insurance plan!

We may well be entering the paperless age. It seems that some publishers don't know what to do with paper...especially if there are illustrations on them. And, I for one, don't like it.

The annual Paulden community cleanup day, coordinated in conjunction with Yavapai County, is tentatively scheduled for May 17, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The process of engraving/etching is said to have been used by European craftsmen during the Middle Ages to decorate armor. Rick Nichols of Chino Valley got interested in engraving in the early 1990s and has become a skilled engraver.

Seniors at Chino Valley High School who are 18 years old can vote for a new president in the September and November elections, and representatives from the two main political parties in the area came to the school to talk about just that.

What do you do during the summer to prepare for the next season?

Three accidents within a little over an hour in Prescott Valley Monday sent 6 people to hospitals and kept emergency crews hopping. Police and fire crews received 2 calls for accidents on Highway 69 within minutes of each other at about 11 a.m. About an hour later, crews responded to yet another accident. "We got hammered," said CYFD Fire Marshall Charlie Cook.

Prescott Valley Police continue to investigate a two-vehicle accident that occurred at the intersection of Highway 69 and Navajo Drive on Monday morning.

Nearly 20 health providers exhibited and spoke at the Mayer Health Fair at the Mayer Recreation Center on April 5. Bradshaw Mountain Labs staff drew blood and tested for sugar levels and cholesterol.

Mayer Fire Chief Glenn Brown, who also is vice president of the Mayer Area Chamber of Commerce, stands nearby as Greg Galpin of Galpin Ford hands Otis Hess, chamber president, the keys to the '91 Ford Taurus GL Galpin Ford donated to the Mayer Area Chamber of Commerce. Galpin donated the car for a fund-raiser for a new chamber office. The car raffle drawing will take place during Mayer Daze on June 7. Tickets are on sale for $5 for one or three for $10.BB/CCN Photo/LeeAnn Lyall

Crowds lined Old Black Canyon Highway Saturday as about 35 floats in the 23rd Annual White Cane Parade filed down the street. Many members of the audience, including children, cheered and screamed when the floats went by throwing candy out the windows of vehicles.