Pete Page was a Zen Master with machines of all kinds: from European motorcycles to washing machines and vacumme cleaners. He could make anything run!

Pete Page passed away this month after suffering a stroke and he will be missed by the many who knew him in this community. He was a quiet soft-spoken man and like many, I had brought my problems to him to fix for many years without ever really knowing him. An opportunity to interview him last year changed that. I was doing a piece on motorcycles and the adventure of the road when someone said I should talk to Pete.

“Who ?”, I asked?  “You know. The guy next door. The guy who fixes the washing machines,” my friend said as if I was daff for asking. “Oh, you mean THAT Pete? Washing Machine Pete? That guy??”

“Yeah,….,”my friend said. ” THAT guy…is an amazing guy.”

So after nearly 15 years of living in Globe and depending on Pete; this tall lanky, soft spoken guy with a shop on Broads Sreet who helped me stretch out the life of my washer by many years, I went to talk to him about his life and how he ended up in Globe. It was published in the GlobeMiamiTimes just last summer. I’m re-posting it here in memory of Pete. and his most remarkable life. “

PETE PAGE

GMT  Summer ’10   (Reprint)

Walk through the doors of Livingston’s Appliance in downtown Globe and you’ll find the walls lined with new washers and dryers in the front. In the back, you’ll discover a shop that can only be described as “managed chaos” where a tall, lanky guy with strong hands and a quiet demeanor is busy working his repair magic on a variety of sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, and washers. But, if you take a closer look you’ll see a framed and fading portrait of a motorcyclist on a GSX-R Suzuki taking a corner low to the pavement, a calendar showing famous road races in Europe, motorcycle ‘kitch’ and and enough dog eared photos of Suzukis, Hondas, Triumps, Harley’s and the like tacked up to the wall so as to dominate one whole section.

Pete Page, who owns Livingstons is known by most around here as the “appliance guy., A few, it seems know him as ‘British Pete’, and fewer still – those who ride bikes themselves- know that before Pete focused all his attention on appliance repair as being a duly respectable, steady form of income, he actually spent quite a bit of time racing motorcycles in England and touring this country from the back of a BMW.

Originally from Southhampton, England, Pete says he got his first bike in 1961.  The country was still feeling the effects of WWII – even then – and more people rode bikes and motorcycles with little side cars as he was growing up than owned cars. When he was 16 he worked a paper route to make money for his first motorcycle. It was a 50 cc moped and although it’s top speed was only 30 mph, it provided his first taste of freedom which came with owning his own set of wheels. The racing would come later.

In a career which spans over 30 years, Pete has put more hours on a bike than most and covered two continents, 42 states and wore out just a few bikes.

He started racing side cars in 1975 when he was in his late twenties. These were stripped down motorcycles with sidecars resembling a “perch” more than an actual “side car.” Using farmers fields where the crops were being rotated and the fields left to rest – both farmers and racers picked up a bit of cash by turning these fields into race tracks. Entry fees were about $25 and winnings never exceeded $100. The bikes were raced by teams of riders. The “jockey’ balanced behind the driver and would fling his body to the left and right – much like sailing – to keeping the rear tire on the track as the bike would take turns the turns at high speed.

“I used to race with a friend of mine who would race solo, and then pop over and  “jockey” for me.” Pete said. “We were at this race one time and had just taken a practice run.

My friend hopped off the bike and threw down his helmut declaring, “I’m not racing with you anymore. You frighten me to death! “

So Pete got on the PA and announced that #26 needed a jockey. Three guys showed up and he picked a kid ten years his junior. Although Jim had only jockeyed a couple times before this he was a quick study and the team was a formidable competitor on the track.

They made it to the National Championships one year, and while it took being good to get there, it took being very good to place. Pete says in the first race, they were sitting on the starting line with the National Champ on their left and the local Champ on their right. When the starter went off, the riders blasted off the starting line, and within the first turn Pete said they were running fourth.

In a tough sport where taking calculated chances at high speeds define success, it is inevitable that wrecks will happen. But sometimes that wreck you walk away from makes you look at things differently – and say “enough.” For Pete, it was that day on the track when he and Jim were going hard at it, and another rider tried to pass them on the inside.
The rider clipped them and the force knocked Jim off the back.

“But I didn’t know he got knocked off,” Pete says, “so I headed into the turn and there is no one holding the back wheel down…and over I went.” He flipped so hard, his helmut came off and his nose ended up on the right side of his face. It took a surgical team to patch him up and he feels lucky to this day that it was only his nose which took the brunt of what could have been much worse.

That wreck marked the ending of one era and the beginning of another.

No more dirt tracks. The next bike he purchased was a Suzuki GSX-R.

”That was the bike to have, “ Pete says.  “You could squeeze 150 on that bike,” he says. Of course nowdays riders are doing 200.”

He says the day he was cornering his Suzuki going about 140 in a race, and laying it down so low to the ground that everything was scraping pavement…and a kid passed him on the outside and turned to give him alittle wave of the hand as he sped past, Pete had to admit it might be time to retire from racin’

Pete, turns to point at the Calendar behind his head which shows a vintage photograph of the famous Isle of Man race. “Back in those days,” he says, “it was nothing to still be racing at 40 or 45. Nowdays it’s sixteen year olds…and they’re winning!”

He goes on to explain the Isle of Man- consists of six 37 3/4 mile loops. In 1958, a Scotsman,Bob McIntyre became the first rider to ever lap the Mountain circuit at 100 mph. It would take nearly 50 years to bump that record up by 26 mph. Today’s record stands at 126 mph. Pete can only smile.

In 1992, just before his 50th birthday, Pete and his friend Allen decided to do a cross country tour of the US. For two British boys this was venturing into alien – but awesome landscape. In England you’d end up in the ocean if you rode more than 200 miles in any direction. The idea of riding thousands of miles of blacktop and never running out of road was a strange kind of wonderful.  Pete wrote to fourteen BMW dealerships and told them what they wanted to do. Only one wrote back, he said. A dealership in Orlando Florida, said they had one such BMW on the floor and would have to order the other one, and would they send an international money order. No problem, Pete said.

The two left for the states three months later, flying into Orlando where they found two brand new BMWs awaiting their arrival. They did 42 states in six months from Alaska to Mexico and everything in between. “It was great. People were friendly everywhere we went. They’d hear the accent, you know and want to talk.”.

They had barely arrived back in England with bikes in tow before they started planning a second trip. They had met another rider while on the first tour of the US, who talked about his journey from Fairbanks Alaska to Tierra del Fuego a small Argentinean province.  That sounded like just the ticket for their next big adventure and within a year, they were landing back in Orlando for their “South American Trip.”
Heading west put them in the path of Globe, Arizona, where they pulled over for a bite to eat at Peg’s Cafe – now Joe’s Broadstreet Grill.

When they came out to get on their bikes, a note stuck to the windshield read, “If you’re a biker, come see me. Jim “

They met up with a short, broad, bushy bearded man who rode up on this little 500 Honda to Peg’s. It was Jim Whitstruck, who had moved to Globe several years earlier. He had been staff photographer to President Truman and while the exact details of how he went from that to living over a motorcycle shop in Globe, Arizona may be lost to history, much about Jim’s eclectic passion for motorcycles and his photographic memory sticks in Pete’s mind. Jim took them to his shop just down the street from Pegs.  Inside there was an array of “very unusual bikes, “a museum of sorts,” says Pete. Jim lived upstairs and rented the back for a motorcycle shop. “He had alot of knowledge up here,” Pete says “but Jim wasn’t as good with his hands. He needed a guy who could make all those unusual bikes run. And that was Pete.

So, the Great South American Road Trip ended at Globe that fateful day when Jim offered Pete a job and his friend decided the Great Road Trip would not be so great going solo, and returned to England.

Pete worked for Jim nearly three years without a contract or salary – or really any wage. “If we sold a bike, we’d split it fifty/fifty Pete says. The business was called Moto Veloce- Fast Motorcycles, and they were known for just that. In 1995, Jim passed away unexpectedly and and Pete found himself running the shop himself. By then he was also doing all the repairs for the appliance business which the landlord operated in the front of the building. Pete says he just couldn’t do both, and decided the appliance business was more reliable than the bikes, and he closed out the business.

Today, he works on smaller, less complicated machines; washers, dryers…sewing machines.

Yet, that quote from “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” which says, “ The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you,” still holds sway here. Whether your’re talking about Bikes or Washing Machines, when they are out of kilter – Pete can fix them.

As Pirsig says,“ There isn’t any other test. If the machine produces tranquility, it’s right. If it disturbs you, it’s wrong until either the machine or your mind changes.” Pete is the Zen master of machines.

In the dream, I stepped onstage to accept the check for my winning lottery numbers- the largest amount ever to be awarded- of four hundred trillion dollars. Payable all to me and me alone. Sweat ran down my face and the makeup people began to fuss- this was, after all, being televised ‘live’ around the world- but I brushed them aside and bounded up to the presenter. Grinning like a madman, glazed eyes rolling back into my head, I reached out my right hand to grasp the check being proffered by the lovely blonde in a fire engine red sheath and then- WOOOFWOOOFWOO-

I sat bolt upright in bed. This must’ve been how the folks in Hawaii felt when Pearl Harbor was being bombed, when a sixteen car pile-up on I-10 stops Valley traffic, when sniper fire rattles through the predawn quiet of an Iraqi village. WOOOFWOOOFWOO- My alarm clock read six a.m. I climbed out of bed and went to the window- no small feat, as I sleep in a converted attic and the window is at the end of a seven foot tunnel. Crawling through this tunnel, naked as a newborn and just as outraged, I looked out into my neighbor’s yard and there, indignant, sat the three month old caramel beagle which would alter my life forever.

He’s a cute pup alright- liquid eyes, a pouty little mouth and a wiggly-waggly tail which any human with a heart would giggle over. But it was six in the morning. Now wide awake and desperate for coffee- or Dexedrine- I trudged downstairs and let my dogs out, hoping they might be just hungry enough to jump the fence and have the little snack next door. Instead, they decided to join Joyboy in choir practice until I yelled for them all to SHUT THE HELL UP or I was going for my guns.

Seeing as how it’s mandatory in my world to sleep as late as possible on my days off, and now knowing this would be constantly thwarted by a four legged psychopath with no conscience, I got dressed and proceed to water every living thing outside and to vacuum every square inch inside. Five loads of laundry later, with clean tile floors in both the kitchen AND the bathroom and seven- count ‘em, seven- bags of groceries in the cupboards, I glanced at the clock and realized it was only ten o’clock. In the morning. If it was ten in the evening then things would feel normal, and I’d be getting ready for bed after accomplishing as little as possible, relishing the thought of being able to sleep, snug as a drugged slug, until I… WOOOFWOOOFWOO-

It has now been eight days of getting up around the time the sun begins its daily ascent. There are dark circles under my eyes like kohl rings, I have a pronounced and premature slouch, and there are times I’m totally incoherent. But my house is not only clean- it glitters. The living room has been painted twice, the carpeting is almost threadbare from constant Hoovering, and I finally found the jar of coleslaw I ‘lost’ in the refrigerator a half-decade ago. There was so much dust from all of the cleaning- billowing clouds of the stuff wafting high over High Street- that WeatherWatchFive sent out a camera crew to film the ‘dust storm’. Seventeen cups of coffee keep me going and the heart murmur hardly ever bothers me. Losing that pesky extra twelve pounds was actually good for me, and really, in the Grand Scheme of life, did I really need all that lustrous, gorgeous hair?

Truth be told, I still hate to get up in the morning- but I am amazed at how much time I was wasting by sleeping my life away. In fact, I – WOOOFWOOOFWOO-

Oh, Hell. There he goes again. Maybe I’ll build a carport this morning.

By: LCGross

Several years ago I spent time in Alaska hiking the Resurrection Trail which stretches through 43 miles of wilderness and makes you forget all civilized notions of comfort and human-scale.

This is nature on a grand scale in all it’s glory. The trail head ends up just outside of Seward, Alaska, which is where my friends and I spent the last several days before flying back to sunny Arizona. The landscape everywhere you look in Alaska is breathtaking. That is, until you arrive in Seward, a town which was devastated in the ’60’s when a tsumi rolled in and sucked everything which man had built for the last hundred years back into the sea.

Seward re-built, but as you can imagine the re-building took on a more utilitarian approach.Concrete replaced wood and tilt-up buildings and tin sheds were erected quickly where once there had been ornate cornices, native stone buildings and wood porches.

Where once the town’s legacy involved character and content, lending a thread of continuity between the old and new, there is now function over form.

Historic Downtown Globe, Az still functions as the community's primary shopping and social hub

Coming this March, the Globe Miami Chamber of Commerce, will once again host a thousand visitors for Globe’s popular Historic Home and Building Tour.

Most locals consider it a ‘tourist event.’ Something for outsiders.  It certainly is well attended by visitors who flock to our little community to look at old homes and “try out” our small-town community for the weekend.

But consider for just a moment… what if Globe-Miami had a “Seward-Event” – something that wiped out all our old buildings and houses with their history, family ties and community character?

Just ask Seward  Alaska.  The old buildings represent a heritage that can never be replaced – once lost.

Whether you are a visitor or a local resident, be sure to put the Home Tour on your Calendar and help us celebrate the buildings – still standing.

27th Annual Globe Historic Home & Building Tour

March 5- 6th

9am – 3pm

Tour begins at Oak & Sycamore: Downtown Globe

For more information, please contact the Globe-Miami Chamber of Commerce   928-425-4495

The Historic District looking north. A majority of Globe's buildings were constructed between 1904-1916 during the boom days of Copper.

Water & Sewer Line breaks on Cedar Street

According to City workers, both water and sewer lines broke on Cedar Street between Hill and Broad. Crews arrived about 5pm and began repairs. They are expected to take a day.

For more info. call Globe 425-7146  Water Dept.

(This is reprinted with permission from GMT. It first Ran in Globe Miami Times in Fall 2008. It is the first in a series we will be posting on antiques you can find in the Globe-Miami area)

By: Darin Lowery

I’ll never forget the day I entered the first grade, in 1961. The classroom smelled of fresh paint and chalk dust, and the sun streamed through the tall windows, a hint of Autumn in the warm breeze. As we nervously took our seats, Mrs. Gebbia stepped forward, cleared her throat, and introduced herself as our teacher.

She was very short, even to a first-grader, and her jet black hair was severely permed in outdated 40’s waves. She wore a red and white polka-dot dress, and pinned at her ample bosom was a swaying clutch of bright red plastic cherries, the green leaves fluttering softly on metal links.

Ah, Bakelite. Color, for me, has never been the same since.

Photo by: LCGross. Taken at The White Porch 2008. Molly Cornwell & Darin Lowery

Before modern times, the primary materials for everyday use were metal, wood or glass. Functional, yes, but lacking flair. Resins and ‘plastics’ (from the Latin plasticus  and the Greek plastikos, meaning ‘to form’) had been around for awhile. There was gutta percha, a resin, and celluloid (also known as French Ivory), but both had problems. The former was brittle; the latter, extremely flammable.

In 1907, Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland of Belgium was experimenting with a new form of insulator when he created the compound now known as phenolic formaldehyde resin (a thermoset plastic which can be mixed, molded, extruded, and retains its shape). He called it ‘BAKELITE’ and this ‘material of a thousand uses’ literally changed the world.

By the 1930’s, Bakelite was used to make radio cabinets, jewelry, and poker sets, as it came in most colors except white; kitchen utensils and appliance handles, due to its ability to absorb heat; and was used in steering wheels, cocktail sets and baby toys. In 1933 alone, 3 million tons of Bakelite buttons were manufactured.

In 1942, the US government considered using Bakelite as the material for pennies, as copper was needed for shell casings. They decided on steel instead.

Bakelite is cool to the touch, clunks rather than clinks when tapped, and has a distinctive, electrical odor when rubbed briskly or run under hot water. A true ‘test’ for Bakelite is by buffing with a metal polish (Simichrome or Maas are the best). These creams go on as pale pink and wipe off as mustard yellow, verifying the piece is genuine. This is also true of CATALIN (“The Gem of Modern Industry’). Like Bakelite, the weight, sound and smell will give it away.

The first Bakelite I bought was a baby rattle, in six colors, back in 1979. It cost me twenty bucks. Since then, prices have risen sharply. The more intricate a piece (a hand-carved bracelet, for example, or a multiple laminate) can send collectors into a swoon. The ‘Philadelphia’ bracelet (so named because it was found at a Pennsylvania antiques show) is a hinged number in seven colors and goes way past a thousand bucks. It also weighs about four pounds.

Molly "models" some vintage bakelite bracelets

Collectors refer to Bakelite colors with a foodie’s vernacular: red is ‘cherry’, yellow is ‘butterscotch, brown is ‘root beer’. The ‘ladies who lunch’ wear several pieces at a time: a dozen carved bracelets; chunky rings on each finger. The colors are dreamy and creamy and reminiscent of the first Technicolor films.

I can smell a Bakelite bracelet from a hundred paces, and did once in a Seattle book shop.

I knew there was Bakelite somewhere, the moment I entered. The owner laughed and showed me her private stock, off the sales floor. When I asked her why she had so many bracelets, she said, “My past life was in the 1940’s, but I died young. I’m just getting my stuff back!”

Bakelite can be found at antiques malls and shows, as well as on Internet auction sites. Simple bangle bracelets go for twenty dollars, but expect to pay triple that for molded or carved ones. If you’re just beginning, think about picking up flatware: if you keep your eyes open, you’ll find knives and forks in a variety of shapes and colors, for about four dollars each. They set a table nicely, especially with a vintage cloth.

By the mid-fifties, Bakelite fell out of favor due to the complex and costly process of production, coupled with its brittle nature. Lighter, cheaper plastics evolved. But it’s still manufactured today, for use in electrical and automotive parts.

Here’s my favorite Bakelite story: a decade ago, a dealer in Chicago had some bracelets for sale. They were still in their original brown paper rolls, labeled ‘1 DZ Easter 1949 Collection’’, and his price was three dollars per roll. My pal Steve and I grabbed them all: twenty-two rolls, eight colors each. When I gave my kid sister a half dozen of them, she asked, “What are these?”

I asked if she remembered Mrs. Gebbia, from first grade…

Happy Hunting,
Darin

Excerpt from a feature story on Gloria Bell and her paintings focusing on Day of the Dead.
featured in Globe Miami Times Fall 2008. Gloria will be staging a one woman show at the Center for the Arts this coming Fall : September 1st – October 31. See www.cvarts.org or more information)

By: Linda Gross

Standing in the doorway of their little home on Chisolm Street, Gloria Bell ushers me into her living room which is undergoing a form of benign/organic remodeling. She and her husband, Bill, purchased the home in 2004, as a second “space” to both hang their collection of overflow art and book collection, and breathe in the community of their great grandparents who worked and raised families in the area.
Although both were born and raised in California, they are third generation Miami children; Bill’s mother went to school here, and his grandfather on that side worked for the local fire department.

His grandfather, Jim Bell, was a fiddle player of note (as is Bill), and played at Bullion Plaza on Friday nights for the dances. Gloria’s grandfather and great grandfather – both Apodach’s- worked the mines in Morenci, Miami and Superior, and raised families here.

And so it is, that his talented couple – she an artist, he a musician-first met in California and discovered their shared family history in a little mining town just east of Phoenix.
It was this connection with Miami which sparked the first conversation. “In fact, one of our first trips, after getting married,” says Gloria, was to Miami to visit the places our grandparents had told us about.

Gloria and Bill Bell at their home in Miami

Their little “house” in Miami was an old Miner’s Hotel at one point with no stairway connecting the lower and upper floors. The Hotel had no plumbing. Showers were outside. And miners came and went by the back stairs. The place is steeped in local history. It just no heating and cooling. Still, Gloria and Bill, smile when they talk about the place and obviously consider it a home-away-from-home.It has everything they need. Wall space for artwork. And storage space for boxes of things they have yet to find a place for. Not to forget… a 2nd floor porch with two rocking chairs to catch the evening breezes that occasionally waft through the canyon.

“We actually bought it for the space,” says Bill. Pointing to the walls, stripped of old wallboard and standing bare with just plaster and lathe. Art is hanging from every corner and every hallway. “We love buying art…even when we really couldn’t afford it, we would find money for a piece of art.” Gloria goes on to explain, “We love to buy others art. In fact when we first came up here, we purchased one of Diana Tunis’s pieces. Wonderful piece.”

She grew up in east LA surrounded by a culture which celebrates the dead, and throws parties for the spirits of those have passed to the other side. It was the art, the passion, and the people which came alive during the celebrations of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) which fueled her imagination as a child, and passion as an artist . Today, Gloria Bell honors the ancient tradition of culture and family, in her rich paintings depicting the Day of the Dead.

It is said, the origins of Dia de los Muertos, go back thousands of years to a ritual once celebrated by the Celtics in Europe as part of their fire celebrations. It was believed that during this season the normal order of the universe is suspended. The barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily removed. This is believed to result in the portal- through which we pass on during death- lying open. Thus, the  spirits of the dead move freely among the living. It is this connection to the spirits of those who have passed on before us – not the separation – which brings a festive mood to the celebration, rather than a somber note.

The Celts ancient tradition was later commandeered by the Romans, the Spaniards and the Catholic Church – each applying their own take on the ritual. The Catholic Church, in a common practice known to history, moved to replace pagan practices with “church-sanctioned” holidays. They first established an All Saints Day (November 1) and later an All Souls Day (November 2) to honor Saints, Martyrs and dearly departed.

Bell’s artwork consists mostly of skeletons we want to hug, and colors which vibrate with warmth and vibrancy. Her figures each have expressions which make us smile. “Even if they don’t have flesh, and creases around the eyes, they are all different. They have personality. Like her most popular piece showing a fetching skelton couple with the note: “I would kiss you, if I only had lips.”

Her work has been accepted into the Tucson Museum of Art and the Heard Museum as well as the Latin American Museum of Art in LA. Gloria says“It was an honor for me to get accepted into these places and find myself placed next to Diego Rivera.” She says.
She and husband Bill, designed and produced a Day of the Dead calendar which featured famous dead people like Marilyn Monroe, George Harrison and Roy Rodgers. (and a friend or two) “We thought people could start out a month and say – listen to Harrison’s music, or watch re-runs of  Roy Rodgers movies.” It is a way of paying homage to life. Not a bad tradition.

Gloria adds, “Most people don’t understand the culture’s celebration of the dead, but once they do, people develop a taste for it. The art is growing as more people are being exposed to the meaning behind the celebration.”

PS: We featured her husband, Bill Bell, and his latest CD in a post earlier this year.

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By: Linda Gross

(Update: Thursday)  This blog post was recently updated to reflect the correct source of the “Report on Prison Privatization” as being the Prison Corrections Institute”, and providing the actual PDF for readers to access.)

This week’s debate in the AZ Silverbelt, centers on public and employee safety.

Zache, speaking on behalf of the EDC who is backing the effort to bring a private prison to Globe, quotes Geoffrey Segal of the Reason Foundation, as identifying 17 studies that conclude “quality at private facilities is as good or better than at government-run facilities. Segal goes on to to tout the benefits of these private prisons ending with the statement that “there is clear and significant evidence that private prisons actually improve quality.”

Wow!  Sounds good. You can hardly question an organization with a name like the Reason Foundation, can you? Kinda like “Fly Safe Airways.” Just makes you want to book a flight.

Well, turns out the Reason Foundation which was established in 2004, is funded by the Private Prison Industry. We question politicians motives when we discover they are being bought off by special interests. Perhaps, before making a decision based on the claims of The Reason Foundation, and it’s spokesman, George F. Seagal, you might consider the roots of the organization.

In the same May 2010 press release by the Prison Corrections Institute refutes much of the Reason Foundation findings in a piece entitled: Report on Prison Privatization Plagued with Conflicts of Interest,Faulty data, Political Connections, PCI press release re Reason report 2010 (2)-2 . In it they also mention the American Correctional Association, also cited by Zache in this week’s debate as being a legit mechanism for accredidation. The PCI report differs on this point.

Bob Zache: Born and raised in Miami, Robert J. Zache graduated from Miami High School in 1955. After spending time in the U.S. Army and the mines, he graduated from ASU with a BA in Journalism, and went on to work for the Phoenix Gazette, Gila Pueblo College and the Arizona Silver Belt. He sits on the Board of EDC.

According to it’s website the facts listed by Zache, the American Correctional Association determines if a facility meets nationally accepted standards for quality of operation, management and maintenance. Zache says the association has accredited 10% of government-operated facilities and 44 % of private facilities. Good stuff. We should rest assured that ACA is watching over these facilities – atleast 44% of them – and making sure they meet State standards. Right?

Yet, what are we to make of the report on prison privatization above which says, “The report fails to mention that the ACA – a private, self-regulated organization composed of former and current corrections officials – receives revenue from private prison companies, which also sponsor the ACA’s biannual conferences”

And that same ACA was noted in a June 2010 article by the Boston Globe, “The ACA is probably most well known for its controversial accreditation program. “To prison chiefs and jail sheriffs nationwide, it is considered the Good Housekeeping seal of approval for corrections… But a closer look at the accreditation program of the American Correctional Association… shows that it has routinely accredited facilities beset by charges of abuse or poor conditions.”

Jim MossJim Moss Born at Miami Inspiration Hospital, 1955. Attended Globe-Miami schools through 8th grade. Graduate, Arizona State University; B.S., Political Science; B.A., Elementary & Secondary Education. Graduate, Northern Arizona University; Masters, Educational Leadership After career in Public Education, returned to hometown in 2003 with wife, Kelly, to create a new businesss: The Pickle Barrel Trading Post in Downtown Globe.

The Mayor, and Globe City Council, along with other local leaders seem to be taking “the word” of the private prison experts that we have nothing to fear. They say the promises are solid. The “facts”irrefutable” and the value of a private prison obvious.  In the words of George Segal who is referencing a study his group did with the Arizona Dept of Corrections , ” reading the study makes one wonder why all prison haven’t been turned over to private industry operators.”

Maybe.

Until you read those “other reports” not funded by Corrections Corp of America and the Private Prison Industry.

Weigh in this week on the AZ SilverBelt Debate:

View This Poll

It’s a fact that Arizona Summers are sizzling hot and, as a rule, most sane people will spend the next six months in a mall or on their couch in air-conditioned comfort in front of their Big Screen.

Not Bikers. Bikers are always breaking the rules.

Few things in life will keep one from riding. They’re like those mail carriers who brag:

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds”

Bikers? They have a different motto.

“Whatever it is, it’s better in the wind.”

So, this summer, long after the last of the winter visitors have left for cooler climes, and even lizards have disappeared under their rocks to get away from the heat, we’ve designed a Summer Road Tour for The Children of the Wind.

Five and Dive Summer Tour 2010

We call it the Five and Dive and we hope to heat things up (economically) this summer while offering you some cool reasons to ride our roads, meet our people, drink our beer and have a good time. We’re offering up specials to help you save money – while spending money; good causes to help you add to your lifetime-karma points; and clues, riddles and scavenger hunts to introduce you to things you never knew you wanted to know about us – but now you do.

We initially called the tour the Five and Dime which was a nod to our incredible array of cheap thrills and lo-cost fun throughout this region. It also tied in with our feature on Woolworths. (One of those things you’ll want to pay attention to because it is the answer to a clue)

The Open Road at Roosevelt

But then one of our friends suggested the Five and Dive, over beers at The Huddle. And aren’t all ideas better with beer?  It’s seemed tailor-made for what we were putting together. Of course, I now have to pay Gerry royalties for coming up with the idea. (You can help me out by stopping by Pinal Lumber this summer and picking up a few nails, screws, wood, paint,… whatever you can fit on the bike.)

So, back to the meaning of the Five and Dive.

Did you know the spiritual meaning of number Five deals with travel, adventure, and motion?

According to this woman who runs a site, whats-your-sign.com, she goes on to say that Five “draws our attention to the wonder of life, and beckons us to appreciate the perception of chaos all around us. Five has wild vibrations: primitive and erratic.”

There has got to be a FIVE hidden inside every biker.

Really. Just log on and take a look at what the number two means for instance. You’ll see clearly why TWO does not work here. We could not have a Two and Dive Tour. Wouldn’t work.

And Dive? Well, I don’t have to explain that right?

So, now that I have your attention… let me explain how the Tour works.

It includes a punch card with over 30 merchants and local events throughout this region who invite you to stop in this summer. They have each come up with a special promo just for Tour Riders with punch cards and in exchange for dropping some cash along the way – remember this is an economic stimulus plan – you’ll get your card stamped, a big welcome from these merchants and a good reason to ride!  OK, maybe more – but you’ll have to do the Tour to discover what it is.

The Road Map at Superstition Harley Davidson

As for the clues and the scavenger hunts, we’re going to give you FIVE chances each week to solve a clue, riddle or scavenger hunt which will require some collective brain power. Solving these will result in earning our cool wooden nickels (don’t believe what your father said about not taking wooden nickels.*) worth points towards raffle tickets. Plus, as an added bonus, you’ll discover the inside jokes, arcane facts and local lore which will put you one step closer to being
“one of us.”

(*Even if you don’t “tweet”, check out the hottest Twitter account about Father’s advice. The account is Sh** My Dad Says. The author is a 29 year old, living with his 74 year old dad, who just started tweeting the things he said. He has now published a book & been on Larry King. Here is one from last week: “No. Humans will die out. We’re weak. Dinosaurs survived on rotten flesh. You got diarrhea last week from a Wendy’s.”)

OK, back to the Tour.

To begin, you can pick up the Tour Punch Cards at these FIVE locations beginning June 15th. Cards are $5….
(OMG – there is that number 5 again. Must be a sign!). Superstition Harley is waiving the fee for any riders who come into the Dealership to pick up the card!

Ohter locations include:

The Huddle Sports Bar, The Drift Inn, or 2 Lanes Saloon in Globe,

The Butcher Hook, or Jakes Corner up in Tonto Basin.

You can get your weekly CLUES/RIDDLES by going to globemiamitimes.com

Here you’ll find our EVENTS PAGE  and a link to our FACEBOOK PAGE.
Your first tip of the Tour…..  Bookmark these pages.

Since Globe Miami Times is sponsoring this Tour, we have designed it so you will read the paper, check out the website and – get to know us better during the Five and Dive.  You’ll discover answers to clues by looking at the ads in this summer’s edition, reading the stories and following the links on our website. Interesting Mr. Watson. Is this a plot to corrupt the mind? You decide.

Overlook of the Valley between Globe and Miami

Now for the pay off.  Yes, there will be prizes and good things given away to the deserving. But remember what Robert Pirsig said, in his cult classic, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycling”

“The only Zen you find on tops of mountains is the Zen you bring there.”
See you this Summer!

Chris Anfang, Senior Center Director and Councilwoman, Thea Wilshire, are standing in one of two trailers which are stocked with tools - large and small- which may be 'rented' through the Library, with just your library card.

The Globe program was made available through a number of public-private partnerships. The City of Globe and numerous private citizens provided funds for tool purchase, Gila County provided funding for purchase of a 40-foot metal shipping container to serve as the tool shed, and the Historic Globe Main Street Program provided conceptual drawings to create a façade that would fit with historic district visual enhancement requirements.

Currently, the Globe TLL is housed at the Globe Senior Center where senior volunteers operate the library. Tools are checked out and tracked through the Gila County Library District (with an online catalog that includes the library’s tools). The Southern Gila County Economic Development Corporation has partnered with Globe to provide liability insurance and to help with non-profit status for additional funding opportunities.

Since the Tool Library is located within the Historic District, an effort to design a 'store front' which would be in keeping with the area, and serve to mask the utilitarian nature of the trailers, resulted in an old west 'barn motif.'

Globe City Councilmember Thea Wilshire introduced the idea of a Tool Lending Library to Globe in 2003. It took more than five years to bring the concept to fruition and now the community is enthusiastically embracing this resource. This model has been successfully implemented in many other communities and is seen as an ideal resource for the area given Globe’s rural location and extended distance to large discount stores. It also gives the city an opportunity to reduce blight, which will encourage economic growth and increase community pride.

For more information on this program and tips on how to get one started in your community, please contact Councilmember Wilshire at 928-200-8733 or DrTheaW@yahoo.com.

When the City Council established a new Parks and Rec position, they did so with the idea that the new position would help bring in revenue to the City. So, last night, a relatively new Parks & Rec Director, Matt Jankowski,  presented his proposal to the City to bring in two major bands for next year’s Cinco De Mayo celebration and take that event to the next level. Working closely with Vice Mayor, Carmen Casillas who heads up Los Vecinos Y Campanero, the proposal involves bringing two Big Name bands to Globe  for two 1-day events. The bands: Little Joe Y Familia (a Tex Mex band) and Tierra (first Latino band to have four songs on the national charts) will bring a new brand of major entertainment to the area and a promise of profits to the City and organizers if all goes according to plan.

Although the event will not take place until Spring of 2010, the City Council was asked to commit last night to  a contract- and deposit- for two big-name bands, in order to secure dates. The proposal involved a $32,000 commitment to bring in Little Joe Y Familia and  Tierra for two 1-day events to be held at the Community Center on April 30th and May 1st to celebrate Cinco De Mayo. The City’s investment is $16,000, while Los Vecinos Y Campanero will put up the other $16,000.

Jankowski explained that he had already lined up verbal agreements from 3 major sponsors totaling $15,000 “or more” to help offset the City’s investment. The sponsors include the County ($5000), Golden Eagle Distributors ($5000 plus- depending on whether they will also be providing the the liquor sales), and Three Amigos Tequila, “an up and coming tequila manufacturer in the Valley” who has agreed to provide between $5-$10,000 according to Jankowski. In addition, “I have 273 commitments for tickets right now,” said Jankowski which translates into another $13,000 plus.

Both the City and Los Vecinos Y Campanero’s will recoup their investment if the event makes at least $32,000. If the event does much better than that, and Jankowski and Casillas believe it will, the City will take any profits above and beyond the costs, while Campanero’s will simply recoup their initial investment.

The tickets which are estimated to run $30 for a one-day pass and $50 for a two-day pass will be sold on-line through an agency and it is hoped people might even buy tickets to give as Christmas.presents. Councilman Lerry Alderman brought up the question of whether there would be any opportunity for people to attend portions of the event for free as they have been used to doing in the past, and while Jankowski said he would look into it, the logistics of splitting the event and managing the crowd who was attending for free and those paying for each day’s event makes that prospect highly unlikely. What is more likely is establishing lower ticket prices for kids under 12.

The event is expected to bring in 4-5000 people and do close to $200,000 in ticket sales according to the organizers.