Sedona ’sweatbox’ kills two

SEDONA — In a bizarre travel incident, two visitors to a self-empowerment resort outside Sedona died after sitting in a “sweatbox” for two hours on Friday, sheriff’s officials said.

According to CNN, the victims were a middle-aged man and woman. Nineteen other participants were reportedly injured.

The incident occurred at the Angel Valley Resort, a secluded retreat on 70 acres about 20 minutes outside Sedona. Surrounded by national forests, the resort uses new-age practices such as vortexes and labyrinths to help people’s minds, bodies and spirits reconnect with the earth. Noted self-help strategist James Arthur Ray, who has appeared on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and CNN’s “Larry King Live,” was reportedly conducting a ceremony in the enclosed sweatbox at the time of the incident. It was the most-viewed story on CNN.com on Saturday.

For more details, check out CNN’s full story here. To surf more Arizona headlines, check out our interactive news map here.

Town council punts on photo radar

WICKENBURG — The idea of adopting photo radar systems for this growing town just northwest of Phoenix was tabled until 2010 by the Town Council, although the majority of its members seemed to be against using the high-tech tool altogether.

The Wickenburg Sun reports that the council decided to table the issue. Its members agreed to wait until a series of bills were adopted by the state Legislature next year or the results of a pending ballot initiative were complete before deciding the whether Wickenburg will use photo radar.

According to the Sun, Wickenburg Vice Mayor John Cook was the only council member clearly in favor of the program.

“Photo radar is not just for profit,” Cook said. “Our children are walking the streets, and we will lose a kid one day from speeding in a school zone.

“I don’t think photo radar is posing a big expense to those abiding the law,” he added. “Photo radar makes people more mindful of the law, and it is just looking for people who are breaking the law.”

Check out the Sun for the full story here. To surf more Arizona news headlines, visit our interactive news map here.

Enviros claim logging plan is illegal

KAIBAB NATIONAL FOREST — A federal plan to cut down up to 9,000 acres worth of wildfire-ravaged trees has met resistance from a coalition of environmental groups, who claim the logging project violates federal laws and would further threaten the endangered Mexican spotted owl.

Mexican spotted owl (Courtesy: Arizona Game and Fish Department)

As a result, those groups are asking a federal judge in Tucson to halt the project. The affected area is on the Kaibab Plateau in the north Kaibaba Ranger District. The region is northwest of Flagstaff and includes part of the Grand Canyon and some of the last remaining mature ponderosa pine in the Southwest.

The suit stems from a wildfire that burned through the area in June 2006. A lightning strike touched off the Warm Fire, which initially burned about 19,000 acres, according to the complaint.

But the Warm Fire quickly grew out of control and burned another 39,110 acres before firefighters were able to contain it. Their tactics included more than 30 miles of bulldozed fire lines and thousands of acres of intentionally set fires to rob the fire of fuel, according to the complaint.

In July 2007, the US Forest Service decided to log “hazard” trees along the highway, roads and trails. A subsequent biological opinion from the US Fish and Wildlife Service found that this project “may affect, but not adversely affect” hundreds of acres of spotted owl habitat that are known to be in the area. They say the project is necessary to recover the economic value of the burned trees, reforest burned-out areas and rid the area of fuel for future wildfires.

The lawsuit comes from the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and Wildearth Guardians. All three groups claim the project would harm the spotted owl and encourage more growth of cheatgrass, an invasive species of grass that is highly flammable and would only promote more wildfires.

The environmental groups are represented by Marc D. Fink, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity who is based in Duluth, Minn. To download a copy of the complaint, click here.

Taxes irk tomato grower

WILLCOX — One of the largest employers in southeastern Arizona has filed for bankruptcy and claims it was overtaxed by the Graham County Assessor’s Office.

Eurofresh, a Dutch company that opened its new headquarters in Willcox in 1992, employs about 1,300 people, many of them refugees. The company is one of the nation’s top producers and marketers of greenhouse tomatoes.

But the economic times have puréed the company’s profits. In April, Eurofresh filed for Chapter 11 protection to recapitalize and restructure, according to a press release. Since then, the company has also asked the bankruptcy court to weigh in on the taxes it owes for 2007, 2008 and 2009, claiming the local assessor’s office double-taxed it.

Check out the Eastern Arizona Courier for the full story here. To surf more Arizona news headlines, check out our interactive map here.

Fishermen find missing Chandler planning commissioner

CHEVELON CANYON LAKE — The remains of Mark Irby, the Chandler planning commissioner who abandoned his ATV near Forest Lakes in January, were found here last Saturday by four Phoenix residents who were fishing from the shoreline.

The medical examiner used dental records to positively identify the remains on Monday as Irby, who was part of a citizen commission that helped oversee development projects in Chandler.

The lake sits between Heber and Christopher Creek, about 22 miles north of State Route 260. Forest Lakes is an unincorporated enclave of cabins that sits in the same area.

The medical has not yet determined the cause of death. Check out the White Mountain Independent for the full story here.

Wickenburg buries a piece of Arizona history

WICKENBURG — To celebrate 100 years of existence, Wickenburg folks will bury a time capsule filled with messages from local residents, badges from the police and fire departments, a DVD created by the mayor and his wife, and a commemorative keychain.

The burial is the culmination of an public party in Wickenburg on Friday, July 19. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Coffinger Park and the Wickenburg Library. It will feature a comedy show, children’s activities, potato sack races and more. For a full list of events, click here.

The time capsule will be placed near a marble bench donated by Sunrise Mine, according to the Wickenburg Sun. It will be dug up in 50 years (hopefully for the mayor, we’ll still be using DVD players then).

Wickenburg is about 70 miles northwest of Downtown Phoenix. The nearby Vulture Mine is responsible for spurring the town’s growth; today it has about 6,600 residents, according to 2007 Census figures.

For more informattion on the town’s centennial event, read the Sun’s full story here.

Original Toyota makes an Arizona pit stop

SIERRA VISTA — Car enthusiasts are getting a rare look at Toyota’s earliest mass-produced car, which is on temporary display at a local dealership here over the next two weeks.

The car is a 1958 Toyopet Crown. The model sitting in Sierra Toyota was originally acquired by a Toyota shipping supervisor, who first learned of the fabled car shortly after joining the company in 1975, according to press reports. The supervisor tracked one down to Portland and kept in touch with the car’s owner, who eventually caved in to the supervisor’s offer in March 2007 to buy the car and restore it for public display.

The interior and paint job are original. The supervisor told the Sierra Vista Herald that he has received several offers for the car, including interest from Jay Leno. He declined, and the car is now on tour.

The 1958 model uses the original body style. According to the Herald, Toyota offered customers a full refund at the time if they weren’t satisfied. Several of the returned or unsold models were crushed, dumped in the ocean or returned to Japan to be recycled into spare parts. Toyota discontinued production of the Toyopet Crown in 1963.

This story in the Herald has more details and a picture of the Toyopet Crown on display.

Federal agent blows whistle on ATF

TUCSON — Movie rights. Book deals. Public speaking engagements.

Now you can add a federal lawsuit to the repertoire of Jay Anthony Dobyns, a Tucson man who penetrated the depths of the world’s most infamous biker gang while working undercover for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Dobyns, a former University of Arizona football player, has spent 20 years with the agency. During that time, he made a name for himself as Jay “Jaybird” Dobyns, a member of the Hells Angels who was really a federal informant. While participating in “Operation Black Biscuit,” he helped the feds arrest and indict at least 16 members of the Hells Angels under racketeering charges, among other things.

Stories about his life and his travails have appeared in numerous Arizona publications, and Hells Angels leaders have disputed his ties to the organization.

Today, Dobyns is a highly decorated ATF employee. He has participated in more than 500 undercover operations and received two ATF Gold Star awards for injuries suffered in the line of duty; an ATF Distibguished Service Medal for investigative excellence; 12 ATF Special Act Awards; and top honors from local and international police and narcotics-enforcement police groups.

But for all of the accolades, Dobyns claims he was blackballed by his own agency after Operation Black Biscuit ended.

Dobyns is now suing current and former Justice Department administrators, as well as Ronald Carter, the ATF’s acting director, in federal court in Tucson. Specifically, he claims the agency failed to adequately respond to death threats made against himself and his family from Hells Angels members and affiliated groups who were behind bars.

Those groups include the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, two violent gangs based in the U.S. and El Salvador, respectively.

Dobyns claims the ATF had received numerous tips from prison informants about their intentions over a four-year period. The threats culminated in a single act – an arson fire set outside his children’s bedroom in August 2008.

“Dobyns publicly challenged ATF for the agency’s series of protection and investigation failures,” the complaint states. “In a demonstration of an extreme example of a United States government agency abandoning an employee, Dobyns’s supervisors at ATF have subjected and are subjecting Dobyns to unheard-of malicious reprisals including, but not limited to, ATF’s refusal to investigate the arson of Dobyns’s home and naming Dobyns as a suspect in the arson … and attempetd murder of his family with no evidence or investigative activity to support the charge.”

Dobyns claims he also approached U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for help. Now he is seeking more than $4 million in damages. But more than that, he’s even naming names by supplying a list of 112 other law enforcement personnel who may have information that is relevant to his case. [To download a copy of the 51-page complaint, click here.]

Phoenix lawyer James B. Reed (Baird, Williams & Greer) is representing the Dobyns family.

Rural Arizona libraries score big

The city of Page’s Public Library received a three-star status in a recent evaluation by the national magazine, Library Journal (LJ), leaving Arizona’s big-city libraries on the back shelf.

“It’s a new award for us. I’m still trying to figure out what it all really means,” says an excited Debbie Winlock, director of the Page Public Library, when I asked her what this meant for the library. She had just returned from some time away from the library and was trying to get through about 500 emails as we talked on the phone.

Page’s library was one of four other Arizona public libraries to receive star status. The other towns to have their libraries recognized by the national magazine are Pima, Pinetop-Lakeside and Quartzsite, according to the LJ website. You can view the list here.

GladysAnn Wells, director of the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, said in the release, “These four rural libraries have worked to serve the public in extraordinary ways,” adding that “the State Library is pleased to see them recognized in this way.”

The LJ’s new public library national rating system is based upon public library statistics published in 2006 by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Public libraries receive ratings of five, four and three stars and must serve populations of 1,000 or more and have annual expenditures over $10,000, according to the LJ website.

Out of the 7,115 libraries reviewed nationwide, 256 received star status. The ratings are based on things such as visits, circulation, public Internet computer usage and program attendance, according to the LJ website.

Embry-Riddle targets Prescott pilot school

PRESCOTT — For years, Ernie the Eagle graced the cover of marketing materials and websites for Guidance Helicopters, whose helicopter training programs enjoyed a strategic partnership with the mascot’s nationally renowned parent, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

In Prescott, the eagle and the university are something of an institution. The school has gained national prominence for its pilot-training degree programs and lured countless young pilots – known locally as “Riddlers” – to Prescott’s downtown scene. About 34,000 students attend its classes here, online and at remote campuses every year.

But its partnership with Guidance Helicopters has ended. Now the university wants its money, and it has its cross hairs trained on a trademark spat.

Embry-Riddle officials accuse John Stonecipher of continuing to use Ernie the Eagle and other Riddle-centric logos and slogans to market his business long after the university terminated its relationship with him on Oct. 9, 2008. University lawyers immediately sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company, the complaint states.

The university claims Guidance has ignored them despite numerous follow-up letters, according to the complaint. The materials, which are protected by existing trademarks, were posted on the company’s website and even advertisements that ran in the university’s own student newspaper. The university claims about 125 students have enrolled in helicopter-training programs at Guidance over the past three years, and they see the use of these logos as an influential factor.

Now the school is asking U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow to intervene. Lawyers for Embry-Riddle want Judge Snow to permanently bar Guidance from using its trademarked materials, award damages to the university, and force Guidance to accont for all the profits it made from the allegedly unauthorized use of the materials.

Phoenix lawyers Rodolfo Parga Jr. and Renee L. Mitchell (Ryley Carlock & Applewhite) are representing Embry-Riddle.

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