Page 42 - the NOISE August 2014

CORRECTIONS to the JULY Edition:
In the Calendar, Jerry riopelle was misidenti- fied with a photo of Frution due to a file glitch.
In Hoi Polloi, ryan heinsius ought to have been identified with Cole habay and baby girl, Astrid.
Also in Hoi Polloi, Cottonwood’s Tilted earth Festival was erroneously identified as the “Tilt Fest.”
Sincerest apologies for the oversights.
Hi Cindy,
Another interesting article, thanks. My husband and I had a similar, but not so ex- treme, experience with the aggressive defensiveness of RRM employees. Our expe- rience was at the Pine Grove campground at the south end of Lake Mary south of Flagstaff.
It was April, I believe, and we were riding our skinny tire road bikes out to the Pine Grove campground to have a picnic, as we had been doing for years. We rolled in and were thinking about where the sun was and where to plop down to eat our peanut but- ter sandwiches. A big white pickup came toward us and stopped in front of us. I was in front and so I got to deal with this Neanderthal (large man, weird beard, as I remember, and a sweatshirt with the sleeves torn off ). He didn’t bother to get out of his over sized truck to talk with us but rolled down the window to yell at us.
His explanation for such behavior that there had been vandalism. He was implying that we were vandals. Did he not see us in our bright clothing and skinny tire road bikes with no way to cause vandalism or a method to take things with us? He said we needed to get out of there right then and that was all. I tried to talk with him, but it was useless. Eventually he pulled out his cell phone as a threat (a threat? the image still cracks me up). Finally we did turn around because he made my blood boil. He escorted us out of the area and we sat just outside the gate for our lunch. We were far from the types to cause damage. He was aggressive toward us for no reason. Turned out the sign on the gate (which we had not remembered during the confrontation) said the area was closed to motor vehicles, that was all, but there was no way I wanted to deal with him without witnesses.
Reading the story in the June Noise, that was a wise decision. We did stop at the then still open Lake Mary FS Ranger Station to make a written complaint. The incident still pisses me off as I liked being a lizard on the picnic tables when the air is still cold. Tax- payers put in that campground. It was closed to campers, not to passive uses.
Which brings me to an observation/question. If Lake Mary and Oak Creek Canyon were still staffed with USFS employees (like college students working for the summer) as they used to be, might there have been people with the interest and authority to do something patrolling the area prior to when the Slide Fire broke out? Or might there not have been the fire across from the Lake Mary Boat Landing a few years ago or the dead animals would still be removed rather than left to rot or attract carrion feeding wild birds who could be hit by vehicles? RRM and the fees are bad for taxpayers and our cherished natural resources. I have seen that Lake Mary is used less now that they charge fees.
Dear the NOISE:
You know, you hear about these things in spy flicks and defense department pulp, but really: what triggers a constitutional crisis? And what do you do with it? Can you go around to Capitol Squares and “citizen arrest” every legislator in sight for “crimes against the people?”
Can you say, tit-for-tat that because our politicians are elected through a rigorous privately-contributed campaign bought and paid for by military industrial corpora- tions, that they are in fact bribed to defend that institution’s bidding, not only to save their aristocratic lifestyle, but to satisfy a privately-held debt? That no matter how little or how great a military industrial corporation pays into a campaign of a politi- cal scheister, that amount is exactly how much that scheister owes to that military industrial corporation?
That, point blank and to the point, is why no money ought to be allowed in political campaigns. Because unlike private or publicly held for profit corporations which give allegiance to the largest shareholder of cash (a system rife with aristocratic fiefdom), the shareholders of these United States are each of us, created equal, without cash strings, and tied individually through the equality of our voices.
Just sayin’
Keep up the great work! Thanks,
Duffie
Melissa Reeks
42 • AUGUST 2014 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us