Streaking on the outside of this wastewater tank marks the spot where the tank is leaking in two places. Photo by Robert Gay Patagonia’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is aging. Treatment, at the rate of about 40,000 gallons a day, is a complicated process, with many tanks, pumps, valves, regulators, controls and equipment that can […]
Robert Gay
Posted inLocal News
CNF Starts New Mine Cleanup Project
The Coronado National Forest Service has begun the relocation of tailings at the Blue Nose Mine in the Patagonia Mountains. Photo by Robert Gay On Monday, Nov. 16, the Coronado National Forest Service (CNF) began a five-mine remediation project in the upper Harshaw Creek area, between Guajalote Flat and the Hermosa Project. The project intends […]
Posted inLocal News
Mansfield Canyon Mine Remediation Completed
An adit at the Dixie Mine has been blocked off with bat friendly wire. Photo by Robert Gay The Coronado National Forest (CNF) and its subcontractors completed the earthwork and mine-closure portions of the Mansfield Canyon Remediation Project (reported by PRT in Nov. 2019) at the beginning of 2020. The biological portion of the work […]
Posted inLocal News
Lack of Permit Halts Construction
Construction was halted at this work site on Harshaw Rd. when the town became aware that no use permit had been issued for the project. Photo by Robert Gay On Oct. 22, 2020, a letter to Patagonia’s town officials alerted them to an ongoing project on a recently poured slab at 868 Harshaw Road, to […]
Posted inLocal News
Patagonia Court Reopens
Judge Concepcion Bracamonte presides over the newly reopened Patagonia Municipal court. Photo by Robert Gay Judge Concepcion Bracamonte resumed in-person operation of the Patagonia Municipal Court on Friday, Oct. 16, after a three-month closure because of COVID concerns. Even though Patagonia case numbers remain low, robust precautionary measures were in place, including furniture spacing, limiting […]
Posted inLocal News
ADOT Completes Bridges
Photo by Robert Gay Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has completed the physical portions of two anti-scour projects on bridges on SR82 that cross Sonoita Creek in Patagonia, and over the creek from Big Casa Blanca Canyon, a tributary a few miles north. The purpose of the project is to strengthen the stream bed with […]
Posted inLocal News
Demonstrating in Support of USPS
There was an hour of peaceful protest to protect the USPS and show support for our local workers, at the Patagonia Post Office, from 11 to noon on Saturday, August 22. Timed to coordinate with the MoveOn.org’s nationwide outpouring of over 800 protests, the Patagonia event was coordinated, mostly on social media, by Georgette Larrouy, […]
Posted inOpinion
100 Days of COVID-19
As 2020 unrolls, the devastation wrought by an imperceptible lethal organism creeps around everywhere. Our way of life, thinking, news intake and conversations are being transformed by newly important words and ideas. As if we are all amateur epidemiologists we talk about outbreaks, hotspots, incubation periods, asymptomatic transmission, clinical trials, test protocols, and super-spreaders. Chalk […]
Posted inLocal News
Patagonia Residents Protest Racism and Police Brutality
The three organizers (from left) Hannah Woodard, Cosette Whitcoe, and Gianna Martinn with their signs in Patagonia, AZ. Photo by Robert Gay Patagonia joined the long list of towns and cities that have been protesting racism and police brutality since the murder of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis at the hands of the […]
Posted inOpinion
Coping With Quarantine
When there is quarantine or lockdown, when schools close their on-campus activities, businesses close, workers are laid off or start working remotely, coronavirus gives us a kick in the ass, but also the unexpected gift of time. At the very least, commuting and travel time is saved, and at most, you could be presented with […]