Printed in the White Mountain Independent, Navajo County Edition, on July 3rd, 1998. Volume 90 Number 53
Copyright 1998 White Mountain Publishing Company
Tome Jackson King
The Independent
PINETOP-LAKESIDE - At its Thursday meeting the Pinetop-Lakeside Town Council considered a resolution to declare an "emergency" because of the public safety impacts of Rainbow Family members passing through town.
As of press time, the results of the council's vote were unknown.
Mayor Don Rae said earlier that "we are spending a lot on police overtime, along with food and motels for out of town police who have come in to help us.
"The cost is right around $15,000 for Pinetop-Lakeside," he said.
Rae said a resolution declaring a town emergency is necessary in order to apply for reimbursement from the state of Arizona.
On June 25 Gov. Jane Dee Hull announced she had released $70,000 from her emergency fund to assist Apache County with paying for is increased costs to protect public health and safety.
"Clarence Bieglow, the manager for Apache County, said his county had declared an emergency because a declaration is needed to request funds from the state," Rae said. "I got the idea we better do the same."
Francie Noyes, press secretary for Gov. Hull, was asked if the emergency funds could be used by Pinetop-Lakeside.
"The $70,000 was released for Apache County only," she said. "That is because is board of supervisors requested it and because Apache County is leading the unified command center.
"Also, that amount was all that was left in the governor's emergency fund," Noyes said.
"However, when the new fiscal year begins on July 1, more emergency funds will be available. We will be more than happy to consider additional aid requests," she said.
While the governor has already signed the proclamation of emergency, Noyes said, "All we have to do is amend the proclamation" in order to include other towns outside of Apache County.
Town Manager Paul Watson said, "I asked Chief of Police Terry Ringey to prepare a cost estimate for us on these additional costs. The extra funds are mainly for salary of dispatchers, police overtime and outside officer costs.
"The cost is a little over $15,000," he said.
When asked about specific impacts on the town, Watson said, "The bad news is that calls for assistance to our dispatcher are up. There are enough nuisance events that it is keeping our police department busy," he said. "Overall, I think the incidents have been minor in scope.
"This is an issue where we feel we need to prepare ourselves and provide additional resources in the community to make sure major problems don't occur," Watson said.
Councilman Ron Major was asked for his reaction to the impending "emergency resolution."
"I have not seen a lot of impact beyond a panhandler who asked me for money. I can see the need for extra law enforcement," he said. "An emergency resolutions may be required.
"I'd be inclined to go for it," Major said.
Councilman Dennis Huges said, "I'm not an expert on public safety issues. If Mr. Watson and Mayor Rae decided this was a prudent measure, then I would support them."
Hughes did wonder if there might be too much police presence in view of the small number of criminal incidents in Pinetop-Lakeside associated with persons going to and from the Rainbow Family gathering.
"One of my employees mentioned to me that on Tuesday he counted 22 marked law enforcement vehicles from the gate at the bottom of Green's Peak to the middle of town," he said.
Hughes said the police vehicles were present on Forest Road 117 and on state Route 260 up to the turnoff the Lakeside campground. "That's more than one a mile. Do we need that much police presence?"