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Local Business
Electric Cooperative Statewide Office Donates SUV to Walking Down Ranch
Grand Canyon State Electric Cooperative (“GCSECA”), is a Tempe-based association comprised of rural electric cooperatives and other consumer-owned utilities, and represents Arizona’s electric cooperatives at the local, regional, state and Congressional level, working with elected officials and stakeholders to represent the interests of the rural members of those cooperatives.
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Electric cooperatives hold seven cooperative principles at their core, with Concern for Community being one of these foundational values, GCSECA and its member cooperatives not only desire to keep these principles at the forefront of their service, but also to aid and encourage these qualities in local organizations.
GCSECA recently retired a Chevrolet Equinox SUV, which served the employees of the statewide office well. With new changes at the GCSECA office, staff and Board members made the unanimous decision to donate the vehicle to an organization with the one of the Seven Cooperative Principles, Concern for Community in mind. During the quarterly GCSECA Board Meeting, Chuck Moore, CEO of NEC suggested that the SUV be donated to local veteran program, Walking Down Ranch Veteran Village.
Walking Down Ranch Veteran Village is a unique community in Lakeside, AZ that offers veterans and their families an array of services including transitional housing, food, clothes, utilities, medical transportation, phones, medications, and holiday boxes. Since opening in 2014, the organization has assisted 650 veterans in the White Mountains area of Arizona.
Steve Heckathorne, NEC Board Member, related that he has worked with Walking Down Ranch several times, “This organization is the real deal”, and he loves that this organization has truly been able to make a difference in the lives of the veterans in the White Mountain communities. He was excited that GCSECA chose Walking Down Ranch to receive the Equinox and feels that the vehicle would help them in continuing their work with the veterans.
NEC Board President, Brad Baker, stated, “This donation represents NEC’s continuing commitment to give back to our local communities and especially our veterans.”
“NEC is very appreciative of our statewide organization, GCSECA, selecting Walking Down Ranch to donate the Equinox SUV from their retired fleet,” said NEC CEO, Chuck Moore.
Despite the difficulties that 2020 brought to all communities, GCSECA and its members desire to continue to keep hope alive, and to keep the concerns and needs of the communities in focus as we move through 2021.
Enjoy Healthy Pharmacy Savings with your Co-op Connections Card
Disclosures: This is NOT insurance nor is it intended to replace insurance. This discount card program contains a 30 day cancellation period. The plan is not insurance coverage and does not meet the minimum creditable coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act or Massachusetts M.G.L. c. 111M and 956 CMR 5.00. This plan provides discounts at certain healthcare providers for medical services. Pharmacy discounts range from 10% to 85% on most medications. This plan does not make payments directly to the providers of medical services. The plan member is obligated to pay for all healthcare services but will receive a discount from those healthcare providers who have contracted with the discount plan organization. For a full list of disclosures, please click here. | Terms and Conditions | Discount Medical Plan Organization: New Benefits, Ltd., Attn: Compliance Department, PO Box 803475, Dallas, TX 75380-3475.
Did you know that with your NEC Co-op Connections Card you don't have to pay full price! You can save 10% to 85% on most prescriptions at over 60,000 pharmacies. Participating pharmacies include CVS, Walgreens, Target and many other independent, national and regional chains.
You can compare your prescription prices and see for yourself at MyRxPrice.com or you can call 800.800.7616 Monday to Friday, 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and Saturday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Central Time to find a participating pharmacy and compare prescription prices by location. Once you have identified a participating pharmacy and discovered your applicable discount present your membership card and prescription at the pharmacy to receive the lowest price.
Co-Op Connections Pharmacy Savings FAQ
Q: Will I always get a discount when I use my membership card?
A. Not necessarily. Each pharmacy determines their own retail pricing. Q: Why didn't I get a discount at the participating pharmacy? A. Many pharmacies price some prescriptions at or below cost in order to draw customers to their store. If you present your discount card and the price is higher than the pharmacy’s retail rate or sale price, you will always pay the lowest price available. Q: What if the pharmacy doesn't recognize the card's name? A. Always make inquiries in person and be sure to bring your card with you. If the pharmacy still has questions, have them call the Pharmacist Help Desk number on the back of your membership card. Q: Is this a co-pay insurance card? A. No. This membership is a discount card offering reduced prices. You are responsible to pay the pharmacy 100% of the discounted price. Pharmacy discounts are Not Insurance and are Not Intended as a Substitute for Insurance. The discount is only available at participating pharmacies.
Travels and Trails
Sunrise Park Resort will open for summer activities on May 27, 2021
Greer, AZ - Escape the heat and join the fun at Sunrise Park Resort, starting May 27, 2021. From zip lining to archery and scenic lift rides to downhill mountain biking, however you’re looking to spend your summer, Sunrise Park Resort has you covered. To kick off the season, Sunrise has a weekend jam packed with activities for the whole family. ADMISSION DISCOUNTS: Early bird gets the worm! The first person in line each day between May 27-30, 2021 will receive (1) one-day Explorers Pass. Additionally, the next 20 people in line will receive a 50% discount on admission tickets. PRIZES: Sunrise Park Resort will be raffling off door prizes every hour throughout the entire opening weekend (May 27-30, 2021), with a grand prize raffle at the end of each day. But that’s not it - there will also be prizes hidden throughout the resort, so keep your eyes peeled throughout your visit. LIVE MUSIC: Dust off your dancing shoes. Visitors can expect live music every day throughout the opening weekend from 12:00 - 3:30 p.m. Bands include Relentless and Planting Seeds. 5K RUN: On your mark, get set… go! Runners can meet at Sunrise General Store on Saturday, May 29 at 8 a.m. for a race to the base of Sunrise Mountain. First three finishers in both the men’s and women’s categories will win a prize. HORSESHOE TOURNAMENT: Grab your lucky horseshoe and meet at the base of Sunrise Mountain on Saturday, May 29 at 11 a.m. for a horseshoe tournament. The tournament will be facilitated by Sinone Tortice and prizes will be awarded to 1st - 6th place in both the singles and doubles categories. “Sunrise Park Resort has transformed from Arizona’s premier ski resort into a summer mountain escape.” said General Manager Roger Leslie. “From zip lining to hiking, mountain biking to fishing, we have activities the whole family will enjoy.” Summer activities at Sunrise Park Resort include Arizona’s longest and fastest zip line, 13 different mountain bike trails, hiking, horseback riding, lake activities and more. All activities are dependent on weather. Sunrise Park Resort will be open 7 days a week from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. For up to date information, a full list of summer activities and prices, visit www.sunrise.ski. Fire danger is at an all time high. Please no open campfires until further notice and put out cigarette butts completely. Sunrise Park Resort is committed to guest safety while enjoying our mountain. In accordance with CDC guidelines, guests will be encouraged to wear face masks and practice 6 feet separation. Hand sanitizers are available throughout the property and designated staff will clean all public access areas and touch-points.
About Sunrise Park Resort: Sunrise Park Resort, owned by the White Mountain Apache Tribe, is nestled in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. Located 220 miles (4-hours) from both Phoenix, AZ and Albuquerque, NM, Sunrise Park
Resort is one of the Southwest’s premiere skiing destinations and offers 65 runs spread out across three peaks. In the summer, the resort transforms into a cool mountain getaway, offering activities such as Arizona’s longest and fastest zipline, the only lift-served mountain biking trails in the state, hiking trails, kayaking, lake fishing, and camping. For the past 50 years, Sunrise Park Resort has been the prime draw for tourism in the White Mountains and looks forward to continuing to welcome tourists for decades to come. For more information, please visit www.sunrise.ski.
In 2020, the Salavation Army's White Mountain Service Center:
• Served over 7,000 Sunday dinners between Easter and June 18th.
• Served over 1,000 meals over a 4 day period during the Bush Fire near Payson. • Handed out more than 96 Thanksgiving boxes to families in our community. • Made Christmas happen for 749 children and 44 adults at Haven of Show Low. • Served 639 hot Christmas meals, mostly to go or delivered.
For more info on how your donations benefit our local community or to volunteer, please call (928) 368-9953.
Our Service Center is located at 5658 Hwy 260 #6 (Wagon Wheel Plaza) in Lakeside
Magnificent Trees
of the White Mountains
by Ron Miller, M.S., Silviculturist
Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum)
How historic would it be if you could see a tree species in the White Mountains that was named by Captain Meriwether Lewis in 1804? Fortunately, you can. Lewis, who was quite the naturalist and botanist, added the Rocky Mountain juniper to his long list of botanical descriptions during his epic Corps of Discovery expedition across the West. Interestingly, the White Mountains also hold another species that was described and then named after the famous explorer: the Lewis’s woodpecker.
Unlike alligator juniper which is limited to three southwest states in the U.S., Rocky Mountain juniper’s range is extensive. It grows from northwest British Columbia in Canada, into the states of Washington and Oregon, south through the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains and Northern Plains States and into all of the four-corner states. No western juniper has a more extensive range except the shrub-like common juniper.
In Arizona, Rocky Mountain junipers grow at an elevation between 5,000 and 9,000 feet. They are less drought resistant than other western junipers and in the White Mountains this species is most likely to be seen within riparian areas, sheltered canyons or other protected places. Rocky Mountain juniper is our most arboreal or tree-like juniper usually having a single trunk rather than the multiple stems associated with our other juniper species. The bark is fibrous.
It is interesting to note how different cultures name this juniper according to various aspects of the tree. The English name relates to the geographic region in which it is found (centered on the Rocky Mountains), the Spanish name Cedro rojo relates to its red heartwood color and the Apache name describes its growth form. Gad ili means drooping juniper in Apache, similar to another common English name for this picturesque species, namely, weeping juniper.
Rocky Mountain juniper is another of those juniper species that is dioecious meaning that there are separate male and female trees. The males produce pollen while the females bear the berry-like cones. The cones are blue, covered with a grayish waxy coating. They are 1/4” in diameter (half the diameter of Utah or alligator juniper cones) and are usually 2-seeded. The cones are more bitter and have a much stronger gin taste than the other species.
Female Rocky Mountain junipers may begin bearing seed when they are 10 years old, but optimum seed-bearing age is 50 to 200 years. Nearly every year some seed is borne but heavy crops are produced at intervals of 2-5 years. Cones ripen in November or December of the second year following pollination and remain on the tree until March or April the following spring. The seeds are primarily spread by birds which eat the cones and later deposit the remains.
Seedlings grow slowly. In Arizona they are only a foot tall after 8 years. The trees can grow over 40 feet in height but are more commonly around 20 feet tall. Their foliage is much more delicate or wispy than the other juniper species found within the White Mountains with obvious drooping branch tips. Though growth is slow, Rocky Mountain juniper is a long-lived tree of 250-300 years although there have even been reports of specimens over a thousand years old.
Rocky Mountain juniper heartwood is a spectacular redbrown or even purplish in color which is unlike all our oth-
At left: Author shows a friend how to distinguish the Rocky Mountain juniper foliage on this large specimen along the Show Low Bluff trail.
Above from left to right: Bark of an old Rocky Mountain juniper with lichens on it. Female Rocky Mountain juniper showing its berrylike cones and its drooping or weeping foliage. In Spanish, the Rocky Mountain juniper is named after its red heartwood as seen in this broken branch.
er juniper species which have light, yellowish heartwood. Navajo cradleboards made of this species are striking. Wood carvings and gorgeous fireplace mantels in the White Mountains have also been made out of this special juniper species.
About the author: Ron is a retired Forester and Silviculturist. He has lived and worked in the White Mountains since 2002. He can be reached at azron333@yahoo.com.
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Office hours available by appointment. For more information, please call (928) 242-4522. www.WelcomeTo65.com
Local Art Scene
Artists Debbie Eischen, Sandy Pendleton and Rick Eischen ready High Country Art Gallery for its season reopening in May 2021.
“We’re excited to be reopening for what we anticipate will be a fun and busy season in the White Mountains,” explains High Country Art Gallery Manager Linda Larsen.
High Country Art Gallery, located at 13A E. White Mountain Blvd., across from the Safeway Center, features original art by members living in the White Mountains. Artwork featured includes clay, photography, painting, mixed media, jewelry, gourds, wood carving and glass.
Monthly open houses and biweekly tent shows are planned this year.
“With the pandemic easing as more of us are vaccinated and continuing to observe safety protocols, we are looking forward to hosting our Fourth of July Festival at the Orchard at Charlie Clarks,” said Ms. Larsen. That event was cancelled last year because of health and safety concerns.
The gallery opens Friday, May 21, 2021. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The gallery will continue to observe all regulations in effect by the town of Pinetop/Lakeside including masks and social distancing.
Award Winning Fine Art Photographer Don Schimmel to Display His Work at Annual Art Affair in Pinetop Memorial Day Weekend
The White Mountains will be home to a number of fun events this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, but art lovers and saavy shoppers alike will be sure to stop into the Gathering Place in Pinetop for the annual Art Affair, a three day long fine art, crafts and jewelry event.
Open daily from 9 am to 5 pm (3 pm on Sunday), this event will feature over two dozen local and Southwest artists exhibiting their work. One such artist will be Don Schimmel, a fine art photographer with over forty years of photographic passion and expertise.
Don's work has been on the cover the Los Angeles Times twice as well as being selected as Photo of the Year by the same publication. His work ranges from capturing the western lifestyle of cowboys (and girls) to a wide variety of utterly breathtaking landscape scenes. In addition to hand printed limited editions on canvas, Don's work is also available on a glossy, free-floating aluminum.
Along with visual wonders, visitors to An Art Affair can expect to enjoy
Pictured above, fine art photography by Don Schimmel
the sounds of live Andean flute and guitar music performed by INKA GOLD and lots of tasty goodies available including homemade ice cream.
The Gathering Place is located at 4756 Bucksprings Road in the Pinetop Lakes Country Club. For more information about this event, please see page 3 of this publication.
Summer Hours
Tuesday - Saturday from 10am to 4pm.
Find Your Creative Side:
AAWM Center for the Arts
EVERY THURSDAY
Paint With Friends is held every Thurs. from 10am to 2pm at the Arts Alliance of the White Mountain Center for the Arts, 251 Penrod Road. Open to the public. Bring an art project and work with other artists. Socialize and help each other. Bring a lunch if you like. Participation is free. For more info, call the Center at 928-532-2296.
1ST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
Music Jam is hosted by the AAWM Center for the Arts on the first Sat. of each month from 2PM to 4PM. Bring your instrument and jam. In general acoustic instruments are preferred. The public is welcome to come and listen and enjoy the event.
2ND FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH
The Center for the Arts Book Hub meets on the second Friday of each month from 10:30am to noon. A group of individuals all read the same book and meet to discuss it. If you are interested in next month's book selection, please email azaawm@gmail.com
2ND SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
Lakeside Writers exists to support and encourage writers in the White Mountains of Arizona through critique groups and support of marketing efforts of local published writers. Writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays and screenplays are invited to participate. The group meets the 2nd Sat. of each month - check their website for times.
3RD SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
A Native Flute Circle will meet at the Arts Alliance of the White Mountains on the 3rd Saturday of each month at the Center for the Arts. New and experienced flute players are invited to join as well as anyone interested in listening to the music. Meeting times are from 2pm to 4pm.
2ND & 4TH THURS. EACH MONTH
The Show Low Writer’s Workshop is offered at the AAWM Center for the Arts on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month from 10am until noon. These workshops are free to the public. Beginner to expert writers are invited to attend.
LAST FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH (BETWEEN FEB & OCT)
The Arts Alliance of the White Mountains expanded our Cork ‘n Canvas evenings in 2018. Beginning in February and running through October, on the last Friday of each month, we host our Cork ‘n Canvas. We’d like to invite you to join us from 5pm to 7pm and socialize with the artists. We have live music. Our sponsors provide wine and hors d’oeuvres. It’s a good time to check out what’s new in the gallery and find out about upcoming events and classes. Suggested donation of $7.
For more info on any of these events, please stop by the Arts Alliance of the White Mountains Center for the Arts at 251 Penrod Road in Show Low or call 928-532-2296.
2nd Annual AAWM Photography Show
As Art Shows at the Center for the Arts has continued to grow, the space for the shows have not. As such, in 2020 AAWM removed Photography from the Bi-Annual Art Shows and created a show all on it's own. This year the 2nd Annual Photography Show will run from June 25th through July 9th with an awards presentation to be held on July 10th at 11am. Entries are due at the Center on June 23 by noon. Entry forms can be found at http:// www.aawmcenterforthearts.com.
