NorthernArizonaNews.com
INSIDE
Life: Napkin Note Boy,
Opinion: Spice, p 9 Sports: Men’s b-ball, p 20 A&E: Telescope heads out of town, p 23
SINCE 1914
p 15
Grand Canyon National Park Arizona
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior
Issue 9, VOL 98 March 24 - 30, 2011 GRCA: Radford Search as of 3/19/2011 12:00
Lab studies anthrax, plague Secret security measures and sterile safety practices help to ensure the efforts of NAU scientists, professors and students to map the anthrax family tree continue unabated.
BY BOBBY BOUMIS
M
any students at NAU have no idea there is 1,800 square feet of laboratory space dedicated to working with deadly bacteria like anthrax and plague in the middle of the NAU campus. Entire floors of the Applied Research and Development building are BioSafety Level 2 and 3 (BSL-2 and-3) laboratories. According to the website of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BSL-3 organisms or “select agents” are in the second most dangerous category of disease-causing organisms. In general, they can cause severe to fatal disease in humans after inhalation. The CDC’s website goes on to describe inhalation anthrax, one of several diseases caused by Bacillis anthracis, as a mortally serious illness. “Although case-fatality estimates for inhalation anthrax are based on incomplete information, the rate is extremely high, approximately 75 percent, even with all possible supportive care including appropriate
Legend
TOP: This diagram shows the search attempts. The red line represents the routes of rescue helicopters, while the blue represents the routes of search plans. The green line in the lower-right-hand corner shows the last known flight of the plane. (Graph by Grand Caynon National Park, U.S. Forest Service) BELOW: Joseph Radford, 47, of Glendale, Ariz. Radford’s plane was reported misssee ANTHRAX page 5 ing on March 14. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)
Photo illustration by Gean Shanks.
Pima threatens to secede BY HANNA RUBIN
T
he rift between conservative Maricopa County and its smaller, more liberal neighbor, Pima County, may soon become wider than the less than 200 miles separating the areas. Proposed legislation in the Arizona Legislature — floated by Tucson politicians — would separate the state into Baja Arizona and Alta Arizona, the latter being the current state minus Pima County. State Sen. Paula Aboud proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 1433 — a bill that would revive state nullification of federal laws — that would allow Pima see BAJA ARIZONA page 7
Synthetic ‘spice’ now illegal in AZ, banned in US BY CARSON PYNES
O
n Feb. 22, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer passed a bill outlawing 10 compounds typically used in the creation of “spice,” and Arizona joined 11 other states in making the substance illegal to possess or purchase. Possession may now result in a class 2 felony, which can mean up to four years in prison. Spice, which until last week had been sold legally as incense, is a blend of herbs sprayed with chemical compounds. These synthetic substances target certain receptors in the brain, causing users to experience a high similar to that of marijuana. Spice does not contain THC — the psychoactive substance within marijuana — but rather chemicals
that act on the brain in a similar way. According to the governor’s office, the synthetic compounds in spice can be 700 times more powerful than THC, and they may be the cause of symptoms such as seizure, elevated heart rate and anxiety. The bill to make the chemicals in spice illegal passed by a wide margin in both the state House and Senate, and up to 20 other states are also considering making these substances illegal. Smoke shops across the state have already pulled spice from their shelves, and the Drug Enforcement Administration has issued an emergency ban that came into effect on March 1. This means a blanket ban across the country has been put into effect until further analysis of the chemicals can be completed.
Reporting Party Aircraft Observation? No
Possibly
Visual of Plane Approx. Location Approx. Radford Flight Path Search Helicopter Tracks Search Plane Tracks
20110318 Search Boundary
0
1
2
3
NAD 83 HARN UTM Zone 12N
4 Miles
Radford last radar target at: 36° 10' 21.82" N 112° 16' 37.31" W 3/11/2011 8:34:46
Location of RP. Heard aircraft est8:30-9:00 on 3/11/2011. RP sound from southwest of location. Visual Identification of Aircraft by hikers. Seen above rim est 9:00 on 3/11/2011.
Produced bye GRCA SAR GIS vgl
March 2011
Pilot, plane still missing
T
BY MARIA DICOSOLA
here is still no sign of a missing man who disappeared over the Grand Canyon National Park in his self-constructed plane on March 14. According to a National Park Service (NPS) press release, the Coconino County Sheriff ’s Department (CCSD) determined that Joseph Radford, 47, of Glendale took off in his RV6 Kit Built, cherry red airplane from Grand Canyon Airport on March 11. Now, over a week after Radford’s disappearance, the NPS continues to search the area in which they believe he went missing — the northwest side of the park. However, Shannan Marcak, public affairs specialsee MISSING PLANE page 6
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