Storm dumps 6 inches, upends schools by
Michele Nelson
roundup staff reporter
Photo courtesy of Roundup reader Donald Ostrowski
A winter storm dumped six inches of snow on Payson by noon on Monday then after a brief showing of blue sky, resumed in full force as darkness fell. A low-pressure system off Nevada drove the storm into Northern Arizona, turning the highways treacherous but covering Rim Country with a magical blanket of snow. The National Weather Service predicted heaviest snow on the southeast portion of the Mogollon Rim. The Arizona Snowbowl ski resort in Flagstaff reported 36 inches of snow on Monday, while Sunrise
in the White Mountains reported 28 inches. Not everyone loved the snow, however. Payson High School students fled the campus in droves, leaving only 50 students by the end of the day, reported office staff. At Rim Country Middle School, Principal Jennifer White said every class had about 20 students and teachers worked a full day. “I’m proud of my teachers,” she said. “We had a day of full instruction.” At Julia Randall Elementary, staff reported about 100 students left early. Payson Elementary School
• See Winter storm, page 10A
ARIZONA NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND LOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATION NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
payson.com
PAYSON ROUNDUP TUESDAY | DECEMBER 15, 2015 | PAYSON, ARIZONA
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Two Rim Country housefires in one day Cat dies in Payson home fire by
Alexis Bechman
roundup staff reporter
Payson firefighters quickly extinguished a house fire in east Payson Monday afternoon. Crews were called to the 1200 block of William Tell Circle off North Easy Street around 3:30 p.m. Neighbors said they came outside and saw a tree on fire next to the home. They said an older woman and her daughter live in the residence. They reportedly made it out safely. Firefighters extinguished the tree and made their way inside. Smoke was seen billowing out of the home’s chimney and from the carport area, where a vehicle was parked. No word on a cause of the fire. Firefighters found a cat dead in the home’s kitchen, apparently from smoke inhalation.
Lost hiker rescued near Horton Creek by
Photos by Alexis Bechman/Roundup
Payson firefighters still don’t know what caused a house fire in this home on William Tell Circle Monday afternoon.
Family escapes blaze in Knolls by
Photo at right courtesy of the Hellsgate Fire Department
By the time Hellsgate firefighters arrived, this two-story home was engulfed in flames (above and at right).
by
Michele Nelson
roundup staff reporter
A woman that got lost on Horton Creek Trail Saturday was safely brought back to her vehicle. The woman was hiking with her husband when the two got separated somehow, said Bill Pitterle, Tonto Rim Search and Rescue commander. The woman’s husband called for help from the trailhead and three TRSAR volunteers hiked in and found the woman a mile from the trailhead. Although cold and scared, she was uninjured.
out. The truck was sent to the shop while the crew rushed to the scene a few blocks away. Hellsgate hit the flames with water from a ladder truck while crews brought hoses up the long driveway to stop the fire from
• See Fire guts, page 2A
Mandatory sentencing impact debated
roundup staff reporter
Arizona state senator John Kavanagh argued in favor of long mandatory sentences.
Arizona has raided education funding to pay for prisons and created a class of people who cannot rejoin society, all of which has policy makers reconsidering priorities, according to a panel of experts convened recently by the Morrison Institute. “We have flipped,” said Eric Meyer an Arizona representative from Scottsdale. “We’re funding universities at $600 million and prisons at $1 billion.”
Meyer, along with state senator John Kavanagh, former Superior Court Justice Ronald Reinstein, and president of the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice and practicing lawyer Kathleen Brody, spoke on a panel at the recent ASU Morrison Institute State of the State Conference on what’s next for Arizona’s criminal justice system. The panelists touched on probation, sentencing and transition programs that help people return to society as options for reforming the expensive criminal justice system.
Reinstein, with his judicial perspective from the bench, felt that increasing the role of probation offered a chance to reduce the number of people sent to prison for crimes that carried fewer consequences. “More people are not being placed on probation because of mandatory minimums,” said Reinstein. “Probation could end up reducing jail populations with people on bonds of $1,000 or less. There is room for progress and room for discussions.” According to the VERA Institute of Justice’s 2012 report on 40 states and their
prison systems, a few including Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, South Carolina, California and Washington have changed how they weigh non-violent crimes. In many cases, they mandate probation and community service instead of prison time. Other states have raised the dollar amounts for felony property crimes, which has resulted in more probation than prison. The states listed have also changed release policies, so those who committed a non-violent crime serve less time of their mandatory minimum sentence.
• See Impact, page 2A
Payson planning commission rejects RV park plan
THE WEATHER
volume 25, no. 98
While the snow softly fell outside for much of the night, a family of five awoke Monday morning to a horrifying sight. A fire erupted in their Knolls home, off Union Park in Star Valley,
quickly spreading throughout the two-story residence. The family escaped and called for help just after 7 a.m. Firefighters scrambled to the scene, but the unplowed roads slowed them down. One rig slid off the road and into the bushes and had to wait for a tow truck to pull it
Do long prison terms endanger public?
Alexis Bechman
Outlook: Sunny with highs in the low to mid 30s, climbing to low to mid 50s by the weekend. See 9A
Alexis Bechman
roundup staff reporter
See our ad and upcoming events on page 6B
by
Alexis Bechman
roundup staff reporter
A plan to build an RV park in the neighborhood behind Rim Country Guns did not receive a warm welcome from the Planning and Zoning Commission last week, which voted against rezoning the property. Commission member Jennifer Smith said she worried about the long-term use, with people
potentially setting up a home for years, making it more of a trailer park. Landowner Paul Sexton said people could stay in the park as long as they paid, but said it would not be a trailer park. After the meeting, Sexton asked town staff to hold off on having the town council vote on the rezoning so it is unclear if the project will go forward, said Sheila DeSchaaf with Community
Development. Sexton submitted a request to rezone the 1.78acre property from multifamily residential to C-2 commercial so he could build a 39-space travel trailer park at 109 E. McKamey St. Two homes currently sit toward the front of the lot, which Sexton proposed turning one into a laundry facility and manager’s office.
• See Planning commission, page 2A
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