Tuesday, March 25, 2014 — White Mountain Independent Progress 2014 — Page B9

APACHE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICEMichael B. Whiting

“One Nation Under God with Liberty & Justice for all.”

FOUND GUILTYEvery jury trial in 2013!

Deputy County Attorney Mike Latham

Successfully prosecuted 2 cases against

Eduardo “Eddie” Pino

a violent repetitive criminal

17 Years Dept. of Correctins!

Chief Deputy Allan Perkins

Won a conviction in

State vs. Sean Trotter

A case involving sexual

misconduct with a minor.

26 Years Dept. of Corrections!

Deputy County Attorney Garrett Whiting

Gets a Guilty Verdict in

State vs. Brett Bjertness

Assault on an elderly victim

on Christmas Eve.

10.5 Years Dept. of Corrections!

SEIZED MONEY GOES TO GOOD USEACAO purchased on-offi cer cameras for all

Law Enforcement agencies in the county from

money seized from illegal drug activity during

a criminal arrest. Agencies include: Springer-

ville Police Department, Eagar Police Depart-

ment, St. Johns Police Department, Apache

County Sheriff’s Offi ce, DPS and Navajo

Nation Police Department. The cameras pro-

tect our offi cers and assist in the court room!

APACHE COUNTY

VICTIMS COMPENSATION FUNDContacting more victims every year!

Proactive in contacting victims and assisting them with application process.

A fi ve-member Board meets to consider assistance for the victims with funding due to the fi nancial burdens of

crimes against them.

ON GOING COMMUNITY EDUCATION

On the dangers of

ACAO Partnering with Youth Council and Drug Free Alliance

5 YEARS OF STOP BULLYING

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMPARENTS

EDUCATORS COMMUNITY

MEMBERS

2000

STUDENTS

PARTICIPATE

IN THE 2013

POSTER CONTEST

A year long, ongoing educational process

involving training and education on the

dangers of bullying and ways to prevent

it in the schools and community!

GRADUATION LOCK-INS

giving seniors a safe place to go to cele-

brate. FREE OF DRUGS AND ALCOHOL AND

FREE OF VEHICULAR ACCIDENTS AND KIDS’

BEHIND THE WHEEL DRIVING IMPAIRED.

GUILTY

GUILTY

VERDICTGUI

LTY

GUILTY

Once again, Ted and Annie Shirley, owners of Tal-Wi-Wi Lodge, located four short miles north of Alpine, closed the beau-tiful main Tal-Wi-Wi lodge, saloon, guest rooms and restau-rant following a shortened hunt-ing season for remodeling during the winter months. According to Ted, they were in Tucson this year for only seven weeks and then they returned to the White Mountains and Tal-Wi-Wi where construction was still underway.

“This winter we took on a much bigger project than I thought it would be,” Ted said. “It cost a lot more than I planned too!”

The restaurant that was previ-ously located next to the main Tal-Wi-Wi guest lodge, adjacent to the front outdoor porch, was in need of remodeling with a new traffic floor plan for effi-ciently serving the guests, espe-cially on the crowded weekends during the summer. A larger commercial kitchen would have to be installed to accommodate the number of guests, and the employees who found them-

selves running back and forth from the lodge to the restaurant building for food or silverware, plates, napkins and anything else — catsup? mustard? — for the guests waiting in the lounge or in their rooms for something to eat, before going to bed and hoping not to have to drive back into town for food. The logis-tics didn’t work if the employ-ees were going to have to go back and forth. The Shirleys tried leasing the restaurant the first summer they were there about four or five years ago, but decided to manage it themselves after a summer that didn’t go as smoothly as they hoped.

Like previous winters, con-tractor Greg Thompson and his work crew from Alpine took over the project to remodel the main Tal-Wi-Wi Lodge build-ing so that a restaurant could be added at the north end of the building. Out with the manager’s office. Walls had to be knocked down. The guest check-in area had to be smaller, removing bro-chures, tee shirts, and other guest memorabilia from the check-in

area and relocating them to the saloon. The floor plans had to change and a larger, commer-cial kitchen had to be installed. It’s a project that started at the end of last October and still isn’t finished. Ted believes it might be mid-April before they com-plete the project and can literally serve their guests food from the new restaurant and saloon.

He said, “The previous res-taurant could accommodate 40 tables whereas the new res-taurant is not as large. We can handle about 40 people with the overflow having to be seated in the lounge.”

Ted said they plan to serve a full dinner menu on Friday and Saturday nights and an expanded bar menu will be available the entire time the saloon is open,

daily at about 11:30 a.m. They will close at night, depending on the crowd, but anytime after 8-9 p.m. with later hours probably on the weekends. With the larger, commercial kitchen now in place in the main lodge, the restaurant can more efficiently accommo-date not only the guests, but also the employees.

Ted said that the parking situ-ation has limited their options and the opportunity to go much larger than they already have with the restaurant relocated to the main lodge. Almost every inch of the property is being used and there is nowhere for them to increase the number of parking space, nor the size of the park-ing lot, which will be full when all the rooms are occupied. If anyone comes down from town

just to enjoy having dinner and drinks at the saloon, the parking is going to be tight without any-where else for the guests and the locals to go.

The old restaurant build-ing has been completely rede-signed and remodeled as well. Now, they have office space for the manager, storage space for the housekeeping items, and a state-of-the-art guest fitness center. The new fitness center is designed by the same per-son who designed the fitness center for the wellness center at White Mountain Regional Medical Center in Springer-ville. Ted said the fitness cen-ter, although not as large as the one at the hospital, will be able to accommodate their nightly guests with limited opportunity for local residents to purchase memberships. Maintenance of the equipment will be sched-uled quarterly, like the hospital contract, so that the designer of both centers can make a loop and not have to make a special trip to service one or the other facility.

“We’re going to start slow in making the fitness center open to local residents,” Ted said. “We just don’t have anywhere for overflow parking. We want our guests to have the fitness center available to them in the afternoons and evenings after they check in and want to stretch or work out following their trip, and then again, open in the mornings for before they check out or leave their rooms for the day.

“I’m thinking there should be a few hours everyday that will allow our locals to use the equip-ment,” Ted said. “We’re going to have memberships available on a limited basis to see how it goes. We’ll monitor the busiest and slowest times the fitness center is being used and check to see how the parking situation is affected. We’ll just wait and see, and then go from there.”

Tal-Wi-Wi Lodge is planning to reopen for guests in April 2014. Guests can call for spring room reservations at (928) 339-4319, or check out the website at www.talwiwilodge.com.

“This winter we took on a much bigger

project than I thought it would be. It

cost a lot more than I planned too!”

— Ted Shirley

a year for annual and general meet-ings. Sierra Propane is not only a member of the Arizona Business Association, but they have made their offices available for trainings by the group, not only for their employees but also for employ-ees of other gas companies doing business in the White Mountains. Since they also have offices in Quemado and Magdelana, N.M., Sierra Propane is also a member of the New Mexico Propane Gas Association.

And this year, John has also been elected to serve as the presi-dent of the locally formed Apache County Business Roundtable (ACBR). Currently, they are tack-ling the new business association bylaws, but the group is comprised of 12 business sponsors who coor-dinate the once-a-month meetings, held the first Tuesday of every month at the Eagar Town Hall meeting room. John said that the sponsors meet for one hour before the lunch meeting, and then dur-ing the meeting a local business will present information about not only their business, but the

industry. While the meetings are free, it costs $15 for lunch, which is catered by a different Round Valley business each month. He said, “We ask that the spon-sors are able to meet every month for at least two hours, and then the lunch meet-ing for the remain-der of the group is free. We try to keep the meeting to an hour, so that the group can get back to work within the lunch hour framework.”

Sierra Propane has continued their donations to the Susan G. Komen foundation for the past six years now. They currently have three propane trucks painted with the pink Breast Cancer Awareness logo and pink colors. For very gallon of gas pumped from these trucks, Sierra Propane donates a penny to the foundation. There are two pink trucks traversing the highways in New Mexico and one in Arizona. Both states have

received $2,500 each year toward the foundation, which promotes research for the cure.

John said, “Our goal is to have two trucks in both New Mexico and Arizona. We currently have three and hope to add a second truck to Arizona. As the commu-nities support us, we’ll designate another truck, add the logos and start collecting more for the foun-dation.”

Not only does Sierra Pro-pane support these statewide and national groups, but they also give back to the local com-

munities where they do business. When they heard that the animals at Round Valley Animal Rescue were in need of heat during the winter months at the site outside town, Sierra Propane stepped up to the plate and has been donating the propane at the facility for the animals.

They also offer scholarships to graduating high school seniors in both Round Valley and Quemado. Another goal, according to the Sierra Propane vice president, is to provide scholarships for the kids in the high schools where

they have offices, which is currently four; two in Arizo-na and two in New Mexico.

At one time, it was important for Sierra Propane to provide phone numbers for their customers who were calling from the cities in which they delivered gas, as they didn’t want

their customers to have to pay long distance charges. Now, with everyone using cellular phones, the long distance charges and need for the six telephone lines is not as great as it once was, John said. He chuckled, “We installed the tele-phone lines as that’s our first con-tact with most of our customers and we didn’t want them to have to pay to call us, either to request service or to order propane. Now, with cellular service so prevalent, it’s not as great a need as it once was, but we’re still willing to pro-vide the lines so our customers

can reach us whenever they need without having to worry about long distance charges.”

Sierra Propane has been in business in White Mountains for the past 31 years. It continues to operate with the same own-ers and management since it was formed by the Wilfong fam-ily. Three generations of their family are now represented at the Springerville-based head-quarters. They include: Johns’ parents, Dean and Billie, John, the vice president of Sierra Pro-pane; and his son, Christopher, who has helped with designing advertising and logos for the local propane company. To reach Sierra Propane, call the toll-free number (877) 4-SIERRA, or (877) 474-3772, and if you don’t know the local phone number for the town in which you live, ask the helpful receptionists at Sierra Propane. They will gladly relay the number for the town in which you live, and then dial the local number, which will ensure long distance charges are not added to your landline.

PROPANE, from Page B5

'Our goal is to have two trucks in both New Mexico and

Arizona. We currently have three and hope to add a sec-

ond truck to Arizona. As the communities support us,

we’ll designate another truck, add the logos and start

collecting more for the foundation.'

— John Wilfong,

Sierra Propane vice president