douglas dispatch progress 2014

A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OF THE DOUGLAS DISPATCH, AUGUST 13, 2014

Progress 2014

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The development of the new Douglas Commercial Port of Entry remains a top priority for the city. We continue to engage private and public stakeholders on both sides of the border. One site has been identified for the development and construction of the port through a private-public part-nership business model.

The city continues to work very closely with the city of Agua Prieta, Douglas’ sister city, on various short and long term economic development efforts to increase trade and com-merce between the two cities as well the cities of Nacozari and Cananea.

Although there are positive indicators in our economy, the city continues to be financially cautious since there are many uncertainties in the national and world economies that may affect our local economy. The city continues to actively promote itself as a hub for international trade, retail and government services in southeastern Arizona with the intent of fostering and incentivizing private investment leading to increased public services and retail opportunities for residents and visitors.

douglas remains focused on economic developmentDouglas Economic Outlook 2014

Douglas continues to see the positive effects of a recovering economy as well as significant capital investments in the mining, transportation and energy sectors in Northern Sonora. The Douglas City Council is set to adopt a balanced budget for fiscal year 2015 without the use of reserves and with over $1 million for capital improvement projects. Projected state-shared rev-

enue for fiscal year 2015 increased by more the $300,000 from 2014.

Carlos a. de la torre, p.e.City ManaGer

City oF doUGlas

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By BruCe WheTTenDouglas Dispatch

In 2013 a study released by the Cochise College Economic Research Center showed the Douglas Unified School District to be the ninth largest employer in Cochise County.

The report indicated there were 457 full time employees and 40 part time.

The DUSD, under the direction of Su-perintendent Sheila Rogers, has one high school, two middle schools and five elementary schools.

When school began Aug. 5 DUSD of-ficials report there were 3,982 students enrolled, up 331 from when school ended in May.

When it comes to the AIMS scores which stands for Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards, the district as a whole has received a C grade for the last two consecutive years.

The 2014 grades were Aug. 4 and dis-trict officials say they missed out on a B

by just four points.Douglas High School has the best

mark of all the schools in the district jumping up from a C in 2012 to a B in

2013. They maintained that B grade in 2014.

Stevenson Elementary also received a B grade this year, up from a C in 2013.

Paul Huber Middle School and Ray

Borane Middle School both were given C grades as was Clawson and Joe Carl-son Elementary Schools.

Sarah Marley and Faras both received D grades on the 2014 AIMS tests.

The DUSD has been dealing with budget issues this year due to delayed payments from the state as well as in-accurate tax figures from the county.

As a result of that the DUSD board approved at its July 15 meeting to raise the tax rate up this fiscal year from 1.995 to 5.7478 meaning that on an $80,000 home the taxes will go up $300.22.

Two seats on the five member DUSD board are up for election this No-vember and as of this issue only one incumbent, Dr. Ed Gomez, is seeking re-election. He is being challenged by four other candidates.

The school board meets the first Tuesday of every month in the DUSD board room inside the Central Admin-istration Building on 12th Street.

dusd ninth largest employer in Cochise County

The DUSD brought in three new principals this year. Hired were: Melissa Rodriguez, Jeremy Long and Lisa Holland. Long and Rodriguez are former DHS grads who are coming back to Douglas to work at Joe Carlson and Clawson Elementary. Holland comes to Paul Huber Middle School from Bisbee High School.

ariZona a-F letter Grade aCCoUntability systeM

Arizona A-F Letter Grade Accountability System as-signs a grade with respect to the school’s performance on Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) and how much students grow academically each year. Other factors include dropout rate, graduation rate and English language learner reclassification rate (as ap-plicable).

For alternative schools, accommodation schools, ex-tremely small schools and K-2 schools, unique charac-teristics are taken into account.

RATINGS FOLLOW THE TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC LETTER GRADE SYSTEM OF A=EXCELLENT, B=ABOVE AVERAGE, C=AVERAGE, D=NEEDS IMPROVEMENT AND F=FAILING.

ARIZONA A-F LETTER GRADE ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM (2013)

Douglas Unified School District C Clawson School (K-5) C Douglas High School (9-12) C Faras Elementary School (K-5) B Joe Carlson Elementary School (K-5) C Paul H Huber Middle School (6-8) C Ray Borane Middle School (6-8) D Sarah Marley School (K-5) D Stevenson Elementary School (K-5) B Charter Schools Center for Academic Success #2 (9-12) A-ALT Center for Academic Success #3 (K-4) A Center for Academic Success #4 (5-8) C Liberty Traditional – Saddleback (K-4) C Omega Alpha Academy School (K-12) C PPEP TEC – Raul H. Castro Learning Center (9-12) A-ALT

For alternatiVe sChools the Grade is FUrther desiGnated With –alt.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

CCBCDCDCB

A-ALTACCCA-ALT

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I moved to Douglas from Chandler when I was � fteen. I didn’t think therewould be any employment opportunities for me after I completed school so I had planned to move back to Chandler when I turned eighteen, but then I heard about the call center and I decided to apply.

I’ve been here for over two years and if I can be successful here anyone can. The work is not hard but then again I love working with people and talking to all of my co-workers. There are a lot of bene� ts to working here. For example, sinceI started working here my communication skills have gotten so much better. I’m much more polite than I used to be and I’ve found that I get more respect using the customer service techniques I’ve picked up here.

Most importantly, this job provides me the means to support my family andpay the bills. I have a two-and-one-half-year-old son and supporting him is the main reason why I work so hard. I take advantageof all the overtime that is o� ered and my lastpaycheck was over $1200! That reallyhelped out a lot! That’s why workingat A.C.T. has been the best choice for me.

– Leo Acedo Agent/Floor Support

Contact Us At: Advanced Call Center Technologies1701 E. 10th St. Douglas, AZ 85607

520-417-7900

Apply Online Today: www.acttoday.com

Or just stop by and talk to one of our recruiters.

Trisha MaldonadoDouglas Dispatch

Through the Great De-pression, smelter strikes, the peso devaluation and the recessions in the 80’s, 90’s and currently, Ortega Inc. still stands strong after over 90 years in business.

Last year the Ortega fam-ily celebrated 90 years in the shoe and clothing business.

In 1923 Juan Ortega start-ed the business with hand-made boots.

He came to the U.S from Zacatecas, Mexico around 1914. His first stop was El Pa-so, Texas, where he worked for Tony Lama. It was then that he learned how to work with leather and to make handmade boots.

In 1922 he migrated to Douglas and began work-ing at a shoe repair shop and the foundation for the Ortega tradition was estab-lished.

“It was the shoe repair that brought us through the depression. That and some surplus brogan-type shoes dad bought from Fort Hua-chuca,” Danny Ortega Sr. said. “He bought them for five cents a pair, brought

them home, remade them and sold them for about $1.50.”

The Ortega’s currently have six stores, four in Douglas, one in Safford and one in Globe. Ortega’s children are involved in the business, one daughter is a teacher but her husband is the manager of the store in Globe.

His wife Ginny is the book-keeper.

Ortega feels that the busi-ness and Douglas have been mutually good for each oth-er.

“We support and believe in the community. We spon-sor sports teams and help with youth programs when we can,” Ortega said. “We have a lot at stake.”

Sixty to 70 percent of their sales continue to come from

Agua Prieta. With changes in the Douglas economy Ortega has had to make some changes.

“We’ve lost some good businesses and good cus-tomers,” he said. “We have to adjust and change with times. We have to respond to our customer’s needs.”

Ortega expressed that his father instilled in him the value of hard work and love of family. He continues to strive to maintain those values in his life and those of his children today.

He stresses that service to their customers is most im-portant and that customer satisfaction is worth all the hard work.

“That was true in my dad’s day and continues to be true today,” Ortega said

over 90 years in business and still holding strong

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INC.

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Locally Owned And Operated

364-34349th Street & F Avenue

“Our Family Caring For Your Family”

Serving Our Community With Dignity And

Compassion Since 1945.

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MEAT MARKET3219 N. Washington Ave., Douglas, Arizona 85607

520-364-3363


AR Creations opened its doors on April 8. AR Cre-ations is located in the Food City Plaza at 1344 San Anto-

nio.Owner Aline Quinonez

will not only offer photog-raphy services but also cus-tom made banners, post-ers, business cards and all

graphic design work.She also offers U.S. and

Mexican passports that are ready in minutes.

Quinonez was born and raised in Agua Prieta and attended graphic design school in Hermosillo. She moved to Douglas 12 years ago and had been working out of her home.

She recently felt she could provide better services by having a store front.

Since April Quinonez has provided many with forever memories with beautiful photos and amazing graph-ics.

For more information or to set up an appointment contact Quinonez at (520) 508-3652.

ar Creations opens door in douglas


The Center for Academic Success on 15th Street held a ribbon cutting ceremony May 30 signifying the completion of a $1.7 million renovation project that was done with the help of a USDA loan.

The project consisted of five new class-rooms, some additional restrooms and a new cafeteria.

Vada Phelps, The executive director for the Cochise Private Industry Council who oversees CAS, said at the ribbon cutting they are very excited this project is done.

“I’m extremely excited this day is finally here,” Principal Marcela Munguia said. “We’ve been looking forward to this day for about six years now. It has finally come to fruition.” The school has been functional for about six months, Munguia said, they just waited until Friday to hold the ribbon cut-ting ceremony.

Munguia said there are currently 327 stu-dents enrolled in fourth through eighth grades at the CAS school on 15th Street with a maximum of 425.

The event was held in conjunction with the school’s annual Spring Fling event which allowed the students and parents to both have some fun.

“This is a way of showing our appreciation to the parents who are always involved with their students’ lives,” she said.

The Center for Academic Success is a tu-ition free charter school with campuses in both Douglas and Sierra Vista.

CAS used local architecture MBD Archi-tects for the design of the school and Mun-sey Contract and Development of Sierra Vista for construction of the building.

Cas renovation

officially completed


The U.S. Department of Agriculture resumed inspec-tions in Agua Prieta of U.S. bound cattle on May 19. The USDA halted the inspections in January because of con-cerns of violence in Agua Prieta.

In April, under pressure from US Representative Ron Barber, USDA officials said they would work with Mexi-can officials to insure the safety of American inspectors south of the border.

“It is through his (Barber) hard work we were able to get this far,” Douglas Mayor Danny Ortega Jr. said.

Maricela Solis, district di-rector for Congressman Ron Barber, was at the sight along with other Barber represen-tatives, USAD official, Cus-toms and Border Protection official, and inspectors from Agua Prieta.

Importers and exporters of cattle or other animals should contact the Douglas Veterinary Services port staff at 520-364-5681 to make in-spection appointments.

Cattle crossing resumes

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Local Video DJ’s in Douglas AZ area, Bringing you all the latest music from:

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Looking to get rid of un-used items, need extra cash to help you get to payday visit Cochise Pawn Shop lo-cated on 1006 Cochise Ave.

“For many people a pawn shop gives them a way to borrow money without hav-ing to go to a bank,” Cochise Pawn Shop owner Raymond Candell said. “I help people get a financial relief until their next paycheck.”

Candell first opened his doors on October 15, 2012 and continues to grow in merchandise and also in the community.

He carries everything from power tools, walkers to cell phones. Candell tries to give the best prices for

those selling or borrowing against their items.

He’s also stepdad to his fiancés children and spon-sors softball teams for the DGASL and has sponsored events for PPETCH along

with the Elfrida School Dis-trict.

If you’re short on cash needing a little help until your pay check go by Co-chise Pawn and Candell will help you.

needing a little help till payday, Cochise Pawn can help you


Every little girl dreams of being a prin-cess, of being Cinderella or being a balle-rina. For Nubia Romo owner of Once Upon a Dance Co. she makes those dreams come true for the little girls in the Douglas com-munity.

Born and raised in Douglas she gradu-ated from Douglas High School in 1999. She moved to the Tempe/Chandler area in 2001.

Romo would come back to Douglas to visit her friends and family. Two years ago her parents’ home burned down. By the time she received the call and drove home there was little she could do but comfort her mom.

Knowing and wanting to stay close to home would linger in the back of mind.

Last October Romo was contemplating on her next move. Her first thought was to move to San Diego and start new but instead her mother convinced her to visit Douglas for a month.

Then her mom convinced her to stay for Thanksgiving, then Christmas and finally Romo made up her mind to stay in Doug-las.

She opened her dance studio Once Up-on a Dream Dance Co. on January 22, with the intent to teach children how to dance.

In the time Romo has been in Douglas she has done so much more than that. Ro-mo was the coordinator of the Miss Doug-

las Days pageant, she held her first dance recital on June 28 and a Back to School fashion show in July.

Her dance recital wasn’t like any regular dance recital seen in Douglas. Romo had G Ave from 10th to 11th street closed for the event.

In front of the Gadsden the Douglas Hot Rods had their vehicles on display, along with an art car from the burning man dis-play in Bisbee. She had food vendors and music by the Canez brothers playing all night.

Romo takes the “Company” in Dance Company literally. She feels that it is impor-tant to give back to the community to give her students more than just dance lessons.

“Some of my kids were very shy when they first started and they would never think of doing something like the fashion show,” Romo said. “But the day of the fash-ion show they came down the stairs with all the confidence in the world.”

Her next dream come true for the young ladies in Douglas will be a debutante ball in November.

“I want girls to feel like princesses,” Ro-mo added. “What more can you do to feel like a princess then by having a big party wearing a big white dress.”

The dance instructor/fairy godmother will be taking registration for her dance studio during the month of August and registration for the debutante ball at Son Paises or by calling (480) 268-6436.

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Looking for a place to do karaoke, have a drink, listen to live music or to go danc-ing, the Double Deuce of-

fers all that and more.Formally the Oasis Bar,

the DD, located at 500 7th Street, held a grand open-ing Fourth of July weekend with live music and many drink specials.

DD offers a warm and wel-coming environment for all to have fun. Double Deuce also has three pool tables for those wanting to enjoy a game or two of pool.

Owner Ruben Verdugo

has put in a lot of time and work in the bar. Verdugo who has been doing kara-oke for over four years has wanted a place like this. He remembers going to the bar as a young kid when it was named Club Alba.

Verdugo’s bar caters to all age groups 21 and over.

“During my grand open-ing, I had all the younger crowd playing pool and the older couples listening to the live music I have been catering to different age groups,” Verdugo said.

He of fers karaoke on Wednesday and Thursday nights, the latest hip hop, reggaeton and cumbia’s dance music on Fridays and Saturday is live music.

Double Deuce has a kitch-en that Verdugo hopes to open soon where he will be offering wings, chicken strips, cheese sticks and burgers.

For those die hard football fans need a place to watch a game can now come by Double Deuce.

Upcoming live music by La Familia on August 16, Sabor Latino on August 30, and Gemini on September 6 will be taking place.

Happy hour is held from 5- 7 p.m. The hall is also available for rental for all festivity functions

double deuce douglas’ newest bar


Previously owned by Martha Serrano, La Fiesta Cafe, locat-ed at 1844 E. 10th Street, changed ownership in June 2013.

Margarita and Lee Palmer purchased the quaint restau-rant and have been doing very well ever since.

Margarita served as the cook for six years when Serrano owned and operated the establishment.

“Martha offered us the business when she was looking to get out of the restaurant business,” Margarita said. “My husband and I thought about it for a while not knowing what we were getting into.”

La Fiesta is slowly turning into a family venture for the Palmers, Margarita still does the majority of the cooking, while daughter Janette serves the food and husband Lee helps run the daily operations.

“We haven’t really changed much,” Margarita said. “We still have most of the old employees and the menu items haven’t change.”

The Palmers are also venturing in the catering business. Since opening they have done numerous weddings and quinceañeras.

La Fiesta offers fresh and affordable Mexican food, lunch and dinner, tacos, burritos and much more.

Restaurant hours are Monday – Thursday from 10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays opened until 8 p.m. and closed on Sundays. For take-out or for catering services call (520) 805-0033.

la Fiesta under new ownership

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NOW FEATURING

Son Paises Boutique

555 E 10th St. in Douglas • 520-364-1317Open Tues - Sat 11am - 6pm

The Boutique That Feels Like Home!

Exclusive Jewelry Collection for formal events. Please ask us!


On June 27 the Tractor Supply Compa-ny located at 215 W. Ninth Street, officially opened its doors to Douglas and the sur-rounding areas.

Tractor Supply Company is the largest operator of rural lifestyle retail stores in the United States. The company operates over 1,300 retail stores in 48 states, employs more than 19,000 team members and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn.

The company was founded in 1938 as a mail order catalog business offering trac-tor parts to America’s family farmers. Today Tractor Supply is a leading edge retailer with annual revenues of approximately $5.2 bil-lion.

Tractor Supply stores are primarily locat-ed in rural areas and the outlying suburbs of major cities such as Douglas, Benson and Sierra Vista.

The typical Tractor Supply store has 15,000-24,000 square feet of inside sell-ing space with a similar amount of outside space used to display agricultural fencing, livestock equipment and horse stalls.

Stores supply the unique products to sup-port their customers’ rural lifestyle, from welders and generators to animal care

products and men and women’s work wear, pet supplies, animal feed, power tools, rid-ing mowers, lawn and garden products and more can also be found at each location. Each store team includes welders, farmers and horse owners who collectively provide an exceptional depth of knowledge and re-sources.

Tractor Supply is committed to under-standing and fulfilling the needs of those who enjoy the rural lifestyle: folks who fre-quently describe themselves as hobby farm-ers and hobby ranchers. It is estimated that the “hobby” or “pleasure” farmer consumer segment spends more than $5.5 billion an-nually on farm supplies. Today less than 10 percent of the company’s customers classify themselves as full-time farmers or ranchers. In fact, Tractor Supply’s largest customer segment does not farm at all. They are more aptly described as rural or suburban home-owners, or “self-reliants.” When asked, cus-tomers often describe Tractor Supply as “a store you can trust.”

Tractor Supply is continuing to grow with new stores and improved product offer-ings. The Tractor Supply mission and values motivate and inspire team members and give the organization a unified focus for the future.

Tractor supply comes to douglas

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Cochise Regional Hospital, formally known as Southeast Arizona Medical Cen-ter, the past few years has seen a lot of ups and their fair share of downs but in 2014 they not only received a new name but also a new owner.

On January 24, People’s Choice Hospital official purchased the failing hospital and as of January 25 the name official changed to Cochise Regional Hospital.

PCH clinical, managerial and technical teams have been actively involved both on-site and from the National Telemedicine Hub in Chicago to identify where all aspects of hospital operations can be enhanced.

PCH terminated nine employees includ-ing CEO Annie Benson and assigned a new board of directors.

Robi Berry took over as director of opera-tions.

CRH has in the past few months hired new employees including RN’s and CNA’s.

One of the major renovations will be the emergency room location. PCH plans to move the ER from its current location to what used to be the clinic area.

The hospital has also added other serves such as:

Inpatient TeleHospitalistThis team of talented specialists is dedi-

cated to delivering comprehensive medi-cal care to CRH Patients. The Telemedicine

platform provides for constant, real-time communication with the Primary Care Doc-tor via the EmpowerSystems EHR. Addition-al Subspecialties providing 24/7 coverage include Tele-Cardiology, Tele-Infectious Disease, Tele-Gastroenterology, and Tele-Psychiatry. The PCP can receive real-time Test Result information via secure email plus 24/7 access to the patients’ health record.

Comprehensive Cancer Screening and Heart Attack Prevention

Many of the leading causes of death in can be prevented and successfully treated if they are identified soon enough. CRH now offers Next Day Appointments that do not require a physician referral. In a single visit, the paitent can complete a comprehensive Cancer Screening, Stress Tests and a full panel of preventative studies.

Expansion of Diagnostic Services with Ad-vanced GE Hardware

• X-Rays• CT Scans• MRIs• Ultrasounds• Heart Ultrasound (Echocardiogram)• Nuclear Medicine (Heart Stress Test, V/Q,

and Bone Scans)As these programs continue to expand,

it will benefit patients in Douglas and sur-rounding areas and help lead the financial turnaround of the hospital at large, said Vice President of Finance of People’s Choice Hos-pital Christopher Alise.

Cochise regional hospital holding on strong

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On January 16, the Doug-las Copper Queen Medical Associates held their ground breaking ceremony on an 11,000 square foot expansion project to be completed later this year.

Copper City physicians and Copper Queen Hospital came to Douglas in 1999 when they purchased the old Pet Boys building and stated the clinic at its current location.

“We have been part of the Douglas healthcare sys-tem for 15 years,” CQCH CEO James Dickson said. “We now provide over 50 percent of the primary care for Douglas.”

Dickson believes health-care needs to change in or-der to meet the future needs of their patients. One of the ways to do this is to design delivery systems that provide quick access to comprehen-sive medical care, this is what the new building and quick care will do.

“It will provide quick access to immediate care,” Dickson said. “It will also, with its en-hanced diagnostics allow pa-

tients to receive total care in a one stop healthcare.”

In addition the care will be backed up by their telemedi-cine programs. The clinic added fiber optic cable to allow quick connections to specialist such as cardiology, neurology and other special-ties.

By having quick access to those specialty physicians, citizens of Douglas will be able to manage their diseases and remain independent, he added.

“It is important to know that patients will not have to use emergency rooms for care that is not appropriate in an emergency room.

According to Dickson over 75 percent of emergency room patients are not sick enough to be in an emergen-cy room. This quick care will allow them to receive a level of care in a less costly environ-ment.

As always Dickson stresses that the new addition is more than urgent care it is an ur-gent care on steroids.

Adding the enhanced di-agnostics and ties and links via telemedicine will provide

a level of care that is not avail-able in Douglas today, he said.

Dickson also announced that CQCH has reached an agreement with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale to per-form concussion care to the children of Douglas and sur-rounding areas.

“We will be rolling out this program to first developed baselines for our children,” Dickson stated. “Then sub-sequent care in case they should have accidents and

sports accidents.”Dickson closed by saying

he is really proud of what they have developed in the city of Douglas.

“This is and will be health-care at its best,” he said. “It will serve as a model for health-care throughout the united states. We are Douglas.”

As of June CQMH has put in $867,792 into the project, and they plan to start construc-tion in late September.

City’s healthcare future, Copper Queen Medical associates

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On March 15, Copperstate Insurance Agencies or better known as Douglas Insurance, moved their offices from 15th Street and F Ave. to 303 E 16th Street.

The grand opening of their new building was celebrated with music, food and a blessing by Father Richard.

Owners Lamar and Janice Welker thanked their loyal and devoted employees along with Jerry Curfman for making the new building possible.

Mrs. Welker is originally from Douglas and Mr. Welker from Wilcox. They met while working at Valley Nation Bank in Bowie in 1946 they currently live in Ajo were they run an-other insurance office.

Mr. Welker felt it would be more profitable build some-thing new then to purchase office space on F Avenue. He was offered the land on the Highway 80 and I Ave.

Curfman, owner of Bosch Construction, built the 3,000 sq. ft. office building.

Douglas Insurance offers Life, Auto, Business, Health and Tourist Insurance. They work with companies such as Hall-mark, All State, Safeco and Travelers.

The 19-year old insurance company offers services to ap-proximately 58 percent of the Douglas community includ-ing Agua Prieta.

They also provide secured mailbox rentals for six month and a year in both small and medium.

The Welker’s are known as pioneers of this county and have a warm spot for Douglas, Insurance Agent and Office Manager Ana Rivas said.


In January, Long Realty Designated Broker, Angelica Gar-cia brought Long Realty back to Douglas.

“We have a wonderful community in Douglas that rec-ognizes Long Realty as an Arizona real estate leader. I am pleased to become part of the Long Realty family and I’m excited to bring this wonderful brank back to Douglas,” Douglas Realtor and Franchise owner Angelica Garcia said. “Long Realty’s focus on a superior customer experience and its strong history in Arizona truly enhance our goals of be-coming one of the premier real estate companies in Douglas and across the southern boundaries of Cochise County.”

Long Realty Douglas provides services for Douglas, Bis-bee, Elfrida, Pearce and other Cochise County communities near the Mexico Border in Southeastern Arizona.

They provide services in sales, rentals, property manage-ment and investment property.

“We are excited to bring the Long Realty brand back to the Douglas area,” Long Companies CEO Rosey Koberlein said. “The time of this new office in its downtown location is perfect given the rebound in the Douglas housing market. I have the utmost confidence in Angelica to represent the Long Realty brand and our mission to serve the real estate needs of the community at the highest standards.”

Long Realty is located at 1015 G Ave. They can also be reached by calling (520) 364-5664.

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Last July Peak Hospitality took over the management of the Gadsden Ho-tel.

The second floor rooms of 107 year-old hotel were completely renovated. There has been some changes to the lobby but nothing that will take away from its grand feeling.

Hotel Manager Tom Rollins contin-ues to make changes to the hotel by remodeling the Saddle and Spur Bar, cleaning up and redecorating the ho-

tel restaurant and putting together a new menu.

The upgrades included the renova-tion of 28 rooms on the second floor of the hotel. The third floor rooms have been “dressed up” and are now con-sidered the “Historic Rooms.”

The second floor rooms have all re-ceived a face lift that includes new car-pet, bathroom fixtures and furniture.

The hotel itself was not the only thing getting restored. Peak Hospital-ity replaced the Gadsden Hotel bill-board seen coming into town.

“We’ve changed it to include new images of the hotel,” said Peak Hospi-tality CEO, Theo Barela.

The hotel has provided much need-ed entertainment to Douglas starting with the first Miss. Douglas Days pag-eant, Once Upon a Dream Dance Co. held its recital at the grand hotel along with a fashion show. UA South is plan-ning on holding a gala at the hotel in late August.

“The hotel has great name recogni-tion,” Barela said. “We want to become Arizona’s Grand Hotel.”

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Douglas’ Arizona Workforce Connection (AWC) held a one-year celebration in late July recognizing its first year at its pres-ent location at 515 E. Seventh Street.

The AWC is a 501(c )3 non-profit with the goal of helping people get into the workforce. It offers a variety of job seeker services at no-cost including resume writing, typing tests, job search assistance, and computer, phone, and internet usage. A variety of services are available to local businesses at no-cost via the Business Outreach Coordinator.

DES Employment Services share the office space and helps service clients in partnership with AWC. There is also a Veteran representative on staff to make sure Veterans are receiving the needed job seeker services.

AWC has been providing the Douglas area with these need-ed services for 30-35 years at their former location on 10th St,

across from the ACT Call Center. In 2013, they realized a bigger space was needed to better

service their clients and provide much needed parking. On July 15, 2013, AWC found a new home in the old health services building on 515 E 7th St.

When first moving into their new location, Rosemary Chavez, One Stop Coordinator, was overheard stating how much she enjoyed having more space to work with the clients and still appreciates the space one-year later. Since moving to the new location AWC has seen an increase in traffic meaning more Douglas residents are becoming employed. As a result of the successful move the staff felt a celebration was in order.

On July 16 the office celebrated their one-year anniversary with a dessert bar. Doughnuts, lollipops, cake, and horchata were available all day to the public and especially their cli-ents. Staff members from the Consulate of Mexico in Douglas, Chiricahua Community Health Center, and Galiano’s Café and Smoothies were in attendance to show their support.

Before cutting the cake, Lead Case Manager and Office Man-ager Anna Luna thanked everyone in attendance: “it is great to have such a beautiful office, thank you for a strong partnership with DES, and of course to our wonderful customers, and let’s cut the cake!”

Some of the staff at the Arizona Workforce Connection on Seventh Street. From left to right, Ana Peralta, Rosamaria Enriquez, Angelica Hernandez and Rosemary Chavez. The Arizona Workforce Connection is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Workforce celebrates success


Douglas residents have a new option to satisfy their mobile and home solutions needs with Russell Cellular, a Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer opened its doors in March.

“Russell Cellular is excited about our new store in Doug-las; we are looking forward to serving this community,” said President Jeff Russell.

The Douglas store offers new cell phone service, cur-rent service help, they take

payments and home service along with DirecTV.

According to store man-ager Abigail Camacho the Douglas location has over 200 new customers and keeps growing every day.

Russell Cellular has 198 lo-cations in an 18 state area, of-fering the latest equipment and service in the wireless technology industry. Verizon is located at 90 E 3rd Street. Hours of operation are Mon-day - Friday 9 a.m. -7 p.m.; Sat-urday 10 a.m. – 6 .p.m.

Verizon opens retail store in douglas

At the May 30 ribbon cutting pictured from left to right Gloria Nunez, Susan and Caitlyn Kramer, Abigail Camacho and Elisa Aguirre.

Wednesday,August 13, 2014

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Son Paises held a soft opening on March 1 and a grand opening on April 5 with a special treat, live mannequins and mariachis.

Three beautiful ladies donned clothes from the boutique.

The boutique offers jewelry col-lections in precious metals and gem-stones along with women’s fashion at reasonable prices.

Son Paises means countries and that is what owner Alma Altamirano brings to Douglas. Fashion from many differ-ent countries.

“I get my clothes from many differ-ent places,” Altamirano said.

Son Paises’ warm and comfortable environment not only makes you want to shop but also stay and visit.

“I want people to come in and enjoy themselves, they can have coffee and shop and listen to music,” Altamirano said. “My music.”

Altamirano began by selling jewelry out of her home two years ago. As her

clientele grew so did her merchandise. She went from selling jewelry to selling women’s clothes.

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son Paises brings beautiful fashion

By BruCe WheTTenSeveral months after the closing of Thomas Home Furnishings a

new store has opened up in its same location.The Rack held its grand opening Memorial Day weekend provid-

ing Douglas with another type of furniture store.Bill Thomas, owner of The Rack, said for the last five years Thomas

Home Furnishings struggled to keep its doors open because of the economy.

“We had to reinvent ourselves and what we do here,” he said. “It was a real hard decision to take the Thomas name off the store. We had been in business 61 years this April.”

Thomas is in with a group of buyers who shop around the U.S. He says there are some businesses that are doing okay but also some that are having a hard time.

“I think that coupled with the situation we have on the Mexican border where people are having a hard time getting visas; our economy is down and has been,” he said. “The sales tax going into the city is just not there.”

Thomas said The Rack will continue to sell refrigerators, washers and dryers, bed room sets, recliners, etc.

“People only buy the necessities when times are hard,” he said. “Living room and dinette sets are not always a necessity; refrigera-tors, washing machines are a little different.”

Thomas did some research and decided to try and present its store a little differently to its customers.

“We’re doing what they call soldiering,” he said. “We line up the sofas and display them that way.”

Thomas said items that are displayed are “racked” which is how he came up with the name The Rack and at the same time taking up less floor space.

“Yet we maintain the same amount of product by racking it,” he said. “We’re still selling name brands. We no longer sell Lazy Boy, it’s too high end and it takes too long to get (here). We’re also in search of some new product lines.”

The warehouse Thomas had in the CochiseIndustrial Park has been closed and the show room size at the current location has been reduced. The warehouse is now located at the same place as The Rack which means a more convenient deliveries and pick ups.

Thomas is proud to say he has been able to keep his staff of 12 people and not one person lost their job. Thomas added all of his employees have been with him at least nine years.

T&W Finance is still in the same building as The Rack but they are two separate companies.

“We’re basically two separate companies under one roof,” he said. “We offer different finance plans other than T&W; we offer 18 months same as cash; 12 months same as cash; interest free.”

Thomas said the grand opening was okay.“We’re trying some different types of advertising,” he said. “We’re

not reaching all the people we need to reach.”Thomas added today’s shopper is also different and he needs to

connect with the younger audience.“I don’t think the younger people understand the repercussions

of shopping of not shopping locally and that’s not just in Douglas.“Every community has shrinkage,” Thomas said. “We have peo-

ple go to Sierra Vista; Sierra Vista to Tucson and Tucson to Phoenix because they always think the grass is greener and they can get it cheaper. Not always the case. … We’re going to stay with this thing for a while here and see how it goes.”

The Rack is open Monday through Saturday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 364-2409 for more information.

The rack opens in a familiar location


The 46 dedicated men and women of the Douglas Police Department contin-ue their vow to protect and serve the citizens of Doug-las making it a very safe community to live.

The Douglas Police De-partment is located at the old train depot on Pan American Avenue and High-way 80. That has been their home for over 20-years.

Lieutenant Kraig Fullen has been Douglas’ interim police chief for almost two years.

He said the department is currently short three civil-ian positions which are two dispatchers and a humane officer which they are at-tempting to fill.

He also has three recruits at the academy in Tucson, one of which graduates this week while the other two are in their second week of training.

The interim Chief is re-porting Douglas experi-enced a two percent de-crease in Part I Crime during the 2013/2014 fiscal year.

“Contributing to this de-crease was a 37 percent de-crease in violent crimes such as homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault,” he said. “When we look at a 37 percent decrease the num-ber seems really significant, and it is, but for different reasons.”

The decrease, the chief said, is a difference of 24 incidents reported dur-ing FY2012/2013 and 15 incidents reported during FY2013/2014.

“While that is good news, the fact that there were only 15 incidents of violent crime is excellent; obviously the optimal number being zero,” he said. “These are the types of statistics that make

Douglas a great place to live. People can walk the street with confidence that they can do so safely.”

B e g i n n i n g i n l a t e FY2012/2013 and carrying over into FY2013/2014 (and some that will carry over into the next fiscal year) the Douglas Police Department acquired over $1.1 million dollars in grant funding.

The majority at just over a million dollars is attributed to Operation Stonegarden.

“This grant funding pays for staff overtime and mile-age reimbursement as well as equipment,” Lt. Fullen said. “It allows us to have ex-tra people on the road. Sgt. Mark Wilkinson deserves the credit for this grant – having applied initially over several years ago and re-newing the grant each year. Sgt. Carlos Trujillo brought in just over $79,000 in grant funds from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.”

Roughly half of the mon-ey was used to purchase a vehicle to be used for DUI enforcement. The remain-ing half is to reimburse staff overtime associated with DUI enforcement.

Lt. Fullen added Sgt. Jose Duarte acquired a grant for just under $1,000 from the Arizona Auto Theft Authority for officers to at-tend training in auto theft. In each of these examples these achievements were in addition to their assigned duties.

“Last year the efforts of the men and women in pa-trol and investigations re-

sulted in the culmination of approximately $320,000 in asset forfeiture,” the interim Chief said. “Each and every member of the department deserves credit for their out-standing work. Last but not least, I am grateful for the men and women who carry out their civilian duties to truly keep the department operational behind the scenes; in this case literally; the communications staff who you may rarely see but who answer your calls for service; records and evi-dence staff who work dili-gently to maintain records and statistics, administra-tive assistants who maintain impeccable files and rise to every occasion; and the hu-mane officers who do an in-credibly difficult job.”

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Trisha MaldonadoAlf re do Ramos , who

served as the warden at the Arizona State Prison Com-plex in Phoenix, took over as the ASPC-Douglas warden on November 10 replacing Yolanda Elliott.

He was raised in the com-munity of Wapato located in Yakama Indian Reservation and he worked for the Wash-ington State Department of Corrections, retired after 30 years.

He has worked for the Ari-zona Department of Correc-tions since 2004.

“I wanted to continue to work in corrections,” he said.

Ramos’ father and grand-father both were migrant works and taught him the importance of hard work and education.

Ramos sees his staff as hard working and commit-ted individuals.

“They are great hard work-ing people, committed in-

dividuals, corrections is not for everybody. You work in an environment where suc-cesses are small steps,” Ra-mos said. “The staff here has been great.”

Ramos had learned from past experience that gain-ing the inmates respect doesn’t come from standing in the background.

“Being out and about is very important to me, I think it is important that we participate in what they do every day,” the warden said. “They don’t see you

they don’t know who they are its kind of hard to gain any respect. Respect is very important in this field. They need to see us out there they need to see who we are. They need to know that we are out there with them and not standing in the back ground just watching.”

Ramos had the pleasure of meeting Warden Antonio Baca in 2004. Baca taught him the culture of Arizona and to interact with the in-mates on a human level.

He is also committed in in-creasing the work programs and hopes to continue upon the path of Warden Baca.

“Work and education pro-grams are something I did for 30 years. I had a hand in developing working pro-grams in my other career,” he said. “I think work pro-grams help people change and improve their confi-dence level, which is a win situation for all of us.”

alfredo ramos, douglas’ new aPC warden

dPd makes douglas a safe place to live

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By BruCe WheTTenThe Douglas Fire Depart-

ment located on 10th Street has been serving the Douglas area since 1902.

Currently there are four fire trucks on hand, one of which is a 100-foot ladder truck that was purchased two years ago, six ambulances, a rescue truck, a command vehicle, a support vehicle, a fully load-ed haz-mat trailer and the chief’s company truck.

The DFD is also assisted by Lifeline helicopter who is cur-rently stationed at Cochise

Regional Hospital. There are two Lifeline helicopters in Co-chise County, one in Douglas, the other in St. David and whenever one is out trans-porting a patient the other is on standby.

DFD Fire Chief Mario Novoa has been with the depart-ment since 1998 and chief since 2004.

The chief says there are 26 employees at the depart-ment, 24 of which are fire-fighters/emergency service technicians, an administra-tive assistant and himself.

“We are currently going through a pre-audit though our Insurance Service Office (I.S.O.),” the chief said. “Cur-rently the city of Douglas has a rating a 4.4. The lower the number the better we are. We are one of the first ones in Co-chise County to have that low of a classification.”

Fry and Sierra Vista Fire Department’s have since fol-lowed with a four rating, the chief added.

“There is a lot of criteria they classify us under to in-clude training, availability of staff, manpower and how we are actually manned, 24/7,” the chief said. “They check us on all our pump appa-ratus, inspections, training and education, water supply, communications and any-thing having to do with fire suppression around the city.”

This 4.4 classification re-sults in lower insurance rates for home owners and also at-tracts new businesses.

Chief Novoa announced the Douglas Fire Depart-ment will soon be adopting the 2012 State of Arizona Fire Code which calls for tougher inspections on all businesses and homes.

Currently Douglas is oper-ating on the 2006 code while the state as a whole is operat-ing on the 2003.

“When this takes affect it will impact a lot of our busi-ness owners and commerce,” the chief said. “We will have to be a little more stringent with our inspections. We will do our best to help our local business owners make sure they can comply. It will not be an over night thing. We will let them know what changes

will be coming about.”Douglas has a lot of old

buildings that do not have a sprinkler system set up inside their store should a fire break out, the chief said. This could be one of the changes but that has yet to be seen.

Chief Novoa and Captain Ayala will be starting their 17th year as Emergency Med-ical Technicians at Cochise College this fall.

Members of the DFD also undergo regular haz-mat training at various locations around the United States.

The chief said he had three guys just come back from training in Baltimore and an-other crew is scheduled to at-tend a training in Sacramento while another crew will be headed to Boston, both of those in September.

“This is all paid and reim-

bursed by the state of Arizo-na,” the chief said. “I am cur-rently the haz-mat chief for Cochise County right now. Then I have Matt King and Captain Hutado who are second in command and we work constantly with county to make sure all departments train on a quarterly basis and in a ready state at all times.”

The chief said he also has a firefighter who is trained in wild land fire fighting.

“The city of Douglas has just adopted the Cochise County Wild land Property Protection Program,” the chief said. “We’re hoping to mitigate issues before they become a problem. We’re here to everybody in need whether it’s county, state or nation wide.”

dFd provides valuable support to the citizens

Trisha MaldonadoKWR Construction broke ground at

the currently location of Sunnyside Fire Department (SFD) back in August 2012 and 19 months later the SFD crew finally moved into their new home.

It hasn’t been an easy road to their new station with weather delaying construction and the SFD getting a new fire chief but now the station is nicely located within their district.

The $345,000 fire house is located on Washington and Primrose and houses 15 volunteer fire men.

The funds for the station came from a USAD loan and funds the fire depart-ment was able to save over the years.

“It’s exciting because we have been in city limits for so long and now we

will be in our actual district,” said Tom Schelling, business manager for the Sunnyside Fire Dept.

On the backside the fire house there is a meeting room, storage room, re-stroom and the Chief’s office, on the front facing Washington, there are three big bays for the fire trucks.

SDF has another fire truck coming in soon, said interim fire Chief Victor Ro-driguez. “We are also waiting to install the communications tower.”

But for now the firemen are taking calls from the station and they are also holding trainings out of the location.

sdF’s new home


The City of Douglas has purchased a new street sweeper in August of 2013. The last time the city pur-chased a street sweeper was more than 25 years ago.

Pictured from left to right in front of the new street sweeper are: Councilmen Luis Greer, Mitchell Linde-mann, Rudy “Popo” Quinonez, Mayor Danny Ortega Jr., Ben LaForge and Ray Shelton.

Keeping it clean: City street sweeper takes

pride in cleaning away

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New Mexican consul Jorge Ernesto Espej-el, arrived in Douglas on July 7, with nearly two decades of experience working along the U.S./Mexican border.

At a welcoming for the consul and a rib-bon cutting for the Mexican Consulate building on July 18, Espejel thanked both Douglas Mayor Danny Ortega Jr. and Agua Prieta Mayor Irma Villadosola plus all those in attendance.

“Mayor Ortega and Presidenta Irma Vil-ladosola our ally, neighbor thank you so much for being with us. Also to my col-leagues and friend Ricardo Pineda Albarran, thank you,” Espejel said. “To all the Federal Authorities of the United States of America and legislative representatives of Arizona and Congressmen of the United States, state authorities from Cochise, Graham and Greenlee counties and to all the cities, and friends for joining us at the new Mexican consulate here in Douglas.”

Espejel also has served in consulates in Eagle Pass and McAllen, Texas, and Los An-geles.

In Texas, his staff’s time was dominated by human rights a n d p r o te c-tion concerns. Among them: arranging re-turn transpor-tation for mi-grants caught by the Border Patrol; reunit-ing smuggled children with family in Mex-ico; notifying r e l a t i v e s o f loved ones who died during border cross-ings.

“After being in the consulate of Mexico in Omaha Nebraska for nearly six years in the center of the United States, now I find my-self again in a border town in an office that

is modern and spacious along with a very enthusiastic and professional team,” the new consul said. “The Mexican consulate in Douglas attends to the responsibilities

of three coun-ties, Cochise, Graham and Greenlee that shares 85 miles of border with the State of Sonora Mexico and at tends to the por ts o f e n t r y o f Douglas and Naco, the con-sulate plays a major role in

the Northeast of Sonora. This afternoon I thank the Mayor Ortega for his presence and warming welcome during my first day in Douglas, it touched me to notice that Douglas is a very friendly town, with all of its citizens involved with the development

of the border and interested in taking action in the shared responsibilities.”

His primary responsibility remains to be the protection of rights of area Mexicans, illegal and legal. He plans to promote busi-ness exchanges and economic ventures in Mexico and to continue the growing rela-tionship between Douglas and Agua Prieta.

Espejel will also work with the consul in Nogales and other border towns that are being struck with the overwhelming flow of undocumented and unaccompanied mi-nors.

“We are here to help those in need,” Es-pejel said. “We will help in any way possible.”

The father of two teenage daughters will continue to work closely with both Ortega and Villadosola in helping construct the commercial port of entry.

“We will continue to work together to complete all the projects in hand and to form a more secure and prosperous bor-der.” Espejel added.

Mexican Consulate in douglas

new boss, new building for the Mexican Consulate

“We are here to help those in need,” espejel said.

“We Will help in any Way possible.”

douglas dispatch progress 2014

Documents

douglas sister city

douglas city council

douglas high school

city of agua prieta

middle schools

c grades

b grade

ray borane middle school