MARICOPA COUNTY
REPUBLICAN BRIEFS
RepComm@cox.net
July 1, 2010
ATTN: CANDIDATES AND CAMPAIGN WORKERS – Political Signage in Easements
During this time of year it is not uncommon to see political signage on all corners of many busy intersections. What many people may not know is that placing these signs into the ground is considered excavation by the standard of the AZ State Law Title 40, Chapter 2, Article 6.3, Section 40-360.21.
The law defines excavation as: “any operation in which earth, rock or other material is moved, replaced or otherwise displaced by means or use of tools, equipment or explosives and includes, without limitation, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, augering, boring, tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing or driving.”
Many of the signs have been spotted with sharp spikes directly over gas distribution, telecommunication and power facilities. Often facilities are assumed to be located at a depth greater than the sign will be planted. However many factors influence how deep a facility actually is and the depth should never be assumed. From a safety perspective, planters of political signs must be educated as to the process for having the facilities located prior to placing them into the ground.
The process is simple, free and the law. It requires that the Arizona Blue Stake Center be notified 2 full business days before the excavation is to take place. A phone call to 602-263-1100 in Maricopa County or dialing 8-1-1 or 1-800-STAKE-IT (782-5348) from anywhere in the state will allow all owners/operators of underground facilities to either locate and mark or let you know there is no conflict with their facilities.
Making contact with an electric or gas line can cause serious injury. Many times damages to facilities occur without an immediate impact to life or property. However, those damages can create problems years later. The bottom line is the process is easy, the call is free and it is one of the laws that help keep Arizona citizens safe.
Please educate all of your staff that “plant” those signs to follow this process in advance of their activities. If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
Louis Panzer – Public Services Manager
Office: 602-659-7504
Cell: 602-617-4177
Louis.panzer@azbluestake.com
www.arizona811.org
HERMOSILLO, Mexico (AP) — A massive gun battle between rival drug and migrant-trafficking gangs near the U.S. border left 21 people dead on Thursday, prosecutors said.
The clash occurred in a sparsely populated area about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Arizona border — a prime corridor for immigrant and drug smuggling.
Sonora’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that nine people were captured by police at the scene of the shooting, six of whom had been wounded in the confrontation. Authorities at the scene found seven rifles.
On Tuesday, seven bullets believed to have been fired from one or more AK-47s from across the border hit the El Paso City Hall. It was big news in the Texas border town right across the river from Juarez, Mexico, but it earned a collective yawn from the national MSM. What do the East Coast news gods care about us here in Texas anyway?
Folks in El Paso, though, were somewhat offended. The El Paso Times reported:
EL PASO — Several gunshots apparently fired from Juárez hit El Paso City Hall on Tuesday afternoon. No one was hurt, but nerves were rattled at City Hall in what is thought to be the first cross-border gunfire during a drug war that has engulfed Juárez since 2008. El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry said investigators do not think City Hall was intentionally targeted but rather was struck by stray shots. “It does appear the rounds may have come from an incident in Juárez,” Petry said.
President Barack Obama said today that U.S. borders cannot be secured with fences and border patrols. “It won’t work,” he said.
Obama made the statement in a speech at American University in Washington, D.C. in which he called on Congress to enact a “comprehensive immigration reform” law that would include a “pathway for legal status” for illegal immigrants—or what critics call amnesty.
“Even as we are committed to doing what’s necessary to secure our borders, even without passage of the new law, there are those who argue that we should not move forward with any other elements of reform until we have fully sealed our borders,” said Obama. “But our borders are just too vast for us to be able to solve the problem only with fences and border patrols. It won’t work. Our borders will not be secure as long as our limited resources are devoted to not only stopping gangs and potential terrorists, but also the hundreds of thousands who attempt to cross each year simply to find work.”
Read the rest.
Elias Perez, 5, sits on the shoulders of Gerardo Reyes of Immokalee, Fla. , as they protest the Arizona Immigration Law SB 1070 outside Sun Life Stadium, before a baseball game between the Florida Marlins and the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, May 17, 2010 in Miami. (AP)
At baseball games across the country, America’s national pastime is competing with another longtime American tradition: protesting.
Opponents of Arizona’s new law cracking down on illegal immigrants are trying to put pressure on baseball commissioner Bud Selig to move next year’s All-Star Game from Phoenix, and they’re doing it by protesting the state’s Major League team, the Diamondbacks.
The protesters are following the Diamondbacks from ballpark to ballpark, from Dodger Stadium to Fenway Park, accusing the team’s management of supporting the Arizona Republican Party, which is responsible for the bill.
“The Diamondbacks represent Arizona, and Arizona is our key target,” Favianna Rodriguez, a lead organizer with the activist group Presente.org, told FoxNews.com. “When we deliver an economic blow to Arizona, it really sends a message that Americans will not tolerate laws like this.”
With immigration stories dominating headlines nearly every week, President Obama is delivering a speech Thursday morning that will frame the issue on his own terms — calling for comprehensive legislation and the importance of keeping the border secure.
But he is not expected to announce any new policy during the 10:50 a.m. (7:50 Arizona time) address at American University’s School of International Service in Northwest Washington, officials said. Nor is the Justice Department going to announce its decision on a lawsuit in Arizona, where a new law makes it easier for police to detain suspected illegal immigrants.
Obama officials have been widely critical of the law since it was passed and signed by the Arizona governor this spring. But in the Virginia suburb of Prince William County, about 40 minutes from Washington, local leaders have called for passage of a similar law.
