CITIZENS FOR PICTURE ROCKS MEETING Tuesday, July 19, 2011

7:00 p.m.

Social time with refreshments at 6:30 p.m.

Picture Rocks Community Center

5615 N. Sanders Road

On the agenda are community announcements and guest speakers from Picture Rocks Fire

Department and Trico Electric. PRFD will talk about current programs available to the community, and

Trico will discuss monsoon season safety. Free, all neighbors welcome.

Membership and volunteering are encouraged: $20 per year for an individual, $25 for a family

includes the right to vote on C4PR decisions and plan future activities.

TALENT SHOW AT PICTURE ROCKS INTERMEDIATE The school year ended at Picture Rocks Intermediate School with the Annual Talent Show on May 24. The show opened with teachers in zombie makeup and costumes dancing to “Thriller,” followed by 23 acts with 49 student performers and six MCs. Girls outnumbered boys on stage by a huge margin, and all were well received. The talent show is a great way to help kids over-come the widespread fear of talking or performing before an au-dience, and build confidence in themselves. Way to go!

PICTURE ROCKS DIGEST Vol. 9, No. 7 ***For more information, visit our website at www.CitizensForPictureRocks.org*** July 2011

Welcome to the Picture Rocks Digest, a free newsletter about issues and events in the community. The print version of this all-volunteer publication is distributed at area businesses and community sites. The electronic version is available online at www.CitizensForPictureRocks.org and via email. If you have events or news items, or if you would like to be added to our email list, please contact us at Pic-tureRocksDigest@comcast.net.

The Picture Rocks Digest is a publication of Citizens for Picture Rocks, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(4) civic organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in the community. C4PR meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the Picture Rocks Community Center, 5615 N. Sanders Road. Meetings are always free and open to the public. Membership is not required, but strongly encour-aged. Annual membership dues are $25/family or $20/individual.

NEIGHBORHOOD GOING TO THE DOGS?

WHAT YOU CAN DO Robert Cox of Pima Animal Care Center was a guest speaker at the June 21 Citizens for Picture Rocks meeting. He reminded us that, even as rural residents, we are subject to Pima County’s Animal laws.

Cox emphasized that dogs are required to be confined to your home or property, either inside the house or in a fenced area. When the dog is taken outside its confined area, it must be on a leash no longer than six feet in length. Violators are subject to civil and criminal penalties, which can be thousands of dollars, and can be held liable for any damages or injuries caused by their animal.

All dogs over three months of age are required to be licensed and vaccinated against rabies. Dogs must have adequate shelter from the elements (sun, wind, rain, mud) and fresh clean water at all times. The water container should be tip-proof and kept out of the sun. Tie-outs are illegal — no chains, tethers, runs, or leashes (unless connected to a human).

Violators can now be reported anonymously. However, when fil-ing a complaint you will have to provide PACC with specific infor-mation, such as the address of the person you are reporting. Of-ficer Cox advised taking a picture if reporting leash law viola-tions.

For more specific information on these and other animal laws visit www.azleg.state.az.us (AZ Revised Statutes, Title 11), and www.pima.gov (Pima County code, Ch. 6). To report an animal bite, stray dog, or for more information contact Pima Animal Care Center at 520-743-7550 or on the web at www.pimaanimalcare.org.

SAVE THESE DATES

KAP (KIDS AND PARENTS PLAYTIME) REGISTRATION: July 11-15. Limited to eight children ages 3–5 years; lottery for places if more than eight registrations. Picture Rocks Community Center, 5615 N. Sanders Road, 682-7166.

SHRED-A-THON: August 13. The Pima County Sheriff’s Depart-ment will conduct a Shred-a-thon for personal paper documents on Saturday, August 13, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at Desert Winds Elementary School, 12675 W. Rudasill Road. It will be a drive-thru drop-off, with an attendant coming to your vehicle and transferring personal paper documents to a bin for shred-ding. No business documents, credit cards, CDs, etc.

BOOKMOBILE: Friday, July 15. Abbett Library Bookmobile visits Picture Rocks Community Center on the third Friday of each month from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

BENEFIT FOR WOUNDED WARRIORs PROJECT: August 20, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Picture Rocks Fire Station, 7341 N. San-dario Road. Food and fun. Donations welcome to honor and empower wounded warriors sent to fight in foreign lands.

Zombie teachers and musical students at

Picture Rocks Intermediate School.

MEET OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES:

SPOTLESS EXPRESS Jennifer Strickland was harvesting a giant zucchini from her little garden when I arrived to interview her. I compared it to the puny little squash from my own garden, and Jen said she “had some help from above.” Jen tries to “walk with the Lord and let the light shine through” in all aspects of her busy life, and especially in her residential and commercial cleaning business. Spotless Express incorporated at the beginning of 2010 and is li-censed, insured and bonded. Jen moved to her present home that summer after four years in the area. She comes from Mis-souri and says that Picture Rocks “felt like home” to this “country girl.” A lover of the desert, her spare time finds her on horseback riding the desert, checking out the sunsets that she finds “so much better than in town.”

Turning 41 this July, Jen is clearly passionate about her life and work. Spotless Express has over 30 regular clients, but she and her employees still take on occasional additional jobs as well. Jen says, “I feel blessed to have the opportunity to serve people in my community with quality service at a reasonable price. I’m able to feel good about what I’m doing.” That also includes being a Coldwell Banker real estate agent. Of that Jen declares, “It’s an exciting time in real estate. It’s a buyer’s market and a great time to move up.” Jen can be reached at 302-0202, or by email at spotless.express@yahoo.com.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY REMAINS ELUSIVE, PRCCI HELPS The economic recovery remains out-of-reach for many people, including neighbors. Picture Rocks Community Center Inc. (PRCCI) at 6691 N. Sandario Road continues to help those still hurting with food and clothing. Surplus bread and produce (and sometimes other goodies) are distributed free by PRCCI volun-teers. PRCCI President Bob Blais reports that during the month of May, there were 1008 visits. That translates into nearly 50 people each day, feeding 631 families. Twelve vouchers were also given out for free clothing. The food distribution runs Monday through Friday; arrive before 9:00 a.m. to reserve a place on line. The PRCCI Thrift Store is also open weekdays until noon; donations are always welcome.

SUPERVISORS OKAY PICTURE ROCKS SOLAR FARM

The Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on June 21 to approve a Conditional Use permit for a 199-acre Avra Valley solar farm on the edge of Picture Rocks. Approval, however, was based on the developer meeting conditions laid out by the County Administrator, many of which already had FRV agreement.

The 305-acre site, leased from Tucson Water, is on former agricul-tural land west of Sanders Road and north of Emigh Road. A vote was to have been held April 19, but the Supervisors held off for 60 days to give Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) time to work out differences with neighbors, primarily from the Tierra Linda gated subdivision.

FRV plans to construct a solar farm of about 96,000 solar panels that would follow the sun, rising eight feet above the ground at their height. The project will generate 25 megawatts of electricity which goes to Tucson Electric Power Company through an existing low-voltage transmission line, and can meet the power needs of over 3,000 TEP customers.

FRV held a number of contentious meetings with neighbors and has tried to meet their concerns. They have agreed to set the actual solar farm further back from roads than originally planned, and to construct a wall, with landscaping, to keep the project out of sight of neighbors, at a projected cost of $600,000.

Pima County had also made a number of recommendations, and the Director of Development Services, Carmine DeBonis, Jr., sent a lengthy memorandum to the Supervisors on June 6, along with 34 attachments adding up to nearly 500 pages. The memorandum addresses County and community concerns with independent re-search by the County as well as FRV’s responses. It’s available online at www.pimaXpress.com; click on the line at the top of the page referencing the FRV Solar Project.

With no consensus on a community project offered by the devel-oper, FRV has joined with Tucson Electric and Trico Electric Co-op to “…assist the Marana Unified School District in funding and de-veloping a renewable energy technologies and biological restora-tion curriculum that incorporates (student) visits to the solar pro-ject and demonstration workshops (to) teach students about re-newable energy, the different technologies that can be developed, and biological restoration practices that minimize potential environ-mental impacts.” “We hope,” FRV Vice President Tim Lasocki said in a June 9 email communication to neighbors, “that through this curriculum FRV can play a role in educating and shaping future ca-reers in renewable energy.”

(For a more detailed story, please see Albert Vetere Lannon’s arti-cle in the July Desert Times.)

SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOLS PUBLIC ART

Spotless Express proprietor

Jennifer Strickland with

Skipper. Her cleaning

business serves

Picture Rocks, Marana,

Oro Valley and Tucson.

CHEAPER THAN VEGAS but just as

much fun! PRCC’s Ladies Night Out

on June 24 was a sold-out, women-

only event that featured “high

stakes” gaming with fake money, and

that’s no Bunco. Watch for a

community dinner in September.

DIST. 25 STATE REPRESENTATIVE

PEGGY JUDD and husband Kit dropped

in at the June C4PR meeting. Aside from

former Rep. Jennifer Burns, who lives in

Picture Rocks, this is the first non-

campaign visit from any state legislator

in anyone’s memory.

If you haven’t strolled

along the newly con-

structed “Safe Routes to

Schools” sidewalks and

bike lanes along Rudasill

and Sanders Roads, then

you probably haven’t seen

Robin Riley’s local artwork.

Shown in the photo on the

right, this mosaic was

made, in part, by Desert

Winds Elementary School

students. One percent of

all Transportation Depart-

ment grants is earmarked

for public art such as this,

which was selected with

input from community

members.

PICTURE ROCKS FIRE CELEBRATES FOUNDER’S DAY The First Annual Picture Rocks Fire District Founder’s Day was held on June 4 at Picture Rocks Park, Pool and Community Center. There were hot dogs and hamburgers, sno-cones and popcorn, community information booths, tie-dye banners and even a live sidewinder and gila monster brought by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. There were fire trucks of all kinds, two jumping castles, a bookmobile, Scouts, Sheriff’s Auxiliary volunteers fingerprinting kids, and lots of bottled water. Fireman Bill sang safety songs for children.

Fire Chief Brett Lane made the only speech of the day, dedicating the two front-line fire engines to the memory of two children who died in a March 1, 1977 fire on Picture Rocks Road. The loss of life and the fact that it took almost an hour for firefighters to get here from “over the hill” led to creation of a volunteer fire department, now grown into a full service emergency service provider.

Chief Lane told the crowd, “We have chosen this day to honor the children, the founding residents of our fire district, and everyone whose three decades of effort has made this public safety agency what it is today.” Engine 121 was named “Kathy,” and Engine 122 was named “Steven” to, as Chief Lane put it, “serve as a reminder to each firefighter of their most important purpose.” He thanked the community for joining in “a day of remembrance, pride, joy, and hope for a safer future.”

In related news, PRFD Governing Board member and former fire chief Chuck Hay resigned after the budget vote at the May 19 meeting, but rescinded his resignation at the June 9 meeting, before it had been formally accepted. Therefore, there will not be a vacancy on the Board as reported in last month’s Digest.

LIVING IN NATURE: TOAD-LY AWESOME! high-speed transition into toads.

Toads eat bugs, including mosquitoes, and anything that eats mosquitoes is my friend. Toads are attracted to lighted areas, be-cause bugs gather there, creating a buffet opportunity. To defend

themselves against predators, they se-crete a toxin through their skin that is both yucky and poisonous to varying degrees. If you handle one, remember to wash your hands well.

Other small toads that show up are Mexican green toads and red-spotted toads. The large Sonoran Desert toad, formerly known at the Colorado River Toad, can eat a small bird or rodent

with a flick of its tongue. They are especially toxic to dogs, and it may require washing the dog’s mouth out with a hose to induce vomiting and rushing it to a vet if it decides to taste a big toad. Our dog pretty much ignores them, even when one plops in his water dish. I just have to remember to change the water.

July is the month when the monsoon, or chubasco, season usually begins, although with climate destabilization the storms seem to start later and later. What the deluge will do, if and when it comes, is awaken Couch’s spadefoot toads to begin a frenzied cy-cle of reproducing. Spadefoot toads, so-named because of the hard digging spur on their hind feet, dig deep in the moist soil of last summer’s rain and wait, sometimes for years. When it pours and the ground is again softened, they dig back up to the surface and start squawking when the sun goes down.

I’ve heard two toads calling to each other from half an acre away, and found them together in a puddle by morning, the male with his front legs clasped around the female. In that position she lays her eggs and the male squirts his sperm on them to fertilize them. By the next day the eggs have hatched and tiny tadpoles are swimming around. As the puddle shrinks under the blazing summer sun, metamorphosis speeds up and the tadpoles become tiny toads amazingly fast, themselves ready and able to dig into the cool mud to await the next storm. I once collected some eggs and hatched out a bunch of tadpoles, but they all died, because the container I had them in stayed full of water, disrupting their

The Picture Rocks Digest is written by Albert Vetere Lannon (email: bluemoon@dakotacom.net; phone: 622-3561).

Design/format by Karen J. Zopf. For ads, contact Jamie Kisthardt at 682-0287.

For information on advertising in the Picture Rocks Digest, call 682-0287.

SUN VALLEY GROWERS Thornless Mesquites

Shrubs - Soil Low Water Trees In Picture Rocks at 11205 W. Ina Road

Tues.-Sun. 8am - 5pm

These two fires trucks were christened “Steven” and “Kathy” after

the two children who died in a 1977 fire because help arrived too

late. This tragic event motivated volunteers to form the first Pic-

ture Rocks Fire Department, whose founders were celebrated at an

event held last month at Picture Rocks Community Center and Park.

See page 3 for more information and photos.