New Year, New Headquarters, New Ground Party Papers

In this issue…

_{Local news roundup
Upcoming events
Water News
Adoption Options}

Welcome to the new year…

Are y’all ready to keep up with all the news in 2025?

Don’t worry — I’ll be doing my best to make it easy for you. And I’ll be doing it from the new Ground Party Papers Headquarters in Douglas, a 100-year-old compound, formerly a “hotel”, now owned by two locals with big plans for its future.

I’ll miss the view of Cochise Stronghold and all the wildlife up in Dragoon — like that young raven who once kept knocking on my door until I let him in to hop around inside. Friendly little guy. But I also look forward to being able to bike around town instead of breaking the bank on gasoline.

And the building I’m at is pretty cool. It features a striking mural on its side which might make it onto a new “Douglas Mural Tour.” Apparently there are 80 indoor and outdoor murals throughout Douglas and the city’s director of tourism thinks they could be a draw for visitors. Learn more about the mural tour idea.

West of town, Douglas officials have taken another big step toward building the new commercial Port of Entry that’s been in the works for decades, with the city selling the surrounding land of the project site to the federal government for development. Catch up on the details here.

The commercial PoE is intended for semis hauling goods across the border, and you might be wondering how they’re gonna make it to the interstate. The proposal I’ve heard about is a path up 191, cutting across Davis Rd to 80, and then up through Tombstone. Could that be why a large section of 80 north of Tombstone will be intermittently closed for fresh paving? Check the closure schedule and plan your trips accordingly.

The Winter Winds are here, as we’ve all noticed. Thankfully, our community knows how to come together. The Douglas Fire Department has opened an emergency warming center, and Bisbee’s shelter is encouraging those in need to huddle up in their building. Sierra Vista also has a shelter which recently avoided closure by merging with Catholic Community Services.

Out in Willcox, a gusty day turned into a major hassle for one resident when high winds ripped their roof clean off. Read their story.

And the Coronado National Forest has shut its gates for the season, so you’ll need to make other plans for outdoor adventures.

Meanwhile, at the county seat in Bisbee, there’s a sense of energy and fresh starts among the two newly elected County Supervisors, Kathleen Gomez and Frank Antenori, and incumbent Tom Crosby. The new trio of Republicans has been meeting together frequently since January 1, appointing Antenori as the chair of the gang and discussing a more hands-on role for the supervisors in county business. Read more in the Herald/Review.

On a bittersweet note, the Bisbee Breakfast Club is set to lose its historic and beloved Lowell location. Freeport McMoRan, the mining company who owns the property, has decided not to renew the lease, saying the building is no longer safe for occupancy. The restaurant owners are deeply bummed and have been rounding up letters from the local community asking Freeport to reconsider the eviction. More here.

This move comes right on the heels of Freeport’s decision to demolish the nearby Lavender Mill evaporation pools, those massive concrete structures along the highway that look like spaceship landing pads. Just a coincidence — or maybe the signs of some kind of exit from the area? We can only speculate.

Update! I’m sorry to report that last night in Bisbee there was a fire that destroyed multiple structures, including three homes on Strong Row and Bisbee Rd. No reported injuries.

Out in the hinterlands of Cochise County, people continue to work their curious magic, including the county’s first pyramid home over in McNeal. You might have seen it near the intersection of Double Adobe and Frontier, the work of mad genius and skilled carpenter Gary Robertson. Local Herald/Review reporter Shar Porier visited Gary who told her that his grandfather, a pyramid researcher, gave him the vision for building pyramid homes. This is his second pyramid build and he’s got plans for an entire community of the structures. Read more.

And at Moksha Sanctuary in Pearce, 27 wild horses are finding a safe haven with caretaker Crystal Field. The horses were the survivors of a much bigger herd, most of which were found killed by gunshot in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, she explained to Pat Parris with KGUN9.

If you’re looking to get out of the homestead, check out some of these local goings ons:

• Portrait Drawing @ Object Hotel, 29 Main Street, Bisbee. Sunday (today), 12:30 – 2 PM. $10. Bring your own supplies.

• Chess Club (Presented by Cochise Chess) @ Douglas Public Library, 560 E. 10th Street, Douglas. January 14, 3:00 – 5:00 PM. FREE.

• 32nd Annual Wings Over Willcox Birding & Nature Festival. January 16-19. Featuring keynote speaker John Marzluff, Professor Emeritus of Wildlife Science, University of Washington. Learn more about the festival here.

Or if you’re more into solitary stay-at-home activities like writing, the annual Cochise College Creative Writing Contest is now accepting submissions. Details and guidelines here.

Speaking of writing, I’ve got some new projects kicking off, including a personal Substack blog where I share random musings, and a new project from the Arizona Agenda called the Water Agenda which launches this week.

Some readers may know I’ve been working as copyeditor and guest writer over at the Agenda since last spring, and I’ll be the lead writer for their water-focused offshoot, covering water stories throughout the state. You can subscribe here.

I’ll probably be pointing readers to the Water Agenda for statewide water reporting from now on, but I’ll still be covering county-wide water issues here in the Papers.

Like this one: Arizona superior court judge Scott Blaney has just ruled against the Center for Biological Diversity who said the Arizona Department of Water Resources must designate the Upper San Pedro Basin an Active Management Area. But Blaney agreed that the situation in the basin is dire.

And Gila Valley Central reports that our reelected local legislators Rep. Gail Griffin and Sen. David Gowan have vowed to fight back against Governor Hobbs’ AMA designation for the Willcox Basin. They didn’t provide details on what their strategy might be.

I’ll keep y’all informed about what happens next.

Adoption Options

Welcome to a new, maybe only semi-regular, feature in the Papers: a spotlight on local pets up for adoption.

Today we’ve got three majestic orange-and-alabaster baddies over at the Bisbee Animal Shelter, all of whom are up-to-date on their medicals. Melvin is the long-hair, Winifred is the medium-hair, and Horace is the short-hair. Absolute stunners who are also avid birdwatchers.

The Bisbee Animal Shelter is at 938 Tovreaville Rd.

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Thanks for reading!