Sedona/Verde Valley "Camp Casey" weekly candlelight vigil

[demzilla]

Just a note to any and all who live in the area or who are passing through: We are meeting every Wednesday, from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the corner of Coffee Pot and 89A in west Sedona. Two weeks ago we had about 60 people, about 25 last week. Many signs, candles, and friendly honks. This being Sedona, last week we had a guy with a digeridoo. Tourists from New York came by to support us. . . . Feel free to join in!

[ET Awful]

1. Damn, you just made me homesick for a place I haven't seen since

1988 or so :).

I grew up in Cottonwood.

[demzilla]

3. Well, it's GROWING

Cottonwood has become big box central, with a Super Wal-Mart, a Home Depot, and soon to be a Lowe's. The road to Sedona is four lanes now. Cottonwood has a big meth problem and just became the first city in Arizona to require that Sudafed tablets be kept behind the phramacy counter. Real estate prices have shot up in the last couple of years. Median price in the Verde Valley is now reaching $250,000 and Sedona is half a million.

But, hey, old town is very nice, and there's a cool farmer's market every Thursday.

[ET Awful]

4. Meth problems don't surprise me, hell, half the people I went to

school with were meth-heads waiting to happen :).

Let's see, I remember TG&Y, Safeway, Babbit's dept. store (with a dept. store on one side and a grocery store on the other). I can't remember the name of the record and book store that used to be in the TG&Y/Safeway shopping center though . . . shit, it's been a while. I used to buy craploads of used books at that store when I was a poor broke kid :).

Oh yeah, and the old hippie healthfood store as you head from Cottonwood to Clarkdale on 89A. A friend of my dad's used to own it . . . I think it was called Mt. Hope :).

[demzilla]

2. Sedona Red Rock News slanted??? Hmmmm.

Here is a copy of a letter I am sending today to the local newspaper, which publishes on Wednesdays and Fridays. Let's call the media on it when they're biased!

Dear Editor:

If some 50 or 60 patriotic Americans gather on a street corner in Sedona to support President Bush and the Iraq War, would the Sedona Red Rock News cover the story?

Oh, wait. That’s not what happened. On the night of August 17, some 50 or 60 patriotic Americans gathered at the intersection of Coffee Pot and Hwy. 89A to support Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan and to opppose the Iraq War. And someone from the Red Rock News came by, interviewed people, and took several photos.

In the four editions of the paper that have appeared since, there has been not a peep about the protest. On Friday, August 19, one of the two lead stories was about a Republican candidate for the Arizona House (“Detwiler to run for District 1”). This Page One, top-of-the-right-column story received 21 column inches, not including the photo. (I must wonder if the Red Rock News will accord such prominent placement to every candidate, Democrat and Republican, who announces for this seat.)

And since then we have been treated to the usual array of filler stories, including 18 column inches on “Polish Fireman to Visit SFD” in the August 26 edition.

It appears to me that the Red Rock News is the victim of, how shall I put it, selective news judgment. I speak as a former daily newspaper reporter and city editor and the winner of two newswriting awards. When some 60 people gather in a small town to wage a protest, be it for or against something, it deserves at least a photo. Otherwise the paper in question cannot even pretend to claim that it provides an accurate picture of local news.

Sincerely,

Demzilla (OK, well I didn't put Demzilla!)