I just thought since I had the priviledge of living in the Valley of the Sun for over 11 years I would share some of the politics of Crime and Punishment for the county.

See in the Valley is half of the citizens of AZ and the Sheriff is Joe Arpiao. He was elected several terms ago and I am sure he will be sheriff until he passes away or doesn't run again. This is why:

Sheriff Joe is a conservative Republican with no tolerance for crime, that is why he ran for sheriff. His campaign promises were many and among them was to only serve one term. That is the only campaign promise he broke. I know it is amazing to find a politician who actually did what he said he would do. This is how it started:

The County Board of Supervisors are all three Democrats, moderate to liberal. The first time Joe was elected the first thing they did was to cut his budget in half and put a moritorium or building new jails. They were trying to sabatoge him. Fortunatly for Joe the Gulf War had just ended and he had an idea. Phoenix is warm, desert weather year round. So he bought the surplus tents and created "Tent City".

Tent City was immediately taken to court, Joe's defense was twofold. First - to live in tent city was a priviledge and second - if it was good enough for our armed service men and women then it has to be good enough for criminals. Joe won. The reason it is a priviledge is that with the moritorium on building a new jail there are 4 or 5 men living in a cell built for 2 or 3. So the non-violent criminals are allowed to live in the tents if they follow his rules.

Next he cut the coffee. He allowed each person who wanted a cup of coffee one cup a day until the supply ran out. Back to court we went. His defense. The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints live most of their lives without a cup of coffee, why do the criminals need it. It only serves to give them extra energy. He won again.

Next he cut all television. Back to court went the advocates. Joe lost this one so he compromised. He allowes the inmates to have the weather channel and motivational speakers. Back to court we went. This time he won.

Next he took away the weights and put in basketball courts and a library. He was taken to court and he won as he said there was not reason to create superstrong criminals. They could play ball, walk, run, read or watch tv for recreation. He also pointed out that they could do pushups and other aerobic excercises if they wanted to build muscle mass. He won.

Next he dyed the underware bright pink because it seemed to be walking out the door with the inmates. Back to court we went. Well he won again. So every year there are fundraisers for the Jails by people baking and selling pink boxer shaped underware cookies. You can also buy a pair of pink boxers signed by Joe for the jail charity. The loss of underware virtually disappeared.

Next Joe started feeding the inmates bologna sandwiches for lunch. Back to court we went. Joe won again as he is only required to feed them. His argument was that when he was in college and raising his children he and his wife at bologna and pbj sandwiches every day, as do many working people. Why should the prisoners eat better than the average citizen.

Next he started the chain gang. Of course you guessed it, back to court. He had many members of the first chain gang testify on his behalf. He explained the program to the judge. Only those in tent city are allowed to be on the chain gang. They go about in the valley picking up trash on the side of the road. It starts with a contract between the inmate and Joe himself. They agree to go everyday for 30 days and do this work and at the end of the 30 days they get a certificate of completion. Many of the men that testified said it was the first thing in their lives they had ever finished. Joe won.

Next he was taken to court because Tent City only housed men, therefore it was sexual discrimination against the men to force them to live differently then the women. So he opened a tent city for the women next door. He won the court battle again.

This being next door thing cause a problem as contact between the fence was possible, causing more problems (little ones). So he put up a barrier between the two. Back to court for blocking the view of the city. The judge ruled that an inmate had no expectation to view the city.

Next there was a complaint from the city workers that the chain gang members were wearing the same orange jump suits they were and they didn't want to be mistaken for inmates. So Joe put the inmates into black and white stripes. Yes of course back to court. Joe put forth the complaint of the county workers and of course he won. So now our chain gang members wear the traditional black and white striped garb of old.

The next thing he did was to create a 500 member armed and mounted possee. The job of the possee is three fold. First they help process the paperwork on weekends of drunk drivers to save the officer from being having to do three hours of paperwork for one drunk, so more drivers can be taken off the road. Second they help with crowd control with large sporting events and concerts etc. Third they assist in rounding up the hookers and johns and keep them moving from road to road making prostitution harder to find. Of course this was challenged as they are armed. Well AZ has a conceled weapons law that allows them, if you go through a course. Joe requires each possee member to go through that course, buy and keep their own horse, buy their own gun and other supplies and pass a criminal background check. They are never paid as they are volunteers. So guess what he won.

The next thing he did was dismiss the cooks for all of the jails, including juvie. He replaced them with trusted cooks. This in itself was not the problem, he was taken to court because he was serving donated day old bread to the inmates. He explained his budget restraints and again he won.

Now as to how the Juvenile system works: When you are first incarcerated you are given blue pants and a white tee shirt. It is explained that there are levels you can progress depending on the color of your shirt. A white tee shirt has no priviledges except for laying on their bed and breathing. They can speak only if given permission to speak. They can only respond to a member of the jail staff.

The next color up is a blue tee shirt. With a blue shirt you can speak to the staff and get the priviledge of going to school.

The next color up is a yellow tee shirt. You get the priviledge of speaking to a staff member, going to school, 1/2 hour of tv everyday and a 10 minute phone call once a week.

The highest color is red. With red you get the priviledge of school, speaking to any staff member, any other inmate, 1 hour of tv a day, a twenty minute phone call each week and 1 soda a week.

Now the judges are aware of this system of colors of shirts and when brought before a judge they must explain why they are wearing the color of shirt they are wearing if it is not red.

The last thing I heard was that Joe was being taken to court for age discrimination. The juveniles were not being allowed into a Tent City of their own. There were plans for one, I just have not followed up on it.

Joe Arpiao has put the unpleasentness back into being in jail. My nephew, son and nephew-in-law have all spent time in Joe's jail. None of them want to go back. So in 04 when he ran for his fourth term, my son and nephew had no problem voting for him. The agree with what he is doing, cutting down on crime. However my nephew-in-law was still bitter about the ten days he did in tent city. So we asked him "Do you want to go back"? He of course responded with a no. Then we asked what is the purpose of jail. He said to deter crime. We said point made. He voted for Joe as well.

If you haven't followed the career of Joe Arpiao you should. If all sheriffs were following his lead. Life would be better in this country. Beth.

My niece passed away in 1998, she was born without ear canals and only a partial ear drum. She had other physical disabilities and for some reason the Phoenix Suns took on the Phoenix Day School for the Deaf. So she got to meet a lot of them. Charles Barkley was one of her favorites. She followed his career until she passed away. I will ask my sister the names of the others she met and post them later.
She met Kevin Johnson, who helped her with bowling. There were several others including Danny Ainge, however; Charles Barkley was always her favorite. She loved attending their games. What a treat for her. And because of her wheel chair she always got to sit up front. We of couse had to sit with her. She cheered them on with all her spirit. Which was a great deal. She was a choice daughter of God sent to us to care for. We love her dearly. We miss her daily.

Her sister, my other niece, dated the brother of David Spade, and the nephew of Robin Williams and got to meet both of them. My mother always thought Spade's brother was funnier than Spade. Of course my niece was terrified to meet Robin Williams. She didn't know what to expect. I believe he took them in a small plane over the Grand Canyon if my memory serves me correct.

As for anyone who didn't see the answers in my previous post, my nephew, yes from the same family, played Pop Warner with the son of Danny Ainge. He acted like any other father and we treated him like any other father. He was always there during the ball games and most of the practices.

Also my mother in law sees Perry "The Fridge" Williams at the store fairly often. Take care Beth.

Now I forgot the people my husband has shared stories about from his time as a tour guide in the Grand Canyon, he got to help set up the safety precautions for the first President Bush. He went white water rafting when James Taylor was along, he said he was just another guy until he brought out his guitar for everyone each night. He was also on call when Sylvester Stallone decided he couldn't take two weeks of white water rafting, and paid to be helicoptered out. He wasn't needed as Stallone was fine, he just didn't want to finish the trip.

He has met several Chiefs of the Indian Nations he served when he was working as a medic, also at the canyon, that is why he was on call with Stallone.

Otherwise I truely believe this is the last of them. Beth.

The only other famous people I know of in my family is that my Great Grandmother Margret Ellen Einstein was Albert Einstein's second cousin. I don't know if she ever met him, but I do have the records to prove it.

I also grew up babysitting next door to one of VA's many govenors. We, as the band, went to play at his inaguration. It was pretty cool. His son was a year older than I was and we definately didn't move in the same circles.

Now I do know and was in track with a writer for the Phoenix paper, Bill Goodykoontz. He too was a year older than I but we would talk during track as we both did the back jump. But that was years ago.

My husband met Aaron Tipton at a truck stop when we were fueling one day. He held the door for him and said hello, (my husband that is) I asked him if he talked to him, and he said he just thanked him and said hello back. He is one of my husband's favorite singers.

When I worked at the Waffle House in Christiansburg VA. I did cook the meal that the Statler Brothers were going to eat. They did not actually come in but did send me their signatures on a napkin. One of the morning waitresses threw it away thinking it was a fake. They are one of my favorite bands.

Basically other than having a family that started many areas of SW VA. I don't think there are many other famous people that have crossed our path. If I think of more I'll let you guys know. Beth.

My mother has met some very interesting people. She grew up singing with the the group that is very famous, mostly for backing up Elvis. Right now their name escapes me, it one of those bad name days. They are still touring and when they were in Phoenix last year they asked Mom to join them. Her health didn't allow that to happen but I am in awe that the Jordanaires (I finally remembered) still thought of her. After all it has been fifty years since she started singing with them. She still has a great voice.

When she was between 12 and 13 Annette Funachello moved into her school. Up to this point my mom was used to getting all of the attention and she was very jealous of Annette. She did everything in her power to get the girls to be mean to her. She didn't realized that Annette would just leave and go to private schools or tutoring. She was just being a kid. I think this is one of her great regrets, as she did write to her and apologize but it was too little too late. I am sure now maybe she is not as upset at mom, but still it had to hurt terribly. It made an impression on me and how I treat people. I chose to try not to intentionally do harm.

She spent many years of her life in Florida. Whe she first moved to Boca Raton, she and a friend of hers were walking along A1A that is the highway that runs along the intercostal the entirel length of the state on the East coast. Well the friend was telling her whose house was whose and you must realize that my mother never remembers trivial things like names of actors or things like that movie names if she really liked the movie then she remembers it but mostly she describes it and I tell her what it is, so when they were walking by this one house her friend said Oh and this is Tom Selleck's house and Mom responded with Oh they guy that did that show from Hawaii with the two dogs and the red car. At that time he popped his head out of the bushes and said Yes I am. He then proceeded to take them into the house and gave them a tour, introduced his wife and they had a soda with him and his wife. I thought it was great she even knew who he was.

A few years later she was working in the Keys and one day she was supposed to be going to church and the boy scouts and their mothers were supposed to be selling Hawiian Shave Ice, that was the business she was in at the time. Well it came time to start and no one showed. So for the first rush of the day she kicked off her shoes and went to work. Well she always had a sign, 50 calories per 8 oz all natural, etc. As she sold the businesses so she was always looking to sell one. She was blasted with customers waiting and someone started reading the sign in a foreign accent and then started asking her questions about the business and flavors etc. Well in typical fashion for my mom, she said well tell you what just start that other machine over there, (two machines to a cart), and we can talk while we work. She never looked up. When the rush was over about an hour later, the guy knew all there was to know about Hawiian Shave Ice and had agreed to buy a hand machine and the flavors. It was Arnold Schwartznegger. She was so shocked that she had treated him so badly and apologized. They were filming True Lies and the entire crew was watching him make shave ice. He made them wait until he was finished with the business transaction. The piece de restsistance was when she thanked him for the hot dog and sodas while waiting for the several hours for the bridge scenes. He laughed. We don't know if it was an ad lib for him when he said snow cone maker or if the writers put it in, but we like to think it wasn't there before.

However, I think one of the most famous people she knew was her own father. He was an evangelist, Abraham Tannenbaum. He is well known in the South for his abilities to preach. He is also credited with creating what is now known as the Philly Steak Sandwich. My uncle ran the resturant until he retired about 20 years ago to just north of Miami. Abe also had a chain of clothing stores as well as the resturants. What he did before he became a christian I don't really know. Mom doesn't remember and the ones that do know aren't talking. My mother's oldest sister said she thought he was a doctor, but we know he was an engineer so maybe he had a doctorate degree. We know this because he was working on a project in New Jersey when he bought a bag of the safety pops. Well one of mom's younger brothers asked for one and he said no these are for daddy. Well it made mom mad so after the maid packed his lunch she took it all out and filled it with the lollipops. So as all of the working men were doing that day he tore into his lunch and all of the suckers came flying out. They called him lollipop the rest of the time he worked there and many still after. He came home furious at the maid and Mom yelled back at him and told him that she did it because he wouldn't let Nat have one. She was the only one that could get around him. The other six have a slightly different view of him. All of them viewed him as bigger than life though.

Well that's all that I can think of right off hand. Beth.