There’s only one week left to return you mail-in ballot for the FUSD Override election.  Your ballot must be received by 7:00 pm on Tuesday November 3, 2009 at the Coconino County Elections Office 110 E. Cherry St., Flagstaff, AZ 86001.  You can also drop off the ballot in person at the elections office any time before the end of the day on November 3rd.  The County also has several white drop boxes at several County Office locations, including the Health Department at 2625 N. King Street, in Tuba City at the Elections Office on Main Street.

If you have any questions, please contact Coconino County Elections Office at (928) 679-7860.

Our household received our election ballots for the override in the mail today.   My wife and I voted this evening and will return the ballots to the County Elections office tomorrow.  Naturally, I voted YES in support of continuing the 10% budget override for FUSD.

According to a Coconino County Elections news posting, voters who have registered by October 5, 2009 and who have not received their ballot in the mail by October 20, 2009 should call the County Elections Office at (928) 679-7860.   When you do complete your ballot (which I encourage you to do as soon as it arrives so it doesn’t get overlooked), you can mail the ballot back or drop it off at one of several locations around the county.   To read the complete news post by the County Elections Office, click here.

All ballots must be received in the elections office by 7:00 pm on Tuesday November 3, 2009.  Don’t delay!

I was summoned in for jury duty yesterday. I was actually seated to serve on the case, so I can’t talk about anything going on with it until after it is 100% finished. Please don’t ask. It is scheduled to be over next Tuesday. Might be sooner, might take longer. Who knows. But I am enjoying the novelty of the experience and learning what I can about the way things work. The long periods of waiting can be tiring though

Coconino County added a nice feature to the Arizona system of jurisprudence. Jurors are allowed to ask questions of witnesses if they want to. If a juror has a question for a witness, they write it down, hand it to the bailiff, who then passes it to the judge. If it is permissible within the rules of evidence, then the witness is asked to answer the question. The entire State of Arizona adopted this system within a matter of years. I was impressed by the logic of it.

Video: CameraFRAUD on Coconino's Pursuit of the Jackson

We’ve warned you for a while that “All They Want To Do Is Take Your Money.” Now it appears that Coconino County wants to “take your twenty,” too.

Flustered county officials are upset that they’re having to process the influx of machine-generated tickets, while not getting to cover their own costs.

Since all of the money either goes to the vendor or to the State, the court is left holding the bag– and the overloaded docket of fraudulent tickets.

The solution? Charge an additional $20 to anyone who challenges or ignores the ticket. While we’re not sure the logistics of trying to enforce the twenty dollar surcharge on those who ignore the ticket (they would still have to be served under Arizona Rule 4), one thing is certain: It’s all about the money.

[Source: Morrison Institute, Arizona State University] – Arizona is one of the nation’s most urban states, and now it includes one of 20 “megapolitan” areas in the U.S.  People have predicted for 50 years that Phoenix and Tucson would grow together into a giant desert conglomerate — a possibility that has been seen as exciting, intriguing, and distressing.  While a solid city is unlikely given the diverse land ownership in central and southern Arizona, it is true that the two metro economies are merging.

Morrison Institute’s new report “Megapolitan: Arizona’s Sun Corridor,” one of the first reports in the U.S. on a single megapolitan area, recognizes a more sophisticated technique for analyzing urban growth — that shared economic and quality of life interests are more important than physically growing together.  The report offers a bold potential picture of Arizona’s urban geography, its future opportunities, and “megaton” challenges.  Just released and available online, it presents a scenario for 2035 based on some current trends.  It analyzes the Sun Corridor and provides insights into the region’s global potential, water, governance, sustainability, and “trillion dollar questions.”  It discusses the “tragedy of the sunshine” and asks the provocative question:  In 2035, will you want to live in the Sun Corridor?