Desert Messenger

July 10, 2019 www.DesertMessenger.com 5 RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER thank you! "Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."~Joseph Campbell C & B LOCK & KEY Betty Crenshaw CML Owner 42 Years Experience 928-927-6589 MOBILE SERVICE ONLY Thanks for another great season! SEE YOU IN THE FALL! Bonded - Insured BLM Approved Serving Quartzsite and Surrounding Areas Health Fair planned for July 11 A Free health fair will be held on Thursday, July 11 from 8am - 12 noon at the Quartzsite Senior Cen- ter. Learn if you qualify for state medical insurance. For more infor- mation contact 928-927-6496. June's Food Bank Writing Contest Winner How the Food Bank has helped me: In Two Words – Stress Relief I'm on disability, below poverty level but too high for food stamps. I'm prudent, but given infl ation, I fi nd myself short before my next check. In months when there are 5 (not 4) weeks between checks, the food bank helps me survive. Know- ing I won't have to go without food for a week (or two) is a great relief. Because I know what it's like to starve. During the fi ve years I endured to fi nally get disability, I nearly starved to death. Maybe AZ law is kinder, but in North Carolina at the time, only a woman with children could get food stamps. No food bank existed. I am grateful for the food bank because it exists. Knowing it exists helps me. Because I don't worry I'll starve to death. I nearly did. I spent fi ve years in a primitive mountain cabin, struggling to sur- vive. Genuinely ill, starvation did not improve my strength, condi- tion, or ability to work. Denied food stamps, I sold all I owned for a pit- tance, for beans, rice, onions and Ramen. Black beans, onions, rice 3 times daily for years; then, only tea and Ramen. Tea warmed. Ra- men warmed and gave my growling stomach something to gnaw on. I survived a skeletal 80 pounds, teeth squiggling in bleeding gums. (This isn't a third world country… Right?) No food bank. No meat. Not dairy. No produce. Not even canned vegetables. I can still panic worry- ing I'm going to starve, because it's 2 weeks until my next check. But I can go to the food bank. Christina For information on how to donate to the Friends of the Quartzsite Food Bank: QuartzsiteFoodBank. com, Or mail check to FQFB PO Box 4051 Quartzsite, AZ 85359 From La Paz County Sheriff's Offi ce: June 28 at 6:06 PM · La Paz County Sheriff's Offi ce coor- dinates large effort to remove multi- ple trespassers with countless cars, trucks, motor homes, trailers and over 130,000 pounds of garbage from state trust land in Ehrenberg. Over the past couple of years, our Deputies have been dealing with a steady rise in crime in the southern desert area of Ehrenberg, near the I-10 on/off ramp. One of the major contributors to that spike in crime was an area of State Trust Land that had been overrun by trespassers liv- ing in broken down vehicles, trail- ers and tents. Lieutenant R. Epps and Detective J. Johnson coordinated a large scale effort to remove the trespass- ers and clean up the area that had been turned into a miniature city of garbage, abandoned vehicles and human waste. The trespassers were given written notice to clean up the area and leave by a certain day or they would be removed. It took approximately two weeks and around 50 people from the Sheriff's Offi ce (Patrol, Investiga- tions and Detention), La Paz Coun- ty Animal Shelter, Public Works, Everett's Towing, Parker Towing, A Toe Truck and Republic Services to remove the trespassers and clean up the property. That section of desert is clean again and we've already noticed a signifi - cant drop in crime in that particular area. Thank you to everyone who as- sisted. Sheriff's Office clean up in Ehrenberg

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