Desert Messenger

6 www.DesertMessenger.com May 18, 2022 DESERT MESSENGER Quartzsite's FREE Community Paper Proud to be a Quartzsite Licensed Business 928-916-4235 O� T��� - E���� T���! Founded by Walt Akin October 1, 2004 P�������� �� P���� R��� P��������� C�. P.O. Box 3185 Quartzsite, AZ 85359 NOW PUBLISHED ONCE/MONTH on the 3rd Wednesday of each month OWNER/EDITOR/PUBLISHER GRAPHIC DESIGN/ AP AR MARKETING EXECUTIVE/CLASSIFIEDS Shanana "Rain" Golden-Bear CONTRIBUTING JOURNALIST Jackie Deal CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Starr BearCat NAME PLATE DESIGN Paul Winer www.DesertMessenger.com www.DesertMessengerOnline.com E-mail: Editor@DesertMessenger.com 2021-22 © Copyright All Rights Reserved Copyright 2013 Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Desert Messenger. LIKE US on Facebook.com/ DesertMessengerNews FOLLOW US on Twitter @QuartzsiteRain By Shanana "Rain" Golden-Bear DEADLINE : WED. JUNE 3 TH for JUNE 13 th edition Desert Messenger News Email: editor@DesertMessenger.com 928-916-4235 www.DesertMessenger.com "Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division." —John Lewis QUARTZSITE ROCKS! LETTERS TO EDITOR POLICY Desert Messenger encourages letters from its readers. Letters should be no longer than 300 words, and may be edited for grammar, content and length. OPINIONS EXPRESSED HEREIN DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THOSE OF THE DESERT MESSENGER. We invite you to not only see a problem, but search for the solution to share with the community, keeping the benefit of all in mind. Letters considered libelous, in poor taste, on a personal issue, mean spirited or dominated by Scripture quotes will not be published. Third party letters will not be accepted. To avoid confusion over people with common or similar names, writers must provide a full name and indicate the name they are known by. Writers must provide a full street address and phone number. Rvers can provide the location of park/BLM land, etc. Street addresses will not be published. Phone numbers are for verification only and will not be printed. Send letters to: Desert Messenger, P.O. Box 3185, Quartzsite, AZ 85359 or E-mail to: Editor@DesertMessenger.com 928-916-4235 Stay up to date with Town Hall Town of Quartzsite now offers text notifi cations on your phone through TextMyGov. iWorQ is excited to an- nounce a strategic partnership with @TextMyGov to expand citizen en- gagement with text messaging To opt in, text the word "QUARTZSITE" to 91896. What to expect: After the initial keyword is sent, you'll receive a confi rmation message asking you to reply "YES" to verify opt-in. There will be 0-4 text messages per month with a notifi cation from the Town regarding the categories you are opted-in for. Message and data rates may apply. Check with your mo- bile phone carrieer for more details. How to Opt-Out: Text "STOP" at any time to remove yourself from the notifi caiton list. Also are you looking for an- swers? Need to report an issue? Now you can Text the Town of Quartzsite directly. Introducing the new way to skip a phone call and use your mobile phone's text messaging to fi nd answers to your questions. Text "hi" or one the words listed be- low, to 928-260-4442. "Trees, Sewer, Contact, Street, Wa- ter, Pothole, Weeds, Departments, FAQ." TextMyGov will help you to quick- ly fi nd the answers your looking for or help you to report an issue to the Town. For many of us, it's been a diffi cult few days, witnessing the pain and suffering of families who lost their loved ones in recent shootings across this nation. However, watching relatives try and manage their anger with compassion- ate support has been encouraging. Over they years, I've seen many issues not being addressed, so I wrote a list of concerns, just local issues... but it is a very long list! In the process, I was re- minded that when we focus on the neg- ative, it's so easy to fi nd more negative stuff, and it sure can be exhausting. So instead of focusing on what hasn't been done around town, like allowing a local tabloid to operate without a business license for over a year, ignoring 6 years of complaints about a residence that looks and acts like a junkyard business, not fi xing the solar lights on Plymouth Walking path, faded government signs, etc., it's healthier for me to focus on the solutions. When we seek solutions to our problems, we can face those chal- lenges head-on. I totally understand that we must acknowledge what is wrong in order to fi x it, but we don't have to keep replaying it in our minds, so enter "the list" which will soon be de- livered to Town Hall to address. Years back, another tabloid was pub- lishing hateful rhetoric and untruths. We saw locals get angrier and start to act out. A former mayor asked me to debunk everything they printed. I re- plied, "But if I did that, I wouldn't have time to focus on all the positive news happening around us." After Saturday's shooting, some folks are publicly ignoring or denying that racism is even real. Some are saying the shooter had mental issues. So do all those folks talking about "replacement theory" have mental issues too? Or is it folks just plain forgot that we are all related to each other as fellow human beings on this planet we all call home? According to "Violent Death Rates in the US Compared to Those of the Other High-Income Countries, 2015," "The United States is not the only country with mental illness, domestic violence, or hate-fueled ideologies, but our gun homicide rate is 25 times higher than other high-income countries." This is not what makes America great. Neither is hearing daily antifeminist rhetoric on local radio or reading in a local tab- loid Russian propaganda (Putin's full speech to his nation before going to war with Ukraine-without any context). Hateful rhetoric has no place in our world, period. Not for the color of one's skin, religion or lack of religion, or who someone loves, or how one chooses to live their life. It's up to each and ev- ery one of us to call out hurtful rheto- ric when we see it, and ask for more compassion...for the betterment of our whole community. "The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members." – Coretta Scott King

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