Desert Messenger

WHAT'S INSIDE 2 Red Cross Month 3 Clean up the Gardens 3 Easter Egg Hung 4 White Rock Realty Ribbon Cutting 4 AZ Hosts Groundwater Town Hall 4 Parker Tube Float 5 Know Your RV Tenants Rights 5 AARP Tax help 6 Editorial 6 Paul Winer Video concert 7 The Salvation Army Updates 8 CT Scans in Quartzsite 9 QES Students of the Month 9 Firefi ghter Fundraisers 9 I-10 Construction updates 10 Gardening with Dennis 10 Senior Center Raffl es, Old Tyme Day 11 Splash Pad updates 11 Health Expo 12 Street Preservation schedule 16-17 In Memoriam 18 Museum Updates 19 Around Town & Poetry 20 Vi-Sa-Wen GFWC Women's Club 21 Heroes Appreciation Day 21 Citizen Review 21 Vietnam War Veteran Day 22 Classifi eds 23 Photos 25-40 SPECIAL SECTION ONLINE! DesertMessenger.com "Quartzsite's FREE Community Paper" 928-916-4235 March 20, 2024 VOL. 20 # 368 Alwa y s FREE! N�� �� ��� 20 t h YEAR! SEE JUSTICES PAGE 18 March 20 March 20 "You say goodbye and I say hello" AZ Supreme Court Chief Justice Brutinel & Vice Justice Timmer visit La Paz County ����� | S������ R��� G�����-B��� By Shanana Rain Golden-Bear Parker, AZ- As part of their statewide tour to meet with local judges, Arizona Supreme Court Chief Jus- tice Robert Brutinel and Vice Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer were in Parker for a meet-and-greet with La Paz County offi cials at the county Superior Court House on February 28, 2024. Chief Justice Brutinel will be ending his fi ve-year term in June and Vice Chief Justice Timmer will be replacing him. Justices Brutinel and Timmer are visiting superior courts in all 15 counties to meet with judges, lawyers and other offi cials. La Paz County (LPC) Superior Court Justice Marcus Kelley hosted the event and introduced the Justices to representatives from LPC County, including LPC and CRIT Courts and staff, LPC Probation, LPC Accessor, LPC Attorney's offi ce, Quartzsite and Parker Magistrate Justices and staff, along with Parker and Quartzsite offi cials. Brutinel shared about the fi rst time he was in La Paz County Courthouse as a visiting judge back in 1996. Brutinel became Chief Justice on July 1, 2019. He said, "When I began my term, I got the idea to travel around the state visiting each county's court- house, so I could understand what the issues were in the state. I quickly discovered that things are, in fact, different in each county." "Every county has its own set of problems, every county's got different resources and each county is in different relationships with their local govern- ments, community and board of supervisors." "So as I wind up my term as Chief Justice, I thought maybe we should do it again." Brutinel and Timmer decided visit each county together. Timmer called it the "you say goodbye and I say hello Tour!" Timmer said, "My number one goal, as has been for the past three or four chief justices is "Access to Jus- tice." It's important to build back the public's trust in courts, since some people have lost faith in the judicial system and a lot of government institutions over the last few years." Courts used to be immune to that, but no longer. It's a concern for me. It's such a cornerstone of our democracy. It's something to tackle, but it's worth pursuing." "We need to fi nd a way to present cases in, perhaps, a more entertaining manner," she said. "There's got to be a way we can capture the interest people have in criminal justice and civil justice." Chief Justice Brutinel added that people who at- tend court when cases are open to the public, they tend to have a more favorable view of the system.

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