Desert Messenger

3 T-shirts wanted 4 Christmas Parade 5 Geoglyphs 6 Editorial 7 Letters to Editor 9 Around Town 10 Adventures with Rocks 15 Traveling with Gypsy Jane 16 Blood Drive 17 Restaurants 18 Puzzles 19 Arrest Report 20 Churches 22 Paul Winer Cartoon 22 Classifeds www.DesertMessenger.com • "Quartzsite's FREE Community Paper" • 928-916-4235 WEDNESDAY, October 19, 2016 VOL. 13 # 244 Now in our 13 t h YEAR! Alwa y s FREE! WHAT'S INSIDE Turn in expired medications at QPD Sat. Oct. 22 The Town of Quartzsite and Parks & Recreation Board is planning their annual Halloween event at the Community Center. Halloween falls on Monday this year, so this year's HALLOWEEN Pumpkin Parkway Party will be held on Saturday, Oct. 29. Fun starts at 4pm at the Com- munity Center, where there will be games, free hot dogs for the kids, costume contest with lots of categories, prizes and more. The Youth Council will be orga- nizing the Haunted House in the Library this year at the end of the Halloween Walk. Volunteers are needed to help with a variety of games at the Community Center. If you'd like to volunteer, check out the Facebook group, "Halloween in Quartzsite" for more details. Help make this another memorable event for our youngsters! Businesses, Organizations, RV Parks and Groups are encouraged to participate Trick-or-Treating along the Haunted Walking Path along E. Quail Trail, from Com- munity Center to Town Hall. You can set up a "station" (Table, Tra- ditional Trunk or Treat, Booth, Themed Spooky Scene, etc.) Prizes will be awarded again this year! To reserve your space, call Quartzsite Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism at 928-927-5200. On Saturday, October 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Quartzsite Police Department (QPD) and the Drug Enforcement Admin- istration (DEA) will give the public its 12th opportunity in six years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescrip- tion drugs. Please bring in all of your un- wanted and expired prescription medications for proper disposal. Personal information will not be gathered and you will remain anonymous. Please remove all pills from prescription contain- ers and put into plastic baggies. For safety reasons, needles, liq- uids and powders should remain in their original containers. Proper disposal of prescription medications at the Quartzsite Po- lice Department ensures that these medications do not get flushed into and contaminate the water systems or sit in a landfill. Most importantly, it helps keep chil- dren, teens, and adults from ac- cessing them and abusing them. Last April, Americans turned in 447 tons (over 893,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at almost 5,400 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,200 of its state and local law enforcement part- ners. Overall, in its 11 previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 6.4 million pounds—about 3,200 tons—of pills. This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly sus- ceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of acci- dental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused pre- scription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now ad- vised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines— flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards. The Quartzsite Police Depart- ment accepts prescription medi- cations any day/time during nor- mal business hours. For more information please call QPD at 928-927-4644. Halloween event planned Sat. Oct. 29

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