Thumbs up, down from the Yuma Sun
• Thumbs up to San Luis developer Nieves Riedel, who recently donated a parcel of land for a future shelter to the South Yuma County Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
• Thumbs up to the Yuma County Superior Court, which is participating in a pilot program with the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission. As part of the program, the court is using a computerized fingerprint scanning system, with the goal of improving criminal history reporting. The program replaces the “ink and roll” fingerprint method.
• Thumbs up to tourism in Yuma County! Visit Yuma reports that 2017 was one of the best years for tourism in our area in nearly 10 years.
• Thumbs up to our local high school football players, who kick off their season tonight. Best of luck to our teams!
• Thumbs up to Chief Carla Provost, who was named the first female chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. Provost previously served in the Yuma Sector as assistant chief patrol agent from 2006-2009, and then served as the Wellton Station’s patrol agent in charge until 2011. Congrats!
• Thumbs up to the Western Arizona Council of Governments (WACOG), which recently reopened a former elementary school campus as an early childhood education center. The Gwyneth Ham-WACOG Early Learning Center offers programs for children from birth to age 5.
• Thumbs up to the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office, for reminding drivers to be careful now that school is back in session. But a serious Thumbs Down to those drivers, which includes parents, who drive like maniacs during school drop-off and pickup times. Let’s keep all the kids safe, and drive cautiously.
• Thumbs down to the report that Lake Mead water levels are sufficient for the next 13 months, but a looming shortage could trigger cutbacks as soon as the end of 2019. This winter’s snowpack will be critical in determining what happens next. In the meantime, states and communities need to get serious about water conservation, and find ways to live with less.
Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down are compiled by the Yuma Sun editorial board, based on recent events, happenings and activities around Yuma County and the nation, and will appear on Fridays in the Yuma Sun.
DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS OR NOT?
I read your story on the front page about lessons on power generation, and it sounded pretty good. Except I didn’t see anything about security and as you know we do not have a secure border with Mexico. It is not just people from Mexico and South America coming across but people from the Middle East who want to attack America. By my best guesstimate from the border to the nuclear power plant is about 75 miles. Some terrorist would love to sneak across and throw a bomb over the fence if they were able to get close enough. I do hope we are not downwind from there if that ever happens. It is my prayer that they do have double or triple security, not just a security guard at the gate. I guess if we had a secure border then this wouldn’t be such a worry, huh?