Not everyone wanted a Pancho Villa statue in Tucson

Today’s question:

Why is there is a statue of Pancho Villa in downtown Tucson?

Because we live in Arizona and Arizona is full of odd things.

The 14-foot, 7-ton bronze statue of Villa by sculptor Julian Martinez and foundry man Javier Portilla was given to Arizona in 1981 by the Mexican government and Mexican media organization Agrupación Nacional Periodista. I’m not sure why.

The gift was a source of considerable controversy and there was much debate over where to locate it. The late Tom Price, then head of Tucson’s operations department, agreed to take it.

The controversy, which has since pretty much faded away, was understandable. Villa, after all, did lead an army of 1,000 into Columbus, N.M., on March 9, 1916, and killed 18 Americans and burned down most of the town.

That prompted President Woodrow Wilson to send Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing and 6,000 troops to Mexico to capture Villa, which proved to be easier said than done. Villa was finally killed by assassins in 1923.

Why is the president of the United States not required to have a security clearance?

The U.S. Constitution requires that a president be a natural born citizen of the United States, to have been a resident for at least 14 years and be at least 35 years old. That’s about it.

Why do some people call an apartment a flat?

That’s a British thing. I don’t think many speakers of American English call an apartment a flat, except perhaps for the occasional pretentious twit.

It comes from the Scottish use of “flat” to mean a floor or story of a house. It came into use meaning an apartment in the 1820s.

Is there any connection between the harvesting of agave pups and the emergence of the century stalk?

No, there is no connection.

Have a question for Clay? Reach him at 602-444-8612 or clay.thompson@ arizonarepublic.com