Sunday, July 31, 2005 - This weekend the Nassau West Department of the Interior led the effort to clean up the Copper Creek Recreation Area (shown in the picture). Hundreds of pounds of dead and dying material was removed from the park.

Meanwhile, the Nassau West Department of Transportation directed the project of diverting flood waters away from the recreation area and building a bridge over the creek. In the end, the DOT settled for a temporary bridge that will at least guarantee passage until a permanent bridge can be constructed.

These projects were slated to begin Saturday, but conflicting schedules delayed the start until this afternoon. The Department of Transportation was called off to a trucking company in Tucson for about five hours yesterday, and the Department of the Interior decided to wait for them to begin their work.

The work today began about 1 PM and continued until almost 6 PM when Nassau West Sheriff Kelly Bartram became ill due to exposure and could no longer work. After laying down for about an hour, Bartram returned to help clean up and dispose of waste materials.

Unfortunately, due to the late start and the loss of a day, neither department was successful in completing the tasks at hand. While the park was cleaned up as planned, it remains closed because of the hazard posed by the debris left behind. The DOT didn't fare any better.

The jobs planned for the DOT included widening Copper Creek at its narrowest points. This was deemed necessary to keep the heavy volume of water produced by recent monsoon storms swiftly moving across and through the property. They also were to rebury the telecommunications cable that has become exposed due to flooding on the west lawn.

The DOT pulled up the exposed cable and began digging a trench to put it in. About sixty percent of the trench was completed as of quittin' time. According to information provided by Sheriff Bartram, the cable was originally buried not more than two inches under the surface.

For the past week the telecommunications at the Capitol and the Benson Embassy have been unpredictable at best. The Capitol the entire time has had DSL service, but no phone service. The Benson Embassy is just the opposite. Qwest Communications, everyone's favorite, came out and looked at it and said it's not their responsibility to bury the cable, and they got dial tone on both lines. Hmm. Bastards!

So, things are not likely to change much in the way of telecom services until next weekend. Should an emergency occur requiring immediate attention, please call 911. Both the Capitol and the Embassy have cell phones which can be used for non-emergency matters. The Capitol also has email and chat available.