BISBEE WIRE #117/around town/events/AI/population decliine/christian school rake/new laws/word
editor: fred miller September 26, 2026 #117/September 2026
Hello,It's a lovely Fall weekend with happenings all over town. Sat is Oktoberfest in the gulch from noon-6 with lotsa music afterward. On Sunday Copper Queens have tryouts for the team. Warren ball park, 10-12, more info ....Also Sunday, Project Wildlife throws their third annual party in the upper vista, 5-7, with music, drinkies, and food. The weeks ahead are filled with activities; an Eco Fest, stair climb, BRATS parade, mile high halloween, and on into November. I hope you can get out and take advantage of our wonderful lil city. My totally biased cheat sheet with candidate and propositions will be out before early voting on 10/7 fred
...............AROUND TOWN................ BBC TO OPEN IN OB LOCATION, OCTOBER 26The Bisbee Breakfast Club will close their Lowell building on October 18, and reopen in the former Contessa's Cantina, 202 Tombstone Canyon in Old Bisbee, on Monday October 26 at 7 am. According to owner spokesperson, Terry Kyte, the menu will be the same as the former location. Bisbee was the original location in Lowell of what is now 10 locations of the locally owned chain as well as an eleventh coming in Vail; five in Tucson, Marana, Mesa, Gilbert, and Chandler. Begun by Pat and Heather Grimm in 2005, they sold the business to the Kyte family in 2010. A short memory gap history... about the many restaurants occupying 202. Janet Watson, Sally Holcomb's (cafe roka) mother ran a cafe it for several years. There was some kind of a grill there and then across the street at 207 was Stenzel's steak house for many years, that was really good, Thuy's occupies the space now. Stenzels moved from across the street where to 202 and renamed as Old Tymer's/ 1990's/early 2000. Charlie and Gayle Gahn bought Old Tymer's and for some years was open as kinda roadhouse/biker bar. (I bartended there on jazz Sunday's). I believe they sold it to Contessa's owners and it might be that 555 grill was in there sometime. In 2024 Dos Hermanos opened and when it was failing, quickly changed the name to Main St. Bistro that was never successful, then closed when the building was sold. A new chapter in the book of 2026 ++++++++++ ARIZONA FOLKLORE PRESERVE CLOSES; TO BE SOLD BY UAAfter 30 years, the Ramsey Canyon home of folk music, poetry, and Arizona memories is being sold by the University of Arizona. Ostensibly, because UA needs money. The sale seems to violate the initial arrangment made with UofA South. Details from the folk preserved are here. There is rising opposition to sale particularly because the land was donated to the Uof A South foundation as a way to ensure the security of the site from ever being sold. Matt Hickman of the Herald Review had a recent column that detailed the numerous ways this is a bad deal. Article here (may be paywalled). An email to UA prez would also be helpful. president@arizona.edu ++++++++++ 32 MAIN AVAILABLE FOR RENT Owner Claire Harlan has opened a completely restored space at 32 Main that was shut down by the fire. The new space has a spiffy bathroom, oak floors, and custom tiles, remodeling to retain the period feel, ADA compliant, and more. Lease term is negotiable but she is looking for a business with long term goals and a business that positively serves the Bisbee community. Being open 7 days a week is a huge plus! Please submit a business plan and/or statement of interest to claire@classicrockcouture.com Claire owns the next door business Classic Rock Couture.++++++++++ PATAGONIA TO OFFER $100 IN GEAR FOR PLAN TO ENCOURAGE VOTING"The outdoor industry’s most politically motivated brand has committed to a new tactic to encourage voting: free gear. Patagonia is asking U.S. customers to encourage their friends and family to vote in the midterms in November with a tantalizing incentive for GearJunkies. If you join its new 11.2 Million Vote Project, and help three people “create a plan to vote,” you’ll receive a $100 credit redeemable on Patagonia’s website or at a physical store." From GearJunkie article. The homepage of Patagonia, which is usually adorned with rain jackets and outdoor gear, simply features the words “Vote Big.” By signing up on the website this week, customers will agree to receive text messages with instructions about how to proceed. (thanks to AM for this info) ++++++++++ FAll CLASSES BEGIN AN COCHISE COLLEGE LIFELONG LEARNINGGo here for the schedule. Classes offered include; stained glass, intro to AI, photography and much more. ++++++++++ REFORMING EDUCATION BY TEACHING KIDS HOW TO USE AIThis article, part of a longer book, postulates that parents and teachers need to utilize AI in a way that spurs learning and prepares them for the world that is emerging, rather than for the world as it was when parent grew up. It's a different perspective, with examples of how teaching could be different. A good read here ++++++++++ DON'T GET RIPPED! CHECK PRICES AT CONVENIENCE STORESThis article details how products are charged more at the register than the shelf prices indicate. So check your register receipts to ensure you get the shelf price. Some Circle K, 7 Elevens, and Dollar stores have been charged with as much as 35% overcharges. Between 2023 and 2025, Circle K failed 39% of its 739 Arizona inspections and 7-Eleven failed 41% of its 151 Arizona inspections. Go here for the Guardian article. ++++++++++DRONES ON THE BORDER"An Army drone like those frequently flown in overseas warzones has been flying along Arizona’s southern border, doing loops around border towns, as part of a collaboration between the military and U.S. Department of Homeland Security that has privacy advocates concerned. ...Military contractors have also been spotted conducting surveillance flights along the state’s southern border that, according to records obtained by the Mirror, are equipped with high-end military surveillance equipment that can mimic cell phone towers in order to track mobile devices." (from a longer article in the Arizona Mirror, an excellent free (donations accepted) source of news in Arizona) ++++++++++BISBEE MEDIA MENTIONS Three day weekends...article hereBisbee Coffee Co.... article here Plein Aire and Bisbee 1000...article here Best to visit...article here Slow down, relax...article here ..............EVENTS............... Sept 26...Oktoberfest Brewery Gulch noon-6 pm, $20 meal at Le Cornucopia. A benefit for Muheim House. Go here for meal reservations:lowellunited@gmail.com. Go to Eventbrite for tix and more info. Sept 27...Project Wildlife 3rd annual garden party, 5-7 pm upper vista park. It's a fundraiser so bring da dough. wander on the path, drinkies, music, and lotsa Art for sale, too! Go here for more info. (stop by and knock a greet, Bari will be serving up the liquids, in my stead) Sept 27...tryout for the Copper Queens 10-12 at the Warren ball park. vintage baseballOct 8 - Oct 11...Plein Air, artist sign up and more info here Oct 11...2-6 Community Synergy’s Together We Thrive Eco Fest will be held at Oldfield Oasis, 5288 N. Lead St., Bisbee. Oct 15...grant deadline for Bisbee Arts Commission. don't wait more info here Oct. 17...Bisbee Stair Climb Oct. 17...No Kings rally maybe in SV, but for sure TucsonOct. 24...The B.R.A.T.S. (Bisbee Rolling Arts Transport Parade), Get going and build your own BRAT! More info here October 28, 29, & 30 Mile High Ranch host their 6th annual Halloween event; The Creepy Crawlies. 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm, More info here November 7... Sense of Style fashion show. benefits the Bisbee Science Center November 13 – 15...Sidepony Express Music Fest! 3 days of free music, music, music. go here for info. November 14...opening "Myths: Ancestral Stories in Art" at Carriage House Studio, 308 Powell, runs through December 5 November 16...Found Objects and Assemblege gallery opening at Central School. More info Nov. 21...Spelling Bee! Friends of the Library very fun event. Get your team together St. Patrick's church. More to come. Go here for info. Nov. 26...Community Dinner at St.Joseph Nov. 27-28...Home Tour and Art Auction. If you are so inclined to donate to support my work with the Wire, I would be most grateful. Click on the QR below if using Zelle it is bisbeewire@gmail.com. Please send checks to 39 Hazzard/85603  ...............BISBEE ECONOMY............ BISBEE POPULATION PROJECTED TO DECLINE A recent article put out by So. Arizona Economic Develop Group (SAEDG) projects a population declines in the next several years. "Bisbee is projected to experience the steepest percentage decline, falling from an estimated 4,954 residents in 2025 to 4,751 in 2030 and 3,472 in 2060. The long-term decrease of 1,482 residents represents nearly 30% of its estimated 2025 population." Go here for overall economic data and projections about Bisbee .++++++++++ NEW BUSINESSES OPEN SKYHAVEN WINES OPENS IN FORMER CORNUCOPIA BUILDING IN OB A grand opening on Oct. 3 is planned for a new winery at 14 Main st. Based in Willcox, the owners focus on French, Spanish, and Italian varietals grown on the high-desert Willcox Bench. There will be a few soft openings the last two weeks of September. >>>>>>> HOME MADE, HOME BASED, LIBERTY BELL PRETZELS Liberty Bell Pizza & Pretzels offers Philly style soft pretzels, Pragels, pizza, and Stromboli. Frozen pretzels/Pragels are available by appointment, and hot pizza/stromboli is served on NFL Sundays starting at 11am. Make sure to check FB and NextDoor for their location, event days/times, and weekly specials like cheesesteaks, lasagna, and salads. Send a private message or call/text 520 977-4621 to place your order. Please do not come without and appointment. <><> HOUSES SOLD Of note is that in the past several months, most of the houses bought will be used for primary residences. It indicates stability in the market. And usually about half the sales have been cash transactions. The national average for a 30 yr. fixed mortgage is 7.17%. Address sell $$ seller buyer DoM Loan Use 518 Arizona St. $347,000 Bisbee Portland 255 cash primary 506 Tombstone $360,000 CA MA 940 cash rental 406 W. Purdy Ln $172,000 Bisbee 102 loan primary 107 Mountain Vw $258,500 MI C.Grande 136 cash primary 92 Yuma Dr $365,000 Bisbee Bisbee 9 cash primary 89 Pima Dr. $284,900 Bisbee Glendale/az 51 cash primary 35A Temby $130,000 WI IN 28 cash secondary 14 Maxfield $390,000 FL Tucson 185 loan secondary 4 Manzanita $265,000 CA Bisbee 18 loan primary 995 S. Ruby Dare $668,800 Bisbee Bisbee 86 cash primary <><> BUILDING PERMITS Almost $1 million in residential/commercial permits in August. A big chunk of the commercial permits went for a buildout of four units at Old Bisbee High School. Fifty permits were for Residential .permits totaled $605,000 for remodels, roofs, small addons, plumbing, electric, mini-splits. <><> SALES TAXES (this report is from ADOR and always is two months behind actual sales.)With only a couple months into the fiscal year, August 2026 was similar to August 2025 with the exception that this year an additional .5% tax was collected for the county jail. Figures for bed tax, hotel tax, restaurant bar, were about the same, while retail in 8/26 was up about $10k. Grocery for home and internet sales were both up about $5k from last year. ++++++++++ ..............COCHISE COUNTY................ Photo ID required CC Recorder's Office now require photo id when recording a document in person .++++++++++ COCHISE COUNTY POPULATION PROJECTED TO DECLINEAccording to recent projections from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, Cochise County is entering a period of gradual population decline. The county’s population, estimated at 129,042 in 2025, is projected to increase slightly to 129,091 in 2026. After that brief rise, however, the trend turns downward. By 2030, Cochise County is projected to have 128,494 residents, a decrease of 548 people, or 0.4%, from the 2025 estimate.Go here for article and lots of other economic stats about the county and cities .++++++++++ SUPE CROSBY REBUFFED BY THE JUDGE FOR THE 4TH TIME The combatant supervisor has failed for the fourth time to get his trial for two felonies delayed. A judge recently ruled that he was not entitled to use the record in another case of a discredited investigator for the AG. Crosby often puts himself above the law. His original charges stemmed from a refusal to 'certify' the election-a task simply saying the voters have spoken and this is a result and the duty of a supervisor to do that. After a judge ordered the supevisors to 'certify' the election, Crosby was absent at the meeting for certification. He is guilty, a very clear case in public view. During the past three years he has adamantly tried to get the county's insurance company to pay his legal fees, even though the insurance company told him at the time that what he was doing was illegal. He has a still-pending request to the county for taxpayers to pay for his $300,000 attorney's fees, even though the county attorney at the time said what he was doing was illegal .++++++++++ ...............THE LEGE................ CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS GET BIG DOUGH IN VOUCHERS12News in Phoenix investigated the notoriously opaque ESA (voucher program). The program, cost to taxpayers is $1.15 billion. Almost 75% of the dough goes to christian schools."The 12News reporters then shared a list of 190 private schools in Arizona that are raking in the voucher money, which is how we’re able to shed some light on how the game is playing out in Southern Arizona. As we went through the list, one thing became glaringly apparent: Christian schools are dominating the voucher game." Starting a private school to accept voucher funds (Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, or ESAs) in Arizona requires no formal state registration, licensing, accreditation, or teacher certifications. Go here for the article. ++++++++++ NEW LAWS NOW IN EFFECT (from Arizona Mirror and Arizona Agenda)Increased fines for texting while driving House Bill 2109 hikes distracted driving fines for repeat offenders.The penalty for someone using their cell phone while driving ranges from $75 to $149 for first-time offenders in Arizona. A ticket for a second offense will now be raised to $400, instead of ranging from $150 to $250. There is also an additional $150 fine if an accident caused by distracted driving involves a motorcycle. >> Disrupting religious service could result in felonyHouse Bill 4117 criminalizes interfering with a religious service by blocking the entrance or exit to a place of worship or engaging in disorderly conduct to disrupt a service. >> Required labeling of lab-grown meatHouse Bill 2762 requires food manufacturers to identify food made with cultivated cells as such on its packaging, including lab-grown meat. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines food made with cultured animal cells as food processed by taking a "small number of cells from living animals and growing them in a controlled environment." >> Cade's Law looks to prevent encouraging suicideHouse Bill 2665, also known as Cade's Law: If You See Something Say Something, expands the state's manslaughter classification to include encouraging a minor to commit suicide. >> New faster deadlines for getting medical recordsHB2557 requires medical providers to hand over copies of patients’ medical records within newly defined, generally faster time frames after receiving a written request. >> Lemon Law extended to leased vehiclesHB2323 extends the state’s lemon law to people who lease their cars, and gives them the same protections if their ride turns out to be defective. >> Johns caught paying for sex is now more expensive and a felonyArizona just raised the price, and the penalty, for getting caught paying for sex. HB2720 adds a mandatory $200 assessment for people convicted of paying or offering to pay for sex and, for the first time, separately makes paying for sex a class 6 felony instead of a misdemeanor. Those penalties escalate for repeat offenses. >> Motorcycle registration At least one registered owner of a motorcycle must have a valid motorcycle license or endorsement for a motorcycle on a standard drivers license before ADT will renew the registration. >> Motorcycle Lane Splitting now a misdemeanor Weaving through moving traffic or driving between adjacent rows of moving vehicles (lane splitting) is now officially classified as a Class 2 misdemeanor (criminal reckless driving) rather than a standard civil traffic violation.L ane Filtering Exception: Legal lane filtering—passing stopped traffic at speeds of 15 mph or less on roads with a speed limit of 45 mph or less and at least two lanes in the same direction—remains completely legal. ...............EVERYTHING ELSE................ ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/LARGE LANGUAGE MODES; PANIC & RATIONALITY An article in BIG is a good explanation of what is going on with AI. "The first narrative, the doomer narrative spurring this panic, is that AI is a new form of civilization uncontrollable by humans, and we are moving quickly towards a singularity where we will be taken over by bots. The second narrative, call it the “rule of law” narrative, is that AI products are risky, perhaps existentially risky, but they are manageable if we can apply standard rules, such as negligence or criminal fraud, to the powerful people building them. " The author develops the thesis that corporations have not been held in check for many years and AI is a bigger, but similar, continuation of government policy. "It just doesn’t make any sense that we’d allow OpenAI and Anthropic to go public at multi-trillion dollar valuations, even though they make deeply unsafe products, unless we have a crisis with the rule of law. "Go here for the article. ++++++++++ LIKE BABIES, DOGS HAVE IT TOO!"Making sense of language requires the ability to segment the stream of sounds into meaningful pieces. Across languages, humans do this based on consonant sounds rather than vowel sounds. Nonhuman animals can also make sense of human sounds and language, but not always in the same way. Morvai et al. looked at how this happens in dogs, given their close association with humans and their clear ability to understand much of what we convey. Using electroencephalogram recordings in both dogs and humans, they found that dogs also display a consonant bias in word segmentation. Whether this is an adaptation or a deeper similarity across evolution remains an open question. "Go here for the Science article. ++++++++++ PEPPERS A list of the many kinds of peppers with a short description, pics, and scoville heat rating .++++++++++ RECOGNITION OF TANKS, AIRCRAFT, SHIPS AND MOREBeautiful Public Data. is an interesting site; info, art, graphics. Information from available public sources create mosiacs. Check out the site, this one happens to be visual recognition of WWII tanks, planes, ships. Go here .............. WORD............... Word Odyssey Sheeps Feet in White Sauce, Anyone? By: Britt Hanson Restaurants Here in the 21st century we take restaurants for granted. But restaurants didn’t exist in the Western world until the late 1700’s. There were taverns and inns that served food and drink to travelers, and you could get ready to go baked goods at a bakery, but there was nothing like leisure social dining just for the heck of it. There wasn’t even a word for the concept, not until the “restaurant” was invented. The story of the origin of “restaurant” that I’m about to tell has been the accepted version for a couple of hundred years, but as is often the case with word origins that go back a ways, parts of it have been disputed in some quarters. Anyway, here we go….. Since we’re talking about food and dining, you might guess that the road to the origins of restaurants begins in France, and you’d be right. In Paris in the 1700’s guilds held monopolies on the sale of prepared foods. Monsieur Boulanger wanted to sell prepared foods but he couldn’t afford the dues required by the guild. So he looked for a loophole. Boulanger opened a little shop that sold a single soup, sheep’s feet in white sauce. Boulanger claimed that this wasn’t merely food, it was a health restorative. The root meaning of “restaurant” is to restore, as in to restore health. So the sign advertising his shop said “Boulanger vends les restaurants magiques” meaning he sells magical restoratives. The guilds sued Boulanger for infringement on their monopoly rights, but apparently the court liked sheep’s feet in white sauce because he was vindicated. The concept quickly caught on. Restaurants began popping up all over Paris, then spread through Europe. Now, I said that restaurants didn’t exist in Western society until the 1700’s and their invention in Paris by Monsieur Boulanger. That’s true, but something like restaurants did exist in Ancient Rome. They were called thermopolia. They typically had an L-shaped stone or tile counter with storage vessels sunk into the counter. Patrons would sit at the counter, scoop food out of the vessels, eat and socialize. When Pompeii was excavated, archaeologists found 158 intact thermopolia. The food probably was dried, not hot. But one big difference from restaurants is that thermopolia probably served mainly the poorer classes who could not afford a kitchen of their own. Anyway, today of course we not only have restaurants, but many kinds of restaurants. We’ve got cafes which, as the word suggests, began as coffeehouses serving “café”, but later expanded into small restaurants. Cafeteria is Anglicized Spanish meaning coffee store. “Bistro” suggests a small, intimate restaurant, and they usually are. You can usually get food in a pub, which is shortened slang for public house. Likewise, they’ve usually got something to eat in a tavern, which began as a place to serve travelers. Speaking of travel, as an aside, today we associate travel with vacation and leisure. But travel is from the same French root as “travail”, as in hardship. Apparently bumping along mile after mile in open wooden carts in all kinds of weather wasn’t quite as luxurious as travel by planes, trains and automobiles. But I digress. Now where was I? Oh yes, “tavern”….that’s from Old French meaning a shed made of boards, so you can imagine that back in the day taverns were about as glamorous as traveling itself. Today, of course, even a tavern can be pretty upscale. And if you don’t like the food at the tavern, try a diner, a greasy spoon, a chophouse, a hashery, a hamburger stand, a luncheonette, a drive-in or a pizzeria! The next time you’re out dining at your favorite restaurant, think of Monsieur Boulanger and his restaurant magique. (And try not to think of sheep’s feet in white sauce). |
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