WILLIAMS – The American Legion and VFW Ladies Auxiliaries will be hosting a pancake breakfast this Saturday, February 21 at the Williams Senior Center.
The breakfast is $5 per person and runs from 7 to 11 a.m. The breakfast includes pancakes with syrup and butter, sausage patties, orange juice and coffee.
The Williams Senior Center is located at 850 W. Grant Street behind Safeway.
WILLIAMS – St. John’s Episcopal-Lutheran Church in Williams held a successful Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner to kick off the season of Lent. There were problems with the electrical, but volunteers successfully maneuvered around the difficulty.
If you missed it, Shrove Tuesday will be on February 9 in 2016.
This leads to the first day of Lent known as Ash Wednesday. Today is a day of fasting for those who hold this season faithful. On this day there will be services for the faithful in which they will have an ash cross placed on their forehead. If your organization is holding a service for Ash Wednesday, make sure you get your ash in Church.
WILLIAMS – The Grand Canyon Friends of the NRA is selling tickets for your choice between two guns. Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $20. Only 200 tickets will be sold and there are less than 100 left. The drawing will take place when all tickets are sold.
The winner will have their choice between two weapons. The Ruger American bolt action rifle in .308 caliber or Soeger P350 pump action 12 gauge shotgun.
The winner must be able to comply with all State and federal laws concerning firearms. Must be at least 18-years old and able to pass background check.
The group is also gearing up for their annual dinner at Doc Holiday’s in Williams. The dinner is August 1 and the doors open at 4:30 p.m. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
The Grand Canyon Friends of the NRA supports sport shooting events in the northern Arizona area.
For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Williams Wear inside Buck’s Place at 117 W Route66 in downtown Williams.
From See’s Catalog
The See’s selection consists of box candies wrapped in special Easter gift wrapping or individual eggs and other delights.
For more information or to order, contact Williams Wear at 117 W. Route 66 (inside the mall in Buck’s Place).
WILLIAMS – St. John’s Episcopal-Lutheran church will hold their annual Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free, but donations are gratefully accepted.
St John’s is located at 202 W. Grant street; the corner of Grant and Second Street.
This event precedes Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent.
UPDATED: Feb. 15, 8:35
WILLIAMS – We discussed a little about the history of the Babbitt-Polson warehouse in our last article. The warehouse is the last example of warehouses that lined the railroad.
Eventually shipping via the road declined with the expansion of Route 66. These use of these warehouses as temporary storage for trade goods gave way to other uses. Like many other abandon buildings, there was also the inevitable graffiti. Opal Means obtained one of the warehouses and said that the inside wood had been removed, so any history is gone. This warehouse seems to be the only one with graffiti remaining.
The inside is a conspiracy theory tribute to one of the truly forgotten wars fought by the United States. The now imprisoned isle of Cuba was seeking independence from Spain which began in 1895. What is interesting is that the American media was used to portray the brutality of the Spanish in an effort to gain support for the war. It worked. It was this event that caused the term yellow journalism to be coined. An article in Wikipedia explains:
The most famous example of a claim is the apocryphal story that artist Frederic Remington telegrammed Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba and “There will be no war.” Hearst responded “Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” Historians now believe that no such telegrams ever were sent.
But Hearst became a war hawk after a rebellion broke out in Cuba in 1895. Stories of Cuban virtue and Spanish brutality soon dominated his front page. While the accounts were of dubious accuracy, the newspaper readers of the 19th century did not expect, or necessarily want, his stories to be pure nonfiction. Historian Michael Robertson has said that “Newspaper reporters and readers of the 1890s were much less concerned with distinguishing among fact-based reporting, opinion and literature.”
The sinking of the Maine on February 15, 1898 was the impetus for this war.
There is a local Arizona historic connection with the sinking of the USS Maine. Along Route 66 in Parks you will find a railroad sign that says Maine. There is a town which still exists called Maine near Parks. They took on the name after the sinking of the Maine. There is no downtown Maine, of course. The metropolitan of Parks absorbed the town of Maine over time. The Parks school is still the Maine Consolidated School district.
The national government and the media portrayed it as a sinking by a Spanish mine. Because of the media fervor, no one questioned it. It was only years later that it began to leak that the USS Maine was probably sunk because of an explosion in their own magazine. This was probably not a “false flag” like the Gulf of Tonkin. It was probably just a happy coincidence for Theodore Roosevelt who was pining for war. He was able to convince President McKinley to convince Congress to declare war over the incident. Particularly since public opinion was set by the media.
The result of the war was the acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and other territories from Spain.
It appears from the dates that the warehouses probably were abandon around 1911. That is when the graffiti seems to have started. Some of the graffiti in the warehouse refer to the sinking of the USS Maine. Some of the graffiti are simply names of people in Williams history.
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Northern Arizona Citizen photo.
WILLIAMS – You have probably seen the Babbitt-Polson Warehouse Stage in the visitor center parking lot. Some may remember its construction in 2011. A few may remember when the warehouse was moved into its present location around October of 1997. You may have never seen this one if not for the efforts of Laura Cole and the Historic Committee at the time.
Photo by Opal Means.
The example in Williams is not the only one that was built. According to Vice-Mayor Don Dent—councilman when the warehouse was moved—these warehouses were built all along the road. This is one of the last examples in existence.
He credits Laura Cole for saving this historic piece. It was her efforts that led to obtaining the grant to move it to its present location.
Photo by Opal Means.
The Babbitt-Polson warehouse was not the only warehouse. There were a few in the area where the Skate Park is located now. They were used by Tru-Value Hardware when they were located in what is now the Recreation Center.
In October of 1997, they were moved out of the area to make room for the Skate Park. The Babbitt-Polson Warehouse was moved into its present location by Dale Perkins. Williams resident Opal Means said that she acquired one of the warehouses for her own property.
The Williams Historical Society originally hoped to turn it into a museum. It eventually morphed into its original use as a warehouse by the City of Williams. Mr. Dent stated that this was not intentional. He explained that after the $35,000 grant to move the building was used up, it left little money to do any repairs or set up.
Northern Arizona Citizen photo.
He said that the cost of making the warehouse safe for a museum in addition to hiring a full-time curator turned out to be prohibitive at the time. He did say that using the building as a warehouse is not necessarily the final use. If the city receives a proposal for a better use for the structure they will consider it.
In July of 2011 the community stage addition was approved and completed by the end of the year.
The interesting thing about the warehouse is the inside.
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GRAND CANYON – Twenty-one year old Drake L. Kramer remains missing at Grand Canyon National Park and a six day search by the National Park Service has turned up no additional clues as to his whereabouts.
Kramer was last seen on Sunday, February 1 in the vicinity of the Bright Angel Lodge on the South Rim. He had spent the previous night as a guest at the lodge and checked out on the morning of the 1st. He was reported missing by members of his family on Monday, February 2nd.
For the past six days park rangers have extensively searched the South Rim developed area stretching from Hermit’s Rest on the west side to Grandview on the east. Teams of searchers have walked miles along the canyon rim, searched heavily forested areas, utilized dog teams, performed several over the rim technical searches, and conducted multiple aerial reconnaissance missions to support ground searchers.
Kramer is described as 5’7, 140 pounds, brown hair and blue eyes. He is last known to be wearing blue jeans and an olive green sweatshirt.
With no additional clues to guide search efforts on land, the search will be scaled back to a continuous, but limited mode in which rangers and pilots will continue to search for clues when in the area.
In addition, flyers with Kramer’s picture and description remain posted at various South Rim locations and anyone who may have information regarding his whereabouts is encouraged to call National Park Service Silent Witness Line at 928-638-7840. Any additional clues collected will guide future search efforts.
WILLIAMS – At the Williams City Council meeting on January 22, the Williams City Council voted to donate $1500 to the Senior Graduation Night party to be held at the Williams Recreation Center. A presentation was made by Senior Miranda Velasco in which she reminded the council of the death of five graduates due to alcohol in 2007. Since then the organization Parents Who Care started the alternate party to keep graduating seniors safe.
The council then voted unanimously to build a new substation with APS.
Mayor John Moore gave a report on the new lights being installed in the city. So far 50 have been installed on east Route 66. The plan is to install them on west Route 66 and Grand Canyon Boulevard.
WILLIAMS – Grand Canyon Coffee and Cafe has completed their move to 137 W. Railroad Avenue in the Red Garter. The new location has more room and more parking across the street at the visitor parking lot.
Owner Anna Pena-Dick, on her Facebook page, thanked everyone who assisted her in the move. The veterans of the Williams VFW and American Legion assisted in moving much of the heavy equipment and boxes. A brilliant technician, who wishes to remain anonymous, got the Wi-Fi up and running yesterday.
Employees of the Cafe have been busy cleaning, installing and getting things in order for the grand opening. The restaurant will open tomorrow from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. closing in plenty of time to get home to watch television in the event there is something to watch.
The Cafe will continue to feature the same award-winning menu, gifts and souvenirs along with those of the Red Garter.
