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Sedona Council Tell KSB Coalition to Cease and Desist Now

Sedona AZ (October 9, 2015)The following is a letter to the SedonaEye.com editor with an opinion by Sedona AZ area resident, Peggy Pavlich:

Note to Sedona City Council: Tell KSB Coalition to Cease and Desist.

The Pro-Monument/KSB Coalition needs to understand something: NO MEANS NO!

national boundary map final

The Sedona City Council will be voting on the National Monument designation at its meeting this Tuesday, October 13, 4:30 p.m., Sedona City Hall, 102 Roadrunner Drive.

Like a creepy stalker whose advances are relentless, disturbing and increasingly threatening, it seems that nothing short of a cease-and-desist order will deter the Keep Sedona Beautiful Coalition from its aim to capture and imprison 160,000 acres, abundant wildlife and tens of thousands of people inside its ill-conceived local version of Central Park AKA Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument. Despite multiple public rejections and failed attempts over the past 30 years, yet another effort is being made to impose a tighter system of federal administration on forest service lands.

At a recent Yavapai College/OLLI luncheon, KSB Coalition spokesperson and former Sedona City Council Member Barbara Litrell gave zero indication that her group would be dissuaded from its goal despite overwhelming rejection by the community. She dismissed the huge outpouring of opposition by area residents and flippantly suggested that those who oppose the national monument designation prefer unsightly development and environmental destruction over conservation. When confronted with the utter lack of support from public officials and outright opposition by media, she countered that it is common for newspapers and elected officials to be against monuments.

While KSB Coalition’s strategy has thoroughly failed to earn public support, it has been supremely successful in a different way: engendering growing resentment and even antipathy toward a once-beloved organization that was built over decades by the back-breaking work of local volunteers. In a matter of just a few months, KSB’s reputation has suffered from the derelict tactics of the Coalition leadership which it chooses to keep generally anonymous. (You cannot find any identities of Coalition leadership on its website; only KSB’s name and address along with encouragement to make your tax-deductible donation.) Even Tom O’Halleran, once the face of KSB and the National Monument proposal, has gone missing in action. Does this mean he has withdrawn his support too? Or is he just hiding from the mess he made? Ironically, KSB is among the first casualties of the national monument designation.

Statements on the SVVRRNM website and facebook page imply that the Sedona City Council is actually responsible for having originally tasked KSB with the job of what has evolved as the monument proposal now threatening the community. (“Sedona City Council requests Keep Sedona Beautiful to organize effort to determine how best to permanently preserve Forest Service lands in the Greater Sedona Region.”

http://sedonaverdevalleyredrocknationalmonument.org/history-of-protection-efforts.)

Therefore, the Sedona City Council, wishing to avoid being understood as complicit in or legally liable for KSB Coalition activities must make it abundantly clear that it does not support the National Monument designation. Further, to fulfill its duty to protect its citizenry, the Sedona City Council should, on behalf of the citizenry, issue public admonishment, if not legally binding orders, on KSB and its Coalition to CEASE AND DESIST from pursuing national monument designation.

The Sedona City Council will be voting on the National Monument designation at its meeting this Tuesday, October 13, 4:30 p.m., Sedona City Hall, 102 Roadrunner Drive. The Council should vote to OPPOSE this effort which unleashes too much risk and uncertainty on the citizens of Sedona and the greater Verde Valley.

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Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!

13 Comments

  1. david says:

    Maybe people like Barbara Litrell and her tribe should move back to where they came from. Seems like people that move to Sedona always want to try and change it.

  2. Annie G. says:

    Astute observation and excellent suggestion @david.

  3. Lin Ennis says:

    Could NM status increase compliance requirements?

    Yes.

    Will NM status increase Federal financial support?

    No, but it will allow entering into a competitive grant seeking marathon after which additional Fed funds MIGHT be avaiable.

  4. Not sure am agreeing with you @LinEnnis – lots of that land is Wilderness now, wilderness has the highest degree of protection in this country. It will lose that protection under a NM because it’s not as stringent as its now wilderness designation. That wilderness land might be what these land grabbers want. Now they can’t touch it, a NM means it goes up for grabs if government says so. Research it.

    Great letter @PeggyPavlich. More people ought to be thinkers and less backslappers of budd

  5. J. J. says:

    KSB has no friends in Washington, no one to back them up. Sure, they can write a proposal, but if there is political backlash – who’d support it?

    Let’s not forget that our AZ Representative Ann Kirkpatrick is “not moving forward” with this boondoggle National Monument. O’Halleran better get a clue or he’s about to commit political suicide.

    Stick a fork in it. This is done. Well done.

  6. To All Readers at The Eye:

    KSB, the Sierra Club, and the Democrats of the Red Rocks still insist, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary, that the SVRRNM is a good idea, because they believe that federal land and resource stewardship of our lands portends better care and stewardship than state management. Have you ever noticed how many runaway forest fires in the western U.S. occur on federally managed land as opposed to state managed land and parks?

    TO GET THEIR SVVRRNM DESIGNATION PROPOSAL PASSED, KSB IS TRYING TO RIDE THE COAT TAILS OF THE GRAND CANYON WATERSHED NATIONAL MONUMENT DESIGNATION PROPOSAL BECAUSE THEY KNOW HOW BADLY THE FEDS WANT THAT LAND UNDER THEIR CONTROL! (see below…keep reading). But environmental protection is NOT the Fed’s main goal for wanting NM designation for the GCWNM watershed area. The games never end, so consider this:

    The U.S. holds top place for global nuclear energy, producing about 30% of the world’s total, according to the World Nuclear Association. Last year, 100 reactors generated over 19% of the country’s electricity. The U.S. now has 99 reactors in operation and another five under construction.

    Kazakhstan is now the United States’ top supplier of uranium for the country’s nuclear power plants, after overtaking Australia last year, figures published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveal.

    According to the EIA, 23% of the uranium acquired by the U.S. — 12 million pounds— was of Kazakh origin, while 20% came from Australia and 18% from Canada.

    Not coincidentally, the proposed 1.7 million acre Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument contains the largest uranium deposit in the U.S. Yet, the Sierra Club still can’t admit that the Colorado River is already contaminated by uranium tailings washing into the river from its shores while federal land resource management let it happen. The DOE claims it won’t have the money to pay for a clean up until 2030.

    So much for federal land and resource stewardship! How astute does one have to be to figure out what the real motivation of the Department of the Interior is? The want that uranium under Fed control for EMERGENCY MINING purposes, not state control. Kazakhstan borders Russia and is under the Russian sphere of influence.

    JRN

  7. what a blast from the past when came across this doing a research on articles about the national monument, Can you believe it was being stealth moved by this group even back then in 2010, who’s ron volkman??? read this!!! https://sedonaeye.com/correction-to-volkman-article-in-sedona-times/

  8. To All Readers at The Eye:

    KSB’s Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument designation proposal to the Sedona City Council was voted down tonight, 6-1. The only “nay” vote was Councilor Angela LeFevre.

    JRN

  9. Gratitude to those who fought for Sedona’s sacredness. I do not trust the Government to take care of this red rock cathedral as a National Park. I think people with good intentions were manipulated. Keep Sedona Beautiful volunteers are good people who do the work to keep our highways and trails clean of debris from thoughtless travelers who come to experience real beauty. Thanks also to Forestry volunteers. Most of the residents of Sedona realize the treasure we live with and want to protect and share her. Well done warriors!

  10. KSB Litter Lifters are some of the best!

    Over the years I have been contacted by hard working KSB Litter Lifters that have become disenchanted with the politics of KSB and the lack of frequent anti-litter education and community messages.

    Though they continue their efforts to pick up the trash left on our highways by many groups (residents, tourists, contractors, ADOT contractors and ADOT), they continue to provide the volunteer services that partially improve the image and economy of the region.

    Thank you KSB Litter Lifters!

    Gary Chamberlain – FVUSA Freelance Writer
    “America the Beautiful & BagReadyJobs”
    Empowering our nation’s youth
    Resident Cherokee County, NC

  11. @Gary Chamberlain

    Thank you for mentioning the Litter Lifters.

    Because of the polarizing politics on this site we tend to forget that there is a lot of “good” that goes on around this town. Keep this in mind, the one thing that we see, sometimes before the red rocks is the clean roads from either of the 3 entrances to our city. We should all recognize that those roads don’t clean them selves. They are cleaned by the many dedicated men and women who are members of KSB. I don’t know if KSB dose this or not but I would donate money to have a party to celebrate these fine folks. They are truly the “front line” in keeping our Sedona Beautiful.

  12. Dear Long Time Resident and others like you,

    If you have been following the Folksville USA efforts over the past seven years you will see that many businesses in Yavapai County have been very supportive of the non-KSB litter groups between Sedona, Cottonwood and Camp Verde.

    I have many KSB litter lifter friends and have tried to get all of the groups to work together ….. the sad truth is that the KSB’s leadership has never shown any interest in working together even though the KSB Litter Lifters I know think it’s a good idea (strength in numbers).

    I also find it odd that the Mayor of Sedona hasn’t partnered with the Mayors of Camp Verde, Dewey-Humboldt, Prescott, Prescott Valley and Chino Valley in their combined efforts to recognize the ADOT Adopt-A-Highway groups in their respective communities once per year (Rob Adams and his council did once).

    The mayors of Jerome, Clarkdale and Cottonwood are also missing from the list of those not involved in recognizing the individual ADOT Adopt-A-Highway groups.

    The mayors that have partnered have gone beyond recognizing the groups and some are actually helping these groups clean their highways and the Camp Verde Mayor Council actually adopted a one mile section of Highway 260.

    If you (or anyone else) would like to offer something to one of the individual ADOT Adopt-A-Highway groups between Sedona, Cottonwood or Camp Verde, please contact me for that contact information.

    I would suggest that you search the SedonaEyE.com, Camp Verde Bugle and the Verde Independent for the many stories about our Folksville USA efforts and even go so far as to contact all of these organizations with a story about your opinion on these efforts.

    Many hands make for results and less work.

    Gary Chamberlain – FVUSA Anti-Litter Freelance Writer
    “America the Beautiful & BagReadyJobs”
    Empowering our nation’s youth
    Resident Cherokee County, NC
    FolksvilleUSA@gmail.com
    (928) 202-1186

  13. Barry says:

    blast of fresh air, thanks peggy

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