Adopters keep and care for the animals they adopt for one year before the BLM awards them final title.
And, according to Johnnie Hinderliter of Rainbow Valley, only about 50 percent of thoses adoptions are successful. "Most adopters," Hinderliter says, "are first-time horse owners. They just don't realize what they're getting into."
Adopting, gentling, training and maintaining a wild horse requires patience and dedication. For $125, adopters must be over 18, show no prior history of mistreating animals and prove their ability to provide corral space, food and veterinary and farrier care. Adopters may adopt up to four animals at any one time. "This is a great program, but people need to realize the amount of commitment it takes with these animals."
But the effort is worth it, she says. Hinderliter, who volunteers as an inspector for the program, has been working with mustangs and wild burros since 1985 when she responded to an ad in the paper. "There was this ad for orphaned foals, from the Apache reservation in the White Mountains. I went up there and got two, but only Gabby survived."
Gabby, Hinderliter's 13 year mare, was only four weeks old when Johnnie brought her home. "She wouldn't drink out of a bottle, so we had to make this baby mash for her and she would just sort of slurp it." The second foal, which was only two weeks old at the time, soon died. "He was just seperated from his mother too soon, and he was already badly dehydrated and undernourished when we got him."
Gabby sparked Hinderliter's interest in mustangs and it has since become a passion. She discovered the BLM program in 1989 when she attended her first adoption in Flagstaff. Since then she has helped deliver adopted horses to their new homes, inspected properties and conditions of applicants to the program, and helped find new homes for those animals whose adoptive "parents" don't quite make the grade.
"The important thing to remember is these animals are wild," Hinderliter told The Desert Sun. "They are herd animals and are used to being part of a group. If you take them out of their natural environment, separate them from everything that is familiar, drag them cross-country for the adoption and then thrust them into a totally new and probably isolated environment, they're naturally frightened." Hinderliter stresses that the most important thing a new owner can do is to gain the animal's trust. With patience and gentleness, mustangs can make the best horses to own. "They haven't lost their spirit. And they're smart, much smarter than domestic horses, because they've had to learn to take care of themselves. They have personality."
But, most disasters that occur don't involve thousands or even hundreds of people. They involve one or a few families and are the result of fires. Thousands of disasters occur daily in the United States; the vast majority are house or apartment fires.
The Red Cross provides relief to disaster victims through Disaster Action Teams. The Disaster Action Team is made up of volunteers from every walk of life who are specially trained to provide help to disaster victims. Together they provide on-the-scene comfort to victims and firefighters, help displaced families pay for shelter, clothing, food and other necessities, assess the damage in larger-scale disasters, and provide follow-up assistance as needed.
The American Red Cross is a private, non-profit organization designed to provide this and other types of assistance. The Red Cross helps military families keep in touch with loved ones during wars and other national emergencies, collects and distributes donated blood to medical facilities, and provides a wide variety of training for rescue personnel and volunteers. Most of the classes for volunteers are provided at no cost to the individual.
Volunteers can act locally, nationally or internationally, according to their schedules, experiences and resources. Many employers offer paid leave for Red Cross volunteers responding to national disasters.
To learn more about the American Red Cross, current national disasters and services, or to make a donation, visit their website at: www.redcross.org.
Neurofeedback, also known as EEG biofeedback, is a relatively new treatment gaining in popularity. A brief search of neurofeedback websites reveals that the system, which trains the patient to control his or her brainwaves, can provide benefits which include improved peace of mind, increased emotional well-being, relief or reduction of pain, reduction of stress, and improved ability to remain clear and focused.
One of the most controversial uses of neurofeedback is its use to treat children with attention deficit disorder (ADD), or attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Across the country, parents of children who have received neurofeedback treatment instead of Ritalin or other drugs report dramatic improvements in their children's behavior.
Cindy Piszczek of Massachusetts had this to say about her son, Ben. "He seems more interested in our conversations and is more involved. It really is wonderful. And he is medication free." Ben, after 20 neurofeedback session has shown "improvement that has stunned his parents and teachers," according to an article published in a Massachusetts newspaper.
In an article in Parade magazine, Linda Vergara of New York reported that her son was noticeably calmer after only seven sessions. After 20 sessions, his grades improved, and he stopped fighting with his siblings, preferring to do homework instead, a real miracle in any parent's eyes.
Neurofeedback practitioner Joy Lunt, R.N. of Northbrook, Illinois reports remarkable results with autistic children, as does Kenneth Kang, who had a practice in Singapore.
But neurofeedback seems to be benefitting more than just children. According to Siegfried Othmer, another neurofeedback practitioner, adult patients suffering with chronic pain are greatly benefitted. "By learning to control your brain waves with the aid of EEG biofeedback," he writes in an article in "Your Family's Health," you can affect the underlying structure of your attention and return your brain's pain sensitivity to normal levels." Othmer points to one patient suffering from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. "Within three weeks, he was free of what he described as 'bone-crushing pain.'"
Other practitions also report excellent results working with epilepsy and stress-related illnesses.
But whether you suffer from a serious condition, or simply want to be able to focus your mind more clearly and reduce stress, neurofeedback may be able to provide a positive result. Local practitioner Richard Soutar of Avondale points out that everyone can benefit from learning to manage stress better. Soutar, a social psychologist, and his wife, Barbara, a Registered Nurse, operate Neurosystems Consulting. Both are BCIA Certified Neurofeedback Specialists.
"With neurofeedback training," said Barbara, "underlying sources of stress or individual responses to stress are identified. We assist the client in learning new, more healthy responses."
The Soutars also work with business people and athletes, to improve concentration and performance, and to facilitate visualization - a key factor in success.
For more information on neurofeedback and how it can benefit you in your life, contact the Soutars at Neurosystems Consulting, 501 W. Van Buren, Suite A, in Avondale or call 602-925-1851.
But not all residents of the west Valley are watching stars.
In the spring of 1997, numerous reorts were made regarding UFO's all across Arizona. According to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), calls on their UFO Hotline began coming in on Thursday, March 13, 1997. The first report came from Paulden, Arizona, approximately 30 miles north of Prescott. This was quickly followed by reports from Prescott, Prescott Valley, Dewey, Chino Valley, Glendale, Tempe, Phoenix and Tucson. A final report came in from a pay phone in Kingman, from a motorist en route to California, who stopped to report what he had seen earlier that evening.
This cluster of sightings did not go unnoticed by the national media. Covered by Dan Rather of CBS and featured on CNN and, later, on Strange Universe, the "Phoenix lights" have yet to be explained.
West Valley residents also witnessed strange doings. According to NUFORC's Director, Peter B. Davenport, "Hours after the bulk of reports had been received . . . we received a call from [someone] who claimed to be a personal witness to a 'scramble' of F-15c fighters from Luke AFB, which allegedly had intercepted the object over downtown Phoenix . . . and returned."
One observer who called NUFORC stated that "he had called both Prescott Airport and Luke AFB to report the sighting. The female operator at Luke volunteered to him that their switchboard had been deluged with reports about the strange object. Later statements from Luke AFB alleged that they had received no calls about the object."
An amateur astronomer residing in west Phoenix also called the hotline to report a cluster of solid, unblinking lights which moved from the north to the south. He also reported two aircraft in the vicinity of the lights.
According to William F. Hamilton, field investigator for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), a man in Ahwahtukee reported strange lights, beginning on March 10, over the Gila Indian Reservation. Hamilton himself visited the man and reports seeing, "lights . . . in the direction of the Estrella Mountains . . . we saw six globes of yellow-orange lights."
Another west Valley resident, MUFON member Herb Moran, reported a sighting on March 7 on a road which runs parallel to Goodyear Airport. With 48 years as a private pilot and aviation industry worker, Moran can be considered capable of recognizing an airplane. Later, his sighting was confirmed by videotape from another witness. That tape was shown on Channel 10 news in Phoenix, after the March 13th reports.
Various explanations have been put forth regarding the "Phoenix flap," but none which satisfy both the facts and the reports of all observers. The "official" explanation of military flares does not explain how those flares could be visible from north of Prescott all the way to Tucson, traveling in a particular direction, over a period of several hours. It also doesn't explain the numerous Phoenix residents who reported seeing a huge, triangular object moving slowly and silently over the city. To date, the sightings defy explanation.
So the next time you're out looking at our beautiful night sky, starwatching, pay close attention. Perhaps you, too, will see something more than just stars.
If you see something unexplained, call the National UFO Hotline at 206-722-3000.
The Desert Sun caught up with the couple when they camped at El Dorado Hot Springs in Tonopah. They've already been on the road over three months. "We're just on a little vacation," Lyle said, "... of a few months."
Lyle and Sue, originally from Wickenburg, left Deming on September 15, with a plan to travel to Parker, Arizona and back in the wagons. Lyle had been thinking about doing something like this for years. Then his wife told him, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."
"I hadn't really seriously believed I'd ever do anything like this, but then I got cancer and had surgery. I thought I was going to die, so I gave everything away. But, I didn't die."
When Lyle realized that he was going to survive his cancer, he and Sue talked about the future. "'What have you always wanted to do?' she asked me," Lyle told The Desert Sun. "And this was it."
They planned the excursion for over a year, having the wagons custom-built and acquiring the proper livestock. They travel with a horse named Maude and four mules, "three to pull and one spare tire" named Polly, Dolly, Rusty and Kate. Also accompanying them is their dog, a schnauzer named Daisy.
They made several shorter trips around their home in Deming, but this is their first long journey. Lyle and Sue plan to make their way back to Deming via Gila Bend, Casa Grande and Tucson, among other towns, and expect to be home sometime in late March or early April.
Lyle and Sue are planning to visit "awhile" in Buckeye. "We're not in any hurry," Lyle said, "We don't want to get home until the weather warms up, anyway."
A severe thunderstorm accompanied by high winds and blinding rain hit the west Valley Friday evening, causing considerable damage and keeping emergency crews busy. As if the rain itself was not enough water, Buckeye city crews had a couple of water main breaks to contend with, one on 6th Street, just south of Monroe and the other, ironically, at the Buckeye Aquatic Center.
There were no reported injuries, although high winds toppled a palm tree, blocking 8th Street in Buckeye, and redistributed uncounted trash containers. Minor damages were reported to carports and outbuildings, and a power line was downed on Ironwood in Buckeye. A minor fire on a power pole on 7th Street just north of Monroe did little damage, although emergency crews had to cut off power to that area before extinguishing the blaze.
In Rainbow Valley, several vehicles were stranded in one to three feet of water. One couple scrambled out of their car to await rescue from the roof, but suffered only a thorough drenching for their trouble.
Flooding also affected Miller Road while the rain was at its height and drowned out several carson Baseline between Oglesby and Miller. The torrential rains also resulted in the disorientation of a driver who managed to get onto Interstate 10 going the wrong direction.
Most west Valley residents were hoping that the 1997 monsoon season had done its worst after Friday evening, but noo one was willing to say the season is over, even though weather forecasters are predicting drier weather with much lower humidity readings for the rest of this week.
