UPDATE: 11:16 a.m. — Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and attorneys for Bisbee have agreed to wording in a new civil union ordinance. Horne has withdrawn his lawsuit, and the Bisbee city council will vote on the new language sometime this summer. The new law doesn’t go quite as far as the original, but could be a blueprint for other Arizona municipalities to follow should they wish to show support for same-sex unions without provoking a lawsuit from the state government….

…When the civil union ordinance passed earlier this month, it made national news, and Badal quickly began to hear from other towns around Arizona — Jerome, Guadalupe, Tempe, Sedona, and Star Valley — that wanted to pass something similar. I had no idea so many other communities would react the way they did, the mayor says. They wanted to know what they could do — if they could use our ordinance as a template.

But there was also some resistance. Within 12 hours of the ordinance passing, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne raised concerns that Bisbee had usurped some of the state’s powers, and possibly violated a constitutional amendment passed in 2008 that defined marriage as “only a union of one man and one woman. Horne threatened to sue to have the new policy overturned.

Badal also encountered resistance from unexpected places. I’ve lived in Bisbee all my life, she says. And some people I’ve known for 40 or 50 years, they just became so hateful. Hate directed at gays and lesbians, and directed at me for doing this. I understand the religious objection to gay marriage. I do. But I just didn’t expect so much anger and hate to come from this.

Badal, the city attorney, and the city council are now rewriting the ordinance, not to revoke or soften any of the legal rights the town intends to grant, but to make sure there’s no possibility the ordinance could be struck down in court for overreaching. I don’t mind getting sued. I think this is a conversation we need to have. It’s about dignity. It’s one of the last major civil rights battles. And we’ve received lots of offers for free legal aid if that happens,” Badal says. “But we want to be sure that we’re not sued over language in the bill that we didn’t intend. We don’t want to fight and lose — to waste time and money — because of the wrong language. If we’re going to get sued, we just want to be sure it’s for the right reasons.

Read the rest of the story on Huffington Post.

According to USA TODAY, Bisbee agreed to rewrite the ordinance rather than be sued by the state:

But instead of suing, Horne’s office persuaded the Bisbee City Council to rework the ordinance to eliminate passages that are in conflict with state law.

Since 1996, Arizona law has defined marriage as between one man and one woman. In 2008, voters approved adding the limited definition of marriage to the state Constitution. It says that “only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”

Bisbee’s ordinance stated that it granted rights only in areas that the city controlled, but it also said couples in a civil union would be considered “spouses” and mentioned areas typically outside a city’s jurisdiction such as property, adoption and guardianship. In a letter Horne sent to the city, he said he believed that it attempted to go beyond what it can do.

“While it is our understanding that the City Council’s intent is that the impact of the ordinance will be limited to the jurisdictional boundaries of the city of Bisbee, the impact goes beyond those boundaries,” Horne wrote, mentioning the ordinance’s reference to life insurance, adoption, property and other areas. “These are areas of statewide concern and exceed the authority and powers of the city of Bisbee to regulate by ordinance.”

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is opposed to this ordinance and threatens legal action, while the medical marijuana dispensary opened without fanfare, but plenty of curiosity.

Bisbonian of Daily Kos offered this report:

Bisbee Arizona has long been an oddment in this deeply red, often backward thinking state. Last night, our City Council really went out on a limb, bucked the trend in Arizona, and approved a measure extending recognition and whatever benefits the City has to confer on couples in same sex Civil Unions. It opened up a can of worms, and I suspect the storm is just beginning…and we’ve now got a front row seat. Follow me below the approaching firestorm for the details, and some background….

Two weeks ago, our City Council voted (unanimously) to forward an Ordinance to a vote last night…an Ordinance drawn up with much care and research by our City Attorney, John MacKinnon, that would grant the (unfortunately limited) right to enter into a Civil Union, honored officially only by the City, to couples here in Bisbee, “regardless of their sexual orientation”.

At first, not a whole lot of notice was taken. The Arizona Attorney General sent an email warning that it “might” violate the State Constitution, and “may” lead to legal challenges.

One of the City Council members mentioned to the Sierra Vista Herald (from a neighboring town, about 25 miles away) that she was surprised that she had not heard any objections from her Christian constituents, and that she might vote differently if she had.

Posters were put up around town…”Come and support you local LGBT friends at the City Council vote on Tuesday night”. We planned to do just that…many, if not most, of our local friends fall into that grouping.

Also, the Green Farmacy began selling medical marijuana in Bisbee, holding a grand opening:

Mr. Shacat reports that, “Victor Brabble, Manager of the Southwest Border Joint Information Center, Office of Public Affairs, addressed only the concerns about credentials and credibility, and ignored entirely the substantive current news questions about immigration enforcement activity.”

According to Mr. Morgan,

“These are folks with a federal office of public information. Perhaps we are in the age of Orwell’s 1984″ and they are practicing newspeak. Experienced military field officers,? and we’ve got a lot of them around here,? will confirm that a primary task of the invading force is to take control of local communications.?

More of this story is available at the Cochise County Record, and other stories that are hard to find in the local media.

According to Bill Hess, of the Sierra Vista Herald, the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion will remain at the fort. Moving the 11th HQ will lose at least one hundred jobs, while 500 jobs will remain with the 40th Battalion.

Tucson News Now

Dear fellow Americans,

Two years ago, a mentally ill young man shot me in the head, killed six of my constituents, and wounded 12 others. Since that terrible day, America has seen 11 more mass shootings but no response from Congress to prevent gun violence. After the massacre of 20 children and six of their teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary though, it’s clear: This time must be different.

Americans for Responsible Solutions will encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership by communicating directly with the constituents that elect them.

Join us today, and tell your elected leaders that Americans are demanding responsible solutions to reduce gun violence.

Please take a moment to read our op-ed.

Sincerely,

Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly

From USATODAY:

In response to a horrific series of shootings that has sown terror in our communities, victimized tens of thousands of Americans, and left one of its own bleeding and near death in a Tucson parking lot, Congress has done something quite extraordinary – nothing at all.

I was shot in the head while meeting with constituents two years ago today. Since then, my extensive rehabilitation has brought excitement and gratitude to our family. But time and time again, our joy has been diminished by new, all too familiar images of death on television: the breaking news alert, stunned witnesses blinking away tears over unspeakable carnage, another community in mourning. America has seen an astounding 11 mass shootings since a madman used a semiautomatic pistol with an extended ammunition clip to shoot me and kill six others. Gun violence kills more than 30,000 Americans annually.

This country is known for using its determination and ingenuity to solve problems, big and small. Wise policy has conquered disease, protected us from dangerous products and substances, and made transportation safer. But when it comes to protecting our communities from gun violence, we’re not even trying – and for the worst of reasons.

An ideological fringe

Special interests purporting to represent gun owners but really advancing the interests of an ideological fringe have used big money and influence to cow Congress into submission. Rather than working to find the balance between our rights and the regulation of a dangerous product, these groups have cast simple protections for our communities as existential threats to individual liberties. Rather than conducting a dialogue, they threaten those who divert from their orthodoxy with political extinction.

As a result, we are more vulnerable to gun violence. Weapons designed for the battlefield have a home in our streets. Criminals and the mentally ill can easily purchase guns by avoiding background checks. Firearm accessories designed for killing at a high rate are legal and widely available. And gun owners are less responsible for the misuse of their weapons than they are for their automobiles.

Forget the boogeyman of big, bad government coming to dispossess you of your firearms. As a Western woman and a Persian Gulf War combat veteran who have exercised our Second Amendment rights, we don’t want to take away your guns any more than we want to give up the two guns we have locked in a safe at home. What we do want is what the majority of NRA members and other Americans want: responsible changes in our laws to require responsible gun ownership and reduce gun violence.

We saw from the NRA leadership’s defiant and unsympathetic response to the Newtown, Conn., massacre that winning even the most common-sense reforms will require a fight. But whether it has been in campaigns or in Congress, in combat or in space, fighting for what we believe in has always been what we do.

Let’s not be naive

We can’t be naive about what it will take to achieve the most common-sense solutions. We can’t just hope that the last shooting tragedy will prevent the next. Achieving reforms to reduce gun violence and prevent mass shootings will mean matching gun lobbyists in their reach and resources.

Americans for Responsible Solutions, which we are launching today, will invite people from around the country to join a national conversation about gun violence prevention, will raise the funds necessary to balance the influence of the gun lobby, and will line up squarely behind leaders who will stand up for what’s right.

Until now, the gun lobby’s political contributions, advertising and lobbying have dwarfed spending from anti-gun violence groups. No longer. With Americans for Responsible Solutions engaging millions of people about ways to reduce gun violence and funding political activity nationwide, legislators will no longer have reason to fear the gun lobby. Other efforts such as improving mental health care and opposing illegal guns are essential, but as gun owners and survivors of gun violence, we have a unique message for Americans.

We have experienced too much death and hurt to remain idle. Our response to the Newtown massacre must consist of more than regret, sorrow and condolence. The children of Sandy Hook Elementary School and all victims of gun violence deserve fellow citizens and leaders who have the will to prevent gun violence in the future.

Gabrielle Giffords is the former Democratic U.S. representative from Arizona. Her husband, Mark Kelly, is a former astronaut.

Bisbee almost always has lots of events, celebrations and music.  Where wobblies, hippies and ne’er-do-wells celebrate workers and slackers alike.

Calendar courtesy of the Bisbee Enclave.

 Michel Marizco reports that,

“A federal judge sentenced Danny Cruz Morones to nearly five years in prison for his part in the 20-man gunbuying operation. The gunrunners would buy the weapons at a Phoenix gun store and then smuggle them into Mexico. Unknown to the gunrunners, federal agents were quietly monitoring the buys but allowing the sales and the trafficking to go through.”

Morones pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, and one count of dealing in firearms.

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