Mohave Daily News: State

Dollar's fall boosts Mexican shopping

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The dollar has lost almost 10 percent of its value against the Mexican peso in the past month, which could pay dividends for local businesses.

The drop brought the peso to its highest level versus the dollar in six years.

In early August, $1 was worth 9.951 pesos, 10 percent less than last year, when the average was 10.914 pesos to the dollar.

The Mexican Central Bank estimates the peso will maintain its strength for the rest of the year.

That could mean fewer vacations to Mexico for American tourists. But at the same time it could bring more money from Mexican shoppers and tourists to southern Arizona.

The Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates more than 22 million Mexicans cross the border annually to shop or vacation in Arizona.

According to a 2001 visitors bureau study, Mexican visitors spent about $360 million a year in Arizona, said Felipe Garcia, vice president of community affairs and Mexico marketing for the bureau. About 60 percent, or $222 million, was spent in Pima County, the study said.

Typo fixers get probation for ‘fixing' sign

PHOENIX (AP) - When it comes to marking up historic signs, proper punctuation proved a bad defense for two former Dartmouth College students.

The self-styled vigilantes against typos defaced a hand-painted sign dating to the 1930s at Grand Canyon National Park. They were sentenced to probation and banned from national parks for a year.

Jeff Deck, a former opinion editor and columnist for The Dartmouth student newspaper, and 2002 classmate Benjamin Herson pleaded guilty Aug. 11 for the damage done in March at the park's Desert View Watchtower.

The sign was made by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, the architect who designed the rustic 1930s watchtower and other Grand Canyon-area landmarks.

Deck and Herson, both 28, toured the United States this spring, wiping out errors on government and private signs. They were interviewed by several media outlets, including National Public Radio and the Chicago Tribune, which called them ‘‘a pair of Kerouacs armed with Sharpies and erasers and righteous indignation.''

District scraps plan for school cell tower

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Officials with the Tucson Unified School District have scrapped plans to put a cell-phone tower at an elementary school after parents complained about possible health and safety risks.

The decision announced this week reverses a decision made earlier this month to grant a lease to Cingular Wireless for a cell phone antennae at Robins Elementary School.

Cingular had agreed to pay the district $15,000 a year, with the school keeping two-thirds of the revenue.

Principal Elizabeth Minno says she heard from parents worried that the tower's antennas could expose their children to harmful emissions.

The Federal Communications Commission sets safety requirements for cell phone towers and says they are safe.

The district has towers at 25 other schools.

County stops permits near Luke AFB

PHOENIX (AP) - Maricopa County has stopped issuing building permits in accident-potential zones near Luke Air Force Base and its auxiliary fields.

The Board of Supervisors took the action 10 days after Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed a lawsuit seeking to force the county to comply with state law designed to protect the base.

Goddard accused the county of breaking the 2004 law by issuing building permits on land too close to Luke and the Luke field known as Aux 1, about 15 miles north of the base. He says the future of Luke and its $2-billion-plus economic impact could be jeopardized.

Sup. Max Wilson says the decision maintains the status quo while the suit makes its way through the courts.

Rec area charred by wildfire reopened

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) - Prescott National Forest officials have reopened to recreation use an area charred by a wildfire almost two months ago.

The Lane 2 fire that started June 28 burned about 15 square miles around the historic mining community of Crown King and destroyed five homes, one commercial structure and 12 other buildings.

More than 100 residents were forced to flee the flames and were evacuated for about one week.

Forest managers deemed the burn area southeast of Crown King safe to be opened for recreation use again and lifted the emergency closure Friday.