TubacWeekly's PUBLIC NOTICES & Press Release
Released August 29th, 2025
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR PARENTS: PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN FROM PREDATORS
Nogales, AZ - While child sex trafficking is always a concern due to our proximity to the border, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office and the Nogales Police Department want to alert you to a serious and urgent situation. We have reason to believe that children in Santa Cruz County are being actively targeted for sex trafficking.
These predators often use popular social media apps like Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and even online video games to connect with children. If your children's accounts are set to "public" or they accept friend requests from strangers, even on the "private" setting, they are at risk.
How do these traffickers work?
These criminals are extremely patient and manipulative. They:
- They will start by simply asking to "chat" with your child online.
- They will pretend to be friends with your child online.
- They will learn about your child's tastes, fears, and frustrations to gain their trust.
- He will convince you that you are in a romantic relationship and that he is in love.
- They will ask your child to keep the relationship a secret, even from their friends.
- They will convince your child to meet with them in person, which your child will do voluntarily.
By the time your child realizes the danger, it may be too late.
What YOU can do right now
Follow these steps to protect your child:
- Check their devices: phones, tablets, computers, and video game consoles. You're the parent. Your child doesn't have a right to privacy on these devices.
- Set up parental controls: Enable restrictions on all apps and devices.
- Make all accounts private: Only allow access to friends/followers you know and have approved.
- Review their messages and activity: Check photos, social media, chat/messaging apps, and game messages. Be alert for strangers complimenting your child or asking for information or photos.
- If you find anything suspicious, contact local police immediately by calling 911.
- Talk to your child, especially if they cross the border to go to school. Remind them never to accept rides or meet with strangers or someone they've met online.
- Have a serious conversation: Your child needs to understand how dangerous these situations are. Let them know that it's not about punishing them, but about keeping them safe.
We know these are difficult conversations, but they are essential. Please don't wait until it's too late. Stay involved. Stay vigilant. Protect your children.
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Board of Supervisors Changes Online Participation Protocols
Santa Cruz County, Arizona sent this bulletin at 07/03/2025
PRESS RELEASE
Effective immediately, members of the public will no longer be able to participate in Board meetings virtually. While meetings will continue to be broadcast live online, those who wish to provide comments or participate must attend in person. If you cannot attend the meeting in person and wish to provide comments, you may email the Clerk of the Board the day prior to the meeting by 5:00pm.
This change follows a recent incident that disrupted an online meeting. In response, the Board is taking proactive steps to prevent future disruptions and ensure meetings are conducted safely and efficiently.
To support this effort, the Board is transitioning to a new virtual meeting format that eliminates speaking and content-sharing capabilities. The new format is a view-only platform, meaning public call-in or Zoom participation will no longer be supported.
Despite these changes, the Board remains firmly committed to transparency, accessibility, and civic engagement. The virtual link for public viewing of all meetings will be included on all official meeting agendas.
Community members may view the meetings live on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@santacruzcountyarizona/live.
If you have a question or comment you would like to share with the Board, you may email the Board in advance at clerkoftheboard@santacruzcountyaz.gov.
We appreciate the community’s understanding and cooperation as we work to maintain safe and productive public meetings.
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Arizona is closer to its 1st urban national wildlife refuge
written by Sarah Lapidus of the Arizona Republic
See the Nature Section to sign the letter of support !
Southern Arizona residents, activists and organizations are teaming up with federal government officials to designate a portion of the Santa Cruz River as Arizona's first urban national wildlife refuge.
The federal designation would ensure the protection of the critical habitat for years into the future following its revitalization in recent years.
Prominent landowner Andrew Jackson, who possesses thousands of acres of critical habitat, is part of the effort. Following backlash last year in the town of Rio Rico for a rezoning request that residents feared would bring mining to their town, he began working with the Santa Cruz River Refuge coalition to help preserve some of his land that borders the river.
“It was kind of a call to action to put (the land) in the hands of somebody that can manage it and maintain that for a long time,” Jackson said, noting he's invested in regenerative farming practices and water conservation.
In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in collaboration with the Santa Cruz River Refuge coalition developed a landscape conservation design to start the process of proposing an "urban partnership" program in Tucson, and the potential for a new national wildlife refuge along the Santa Cruz River.
The agency manages over 100 wildlife refuges across the state, within 25 miles of population centers of 250,000 people or more. Just one urban wildlife refuge currently exists in the Southwest, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Santa Cruz River would be Arizona's first urban national wildlife refuge.
The Santa Cruz River Refuge coalition wants an “archipelago” of protected properties at risk of development along the Santa Cruz River, stretching from the U.S.-Mexico border to the northern edge of Pima County. Coalition members say this designation would offer permanent wildlife habitat, outdoor access, and ecotourism.
The protected area would include areas of upland Sonoran Desert scrub habitat, canyons that provide habitat connectivity, and nearly seven miles of riparian habitat approximately 40 miles south of Tucson.
MEXICO TRAVEL- Know before you go !
U.S. Consulate Nogales
Know before you go | U.S. citizens visiting by land don't need a visa but will need to have a valid passport or passport card. You also need to register your visit with Mexican authorities at the port of entry or online at:mx.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/nogales
Print the online form (FMM) and provide it at the port of entry when you enter Mexico. If your stay is from 0 to 7 days, there is no cost. If your stay is from 8 to 180 days, there is an $861 MXP fee. Plan accordingly.
So many sweeties for adoption!
The Santa Cruz Humane Society is a no kill shelter that provides compassionate care and adoption services for homeless dogs and cats in Nogales, Arizona. Visit us and take home your new family member today!
SHOP and DONATE at our thrift store to help support our mission.
Help save a life - Community blood drive
Please register TODAY at 800-RED-CROSS
Tubac Community Center 50 BRIDGE RD
Also see Interview Jan 2025- AnCan's Creator
Thank you to Tubac Weekly's generous sponsors !
Ned Allen, Andi Meritello & SHEILA SLAUGHTER
gary brasher of sotheby's reality
Doug & jane of verde valley ranch
DR. alex foor OF tubac dental
coogan & Martin, tubac law firm
Clem Shute of Tubac Receives Prestigious Reward.
Lake Tahoe, Calif./Nev. –
E. Clement “Clem” Shute Jr. accepts the Dianne Feinstein Lake Tahoe Award from U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) at the Tahoe Summit August 6. Over his legal career, Clem successfully defended Lake Tahoe environmental policies and helped strengthen the bi-state partnership to protect Lake Tahoe.
Shute has played an instrumental role in Lake Tahoe’s protection and restoration since the early days of the environmental movement, according to the award presenters. During his career, he helped establish the bi-state Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) in 1969, the first interstate compact agency of its kind in the nation. He also helped strengthen the agency’s regulatory framework and defended its policies before the highest courts in the nation.
“It’s a personal honor to have nominated Clem for this award on behalf of the environmental community and all who cherish Lake Tahoe,” said Dr. Darcie Goodman Collins, CEO for Keep Tahoe Blue. “From his landmark legal accomplishments that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, to his decade of service on TRPA’s Governing Board, Clem helped build partnerships for Team Tahoe that continue to protect Tahoe today — and will into the future.”
In addition to helping establish TRPA more than 55 years ago, in 2011, Clem answered the call to return to Lake Tahoe as one of California’s representatives on the agency’s 15-member Governing Board. For the next nine years, Shute was a strong presence on the board. He helped negotiate a pivotal update to the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan in 2012 that ultimately brought California and Nevada together to recommit to the Bi-State Compact, TRPA Executive Director Julie Regan said.
Clem Shute stands for a photo with the presenters of the Dianne Feinstein Lake Tahoe Award. From left, Keep Tahoe Blue CEO Dr. Darcie Goodman Collins, TRPA Executive Director Julie Regan, E. Clement “Clem” Shute Jr., and Placer County Supervisor and Governing Board member Cindy Gustafson.
“Clem embodies the spirit of collaboration and partnership that has underpinned Lake Tahoe’s protection for more than 55 years,” Regan said. “During the Regional Plan Update, his extensive knowledge and commitment to collaborating with Nevada officials brought the bi-state partnership back together. Lake Tahoe remains one of the clearest bodies of water in the world thanks to leaders like Clem over the decades.”
Shute began his law career in the California Attorney General’s office working for the San Francisco Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission. His work in the appellate courts established significant precedents in environmental law. In 2002, he was part of the legal team that successfully defended the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan before the U.S. Supreme Court in Tahoe Sierra Preservation Council v. TRPA, a case that is widely cited in land-use planning policy. In 2015, Shute was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the California State Bar.
Shute’s love of Lake Tahoe goes back to his childhood when he spent vacations on the North Shore with his family. Even as a boy he understood how special the lake is.
“When given the chance to help ‘save Lake Tahoe,’ the choice was easy,” he said. “Looking back, it’s incredible to see just how much has been accomplished collectively. It is humbling to be included among the major figures in Lake Tahoe’s preservation, and I feel those who were alongside me share in this award.”
In 2021, Senator Feinstein herself became the first recipient of the eponymous award for her decades of dedication to Lake Tahoe’s preservation. She co-founded the annual Lake Tahoe Summit 30 years ago along with the late Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. The event continues to bring federal, Tribal, state, and local leaders together to address environmental challenges facing the Lake Tahoe Basin and build collaborative, bi-partisan solutions.
In 2022, the legendary scientist Dr. Charles Goldman received the award. His research in the 1960s showed how harmful development practices were destroying the lake’s famed water clarity. Goldman’s work has helped guide science-based environmental policy in the Tahoe Basin for decades.
Read Tubac WEEKLY'S interview with Clem on the Interview Page.