Groundbreaking will begin next week in southern Arizona for the virtual border fence project’s first permanent detection towers, a spokeswoman in Washington said Friday.

Contractors preparing sites for the towers “will start moving earth next week,” Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Jenny Burke said.

The towers will hold sensors, cameras and communications equipment designed to detect illegal immigrants and drug smugglers and to enhance the ability of Border Patrol agents to intercept and apprehend them.

The towers are to be built first in Arizona, the busiest corridor for illegal entries along the Mexican frontier over the past decade. Plans call for also placing such towers along most of the 2,000-mile Mexican border, in New Mexico, California and almost all of Texas within five years.

But within the next few weeks, Burke said, officials with the Secure Border Initiative have to assure that problems that came up with various components during systems testing have been resolved.

“The Department of Homeland Security has to give approval before we hang sensors on the towers,” she said.

“There were some issues that cropped up during systems testing qualifications. SBI believes that they have been fixed,” and will seek to provide assurance of that during the next couple of weeks, Burke said.

The first permanent towers will encompass a total of 53 miles of the Arizona border in two chunks southwest of Tucson. One will replace a prototype temporary virtual fence near Sasabe.

PHOENIX — The Arizona House has given preliminary approval to a gun-rights bill that sparked a public confrontation punctuated by shouting between a legislator and a National Rifle Association lobbyist.

Backed by the NRA, the bill would generally permit gun owners to keep legally owned weapons in their locked vehicles in parking lots and garages, regardless of whether the owner has a policy against allowing guns on the property. The guns would have to be out of sight.

With Thursday’s voice vote, the bill (HB2474) now awaits a formal House vote. Passage would send it to the Senate.

The legislation has stirred controversy among business owners because of concern for private property rights and workplace safety.

The bill would not apply to parking areas of detached, single-family residences.

Along with infringing on private property rights, the bill is flawed because it didn’t provide for gun-free zones at parking for private day care facilities, religious facilities and multifamily housing, opponents said Thursday during debate.

The sponsor, Republican Rep. John Kavanagh of Fountain Hills, said the measure was a “reasonable compromise” that took into account both Second Amendment rights to carry firearms and private property rights.

However, “the right of private property ownership is not absolute,” Kavanagh said. “The Bill of Rights (and) in fact many other laws do not stop at a private property line.”

Supporters said the bill would serve Arizonans who want to have guns in vehicles for self-defense.

“I don’t believe my right to protect myself and my family should be limited when I drive to work,” said Republican Rep. Frank Antenori of Tucson.

Later Thursday, Republican Rep. Bill Konopnicki of Safford said in an interview that NRA lobbyist Todd Rathner threatened his future election prospects during the confrontation in the House’s second-floor lobby.

Konopnicki said Rathner’s comments did not prompt the lawmaker to withdraw a proposed amendment that would have added exemptions that the NRA opposed.

“You know when you’re dealing with people with groups that they’re going to have some influence on you (but) my decision to hold the amendment was based on the fact that I did not have a chance to work members to see where everybody else was,” Konopnicki said.

Rathner said he and a fellow NRA lobbyist had been trying to speak with Konopnicki about the amendment for hours and that he was frustrated by the time he returned to the lobby and found Konopnicki speaking with Rathner’s colleague.

Konopnicki, Rathner said in an interview, “said something like ‘what are you going to do about it?’ That’s when I said we’re going to let all the members in Arizona know exactly who killed their bill and that’s you.”

Rathner, who said he was frustrated because Konopnicki was rated favorably by the NRA, said he later apologized to Konopnicki by e-mail.

“I can’t win in this situation,” Rathner said. “I never should have engaged in an argument like that and out in the hallway like that.”

———

SIERRA VISTA — Fire officials say winds cooperated Thursday in holding down a wildfire in southeastern Arizona and the blaze near Sierra Vista should be contained Saturday.

Incident management team spokeswoman Jonetta Holt says officials estimated the Canelo fire would be 80 percent contained by nightfall. It burned 4,208 acres as of Thursday, having destroyed three homes and burned a man listed in critical condition at the Maricopa Burn Center in Phoenix.

Crews focused on mopping up interior hot spots.

Holt says the blaze that began in grass and brush Tuesday, also burning five outbuildings and six vehicles, no longer threatened any structures.

Residents evacuated from a subdivision near Fort Huachuca returned home Wednesday.

$1 million could be lost in Tucson

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress quickly denounced an Obama administration plan to end federal payments to states and communities for jailing illegal immigrants.

President Obama asked Congress in his budget Thursday to end the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. Instead, the $400 million it received for the 2009 fiscal year could be used for border security and immigration enforcement, the administration said.

The SCAAP program reimburses states and counties for jailers’ salaries for holding illegal immigrants who have at least one felony and two misdemeanor convictions. But the Obama administration says the reimbursements also can be used for bonuses, consultants and buying vehicles.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said killing the program “deprives communities of critical funding for public safety services.” The California state corrections received more than $118 million in 2008 through the program.

“We cannot afford to let our public safety services crumble under the weight of our immigration policies, especially during this time of economic uncertainty,” Feinstein said.

State and local officials vehemently protested several attempts by former President George W. Bush to end the program. Congress regularly funded the program. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was among state officials – when she was Arizona’s governor – who petitioned Bush to continue paying the jailing costs. Arizona state corrections received $12.8 million in reimbursements last year.

It will cost Pima County about $1 million in lost funding to the sheriff’s and county attorney’s departments.

“It’s just another federal obligation that gets passed on the the local taxpayers,” County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said Thursday.

“It is especially difficult on border communities and border states,”he said. “It’s another million we’re going to have to find somewhere else.”

PHOENIX – Police are crediting a Phoenix-area mother’s tip for the dismantling of an Internet-based Ecstasy sales ring.

The unidentified woman’s call to the Maricopa County Methamphetamine Task Force early last week brought swift action from detectives, who within hours located the seller’s MySpace page online, including a complete price list, quantity and product review.

The woman looked at her 17-year-old son’s activity on the Internet and realized he was more than likely purchasing some sort of drug, said Lt. Steve Bailey, a Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy assigned to the task force. “She figured out it was Ecstacy, and put that together with how he was acting, lethargic and spacey, and called us.”

By Tuesday, 10 Ecstasy dealers who had a combined clientele of nearly 500 metro Phoenix high school and college students were under arrest, investigators say.

The network of small-time peddlers was coordinated and advertised through the social networking Web site, Bailey said.

Detectives were able to buy the drug from dealers in Mesa, north Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe and Fountain Hills, and in parks, restaurants and other public places. If a dealer ran out, he simply referred undercover agents to some other suppliers, police said.

“It’s sort of a loose-knit, somewhat organized group,” Bailey said. “There’s no sense of competition among them or anything. They got kids with pockets full of money who just want to get high on Friday and Saturday night.”

Detectives purchased more than 200 hits in their brief investigation.

Dealers said they bought the pills for $7 and typically sold them for $15 and could make as much as $3,000 each weekend selling the drug at parties and raves and other all-night dance parties held in large venues.

The ease of buying and selling the drug shows where Ecstasy ranks on the list of concerning drugs for parents and teenagers, investigators said.

“It’s very easy (to buy) and unfortunately, I hate to say, accepted. Parents hear about these rave parties and alcohol isn’t allowed at these rave parties because it’s a dangerous combination,” said Phoenix police Sgt. Don Sherrard, a member of the task force. “So the parents are kind of ignorant and kind of relieved that their kids aren’t out drinking and driving and don’t realize their kids are doing methamphetamine.”

Physicians say Ecstasy can damage the brain. It dumps all of the serotonin out of the user’s brain in one massive reaction that brings a state of euphoria, said Dr. Jeff Thomas, a clinical professor at Arizona State University.

The drug also blocks the brain from recycling that serotonin, leading to the depression that follows. “It takes a long time, 6 months, for your brain to get back where it was after one dose,” Thomas said. “This drug is actually more damaging than methamphetamine.”

Mecum

PHOENIX – The executive director of the Arizona Republican Party has been arrested on charges of criminal speeding and reckless driving.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety said 30-year-old Brett Mecum was captured by a photo enforcement camera on the morning of April 10.

DPS officials said Mecum was clocked driving a 2008 Shelby GT at 109 mph in a 65 mph zone on the Loop 101 and 59th Avenue in Glendale.

DPS officers arrested Mecum at state party headquarters Wednesday morning and booked him into jail on charges of criminal speeding and reckless driving.

“The incident in question took place nearly one month ago. I have not had an opportunity to review any of the evidence in this particular matter,” Mecum said in a statement released Wednesday night. “As a consequence, I have entered no plea in this matter. I expect to and look forward to having an opportunity to see all the information DPS has collected and I will evaluate that information prior to entering any pleas in this matter.”

Mecum added that he doesn’t expect the matter will compromise or effect his ability to do his job.

Destories

PHOENIX — Speed-enforcement vans are back on Arizona highways for the first time following the killing of a van operator last month.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Jim Warriner said Tuesday that the vans began being phased back onto roadways Monday.

He said he does not know how many vans are out snapping the photos of speeders or when all of them will be up and running again.

Warriner declined to say whether people were inside the vans, citing safety issues. He said only that “the technology is out there that has allowed us to move forward.”

“We’re comfortable that the van operators and the vans will be protected,” he said.

Thomas Patrick Destories, 68, is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Doug Georgianni, 51, who was operating a speed-enforcement van on a Phoenix freeway when he was killed.

Authorities haven’t said what they believe the motive might be, but said the two men had never met.

The speed vans were pulled from Arizona freeways the day after the killing; fixed cameras never stopped operating.

Warriner said late last month that DPS was working with camera operator RedFlex Traffic Systems Inc. to decide how the vans would operate in the future, and that they could be unmanned.

The photo-enforcement program was launched under former Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano. Civil violations are punishable by a fine and surcharges totaling $181.

Georgianni is survived by his wife Jean, his parents, and six brothers and sisters.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK — Grand Canyon National Park rangers have scaled back their search for two people who had attempted to swim across the Colorado River but were swept away.

The body of 16-year-old Mark Merrill was discovered last week. His brother, 22-year-old Joey Merrill, and 16-year-old Saif Savaya remained missing Monday.

Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge says rangers will conduct a limited search until the bodies are found.

She says rangers will patrol the river and trails and enlist the help of commercial and private boaters.

A missing person’s flier is also being handed out to boaters and hikers along the river.

The missing people were on a trip sponsored by the Tri-City Baptist Church in Tempe.

PHOENIX — A bill being considered by Arizona legislators is seen as pitting gun owners’ Second Amendment rights against the private property rights of businesses and others.

Backed by the National Rifle Association, the bill would permit gun owners to keep legally owned weapons in their locked, privately owned vehicles while they’re parked in parking lots, garages or other parking areas of private property where the owner has a policy against allowing guns on the property.

The Republican lawmaker sponsoring the bill (HB2474) said it is intended to overturn bans that deprive employees and others of their Second Amendment rights.

“I was not aware that the Bill of Rights ends at private property,” said Rep. John Kavanagh of Fountain Hills.

The bans mean employees “can’t bring their legally possessed weapons with them to work, so that on the way to work and after work, they would not have access to their weapons for legal self-defense or recreational shooting if they want to go to a range,” Kavanagh said. “Having a firearm hidden and locked in a car is not a safety threat.”

Democratic leaders announced their opposition to the bill, which is expected to be considered by the House soon.

Overturning employers’ weapons bans could set the stage for deadly workplace violence, said House Minority Leader David Lujan of Phoenix. “This bill allows incredibly easy access to a firearm.”

Other Democratic leaders said the bill could compromise security at key facilities and that gun owners could and should find another place to park if a property chooses to ban guns.

“The owners of a piece of property should be able to dictate what they want — or what they do not want — to protect their employees,” said Rep. Chad Campbell of Phoenix.

Consideration of the bill by the full House could come either during or shortly before the NRA’s annual convention, which is being held May 14-17 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

The bill was last considered by House caucuses March 31, and Democratic leaders speculated that action by the Republican-led House would be timed for political reasons to precede or coincide with the NRA gathering.

However, Kavanagh said the bill was held up only to allow time for meetings with businesses to address any concerns.

The bill has drawn opposition from several business groups, including the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Manufacturers Council.

A lobbyist for the manufacturers council testified that businesses have an obligation to keep their employees safe and that there are concerns about employee violence in the current poor economic climate.

As originally proposed, the bill included a provision to exempt property owners from liability in lawsuits resulting from a gun stored in a locked, privately owned motor vehicle parked on the property.

However, a House panel that reviews proposed legislation for potential constitutional flaws has recommended that the full House rewrite the liability exemption. As written, the provision would violate the Arizona Constitution’s guarantee for the right to sue to recover damages, a House staff attorney said.

The bill also contains a provision that states it wouldn’t apply in situations covered by other state or federal laws.

PHOENIX — There are laws on the books that prevent the mixing of booze and guns in public places where alcohol is served.

The people running the Phoenix Convention Center want to temporarily suspend part of the center’s liquor license that bans carrying weapons where booze is served.

Convention officials say gun owners attending next week’s National Rifle Association convention would not be able to bring weapons into the convention center complex.

Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control spokeswoman Lee Hill calls it an unusual request to suspend a liquor license and even more unusual to do it for a weapons event.

The convention catering company general manager Mark Wallace said alcohol will only be served in three areas where receptions are held. Wallace said the NRA also plans to operate a gun-check area.

The NRA was not available for comment Monday.

A teenager who drowned in the Colorado River on a church hiking trip last week was described by his pastor as a young man who planned to go into the ministry.

Mark Merrill, 16, attempted to swim across the river with his older brother, Joey, 22; and friend, Saif Savaya, 16. Mark’s body was found; Joey and Saif remain missing.

The Merrills are from Sanders. Joey has lived in the East Valley for the past four years while attending International Baptist College, a ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church. Joey was planning to graduate in December and then enter the ministry.

Joey Merrill was described as a young man who values life so much that he devotes his to others, yet is so lighthearted that he is not above pulling practical jokes on the church staff and fellow churchgoers.

“He was unbelievably loved,” said Mike Sproul, pastor at Tri-City, where Joey attended. “Just a great young man. Whatever you needed to do, he was there.”

Mark looked up to his older brother and like him, desired to go into the ministry.

Their friend Saif, a Williams Field High School soccer player, is said to have been a good kid from a good family.

“They were wonderful young men – very caring, very giving,” Sproul said.

While not known as adventurous, Mark attempted to swim across the river Thursday morning. It cost him his life.

National Park Service rangers began searching for the bodies of Joey and Saif Thursday morning, but have since scaled back their effort.

“We always hope until we know for sure,” Sproul said. “There are thousands of people across the world praying. . . . I’ve been getting e-mails and text messages from across the world.”

National Park Service rangers have repeatedly searched a 10-mile area via boat, helicopter and foot with dogs. Fliers have been placed around the park.

The young men participated in their church’s annual hiking trip at the Grand Canyon last week, said Sproul. About 30 people went on the trip, less than half of them were college students and teens.

“It’s not a race to the bottom,” Sproul said. “It’s a chance to say “Here’s God’s creation. Get up early and see the sun come over the Grand Canyon.”

Saif and Mark were among several non-Tri-City members on the trip.

Instead of using a bridge to cross the river, the youths found a trail around the bridge and decided to wade in the water before diving in.

Sproul said other hikers yelled at the young men, cautioning them to get out of the river, but Sproul wasn’t sure if the youths heard the warnings.

The water was moving at 15,000 cubic feet per second.

Mark’s body was discovered Friday, a mile south of where the trio was last seen.

For the past 25 years, college students and others affiliated with Tri-City have hiked the canyon.

All participants are required to read a National Park Service-issued safety manual before the trip.

People are stationed throughout the canyon and are equipped with walkie-talkies to insure safety. Sproul said the hikers travel in small groups and are no more than half a mile apart.

The Tri-Baptist Church community has been shaken all weekend, and he attempted to comfort them Sunday morning with a biblical passage that speaks of navigating life’s troubled waters, he added.

Sproul was in New York’s Central Park with some of the church’s high-school seniors when he received the message about the young men.

More than 100 students are enrolled at IBC, Sproul said.

Members of the IBC family were on campus Friday mourning Joey’s disappearance. Grief counselors will continue to be available for students.

Classes resume Monday and plans were in place to honor Joey at this year’s graduation.

The Associated Press

PHOENIX – Members of the National Rifle Association are coming to Phoenix this month at a time when gun owners fear the administration may be out to strip them of their firearms.

President Barack Obama said in April that he has not backed off his pledge to reinstate an assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004.

But the president also acknowledged a ban on assault rifles was a tough sell politically. The priority now, he said, is to enforce existing gun laws.

Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president, recently sent a letter to prospective members asking every “law abiding” American gun owner to come to the convention to “prove to the gun banners” that the NRA will take on “anybody who attacks our firearm freedoms.”

He also described how the “anti-gunners” control federal regulatory power.

“I think President Obama is the single best salesman for the National Rifle Association that we’ve had in several years,” said Walt Stephenson of Tucson, a lifetime NRA member who’s coming to the May 15-17 convention.

Ken Logan, a manager at Shooter’s World in Phoenix, said gun sales tripled in the months leading up to Election Day and sales of ammunition tripled or quadrupled, creating shortages.

The number of background checks submitted to the FBI as part of the gun purchasing process increased from about 3 million in the first quarter of last year to more than 3.8 million in the same period this year, an increase of more than 25 percent.

A background check doesn’t necessarily mean the sale went through, but people in the gun business say they’ve seen a spike in buying driven by gun-control worries.

“They’re pretty much buying everything and anything,” Logan said.

The NRA claims membership of about 4 million. It lobbies for gun rights and against new restrictions.

“We believe the best way to reduce violent crime in this country is to strictly enforce our existing laws,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said. “Anything bad regarding a firearm is illegal under current law.”

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK – Search crews on Friday found the body of one of three people who were swept away after they jumped into the Colorado River on a visit to the Grand Canyon.

Canyon officials are waiting to identify him until they can tell his family.

The search continued for the other two. Searchers used a helicopter, a dog and other efforts to try to find them.

Garrick Taylor, a spokesman for the Tri-City Baptist Church, said the men were part of a 30-member group that went on a planned three-day hiking trip on Wednesday that the church organizes each year.

Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge identified the three as 15-year-old Saif Savaya, and two brothers, 16-year-old Mark Merrill and 22-year-old Joey Merrill. None were wearing life vests.

The group was in the canyon bottom just upriver from the main park headquarters on the South Rim. The river is cold at this time of year, with water temperatures of about 50 degrees. Currents are swift in the area.

“All those factors work against them,” Oltrogge said.

Taylor said the rest of the group returned to Tempe and is praying for the missing to return home safely.

Joey Merrill is a student at the International Baptist College that the church runs in Tempe, Taylor said. His brother, Mark, lives in the eastern Arizona town of Sanders and went along for the trip.

Savaya is a member of the Phoenix Arabic Bible Church, Taylor said.

Feds looking into possible civil rights violations

Arpaio

The federal investigation into the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office took U.S. government officials to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office in the Wells Fargo Building Thursday morning.

At least half a dozen investigators with the U.S. Justice Department arrived at Arpaio’s downtown Phoenix office about 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

The Justice Department officials announced last month that they would launch a civil rights investigation into allegations that Arpaio’s deputies violated the constitutional rights of citizens during crime-enforcement operations.

Arpaio bragged about the pending visit to a crowd at a breakfast hosted by Councilwoman Thelda Williams in north Phoenix last week.

“This is a badge of honor,” Arpaio said of the investigation. “We don’t racial profile, so let them come down. I welcome them. We are not giving in to them.”

The visitors, whose names were on the sheriff’s log book, include:

Elizabeth Keenan, a deputy section chief with the department; Patrick Chang, a deputy chief in the department’s civil-rights division; and Shanetta Cutlar, the chief of the special litigation section.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK — Grand Canyon National Park officials say they’re searching for three people who were seen being swept away in the Colorado River on Thursday morning.

Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge says witnesses reported seeing the three jumping into the river at a spot known as Boat Beach and then being swept down river. The location is in the canyon bottom just upriver from the main park headquarters on the South Rim.

Oltrogge says park rangers were summoned by witnesses who used an emergency phone. Rangers in helicopters and on foot are conducting the search with help from a private rafting firm.

The river is cold at this time of year, with water temperatures of about 50 degrees.