Fighting Bureaucracy on the Arizona Desert

By Tom Morrow

In 1973, I was editor and publisher of a suburban weekly newspaper in the northern communities of Phoenix. The state announced a plan to build a minimum-security prison right in the center of a residential community. It was a crazy idea that had the residents understandably upset.
About a week after the plan was announced and I had a chance to editorialize against it, I received a call from the State Senate Majority Leader’s office.
“Mr. Morrow, this is Sandra Day O’Connor. I want to talk to you about this crazy prison plan.”
The controversy went back and forth for several weeks, but along with my editorials and O’Connor’s legislative leadership we got the plan scraped.
Years later, when Senator O’Connor was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Reagan, I fired off a letter of congratulations. A number of days later, I received a telegram, which read: “We had fun with that crazy prison proposal, didn’t we? Thanks for your letter.”
SEEING RED — The little red schoolhouse was such a success in our system of education because it had a little red woodshed behind it.
SCAG SEZ – My friend said caviar is his wife’s favorite seafood because she doesn’t have to worry the about bones. – Cecil Scaglione, Mature Life Features

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