Good morning, it’s Thursday, December 31st and this is The Herald Review’s podcast, the Daily Chirp. We’re excited to bring you a closer look at top stories, events in the community, local history, sports, and more. Today - the fight to stop border wall construction continues.

But first, a quick message from our sponsor.

Before we begin, some local history.

In 1847 Edward Lawrence Schieffelin was born. He was a prospector who first discovered silver in the Arizona Territory. His discovery led to the founding of Tombstone. He, his brother, and a mining engineer made a handshake deal that produced millions of dollars in wealth for all three of them. 

Today’s history was brought to you by Benson Hospital. They’re doing more than treating illnesses in Benson, they're building a healthier community. Benson Hospital donated rescue inhalers to Cochise County Schools to help keep kids healthy and out of the ER. To learn more, visit their website at bensonhospital.org.

Now, our feature story.

Environmental, border community and tribal groups have done everything in their power to stop a 30-foot border wall from going up across Arizona’s rich, diverse, fragile and remote desert ecosystems. They have yet to prevail.

In Cochise County, the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge and the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area have been blasted, bulldozed and blocked. Vital water supplies have been diminished. All for what some call President Donald Trump’s vanity wall.

The San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge or SBWR is known for its rare migrating wildlife. The San Pedro River is a world-renowned birding site. Both have been altered completely by the wall. 

Massive gates have been installed through washes. Mountains have been blasted. And roads built through remote, pristine lands in the mountains.

Conservationist Jose Manuel Perez spoke to CBS News about the issue:

Federal courts have agreed with the premise of a number of lawsuits to stop wall building, but they stopped short and permitted the building to continue.

One lawsuit to stop the wall due to the misappropriation of funds for areas in Cochise County and other southern Arizona borderlands will now go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Michael Gregory, a longtime champion for the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, described the wall as Trump’s Mount Rushmore. A monument to his ego and all the hate engineered by his administration. Gregory thinks it should come down.

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona from District 2 said that they pushed back hard against funding for the wall. 

Here’s Kirckpatrick in a plea to direct budgets elsewhere.

Kirkpatrick said that Biden could cancel the construction contracts with little loss of funding since the contracts will have been signed so recently and the federal government has wide discretion to cancel contracts.

Biden has a lot of flexibility here not to even touch those funds at all. He can also ask Congress to re–allocate those funds to another part of DHS, or get creative with how ‘barrier’ is defined, a term not defined in law. 

Want to stay up to date on what’s going on? Join NABUR – your trusted neighborhood community. NABUR is a free online forum you can trust to connect with your community, focus on facts & make a difference. Join the conversation! Visit Nabur.myheraldreview.com 

We also want to take a moment today to recognize Coach James Bosco Selchow, brought to you by ApexNetwork Physical Therapy. Providing physical therapy to the community, ApexNetwork offers a wide range of services including Manual Therapy, Industrial Rehab, Dry Needling, Golf Rehab and more. To learn more, go to ApexNetworkPT.com.

After 40 years of coaching, James “‘Bosco” Selchow is retiring.

He was hired in 1980, and may be the longest standing coach in the history of Douglas. For the past 31 years has been the head coach of the Douglas High School golf team, but originally coached football and baseball.

By Bosco’s side, supporting him the entire time is his wife, Jana, who is a retired educator. The couple will be celebrating their 40th anniversary this January. Bosco says he was fortunate to have been able to coach his son Jordan while his daughter, Meghan, was a cheerleader.

Now that he has retired from coaching Selchow plans on continuing on playing golf and admits he may attend a high school golf match or two in the coming years. He’ll be spending a lot more time with his son and daughter-in-law and their baby and visiting his daughter in Illinois.

Finally, today we’re remembering the life of 

Leland P Deal, Jr. of Sierra Vista. Lee served his country with honor in the U.S. Air Force from as an Airman First Class. There he acquired skills that served him well in his 33-year engineering career at Honeywell and Bull Technologies in Glendale. Lee also received a Bachelor of Arts from Ottawa University and a Master of Counseling from University of Phoenix. 

This career brought him to Sierra Vista and his beloved Huachuca Mountains. Lee eventually opened his private counseling practice in Sierra Vista continuing to do what he loved, helping others until his retirement in 2012.

Lee loved touring the National Parks, motorcycle cruising, hiking, bicycling, photography and creating beautiful furnishings. He often spoke joyfully of his adventures such as white-water rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and hiking it rim to rim. Lee was kind, authentic and had a gentle and unique sense of humor. He will be dearly missed by his family, friends, and everyone who knew him. Thank you for taking a moment today to remember and celebrate his life.

Thanks for tuning in to the Herald Review podcast today, join us again on Tuesday! For more information on any of the stories you heard about today, visit us at myheraldreview.com. 

Thanks for tuning in to the Herald Review podcast today, join us again on Tuesday! And remember, the Herald Review is here for you with local news you can trust. For more information on any of the stories you heard about today, visit us at myheraldreview.com. Right now you can become a member starting at just $1.99 per week.

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