After nearly a year of physical fitness training, students in the NPC/NAVIT fire science program wanted to test themselves. So a dozen students joined physical fitness instructor, Jenny Hancock, and Snowflake Fire Chief, Pat Hancock, to take part in the Eighth Annual Pat’s Run, April 21 in Tempe.
How did things turnout? This year’s Tillman Run had 29,000 registered participants. With such a large crowd, runners started in large assigned groups with the fire science team about midway in the 15th section. Electronic sensors on runners’ shoes accurately measured their times …

“Okay. Here I am, 50 pounds lighter. What do I do now?”
“I have thought about food for so long while I’ve lost weight. I’m scared to stop doing that, but I don’t want to be a slave to the yo-yo diet for the rest of my life.”
“What’s my next step after reaching my goal? Help!” 
More elusive than Bigfoot, more mysterious than aliens from another planet…these people are so anonymous we may not even believe they exist. But they do. These are the 5% of people who have lost weight and …

by Amie Rodgers
In a world where everyone with a cellphone is technically carrying a camera at all times, it is easy to wonder what really makes a photographer. There is no doubt that skill and knowledge are always helpful, but there is also a lot to be said for having “an eye” and it never hurts to have some heart.
Photographer Evelyn Shaw operates her camera from the heart. Originally from California, she moved to the White Mountains in 1990 and worked at Hughes Supply for twenty years. Her interest in …

Phoenix, AZ. May 4-5 – The third annual Cannonball Phoenix Spree is burning rubber up the highway to Payson to show folks how to raise funds for our military Cannonball style! The Phoenix Spree began as a spoof from the movie Cannonball Run featuring Burt Reynolds, and turned into a three part competition including: scavenger hunt, Cannonball Cash Collection, and the hilarious photo scavenger hunt where participants pose in hilarious photos of themselves to score points!
The Cannonball Phoenix Spree officially kicks off Friday night at the Fort McDowell Radisson where …

by Mark Jeffries, Special to Maverick Magazine
There’s no debating the fact that technology has changed the face of many of society’s most long-standing institutions and practices. Dating, for example, has moved online, with more people meeting for the first time on websites like eharmony.
com and match.com. Education has also changed dramatically, as students from grade school to college are taking classes online and using computers for everyday research and studying. Few things, however, have changed as much as weddings. While brides still toss the bouquet, fathers still walk their daughters …

by Amie Rodgers
They are young, talented and happy to call the White Mountains home. They are the Franklin Girls and as the title of their debut album suggests, they have places to go. Adriana (16) and Annelisa (12) Franklin may of grew up in Los Angeles, but it was when they moved to Pinetop with their parents John and Lourdes about five years ago that their passion for music really got its start. “I always loved theater, movies and music, but I had never did any of it until we …

by Stephanie Peterson
With wedding ads everywhere it got me thinking about my wedding, or as my family so lovingly refers to it as my temporary reign as “Bridezilla”. Personally I didn’t think I was that bad, but if you listen to my loved ones tell the tale your imagination will take you to a beautiful meadow with flowers and twinkle lights everywhere and an insane dragon dressed in a fabulous tulle gown with a bouquet of pink roses in one hand and an ax in the other who spits fire …

by Amie Rodgers with the help of Louis and Dolly Giallonardo
Lucy A. Vessels was born February 1, 1914 in Castelfrantano, Italy, Province of Chieti. She grew up as the oldest with three younger brothers: Tony, Thomas (Skeeter) and Louis. Before she was born, her father went to America for work and to earn enough money to go back to Italy and bring his family over. He was working in America when he heard his daughter had been born. “I remember that my father got very excited at the news that …

by Gregory David Roberts
Reviewed by Laura Brown
There are many books about life in India but few that will take you into that world like Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It is a travel book, a fiction work, a memoir, and a book of transformation. It has been wildly popular and deserves the sequel, The Mountain Shadow, scheduled to be completed in the near future.
A description of Shantaram said it was a “book about a man who escapes from an Australian prison who ends up in Bombay where he sets up …

by Crystal Riesop, Membership Vice President
MOMS Club of the White Mountains
It surely feels like spring lately in the White Mountains, 50 degrees and sunny. Overall, it has been a pretty mild winter and we love that kind of weather! There is hardly snow or ice patches to worry about. But you might be wondering what to do with the kids who maybe suffering from a mild case of cabin fever. Most pediatricians say that children need at least 30 minutes of exercise a day to stay healthy and keep a …