BPD investigates Faces & Places:

commercial fire / Boars Head

Palo Verde Valley Times
&
A4 Festival /B1
Quartzsite Times
Palo Verde
Read more on PVVT.com
Todays high: 67 Details on A3

Valley Times
50 CENTS serving blythe,california & Quartzsite, ArizonA Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Crash on Hobsonway leaves one dead

Passenger was ejected from seat,
alcohol believed to be factor
By Uriel Avendano
Times Editor
At approximately 6:45
a.m. on Jan. 8, California
Highway Patrol (CHP)
dispatch alerted the
Blythe Police Department
(BPD) about a 9-1-1 call
concerning a female yell-
ing for help on E. Hobson-
way, near the California
Port of Entry highway.
CHP Officers respond-
ed and found the female
and learned she had been
the driver of a vehicle
involved in a traffic col-
lision, stated a BPD
press release. CHP also
located a deceased male
passenger that had been
ejected from the vehicle.
Once on scene, BPD
took charge of the investi-
gation and identified the
female as 37-year-old Ro-
cio Perez.
Treated by AMR Ambu-
lance and City of Blythe
Fire Department per-
sonnel, Perez was deter-
mined to have sustained
moderate injuries sig- Photo courtesy of the Blythe Police Department
nificant enough to be air California Highway Patrol (CHP) dispatch alerted the Blythe Police Department (BPD) about a 9-1-1 call Jan. 8 concerning
lifted to a trauma center. 37-year-old Rocio Perez yelling for help on E. Hobsonway, near the California Port of Entry highway. The cause of the accident
See crash/A2 remains under investigation; however alcohol is believed to have been a factor.

Colorado River Ambassadors Blythes got

the beat
Bluegrass Festival returns for another twangin bash
By Jackie Deal
special to the times

I
n a hospital, in Spokane, Wash.,
Carole Johnson and Dan Day await
test results and treatments options
for his recently diagnosed cancer.
Theyre snowbirds and, until last
week, they were enjoying Arizonas
winter; then Dan was diagnosed with
advanced cancer and they flew back
to Washington to be near family and
familiar doctors.
Now theyre waiting. Waiting,
wondering and worrying. A few rays
of sunshine: their memories of five
Bluegrass Festivals in Blythe that
theyve enjoyed. Theyre reminiscing
and sharing their memories with us;
would you-all please share and remem-
ber them in your prayers?
Dan recalls camping in their RV
on the Colorado River Fairgrounds
and, in the evening, going around to
the various impromptu jams outside.
Carole adds, One time we thought we
heard really bad bagpipe music. We
walked around a corner and there was
a bluegrass band trying to sound like
Photo by Cathyleen Rice/Palo Verde Valley Times bagpipes. They were having a ball.
Five diplomatic agriculturalists were awarded $800 scholarships and selected as 2017 Speaking of RVers: RVs are expected
Colorado River Ambassadors in October. As representatives of the fair, Alex Guilin, Drew to cover every spare inch of the fair-
Cude, Morgan Milke, Nathan Tribby and Victoria Mallett pledged to fulfill their duties to grounds. Come with water and empty
participate in community events and encourage residents of Blythe to make agriculture black and gray tanks to dry camp for
great again. With the town fair just around the corner, the ambassadors are planting the $20 a night and be ready to stay up late
spark and hoping that by Marchs harvest time, more locals will come out and support and enjoy the many spontaneous jam
the livestock shows and viewing. Because as Milke said, Were an agriculturally based sessions. This is probably the largest
community and we should be involved in fulfilling our duties as role models, by interacting Bluegrass Festival west of the Missis-
with and showing people they have something to look forward to as an ambassador. To see sippi River.
the full story, please visit our website at www.pvvt.com. A word to the wise: it can be cold
and breezy. Dress in multiple layers so
Photo by Uriel Avendano/Palo Verde Valley Times
Blythes 30th Annual Bluegrass
Festival is coming back to the city this Jan.
20 - 22 at the Colorado River Fairgrounds.
you can add or shed as Mother Nature
dictates. Even rain clothes and an um-
brella; better to have it with you than
WISH you had it with you.
Be sure to bring a lawn chair-there
are benches and a few chairs but not
enough for a crowd of maybe over a
thousand. A pillow might make those
chairs softer. Add a blanket (even
gloves) to make a cold, windy day
warmer. And if it turns warm and
sunny, just peel off the layers and be
thankful.
Dont forget a shopping bag! Yes, it
can carry your extra warmers but
also theres lots of vendor shopping
possibilities: crafts, t-shirts, souvenirs
etc. And you might take a few minutes
to go downtown shopping. Remember,
no freebie-one-use-only plastic bags in
California anymore. Ya gotta bring
your own bag.
Carole says she liked the two stages
where you could hear your favorite
bands more than once. From 9-4 p.m.,
See festival/A4

Farm of the week

Fisher Ranch celebrates

100 years of family farming
By Cathyleen Rice
Times Reporter
With grandfather Fisher starting
Fisher Farm on 10600 Ice Plant Rd.,
100 years, ago, owner and manager
Bart Fisher of Fisher Farm and man-
ager Andrew Fisher of Fisher Ranch
are still carrying the legacy and the
family tradition to produce quality
foods for both humans and animals.
So what exactly are in their fields?
Were a fairly large farm in the
valley and because we farm so many
acres, were very diversified, B.
Fisher said. We grow a lot of the tra-
ditional crops like alfalfa, some cotton
and occasionally wheat, but were also
diversified in growing vegetables and
melons.
As of right now, the Fishers are
growing, packing and harvesting Photo by Cathyleen Rice/Palo Verde Valley Times
See fisher/A2 A family tie that has never been broken since the start of Fisher Ranch 100 years ago.