ABC 15 continues investigation of mineral museum mess

ABC 15 is continuing there investigation into what happened to the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum and why. Their initial episode aired on February 14th, Arizona's Centennial. The second episode was broadcast on June 27, 2012.

ABC is seeking answers to the following questions:

Why was the mineral museum forcibly and abruptly closed when there was no funding for either a 5C Arizona Centennial Museum or an Arizona Experience Museum?

Why does the new Arizona Historical Society budget include nearly a half million taxpayer dollars for a museum that does not exist?

Why was staff hired for a museum that did not and does not exist?

Why are House bills to restore the mineral museum being killed?

Why will the Governor's office not answer questions?

The link to most recent ABC 15 broadcast is: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/museum-still-closed-after-a-year-fundraising-fails-for-governor-brewers-pet-project

Erasing Arizona’s mining heritage

In 2011, the historic and once top rated Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum was eliminated. Today, the building stands empty and unused. The closure was not motivated by budget cutting. No tax dollars were saved, because the entire mineral museum budget was transferred to the Arizona Historical Society.

According to a recent story in the Town Crier (Tucson), Arizona’s unique mining history is about to be further diminished. A statue of Barry Goldwater is being prepared to replace the statue of General John Greenway in the U.S. Capitol. While Senator Goldwater was a prominent political figure, John Greenway was a key figure in Arizona’s early history and a representative of the state’s mining heritage.  As noted by the Crier:

John Greenway is a fitting representative of Arizona, because as a mining engineer he developed the copper mine at Ajo which led to the building of the town there. The existence of the copper mines in Arizona was a significant factor in the admission of our state into the union. Copper was once very important to Arizona’s, and the nation’s, economy.

Is Arizona ashamed of its early history?

Reference:

The Wrong Statue? Or the Wrong Greenway? An Arizona History

By Susan Call

The Town Crier, Tucson, AZ

May 16, 2012

On Beyond Madness

This blog began two years ago, on June 5, 2010.  At that time, Arizona’s high school dropout governor had pushed through a bill to transfer the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum to the Arizona Historical Society.  The first blog post documented the underhanded tactics used to get the bill through the legislature. The AHS subsequently destroyed the mineral museum, but failed to produce the new museum that was to occupy the building for the centennial.

In response to public protests over the loss of the mineral museums K-12 earth science education problems, the governor apparently directed the AHS to provide science education. That foolishness is causing public funds to be spent in very curious and inefficient ways.  The most recent is the goofiest yet.

The AHS is now hosting a “Science Institute” in July.  As currently described on the AHS website, the “institute” includes the following:

 FREE Materials for Each Participant

Award-winning curriculum

Boxed lunches

Certificate for 25 Continuing Education Credits

Rock and Mineral Classroom Kits

Workshop Features:

FREE curriculum resources of history, water, geology, and conservation

Guided tour of Papago Park with geological perspective

Modeled lesson plans

Local community resource

The catch is, a $150  fee must be paid to access the "free" stuff.

As further reported on the AHS website, at least one of the presentations will be provided by a guest from the Phoenix Zoo.

How very appropriate.