THATCHER – Racers as young as two years old ran, walked and rode strollers through a five kilometer course laid out by Eastern Arizona College (EAC) nursing students. The 2nd annual Honduras Medical Fun Run started and ended at the EAC Nursing Education Center. After the race, students sold breakfast, raising $340 for a medical mission to Honduras.

SAFFORD – “Protect and serve” is a standard law enforcement motto, and Friday local law enforcement and corrections officers practiced a different kind of service at the Tip-A-Cop hosted by El Charro. The civil servants volunteered to wait tables at El Charro, where they earned $2,277.21 in tips, which will fund the local Special Olympics.

SAFFORD – Sam Speckman walks about 14 miles a day. He left Phoenix on March 23 and traveled more than 233 miles to arrive in Safford on Sunday, April 9. He is hiking the Grand Enchantment Trail (GET), an informal combination of roads, trails and cross country travel that meanders 770 miles from Phoenix to Albuquerque, passing through the Pinaleño Mountain Range, down 8th Street in Safford and north past Morenci into New Mexico.

I would rather sit on a pumpkin: Nichole and Rerecente Gonzales. This is the fourth installment of Gila Valley Central’s four-part series on homelessness in our area and focuses on an extended family who are all living a non-traditional home life. Some names used are aliases. SAFFORD – Rerecente Gonzales is not homeless.

How big is Safford’s homeless community, and who is helping? This is the third installment of Gila Valley Central’s four-part series regarding homelessness in our area. This installment focuses on people and organizations assisting those in need. SAFFORD – Carmen Tellez estimates there are 200 homeless people in the Gila Valley.

My homelessness isn’t like their homelessness: Danny Ogas and Jeannett Knight. This is the second installment of a four-part series highlighting the different varieties of homeless people in the Gila Valley. SAFFORD – Batman is homeless and he drives a budget Batmobile. The black and gray, fourth-generation Ford Mustang is emblazoned with the classic Batman logo and has mismatched yellow rims and a towel for a rear window.

This is the first of Gila Valley Central’s four-part series exploring different types of local homelessness in our area. Lakota is a street name. Neither person featured in this article wished to use their last name. SAFFORD – Lakota’s parents and adoptive parents all died before he was 10. Lakota and his twin brother were split up and placed in foster care.

SAFFORD – With talent and Hawaiian charm, Darryn Kamae won first place and $1,000 in the 12th annual Gila Valley Idol competition (GVI) Thursday night. Kamae and 19 other competitors entertained a crowd and three judges at the David M. Player Center for the Arts, concluding months of singing from nearly 100 initial contestants.

SAFFORD –Arizona State Representative Drew John was the featured speaker at the monthly meeting of the Graham County Republican Party committee, Friday. About 30 people were present at the lunch at the Manor House, including a number of local leaders from towns and cities in Graham and Greenlee counties.

SAFFORD – By correctly spelling words ‘iguana’ and ‘pinafore’ in the final round, Maria Dannenbrink won the Graham County Spelling Bee on Wednesday night and will continue on to the state finals in Phoenix at the end of March. Eighteen students competed in front of a panel of judges and about 80 people in the conference room at the Graham County Services Building.

SAFFORD – The chute clangs open and a calf bolts out across the arena with a brief head start. Pounding after him, a mounted cowboy throws a rope around the calf’s head, wrapping the other end around the saddle horn. Using his horse, the cowboy steers the calf as a cowgirl follows, trying to get a rope around one or both of the calf’s heels.

In part one of this series, we learned of former football player and Army combat veteran Chris Taylor’s spiral into opiate addiction, including succumbing to heroin use. Part 2 examines how he managed to change his life and those around him for the betterment of the community. SAFFORD – Chris Taylor’s life collapsed in Safford after he succumbed to opiates, and when his parents kicked him out, he went to live in Phoenix with his brother in September, 2011.

SAFFORD – “Here’s some Oxycontin for the pain,” the Veteran’s Affairs doctor told Chris Taylor when he returned from combat in Afghanistan. Although Taylor was seeking treatment for physical pain, narcotics became a way to treat emotional pain. What began as treatment would turn into a worse battle than Taylor ever saw on the battlefield, but would enable Taylor to emerge as not merely a combat veteran, but as a civic hero and leader.