The news that shaped the Verde Valley in 2025

January

■ All past-due meal debts incurred by students enrolled in the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District were paid off following a $4,674 donation from the nonprofit Healthy Food Healthy Minds and $2,198 donation from the Sisterhood Connection Foundation, Pioneer Title Agency, anonymous donors and the National Christian Foundation.

■ The Clarkdale Town Council unanimously voted to create a historic preservation ordinance on Jan. 14.

■ Thinura Ginige wins national championship — 15-year-old Mingus Union High School sophomore Thinura Ginige was named the 2024 North American Sport Karate Association World Champion in the age 14 and 15 Class AA Black Belt Korean Form Division on Jan. 16 during an awards ceremony in Chicago.

■ The Cottonwood City Council decided not to hire a new interim city manager candidate and voted 4-2 on Jan. 21 to keep current interim City Manager Tom Whitmer, the city utilities director, in the position until the city can hire a new permanent manager.

■ Yavapai County District 2 Supervisor and Board Chairman James Gregory [R] announced on Facebook on Jan. 29 that he was resigning after having accepted the position of chief of police in Williams.

February

■ Cottonwood author Roger Naylor discussed his newest book, “Arizona National Parks and Monuments: Scenic Wonder and Cultural Treasures of the Grand Canyon State,” at the Cottonwood Public Library on the morning of Feb. 1.

■ The Cottonwood City Council adopted a resolution declaring a housing emergency during its meeting on Feb. 4.

■ The board of directors of the Cornville-based nonprofit Low-Income Student Aid voted on Feb. 3 to expand to all schools within the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District and into the Clarkdale-Jerome School District.

■ The Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District currently has half the number of bus drivers that it did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic response, and district staff expect that number to decline further with two more drivers scheduled to leave at the end of the school year.

■ Cottonwood police officers arrested a 61-year-old Lake Havasu City man wanted for multiple felony child-sex-related crimes in Utah after conducting a traffic stop on his vehicle on Feb. 12.

■ The Cottonwood City Council held a work session on Feb. 10 to discuss a Dec. 10 resolution passed by the Clarkdale Town Council requesting that Cottonwood take action to address complaints from Clarkdale residents about flight training at the Cottonwood Airport.

■ Cottonwood Journal Extra Managing Editor and Sedona Poetry Slam founder Christopher Fox Graham had a celestial body named after him with the recent redesignation of asteroid 1999 (AQ23) as 29722 Chrisgraham by the International Astronomical Union.

■ The Cottonwood City Council unanimously elected Councilwoman Felicia Coates as vice mayor on Feb. 18. Coates was nominated by former Vice Mayor Debbie Wilden, who said that Coates has so far come to meetings prepared, asked great questions and been active in the community.

■ The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality held a public meeting at the Cottonwood Recreation Center on Feb. 27 to discuss the preliminary findings from its investigation of possible heavy metal contamination resulting from the reprocessing of the Cottonwood slag pile by Minerals Research Inc.

March

■ Rob Propst, who served as manager of the Sedona Airport from 2012 to 2015, started as manager of the Cottonwood Airport on March 3.

■ Cottonwood City Council voted unanimously to appoint Bill Tinnin to a vacant Cottonwood’s Airport Commission seat on March 4.

■ Cottonwood residents voiced their concerns about an upcoming drag show set for March 22, hosted at the Cottonwood Community Clubhouse.

■ Mingus Union High Schools’ A Troupe of Ridiculous Thespians performed “Mamma Mia!” as their spring musical.

■ Cottonwood Acting City Manager Tom Whitmer announced the conclusion of the “Pick Your Playground” campaign for the redesign of Riverfront Park on March 4.

■ Students will no longer be attending classes at the American Heritage Academy in Camp Verde, which closed suddenly during spring break.

■ The Cottonwood City Council voted 5-0 on March 18 to support a Low Income Housing Tax Credit application by Terra Realty and Management of Colorado to expand the Verde Plaza Apartments onto adjoining city-owned property.

■ The city of Cottonwood’s public input process for residents to vote on the color palette for the new playground at Riverfront Park closed on March 23.

■ Micah Andrew Hines, 22, of Cottonwood, was arrested by Clarkdale Police on March 24, following an incident at Clarkdale-Jerome School. Hines allegedly made his way onto the school campus, hid in a third-grade bathroom and attempted to film female students.

■ Mingus Union High School District Governing Board President Dr. Misty L. Cox resigned on March 25. Will David, Ph.D., was appointed to fill her seat on April 21.

■ On March 27, U.S. District Judge Dominic Lanza tossed Stephen Gesell’s lawsuit against the city of Cottonwood out of federal court.

■ The eighth annual Verde Valley Comic Expo returned to the Cottonwood Recreation Center on March 29.

April

■ Jessica Vocca, the former principal of Dr. Daniel Bright School, took over from Steve King as superintendent of the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School district on April 1, 2024, and celebrated her first year.

■ The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors approved a $204 million bond issue by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to fund proposed projects at its Prescott and Daytona Beach, Florida, campuses by a 3-1 vote on April 2.

■ Arizona State University professors Stephen J. Reynolds, Ph.D., and Julia K. Johnson have released a second edition of “Roadside Geology of Arizona,” published by Mountain Press

■ The Mingus Union High School District Governing Board voted to move forward with a budget override election in November during its
April 10 meeting.

■ The city of Cottonwood has narrowed its search for a new city manager from a field of 158 applicants to three finalists, who will interview for the job early next month: Ken Bennett, Mario Cifuentez and Darren Coldwell. The city hosted a meet and greet on April 26.

■ Chapter 952 of the Experimental Aircraft Association hosted the Young Eagles Rally at the Cottonwood Airport on April 12, giving kids a chance to take a flight with EAA member pilots.

■ U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego [D] held a town hall at the Yavapai-Apache Nation on April 17, introduced by Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Council Chairwoman Tanya Lewis.

■ The Cottonwood Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved city staff recommendations for amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance regarding definitions and signs on April 21

■ The Yavapai Community College Governing Board and Chairwoman Deb McCasland, the District 2 representative, scheduled a possible rule change to allegedly centralize control in its president and restrict free speech rights of its board members.

■ The Cottonwood Police Department provided the body-cam of an officer-involved shooting that occurred on April 27, in the 1000 block of South Vista Grande Drive in Cottonwood. A domestic violence call ended with the death of 58-year-old David Coomer, who was armed.

■ Cottonwood’s Verde Valley Fair returned from April 30 through May 4 and was packed with thousands of visitors.

■ Verde Valley law enforcement agencies apprehended 49-year-old Adam Christopher Sheafe in Sedona on April 30. Sheafe was wanted for a murder in New River on April 28.

May

■ Mingus Union High School seniors Nicholas Osborn and Asher McFarland won first and second place, respectively, for the 2nd Congressional district in the Congressional Art Competition.

■ More than 1,300 people turned out for the seventh annual Verde Valley Wine Festival at Riverfront Park in Cottonwood on May 10.

■ Desert Star Community School in Cornville held a ribbon-cutting for its expanded campus on May 15.

■ Clarkdale’s annual free Concerts in the Park resumed May 31 and ran through Sept. 6.

■ The Cottonwood City Council considered city staff’s proposed budget of $172,885,373 for fiscal year 2025-26 during their meeting on May 13.

■ Several hundred people came out to the Clarkdale Town Park as Smelter Town Brewery poured the second round of the Clarkdale Beer Festival on May 16.

■ Cottonwood City Council selected Mario Cifuentez II as the new city manager on May 16.

■ Mingus Union High School held its graduation ceremony on May 23, with 293 students receiving diplomas.

■ The Verde Village Community Connection held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Verde Villages’ renovated Community Hall on May 28.

■ Mekenzie Combs and Mingus Union High School’s A Troupe of Ridiculous Thespians’ production of “Mamma Mia” won Arizona State University Gammage High School Music Theatre Awards on May 24.

June

■ The Verde Valley Fire District announced the death of Bill Boler on June 3. Boler previously served with fire districts in Sedona and Camp Verde.

■ More than 1,000 people marched in a “No Kings: National Day of Defiance” protest on June 14 in Cottonwood.

■ The Cottonwood City Council adopted a fiscal year 2025-26 tentative budget and expenditure limitation of $172,885,373 on June 17 and final budget on July 15.

■ The Clarkdale Town Council adopted the town’s final budget on June 24 in the amount of $47,384,536.

■ On June 23, Yavapai County Sheriff’s deputies and SWAT arrested a 73-year-old man who had allegedly shot his 82-year-old wife at their home in Cornville.

■ The Clarkdale Town Council adopted a resolution at its regular meeting on June 24 opposing the sale of Bureau of Land Management and National Forest System Lands included in the proposed bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The amendment was eventually pulled from consideration.

July

■ The Jerome Police Department responded to an incident involving a 65-year-old man from Dewey-Humboldt in the parking lot of Jerome Town Hall on July 3. Thomas Edward West shot himself after SWAT arrived.

■ Clarkdale held its Old Fashioned 4th of July at the Clarkdale Town Park with 1,000 attendees.

■ Northern Arizona Healthcare met with about 32 stakeholders from municipalities and government agencies at the Verde Valley Medical Center on the morning of July 6.

■ Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies executed federal search warrants at five Colt Grill restaurants and 12 residences in Arizona and Alabama on July 15 after a three-year labor exploitation investigation. Owners Robert and Brenda Clouston and two Mexican nationals illegally present in the U.S. were arrested.

■ Peter Andrew “Andy” Groseta, a longtime Verde Valley rancher, died from pancreatic cancer on July 22 at age 74.

■ Michael Wayne Mest’s remains have finally been identified, more than nine years after his body’s remains found in the Camp Verde area on May 25, 2015.

■ Arizona schools will finally receive $124 million from U.S. Department of Education grants that were halted in March by the Trump administration during a review of $6.8 billion in nationwide congressionally-approved funding.

August

■ “You Don’t Know Jack! My Long, Strange Trip Through the World of Public Health,” a memoir by Jerome dentists and elected town leader Dr. Jack Dillenberg was published.

■ The Clarkdale Town Council rejected a grant of easement of trails in the Mountain Gate subdivision at their regular meeting on Aug. 12.

■ The town of Clarkdale celebrated the grand opening of the Selna Mongini STEAM Park on Aug. 30.

September

■ The Clarkdale Town Council received a presentation regarding the town’s housing need assessment at the regular meeting on
Sept. 9.

■ The Cottonwood City Council discussed options for permanent council chambers at a work session on Sept. 9.

■ Puddle of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin led the rock band onto the Thunder Valley Rally stage at Riverfront Park in Cottonwood on Sept. 20.

■ Mingus Union High School’s A Troupe Of Ridiculous Thespians presented “Trap,” from Oct. 3, 4, 10 and 11.

■ Travis Black, who teaches construction technology at Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education was surprised with a $50,000 prize.

October

■ Yavapai County Manager Maury Thompson gave his immediate resignation to the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors on the morning of Oct. 1 prior to the regular meeting.

■ The Cottonwood City Council approved a contract for an airport traffic pattern and runway use analysis and allocated $226,500 of outside agency funding to 11 community organizations at on Oct. 7.

■ The Alzheimer’s Association’s 2025 Verde Valley Walk to End Alzheimer’s took place on Oct. 18.

■ The Science Vortex expanded to Camp Verde and Jaslo, Poland, the proposed second Sister City of Sedona.

■ Barbara McCabe, the Apache Cultural Resource Specialist for the Yavapai-Apache Nation, kicked off the Sedona Heritage Museum’s fall “Sedona Stories” on Oct. 9.

■ Verde Valley residents filled the streets for Halloween on Oct. 31.

■ Verde Valley Fire District crews and Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched Oct. 21 to a rescue UTV riders who had gone over a 300-foot cliff in the area of Hillside Drive.

■ Cottonwood police arrested 32-year-old Chartese Charley for a knife attack on a 28-year-old woman outside a home.

■ Frank the emu ran wild on Oct. 28 before being captured by Cottonwood Police’s Animal Control Officer Autumn Durnez.

■ Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office arrested Henry James Greer, 53, for first-degree homicide in a shooting death on Del Rio Drive on Oct. 29.

■ Statewide school letter grades were announced.

■ Visit Cottonwood unveiled its new tagline and brand identity, “Savor the Moment,” on Oct. 28.

November

■ The 19th annual Walkin’ on Main street fair returned to Old Town Cottonwood on Nov. 8.

■ Voters in the Mingus Union High School District, Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District and Clarkdale-Jerome School District all approved budget overrides on Nov. 4. Voters in the Verde Valley Fire District approved $15.5 million in general obligation bonds.

■ The Clarkdale Town Council adopted an ordinance at its regular meeting on Nov. 12 to comply with House Bill 2447.

■ The fourth annual Verde Valley Pottery Festival took Place Nov. 14 at D.A. Ranch.

■ Traffic stops and citations up — Yavapai County Supervisor Dee Jenkins [R-District 2] held a town hall on Nov. 13 at Cross Church in Cornville, at which county departments provided updates to residents.

■ The Yavapai College Governing Board voted 4-1 on Nov. 19 to raise tuition 3%.

December

■ The 2025 Cottonwood Christmas Parade was held Dec. 6 but was stationary instead of on Main Street.

■ The Verde Village Community Connection considered donating its pond to Yavapai County to be turned into a park.

■ Some 70 children met Santa Claus at the Shop with a Cop event on Dec. 13.