Federally funded by the Highway Enhancement Fund, lighting and curb modifications are just a few of the interim improvements that the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and city of Tombstone are working on together.

Linda Ritter, ADOT's public relations officer, said no date has been set for when the changes will get under way.

"This is going to take some time," Ritter said, adding that all improvements are still in the pre-design stages, and that studies are still in progress to determine the cost of any enhancement projects.

Another concern of the city is whether or not any improvements made to the area will diminish Tombstone's historical look.

A new Tombstone has emerged and it shares many traits with the legendary Arizona town. They are both in the desert and feature men walking around with guns. While a lot of the guns carried around in old Tombstone are just for show, the weapons featured in the new Tombstone are anything but.

The soldiers at the Tombstone Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan are at war.
At first glance, Camp Tombstone, as it is referred to by its inhabitants, doesn't appear all that different from any other military base in Afghanistan, except for the name. Most other American bases are named after fallen soldiers or the first units deployed to the area – not after famed Wild West towns.

The participation rate for the town in the ongoing Census is already at an astounding 83 percent - putting Tombstone ahead of both national and state levels. Cochise County and the surrounding five counties all have rates ranging between 50 and 70 percent, putting them on par with the national rate of 66 percent.

Officials with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) have met with town representatives to change the town's primary highway to protect pedestrians but still preserve Tombstone's historic integrity.

The State Parks Board approved the major components of the agreement at their March 17 meeting but due to the understaffing of the agency, Parks Board Public Information Officer Ellen Bilbrey said the agreement has not been finalized by city officials.

Cochise County in particular is full of wildlife areas and nongame species. Some of the most popular areas to view wildlife are in the Chiricahua and Huachuca Mountains, and at the San Pedro River.

Arizona is one of 41 states that allows taxpayers to contribute to wildlife conservation by way of tax donations.

The Arizona Wildlife Fund, also known as the Nongame Checkoff Fund, established in 1982, is a program that enables Arizona taxpayers to aid conservation and the reintroduction of hundreds of nongame species through donations.

Britt W. Hanson, chief civil deputy at the county attorney's office, said that most cities, in his experience, put up little resistance in rectifying Open Meeting Law violations.

Previously, a new rider would have to visit the marshal's office to pick up a permit before they could ride into town.

Before it was abolished, the permit's main function was to notify tourists and new riders that they have to clean up and look after their horses when in town. However, since the rules seemed clear, Marshal Larry Talvy deemed the permits unnecessary.

Talvy said the permits were a liability for the marshal's office and a waste of his staff's resources to print. Under the system, if a rider lost control of a horse and injured someone, the marshal's office would be held accountable for issuing a permit to an inexperienced rider.

"Our number one concern is for pedestrians to be able to safely cross both ways," said Marshal Larry Talvy.

The marshal's office will have its next meeting with ADOT March 31 to discuss ways to make crossing Fremont Street safer. The proposal includes a ban on parking directly along Fremont Street because both cars and pedestrians have trouble seeing oncoming traffic, according to Talvy.

The county attorney's office filed a lawsuit against Tombstone officials after the mayor and other members of City Hall failed to complete the classes.

According to Britt Hanson, Cochise county's chief civil deputy attorney, Tombstone officials including Mayor Dusty Escapule, Marshal Larry Talvy and City Clerk Brenda Ikirt were supposed to attend a one- to two-hour class in the wake of multiple infractions of state open meeting law ordinances.

The county attorney found that Tombstone failed to comply with sections of the Arizona Open Meeting Law pertaining to posting notices regarding meetings of public bodies and for improperly ejecting resident Mike Carrafa during a call to the public.