The Arizona Highway Patrol

SHADES of the old West! The great, isolated distances of Arizona that had stumped such famed territorial peace officers as Wyatt Earp of Tombstone, Bucky O'Neill of Prescott and Commodore Owens of Navajo County are no more. A trained, feminine voice issuing forth from Radio Station KNGG, the Arizona Highway Patrol's central station in Phoenix, Arizona, can throw a barricade around the 113,000 square miles of varied terrain that is Arizona in less time than it takes to say it. Twentieth century methods have replaced the slower and uncertain methods of but a few years ago. Because of the effective use of radio by the Arizona Highway Patrol, closely co-operating with Sheriffs' radio setups in eight of the fourteen Arizona counties, Arizona is no longer a good place for the evil doer and the law violator to get conveniently lost in. And in cooperating with law-enforcement radio nets in adjoining states, the whole expanse of America's southwest and Pacific West is closely knitted by a Voice. Radio has added a greater effectiveness to the Patrol as an instrument of public service and safety.

The 10th Legislature in regular session, 1931, passed the act creating the Arizona Highway Patrol Division. The services of F. G. Yoder, instructor for the California Highway Patrol, were engaged to school the sixteen men who were to make up the membership of the new Highway Patrol. The number to be appointed was fixed on the basis of one Patrolman for each 4500 motor vehicles registered in the State during the preceding calendar year. Arizona did not have many cars in those days and the total count only permitted the appointment of 13 men, superintendent, chief clerk and stenographer.

Jim Walden was appointed the first superintendent of the Highway Patrol but only held the position a few weeks and was succeeded by James M. Hall. The first uniform worn by the Highway Patrol consisted of an olive drab blouse, light tan breeches, cordovan brown boots, holster and Sam Brown belt and a military cap matching the blouse. The mobile equipment was sedans; no motorcycles were in use. In 1933 the 11th Regular Session amended the Patrol Act to permit the appointment of a patrolman for each 3500 motor vehicles registered which permitted an increase in the force, which had grown to 16 by that time, to a total of 28. C. R. McDowell sucSucceeded James M. Hall as superintendent. The second school was started April 1, 1933, with a total of 75 applicants enrolled competing for the 18 jobs which were to be opened July 1. The Patrol was now beginning to get out of its swaddling clothes and was taking on many new duties, including the inspection, maintenance and designation of headlight checking stations, live stock sanitary duties, assisting in the enforcement of game laws and cooperating with the Commission of Agriculture and Horticulture in the enforcing of their plant and fruit quarantine laws. In 1934 six new men were added and additional members were assigned the duty of patrolling the highways.

By that time most of the citizens of Arizona had learned that they must have plates on their cars and there were certain safety requirements in the operation of a car that must be met. During the first few years of the Patrol's existence, many vehicle owners very reluct antly placed plates on their cars for the first time. Those in the isolated sections of the state had been operating their cars for years without attempting to comply with the motor vehicle registration laws.

In 1937, when Governor Stanford took of fice, C. R. McDowell was succeeded by Thomas R. Rumans to serve as Patrol Superintendent during the years 1937-38. The total membership of the Patrol had now grown to 37 and the law had been passed providing for the maintaining of the Border Checking Stations by a corps of Motor Vehicle Inspectors. This released the Patrolmen to mobile field duties.

Arizona's accident rate based on the ratio of deaths per mile traveled had been decreasing every year since the Highway Patrol was created. However, in spite of this, because of the great number of tourists traveling through the State bringing with them a large contributing factor to Arizona's death rate, the death record was still far from being good as compared with the average among the states of the union. Superintendent T. R. Rumans was succeeded by W. T. Allen, a former member of the Highway Patrol, on January 2, 1939, with the beginning of the administration of former Governor R. T. "Bob" Jones. Again the total number of vehicles registered had increased, which permitted the addition of two patrolmen, bringing the total up to 39. On January 6, 1941, Superintendent Allen was succeeded by Superintendent Horace Moore, who was appointed by the then newly elected Governor Sidney P. Osborn. In July, 1941, a sufficient increase in the number of vehicles registered permitted the addition of four men, bringing the total up to 44 patrolmen, assistant superintendent and superintendent. Four radio despatchers and a radio technician had been added with the installation of Radio Station KNGG operated by the Highway Patrol.

In April, 1943, the Public Roads Administration and the United States Army required that bridges on the strategic highway system which could not be repaired promptly, in case they were destroyed, be guarded. A force of 16 guards known as the Arizona Vital Facility Guard was added to the force, bringing the total up to 78 employees. In March, 1943, the vehicle registration count added sufficient increase in motor vehicles that four additional members were added to the Patrol. The per sonnel of the Patrol now consists of the superintendent, an assistant superintendent, chief clerk, assistant chief clerk, clerk, secretary, two stenographers, forty-four patrolmen, four cap tains, sixteen vital facility guards, a radio technician, an assistant technician and four radio despatchers.

The Patrol superintendent and the Highway Patrolmen are vested with the authority of peace officers for the purpose of enforcing the laws relating to the use of highways and the operation of vehicles thereon but shall never be used as peace officers with any strike or labor dispute. To patrol the highways of the state both day and night and enforce the laws relating to the use of the highways; to investigate all accidents which occur upon the highways; to place a speed limit or other restriction upon any portion of the highway when congested traffic or other conditions require such restrictions for the public safety; to cooperate with the Commission of Agriculture and Horticulture in the enforcement of laws relating to motor vehicles.

The Patrol Division in subsequent laws was specifically directed to enforce the motor vehicle fuel tax law, the common carrier act, the travel bureau act and the fireworks act. At the request of the Secretary of War, the Superintendent of the Highway Patrol was named as liaison member of the Arizona Highway Traffic Advisory Committee to the War Department which makes it the duty of the Patrol to provide for military convoy bivouac information, procurement of supply data, to provide escort for military convoys and serve as liaison member between police organizations and the United States Army. At the direction of Governor Sidney P. Osborn, the Arizona Highway Patrol has been cooperating closely with the Office of Price Administration in regulating speed in conjunction with its rubber conservation program.

Undoubtedly Patrolmen because of their knowledge and adaptability in applying first aid at the scene of accidents have saved lives and lessened suffering. Patrolmen are required to complete thirty-one hours of first aid instruction. Each Patrol vehicle is equipped with a complete first aid kit supplied with all the essentials necessary to administer first aid under most any condition. Since the war emergency,

Patrolmen have had, at various times, spent many long tiresome hours removing the bodies of military men from the scene of aircraft wrecks on Arizona's mountain peaks. Recently the Patrol members gave assistance to the Arizona Association for Crippled Children in connection with its Easter Seal sale which brought complimentary letters. Eighteen of the patrolmen have given blood transfusions in emergency cases, some of which undoubtedly were instrumental in the saving of a life. Three such transfusions were given to traffic accident victims who were suffering from a shock caused by the loss of blood resulting from injuries received. Approximately 40 percent of the Patrol members have pledged to donate 500 cc.'s of their blood to the Salt River Valley Blood Bank.During 1942, the Patrol equipment traveled 1,290,106 miles. Because of the effective use of radio, such traveling equipment was at all times in close contact with headquarters.

Recently reports indicate that traffic has only slackened to the extent of 8 per cent. This figure does not include military traffic, which more than makes up for the difference. The total increase in car registration is approximately 32,000, as compared to 1941 figures. The enforcement of the 35-mile-per-hour law takes a great deal more effort than the enforcement of the careful driving law did.

Superintendent Horace Moore is proud of KNGG, and he has a right to be. The station itself, a 1000-watt station, operates on a frequency of 1698 kilocycles. It represents, not so much a large investment of money, but a lot of thought and the expenditure of hard work and ingenuity on the part of the station's technicians, Weyland U. "Bill" Ewing, who is now working for the Federal Government, and Bob LaRue, the present engineer who keeps everything in flawless order.

Superintendent Moore is doubly proud of his staff of despatchers, all women, and all tried and proven workers. Three of the four despatchers are wives of former Arizona Highway Patrolmen now in the American armed forces. There is Pauline Wyatt, whose husband, E. J. Wyatt, was a captain in the Patrol and is now with the Navy Shore Patrol. Jimmie Ash's husband, George Ash, who is now in the Naval Intelligence, was Chief Clerk of the Patrol before he joined the service. And the third working wife, Shirley Gates, is rooting for the Navy Shore Patrol, because her husband, Roger Gates, a former patrolman, is with that service. Mrs. Joanna Allen is the fourth of the radio despatchers.

These jobs were not handed out on a silver platter. Take Pauline Wyatt, for instance, who handles the microphone on the Patrol's busy day shift. Despatcher Wyatt first had to have a Restricted Radio-Telephone Operators License, then she was given severe audition tests and had to pass the F.C.C. tests, all of which she did in splendid manner. But she still had a few hurdles to leap before she proved her capability of holding down the job. Among other things, incidentally the despatcher must be able to type and take shorthand.

"Radio despatchers are born," according to Chief Radio Engineer Bob LaRue of the Arizona Highway Patrol. "A woman can have all the outward qualifications and then be completely rattled in the event of an emergency. We school our despatchers carefully for a week and then they are put on with a working despatcher. The new girl has to learn office procedure, acquaint herself with the geography of the state, and know at any moment of the day the whereabouts of all patrol cars, all of which have receiving apparatus and over half with receiving and despatching equipment. The despatcher is particularly closely observed in cases of emergency, because when the transmitter is popping with calls an excitable person could do more harm than good getting directions and details of accidents and other emergencies mixed up and distorted."

After the tryout period, the despatcher takes over. A log is carefully kept of messages sent and messages received. Then, too, the tele phone from the outside, which brings in all imaginable calls, has to be answered, information carefully noted and relayed. Spic and span in an attractive uniform, these competent despatchers are proving their worth and have long since earned the respect and admiration of the patrolmen whose actions are prin cipally directed by radio.

The value of the radio and the efficiency of the despatchers was never better proven than during the Thanksgiving day riots in Phoenix last year. Despatchers Wyatt and Gates were on duty that evening and night, and not particularly busy, when a report came in that gun fighting had broken out in south Phoenix between colored soldiers and civilians. The fight resulted in several deaths and a number of injuries, but it could have been much more serious had the role the radio played been less effective. In this episode, Superintendent Moore arrived in the danger zone shortly after the shooting first began. His car being equipped with both sending and receiving apparatus, he directed the closing off of ten city blocks. The Patrol, Phoenix City Police, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's office working like a drilled team had every block barricaded. Despatcher Wyatt coolly and calmly spotted every patrol car and every sheriff's car on a map, and carried every message in an unhurried and unexcitable manner. The battle waged for several hours but not once even in the thickest part of the affair did the despatcher fail. There was perfect performance all around. And the fight, the cause of it all, was no ordinary street fight. Several machine guns had been brought in play by belligerents and machine guns are something the general and unsuspecting public must be kept away from and something which must be silenced as quickly as possible. As it turned out the machine gun was no match for the Voice that came over KNGG.

The assistance of KNGG has been on numerous occasions of great help and convenience to the armed forces in Arizona. Despatcher Allen was on duty one day when someone telephoned to the office that two training planes had crashed east of Phoenix. She immediately contacted all patrolmen in the area that the "rumor" had come in, investigation followed and the planes were found. By verification, the "rumor" then became a "fact" and Despatcher Allen then notified all air bases in the Salt River Valley of the plane crash. The patrolmen guarded the plane wrecks until competent military authority arrived to take charge. One of the planes was equipped with considerable fighting paraphernalia and it was expedient that such details be kept from the public. The alertness of the radio operator proved itself again.

On another occasion KNGG, working with the Sheriff's station at Flagstaff was instrumental in directing a searching plane from a southern Arizona air base to an isolated spot in northern Arizona where a B-17 bomber had crashed in a storm. In this case the radio patrol car, investigating the accident, had to speak at times directly with the Phoenix station, 170 miles distance, when because of terrain and climatic conditions contact could not be made with the Flagstaff station. The despatchers at KNGG ordered food and refreshments for searchers on a snow-covered mountainside, when other contact with them was practically impossible.

In the event of a war emergency, when all commercial stations in Arizona would be forced to go off the air, KNGG, operating on 10-second intervals, would be the unifying agency in the direction of all patrol, sheriff and police operations in the state. By means of code, all such emergency work would be carried on a split second schedule. The protection of life and property throughout the state would depend to no small extent on the efficiency of these girl despatchers, but they have been drilled for just such an emergency and Superintendent Moore is confident that they would perform their duty flawlessly.

KNGG, issuing from a single wire top loaded vertical antenna, has consistent coverage of mobile units for a radius of 150 miles. The mobile units are equipped with ultra high frequency transmitters operating on 35,100 kilocycles with a power of 15 watts. These transmitters have a normal range of approximately 15 miles. With the installation of two repeater stations at Tempe Butte, near Tempe, Arizona, and at Tower Mountain, 58 miles north of Phoenix, the receiving range of the mobile units now extends 40 miles from the Tempe station and 190 miles south and west of the Tower Mountain Station. With radio hookups be-tween the various radio transmitters in the eight county sheriff's offices, KNGG has practically the whole state at instant command of the despatcher.

"Our radio has proven itself in hundreds of instances," Superintendent Moore says. "However, the success has been in no small part due to the competent performances of our despatchers. They have more than proved their worth."

And the life of the Radio Despatcher at KNGG? The girls themselves describe the work as "interesting." "It is the kind of job you look forward coming to each day," is another comment.

Another despatcher describes her work in this manner: "It is exciting, because you never know what the next minute will bring. In the course of our work we handle so many things. It may be an accident, a stolen car case, a holdup, murder, or a missing person. One interesting case which happened several weeks ago had me on edge for several hours one afternoon. Word came through that an Illinois man traveling through Arizona was wanted immediately because of serious illness in the family. With a description of his car as the only lead to work on, we finally found the man near Tucson. He communicated with his relatives after we had notified him of the mes-sage and in a few hours after the call first came he was on a plane speeding back to Illinois."

The despatchers of KNGG figure in hundreds of such poignant dramas each week. It is all part of the day's work but it is a pleasant feeling to know that one has been a service to the community in a work-a-day manner at the same time rendering definite humanitarian assistance to individuals. R. C.

Phoenix Service Center

(Continued from Page Thirty-three) division of the War Savings Staff. Mrs. Walter R. Bimson, state chairman, was in charge of all bond sales.

Eight first prizes of $25 war bonds were awarded the soldier-artists; six second prizes of $10 in stamps and eight honorable mentions of $1 stamps. These were donated by business houses of Phoenix. Many pictures were sold and the money was given in the shape of bonds or stamps to the soldier-artists.

One hundred thirteen pictures varying from men fighting with rifles, bayonets, and airplanes to girls (G. I. dreams) with curvesome figures, animals and landscapes. Many were oil paintings, pastels, pen and ink, and some posters. Photography covered a wide range of subjects including Luke Field, a remarkably clear picture of a man in uniform ready for night-action, mascots and sandblasting. Also a most unusual one of army horses in the background on the desert with a close up of a battle scarred old horse being shod, as well as many desert scenes.

The winning oil landscape, "Over There" by Pvt. Roy E. Swanson of St. Paul, Minnesota, now stationed at Luke Field, depicts a doughboy forging grimly on through a tropical jungle while behind him the war rages and his buddy, face smeared with blood, is falling. The oil portrait of Col. Bernard A. Bridget, also first prize, by Corp. William Traher of Denver, Colo., and of Luke Field, shows par-ticular care and workmanship and has evoked much discussion and interest.

Fifty-four volunteer hostesses staff the information desk at the entrance to the building where problems concerning transportation, lodging for men and their families, churches, special Center activities, sports, theaters, clubs, organizations, and messages to and from service men are handled. Also through this department checking attendance, arranging for dances, picnics, parties, keeping the bulletin board up to date are just a few of the things that come up. Each day something new happens to keep the information desk crew busy.

The check room and service desk is one of the smallest departments physically in the Center, but one of the largest in point of service and the most complete. Any hour of the day boys may obtain shaving kits, shoe-shine and sewing kits as well as soap and towels for hot showers, of which there are six. The lost and found department is one of the real check room services where anything belonging to the soldiers may be turned in and if possible the owner will be found. For example: about eight months ago a soldier boy checked his hat at the old Center on First Avenue. Quite recently he came in to see if it might still be there. It was. Many other splendid services are rendered by the 43 regular volunteers and 15 co-workers on 4 hour shifts.

Senior and junior hostesses are present at night and often have to help boys on furlough find lodging. At a future date it is hoped the Center may be able to provide sleeping accommodations for the boys thus stranded.

For further convenience, four telephone booths and a switchboard have been installed with two direct long distance lines from the building. The switchboard is equipped with a public address system making it possible for the boys to place their calls and be paged throughout the Center. An operator is on duty during afternoons and evenings.

More Arizona Birds

(Continued from Page Thirty-one) They winter in the Lower Sonoran Zone of Arizona, making an appearance in the Valley of the Sun about the middle of October and remain until the middle of April. They are summer visitors to the higher portions of our state where they build their nests and raise their young. On the Kaibab Plateau they are the most common warblers. These birds belong to the Wood Warblers group of birds which are likened to the butterflies for they flit about a great deal and nearly all warblers have yel low markings. The Audubon's is no exception for on the body of an adult male, which is blue gray with light splotched breast, are five spots of yellow; throat, crown, each wing shoulder, and rump. Added to these are the characteristic large white wing-patches.

Their change of attire is interesting. When they arrive in October they are through or completing their moult or change of feathers. These new feathers give them a gray appearance. By spring, before their departure in April, ends of the feathers have worn down exposing the colored portion of each feather which was present all winter but covered. This change is dramatic, after seeing a rather drab bird all winter to see him change to a brilliant bird for his trip north and his nuptials.

The Audubon Warblers have bills which are small tweezer like affairs for they gain a living by going over the trees for insect eggs, larvae, and insects and ofter dart out into the air to catch an insect on the wing. Their hunting in the air is a more restless type, starting from where they happen to be and returning to any convenient place, which is different from the flycatchers that usually hunt from and return to a chosen perch.

Desert Evening

Now Evening draws her purple cloak across the desert sky.

And night-winds sing to denizens of cactus-land a lullaby.

The lamps of heaven are lighted, one by one;

Arcturus, bright Sirius, the studded belt of Orion

Keep their vigil through the silent night, While the desert sleeps, bathed in their soft, pale light.