ARIZONIQUES

1-800-VANDALS

You're exploring Arizona's great outdoors, enjoying the state's natural beauty, and you see vandals or thieves at work. Maybe it's someone destroying or stealing native plants, or a pack of allterrain cyclists riding in a "vehicle restricted" area or chasing livestock or wildlife. Perhaps it's vandals defacing or damaging historical monuments or recreational facilities or shooting holes in stock tanks or tearing down fences. You'd like to stop the senseless destruction-but whom do you call?

The number is 1-800-VANDALS, and it will put you in touch with the appropriate agency to investigate the crime. You don't have to give your name or confront the vandal, but you will help get a jump on such offenders by reporting the crime in progress.

To help protect Arizona's natural resources, call 1-800-VANDALS toll-free statewide.

USEFUL YUCCA

The yucca reigns as one of the Southwest's most adaptable, hardy, and useful plants. Most of the more than thirty varieties appear as clusters of silvery green, sword-shaped blades with single leafless stalks rising from the centers. The stalks produce fra-grant waxy flowers that survive up to six weeks. Yuccas thrive in relatively high, cool, moist areas as well as in low, hot, dry desert, growing in rocky, sandy, or clay soils.

Indians used nearly every part of the plant. Buds, flowers, stalks, and fruit were boiled, roasted, ground into meal, or eaten raw.

Leaf fibers were used for rope, sandals, mats, baskets, cloth, scrub brushes, and paintbrushes. Roots provided soap and a laxative.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the yucca is the unique symbiotic relationship between it and the pronuba moth. The pronuba fertilizes the yucca by gathering pollen into a mass and pushing it into the tube of the stigma. The yucca returns the favor by providing the only environment in which pronuba eggs and young can survive.

ARIZONA'S 'NEW' NATION

Where is the Tohono O'odham Nation? In Africa? South America? The Middle East? No, its homeland lies just west of Tucson, Arizona. You may know its people by what early Spanish explorers called them-Papago, which means bean eater. The less-than-dignified moniker stuck for several centuries until the Papagos decided to change the official tribal name to what they had called themselves all along, Tohono O'odham. It is pronounced tah-ab-no ah-ab-dahm, and means desert people.

IN ARIZONA IN MARCH...

In ...1880, the first railroad arrived in Tucson. Amidst the celebration, telegrams announcing the great occasion were sent to various dignitaries. Among the congratulatory replies read aloud at the ceremony was a bogus telegram from Pope Leo XIII: "His Holiness the Pope acknowledges with appreciation receipt of your telegram informing him that the ancient city of Tucson at last has been connected by rail with the outside world and sends his benediction, but for his own satisfaction would ask, where the hell is Tucson?"

In 1883, the Territorial Legislature passed a law prohibiting the operation of opium dens.

In 1911, President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River.

In 1933, Arizonan Lewis Douglas was appointed Franklin D. Roosevelt's Director of the Budget.

In 1971, the University of Arizona College of Medicine graduated its first class. Today the school is renowned for its heart transplant and cancer research.

CALENDAR

March 1 through 31, southern Arizona. Major league baseball spring training. The Cactus League gives fans a chance to see big leaguers up close during preseason games. For schedules, telephone Chicago Cubs in Mesa: 969-1307; Milwaukee Brewers in Chandler: 821-2200; Seattle Mariners in Tempe: 731-8381; Oakland A's in Phoenix: 275-4488; San Francisco Giants in Scottsdale: 994-5123; Cleveland Indians in Tucson: 791-4266; and San Diego Padres in Yuma: 782-2567.

March 7 and 8, Phoenix. The Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair. Colorful Indian dancers and storytellers captivate audiences while artists and craftsmen potters, basket makers, rug weavers, sand painters, silversmiths, and kachina doll carvers-demonstrate their skills and sell their works at this world-renowned anthropological and cultural museum. Don't miss the savory Mexican and Native American food on sale at the fair. Telephone 252-8840.

March 7 through April 5, Tucson, Tohono Chul Park. People of the Forest: Photographs of the Maya by Gertrude Blom. This exhibit documents Mexico's Maya Indians who once lived in the dense rain forest before logging began to destroy their homeland and unique culture twenty years ago. Telephone 742-6455.

March 14, Sedona. St. Patrick's Day parade. The red rocks become Blarney stones as floats, bands, and other entries celebrate Irish tradition. A pancake breakfast begins the day, and a dance at the Elks Lodge ends it. Telephone 282-7722.

March 21 and 22, Mesa. Spring Food Extravaganza. More than thirty top Phoenix-area restaurants offer their finest fare to benefit East Valley charities. Mimes, clowns, and musicians entertain. Telephone 834-3528.

March 28 and 29, Maricopa. Stagecoach Days. Team roping, old-time fiddlers, cloggers, a greased-pig-catching contest, barbecue, boot race, barn dance, and free stagecoach rides fill the weekend. Telephone 568-2144. For more information on Arizona attractions and events, free of charge, please write the Arizona Office of Tourism, Department CE, 1480 East Bethany Home Road, Phoenix, AZ 85014.