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Sports, Page 6

CORONAVIRUS UPDATELocal and national numbers are updated as of 7 p.m. Wednesday

LOCALCases in Lake Havasu City: 1,140New Cases in Havasu: 5Cases in Mohave County: 3,894New Cases in County: 12Deaths in Havasu: 53Deaths in Mohave County: 216Recovered cases in county: 3,519Source: Mohave County Department of Public Health

ARIZONAPositive cases: 218,507Deaths: 5,650Percent positive: 10.4%Source: Arizona Department of Public Health

NATIONALPositive cases: 7,168,077Deaths: 205,372Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Classifieds: 7-9

Comics: 10

Stocks: 9

Opinion: 4

Orchids & Onions: 10

Sports: 6, 9

Nation: 11, 12

TODAY’S

FORECAST: Sizzling sunshine

SEE PAGE 11

GOOD MORNING!

INDEX

Volume 55, No. 275

WEEKDAY

@havasunews

Today’s News-Herald

NATION: Biden, Trump snipe from road and rails after debate chaos.

NATION: Hospitals feel squeeze as covid-19 spikes in Midwest

SEE PAGE 12

SEE PAGE 11

TO READ INSIDE TODAY3

106 72

Lynda Rodgers, 78

See recent listings at HavasuNews.com/obituaries

OBITUARIES

SEE PAGE 5

OPINION: Our View: ‘The Frontliners’ fostered,inspired our community; Pandemic or not, young leaders are up to unique challenges securing Havasu future.

SEE PAGE 4

By HOWARD FISCHERCAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX — The three Republicans running to become state utility regulators are warn-ing that putting Democrats in charge of the regulatory panel would turn Arizona into California.

And they don’t mean that in a good way.

At a debate at KAET-TV on Wednesday, all three criticized the self-named “solar team’’ of Democrats Bill Mundell, Anna Tovar and Shea Stanfield would mean higher rates as consumers are forced to buy what they con-tend is more expensive power from renewable resources, just as what has happened in California.

“I am a free-market capital-ist,’’ said Jim O’Connor.

He said that the added costs borne by utilities to purchase power from wind, solar, geother-mal and other renewable sources is passed on to consumers, com-plete with utilities even taking a markup.

“It’s a fantasy to believe that there’s some company with an endless pot of gold that can pick up the check for all this social

Debate turns on fear of turning Arizona into CaliforniaARIZONA CORPORATION COMMISSION

Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services Shea StanfieldSee DEBATE, Page 5

3 GOP CANDIDATES CRITICIZE THEIR SELF-NAMED ‘SOLAR TEAM’ DEM OPPONENTS

Democrats working to get out the vote in GOP countyBy MICHAEL ZOGGTODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

Although Democrats are a decid-

ed minority in the Northwest cor-ner of Arizona, the Mohave County Democratic Central Committee has been working hard to get voters ready for the General Election.

According to the latest voter registration numbers, released July 6 by the Mohave County Recorder, Republicans outnumber Democrats about three to one in active registrations, and in the Lake Havasu City area the GOP holds a four to one advantage. MCDCC District 3 Chair Joan Miles said the party has been doing its best to close that gap by helping to register voters ahead of the Oct. 5 dead-line, but its main goals have been to push voter turnout and provide information to voters about the coming election.

“The reality is - as we all know - Mohave County is a very red coun-ty, but we are focused on mak-ing sure that our Democrats are informed,” Miles said. “We want people to vote, but we want them to be informed voters. So we do our very best to get that information out so that when they vote they know who they are voting for and why they are casting that ballot.”

Miles said the Democrats want everyone to vote regardless of polit-ical affiliation, but their efforts have focused on reaching out to regis-tered Democrats and Independents. The party sent postcards with voter information to every Democrat and many Independents in the county last month, and Miles said another will be going out shortly. She said the party has also been working the phones to talk to voters and they have recently received a lot of cam-paign signs they will be distributing

Michael Zogg / Today’s News-HeraldSenior quarterback Donnie Fitzgearld turns up field to pick up some yards while the Knights were running through their offense at practice on Monday. Lake Havasu is set to kick off its season at home against Glendale on Friday.

By MICHAEL ZOGGTODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

After a chaotic offseason the

Friday night lights will burn brightly over Lee Barnes Stadium once more.

The Lake Havasu football team will finally kick off its season on Friday with a home game against Glendale, but the chance to get out on the gridiron for week one hasn’t always been a given. Over the summer there were questions about whether Arizona would have high school sports this fall and even after the Arizona Interscholastic Association

announced sports would con-tinue, the Knights football team wasn’t cleared for competition until just a couple of weeks ago.

Now that all of those questions have been answered, head coach Karl Thompson said the Knights are excited to finally get the sea-son going.

“There are all kinds of different things, whether it is the pandem-ic, when you are starting your sea-son, then all of the normal things creep in too,” Thompson said. “So there are all kinds of factors and we are trying to really control the things that we can and really keep a positive attitude. We have

to really focus inwards and try to really be good at what we are doing.

“I think they’ve done a really good job with that. For the most part we had really good turn-out during the summer with our numbers. We were limited in the type of activities that we could do, but the kids were there. A lot of the same kids that showed up all summer are on one of our two rosters and a lot of the kids are really excited about playing and being a part of the team.”

Thompson said there are a lot of new faces on the Knights roster

Heading toward Friday’s return to the gridiron

See KNIGHTS, Page 5 See DEMOCRATS Page 5

MOHAVE COUNTY

DELAYED SEASON KICKS OFF AT HOME AGAINST GLENDALE

By BRANDON MESSICKTODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

For Lake Havasu City residents, October traditionally marks the return of major community events to welcome the region’s season-al visitors. Some of those events have already been canceled, while others will be returning with a few changes.

With farmer’s markets, fall fairs, sporting events and drive-in mov-ies, organizers and nonprofits are taking advantage of a growing inter-est in events and cooler weather.

“It’s great to see events starting to come back,” said GoLakeHavasu

President Terence Concannon. “It’s good to see some kind of nor-malcy, to know that some of these events have started to come back. Our organization is confident, and the IJSBA and UTV tournament’s regulations this year exceed federal and local guidelines.”

According to Assistant to the Lake Havasu City Manager Anthony Kozlowski, event orga-nizers confident enough to make plans for the fall season have each submitted coronavirus mitigation strategies with the city while plan-ning their events. Although some

TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

Two popular watering holes in Lake Havasu City’s sur-rounding desert are reopening this weekend now that the sum-mer season has come to a close.

The Bunker Bar will be open for business this Friday at noon, and Nellie E. Saloon, better known as The Desert Bar, is opening back up this Saturday and Sunday at noon.

The Bunker Bar will be cel-ebrating their reopening with a performance from Double Shot of Crown. They’ll be open

Friday from noon to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Patrons have until April to check it out before it closes again for the hot sum-mer months. The Desert Bar is open from noon until 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday through April.

The Bunker Bar is located at 6942 Thirsty Lizard Road. To get there, head north on State Route 95 to Havasu Heights Road. Then, make the first right on to an unpaved road that will take you to the bar through

Few scares expected as October events return

Desert watering holes ready to reopen

See BARS, Page 5See OCTOBER EVENTS, Page 5