District 5 Supervisor Lena Fowler — Season’s Greetings

CDC, FDA, and public health and regulatory officials in several states are investigating a multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to romaine lettuce harvested from the Salinas, California, growing region.

CDC advises that consumers not eat, and retailers not sell, any romaine lettuce grown in the Salinas, CA growing region. This includes all use-by dates and brands of romaine lettuce from this region. The Salinas region includes Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey counties in California.

Advice to Consumer:

Talk to your healthcare provider if you have symptoms of an E. coli O157 infection and report your illness to Coconino County Health and Human Services at 928-679-7222 or to your local health department. Symptoms of E. coli O157 include diarrhea (sometimes bloody), and abdominal pain.

More information is available at https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/index.html.

• Clean: Wash hands and food-contact surfaces often. Bacteria and other organisms can spread from contaminated hands and other surfaces throughout the kitchen and get onto cutting boards, knives, sponges and counter tops.
• Separate: Don’t cross-contaminate. Don’t let bacteria spread from one food product to another. Wash hands, cutting boards and utensils after they contact raw meats, poultry or eggs.
• Cook: Cook to proper temperatures. Foods are properly cooked when they are heated for a long enough time and at a high enough temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness. Proper cooking temperatures of some foods include:
  • Fish steaks and beef steaks – 145 degrees or higher
  • Ground meat – 155 degrees or higher
  • Poultry (turkey) and stuffed food items – 165 degrees or higher
• Chill: Refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures keep most harmful bacteria from growing and multiplying. Cool foods in smaller portions to lower the temperature quickly. Refrigerators should be set at 40 degrees and the freezer at zero degrees. The accuracy of the settings should be checked occasionally with a thermometer. The temperature danger zone between 40 to 140 degrees is optimal for rapid bacteria growth. Foods should be discarded if they are in this temperature danger zone for more than four hours. Discard food that has been in the refrigerator for more than seven days. When in doubt, throw it out.

WILLIAMS, Ariz., Dec. 18, 2019 — All offices of the Kaibab National Forest will be closed Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, 2019, as well as Jan. 1, 2020, in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays. The office closures include the Kaibab National Forest Supervisor’s Office, Williams Ranger Station, Tusayan Ranger Station, and North Kaibab Ranger Station.

While Kaibab National Forest offices are typically closed for both Christmas and New Year’s Day, the addition of Dec. 24 to the federal holiday schedule this year was announced yesterday by an Executive Order signed by President Trump.

Following the Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 holidays, Kaibab National Forest offices will reopen for normal business on Dec. 26. Following the Jan. 1 holiday, Kaibab National Forest offices will reopen for normal business on Jan. 2.

Christmas tree permits for the Kaibab National Forest will be sold until the close of business on Dec. 23. Those seeking to obtain these permits should plan their visit to Kaibab National Forest offices prior to the holiday closures.

Kaibab National Forest information is always available through the following sources: