Joe Hart, the Arizona State Mine Inspector, wants to transfer $1.2 million per year from the Arizona Arts Trust Fund to pay for cleaning up abandoned mines. According to a story in the Arizona Republic, Joe said, "It's not the role of the government to provide money for the arts." The arts community is not happy with the proposal, put forth as a bill by State Senator Robert Burns.Joe had earlier proposed filling old mine shafts with used tires but ran into environmental concerns and the plan did not get through the Senate. A new proposal is to allow donations of inert construction materials such as concrete or glass, that could be dumped into old mines to fill them. Action is pending in the legislature on that idea.