If the U.S. Forest Service continues to try to yank Tombstone’s water rights by stalling improvements to the line, the city will sue, officials said this week.

“We’ll all be in court soon,” said City Clerk/Manager George Barnes, adding that he’s sent a briefing package to the State Attorney General in anticipation of a legal battle. “The government has declared a state of emergency and we’re being deliberately, in my opinion, hampered from fulfilling our obligation to fix that problem.”

Facing a freezing winter that will delay repairs even longer, Tombstone officials are scrambling to make repairs to a pipeline in the Huachuca Mountains where 24 springs carrying 50 to 80 percent of the town’s water usually flows. Those lines were damaged first by fire and then by rains this summer.

But Heidi Schewel, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said that Tombstone needs to work within the federally required guidelines — and permits have already been granted for some of the wilderness areas.

Mary Doria Russell’s Pulitzer nominated novel Doc, based on the events of Doc Holliday’s life, is being turned into an HBO series.

Russell, who heard the news back in June, learned that the new show will be under a two-year contract, with Akiva Goldsman as the executive producer and Ron Howard directing the pilot episode.

“I wasn’t allowed to say anything until HBO made the announcement in late November,” says Russell. “It almost killed me; I’ve never kept secret that long before in my life.”