Your View

May 28, 2008 | Vol. 14 No. 22

Desert Advocate's time to go down

I was just wondering if it is possible to organize a collaborative effort of people screwed by the advocate to file a suit together or something of that nature. I have no experience in this type of thing and usually not alot of motivation to pursue these types of things, but if there is enough interested people, I would participate.

I am the ex-employee who contacted you folks around March of this year. By the way, the State Wage Claims place has told me Seemeyer has just returned their letters, one by way of the closed PO Box in Carefree, and the others just rejected and sent back. I am still out $1200 and still unemployed so I have plenty of time on my hands.

I now fear she will get away with all these "small" debts she owes all us "small" people, and maybe we'll (I'm sure I'm not the only one), be overlooked if we don't do anything. I'm not sure how to proceed from here. If you people at Sonoran News have any suggestions, or your interested readers, I'd appreciate it. I'd be interested to know if there are any advertisers' or unpaid employees, small businesses they'd stiffed that would like to get in with me on a class action suit to get our chunk if we can before its too late. I would do some calling to see if there is an attorney that could pursue this for us pro bono.

Though it sounds like there won't be any money in it, it could be fun to teach the Seemeyers a big fat lesson in ethics.

I remember her blatant lying, her manipulation and unremorseful disregard for others. The Seemeyers are criminals and I will be continuing to seek ways to see that they get what they deserve.

Hey! If anyone is interested in a public demonstration in front of her new office, I have left contact information with the paper so we can get together on this. I'm sorry to have to be writing about this again, but I need to bury my father in law this week, and I am angry because I (and my family) don't even have funds to have the funeral and make arrangements.

Interested parties can contact me at this email address.

Kathy Cramer
[email protected]
Phoenix

Regarding CCUSD summer retreat

A May 7 "Your View" stated Cave Creek School District Administration is hosting a "Summer Retreat" locally for Administrators amid budget cuts in the District.

Fact: CCUSD Administration meets on a monthly basis with Administrators for planning purposes. There will be no "Summer Retreat" for Administrators. A daylong Administrator's meeting was held in February to work on improving internal and external Customer Service.

Thanks to business partners at Southwest Airlines, The Boulders, Harold's Corral, Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Rubio's Mexican Grille, Starbucks at the Summit and Make a Wish Foundation, everything was donated and no district costs were incurred.

Nedda Shafir
Public Information Officer
Cave Creek Unified School District

T.J. a part of Cave Creek’s history

T.J.’s Hardware Store brings back many happy memories, a smile to the lips and quite a few chuckles, remembering and joking with T.J. over the years. T.J. is a part of Cave Creek’s history and the old ways long gone in modern stores.

You knew, if his doors were open, you could go in, regardless if he was closing or not. He always had a pad and pen to extend credit. If T.J. didn’t have what you needed, he’d order it. He knew who you were and took time to talk with you. T.J. is a prince among men.

I knew it was hard for T.J. to hang up his shingle and close shop because he felt a loyalty to his customers.

Time has come, T.J., to put up your feet, read Sonoran News and then take a nap.

Maddy and Bart Flannery
Cave Creek

In response to Robert J. Thomas’ rant regarding guns

Yes, Mr. Thomas, you are correct: There certainly ARE “enough nuts out there carrying guns.” But those people (the “nuts”) carry ILLEGAL guns – which is precisely why law-abiding citizens must have the right to carry and protect themselves.

Your inference that ALL those carrying guns (even legally) are “nuts” is insulting and foolish. And just what makes you so arrogantly certain that while you grasp the “consequences” of carrying a gun as you state, others do not?

Perhaps the reason few CCW permittees or other armed citizens threaten to use or actually use deadly force Mr. Thomas, is because the “nuts” out there know that Arizonans may be armed. Did it ever occur to you that an armed citizen displaying a weapon such as in a bank could deter a “nut” from trying to rob that bank? And why do you presuppose, as do all anti-gun alarmists, that a “shootout at the OK Corral” would ensue inside the bank? For your information, armed, law-abiding citizens, including concealed carry permittees and “must carry” laws DETER crime; they do not cause it. This is statistical, irrefutable fact.

In Florida, a newly enacted law PREVENTS businesses from restricting guns on their property. And in New York City, one of the most restrictive jurisdictions in the nation, concealed carriers have virtually no “business restrictions.” You won’t see the ridiculous “No Weapons Allowed” signs that in Arizona reduce – not increase – citizen safety.

Your arguments are, as are those tendered in virtually all anti-gun missives, fallacious, misleading, and by omission, patently incorrect.

Ed Schneider
Venice, Florida

Kudos to Bob Coady

Once again we have Bob Coady to thank for another recycling program – for proper drug disposal – in Carefree. My hope is that the program will be greatly expanded.

Judy Davis
Carefree

Need for recreation

There should be a recreational park built in this area, because it encourages kids to go outside. A lot of kids play video games and don’t get exercise. Having a fun and enjoyable place to go would encourage kids to play video games less.

Robert Gladding
Desert Hills

John McCain and half-truths

The hatchet job on John McCain that was attempted by Don Sorchych (May 21-28 Sonoran News) was a sorry example of a writer’s ego overstepping propriety for the sake of self-promotion.

It’s unbelievable that anyone who is capable of stringing four words to create a sane sentence has such a shallow view of current politics; or is he just jesting to create meaningless issues to stir the flicker of controversy? Nevertheless, his statements on Mr. McCain didn’t even reach the height of half-truths.

To cite one example of several: “… our senior senator is busy campaigning and missing roll call after roll call,” is a relatively harmless assertion when taken out of context, but a derogatory one in the full body of Mr. Sorchych’s article. Has Mr. Sorchych overlooked that there are three senators vying for the presidency who because of their campaign activities are not spending much time in Washington? Or does Mr. Sorchych enjoy flaying blindly with his axe without touching anything of substance?

This is an all too common instance of the misuse of the press.

L. Horwin
Scottsdale

CCUSD continuation

Now my wife is really getting worked up. Because of you, she read the damn CCUSD watch and twisted my arm to do the same. I got to an April 16th item that frosted my cookies, so I decided to post a comment. I was surprised that there were no other comments, none!

However, I think mine addressed a few key things, several of which you commented to me earlier ...

Because of coverage in Sonoran News I just started following the [CCUSD Watch] blog. For the record, the moron that listed all the clichés about contributing to the problem, quarterbacking etc. I'd say that YOU, and others just like you, are the problem. Blind defense of ongoing failed policies and approaches is like being a tree stump ? the dogs love ya, but you serve no other useful purpose.

Since Ashby joined the team‚ the emphasis has been on building an empire and structures. She also enjoyed beefing up the educationally non-productive administrative staff. The most progressive thing the current Board can do, in regard to a solution, would be to resign. A new Board could add to the solutions by:
• firing Ashby,asap;
• bringing in an administrative leader, with feet grounded in education and common sense;
• give up the fairy tale of a Super School (HS) and get serious about Super Teachers;
• quit spending on administration and fluff and pay for quality teachers and quality programs.

Those are just a few ideas; with so many concerned individuals, I suspect we might be able to generate many more that a credible Board could follow.

John Traynor
Carefree

The misuse of prosecutorial power

Prosecutors not only abuse their power but commit a crime in violation of Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution. Bribery is a serious crime and an impeachable offense for all U.S. civil officers. A plea bargain is technically “bribery.”

Judge Gerber wrote, “Severe mandatory sentences effectively make the constitutional right to trial too risky to be exercised, even for an innocent defendant.” This abridgment occurs when prosecutors purposely load up a defendant with charges that carry mandatory sentences to induce a plea bargain. Then prosecutors further abuse their power by demanding a harsher sentence if a person demands their right to a jury trial rather than accepting the “bribe.”

Furthermore, prosecutors should NOT be granted immunity when they fail to disclose evidence favorable to the defense; and they certainly should be held guilty of a serious crime when they knowingly have new evidence to show innocence of a victim, like in Courtney Bisbee’s case, and fail to act on it.

The misuse of prosecutorial power in the U.S. and Arizona is rampant. The entire U.S. Department of Justice system is self-serving, if not actually corrupt. The system protects the wealthy and privileged while forcing injustices on those citizens most vulnerable – cases they know they can win so they can grow their bureaucracy.

Roma Thomas
Sun City West

CCUSD is fiscally irresponsible

So, I receive the April Superintendent’s Letter from CCUSD … Once again the district’s lack of connection to reality comes screaming out of the page. Tacy Ashby wants to do a “perception” check to see how everyone in the district feels about her and the rest of the district. She discusses her opinion that “perception is reality.”

I sit down over a period of several days and start to pen a Letter to the Editor stating my views.

A few days later I’m driving down the road when suddenly it hits me. Why am I wasting my time? The CCUSD has no grounding in reality whatsoever!!

I can write the most literate, fact-based letter and all the CCUSD will do is keep trying to pass bonds, waste money and leave their heads in the sand.

By the way, the bond failed because CCUSD is fiscally irresponsible and that’s the reality of it.

I’m taking off for the summer …

Scott Dahne
Cave Creek

No longer the people’s government

Our government and representatives no longer serve our aspirations and will but rather impose and demand subservience to their desires and pleasures.

On the state level, the will of 61 percent of California voters was thwarted by four California judges who ruled a ballot initiative banning gay marriage unconstitutional even though twenty states have similar laws. Another ruling limits the freedom of parents to choose an alternative to public education by declaring parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children. On the national level, over 75 percent of the population wants the borders secured, immigration monitored and English legislated as our official language yet congress refuses to act.

The re-election of 92 percent of incumbent representatives suggests a perilous apathy to their dereliction of duty, moral and financial indiscretions as well as the influence of foreign lobbyists, who send us contaminated toys, food and medicine. We have relinquished our power and have lost control of our borders, culture and are in the process of losing our language as well. Press “1” if you have any doubts.

We lost control of our monetary system when congress gave the Federal Reserve Bank the monopoly to print U.S. dollars. Thomas Jefferson argued that a national bank was “unconstitutional” and warned of devaluing and debasing the currency with paper money. Thanks to the Federal Reserve, our dollar is backed by the full faith and credit of the guy who couldn’t handle his mortgage or car payments.

The performance and conduct of our representatives is a matter of record and proof positive we no longer have a “government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Ed Konecnik
Flushing, New York

Deus Ex Machina

As a Republican with Libertarian leanings, I am not in the habit of coming to the aid of Hillary (or Obama either, for that matter). But since she has been vilified by the press for referring to Robert Kennedy’s assassination, I feel impelled to “defend” her now.

I don’t think Hillary meant any disrespect to the Kennedy Clan, especially to its leader, who is now suffering severe health problems; nor do I feel that she was suggesting that Obama be done away with, much as she would probably ruminate on such a scenerio.

No – since Hillary now finds herself in an apparently impossible situation with regard to the nomination, she is hoping for the “Greek Solution” – a “Deus Ex Machina” – a “god from the machine” to decend from the heavens on wires to rescue her.

In ancient Greek tragedy, hopeless situations were sometimes resolved in this way by the sudden appearance of a god, suspended from the ceiling by wires or some sort of crane. With Hillary’s well-known facility for dreaming up things that didn’t, or don’t, happen, this may be her only chance to beat out Obama, who continues to skate successfully on his own thin ice.

Ralph G. Smith
Cave Creek