Here we go again
In 2008 the Town commissioned a committee to make recommendations with regard to universal fire coverage. The committee’s recommendations were ultimately turned down by Town Council. There were several reasons why the Town Council rejected the Committees recommendations:
1. Nearly 50 percent of the citizens do not want it as many citizens either self insure or have no need.
2. The proposal was hugely expensive.
3. There was no urgency. Expanded fire coverage would not be required for seven to ten years out.
4. Approximately 80 percent of Rural Metro’s responses are health and safety related not actual fires.
Yet like a phoenix rising from the ashes, another Fire Committee is born. And where is the public ground swell, the impetus for this renaissance? In fact there is none. The thrust for this scheme comes from Town Hall who recognizes that there is a crisis looming and like Rahm Emanuel said “never let a good crisis go to waste.” “What crisis” say you?
The Spur Cross tax is scheduled to expire in 2012.
Town Hall is bound and determined that the Spur Cross tax shall not pass from this earth. The spin is that citizens are used to paying the tax, so if a replacement tax is found it can be sold as no increase in taxes and what better justification for a replacement is there but universal fire coverage. Forget the promises that Council made at the tax’s inception that there would never be another property tax. That was years ago and memories fade.
Now if universal fire coverage is not your cup of tea, how about universal garbage collection? The argument for this proposal is even more specious than coverage for fire. It is alleged that trucks from several different collectors ruin the streets. There is of course no empirical evidence to support that claim. And how far behind would there be a tax for police?
Reg Monachino | Cave Creek
Back
In respose to the article CCUSD Teacher Bonuses in the January 5th publication by Will Wreight
Do you need new glasses or are you on new medication? Something has to be wrong with you if you truly believe what you wrote in the article CCUSD Teacher Bonuses. I am an educator in Cave Creek and want to assure you that the information you claim to be true is incorrect. I would be happy to share my pay stubs from the last 9 years employed in Cave Creek. Please show me where my salary has grown between 25-30 percent. I can show you the numerous cuts. Also, please explain to me how the average CCUSD annual certified teacher salary from the 2009-2010 school year is estimated at $50,700, yet I earn well under that with a Masters Degree plus 45 credit hours plus 13 years of teaching experience. I find it very disrespectful and degrading that you write fictional material and claim it to be true about a group of people who put their heart and soul into educating the leaders of tomorrow. Until you have your facts correct, please keep your opinions to yourself.
Carrie McCulloch | CCUSD
Back
"Educator" comments
Educator writes an interesting email, referring to the data included in the January 5 letter to editor (re CCUSD teacher bonuses) as "wrong", "incorrect" "fictional" and chiding Sonoran News as being "disrespectful" and "degrading".
If Educator wishes, she can verify the information included in this Sonoran News item,
A. The 2002-2003 school year figures were derived from the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), volume 2 (School district financial and statistical data), page I-95, which itself was derived from the CCUSD annual report to the state. This data is easily available on the web.
B. The 2009-10 school year estimates of overall teacher salaries were derived from the 2009-10 annual report presented to the CCUSD governing board on October 16, 2010 by the district's Associate Superintendent for Operations and Finance. The number of FTE teachers in this school year was obtained from 2009-10 School District Employment Report Number 30, published by ADE. This data is easily available on the web.
If Educator feels that the ADE or CCUSD data is "wrong", "incorrect," "fictional", this individual has the option of contacting investigative reporters at local newspapers and/or the State Auditor General (School Audit Division).
Will Wreight | Phoenix
Back
Sonoran News
Just logged onto SonoranNews.com for the first time ( have read an article or two that had been forwarded to me ) and I am so pleased to let you know that I believe you are publishing the most truthful and finest newspaper I have ever read, and I thank you for this.
Sam C. | Forest City, North Carolina
Back
Article by Pete Mohr on November 17, 2010 – Apollo Overwhelms Falcons!
Let me first apologize for this being a little late. I didn't know about this article until sometime in December when someone shared it with me. Could you please let Mr. Mohr know that I really appreciated this article he wrote? I think I mostly appreciated his honesty, especially when he called himself a "sexist"! You see, I am the mother of the twins (Jason and Jasmine Arollo) that are the kickers for Apollo High School. The night we played Cactus Shadows, Jasmine had only been on the field one other time that season to kick an extra point during the Prescott game. You see there are many men out there that really don't like to have girls on the football field at any time, including our head coach. Maybe so you can appreciate a few things from Jasmine's perspective, as I mentioned earlier, she grew up with a twin that was a boy. Each of them have always thought they could do what the other can do. Jasmine grew up playing on Jason's soccer teams until she was 15. Just because there is a sport out there that is comprised of all boys doesn't affect Jasmine that way. Jasmine just sees it as another sport to play. Another challenge to conquer. Not as a team full of all boys/men. This is one of the biggest reasons she rarely gets intimidated by males. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing, but I told her at the beginning of the season that she knows how Threadgill feels about girls playing football so if she was going to do this, she was going to do it all season and that she couldn't quit. I would not allow her to quit, so she better be ready to put the time in!
Well, by the time we played Cactus Shadows, this was to be Jasmine's second trip on the field all year. This was the purpose (in case you ever wanted to know) of the crowd screaming for her when she got to go on the field. The cheers had been getting louder all year. Most all of the fans wanted Jasmine to get a chance to kick. Yes, of course, with me being the mother, it made me extra proud to hear all of those fans cheer for my daughter.
I know the struggles she went through this football season and she stuck it out. It really excited me to hear from a man that is trying to recruit my daughter for college soccer.
He came to this game and said that was the most exciting football game he had ever attended to hear those fans cheer for Jasmine. If my father would have still been alive, he would have been at that game and he would have been 71 this year. So, yes, Mr. Mohr, if it was your granddaughter, you probably would have been tickled pink! :-)
Anyway, thank you again for this article. I read it over and over again because it is really the first article that excites me every time I read it! By the way, after that field goal, Jasmine got another (short) article in the Arizona Republic about being one of the few girls to be able to get to score in a football playoff game.
Thanks again!
Marta Raiford | E-mail
Back
You think it's dangerous here?
The attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Gifford was an affront to our democracy. The left will try to blame Sarah Palin and Sarah Palin alone for this act because of an ad which showed crosshairs on many names of Democrats. Had the authorities thought this was a threat, Sarah would have been visited by the FBI. I doubt that she was. Now the left will try to disarm us and eliminate talk radio. The left will not put killers to death. The left will release killers back into the public. And no one ever questions the medications such killers are on at the time of the crime! Perhaps this event will make some of you appreciate the courage it takes to be an elected official in Columbia, Iraq or Pakistan.
Joseph DuPont | Towanda, Pennsylvania
Back
New signage on Tom Darlington
I'd like to know who's responsible for the horrendous new signage located on Tom Darlington just south of Cave Creek Road, advertising the Sundial Plaza. This signage is neither necessary nor appropriate for the area. The Plaza already had very tasteful signage advertising the shops on miniature versions of the sundial, located along Tom Darlington at several key entrances. The new, large signs are contributing to the visual pollution that already exists on this short stretch of roadway. There is already an abundance of regulatory signs, warning signs, crosswalk signs of every size, color and shape, not to mention the street signs and several sandwich signs that are still in place. The area now has the same look as sections of Route 66 with Burma Shave signs placed every 50'. I for one, certainly hope that public funds were not used in this tasteless venture.
If this lunacy was prompted by a need to get more people into the Plaza, then the Town needs to re-think and lower its sales tax rate to one that is significantly lower than those of surrounding towns. This would be an incentive to shop our local merchants. People don't shop here because it's too expensive. The Town should also consider a several year moratorium on property taxes for owners of retail properties. This would be done in conjunction with a guarantee that property owners lower their rental rates to attract more / new businesses to town.
Consumers need a compelling reason to come to Carefree to shop. Lower cost will bring business, not more signs.
Bob Lefebvre | Carefree
Back
“Do unto others as they do unto you”
President Obama has stated that he is now a Christian. The doubt was created when he referred, in an interview, to his “Muslim teaching and beliefs.” When asked, “Don’t you mean Christian?” Obama corrected himself. Obama further stated that he learned Christianity from his mother who taught him, “To do unto others as they do unto you,” a Chicago version of the Golden Rule.
True Christians believe we have Ten Commandments to guide the faithful. The first are basic but the last confront Deadly Sins which include Murder, Adultery, Stealing, Lying and Coveting. Commandment No. 6 – Murder, can be applied to abortion, but can be explained away by substituting “Choice.” Handy, what?
No. 7 – Adultery is important but not often a question in Washington.
No. 8 – “Thou shalt not Steal” is a problem since it is the foundation of the Progressive Platform, as in, “We’re gonna take stuff from people who make more and give it to you.”
This bald-faced theft is dodged using the word “fairness” applicable to anything.
No. 9 – Thou shalt not bear false witness (Lie). Obama looks for a pass here since he talks continuously, often contradicting himself. Stuff like “… my proposal will bring down health costs ….” (March 3, 2010) and 6 months later said “my program is going to increase our costs; we knew that.” Obama’s missing birth record is not to be questioned, but in three years some scrap of evidence should have turned up, without which one cannot apply for Social Security or a passport. Unless (Gasp!) none exists.
No. 10 – Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, his wife, servants, livestock or anything that is your neighbor’s. To handle this one, Dems/Libs/Progressives use the same nifty old “Juke” to camouflage pure envy … as in “It is unfair for some others to have stuff you would like.”
Those unfamiliar with the word “Juke” should know it is a tactic used by the offense in sports to fake defenders in to thinking you will do what you appear to be doing – but you don’t. This often comes from person skilled in basketball.
Obama’s score on Christianity might be stretched to a 5, a start for which he deserves credit. One can hope for some progress on the big ones that separate us from animals ands savages.
John P. Brebner | Crystal River, Florida
Back
