A breath of fresh air
Your paper is a breath of fresh air. The Sonoran News prints all information and all letters sent to your paper. You do not decide what you agree with and what you do not agree with when printing letters. It's called "Freedom of the Press", which has long been lost, especially in Tucson, Arizona. I thank you!
I visit Carefree often and find your newspaper. I read every single article. It's informative and interesting. I really enjoyed the fact that the article "The Smell Test" sent in from Tom Carbone in Phoenix was printed. I agree 150 percent with Tom. This article would never have been printed by the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. Why? Because it is not something this newspaper would agree with. The Arizona Daily Star only prints what they want to print, not give the citizens of this country the "Freedom of Speech." That is long gone. "The Smell Test" article said what is going on and it was printed without bias, and opinion. Thank you for printing the article, as it was truthful!!! Thank you for being a newspaper letting honest opinions be printed.
I live in Tucson, so I am unable to receive your paper. If there is a way to receive delivery I would appreciate knowing what I have to do. If unable to receive delivery I will continue to enjoy your paper when I am in Carefree.
I plan to make a copy of Tom's letter to send to the Arizona Daily Star. Please keep printing the news, the truth, and letting citizens have the right to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.
Carolyn Cottle
Air Force Widow/Retired American
Tucson
[Editor note: visit SonoranNews.com late every Wednesday afternoon for the latest issue or call our office for a subscription.]
My thoughts on the RV park in our Town Core
I have lived in Cave Creek since 1986, helped write the first General Plan when the town was incorporated, and helped initiate the historic investigative study of the Town Core for the General Plan.
Let me make one thing clear: An RV park in our town core is an abomination that flies in the face of every thing this town and it's citizens have stood for since sheep were grazing at the site of the Tonto Bar and Grill … PERIOD!
Adam Trenk was elected in the primary to the Town Council. TC Thorstenson, (aka Buffalo Guy) wasted no time applying for a Special Use Permit (SUP) to create an RV park on one of the bladed eyesores he owns in the Town Core. It will be before the new council in June. Trenk appeared at the planning meeting in support of his friend’s project.
Trenk boards his horses at TC's, as he isn't in town much. He drinks and rides with TC. TC is one of his biggest supporters; the relationship goes back years. No problem for Trenk.
Given the tens of thousands of dollars he spent convincing folks he was all about protecting our Town Core and our rural life style, even the Trenkster should have thought twice about how much high priced spin it is going to take to have the citizens of Cave Creek swallow that an RV park is part of our western heritage. I mean, really now?
We have been swamped with high priced slick fliers, websites, little signs on big and bigger signs, cougar signs (my personal favorite), phone calls, robo-calls, and strange people we never heard of knocking on our doors to persuade us these strange strangers are our Saviors ... from what, only the spin doctors know.
So now is the first opportunity for our Saviors to save us. Save us from an RV park in our Town Core sponsored by Trenk and his pal TC, who turns everything he touches into an eyesore. Our new Saviors need to "Cowboy up" and "Support the Town Core." You have seen the huge signs proclaiming these snappy slogans. It's time to find out what this spin means to the folks behind the signs.
But then Trenk and TC may convince them that an RV park really is western. TC is going to have 5th wheel rodeos, or have tourists run with the RVs, or perhaps we will learn in a spiffy flier that cougars like RV parks. Sort of a preservation of natural habitat spin sure to catch the fancy of the desert advocates.
So citizens, for the love of Cave Creek, better get down to Town Hall and be heard on this one, because it is pay back time.
Unless of course, you think "The Cowboys" would have been a better movie if John Wayne was heading up the cattle drive in his RV.
Steven A. LaMar
Cave Creek Horseman and Citizen
In today's world do facts matter?
Apparently not to some
Since 1993 gun related murders are down, substantially, but to listen to the B.O. administration or the outlets of the dominant media one would believe they were sky-rocketing. Because it suits their purpose to draw attention away from issues the administration would find embarrassing, even damaging to Mr. Obama and/or Mrs. Clinton his presumptive successor. Do facts matter?
So, too, are the inconvenient facts of the terror attack on our embassy in Benghazi damning, but distorted until the current hearings. Four Americans murdered while U.S. officials incompetently hesitated, or, criminally, ignored the fact that it was a terror attack, not a spontaneous demonstration. Do facts matter?
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney disgracefully swept it under the press room rug saying, "It happened a long time ago." We know full well that any Republican administration would be brought down and any Republican presidential aspirant’s hope dashed by these "long ago" failures. (Maybe it was Bush's fault.) But, the dismissive Democrat hopeful, Mrs. Clinton claims, "What difference at this point does it make?"
A lot Mrs. Clinton. Facts do matter.
Randy Edwards
Cave Creek
Electricity-net metering-solar subsidies-deregulation
I just attended a conference that was entitled “Technical Conference on Distributed Energy and Net Metering.” It was put together by Arizona Public Service and “Solar Future Arizona – a Power Pundits LLC Led Stakeholder Process.” But no matter how you label the process, the bottom line of any such gathering is to determine which ratepayers should subsidize which other ratepayers in the production and distribution of electric power. And the only reason such a conference is even necessary is because the delivery of electricity is a government regulated monopoly.
The latest electric power delivery industry to be “favored” by the regulators is the solar industry. (It was once nuclear power and then more recently wind-power.) However, the requirement that the government regulated electricity providers make money means that these subsidies, now popular for solar, are resulting in other customers having to pay more. These other customers are now complaining. And the subsidies to solar have been large enough to cause Arizona Public Service to experience reduced revenue so now they are also complaining.
The conference I attended had about 50 participants and they were all very knowledgeable people in solar, electrical generation, and regulatory affairs. After more than four hours of presentations and discussions it was abundantly clear that there is no “fair” way to deliver electricity when such delivery is under the control of politicians. The only logical way to extricate ourselves from this morass is to completely deregulate this industry.
Some may recall that another major industry, transportation, used to be heavily regulated like electricity is today and was even regulated by some of the same regulatory bodies, such as in Arizona. The deregulation of transportation was a spectacular success and transportation services (the ones NOT provided by government – e.g., like passenger rail), are cheaper and more plentiful than ever. The same thing could happen to the provision of electricity if government would just get out of the way.
Let’s get on with freeing up this industry and stop having these wasteful conferences that attempt to determine whose ox should be gored and who should be favored. Henry David Thoreau reminded us over 100 years ago that “government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of the way.”
Roy Miller
Phoenix
Useful idiots
Senator Pat Toomey (R-Penn.), unfortunately, doesn’t understand the background check issue. The issue is not to prevent President Obama from winning victory on a major policy initiative, as Toomey says. The issue is to save the lives of 300 million Americans, to save freedom, to save The Constitution.
Our government is highly subverted by Marxists, whose goal is to change America into a Marxist dictatorship. One of their tactics is to never let an opportunity to push their goals go to waste. When a tragedy like Sandy Hook occurs, they use it to chip away at the Second Amendment, to turn people against gun ownership. It’s a beginning to their goal of eventual gun confiscation. When the citizenry is disarmed, a Marxist dictatorship can be put into place unopposed.
Lenin said there aren’t enough communists to take a country over, but with the help of “useful idiots” it can be done.
We are in a war between the forces of freedom and the forces of slavery. To conduct a war successfully, one must understand the enemy. Unfortunately, most of our congressmen and women and other officials don’t abide by The Constitution, nor do they know or understand the enemy. Consequently, they are deceived into becoming “useful idiots” instrumental in destroying America, the citizenry and themselves.
Everyone’s lives, freedom and possessions are at risk. We, the people (not Congress or the military) are going to win or lose the war. We can do that most successfully by not becoming “useful idiots” which will outnumber the enemy and defeat their strategy.
Truthfully,
Arden Druce
Camp Verde
Death of common cents
You’ve heard it all before. The town wants to spend more money; some residents disagree with the particulars while others attempt to discredit the dissenters. If the administration had actually contemplated core infrastructure projects that would provide true long-term value for residents, I suspect there would have been far less disagreement. Planning a children’s splash pad in the beautiful Carefree Gardens desert-scape, a new sound system, and even more shading for the underutilized Amphitheater caused many residents to balk. You won’t see that in COINS, the Arizona Republic, or anywhere else of dubious value. Even newcomers realize the desert doesn’t spew water. Desert residents also understand the value of a hat.
At the last budget workshop the mayor stated he was optimistic about the upcoming fiscal year. When asked how that worked for him in the current year his response was an emphatic “outstanding”. With sales tax revenue down over 8 percent so far this fiscal year, while the town’s economic development plan had projected a 4.7 percent increase during the same period, “outstanding” would hardly seem an apt description of the situation. Describing the results as outstanding simply defies common sense.
The town administrator (who possesses essentially a contract for life) repetitively extols the virtues of the budget – every budget. He describes the extensive work that is required to produce the budget, while ignoring the fact that much of the budget is simply carry-forward from prior years. When was the last time they started with a clean slate? How about doing an honest-to-goodness needs/value assessment beforehand? Or how about conducting realistic staff performance evaluations before handing out automatic and special merit increases?
The discussion of financing for the questionable projects took an odd turn when the administrator proposed sources of money yet to materialize such as unspecified grants, unknown donations, and unsolicited corporate sponsors. Raiding the reserves for frivolous projects should never be on the table. Residents should insist that not one cent be spent on any of the projects until those ‘other’ sources adequately deliver. In fact, residents did exactly that.
Although the mayor got his bottom line budget number approved at the May 7 council meeting, residents took issue, again. This time both Mr. Russ Wittenberg and his wife Margot spoke eloquently in opposition to the administration’s reserve raiding scheme to fund unnecessary projects. If the name Wittenberg sounds familiar it should. For more than a decade Town administrations have routinely ignored mention of Russ Wittenberg as, in essence, a founding father. Instead they tout the ‘vision’ of developers K.T. Palmer and Tom Darlington, who unfortunately are no longer with us and thus cannot weigh-in on the current vision or the town budget. Could the reason for the snub be that Mr. Wittenberg does not agree with the course they have set?
Others spoke out against the proposed budget. One resident said he hoped we were not planning to turn the Gardens into a "Disneyland." Former Councilman Jim Van Allen also spoke in common sense terms about the flawed budget, particularly the $850K earmarked for frivolous projects. Reserves should not fund those projects. He also highlighted the impact of proposed salary increases in relation to declining revenue; total salary and benefits cost will have increased by $160,000 since 2012 yet sales tax revenue during that same time is down $268,000. He suggested the increases be placed on hold until the revenue picture improves. If the ‘other’ undocumented sources of money do materialize for capital projects, residents should decide how they would like to see the money spent.
To the mayor’s chagrin, outgoing Councilman Gimson also expressed his opposition to using reserves to fund wish-list projects after he was presented with his service achievement award. However, only Councilman Farrar had the courage to ask questions and vote his conscience. At least someone in Town Hall makes sense.
John Traynor
Carefree
Free food draws attendees to forum
Dear Don,
Cave Creek resident 21 years, loyal Sonoran News reader and supporter here, but this is the first time I’ve ever felt insulted by your headline, FREE FOOD.
I happened to attend this event and sat with several residents all of whom were there to hear the candidates and help decide their voting decisions. Eight people were at our table, 4 of whom had free food, all men, and it was brought to them, some of whom did not even order it.
To insinuate that the voters here ONLY attended for the freebies is an insult to our integrity and intelligence.
Barbara Koca
Email
President wants more gas
For the slower thinkers out there, regardless of your political views, it is not easy to understand what has happened to us under our leadership, one that is supposed to fix our country.
To make it more clear, picture yourself in the back seat of a car full of graduates who are celebrating. It is dark and the car is going 80 mph on a winding blacktop road. The driver is way too full of beer and weaving all over the road. He can’t hear your warnings because he’s doing cowboy yippies and the radio is up to the peg.
Now you see the blue lights flashing not far behind; the driver yells, “Let’s see what this bucket can do,” and floors the gas.
Right now you and I are in the hands of Our Maker and our unthinkable president wants more gas. You know the crash is inevitable and it comes. You are ejected after six rolls and in midair, losing consciousness, a last question comes floating, “How did I let this happen?”
Sincerely,
John P. Brebner
Crystal River, Florida
CCMEA welcomes new members
The Cave Creek Merchants & Events Association is pleased to welcome the following new members to this growing association:
Watson’s Hat Shop
Pink Cadillac
4 Sister Shop, LLC
Buffalo Chip Saloon
Cave Creek Tap Haus
Hideway Grill
The Cave Creek Merchants & Events Association brings events to life in Cave Creek and serves as the marketing arm for the community.
Help us
We are now seeing the tip of the iceberg! Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and now the IRS has targeted conservative groups! Does this tell you anything about S744, the Immigration bill, crafted by the Gangsters of 8?
This over bloated bill, is upward of 1,000 pages of smoke and mirrors! With an estimated cost to the taxpayers, of $6.3 Trillion and only a promise to secure the borders, with verification determined by DHS, this gang of 8 wants us to buy another "pig in a poke," just like the Obamacare bill! (You'll know what's in it, when we pass it!) NO, we already know what's in it, and we don't want it passed.
This bill could potentially give 33-66 million "illegal aliens" access to Social Security, welfare, Obamacare, and voting rights, as citizens. How many American citizens’ votes will that negate? We cannot afford this burden! We can't even get Americans jobs! Where are we supposed to get the jobs for this wave of illegal aliens?
DHS and Napolitano are deceiving the public by stating, "The border is as secure, as it's ever been!” Pretty accurate! The border is still as porous as it has ever been and illegals are coming across in record numbers anticipating this AMNESTY!
What can YOU do? Join us at www.Remember1986.com and tell the liars in Washington that Americans are watching them closely and will force them out of office if they cannot follow the U.S. Constitution – a document and idea that has made America the greatest country on earth, until we were OBAMANATED!
We have Dems who lie, and we have Reps who lie! It's time to clean house in Washington, reboot the dysfunctional government and start prosecuting those who have "gamed" the system for their own enrichment, at the peril of their constituents. This reboot will also have to include the Lame Stream Media, which has been complacent in hiding the warts, and cheerleading the lies and cover-ups!
For the first time in my life, I'm ashamed of my government, for falling to such depths! In the "Greatest Generations" day, a mere 20 years ago, these abominations would have been tossed out on their ears. Where is America's Backbone? It sure isn't in our Congress or Senate! The only place you will find a spine is among "We the People."
Now get off your butt and help us fight this atrocity!
Rick Galeener
Phoenix
