This is the time to gather stones
Ralph Mozilo | Cave Creek
“There is a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones.” This is the time to “gather stones” in Cave Creek. We are at a financial crossroads and must take the necessary steps to work together to right the financial ship of the town. We must put our utilities, water and sewer in a position to be self-sustaining. This requires an increase in water rates as well as an increase in sewer rates.
Those who state that the town Administration should have seen the downturn coming are being somewhat irresponsible and playing “Monday morning quarterbacks.” One needs simply to look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) to see how quickly this crisis came upon us. In February 2007, a month before we purchased the water company, the DJI was at 12,741.86. By October 2007, it was at 14,164.53 and in April 2008 it had slipped to 12,654.36, still a good level. By November 2008, just seven months later, it had dropped to 7,552.29, a 47% drop. The month before, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had been declared insolvent – unbelievable for government supported agencies.
This is not the time to look for ‘villains’ within the town to blame for the financial situation we find ourselves facing. It is time for all of us to work together to determine how we meet our operating expenses, debt obligations and save for future ‘rainy days.’ As a man who has volunteered his time in service to the town over the past thirteen years, I ask my fellow citizens to support the Town Manager and staff in working harmoniously to achieve the objective of financial stability.
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Let the citizens decide
Councilman Bob Coady | Carefree
More than 400 registered Carefree voters have signed the initiative to allow them direct vote of the mayor. This is 36% of all that voted in our 2007 March election. One would think that the council would have moved quickly to give Carefree citizens the same rights as most other Americans enjoy; not so.
In an attempt to create controversy when there is none, Mayor Fulcher and others, have raised frivolous arguments against the Initiative. The claim it is written incorrectly. It is not. Arizona Statute specifically allows for the candidate with the highest number of votes to be elected at the primary. Mayor Fulcher states he is concerned about the cost of lawsuits against the town. Just who is going to sue? Most of us are more than aware that anyone can sue, for anything, at anytime. That is just a fact of life. If Mayor Fulcher is so concerned with lawsuits, perhaps he should consider a staff change, as we have had numerous lawsuits with the ample assistance from one particular staff member.
First term Councilman Gemmill claims that this would open the door for candidates to “finance their way into the mayor’s seat.” The sad fact is that is the way it has always been done. Maybe we should be asking just how much our current council spent in 2007 to get elected. Fear mongering aside, election of the mayor at the primary, would cut the cost of campaigning in half. This would allow citizens to choose the most qualified candidate rather than the best financed.
Another positive aspect to electing the mayor during the March primary election is the timing. If the mayor is an incumbent, he would continue to run the town through May without having to be involved in further campaigning. If the mayor is new to the position, March through May would give him needed time to make a better transition for himself, the new council and most importantly, the staff.
Twice I wrote requesting that this topic be placed on our December agenda. Not only did the mayor deny my request in the necessary time frame, he then placed it on the January agenda and turned the meeting into a political circus. Perhaps I should also mention that I was the only one that did not receive a copy of the agenda showing this item for discussion.
Mayor Fulcher and others are attempting to create as much controversy and confusion as possible in opposing direct election. Virtually every other town and city in the Country uses direct election successfully. Why should Carefree citizens accept less?
The “Direct Election” train has left the station, and not only are my fellow council members not on board, they are holding on to the caboose and dragging their heels. Carefree deserves better.
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A carefree bedtime story
Ira Member | Carefree
Once upon a time, Carefree had a Pope (self-anointed). His name was Art Doyle, a snowbird no less. At that time, everyone, and I mean everyone, who wanted to run for the Carefree Council, went to meet with Old Art. If you met with his approval, and showed the proper respect for the established party line, Old Art would bestow his blessing. And of course, you would make the required donation to the faith. These donations were then used to promote the approved political slate running for council. Who do we know that kissed Pope Art’s ring to receive the Carefree blessing? Literally everyone through 1999. Just ask Ex Mayors Stevens and Morgan, or Councilman Gardner. They all knelt before his “Holiness” and vowed to protect Carefree’s special interest groups and to maintain total agreement in public (i.e. 7-0 votes).
And then ... “THE SPOILER” came to town. After being completely disenchanted with the way Carefree was being run, Bob Coady decided to run for council. Who is this troublemaker asked then Mayor Hugh Stevens and freshman council members Gardner and Morgan? How dare he speak at an open meeting! How dare he question anything that we have preordained? How dare he run for council when he hasn’t kissed Pope Art’s ring! This is Carefree, we don’t care and we don’t change.
But, Carefree did change. They got rid of the evil Mayor Stevens (only to be replaced by the evil Mayor Morgan) and elected “THE SPOILER,” Bob Coady. What’s more, like “Puff the Magic Dragon,” Pope Art Doyle did sadly slip into his cave and fade away.
A decade has now passed, and “THE SPOILER” Bob Coady, is still tilting at windmills, trying to help the people. We still have evil mayors, and they still have their familiar, the Imp Pearson.
It is time to add a new chapter. It is time for the poor, repressed citizens of Carefree to rebel and to be allowed their right to elect their own mayor. It is time to bring new (untainted blood) to the holy council. It is time for a “happily ever after in Carefree.”
To Be Continued...
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Meeth & Company
Sharon McCarthy | Cave Creek
In your last editorial, you refer to Meeth & Company as “anarchists” six times. On the same page you featured a brilliantly written guest editorial by Craig Cantoni explaining his philosophy of Libertarianism. May I presume, due to the prominence of his essay on your editorial page, that you sympathize with some if not all of Cantoni’s ideas?
FYI, “anarchist,” according to the New World Dictionary, is defined as “One who believes that all forms of government interfere unjustly with individual liberties....”, in my thinking a mere baby step away from the Libertarian world-view.
On the other hand, Meeth & Company constitute a minority bloc intent on imposing their collective will on a majority, that being most of the rest of us Creekers. Their tactics would more closely resemble systems like: 1. Bureaucracy [management by officials following an inflexible routine], 2. Oligarchy [ruling power belonging to a few persons], or 3. Despotism, which is pretty self-explanatory.
Furthermore, I also feel that you unfairly maligned sheep and goats.
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Bad news for our children?
Tom Jenney | Arizona Director | Americans for Prosperity
Sen. Russell Pearce responded to departing Gov. Janet Napolitano’s State of the State address by saying, “She needs a math course.”
How much will the Legislature and incoming Gov. Jan Brewer actually reduce spending?
They are under intense pressure from spending interests to maintain spending at the high levels established during the big-spending days of the past six years. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so any alternative to real spending reductions means:
1) tax increases on Arizona families and businesses already suffering from the recession;
2) debt financing (which means increased taxes in the future, plus interest); and/or,
3) taking handouts from the federal government.
Option #3 is very likely, which is bad news for our children and grandchildren, because America is already deeply in debt. More federal debt will mean higher taxes for future taxpayers and/or an explosion in monetary inflation, which is a tax on the value of every dollar you have. Fast-forward to the 1970s.
That’s why YOU and all of Arizona’s grassroots taxpayer activists are so important. In a memo last week to the Legislature and to the Brewer transition team, we outlined how the FY 2009 and 2010 budgets and other key bills would be scored on AFP Arizona’s 2009 Legislative Scorecard.
As soon as the reform bills start moving, we will provide updates on how many points your Legislators have accumulated. Our Legislators and our new Governor need to know that YOU are watching them, and that you are working with AFP Arizona to keep Big Government from growing and from doing more harm to the private economy during these difficult times.
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To Sheriff Joe Arpaio,
The Class West Organized in support of immigration enforcement
Congratulations on your defeat of Salvador Reza and Somos America in the federal case dismissed by Judge Broomfield (see attached.) Reza is upset and is now spreading more propaganda to the New York Times Editorial Board. We posted the blog entry below in rebuttal to this misguided editorial.
Reza is again acting in collaboration with Stephen Lemons, Dennis Gilman, and other desperate “Reconquista” subversives. That is our opinion based on the known facts.
You have many supporters in the greater New York, Hartford, and Boston area. One of our associates may make a personal trip to the New York Times and explain the situation to them in detail. Hopefully they will see that Reza is a desperate liar who is also losing his “racial profiling” case.
Keep up the great work in defense of our country.
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Another Case of Hysteria
Mike Marks | Email
I am going to be blunt with a few statements. First of all there was no theft of a Harris Hawk; it was trapped captured under falconry laws, and as was stated to the women who supposedly witnessed the capture, being trapped under a federal and state sanctioned activity. This statement was then misquoted to the reporter or misconstrued by the reporter as the falconers representing themselves as employees of the state or federal government.
This was not the case. This should clear up the trapping incident.
On the black market remark by Mr. Gunn: I have no idea what Mr. Gunn’s background or education is but I would hope that in the future he would do a little research, maybe call the Game and Fish; at the very least find out the truth before commenting on something he obviously knows nothing about. These birds are legally and readily available to falconers for use in the sport. There is no black market – none. Why would I or any other falconer pay for something I can get for free?
As far as the birds themselves: falconer’s birds sometimes live up to 29 years of age. (They get vet care, daily feeding, protection from predators, plenty of exercise and hunting.) They also develop a strong bond with their falconer/caretaker. On the contrary, wild hawks face an eighty percent mortality rate within their first year out of the nest and an average life span of 6-7 years.
Electrocution on power poles and horse fence hot wires, starvation, predation, run-ins with automobiles, fences etc. all take a toll. There is absolutely [sic] reason for the public to feel sorry for a falconer’s bird.
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One reasonable remedy
John Cogswell | Buena Vista, Colorado
I very much liked your views last week on the referendum, recall and initiative issues. While those remedies may have been needed in the Progressive era during which they were adopted, they represent a power which can be abused and, in the process, transform our republican form of government to a direct democracy. One reasonable remedy, short of repeal, which I would oppose, is to require that a high percentage of registered voters vote as an additional condition to final action, say 70 percent. In local elections, I find that very few people vote with the effect that the minority ends up controlling the government.
I had the occasion to write a comparable piece to our local paper a few months ago and reminded the folks of Federalist Paper No. 10 wherein James Madison, at the age of 36, had the following to say:
“From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischief of factions. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert results from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would at the same time be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions.”
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Arpaio follows the letter of the law
Kathryn Kobor | Phoenix
I do support Sheriff Joe Arpaio and feel he is being discriminated against by people who are open border immigration zealots.
It has not been documented that the Sheriff participates in or endorses any form of racial profiling.
To the contrary, Mr. Arpaio follows the letter of the law in all his dealings with immigrants and people of Hispanic origin.
The Sheriff is good at what he does, and I think that very fact opens him up to undue scrutiny and false aspersions.
If you are in this country illegally, it is a violation of our laws, nothing else. We cannot exist without having laws to abide by.
I have and will fully support and endorse the sheriff in any way I can.
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Make corrupt CEOs suffer poverty!
J. Andrew Smith | Bloomfield, New Jersey
First Enron, Xerox, Tyco, etc., then Bear Stearns, Lehman, WaMu, Wachovia, AIG, etc., then the Big 3, now Bernie Madoff’s 50 billion Ponzi scheme. When will the law truly punish corrupt bigwigs? Take their every dollar and possession, and give their whole families nothing but some clothes, Welfare and Section-8! And no gifts from friends either! Poverty: isn’t this what their former workers and their families get? And by whose fault? Bastards....
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