Thank you!
The committee members of Wild West Days would like to say a big THANK YOU to all involved in this year's event. The weekend was a grand success, with many of our local merchants, establishments and organizations experiencing record sales.
Our Wild West Days charities, which include the 100 Club of Arizona, the International Rett Syndrome Foundation, Triple R Horse Rescue, the Cave Creek Museum, Horse Rhythm Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and the Foothills Food Bank & Resource Center all benefited thanks to our community's generous show of support.
The Wild West signature activities were well attended, and our efforts brought thousands of visitors up to Cave Creek, to see and be a part of everything from mutton bustin' for the kids, to the Wild West Days parade, the Cowboy Gathering, the cowboy mounted shooters, Brandi Lyons, the bath tub and pig races, and our incredible cowboy gunfighter competitions, just to name a few!
Without the support of our town and town council, residents, generous sponsors, and most importantly, the dedicated team of volunteers that give hundreds of hours of their time to ensure Wild West Days is the premiere Western event in Arizona, we could not achieve the success Wild West Days experiences every year. Our cowboy hats off to all of you!
We'd like to recognize each and every one of you who participate in making Cave Creek the most Western town in Arizona ... where the present meets the past.
The Residents of Cave Creek
Mayor Vincent Francia
Vice Mayor Ernie Bunch
Cave Creek Town Council
Marshall Adam Stein and MCSO
Town Manager Usama Abujbarah
American Legion Post 34
The Buffalo Soldiers
Walmart
Bob Roloff
The Arizona Duuude
Harold's Cave Creek Corral
Carefree Adventures
Trinity Stables
The Document House
Farm Bureau Insurance
Sanderson Ford/Lincoln
Judge Clancy Jayne
MC Construction
Jeanie & Brad Larch
Valerie's Furniture & Accents
Sonoran News
True West Magazine
The City Sun Times
A to Z Equipment
Rockaway Hills Ranch
Mark Stevens
Treadwell Technologies
Booth Communications
The Trail of the Painted Ponies
Lance Headlee
Spirit of the West
Crescent Crown/ Coors Light
Cave Creek Curves
Giddy Up Gals
Miss 2012 Cave Creek - Katelyn Niemiec
Kiwanis of Carefree
Six Gun Justice Gunfighters
Glendale Desert Riders
Rural Metro Corp./ SW Ambulance
International Association of Fire Fighters
Ecclesia Cave Creek Church
Walgreens
Gary Sprague, the Signing Cowboy
Bob Boze Bell
Charlie LeSueur
Wild West Days Committee
Cave Creek Merchants and Events Association
The Great Unemployment Mystery
Unemployment in the U.S. is at its highest rate in many decades.
Apparently it is a mystery that only a Sherlock Holmes or Charlie Chan can solve because President Barack Obama has not fought significantly to bring jobs to hardly-working Americans despite his promises to the American people.
The U.S. Congress has turned its back on jobless citizens, merely offering short-term solace via extending unemployment benefits. Who can live on such a paltry sum for any extended period?
The banks have washed their hands of millions of homeless indigents who foreclosed or walked away from their homes. Some Americans, left with money, are finding good deals on purchasing these discarded homes. Tent cities continue to grow across our nation.
How hard is it to provide jobs to those who need and want them?
It would be simple enough to issue tax reduction incentives to businesses who wish to expand their enterprises by providing jobs to unemployed Americans.
Equally, it is easy for the government to develop federal jobs to build, repair and maintain our depreciating infrastructures, e.g., bridges, tunnels, highways, dams, etc.
However, simple or not, jobs are NOT being provided.
Consequently, we must consider that the reason jobs are not forthcoming is that government and corporate sectors do not want to provide jobs since it is a great mystery to determine what other tangible reason there is for the highest unemployment among Americans since The Great Depression.
Peter Stern
Driftwood, Texas
Stern, a disabled Vietnam veteran, is a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator.
Revamping the election system unnecessary
Secretary of State Ken Bennett is calling for a major revamping of Maricopa County's election system in his drive to score voter points as he prepares to run for the governorship of Arizona. His main problem is that he confuses efficiency with effectiveness. He wants to scrap a very effective system, one that arrives at a most reliable result, for one that will produce dubious tallies but in record time, even if it seems efficient, i.e., it spits out names of winners the very night of the election!
What is wrong with taking a week or even 10 days to certify election totals? If accuracy is the goal, who should care that it takes time to achieve it? Why do Americans, Arizonans, Maricopa Countians salivate so over immediate gratification? Waiting 10 days has zero effect on taking or leaving office. Voters are in no way disenfranchised for the seeming delay. No purpose is served by rushing results other than placating the curiosity of the impatient.
Please realize that the majority of this angry mob calling for others to produce instant numbers for them likely didn't vote in this last election anyway, being that only 20 percent of eligible citizens bothered to cast a ballot!
I have to agree with Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, who said, "I'm going to be really cautious to not just jump on the bandwagon and say there's a problem and that the sky is falling. Let's really see where the numbers are at to see why and whether anything would make it better."
PJ O'Malley
Mesa
Men of color … and courage
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Chairman of the Democrat Party, welcomed new leaders of her party and then said that the Republicans have too many "white men." What a divisive, racist, sexist statement! Doesn't she realize that the Father of our Country was a white man? Our Founding Fathers who worked tirelessly for years to set up the most perfect Republic in history (which she and her party are desperately destroying) were white men. And were there too many white men in the revolution that won our freedom from a tyrannical king? And their brave young sons who bled and died beside them never got the opportunity to grow to be white men. And the man who presided over the end of slavery in our country, watching the deaths of thousands of white men, and yet uttered the healing words of the Gettysburg Address. Not only was he a white man but also a Republican. (A double whammy against dear ol' Abe.) And were there too many white men in the armies fighting for freedom for not only us but much of the world in WWI, WWII, and other major conflicts? I list the names of the fallen each week as we pray for solace for them and their families and I can assure you at least 50 to 60 percent are white men. Is that too many for Wasserman-Schultz? And, by the way, Republicans, both female and minority candidates, lost to Democrat white men in the past election because they stood on principle and did not assure their constituents they would "give" them everything they want.
The Democrats have become the party of division and derision. It's difficult to follow the leadership of a party with those ideals. I suggest, as soon as possible, we return to the first principles of our nation. That is one in which all men and women are equal in the eyes of their Creator and in the statutes of our great Republic.
Deanna Drab
Payne Springs, Texas
The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty should call for those yearning to get a free lunch!
Fourth Estate is a traditional term for the press and the Fifth column refers to a group of people who undermine a larger group from within.
May I suggest that Dean Singleton's ego, as the chairman of Associated Press, calling for four more disastrous years of Obama's socialist/communist agenda, without rebuke from most journalists is an indication that the Fourth Estate and Fifth Column are now one and the same?
Associated Press (AP) feed countless "NEWS" stories to local papers and radio stations, planting subtle biased stories pumping up Obama and taking indirect cheap shots at Romney. Is it "Rocket Science" to understand the blatant brain washing which took place during the 2012 presidential election? Why is it good for the government to "pump" money into the economy when they are proven failed business model, only "surviving" with 40 percent borrowed money? Yet people with money do this for free! 100 percent of their money either buys things, which people make or grow or they invest it so that people can start businesses or build a home. Romney promised at least a slim chance of avoiding total economic mayhem. Well it looks like the cocaine snorting, rehab dependent HOLLYWOOD crowd has succeeded in dumbing us down further.
It would appear that the 1776 experiment was for naught!
Joseph DuPont
Towanda, Pennsylvania
Obamacare
Why does Arizona Governor Jan Brewer continue her unrelenting push to set up Obamacare's healthcare exchanges in Arizona? Her actions are in brazen defiance of the will of the majority of 6.3+ million people who reside in Arizona. Why is she disregarding the incalculable harm Obamacare will ultimately do to Arizona's nearly one million retired population and ignoring the crippling tax implications facing present and future generations of Arizona's taxpayers?
In stark contrast, 50 percent of voters in Alabama recently approved Amendment 6, which amended their state Constitution to “prohibit any person, employer, or health care provider from being compelled to participate in any health care system.” This renders Obamacare’s individual and employer mandate null and void.
In Montana, 65 percent of voters approved an act that prohibited the State or Federal government from being able to force anyone to buy health insurance. The act also prohibits any penalties from being levied on anyone who chooses not to purchase health insurance.
In Wyoming, a measure was passed that stated, “No federal or state law, rule or administrative decision shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer or health care provider to participate in any health care system.”
Why not rally local support in Arizona to pressure reluctant members of Arizona's state legislature to pass legislation that puts the federal government on notice that Arizona's healthcare is off limits?
Just asking ... why not? Given that Obamacare will not be repealed or defunded in Congress, if Americans are to stop its implementation, focus must now shift to the states (Governors and state legislatures) who in turn must begin the novel concept of acting in the defense of their citizen's economic interests and liberty.
I wonder how anyone who is both awake and conscious can defend Obamacare, particularly Governor Brewer, given that Obamacare is neither 'pro-life' for the retired (13 percent of her constituency who face arbitrary denial of medical procedures due to age or infirmity) nor 'pro-choice' in any respect for anybody at any age, particularly taxpayers.
Holmes M. "Marty" Dillian, US Armed Forces (Ret.)
Scottsdale
Dear Senator Rubio:
Senator Marco Rubio
United States Senate
317 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Rubio:
I am writing you today in the aftermath of the 2012 Presidential election which has so discouraged and disconcerted our Republican Party. The election has brought about a great deal of introspection about the direction of the party given the nature of the electorate that currently appears to be the majority in the United States. While it is true that we must articulate our positions in a manner that does not offend broad sections of the American people, it is also true that we must hold true to our values and defend liberty and free market capitalism against the pervasiveness of socialistic tendencies and an ever increasing federal government.
I ran for the city commission in the City of Coral Gables many years ago on a platform of reducing government regulations and decreasing its role in our everyday lives. To my great surprise, on a quiet evening when I was working at home on my little campaign, you showed up at my door and offered me your help because you liked the principles I was running on. I believe this was one of your first actual forays into political campaigning and, though you may not even recall this episode, I have always admired your initiative and your willingness to work for a cause. I will always be grateful for your help but now is not the time for reminisces. It is time for action. I have retired after 23 years as a municipal attorney and want to offer my services to you during the next four crucial years for our country.
While standing outside a polling place for the last two weeks holding a Romney/Ryan sign, I had a front row seat to the current electorate, one that is very much of our own making. I have heard you speak many times of your parents’ story as immigrants, one which mirrors mine and countless others. I came to the United States at age 11 with a 52 year old father who had given up everything to give my sister and me a chance at freedom. I started to work at age 12, helping my father, an auto mechanic, from the moment I left school until 10 o’clock at night and all day Saturday and Sunday. I did this until I was 21 when I finally went to work on my own. I remember railing against my misfortune, angry that I could not play sports or go to the school dance as others had the opportunity to do. It is only in retrospect I have realized how lucky I was to have learned the value of hard work. I went on to work my way through college and law school and made a wonderful life for my family in this great country.
The reason I mention that the current electorate is of our own making, is that we did not learn the lessons our fathers taught us about self-reliance and hard work until it was too late. We collectively made the mistake of not wanting our children to miss out on the things we had. I ensured my kids had everything I could afford, and sometimes what I couldn’t afford, allowing them to play ball and go partying without earning any of it. The result of such coddling is a generation accustomed to receiving without giving, to earning dividends without making the investment, simply put: getting something for nothing. That brings us to today. The essence of what I heard from the Obama voters while I was holding my sign was not that he has the better economic plan or foreign policy, but that he will “give me stuff.”
I don’t profess to know how to redress the wrong that I have contributed to by my own actions. I don’t know how to reach the younger generation which has been convinced by its own parents that they do not have to give in order to receive; a myth perpetuated by their socialist college professors and a leftist media. What I do know is that you are the most articulate voice of our party and you must find a way to reverse this catastrophic tide which, if not immediately addressed, will turn the American Dream into an American nightmare. You are our only hope to reach young and especially Latino voters who I believe share our moral values, but have been blinded to the prosperity that hard work and tenacity can produce in a free society.
As you well know, the growth of government is inversely proportional to the demise of personal freedom and it cannot be allowed to continue. Therefore, I am urging you to immediately begin to campaign for the Presidency in 2016. I will pledge any time and help that I can give you during the next four years and hope that you will give me the opportunity to atone for my sins of overindulging my progeny and helping create the atmosphere we now face. May God bless you and the United States of America.
Rafael Diaz, Esq.
Coral Gables, Florida
Editor's Note: Mr. Diaz ignores the fact Senator Rubio is not a "naural born" citizen.
