Local horseman steps forward in time of need
My name is Brad Pyles. I am a resident of Cave Creek and a horseman. When the horrible Yarnell Hill fire took our firefighters and homes of the people of that small town, my heart was crushed.
I felt I needed to do something so I thought about it a few days and it came to me. I needed to get food to the animals and people of the fire. So I asked the local feed stores if they had any feed to donate. Well, to make a long story short, they stepped up, generously and I took a 30 foot flat bed trailer loaded with 30 bales of alfalfa, Bermuda grass and blended hay plus maybe 40 bags of assorted feed. I would like to thank these folks for helping:
Black Mountain Feed – Cave Creek
Pinnacle Horse and Pet Supply – Cave Creek
Three Bars Feed and Tack – New River
Whitey’s Hay and feed – New River
Horses Help – Phoenix
Bill Buckles – Cave Creek
Flat Tire Bike Shop in Cave Creek repaired two bikes that were donated – great job, guys!
If I missed anyone, I am sorry. Your donation was greatly appreciated.
I also asked my church to help and they took it over the top. Those great folks put together three more trailers and vehicles carrying everything from their homes that wasn’t nailed down. Thanks, Carefree Church!
We will never forget those who gave their lives for us that day.
God Bless you all!
Brad Pyles
Cave Creek
Labeling district schools as “charter” is a goldmine at taxpayer expense
Look around! This country is NOT what it used to be. I know, as I came from Cuba 47 years ago. Our freedoms are eroding rapidly. Our Constitution is not even a shadow of what it used to be. Our government is bigger than ever before and it is at the expense of taxpayers.
As a real estate agent and conservative Precinct Committeewoman in LD15, I disagree with the views of Cynthia Weiss published on the Opinion page in the AZ Republic on July 22. Ms. Weiss supports the idea that four out of the five elementary schools in the Cave Creek Unified School District have changed to (or have labeled themselves) as “Charter Schools” in order to receive $1,000 per student in funding as per her article. This is funding these four schools would not have received if they had not been classified as “Charter.” However, my understanding is Charter Schools receive approximately $1,500 per student (see CCUSD website article: “CCUSD - District Sponsored Charter School FAQ’s May 22, 2012”). Ms. Lynn Easton, CCUSD Director of Finance, has not returned my calls to confirm the exact amount per pupil. Approximately $1,500 in additional funding sure sounds great, however…….. this is the taxpayers’ money!
Why did we need to “change” something that was working well already? We have an amazing school district. Our school district already proclaims to be Ranked #1 in Northeast Valley, #2 in Maricopa Country and #7 in Arizona? CCUSD is an “A” District. There is NO need to add the word “Charter” only for the reason of collecting an additional “$1,500” per student.
I agree with Robert Robb’s AZ Republic article: “converting schools to charters, school districts get to pocket the additional money per pupil from the state and keep the option of going to local property taxpayers for additional cash for those same schools. Expect the trend to accelerate.”
Yes, I agree with Mr. Robb [Arizona Republic article titled “Schools to charters is a scam by districts” on July 11] that this is a “SCAM”, and in my opinion is a goldmine for schools … a goldmine at taxpayer’s expense.
Ms. Weiss mentions in her article that the average home value in CCUSD is over $500,000. CCUSD includes 175 square miles. Those 175 square miles include zip code 85262 which is where Desert Sun Academy is located. Black Mountain Elementary is in 85266. These two zip codes tend to have more affluent homes on average, bigger lots and custom homes, such as the Desert Highland subdivision. Desert Willow Elementary, Lone Mountain Elementary and Horseshoes Trails Elementary are located in 85331, where you will find significantly smaller lots and more “cookie cutter” homes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when I take a listing I can’t compare a home from the 85331 zip to a home in 85262 or 85266 as equal. Obviously, they are not on equal footing. So let’s compare apples with apples and not the whole produce department!
As a Realtor, I always compare apples with apples. If a house is next to Desert Willow Elementary School, I cannot compare it with a house located next to Desert Sun, but Ms. Weiss seems to think it is fine to do this by lumping all homes in 175 square miles to one “average” of $500,000. It is amazing how easy it is to throw numbers around.
And this is why I felt that I needed to write. I think we all need to do our homework before we change anything. We need to check and double check who is telling us what and ask “why.” We were not told in the article by Ms. Weiss (or in its editorial commentary) that Ms. Weiss is a CCUSD teacher. Who conveniently omitted that information? Did Ms. Weiss fail to mention her employment as a CCUSD teacher to the AZ Republic or did the AZ Republic know this fact and still omit this little tidbit from their editorial commentary? This is a question of ethics. Someone was not on the “up and up.” My question: why change something that is working just fine, especially at the taxpayers’ expense?
Angelica Petersen
Email
Cave Creek now run by out of town lawyers
Why did Cave Creek turn itself over to out of town lawyers? I wish I knew. Perhaps it was because the electorate was deceived by the most dishonest town council election in history.
First, there is the Pennsylvania lawyer, Mike Chutz, who reportedly put the town council slate together with serious money, and is now pulling all of the strings. Next, you have Scottsdale lawyer Adam Trenk, with his three local bobbleheads, very legally doing whatever his firm and Mike Chutz direct. And it’s all carried out by the Trenk’s buddy, the Tucson lawyer and Interim Town Manager, Rodney Glassman. They have cleared the decks for their secret agenda.
This slate has done nothing positive to date. They have carried forward their open agenda of vengeance, firing the best town manager Cave Creek ever had and replacing him with their own ‘yes man’ who boasts absolutely no town manager experience, pursuing a needless and expensive audit, talking about transparency (the biggest joke) and financial management and continuing to lie about their predecessors. So, you know the worst is yet to come. We recently got a little hint with Trenk using his position on town council to very publicly bolster his employer’s lobbying representation of its many solar energy clients; a major conflict of interest by Trenk at your expense.
Lawyers in our lives are bad enough but when they are from out of town and running everything in Cave Creek, it’s appalling. Look for the earliest opportunity to end this corruption.
Hani Saba
Cave Creek
Breaking the NSA Spy Ring: What “Rule of Law” would look like
“An open, public, informed conversation on surveillance,” writes Philip Bump in The Atlantic Wire, “has been the president’s stated goal since shortly after the Edward Snowden leaks began” (“It Doesn’t Count as Outreach When Obama Talks About the NSA in Secret,” August 9).
In a society governed by “rule of law” as portrayed by our, um, “rulers,” such a conversation – based on U.S. President Barack Obama’s own public admissions and other existing evidence – would begin like this:
Police Officer: Barack Obama?
Barack Obama: Yes?
Police Officer: You are under arrest for violations of United States Code, Title 18, Section 241, Conspiracy Against Rights; and Section 242, Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law. You have the right to remain silent when questioned. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning, if you wish. If you decide to answer any questions now, without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?
I’ve carefully scoured recent editions of American newspapers, and as best I can tell this hasn’t happened yet. It also seems quite unlikely to happen any time in the near future. From this we can safely conclude two things:
First, that Obama’s claim to desire “an open, public, informed conversation on surveillance” is, not to put too fine a point on it, a dirty rotten lie; and
Secondly, that American politicians (or members of the political class in other countries) don’t much care to subject themselves to “rule of law.”
Obama has begun the usual process of nudging the public back into its usual state of apathy, appointing a “Review Board” to “assess whether, in light of advancements in communications technologies, the United States employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations, such as the risk of unauthorized disclosure and our need to maintain the public trust.”
Note the missing piece: No reference at all to the fact that use of these recently revealed “capabilities,” versus anyone, without warrants based on probable cause, is plainly illegal. This “Review Board” is a pale imitation of, and will serve the same function as, the 1975 “Church Committee” (formally the “United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities”), which – after a bit of public self-flagellation – gave us the secret FISA Court and other extensions and ratifications of prior government lawlessness.
Neither political government nor its “intelligence” functions can be “reformed.” The political class treats “rule of law” as a weapon against, not a protector of, the public. Give these crooks an inch and they’ll take a mile. It’s time to stop giving the enemies of freedom those inches … and to take back the inches they’ve abused. The United States must be abolished.
Thomas L. Knapp
Senior News Analyst at the Center
for a Stateless Society
The only decent thing
The goal of granting citizenship to 12 million illegals is to provide enough new voters to keep the Democrats in power forever.
So, why are Arizona’s two senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, who claim to be Republicans, working so hard to help the Democrats?
Are they determined to commit political suicide? And to take the whole Congress down with them?
It’s evident they’ve disgraced themselves, the Senate, and their constituents.
It’s time for Republicans to be outraged – to bombard McCain and Flake with the fact they weren’t elected to promote Democrats or to promote a one-party dictatorship.
Sound off, America! Tell Senators McCain and Flake voters are going to throw them out of office forever. They’ll get no forgiveness, no amnesty. They have betrayed their country and its people.
One would think the fact that 12 million new voters would put one’s opponents in power forever would be understandable to anyone. Senators McCain and Flake don’t get it.
Why don’t you two stay informed?
A forthcoming book by Trevor Loudon titled “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress” spells it all out. One chapter, “Latino Immigrants: Tools to Ensure a Governing Coalition for the Left” has been previewed on the Internet.
Here’s an excerpt: “The roadway to citizenship [was] originally conceived and … developed by members of the Communist Party USA working within the Democratic Party and the radical left activist network” to build a leftist majority.
Paul Ryan, former Republican VP candidate, is promoting the House’s immigration plan. Ryan and other Republicans are working with some far-left House Democrats, like Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a former member of the Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican Socialist Party. If you’ve ever seen Rep. Gutierrez on TV, you know exactly where he stands. He’s 100 percent transparent. He doesn’t need to paste a label on his forehead to tell you what his politics are. Every word from his mouth tells you.
But thank you author Loudon, for your explicit “description” of Rep. Gutierrez. Even Republicans may understand that. What say you, Senators McCain and Flake?
Why are Republicans so clueless? One doesn’t kneel down to the false god of bipartisanship and sell Principle, Truth and America down the river.
The only decent thing for the House to do is kill the immigration bill.
The only decent thing for the public to do is become informed and kick out most of the 535 members of Congress that we negligently elected.
Sincerely,
Arden Druce
Camp Verde
Enemy of the state – our future
With all the controversy over spying on all American citizens by various branches of government, I took the opportunity recently to view the 1988 movie “Enemy of the State.” It is a chilling account of government over zealous interest in spying on Americans. We aren’t there yet but I would encourage anyone who thinks that authoritarian government is necessary for our security to view this movie. Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Pol Pot and many other leaders throughout history also believed in a very strong central government. Let’s not repeat that scenario.
Roy Miller
Phoenix
Another bait and switch proposal from Senator McCain, Rubio & Co.
Why is it that I'm having a tough time believing any of this? Could it have anything to do with the previous immigration legislation scam?
Regards,
Brian Reilly
From: [email protected]
Date: August 14, 2013, 4:35:17 PM MST
To: [Redacted]
Mr. Brian Reilly
PO Box [Redacted]
Sun City West
Dear Mr. Reilly:
Thank you for contacting me to share your views regarding border security and immigration reform. I appreciate knowing your views and for the opportunity to explain my position.
Our current immigration system is broken. It fails to serve the nation’s economic interest or adequately protect our borders from illegal entry. This failure requires a legislative solution which is why I am an original co-sponsor of S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. The Senate approved S. 744 by a vote of 68 to 32 on June 27, 2013.
This legislation secures the border, provides additional channels for legal immigration, and addresses the current system of “de facto” amnesty for the 11 million people who are living here illegally by proposing a lengthy path to citizenship that is contingent on securing our borders and discouraging future waves of illegal immigration.
S. 744 requires $4.5 billion of new border security technology, the completion of 700-miles of total fencing along the Southern border, and an additional 20,000 Border Patrol agents. In addition, the deployment and operation of a nation-wide employment verification and entry-exit system at our nation’s ports must be completed. If after ten years the above criteria have been satisfied, immigrants in temporary legal status will have the opportunity to apply for a green card if they can show that they have maintained gainful employment, pass an additional background check, pass a civics exam, pay all fines and fees and taxes, and learned English. It is a lengthy path that doesn’t precede securing our borders or the enforcement of our laws or supplant the privileges of legal immigrants.
Further, S. 744 would reduce immigration backlogs by reforming many aspects of the legal immigration process, including expanding permanent visas for foreign graduates of U.S. universities in STEM fields, increase the number of temporary high-skilled visas, and expand opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors to come to the United States.
Thank you for taking the time to share your views. Please feel free to contact me on this or any other matter of concern.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senator
Joint Letter to President Obama
Subject: Reconsideration for Major Disaster Declaration for Yarnell Hill Fire
Dear Mr. President:
We send this letter as a formal request for you to reconsider Arizona’s bid for a Major Disaster Declaration due to the deadly blaze near Yarnell. The original request was made on July 9th, 2013 with additional materials provided on July 12th, 2013. It is our belief that the State of Arizona has provided sufficient qualifying information to demonstrate the significant magnitude of damages and trauma the people of Yarnell, Yavapai County and the State of Arizona have and will experience for years to come due to the Yarnell Hill Fire.
According to the joint State-Federal preliminary damage assessment, more than 8,000 acres were consumed by fire, 109 homes were destroyed, 2 homes sustained major damage and 21 homes experienced minor damage. This equates to a loss of 20% of the homes in Yarnell and an estimated $6,800,000 in damage to the small rural community. Yarnell has unique considerations to take into account including the fact that 35% of the population is above the age of 65 and an estimated 28% of the population is at or below the Federal poverty level.
Because of those factors, it will be extremely difficult for these populations to recover and rebuild without federal assistance.
In addition to the devastating impacts on the residents and businesses of the town of Yarnell, the State of Arizona suffered it’s most tragic loss in wildfire history - the deaths of 19 wild land firefighters. This tragedy is extremely distressing to the residents of Yarnell, Yavapai County and the entire state. These 19 men bravely served their communities and will never be forgotten.
In the days after the fire, Mr. President, you offered and pledged to support our state during its time of great need. In addition, Vice President Joe Biden reiterated your commitment at the memorial service for the Granite Mountain Hotshots. We fully expect that you will honor your commitments and help the most deserving and distressed residents of Yarnell.
We encourage you, Mr. President, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reconsider Arizona’s requests for a Major Disaster Declaration. Please act quickly to provide supplementary federal assistance from the Individuals Assistance Program and Disaster Case Management Services for Yavapai County in response to the significant loss of residential structures in Yarnell and the Burned Area Emergency Response program for the Yarnell Hill Fire burn area.
Sincerely,
Andy Tobin, Speaker
Chad Campbell, Minority Leader
Arizona House of Representatives
