Commentary

Commentary: Effort continues to give citizens right to vote on consolidation

Mingus Union High School has used taxpayer dollars to stop and sue an organized group of citizens who supported the consolidation of Mingus Union High School with the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District.

Commentary: Rodeo grounds should be a natural fit for Camp Verde

An enthusiastic and resourceful group of dedicated volunteers, through the newly organized Camp Verde Arena Association (CVAA), have undertaken the task of bringing a town-funded rodeo grounds to the planning forefront. Their time, talent, and treasure will be a driving force.

Commentary: Questions abound over ‘grounding’ of Mingus Union superintendent

Like the dutiful parent whose child comes home with a lousy report card, the Mingus Union School Board grounded Superintendent Penny Hargrove last week.

Proposition 305: It’s all about your choice on what is best education ‘fit’ for your child

As a school administrator I’ve been asked numerous times about Prop 305. I am a strong supporter of school choice because I have seen its powerful effects in action. I am a supporter of school choice because it offers great benefit to all schools, including district schools. I am a supporter of school choice because of Robby.

Commentary: It takes entire community to make community events successful

The experiment called Camp Verde Promotions has been a case study in the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.

Commentary: Will history repeat itself on new Cottonwood City Hall?

When a major new project is first proposed in Cottonwood, it’s typically espoused by the majority or at least a very vocal minority that this is something we can’t afford. It’s frivolous. It falls into the category of “want” much more than it does a justified “need.”

Commentary: ‘You can’t make this stuff up’ -- State Historian Marshall Trimble remembers ‘Lefty’ Ortiz

Reader testimonials and funeral home memorials offer ample evidence that it was a life lived well and full for Cottonwood’s Eugene “Lefty” Ortiz

Commentary: Prime opportunity awaits Cottonwood to finally answer need for new City Hall

One of my promises when I campaigned to become mayor was to provide more efficient government and to spend your money wisely.

Commentary: Prop. 445 repairs damage from economic storm of past 10 years

Thursday, I attended my third weekly informational meeting conducted by the Town of Clarkdale in order to present the facts about Proposition 445, the Town of Clarkdale’s 2018 Bond Authorization Special Election.

Commentary: Journalism matters, now more than ever

It’s crucial that we continue to reinforce the importance of our role in society.

Commentary: Well-maintained roads say ‘Clarkdale Cares’

For more than 10 years, the Arizona State Legislature swept (some might say “stole”) the funds Arizona’s cities and town use to maintain their roads so that they could pay the state’s bills without raising taxes.

Commentary: Columbus discovered America? Think again

Monday, we celebrated the anniversary of Columbus’s “discovery” of the Americas. Columbus was an Italian explorer hired by Spain to find a new route to “India.”

Commentary: Denial of truth spreads like virus in communication age

Perhaps the most pernicious thing that was said in recent weeks was when Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii literally told men to “shut up” in regard to determining the truth behind differing accounts of high school memories involving Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Commentary: Four years later, I can still hear the screams

I remember looking over at my fiancé’s face. He was just sitting there next to me, the sunlight shining through his long untamable hair, his bright blue eyes smiling. It’d been three days since we’d seen Stephanie, the midwife, but this time had been different.

Commentary: For Democrats in Ford-Kavanugh fight, believing is enough

What is perhaps most extraordinary about the all-out war over the Brett Kavanaugh nomination is how little the public knows about the accusations of Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who claims that at a high-school party in 1982, when she was 15, a drunken 17-year-old Kavanaugh forced her onto a bed, tried to undress her, and, when she tried to scream, covered her mouth with his hand.

Commentary: Flaws in #MeToo don’t negate its importance

The #MeToo movement – a watershed cultural reckoning against sexual abuse – is about to reach its one-year anniversary.

Editorial Cartoon: Sept. 26, 2018

As midterms near, GOP hopes political storm dissipates

Republicans know what the midterm election polls say. They hear the talk about a blue wave. They’re aware of historical party-in-power midterm losses in the House. But they still see something else, seven weeks out from Election Day.

Your cell phone is not worth another person’s life

The best way I can describe my dad would be a madly-in-love, God-fearing, banjo-loving, good-ol-cowboy, who loved every member of his enormous family fiercely, and like some sort of superhero – at least it seemed to me as a kid – he went away for days at a time to go be a larger-than-life fireman for over three decades in the big city.

Commentary: Upper Verde education follows script of ‘Let’s Make a Deal’

Former television game show host Monty Hall would love the Upper Verde Valley’s education system.

Cottonwood-Oak Creek should proceed with caution on consolidation talks with Mingus Union

Perhaps as early as this week, the members of the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Board will be asked to play nice with Mingus Union over development of a “reasoned, purposeful plan” for a merger of the two school districts.

Commentary: Local taxpayers should not be stuck with bill for Camp Verde rodeo arena

I am amazed that the same people elected to the Camp Verde Town Council all ran on a platform that the town was in dire financial straits. They said the town is over spending and is out of control.

Commentary: Time to put campaign rhetoric aside and go to work

I am expecting that all the successful candidates will step out of that sphere of criticism and condemnation to find common ground and begin addressing those things that truly matter as we serve the citizens of the City of Cottonwood.

Commentary: Kyla Allen hardly qualifies as an innocent victim

Let’s be fair. I was not able to address everything in my response to your editorial (see verdenews.com; “Editorial: Local voters stood firm against politics of hate and deceit”). While Kyla Allen was mercilessly attacked on social media, not all of it was untrue.

Commentary -- Trump, McCain: A rare D.C. relationship that was unfailingly honest

There are people in Washington who hate each other but who, for public consumption, pretend not to hate each other. What was almost refreshing about the relationship of Sen. John McCain and President Trump was that there was no such pretending.

The Verde Independent

Our nation’s freedom guaranteed by all veterans 1 day, 5 hours

U.S. Veterans: You are America 1 day, 5 hours

Editorial Cartoon: Nov. 9, 2018 3 days, 22 hours