Editorials

The good news is that participatory government is alive and well in Cottonwood. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but we are getting there.

Do voter voices matter? Both Yavapai County and Town of Clarkdale voters have said no to taxes they're getting stuck with anyway.

We live in a nation of knee-jerk reactions. Case in point: Shoe manufacturer Nike has pulled a flag-themed tennis shoe after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick complained to the shoemaker.

The community needs to step up, or else our recycling will become a bigger trash problem.

In two separate actions Wednesday night, Camp Verde took a big step toward solving one of the long-standing shortcomings in the Verde Valley.

Mingus Union High School took some unconventional steps -- by Mingus standards -- in hiring Mike Westcott as its new superintendent.

Step 1 was implementing a two-year ban on camping along the State Route 260 corridor between Cottonwood and Camp Verde.

Key to personal integrity is doing what you say you are going to do.

A familiar refrain in any government decision-making process is the admonition to “let us vote on it.”

Government pension programs promote an entitlement premise that there are guarantees in life.

Never accuse the elected officials in the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate of not being smart.

It was more than a decade ago when former Yavapai County Supervisor Chip Davis announced the Arizona Department of Transportation had prioritized the State Route 260 section between Cottonwood and Camp Verde for a major four-lane expansion.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, a city of about 600,000 people, bicycles outnumber cars by about 5-to-1. That’s made possible by an infrastructure that actually encourages people to ride bikes instead of drive cars.

The next time you grab your cell phone and go to your favorite app store, you can easily begin a new career as a criminal.

It’s doubtful there will be an Upper Verde school district consolidation election this year, but that sure hasn’t stopped people both pro and con from making claims about the impacts of such a merger.

A year ago, school district consolidation blew through the Upper Verde Valley like a Category 5 hurricane.

“Loneliness is the penalty of leadership.”

We’re nearing the one-year anniversary of the Sedona-Oak Creek School Board’s decision to close Big Park Elementary School. The resulting wounds to the Village of Oak Creek are slow to heal.

For the second time in five days, first-term Cottonwood City Councilman Michael Mathews has come to his own defense over the use of private email to communicate city business.

The right thing for Mathews to do now is provide the city with all city-related emails he has sent from his private account so the city can fulfil its obligation to maintain and store the public records he created.

Just when you think you’ve seen the last possible way the school district consolidation ball could bounce, it takes off in a completely new direction.

Two incidents in the past week prove that if there are policies in place to police those who seek and hold public office, there is a lot of embarrassment and ridicule to avoid in the end.

Now, Republican precinct committeemen in Yavapai County will nominate three people to replace Stringer. The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors will select from those nominees the person to replace Stringer in the Arizona House of Representatives.

The Mingus Union School Board should ask the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for another review and full finding of fact over the Sept. 5, 2017, Open Meeting Law infraction for which the AG previously determined Mingus was at fault.

Gaining a little control over how much is too much when it comes to political signage and the degree to which we want our roadsides to remain uncluttered could become a sign of the times here in the Verde Valley.