November 1, 2018
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The sour taste from this incident will not soon fade away.
The next time there is a major development issue in Rimrock or Lake Montezuma, how would it be received if Mayor Tim Elinski and City Manager Ron Corbin showed up and told the folks on the Beaver Creek Association that this development needs to be run past the Cottonwood City Council first.
Cottonwood – like any government – is always interested in the prospect of growing itself. The city just doesn’t want to come across as a bully in the process.
In this time of year when the joy of giving is paramount, this is the very best gift you can give yourself, your friends and family.
With Michaels, the concern is more with the fact that Cottonwood still mandates wearing face masks when social distancing is not possible. It has less to do with the city finding a way to having a marquee event in as safe a manner as possible.
It’s the chance to grow as a single community with a unified vision and coordinated approach to infrastructure and development.
Arizona has not come close to duplicating the single-day high of 5,416 cases reported June 29.
Originally, Gov. Doug Ducey said students could return to the classroom Aug. 17. Now, he’s holding firm to that date with the disclaimer that it’s based on those who can and those who can’t.
In all honesty, Mayor Elinski is getting what he deserves with this proposal by Mathews and Tosca. Elinski is guilty of doing the absolute right thing the absolute wrong way.
Wear a face mask because it’s a wise safeguard for public health. Wear a face mask because our leaders have encouraged it and you want to be a good citizen. Wear a face mask because it’s the right thing to do.
Here we are, 144 days after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Arizona and some things have become startling clear.
The social media malady of not reading past the headline has created its fair share of confusion over the intent of Gov. Doug Ducey’s curfew order this week.
What the state’s jobless report fails to show is the number of people who are out of work by choice. They could be working.
From a healthcare perspective, reopening Arizona’s economy on a statewide basis could be just as disastrous as keeping it closed has been economically.
Any level-headed person has to respect the sentiment on both sides of this debate. People are dying. People are also dying to go back to work.
During the worst of times we’ve seen the very best of the Verde Valley.
There are many silver linings to find in the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the nation.
Whatley is right on this one folks. The same degree of accountability being asked of those who serve on the town’s appointed boards and commissions should apply to those who serve Camp Verde in an elective capacity.
As we have seen with the Spring Creek Ranch project, land developers can be a persistent bunch.
The Camp Verde Town Council should waste no time in dismissing the fraudulent complaint against Town Manager Russ Martin for violating the Arizona Open Meeting Law.
Author Stephanie Lahart best summed up personal integrity with the adage “Say what you mean and mean what you say.”
Status quo seems to not exist in the vocabulary of still-new Cottonwood City Manager Ron Corbin.
At almost every level today in American politics, statesmanship has become a lost art. They’re all politicians who cling to party loyalty at all costs.
With school district consolidation again becoming front and center in the Verde Valley, skeptics are going to see political motivations in the Mingus Union School Board’s effort to leave John McTurk’s seat vacant until voters can decide the best person for the job.
Cottonwood’s newest foray into boundary expansion via annexation comes without the landmines that typically turn a perfectly good idea into an ugly political fight.
A case of conflicting values represents the rocky waters still to be navigated for a just Arizona law that mandates punishment for people who sell opioids such as fentanyl.
In building and preserving the Roman Empire, Julius Cesar is credited with the divide-and-conquer approach to war. It’s stood the test of time.
It’s hard to argue with the logic of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
This was an ugly night for the Camp Verde Town Council. This situation could have been handled 100 different ways and all of them would have been better than the ambush approach used by Butner.
Electing a person to office is no guarantee that person is a “qualified expert” to perform the job to which he or she was elected.
By acknowledging that county government is not designed to provide municipal-type urbanized services, the Village of Oak Creek has no other choice but to incorporate.
As stated in this very space five weeks ago, the indictment of a former business manager for the Valley Academy of Career and Technology Education most likely represents the tip of the iceberg in terms of skeletons in the VACTE closet.
It’s a safe bet that most of the folks reading this came here from somewhere else.
Yavapai County Development Services Director Dave Williams wasn’t kidding when he recently said the county is experiencing its largest growth in recorded history based on the number of residential single-family and manufactured home permits being issued.
The issue of student-athlete drug testing at Mingus is one that needs to be debated and decided on the basis of fact and not emotion.
When discussing the Valley Academy of Career and Technology Education, there is always an important separation of eras to make: “Before Bob Weir” and “After Bob Weir.”
Looking back over the years, there probably wasn’t a single hat that Lew Currier, Al Palmieri or Jane Moore has not worn in their service to the town. We’ve lost count of the times we saw former Mayor Jay Kinsella swinging a pick ax while working on town crews repairing leaking water lines.
For the Mingus Union track and field program, the issue always has been “the track.”
What began as a request to delay the school district consolidation election for another year has ended up in a war of words over an alleged violation of Arizona’s Open Meeting Law by the Mingus Union School Board.
What began as a seemingly simple plan to re-birth some of Jerome’s nefarious history has turned into a real boondoggle for the mountainside community.
Here’s the truth about “Truth in Taxation” public hearings: They are going to tax us.
They don’t mention this at the annual law enforcement career day. Dead guys in cars.
In two separate actions Wednesday night, Camp Verde took a big step toward solving one of the long-standing shortcomings in the Verde Valley.
Legal debates can best be summarized by the philosophical clash between “a deal is a deal” and “let’s make a deal.”
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.”
Never accuse the elected officials in the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate of not being smart.
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.
There has been a pattern of consistency that inspired confidence during Genie Gee’s run as acting superintendent at Mingus Union High School.
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.
The most heart-wrenching thing you’ll ever see is a kid getting called for a false start at a state track and field championship.
We’ve come upon 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.
A year ago, school district consolidation blew through the Upper Verde Valley like a Category 5 hurricane.
“Loneliness is the penalty of leadership.”
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.
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.
City council chambers and the best bar in town used to be the primary arenas for public discourse on community issues.
The mix of residential neighborhoods with an airport is hardly a new discussion in Cottonwood.
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.
So much of the 2018 administrative and governance decision-making processes at Mingus Union High School were of the deer-in-the-headlights variety.
Nothing short of Mingus Mountain has ever created a divide between the Verde Valley and the Prescott communities quite like the great water war of the 1990s.
More than 200 years ago, American statesman Benjamin Franklin said, “Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
When it comes to school district consolidation, we prefer clarity to confusion.
As the Camp Verde Business Alliance explores the prospect of re-establishing a chamber of commerce, there needs to be a realistic understanding of what makes small-town chambers tick.
We’ll soon be getting down to the nitty gritty on the Verde Connect project, a new local thoroughfare expected to link Beaverhead Flat Road with Arizona 260.
Until the City Council learns that “community” and “city” are not synonymous when it comes to the way these federal grant funds are spent, a lot of folks will reach the conclusion that CDBG stands for Cottonwood Deserves Better Governance.
There is no such thing as instant gratification for those whose job it is to stimulate and invigorate their community’s economy. There are more false starts in this race than finish lines.
We’ve barely turned the page on the calendar to 2019 and already the renewed battle for Upper Verde school district consolidation is taking shape.
As for the ACLU-Arizona, it’s curious how the organization took up the cause of one student on this issue as a privacy rights intrusion, and then went out of its way to make sure every media outlet in Arizona knew the student’s name.
There are some good lessons – and some not so good – about kids and the way they establish and follow through on the goals they set for themselves.
It’s an unenviable list of tasks awaiting the new Mingus Union School Board that takes office in January.
For the city, Cottonwood is at a philosophical crossroads as it moves forward in the search for a city manager to succeed Doug Bartosh.
"This one bothered me more than most," was about all Paul Sweitzer had to say when we said our last good-bye to legendary Arizona newsman Jim Garner a few years ago.