
October 11, 2018
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I’m sorry you are disappointed with the VC outcome, but honestly, we never saw it as a transportation solution, and even though you directed your readers to the 2016 ADOT VV Master Transportation Plan, ADOT didn’t see it as a good solution either. Page 15 of the Executive Summary reads: "This project is not needed if Cornville Road is widened to four lanes.”

We hope the educational leaders in our school districts will address the concerns that were raised to provide a better education to our students.

The more you selfish, egocentric, posturing scum continue acting like this isn’t a problem, like the over 1 million deaths worldwide is “fake news” and that your president cares about you or has the slightest clue about what’s safe and what isn’t, the longer the rest of us are going to be stuck waiting for things to return to normal.

As a born-again, retired minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, now as a layman, I am ashamed as to the reasons the pastors of the churches of Cottonwood held that they could not, as a group, or even individually, cooperate with the National March and Day of Prayer for Our Country.

The formation of a new consolidated district would be governed by one board with one vision and mission. One governing body could provide the direction and focus to ensure that curriculum and instruction methods are aligned and facilitate the best educational experiences and outcomes for all students PreK-12.

Webster’s dictionary defines socialism as “a theory or a system of social organization in which the means of production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled collectively or by the government ... the stage following capitalism is the transition of a society to communism.”

The simple fact is that, if this consolidation is approved by you the voters, it will have the immediate and permanent effect of demanding that Clarkdale/Jerome/Yavapai Apache students pay tuition for the privilege of attending the same high school that has been serving their community for generations. While making this demand, it will also deprive these same families of the ability to vote for or serve on the governing board.

What I think we need now is more basic teaching of citizens in how virus are spread, how items are contaminated, and what further steps you can take to protect yourself i.e. having germicidal wipes and hand sanitizer in your car, so when you are at the bank you can sanitize immediately.

As Mr. Boyer has made it a point to accuse the right-wing media of promoting “white privilege,” I will state that I feel the left-wing media and politicians have been beating the black community over the head with black-victimization for decades, with full intent on keeping them victimized.

In response to The Verde Independent article, Sunday, June 21, 2020 “Save the Middle Verde Group puts Garrison in election crosshairs,” I would like to add that Randy Garrison is a disgrace to the Republican Party for his intransigent demeanor in ignoring so much unified opposition to his own one-sided opinion.

I recently received a mailing from VerdeDISConnect that was very negative about local leadership. I have participated on Transportation Planning Committees for more than four years. During that time I found that ojur leadership does a great job at balancing the needs of the different residents of Yavapaii County.

I take strong issue with the comments by Clarkdale’s mayor, Doug Von Gausig in the Verde Independent’s “Mayors react to Ducey’s new executive order” that makes it seem like Clarkdale’s businesses are not very much affected by the issues related to COVID-19 except 4 restaurants and 1 bar.

The issue of the 293 exit going North off the I-17 is a huge problem when one exits off the 293 to proceed into the Rimrock-Lake Montezuma communities because of bottlenecking which also involves traffic traveling from the Cornville Road to also enter the BC Road driving to Rimrock-Lake Montezuma or to enter the 293 going North.

Our Jewish brothers and sisters are being targeted in a rising tide of anti-Semitism.

Kudos to Eric Jurisin and Bob Backus for bringing the Cottonwood City Council and management to their senses before giving the store away and providing the Marriott hotel developer with substantial “corporate welfare” on the purchase of the prime City owned land parcel at Hwy. 89-A and 6th Street.

Here we go again. Two years ago in the Spring of 2018, The Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools (CBUVVS) gathered enough signatures to bring the issue of whether or not to consolidate the Cottonwood-Oak Creek Elementary School District No. 6 (COCSD) and the Mingus Union High School District No. 4 (MUHS) to the voters.

This time Mr. Krupa and Mr. Engler want all of us to “wake up and smell the obvious.” Both articles in the Jan. 1 edition of the Villager pontificate and chide us about our failings as citizens. Even though we citizens did all the right things to voice our oppositions, the County Board failed, not us. The Board failed to respect its constituents.

The Yavapai County Education Service Agency (YCESA) was fortunate to be part of a partnership led by Brad Wright of Pinnacle Financial Services, Kari Reilly of Foothills Bank, and Lions from the Prescott Noon Lions Club and the Prescott Valley Early Bird Club in distributing 108 boxes of coats – boys and girls, multiple sizes – to 27 district and charter schools throughout Yavapai County.

As Trump seems to normalize violence in this country, Jeffery Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic.com, recently wrote in an article entitled, He’s Getting Worse, ...”with Trump’s larger goal, it seem(s) to stoke fear among white Americans of dark-skinned foreigners”, and then he goes on to say, “It’s depressing to realize that we were correct (in endorsing Hillary, not for love, but fear of Trump) and it is depressing to think that there is no immediate way out of this crisis.”

On behalf of Sedona Public Library, I would like to thank the entire community for support of library services and programs. There are too many people to name individually, so I will highlight groups and organizations: Big Park Regional Coordinating Council, Church of the Nazarene, Sedona Car Club, Sedona Winds Retirement Community and the Village Business Association.

Those of you who moved here, to the beautiful Village of Oak Creek, found a peaceful town with a high-rated school for our children. What happened? The Big Park Regional Coordinating Council has been trying to do what’s good for the people of the Village, with our zoning and community input.

We were very disappointed by the cartoon in last week’s paper, insinuating that people who don’t vaccinate their kids are stupid. And then again, in Sunay’s paper, there is an article indicating that the school system is so proud that they have achieved their goal of high vaccination rates to support “herd immunity.”

When are the whiners going to stop whining? I have worked in aviation my whole adult life, lived in many different states, worked at many different airports. If you think Cottonwood airport is noisy, go and spend some time at Deer Valley airport, Scottsdale, and Falcon Field in Mesa. I think your outlook would change.

We have owned a business in the Town of Clarkdale for the past 21 years; it has been a wonderful home for our business. They welcomed us in Clarkdale. We have had multiple reasons for enjoying our location, from the beautiful views looking out the windows and doors of our building, to the many services we enjoy.

I attended the March 12, Cottonwood City Council meeting to hear the unveiling of the 5-year strategic plan by the new City Manager, Ron Corbin. Following the presentation, I and several other residents within the city spoke regarding the Strategic Plan’s intent to expand the Airport as an economic driver.

I belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the most progressive denomination of Lutherans. We ordain men and women, gay and straight, to pastor our churches. We believe in inclusivity, in unity within diversity. We cherish every human being as loved by God without any superiority, inferiority, or labeling.

My point is, maybe it would behoove next year’s parade organizers to consider the safety of onlookers more seriously and to provide volunteers and/or police officers to mitigate crowds and traffic, so as to avoid having a very serious accident. It may be as simple as having signs posted along certain congested streets on the parade route to keep people back, or tape off certain residential streets, to block people from parking on those streets.

It’s rumored that in the Cold War environment of the 60s, Soviet Premier, Nikita Kruschev, said some things that add up to this paraphrase: “We will destroy the United States from within. We will introduce little bits of socialism to the American people over time and one day you will wake up, and you will already have communism.”

As the mayor stated, the need for a city hall large enough to house all departments has been discussed for years. The opportunity has been brought before Council that would be an excellent opportunity to move forward, and it would be the best opportunity financially. The facility would cost a lot less that finding property and building a facility.

The Verde Independent reported September 22 that Tom Steyer-financed Proposition 127 would be rendered ineffective by legislation signed by Governor Ducey. While this may be true, it does not mean 127’s passage could not have negative effects, particularly as regards the Verde River.

We just can’t escape it, in the mailbox, on the television, or on our car radio, politics is everywhere. It seems every television and radio political advertisement we hear has twisted some slightly factual information into a totally different message to make us love or hate someone or some movement. For Clarkdale residents we will be voting on Proposition 445, a 10 year bond for public roads.

For examples of socialism that contradicts Mr. Foreman, there is Spain’s Mondragon Cooperative, Israel, & England. The Mondragon Cooperative, where workers are also owners, is the most successful socialist (or quasi-socialist) enterprise in the world. It’s not perfect, but it has not resulted in an abundance of dead.