RANT & RAVE: Posted April 23, 2010

Editor’s note: Each week we print a selection of anonymous rants and raves submitted by our readers. Keep them under 250 words, free of profanity and personal attacks, and have at it. You need not sign your submission, which you may e-mail to peoplesgazette@gmail.com or mail to Gazette Editor, 7736 N. Toya Vista Road, Payson, AZ 85541. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Gazette staff.

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Here’s one vote for Payson Unified School District superintendent (Casey O’Brien). How can people be upset with him for dealing with a budget that is beyond the district’s control. As a retired teacher, I can tell you that the place to make cuts is not the classroom teachers, but the principals and, especially, the assistant principals. They’re the ones who don’t have any students to teach, and teaching is what education is all about. I wonder if Tim Fruth would go back into the classroom for his final year before retirement if given the opportunity.

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Oh my goodness, what has your Chamber of Commerce wrought now. I am referring, of course, to the giant rodeo fiasco. The chamber is so busy playing favorites and passing out favors that it has now managed to screw up Payson’s most hallowed institution, August Doin’s. Both the alliance and the committee should be suing the chamber, not each other. When will they see the light? When will we see the light? Fellow business people, the chamber needs a massive overhaul and a serious infusion of ethics.

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So now Roundup Reporter Pete Aleshire is calling the acquisition of the Tower Well a “trade.” How that boy can rewrite history amazes me. It was an out-and-out heist in the greatest tradition of the Wild West. Next thing you know he will be calling it a donation. Then a gift. And finally a blessing.

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So the Payson Town Council vote to rescind the growth limits imposed by the Edwards council was 7-0. Say it ain’t so, Councilor Ed Blair. Don’t abandon your principles.

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Let me get this straight. A month ago, the voters boot Mike Vogel off the Payson Town Council. But Kenny the Who doesn’t like what the voters did, so he wants to give him a paying job at a time when town services are being cut to the bone. Ladies and gentlemen, I maintain that we have all just been slapped in the face by the mayor. Ombudsman my butt. This is good old fashioned cronyism at its finest.

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I find it interesting that the town is thinking of hiring Mike Vogel to perform a task he used to do as a councilor. Does the town have sufficient funds to add a new position? If there were to be a new position added, should it not be open for all to apply? When Mike was doing the job as a councilor, exactly how many new businesses did he help bring to town? From what I have heard it is only one. Does not seem like a very good track record for four years of effort. Wonder how many would have come if he had not been the main contact ... how many did he scare off?

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Should we be surprised that the town has Pete Aleshire trying to sell the water rate hike to the unsuspecting citizens of Payson? Whatever happened to objective reporting? I see little attempt to go behind what officials are saying to verify or clarify or, God forbid, question and challenge. This town needs a good audit, from top to bottom. And the water department needs it most of all.

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So Star Valley has a new town hall under the most suspect of circumstances. I’m no expert in meeting law, but that decision and the way it was done must have come pretty danged close to violating something.

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How about that cowboy circus on the Beeline Highway on Thursday (the Payson Tea Party rally on April 15)? Where were these clowns (who proclaim that they want to protect the Constitution) when George W. Bush Started the Office of Faith Based Initiatives? Hey you Bozos, we give tax dollars to churches now! Oh yea, that’s alright aye? Check the First Amendment. America: Land of the dumb.

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I agree with Matt Brabb, editor of the Mogollon Connection. The second consecutive Civil War reenactment was more like a circus than an event that captures the breadth and scope of that tragic war. Can’t the Town of Payson come up with something better to bring tourists up from the Valley? Two straight years is enough, already.

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I have to admit, I was one of Payson Regional Medical Center’s biggest detractors based on some horror stories I had heard. But a recent visit to the emergency room changed my tune. The treatment and care I received was absolutely outstanding. Of course the cost was outrageous too, but that’s a function of a broken health care system. Now if PRMC works with me on a payment plan I can afford, I will endorse them unconditionally. Stay tuned.