We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor on issues of interest to East Valley residents. Submissions should be no longer than 300 words, factually accurate and original thoughts of the writer. Please be brief and include name, address, city and phone number for verification. Letters and call-in comments may be edited for clarity and length.
We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor on issues of interest to East Valley residents. Submissions should be no longer than 300 words, factually accurate and original thoughts of the writer. Please be brief and include name, address, city and phone number for verification. Letters and call-in comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Submit your letter to the editor
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
—
More data could end debate
I read the story by Dennis Welch (“Why so angry?”, May 5), and felt the need to comment. I have read numerous articles that have listed the benefits of illegal immigration and I have read the heartfelt personal stories about those immigrants. But, I have yet to read an in-depth report concerning the cost of illegal immigration.
The Welch article states that one of the bloggers stated that the government was spending your tax dollars on freebies for illegals. Please, print a story showing that the blogger is either right or wrong. End the debate concerning the cost of illegal immigration. Simply list what the local, state and federal government are providing to illegals. Are they receiving food subsidies, rent subsidies or medical benefits, or not? List the added cost to education and law enforcement, if any. List the cost to hospitals in unpaid medical bills, if any. We know that those costs are already enormous because of legal immigrants, so do not include those. End the debate.
Show us the cost benefits and the cost detriments of illegal immigration and make it easier for all of us to make a more educated decision on the subject.
PATRICK O'CONNELL
GILBERT
Why sweeps are scary
On May 11, Horace Smith wrote in a letter to the editor, “I wonder why Hispanic activists find it so hard to recognize that there is a difference between legal and illegal immigrants?” I think the answer is obvious.
No one knows one from another by looking at them. So Sheriff Joe Arpaio first stops all the brown-skinned people, interrogates them and then makes that determination. It is at that point there is a difference between illegal and legal immigrants. So would stopping all whites in Scottsdale to check for warrants be OK with those with no warrants?
Doesn’t Arpaio’s present path indicate that all black Mexican illegals are safe from random stops and deportation? If we just change the race, from brown to white or to black, does that make Arpaio’s traffic stops by skin color any more frightening?
Many would be surprised that I am 25 percent Mexican and my dad spoke Spanish as his primary language. I was born and raised in the border town of Douglas. But I present myself as a member of the human race. God knows, even if I didn’t have a drop of Mexican blood in me, I would still be disgusted by Arpaio’s law enforcement skills and his application and his interpretation of our laws.
MARK SALEM
TEMPE
SHERIFF'S RACE
—
Don’t give Saban’s views any space
I clearly didn’t want to be the first person to react to Dan Saban’s recent commentary (May 15) and was relieved there is at least one other individual who Vents and doesn’t drink the Kool-Aid (May 19).
Former Police Chief Dan Saban’s yesteryear stories of his hero, Sheriff Carl Hayden, leave me wondering if perhaps he has been riding the wrong horse too long, when he clumsily attempts to compare current Sheriff Joe Arpaio — of 2008 vintage — with a childhood hero of the 1900s.
A quick visit to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Web site (www.mcso.org/) demonstrates why old Dan won’t find Sheriff Joe “single-handedly capturing two fleeing train robbers after chasing them down in a borrowed car” and serving warrants.
What with hunting down deadbeat parents, apprehending child molesters, and administering inmate programs in addition to pursuing felons and illegals — often one and the same according to the Sunday editorial “Governor right on warrants” — Arpaio would best hero Hayden in today’s world of law enforcement.
Finally, am I the first to question the journalistic ethics of the Tribune providing a public forum for a wanna-be sheriff vying for Joe Arpaio’s job in the upcoming election? In fairness, either Sheriff Joe should be invited to contribute to the discussion or refute what wanna-be Dan thinks. Bad move, Tribune.
BOB FRANKE, JR.
SCOTTSDALE
PRESIDENTIAL RACE
—
Rewriting judicial history
“McCain’s miscarriage of justice” by Linda P. Campbell (Opinion 2, May 12) really stretched the truth. First off, for 40-plus years the Democrats controlled the Senate and that is where we got most of our “activist judges.”
Then she repeats the lie about Al Gore winning the popular vote. After numerous recounts of ballots in Florida, the AP and others had to admit Bush had won that race.
She admitted that Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens relied “on 33 years of reviewing capital cases,” of which the majority of those cases were decided by “activist judges,” not by strict decisions based on the Constitution.
I could go on but she is not telling the whole truth about Supreme Court decisions, as you can see.
Then your editorial board and editor decide to promote her column, on the front page yet. Shame!
ROBERT JONES
MESA
REPUBLICANS
—
History repeating?
Conservative spending by the Republicans seemed to be undebatable until the reigns of presidents Reagan and the current Bush.
A Phoenix man recently wrote a letter to the editor, and in his words (not verbatim), he compared government spending habits of King George to that of a “drunken sailor.”
The fiscal hypocrisy of Reagan and the current Bush is unbelievable.
Now, on to today, Sen. John McCain has recently described himself as a Reagan Republican. Just what did he mean?
In my opinion, Republicans have a well-established history of collecting the money while someone else does the work.
FRED HERMANNS
MESA
GAS TAX
—
Where’s the outcry?
I thought that there would be more letters to the editor expressing concern with the back-room dealing by the governor with the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona. Where does it stop?
The Legislature is already at the beck and call of developers; cities and towns in the Valley do not act independently of the wishes of homebuilders or developers, now Gov. Janet Napolitano has fallen into their trap.
Several years ago I wrote that we should just deed the entire state to the developers and let them run everything. I guess that it has come true.
The manipulation of our lawmakers by the developer-homebuilder-Realtor cabal has become so commonplace that most citizens fail to see it for the threat that it is. Most of us voted for the persons we thought would best represent our interests, but what we got was a majority of legislators who represent developers, homebuilders, real estate agents and churches. Is that really what you want?
THOM SCHUETT
QUEEN CREEK
METH
—
Accentuate the amphetamine
I completely agree with Howard J. Wooldridge, who in his May 7 letter pointed out that our Navy and Air Force pilots use amphetamines to help accomplish their long-distance missions. These drugs are a boon, and are most helpful when intensive work at full concentration over a long time is required. Amphetamines definitively have a role to play when used properly.
HARRY FISHER
WOODLAND HILLS, CALIF.
