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Short takes from the Tribune Editorial Board...
Incorporation of the San Tan area southeast of Queen Creek wasn’t part of Republican Bryan Martyn’s 2008 campaign for the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. But the issue now will define his first year in office, and it could become his lasting legacy — or an ignoble failure.
Tribune writer Amanda Keim reported Friday that Martyn has been laying the groundwork since February for this area of 79,000 people. But most of the public only learned of his efforts a couple of weeks ago when it came to light that Martyn has requested that the U.S. Postal Service stop lumping the area in with Queen Creek and start referring to it as Bella Vista.
It’s not clear that’s going to happen, as the Greater San Tan Area Chamber of Commerce is trying to gauge public interest in a name change through an Internet poll that closes Monday.
Still, Martyn wants to go even further, by creating what would instantly become Pinal County’s largest municipality.
Incorporation has been tried a couple of times before, but such efforts died because of disputes about what subdivisions to include and if it should be done at all.
Neither Martyn nor Pinal County can force incorporation now; that decision still rests with area residents. But Martyn is lobbying fiercely for a move that just might give those residents more control over their destiny.
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We were grateful to see Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, make substantial arguments last week about removing most standards for obtaining a permit to carry concealed weapons, instead of simply repeating the mantra of “It’s a Second Amendment right.”
As Arizona always has recognized, the Second Amendment protects the right to openly carry firearms, not the ability to hide weapons from sight when you leave your own property.
But the state Legislature also can extend additional gun rights beyond what’s contained in the federal and state constitutions.
That’s what Allen proposed in Senate Bill 1270.
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