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On Your Mind is the Herald/Review’s telephone opinion line and is intended as a public forum for our readers. Comments represent the opinions of callers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the newspaper or any specific knowledge that we have. Readers may share their opinions by calling 458-0332, or by e-mail to svhoym@transedge.com or regular mail at 102 Fab Ave., Sierra Vista AZ 85635. Please keep comments less than 90 seconds. Comments are edited.
April 18
What Brandi Milloy needs to do is devote the attention that has been focused on the beauty pageant and contest into a job. Everything else will take care of itself.
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I’m Rick with A-1 Transportation. Give me a call at 226-7721.
Wake up America and especially Arizona. Page A10 of the Herald/Review has all you need to recognize the communistic influence now openly flagrant in our educational institutions. The behavior of the college professors of many of our highly regarded universities in recent years has finally introduced their intrusive, persuasive ideology into our public school and community college curriculums. If you had any skepticism regarding their ideas this should be the final eye opener for you. The elitists in our midst who consider themselves more intelligent than the graduates of ordinary schooling are flocking to vote for these silver-tongued but misguided politicians whose educational backgrounds rival most of ours. Open your eyes. It is not politics as usual. They’re snake oil salesmen out to charm you into acquiescence.
This is about the caller referring to the school district and school board. The problem is they need an outsider to check behind Bill Roach, not the school board. Do you think the school board is going to say anything against Bill Roach? I don’t think so. That’s the problem now. We need to have somebody from outside of Sierra Vista to do the checking. It’s really a shame it’s run so poorly.
I wanted to extend kudos to the Herald for its front-page coverage of the child abduction hoax. It is this type of coverage those of us who care about our community want to see. I was one of the many callers and was less than reassured after speaking with the (Sierra Vista) Police Department. After hearing of their response to one of the local schools (“cannot confirm or deny”), it left me disbelieving their response entirely. Perhaps a recommendation that the PD work more closely with the newspaper, as well as local radio stations, being completely forthcoming with information, parents and grandparents will not be left in the dark. As one who spent most of my life working in the communications industry, I can tell you this is our first line of defense in any emergency. I’ve seen much smaller communities come together and create several TV stations devoted to community access services — broadcasting city/county board meetings, a venue for local services and attractions, as well as providing the means for residents to produce programming of interest to a given area. There is no reason a city of this size can’t accomplish this same thing, giving the police a forum to put this kind of thing out there immediately for the public.
In response to the “gloom and doom” April 18 OYM about the testimony of Gen. (David) Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador (Ryan) Crocker to Congress, the writer apparently quoted Petraeus out of context. Both Petraeus and Crocker gave sober assessments that were fairly positive about the progress of the surge in Iraq. Yes, there are problems, but they did not paint them as unsolvable. Both said it would be foolhardy to pull out troops at this point, in view of successes by U.S. troops, the Iraqi army, and the Iraqi government (12 out of 18 benchmarks met). The negative tone of the OYM seems to imply we should get out of Iraq. Does the writer have an answer for the aftermath — when Shiite Iran fills the political vacuum and takes over 80 percent of Iraq’s oil fields in the Shiite Basra region and becomes the dominant force in the Middle East? How high will the price of gas at our pumps skyrocket? Will U.S. troops be required to return to Iraq and fight again? Or will we see the magical Jimmy Carter style diplomacy create tranquil peace in the Middle East?
April 19
The library’s restaurant in the lobby would be improved by offering more healthful foods and drinks. This country’s population is already too fat and suffering with arteries clogged by killer-cholesterol. The Brews Brothers menu is 99 and 44/100 percent sugar and fat and the only healthful menu items are herbal teas and a shot soy milk. The flavors are fine and the prices reasonable, but how about some vegan offerings to put us in shape to keep coming back? Am I the only one in Southern Arizona who noticed this? Public demand might persuade the Brews Boys to help us learn to enjoy a plant-based heart-healthy diet. Flavor and spice are not lacking in a totally vegetarian diet. For details, please go to www.pcrm.org, The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Are Americans unusually stupid or is it something our president put in the water? As millions surrender their homes and sacrifice other standards of our nation’s economic and political reputation to the caprice of the Bush-Cheney administration, a majority of voters tell pollsters that they might vote for a candidate who promises more of the same. Assuming that likely voters are not now thinking of yet another Republican president simply because John McCain is the only white guy left standing — an excuse as pathetic in its logic as the decision four years ago to return two Texas oil hustlers to the White House because they were not Massachusetts liberals — must mean that tens of millions of Americans have taken leave of their senses. By so unabashedly embracing the most glaringly failed U.S. president ever, McCain has surrendered the right to be considered an independent candidate, judged on his own merits and personal history. A vote for McCain is a vote for that rancid recipe mixing religious bigotry, imperial arrogance and corporate greed that he had stood against in the run-up to the 2000 presidential election when he challenged George W. Bush, but to which he now has capitulated.
What’s the matter? Are you afraid you can’t print the truth without catching hell for it? I think a woman president would be a lot better than what you guys are proposing. Hillary has more brains and more know-how to be president than anyone else does.
The environmentalists finally got their way. If you look at the reasons for the high gas prices these days it’s because of these environmental laws when we can’t drill for oil anywhere. It’s just ridiculous. We’re all going to go broke. How clean does the planet have to be before we all go bankrupt?
April 20
Thank you so very much for publishing the hiking stories and pictures in the Sunday newspapers. Because of health problems, I am no longer able to hike in our beautiful mountains and I look forward to the weekly column to be transported there vicariously. Please continue to publish these unique stories.
This is the first time in history that the presidential campaign started two years in advance and the first time we’ve had such a bunch of sorry individuals running for the president of the USA. All have a closet full of skeletons. America is in for one very dim future. Just think of all the sorry baggage they will bring to the White House. None of them are worthy of holding the position of president over the once greatest nation on the planet. If it weren’t so serious for our future it would be the best comedy show on TV. Lots of luck, boys and girls. We’re going to need it. God help America. If we ever needed America, we need it now.
Traffic rant No. 346: When you’re on Buffalo Soldier and approaching the intersection with 92, the sign says, “Reduced speed ahead.” Normally, this means the next thing you’ll see is a speed limit sign. None ever appears here, though. To what does the “reduced speed” sign refer?
The library’s coffee shop is a grand idea to attract people to use the services offered by the excellent Library Director David Gunckel and his capable staff. However, the current menu is mostly sugar and fat. Food prices are escalating fast and will make sugar and flour costs prohibitive, so up goes the price of all those sweets. It is unreasonable to expect fresh produce, but perhaps refrigeration could be available to allow probiotics like plain yogurt or kefir. Unsweetened rice beverages and almond “milk” need no refrigeration until opened, and they would sell easily once people taste those delicious drinks. Five friends will not go back there to eat anything but vegetable soup. The sweets taste good to some people, but dietitians and cardiologists rank sweets as health disaster. Sanitation and service are fine, and we hope the menu can soon include more healthful choices so we can eat there more often.
April 21
Does anyone else besides me notice that the government’s attack upon an offshoot of the Mormon Church was a little heavy-handed? Did it remind you of Waco? Thank God there were no fires involved. Of course allegations of child abuse need to be investigated but going in with armored vehicles is not investigation. We all need to be aware that our government has the ultimate power and strength and we need to control that power. I can make allegations about other churches. I’ve heard rumors about Muslims and the Muslim community. I think they need to be aware that our government may come in. Would that ever happen? In our political climate today you don’t have to be an offshoot of the Christian church to fear the government. Something’s wrong here, people. We all need to be vigilant.
Christians are told we cannot pray at graduation ceremonies, we can’t talk about Jesus here or there or have our Bible here or there and to keep our mouths shut, all in the name of “church and state.” The troubling thing is the schools can hand out condoms to my kids. Teachers in this country can take my kids to get abortions without my permission or knowledge. Our teachers teach my children that Adam and Eve is a myth, that evolution is fact and that homosexuality is OK and anyone who disagrees with these views are demonized. So we can’t “push our values” on anyone else, but the government/liberal left can push their values, or lack thereof, on my children, all the while cowering behind the “ever so sacred” “separation of church and state.” We now have a country that not only actively suppresses Christian speech and what we believe but is also actively trying to turn our children against our values. What we got from our education system is bait and switch. First, we’re offered free public education for everybody, then when we are completely dependent on this system they pull the rug out and make up out of the establishment clause this so-called “separation of church and state.”
I would suggest that Matt Hickman should change his profession — his words leave much to be desired. However, his photo of the Pee Wee Owls in Sunday’s newspaper is a real prize.
I live a couple of blocks south of the KTAN tower on Busby. This is fairly close to the hospital and the medical rescue helicopter flights. But I notice that lights on the very tall radio tower are not lit up at night. Isn’t there a law that these towers have to have operating lights? Is this dangerous to have the helicopter flights in the area of the (unlighted) tower? Whose responsibility is it to monitor the condition of these towers, besides the station management?
I’m calling about taxis. It might be true that Transportation Express is the largest taxi service in Sierra Vista. I called the other day to be taken somewhere, and guess what? The taxi was so big that you can’t climb into it. If you are disabled, handicapped or short (I’m 5 feet) you can’t get into it easily. If you are a GI or physically agile you can climb into it. Otherwise, forget it.
I’m calling about Jimmy Carter, our former president. He’s been over in the Middle East, talking with Israel and Hamas, trying to get an agreement. The U.S. is condemning him for doing it, but the U.S. needs to get off its behind. If the U.S. government were over there trying to do it, he wouldn’t have to. He’s trying to make peace. It seems like the U.S. doesn’t want to. They criticize him for doing something they should be doing.
The reason Iraq is an essential battleground for al-Qaida is because of the American presence there. The same is true with Iran being in there. People need to check their facts.
We feel sorry for people who must live close to barking dogs whose owners put them out in the yard whenever they’re away. These people get dogs but can’t put them inside their homes or use a commercial kennel or get people to come and sit them? Why own a dog if you can’t spend time with it, when you spend more time away from your house and your dog? Yes, you saved its life by adopting it, but you also do neglect it, and your dog is bored and a nuisance to others. We cannot keep our windows and doors open in good weather, cannot often hear our TV, and cannot sleep in some rooms due to your dogs. Even with the inside doors closed the barking permeates our walls. We don’t fault your dogs; you, the owners are the big problem. We’ve had dogs for years. Our dogs are usually kept inside, especially when we’re gone. We take them on trips with us, or board them when we’re gone, or we get people to check on them. Care of dogs takes love, time, effort, and money to do it right.
Melissa Blake wrote on Oct 18, 2008 1:15 PM: