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OPINION
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Rebuttal
Editor:
I do not usually respond to what I believe to be pure fantasy or unsubstantiated opinion. If I wanted to listen to that particular sort of diatribe, I would watch CNN — all puff with no meaningful facts.
In the case of Mr. Hayworth, however, I am going to make an exception. First, I would like to make a distinction between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, respectively.
I consider myself to be conservative, which does not mean I think the opposites have nothing to offer. Show me the facts and then I will decide. Mr. Hayworth makes no similar distinction, however, if you are a conservative, you are a liar.
I could make no sense of his entire treatise, but I will only pick and choose a few lacking in what most of us like to call the truth, or the facts, if you will.
First of all, I was not upset when Obama was elected. Not my choice, but I thought he was in a position to be a great president as the first Black American elected commander-in-chief.
In reality, though, he turned out to show his bigotry and socialist tendencies by his actions and legislative agenda.
Michael Brown and Freddie Gray were both Black, shot by white policemen during or after a committed crime. Obama immediately called out the guilt of the officers, even before all the facts were in. Heck, the bodies weren’t even cold.
This touched off riots all over the country and immediate calls for police reform and justice for the dead men. Also, after the Trayvon Martin verdict, didn’t Obama go on national television and claim he was unhappy with the court and that “Trayvon could have been my son”?
Well, couldn’t Aaron Alexis also have been his son? He is the Black man who shot 12 and killed people in the mess hall at the Baltimore Navy yard. I don’t recall Obama ever saying a word about it. Do you? Ever since Obama, we have been a divided country with an us vs. them attitude, unfortunately, and that is why Obama was the worst president of my lifetime if not all time, until demented Joe that is.
“Defund the police.” That’s a great idea; great Democratic battle cry. Sadly, it is actually happening in many Democratic bastions where the crime rate is skyrocketing — fact.
His medical plan was only a heartbeat away from a single-payer (federal gov’t control) system, from socialized medicine — fact. Have you read any Marx or Engels philosophy? Because this is how it begins.
If popular vote was how we elected our leaders, then we would only need to count the votes in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City, concentrated centers for the gimme, gimme, gimme liberals who love all the freebies the Democrats throw at them to secure their votes.
The Electoral College is in place to ensure that does not happen, Mr. Hayworth. Perhaps you should read about the Connecticut Compromise to gain some understanding of how to make majority rule fair to all.
Please name for me the wealthy who were going to pull Trump’s strings had he been elected. Even your facts behind this ludicrous statement will do.
Democrats were the ones to politicize the pandemic. Read factual literature or listen to some impartial insight into these types of matters and maybe, just maybe, you might see the daylight, assuming, of course, you lay off the Kool-Aid.
I have a degree in economics and you are the first person in history, I believe, to call the Great Depression a Republican depression. Once again merely your distorted opinion, not fact.
Other observations from your article: Who is trying to push through a $3.2 trillion march toward a social engineering agenda? Everything Trump did was geared toward the middle class (which includes securing the border, which is actually one of the jobs given to the federal government by the constitution) by charging tariffs to protect American jobs. Reaganomics did not cause the demise of manufacturing jobs in this country. To a large degree, labor unions did.
Insisting on paying someone $48 per hour for some unskilled menial tasks is ridiculous. Pushing through financial legislation to allow banks to invest in the market is called capital growth. You are probably guilty of it yourself. I would be willing to bet you have some market investments of your own.
Perhaps now, with a conservative majority, the Supreme Court will get back to what it is constitutionally dictated to do: interpret laws written by self-serving politicians of all persuasions instead of legislating from the bench.
I was a JFK Democrat at one time, but that party is gone and replaced by a party that caters to its own needs and controls its constituents with more and more and more government giveaways to keep them loyal.
If you actually look at the long-term ef-
DUFFY’S OPINION — brianduffycartoons.com
fects of their policies, you might come to see the forest for the trees. No one is coming with an “Ich bin Berliner” catchphrase to unite us all under the kumbaya umbrella, at least until we can have a balanced budget, term limits and a voter ID card to ensure the integrity of all our institutions.
Thomas M. Rico Goodyear
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WEST VALLEY VIEW NEWS | SEPTEMBER 29, 2021
Not enough attention paid to all the missing
BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ
West Valley View Columnist
There’s no telling what seizes our population’s collective imagination on any given day, what generates news headlines and clicks by the million.
But one topic remains a sure bet: an attractive, young white woman gone missing.
The latest such tale, the disappearance of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, came to the saddest end imaginable Sept. 19, when investigators found her body in Wyoming’s Teton-Bridger National Forest. On Sept. 21, the Teton County coroner ruled Petito’s death a homicide.
The news media’s Petito obsession will likely continue for some time: The deceased’s travel partner and fiancé, Brian Laundrie, is still missing at press time.
Authorities are combing a swampy 25,000-acre nature preserve in west Florida searching for Laundrie, who could hardly look guiltier in Petito’s death. In July the pair went off to explore the American West by van. It was set to be a fourmonth trip, but Laundrie reportedly came home on Sept. 1, solo and mum about Petito’s whereabouts. The girl’s family reported Gabby missing 10 days later.
A national whodunit erupted that has stretched for weeks. In its wake trail the names we all have heard: JonBenet Ramsey, Chandra Levy, Elizabeth Smart, Laci Peterson, Natalee Holloway, Caylee Anthony.
All white, all female, all gone, all the subject of intense fascination.
Which leads to my point: I’ve read often about “missing white woman syndrome,” a media reality that has been the subject of academic research. Many who cite it complain that the Gabby Petitos of the world don’t deserve such attention. That sounds small to me, petty.
Instead, I wish that every missing person — skin color, age and gender aside — would receive some level of national attention, with the resources that scrutiny brings.
Because for every Gabby Petito, there’s a Daniel Robinson and a thousand more cases like his.
Robinson, a 24-year-old African American male, went missing in the far West Valley near Buckeye on June 23. Three weeks later, a rancher found the geologist’s Jeep upturned in a ravine. Twelve days after that, searchers found a human skull near the vehicle, but police say those remains are not Daniel.
What happened to Robinson is still a mystery, despite Buckeye police using offroad vehicles, cadaver dogs, a drone and a chopper to search 70 square miles of desert.
For every Gabby Petito, there’s also a Jhessye Shockley.
The 5-year-old Glendale girl with the big smile went missing in October 10 years ago. Police have never found her body, which they believe was forced into a suitcase and abandoned in a Tempe trash bin. A month after the little Black girl vanished, cops named her mother a suspect.
Today, Jerice Hunter is serving life, convicted of murder and child abuse despite no eyewitnesses and no body. The case is closed beyond a reasonable doubt, but I still wonder about Jhessye every year about this time.
I wonder what becoming a national obsession might have meant for Jhessye and Daniel. I wonder about the 600,000 Americans who go missing yearly and about the 970 Arizonans currently listed in NamUS, the national missing persons database.
Some blame racism for our fascination with Gabby Petito. That’s part of it, but hardly the major felony at hand here. These are kidnappings, trafficking cases, homicides.
We should pay as much attention as we can to as many of the disappeared as we can, for as long as we can. Ignorance is not bliss, not when lives hang in the balance.
David Leibowitz has called the Valley home since 1995. Contact david@leibowitzsolo.com
Southwest Valley success depends on quality schools
BY AVONDALE MAYOR KENN WEISE BUCKEYE MAYOR ERIC ORSBORN GOODYEAR MAYOR GEORGIA LORD LITCHFIELD PARK MAYOR THOMAS L.SCHOAF
The Southwest Valley is experiencing an unprecedented period of residential growth and economic success. Our region is attracting thousands of new jobs and tens of millions in economic investment — especially along the Loop 303 corridor. Our cities are being recognized as premier destinations to live, and we are making significant investments in our public safety and residential amenities.
Here are some quick examples of our latest success: Avondale is a flourishing hub for health care investment and is making great strides in its BLVD mixeduse project. Buckeye was named the fastest-growing city in the country and recently announced a million-square-foot lithium-ion manufacturing facility. Goodyear’s Civic Square is starting to take shape, and the city also recently opened the much-anticipated Goodyear Recre-
Kenn Weise Eric Orsborn Georgia Lord Thomas L. Schoaf
ation Campus. Litchfield Park just broke ground on Litchfield Square that will bring about 400,000 square feet of mixeduse development and recently earned a prestigious certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting.
To sum up, the Southwest Valley is absolutely heading in the right direction. As local elected officials, we are doing our part to make sure it stays that way. However, there is one other key component to our quality of life that extends beyond what we can accomplish at the city level: our schools.
Education plays an incredibly important role in the success of our community just like public safety, streets, recreation or economic development. That is why we have joined together to encourage you to vote “yes” on the Agua Fria Union High School District override continuation and “yes” on the Litchfield Elementary School District override continuation this November. Our local schools are among the best in the state, making our cities an attractive destination for companies and helping provide a ready workforce for companies to hire. These proposals provide local funding to recruit and retain effective teachers, invest in technology infrastructure, maintain a nurse at each elementary school, and keep smaller class sizes. Both the Agua Fria and Litchfield proposals are not a tax increase. They are a continuation of the local funding that has been in place for more than 20 years.
Quality schools help increase property values, attract jobs and reduce crime. If we want to continue to be competitive in attracting high-wage employers and improve our standard of living, we must ensure that our community is an attractive destination with safe schools that provide a well-rounded education.
As the mayors of Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear and Litchfield Park, we recognize that education is a key component to our quality of life. People want to live in safe communities with good job opportunities and excellent schools. Both of these budget continuations allow us to continue toward these goals without increasing taxes.
We must keep this positive momentum going in the Southwest Valley. Join us in supporting the Agua Fria Union High School District and the Litchfield Elementary School District override continuations.
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WEST VALLEY VIEW NEWS | SEPTEMBER 29, 2021
BY J.D. HAYWORTH
West Valley View Columnist
You may not recall the name Paul Greenberg, but you certainly recall the nickname he bestowed on a politician who became president.
It was Paul Greenberg, in his newspaper column, who concocted the sobriquet “Slick Willie” to describe then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. Gov. Clinton cast himself as a progressive reformer in a speech to the 1980 Arkansas Democratic Convention; Greenberg disagreed, calling Clinton a false reformer and making up the memorable moniker. “Slick Willie” stuck to Clinton and contributed to his defeat by Republican Frank White that November.
In 1992, when Clinton decided to make his move and run for president, Paul Greenberg made a move from the Pine Bluff Commercial to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock. From that newspaper’s editorial page, he made another prescient pronouncement. “When it comes to the Clintons,” he wrote, “don’t listen to what they say … watch what they do.”
Actually, that’s good advice for evaluating anyone in public office.
But in the case of Joe Biden and his cabinet, the advice should be modified in this fashion: Listen to what they say… at least, what they say again and again and again.
In a recent appearance before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas could not give Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) a specific headcount of the Haitians encamped under a border bridge in Del Rio, Texas, or the total of Haitians who had already been admitted to the U.S. illegally from that location. Nor did Secretary Mayorkas provide the committee with updated information on the Afghan evacuees awaiting resettlement here, though he did apologize to Sen. Rob Portman (ROH), saying, “You’re entitled to that information.”
But perhaps the most memorable moment in the hearing came when Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) confronted the Secretary of Homeland Security, pointing to more than 200,000 “border encounters” over two straight months. “Are you happy with what’s happening at the border now… Is this success?”
Secretary Mayorkas responded, “We have a plan. We’re executing on our plan, and we will continue to do so.”
The Biden administration does have a plan. It is a plan to fundamentally change America, and the way it will be done is by fundamentally changing who is American.
Illegal aliens are pouring across our southern border— though it may be inaccurate to even call it a border any longer. Our Border Patrol has been turned into a taxpayer-funded “Welcome Wagon” and babysitting service.
Incompetence? No.
Intentional? Yes.
Couple the ongoing influx from Mexico with the aforementioned arrival of evacuees from Afghanistan and forget the false claims of vetting those “newcomers” or checking them for COVID-19.
Joe Biden has a nation that he must “internationalize” and thereby neutralize on the world stage.
At the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Biden proposed even more ways for America to waste more of your money. “Build back better world,” he called it; “ending America as we know it” is more accurate.
And though his gait and his memory have slowed, Joe wants this done quickly. “We cannot afford to waste anymore time,” he said in closing.
Paul Greenberg closed out his column-writing career in September 2018; he passed away in April of this year.
A wise newcomer to composing columns will not emulate Greenberg’s example of nicknaming the politically notorious.
Besides, the most accurate nickname for Joe Biden would be unprintable.
J.D. Hayworth represented Arizona in the U.S. House from 1995-2007. He authored and sponsored the Enforcement First Act, legislation that would have mandated enforcement of Federal Immigration Law in the 109th Congress.
