- Some people are just not cut out to do some jobs
- February 3, 2012
- As much as I hate to say it, there are people in this world who would be a lot better off in almost any job except the one they have. I’ve run into a few of those in my time, and something tells me I’m not the only one. I’ve often wondered about that, haven’t you? Just about everybody is good at something, so why do some people stay in a job that is so-o-o-o wrong for them? Why not go do something you’re good at? Could it be that some people don’t know how bad they are at what they’re doing? Is that possible? Even when it’s as obvious as a dead rat floating in the gravy boat? I mean, if you’re a brain surgeon, your hand shakes, you cut your own finger during your junior high frog dissection, and you tend to forget what it was you started out to do, I would think that sooner or later you’d realize you picked the wrong career. But not some folks I guess. Not one I knew anyway.
- Time to break up with EAC lobbyist
- February 3, 2012
- He promises the world. He inflates your hopes. Then sneaks out with your pretty sister. Time to break up? Most likely. So we suspect that the Gila Community College board made a mistake last week when it renewed Triadvocate’s $36,000 annual lobbying contract. The Phoenix-based Triadvocates represents several community college districts in the Legislature, including Eastern Arizona College — with which GCC contracts for its credential. Board member Tom Loeffler has in the past suggested that represents a conflict of interest, since GCC’s interests as a provisional community college may conflict with the plans of regular community colleges — who get far more state support. Not to worry, insisted Triadvocates: We can represent GCC’s interests too. So last year, Triadvocates set to work to help state Sen. Sylvia Allen pass two bills crucial to the future of GCC. One bill opens the door to independence. The second bill sought to ensure GCC gets its fair share of workforce development money all other districts already get to develop vocational programs.
- New regulations will hinder America’s farm families
- February 3, 2012
- “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens,” Thomas Jefferson once said. “They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.” Indeed, to Jefferson and many of our founders, America’s small farms embodied some of the most important values upon which the country was founded — including hard work, self-reliance, and family. That’s why it’s so disappointing to see new rules coming from the Obama administration that threaten the very agricultural way of life that our founders deemed so important. Last September, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed new regulations that would ban anyone under the age of 16 from performing the most common of tasks — such as cleaning out stalls with a wheelbarrow and shovel, rounding up cattle on horseback, or operating a tractor — on a farm. As my colleague Senator Jerry Moran put it: “To most young people growing up on [a] family farm, those jobs are routine. It’s a part of their lives. And these Department of Labor regulations are going to intrude significantly in that ability.”
- Heartfelt thanks to those who attended Celebration of Life gathering
- February 3, 2012
- The Kendall family would like to send a heartfelt thank you to everyone that attended the Celebration of Life gathering in memory of Karl (Booger) Kendall.
- Hire an old, new superintendent
- February 3, 2012
- When opportunity knocks, don’t complain about the noise and instead seize the potential possibility! Since the current superintendent of Payson Unified School District (PUSD) has announced his intent to retire rather than seek yet another position in the Valley, the PUSD governing board should look at his resignation as a golden opportunity to bring in new, old leadership to steer the district in a positive direction.
- New GCC leadership offers fresh hope
- January 31, 2012
- The Gila Community College board has a new president. Hopefully, that will usher in new opportunities. Outgoing president Bob Ashford last week surprised everyone, including Larry Stephenson, when he nominated Stephenson as the new board president. Ashford did not explain why he gave up the president’s gavel, which he has wielded with fierce energy for six years. Reportedly, he has faced some health concerns that may have made it difficult to continue putting in long hours serving the college. Now, we have in this space expressed our frustrations with Ashford’s sometimes heavy-handed style as board president. He seemed far too willing to dictate the board’s agenda and far too reluctant to question the terms of GCC’s contract with Eastern Arizona College. But that does not diminish our respect for his long, unpaid, dedicated service to GCC and its students.
- Cottonwood gets tough on designer drugs
- January 31, 2012
- What is designer cocaine? Simply put, they are drugs that manufacturers design around laws created to stop their use. A designer drug that simulates cocaine is marketed as “Glass Cleaner” and also as “Bath Salts.” Glass Cleaner, specifically, has rendered all but useless an emergency federal ban enacted in October 2011, to stem the sale and use of the potentially lethal Bath Salts. The chemically tweaked designer Glass Cleaners hit the shelves as soon as the federal ban took effect. The ban targets three synthetic stimulants the federal Drug Enforcement Administration will study for a year and determine whether to permanently put them in the same category as heroin, meth and cocaine.
- Treat women as responsible human beings
- January 31, 2012
- Since recent outspoken messages from Michele Bachmann relative to abortion, I decided that I have had the unfortunate experiences to speak to the issue.
- Government trying to oppress free speech
- January 31, 2012
- The Secret Service has set the mainstream media all a-twitter over Peoria Police Sergeant Pat Shearer posting an image of armed teenagers holding a bullet-ridden T-shirt with President Obama’s picture on it.
- The only word for some people is ‘different,’ Part II
- January 27, 2012
- Last week I mentioned how I was transferred to Sheppard AFB, Texas, as a drill instructor, where I met Chance Davis, a really great friend and one of the oddest ducks on the planet. To this day I cannot remember anything that Chance ever did that he did not do perfectly. He was the finest marksman I have ever known, had a command voice that sounded like the crack of a rifle, and never took on anything without doing it to perfection. I can even remember a time when he shook me up while I was I was drawing a plan for a new building in the squadron area. It wasn’t an official plan, just a rough plan showing what we wanted. I was erasing a stray pencil line and getting ready to turn it in when Chance’s favorite remark sounded over my shoulder. “Gar-r-r-r-ett!” He said that a lot, Johnny.
- Forest Service goes all medieval on lease
- January 27, 2012
- So now the Forest Service is getting all biblical on the Lakeview Trailer Park, which has perched inconspicuously on a hill overlooking Roosevelt Lake for decades. Seems like the Tonto National Forest is intent on applying that verse from Matthew: “If thy hand offends thee, cut it off.” Now, one expects absolute devotion to commands carved into stone from preachers, but we’re not so sure it makes good public policy. Granted, the Forest Service has a point. No doubt, the folks leasing 21 acres of Forest Service land for a trailer park are turning a private profit from public land. No doubt, that violates the letter of the law as codified in the Tonto National Forest plan. But should the Forest Service hack off the hand that has offended it. What then, pray tell, will it do with the bloody stump? Those 21 acres of public land have for decades nurtured a small community occupied mostly by vacation homeowners. Currently, 167 people rent space in the park — including about 10 full-time residents who mostly work nearby.
- What’s really holding our kids back
- January 27, 2012
- About a year ago, a well-respected international organization released its comprehensive assessment of student achievement across 34 different countries. As you may remember, the results for the United States were abysmal, with, for instance, our students ranking only 25th in math. At the same time, students in China — likely the top competitors for the next generation of Americans in various fields — aced every single academic category. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called it “a massive wake-up call to the entire country.” The challenge we face — the “brutal fact” — as he put it, is that many countries “are far ahead of us and improving more rapidly than we are.” Well said. Indeed, the need for a collective mind shift on education has never been clearer — and it is something we owe to our children if they are to have a hope of competing in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century. Encouragingly, there are anecdotal signs that the seeds of that shift are starting to take root; I recently read The Washington Post and was surprised to see this headline on the cover: “Telling kids they’re great isn’t so good, schools find.”
- Thanks to all who helped Payson Elementary School students
- January 27, 2012
- Thank you to all those local organizations, agencies and individuals who adopted Payson Elementary School students this holiday season in order to provide them with gifts, food and holiday joy!
- Forest Service confronts another no-win choice
- January 24, 2012
- Someone needs to resurrect King Solomon and get him to run the U.S. Forest Service. Hard to figure that anyone else can resolve the agonizing choices facing the folks managing 193 million acres of your land — including 3 million acres in the Tonto National Forest. Hopefully, you recall the story of the wise King Solomon. He is confronted with the claims of two women to a single baby. Unable to discern the real mother, Solomon decreed the baby should be cut in half so each woman would have a share. One woman agreed, the other woman recoiled — and renounced her claim. So Solomon gave the second woman the baby, knowing a real mother would sacrifice her claim to save the child.
- Thank you to Rim Country Health and doctors
- January 24, 2012
- My family and I would like to thank Rim Country Health, also Hospice of Payson, for kindness and help for our loved ones during our need.
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