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Lessons for Sonoran News: Ethics and History

By CCSOS Admin

Contributed by Cynthia Weiss

Part 1: Ethics

My husband is one of innumerable community members, candidates and causes that have been subjected to the Sonoran News mis-printing press over the years. By writing this opinion piece, I know I am next. Such is life near “the Creek,” I suppose.

I supported the K-3 Override in the past two elections, along with 46% of our district voting base. According to Mr. Sorchych, my support of CCUSD qualifies me and around 17,500 fellow neighborhood citizens as potential law-breaking terrorists.

I’ve come to the realization that in the eye of Sorchych, I must surely be doing something illegal if I disagree with him. The irony is that I vote with the guy on most issues. I just don’t agree with his methods.

After fellow community members decided they would join 14 year-old A.J. Davis and return unwanted papers directly to the Sonoran News office, Mr. Sorchych was quick to anger and label the lot trespassers and terrorists.

Both Mr. Sorchych and reporter Ms. Bentley claim innocence and challenge the community to enumerate their errors, yet any attempt at record correction or diplomacy is met with an unscrupulously loaded pen and foregone conclusions. As a result, I have chosen instead to post my opinion here at CCSOS. Here, community members can read my entire contribution, with no “creative” omissions of content, and decide if my argument has merit. Feel free to leave a comment, I would only ask that you use your real name.

Below is a sampling of incorrect and misleading statements recently printed by the Sonoran News regarding CCUSD and subsequently A.J. Davis and my husband:

1.Sonoran News published that Superintendent Burdick received a raise this year when in fact, every district administrator took a pay cut.
2.Sonoran News published a misleading statement that CCUSD only cut 1.5% of its budget, when in reality the district cut over 10% in the last budget cycle.
3.Sonoran News re-published Senator Jack Harper’s statement that education cuts were “a complete fallacy,” when it knew CCUSD made well over $3 million in cuts.
4.Following the K-3 override election, Sonoran News published that there was no opposition to the measure, yet the paper itself opposed it and resorted to personal smear campaigns to reinforce their opposition.
5.Sonoran News attacked minor A.J. Davis for protesting the paper’s unethical practices, including associated vulgarity on the editorial page.
6.Sonoran News incorrectly stated that my husband slandered and threatened advertisers, and protested in order to “teach vindictiveness to children.”
7.Linda Bentley correctly reported my husband is a Phoenix resident, only to later suggest him as a self-proclaimed Scottsdale resident aliased “Vinny Tizzio” hailing from a Yahoo e-mail account sending boycott messages and threatening advertisers. Who other than a shaken Sonoran News could spin such a work of fiction, and why would the paper point a “rhetorical” finger at my husband? Bentley has a bad habit of fabricating news in defense of her weakened arguments.

My personal dissatisfaction with the Sonoran News is certainly not about politics. Of course there are two sides to every election… this is why we vote. God Bless America. I am upset by the publisher’s lack of ethics. If the people of our community truly want to hear “The Conservative Voice of Arizona,” they should visit www.SonoranAlliance.com. Sonoran News can learn from the contributors at at Sonoran Alliance. Specifically, they abide by the American Association of Political Consultants Code of Ethics.

AAPC Rule #5:
“I will refrain from false or misleading attacks
on an opponent or member of his or her family
and will do everything in my power
to prevent others from using such tactics.”

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Part 2: History

Ron and his family have a history in the area that dates back to the ’70s. Ron’s sister and brother-in-law, the Backhaus’ co-owned and operated the Desert Forest Motel with partners for years (now known as the Tumbleweed Hotel). At that time, many locals bussed their kids to Paradise Valley or Scottsdale for high school. Since Chaparral was not the “designated” high school for our area, Scottsdale schools charged Cave Creek and North Phoenix residents a $125/month fee per student.

Now, decades later, the majority of CCUSD taxpayers pay a fraction of this amount to support 8 schools and nearly 6,000 students. Now that we have collectively built our own all-excelling local schools at a taxpayer’s bargain-basement price, it seems the Town of Cave Creek would prefer to see them close, at least that’s the message their “Official” town newspaper is sending.

The Sonoran News continues to report on CCUSD students, athletes and events to bulk up its image and draw readership only to sabotage support of our schools as recommended by our elected, unpaid Governing Board – every time.

Ron Weiss spent his high school summers working at the Carefree Chevron station for $2 per hour, where Dick Van Dyke was a frequent customer. He lived with his sister Patty Backhaus and helped operate the Desert Forest Motel in Cave Creek. Ron permanently relocated to North Phoenix in 1985. Back in the 1970’s, Cave Creek, not yet a town, was controlled by the leader of the Cave Creek merchants, a corn-cob pipe-smoking, tobacco-spitting woman named Erna Marie Smith. Her message with every welcome basket for newcomers: “If the folks around here like you, you'll do just fine. If they don't, we'll run you out of town.” Erna was murdered in 1986 at the age of 75, the same year Cave Creek incorporated as a town.

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Since Ron and I married 13 years ago, we’ve enjoyed many a fine meal and escorted countless guests to Cave Creek and Carefree to spend their vacation money. We had our wedding rehearsal dinner at Harold’s. We even hired a Harold’s band to play at our reception. Cave Creek has and always will be a nostalgic family hangout.

Ron often spent evenings as a young man sharing stories with Father Vogt, early pastor of Our Lady of Joy. When Ron first attended OLOJ in Carefree, the parish was not much more than an outpost with green plastic chairs. He helped build OLOJ as it stands today. You will find his name on the original donor’s plaque.

Perhaps given this brief history, readers can understand our family frustration with the Sonoran News. We see our long-loved and nurtured community falling prey to malicious propaganda and isolationist ideals that stand as a “not welcome” mat for merchants, community leaders and tourists alike.

We will continue to call the Sonoran News to task to become a more ethical neighbor and member of the community. As Catholics, we firmly believe that miracles can and do happen.

We have been blessed with fine educators and schools in our community, both public and private, and we will continue to support them as best we can in these tenuous times.

This I know for sure, our local schools and our students are thriving despite all efforts to knock them down. As the Cactus Shadows High School valedictorian of 2009 mentioned in his commencement speech, “We even survived the Sonoran News.”

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Cynthia Weiss is a proud parent of a 3rd grader attending Horseshoe Trails Elementary School.

http://ccsos.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/lessons-for-sonoran-news-ethics-and-history/