CAREFREE TRUTH

 

Letters from readers: 2/10/10

Letters_from_readers.html

 Well, this has quickly become popular!  I will print these each Wednesday, for those who would like to express their opinions.  Thanks for your interest in this new Letters feature.

Lyn

 

 

Letter in Scottsdale Republic 2/3/10

Carefree doesn't need doomsayer Coady's advice



Carefree Councilman Bob Coady's Jan. 21 letter in the Scottsdale Republic, "Carefree needs John Traynor," would have one believe that Carefree is on the edge of financial ruin and had previous councils heeded Coady's fiscal advice, the town would have avoided this impending financial catastrophe.

However, had Coady invested more time and energy reading the town financials, he might have been surprised to learn that Carefree has over $4.1 million in unrestricted funds and allocated funds of $1.1 million. One cannot comprehend how a cash reserve of this magnitude constitutes a "financial crisis."

Traynor, who is publicly endorsed by Coady as a candidate in the March election, is a well-known protagonist in Carefree. Both men support the movement to recall Mayor David Schwan.

Traynor is most remembered for his rants at the podium during council meetings and derogatory, inflammatory blog entries. It is hard to remember when he has offered a single positive suggestion concerning town affairs.

His unsubstantiated criticisms and hysterical lectures do nothing more than disrupt and delay council business, in an attempt to further his own personal agenda.

And this is the man that Coady would have voters believe will save the town from impending doom.

Carefree voters do not "need" Traynor any more than they need Coady's financial advice.

— Bob Gemmill, Carefree

The writer is a member of the Carefree Town Council.

 

    David Schwan is not a politician, but he is a gentleman, and will always permit any council members the fullest of opportunities to speak their minds, even though it may be 100% criticism of David himself.  He will only tell someone that they are out of order if they stray away from the item being discussed.

    I believe that there is a concerted effort by the minority (Coady, Koteas and Stavoe) to ask as many questions as they can in an effort to embarrass or criticize.  I think that they conspire with Don Sorchych and John Traynor.  Sadly, at last Tuesday’s meeting, the $1,800 amount of Carefree funds that were required to obtain the $5,500 from the Arizona Lottery funds ended up costing the Town a huge amount of legal fees to review the questions that were raised.  Due to the negativity of the “Three”, I think that Carefree will pay out another $1,500 to the attorney.  The “Three” did not want to accept David’s explanation, nor the comments from both the town administrator and the town accountant. This matter is so trivial that it amounts to 50¢ per resident. 

    At Tuesday’s council meeting, I thought that the comments made by Mr. Arnold (as read by Mrs. Arnold) were very good, especially when she commented that Sorchych is quick to tell Carefree residents to stay out of Cave Creek politics, but doesn’t think he should follow his own advice.

    Over the last few weeks, it is very evident that the Sonoran News is becoming more and more biased.  I think that many readers of that publication may be picking up on that aspect.  I do hear more negative comments about the paper than I heard in the past.  I thought that David Schwan made a great point when he stated that the Sonoran News has never called him, or telephoned him, to ask for his response to any comment or allegation.  “Journalism at its best”.

    I was pleased to see that the Scottsdale Republic printed Bob Gemmill’s letter in their February 3, 2010 issue.  

Arthur Gimson 

 

Dear Editor.

When Traynor left the last council meeting, which was as an emotional event as has ever taken place in that chamber, I think he was non-verbally saying that he was leaving the fight.

Why?  Could it be that even he knows that this whole recall effort is a plot cut from whole cloth?  Could it be that any victory would be short-lived?  Sorchych has his own; Coady the toady has HIS own; but, poor Mr Traynor won't be able to get dog catcher after this and Mr. Stavoe, who COULD have had it all including a tidy business and the admiration of his neighbors, will be in the same fix as Traynor.  Alas, there is no honor among thieves.

L.A.W.

Carefree

 

 

BOB, OF COURSE YOU NEED TO PAY FOR A CD AS I WOULD .WHY WOULD YOU NEED A VERBATIM CD? THE FACTS OF THE MEETING ARE IN PRINT. ALL THE OTHER CONVERSATION IS PRETTY MUCH NEBULOUS INFO. IN THE INTEREST OF COST SAVING TO THE TOWN ---- PAY THE EXORBITANT FEE OF 7.50 OR CAMPAIGN FOR A REDUCTION IN CD COST!!!!!!!

 

JOSEPH INTENZO

CAREFREE RESIDENT WHO WOULD PAY 7.50

2/3/2010

 

 

I would  just like to suggest to my Carefree neighbors that when they are thinking about council members or education overrides, they should also give some thought to their property values.  For years we have benefited from living in a town that is fiscally responsible, attractive to others, secure and has an excellent education system - all of which has produced excellent real estate values.  I can think of no reason why we would want to change a formula that has worked so well.

Eddie Smith

 

 

Lyn:  Regarding the February 2nd Carefree Town Council regular meeting —

 

The council meeting was high theater at its best!  What fun!  Your excoriation of Mr. Koteas was refreshing and certainly warranted after his self-serving, I'm-the-poor-victim soliloquy.  This tragic figure just doesn't have a clue.  He's almost as pathetic as Mr. Stavoe who digs his hole of incompetence, ignorance, and quick-thinking ineptness deeper and deeper the longer he speaks.  Mr. Koteas might be just as mired in the same state of perpetual bewilderment as Mr. Stavoe, except he appears to know when to maintain silence and keep out of the heat of discussions about subjects irrelevant to council business.  Your spot-on criticism certainly shut him up — I don't think M . Koteas uttered a single word after y u got through with him, and likely would have rather been reclining in a dental chair then continuing to have to sit on display through the balance of the council meeting.  His woe-is-me imitation of the Butterfly McQueen character in Gone with the Wind (Prissy) was laughable when compared to the pillory of Mayor Schwan that's conducted week-in and week-out by Don Sorchych and his tabloid-of-tripe, the Sonoran News.

 

Also, was pleased to see Messrs. Gemmel and Miller adequately describe the antipathy, acerbity, and divisiveness that have become the tenor of council meetings since the elections of Messrs. Stavoe and Koteas, and the more obvious feeding of Mr. Coady's talking points by Ms. Linda Bentley, the "journalist" wannabe and lackey of Don Sorchych.  It is a tragedy that the great majority of council meeting time is now occupied with non-essential Town business matters and, instead, filled with non-productive, oblique, and uncorroborated accusations of impropriety toward the Mayor or a councilmember who supports Mayor Schwan.

 

The Mayor's "call to the public" address was very appropriate, refreshing to hear, and long overdue.  He effectively exposed the hypocrisy of Mr. Sorchych in the publisher's failure to have ever solicited so much as a telephone comment from the Mayor, despite the recurring libelous, unsubstantiated accusations, the habitual castigation, and the immutable, monotonous censuring of the Mayor, and all in an effort to install a Sorchych-manipulated marionette (aka, Bob Coady?) as the new Carefree Town Mayor.

 

BTW, regarding the video of the meeting generated by your husband, is a CD or DVD copy of that available for purchase at a cost of $7.50?

 


Fred Groszkruger 

 


    I am a 28 year resident of Carefree so I guess I am a Good Old Boy as determined by the local opinion journal. I retired in late 2001 and have attended approximately 90% of the council meetings since then.          

  Mr. Traynor's offerings during this period amounted to mostly being negative about all the service upgrades for the citizens of Carefree proposed by previous councils. The list consists of the following-no to the fire contract, no to the fire station, and no to the fire engine purchase. This occurred after Rural Metro decided to cancel their contract and leave Scottsdale. So he was in complete lockstep with Mr. Coady on fire protection. I may be wrong but from what I have heard and seen at meetings since this council was seated you and Mr. Koteas have the same outlook, please correct me if I am wrong. I paid the subscription costs to Rural Metro for all the time I have been in Carefree and have always thought that the approximately 60% who paid the subscription fees were subsidizing keeping fire protection in the area for those that decide to go bare. The only thing he was ever for was the Pelequin project on the south entrance to the town, when a vast majority if the town citizens opposed that project. His confrontational attitude also bothers me as he seems unable to accept views that are not his. I notice he has kept quiet in the last meetings, and left early at last night's meeting, so I guess  Mr Szendefy's politico told him to keep quiet, and he was finding that difficult. 

 

 I also think that like you and the other members that are supported by the Sorcych PAC have some problem with town staff, and I don't know why, perhaps you can explain. I have always been served well by all the town staff.     

 

 So unless there is more information about what direction the Sorcych group is proposing to take my town I will not be voting for Mr. Traynor or the other three members of the Sorcych PAC in this or future elections.

                                              Thank You For Your Time

                                                      David Hahn

 

 

Lyn. I agree with most of the comments submitted re the recall election. After 9 mayors, Carefree has a good fire station, a nice center in the town, a financial cushion, a good water company and a rejuvenated  aquifer, and no property tax. I completely support Schwan and will vote for him in the recall. I was glad to see that Dieter Loeper, an original council member also supports Schwan. The Kiwanis GOBs do good work for the schools and communities.

                               Dave Dennison/ former mayor, council member for 12 years.


 

The Uncommitted Candidate

 

In December, John Traynor announced his candidacy for Carefree town Council, He seems to have lost interest in his own campaign. 

 

The same thing happened over a year ago when Traynor said he was running in the 2009 election but then never bothered submitting the required candidate paperwork.  Too late to get his name on the ballot, at the last minute he ran as a write-in candidate.  He lost.

 

In what appeared to be a bad case of sour grapes, Traynor wrote angry criticisms of our new mayor, David Schwan.  Those who attend town Council meetings will recall his pouting, blustering statements during Call to the Public.  After a few months, Traynor again seemed to lose interest.  He even stopped writing his political blog. 

 

In December, Traynor announced his candidacy again.  He filed the appropriate paperwork.  He signed his name to a guest editorial in the Sonoran News in which he brilliantly revealed that the economy is bad.  I imagine most of the world already knew about the economy, and Carefree’s carefully managed finances are actually in good shape.  Traynor added back-dated entries to his blog and even edited out some of his more absurd statements from the past.  This seems dishonest and sneaky, but then the whole “recall election” is just an under-handed mechanism for the losers in the last election to force a “do-over.” 

 

After a few weeks of effort, Traynor seemed to lose interest.  He hasn’t campaigned.  He hasn’t attended town sponsored events such as the Carefree Christmas tree recycling at Lowes or the recent jazz concert.  He showed up at the February Council meeting but left before it ended.  Apparently the only people campaigning for him are the editor of the Sonoran News and the Sorchych Old Boys, befuddled Coady, “Decimal Doug” Stavoe, and angry Peter “the public doesn’t know me and I don’t care” Koteas.

 

When Traynor stopped writing his vitriolic political blog, he posted a vacation photo where the January and February blogs should appear.  It seems ironic that Traynor chose an out of focus picture of the Arc de Triomphe.  The ego-maniacal  Napoleon planned this monument as the site for his grand victory march through Paris.  Somehow he never completed the monument and then his path to world domination took a detour into exile.  I suspect Traynor is also on a detour.

 

Reject the recall.  Vote for the re-election of Schwan.

 

Ann

 


Good Charity pulled into Carefree recall mess

Sad to say that the small town of Carefree is making news for all the wrong reasons.

This time the Foothills Caring Corps, a charity that provides meals on wheels and medical transportation to nearby residents, has been caught in the crossfire of the politics surrounding the recall of David Schwan from the council.

Two council members, Doug Stavoe and Peter Koteas, jumped on the Mayor after reading a copy of a short letter from Debbra Determan, the Caring Corps’ executive director in which she thanked the town for its support of the programs and a check for $7,300.

The council members allege that Schwan broke the law because the $7,300 was over the limit of $4,000 when full council approvals are required.  It turns out that only $1,800 of Carefree funds were used, with $5,500 coming from Arizona Lottery funds.   

Caring Corps is a great organization that should not be dragged into the petty exchanges of political rhetoric.  With few fulltime employees and a huge team of dedicated volunteers, they perform tremendous work.

I am one of 400 volunteers who assists many area residents.  Each month, I make between three and five van trips, picking up housebound neighbors and taking them to a variety of Valley destinations.

The neighbors, whether it be as a result of failing eyesight or other physical limitation are often unable to drive and would otherwise be without any form of social interaction.  Many studies reflect an enhanced quality of life from socialization.

Council members Koteas and Stavoe would do better if they spent more time supporting charitable causes and service organizations and less time being critical and negative.

Arthur Gimson

 

Fire the cannons, launch the torpedoes, lob the grenades!  A beautiful rebuttal, and, unfortunately, necessary with the "never let a few facts get in the way of a story" Sorchych.  It would be fascinating to figure out what psychological processes caused Sorchych to become such a hate-filled egomaniac.  For a while I suspected there was a certain amount of jealousy and resentment because he so often attacks people and organizations more successful and influential than he is, but someone pointed out that he also hates migrant workers and school children.  I guess he's an equal-opportunity hater -- he hates everyone. 

 

Charles 

 

 

Glad there is 'another forum' to counter the nitwit owner of the Snoring News. 

Larry