Sound Off: WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
SOUND OFF was transcribed from our Sound Off line during the past month. Sound Off is a monthly editorial feature of Gilbert Sun News. We encourage you to participate. As long as it's not profane or libelous we will print it in our next issue. Calls are limited to one minute. Please leave your name only if you'd like it printed. Come on, get it off your chest!
We just saw someone on TV compliment a woman on her nice, neat, long, well-cared-for hair because it was unusual to not see the just-out-of-bed rumpled sexy look. They think they’re being impressive. Go comb your hair. You look like a floozy.
Concerning the National Guard on the southern border. My understanding is that the guard is activated in times of strife like floods or manmade emergency. Riots for example. Adding a few more bodies to the border is not an emergency. I hope I and the reader can contact the state in this matter and find out the criteria for activating the guard.
Isn’t television news just wonderful for newcomers who do not understand when it rains they’re still living in the desert? We do have washes that run, streets that flood. Wise up. Learn to live in the desert.
Here is what we have come to in America. In this once-great Christian and civilized nation, a doctor kills a lion and gets national media attention for days and weeks. Other doctors kill 4,000 unborn children of God every day in in the United States. That’s 28,000 every week. That’s 1,460,000 children of God every year—and it does not get national media attention. This America is no longer a Christian nation. This America is no longer a civilized nation.
As for the Koch brothers, I guess the reader missed Bernie Sanders’ presentation in the Senate about them. They supported the pipeline because they held a personal interest in the project, i.e., ownership if not control of several companies in the project. They want to get rid of not just change Social Security, not to mention Medicare. This was on the floor of the Senate. You may want to watch YouTube or the actual presentation. They want to stop a right of a woman to choose. Do you want some legislator telling you what you
can do with your body? Do you, as a man, have them tell you no Viagra?
I keep reading about Scottsdale McDowell Corridor. What happened to the $50,000 that we gave to the design center for the McDowell Corridor? Either the money went down the drain or the guy’s on the cruise. They’ve been talking about it for the last five years. Nothing, nothing, nothing is done about it. All you want to do is talk. Why don’t someone at the City wake up. All we have is the diaper (SkySong) still hanging there.
Grandma says she has lived long enough now that she has lived to see the epitome of pharmaceutical stupidity. “Measure this gel to be the size of a pea to use for your problem.” Can anything be any dumber? “Measure this gel to be the size of a green pea for your prescription.” Amazing. More than amazing—it’s pure insanity. Rip off.
If members of the administration were visiting all the people involved in shootings, there would be an outcry of spending money. I want to see more empathy as well. But more than anything I want to have cops stop killing unarmed people. No matter what the color.
When I see Tom “Shady” Brady on ESPN, vehemently denying his guilt in deflating balls, it reminds me of a prostitute standing on a street corner, loudly proclaiming her virtue and innocence.—Bill Spotts, Mesa
I don’t want Hillary, either, and I am a Democrat. I just hope there is someone better in the wings. If not again, we are faced with electing the lesser of the evils—regardless of party. When I see the slate of candidates for either party, really I do, I wonder if this is really the best they can do.
Take notice Grandma and other babysitters: “Sesame Street” is moving to commercial television. Of course it’s all about money.
Verifiable today: There are millions of idiot people in Arizona who will play football in 112-degree heat. No brains at all? Where did these people come from? Arizonans know enough to get out of the sun.
Toughen up the next generation. Make sure they go to school the Fourth of July to Labor Day—no matter where they are, the temperature or humidity range. Make sure the school administrators and teachers also go at that same time to their nonaircooled offices. That ought to straighten everybody out. Maybe it’ll teach someone common sense somewhere pretty soon before they’re all crazy with the heat.
For anyone who dislikes the content: No one is forcing you to read it. Just turn the page. If you don’t like something in general, don’t ask for it to be removed from the airwaves or shelves. That is censorship. I read “Sound Off” to see how people feel. Too bad I have to sometimes wipe the tears of laughter from my face for the emotional but inaccurate postings. Read or watch other news and information sources. Don’t base your opinions on one source. This goes for medical care, too.
I think the “Curmudgeon” (Lovin’ Life After 50), Drew Alexander, has a wonderful, descriptive article without pointing fingers, naming names about what’s happening in this country. I applaud you, Mr. Alexander. Broadcast your letter in more places. We over 50 already know these facts. It’s the young people ages 16 to 46 who have no clue about what’s going on around them. Try to post this in a teen magazine or high school rally. Our young people need to know what’s going on here.
So the media’s still going crazy over Hillary’s messages about Benghazi. When are they going to start looking into the phone messages
when Bush was the governor of Florida? They’re not even curious about that?
I’m a patriotic, conservative American and I always enjoy reading all of the opinions in “Sound Off” every single issue. In a recent issue, it was a real delight to note that 90 percent of the responses were by conservatives and only 10 percent were from liberals. Most liberals are Democrats, who, for the most part, are politically uninformed, misinformed, naïve and gullible.
Poor Hillary, she’s beginning to show the exact reasons why we do not need a woman as the president. It seems she just can’t seem to make up her mind. We don’t need that kind of a president, do we?
Honestly, are you as tired as most Arizonans of the people who come here for a change and then complain of the horses, the houses, the heat, the bugs and the dust? Go home! Stop trying to make this place into what you think you want. Go home. Leave us alone. We love our horses, our heat, our dust and desert, just as it is. We don’t need any help from people like you.
Hey, grandparents, when you take those little children to the park or zoo, how much close observance do you teach them? Do you really see what you’re looking at? Do you closely observe how the flowers in the ground are growing and blooming and the seeds that it will send out and the little bug that’s in it right now pollinating. That’s called close observance.
How do you like this new cyber world where freedom of speech can no longer be applied to defamation of character when said in public. Boy are they’re all having fun out there making fun of everybody else. Apply see SOUND OFF page 51
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BY DENNY BARNEY, MARICOPA COUNTY SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT 1
Remembering birthdays, finding a friend’s house and ordering a pizza are a lot easier with modern technology. The digital era provides us with convenience, time savings and entertainment in our personal and professional lives.
Technology abounds, but government has been a notoriously slow adapter. We have plodded along on outdated systems, ostensibly to save money. The price of frugality has been high, however. By failing to invest in technology, we have absorbed higher costs in personnel, inefficiencies and down-times. Worse, our employees and constituents experience enormous frustration and delays.
My colleagues and I are reversing the trend. In the past couple years we have enhanced technology and capacity in county government. Here are two examples.
Submitting construction plans
Building a house is an arduous, intensive process: Applicants must submit multiple copies of plans, wait for red lines, make corrections, schedule inspections and, after all that, obtain a building permit. Not long ago, the process was almost entirely manual and paper-based.
What a difference. Today county customers can do all those things electronically. A contractor can design and obtain the approval to build a home without ever leaving his office.
Inspectors benefit from automation as well. They are able to access assignments and upload inspection results remotely—from the field. This flexibility allows them to complete more inspections in a day. It also ensures customers get real-time information.
Processing an inmate
Our detention officers work in a stressful and dangerous environment. They need comprehensive information about inmates as quickly as possible. That was not always achievable using a decadesold information system. This year, we approved a replacement of the antiquated system.
This new jail management system, called SHIELD, will replace five systems that were previously being operated in silos.
Instead of limited function keys, the new system will bring us into the 21 st century with drop-down menus accessible with a mouse. SHIELD has
increased reporting functionality. It has the capability, through biometrics, to match a person re-entering the criminal justice system, alerting detention staff of prior medical history or other liability issues. Now pictures of body markings and tattoos can be uploaded into the system whereas previously they could only be described with text. Such detailed information creates a much safer environment for our detention officers and minimizes human error.
The full implementation of SHIELD will cost $32.2 million over 10 years. We estimate total cost savings of $31.23 million over the same 10-year period. And this doesn’t factor in costs recovered through greater efficiency and personnel savings. It’s a win-win.
Of course, there are still many other areas where the county must do more. We must use technology to deliver better services. Ultimately, we hope to deliver county government services with the same convenience and quality that you enjoy in the other areas of your life.
Oh guess what? The latest social society scheme has reached grandma’s phone number. Someone decided to use her unusual name for a dating scam on her cellphone that she doesn’t have. But they identified themselves as her with her name and home phone number. It’s amazing what these crazies can do. Just find them and put them in a cave somewhere, so they can talk to each other on their little cellphones. What a world this has become. Grandma’s glad to be leaving it soon. Cellphone dating? Yuck. What’s next?
I think the Scottsdale city manager turned his back on South Scottsdale when he closed the senior center. This has been a terrible tragedy to all the seniors.
