Desert Messenger

September 3, 2014 www.DesertMessenger.com 7 Opinions expressed in letters to the editor do not necessarily represent those of the Desert Messenger. OPINION letters to the editor PASS IT ON Long before our children go through Driver Ed training in school, they start observing whatever is going on around them. Who do they trust the most? Mom, Dad and TV. If Mom or Dad tend to ignore speed limits, follow too close, fail to signal their intent to turn or have a bad at- titude towards other drivers, those parents then are closely scrutinized by young minds. Vivid car advertisements on television feature high speeds, pow- erful engines and spinning test track driving. Few young drivers heed the "don't try this at home" warnings. There are far too many head-on colli- sions with people being transported to the hospital or the morgue. Are people texting or otherwise failing to pay atten- tion to where they're going. If your child says way to go, Mom or Dad, beware! There has been a couple of incidents lately of small children joy riding with the family car. Lock your car and pocket your keys, folks. Fortunately, there are some parents out there who drive by the rules and pass it on to their children. Elmer London, Quartzsite BLESSED TO VOTE I would like to thank the community for the great turn out we had during the election. We are blessed because we have the ability to cast a vote and state what we want. The election in Novem- ber will finally close our election process for the current term and I hope we have a good turnout then also. We have a wonderful and unique community with a wide diversity of people and I look forward to seeing you in the future. Terry Frausto, Quartzsite RESPONSE TO LETTER I've never contributed to letters to the editor, but after reading Dr. Ronald Jones' letter [Aug. 6, 2014 edition of Desert Messenger] I felt compelled to. I suppose some of what he said could be true, but he speaks in generalities and in my opinion doesn't have all the facts about different issues. His let- ter reminds me of some of the western movies I watch, in which a person is caught by a group of people and they want to hang him for some crime before they knew all the facts. I know some of the people he mentioned and I believe they want Quartzsite to be a good place to live and have business in. I'm also a year-round resident and I want our town to be pros- perous and a pleasant place to live. I do not like the mud-slinging type of poli- tics. We need people to work together for the betterment of the town. Cliff Huntley, Quartzsite THANKS FOR THE HELP I want to send thanks and apprecia- tion for the great Bobby Ketcherside, owner of Roadrunner Maintenance. He came immediately in this heat to help my furchildren and their mommy (me/Glenda Kae). A pipe under the mobile busted and the swamp cooler busted, but thank God he saved the day AGAIN for us three! Poor guy was sound to sleep, but Kendra got him going. Thank you too, Kendra. Anyone who needs help, call him; he is very honest and major hard working person. You will NEVER regret it. They must be my guardian angels .... Glenda Kae Hines Year round resident of Quartzsite COLLECT THOSE FINES Speaking of budgets lately in the Town of Parker and our County....I can't help wonder why we are not attempting to collect the "over $400,000" in fines that have been levied against individual property owners and on the parcels that have created the fines. Serious code vio- lations, refusal to obey a hearing officer and more have created a huge amount of fines just "out there" in some file. There have been NO La Paz County recorded liens on any property that our Real Estate office has represented where the escrow company found recorded monies due. Just think.....if we had been collecting this, we would have more money in our budget and less discussion on how to find the money for our budget. It's simple. Our County Attorney needs to direct the Civil Attorney to do his job. From what I understand, this is the Civil Attorney's responsibility but he has refused to follow through with any collections or levies. Why I ask?? The responses are varied. Ask him for yourself. What I do know is that our County could hire a part time minimum wage assistant to collect the data under the supervision of the Civil Attorney's office, prepare the paperwork, get the Civil Attorney's blessing and it gets filed and the County then sits back and waits for the money to come in when a property is sold. Sounds like a solid business plan to me...If you agree, let your County Super- visor know how you feel. Perhaps we can make a change in how our County rolls. Respectfully, Paula Hunter CONSTABLE 101 A Constable is an Elected Officer of the County in the Justice Region in which they reside. They are the Execu- tive Officer of that Justice Region. The Constable serves Criminal and Civil processes of the Magistrate and Justice of the Peace Court or other competent authority. Constables are elected by the voters of the Justice Region every four years. By the nature of their duties the Constable takes an Oath they are obligated to uphold. Constables uphold the laws of the land and their oath of office. When a Judge signs a Court order and the Constable is given that order, they are obligated by law to execute the order as soon as possible. In La Paz County the Constables risk their lives to Serve the Courts and the People for a salary of $12 per year, plus $0.375 cents per mile while serving the Court orders. All equipment, Office sup- plies, Phone, Gas, and Training comes out of the Constable's pocket. Some- times training and gas money is reim- bursed by the county. The Constable is on call 24/7 if a court needs them. The Constable is the Enforcement arm of the JP Court. The Sheriff is the enforcement arm of the Superior Court, at times the duties overlap. Constables are constantly in the pres- ence of the citizens within the Region that they serve, usually having more one on one contact than most Elected Officials. If your court document needs to be served, call me at 928-927-6525. I hope to continue serving the community in the future. Starr BearCat, JP4 Constable Honesty, Integrity, and Experience "Experience cannot be transferred" DOING WHAT'S RIGHT First, I'd like to start by saying thank you for all of the support leading up to the primary and to everyone who voted for me. I'd also like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to vote. I don't know yet whether I am moving on to the General Election, or if I am out of the running, but then I realized that part didn't matter. I took my girls to see a movie yester- day. As you can guess, when an adult, teenager and preteen go see a movie, none of us want to see the same thing. After some negotiation, we saw "When the Game Stands Tall". Now anyone that really knows me well, knows I'm lucky to know the difference between a football and a basketball, and there lies the extent of my knowledge of either game. However I really wanted to see this football movie, and I'm so glad I did. What a wonderful message; a message about being part of something bigger than yourself. No matter the outcome, I'm going to continue to serve my community and the people that live here. If that's in the role of council member then I'll continue to do what I have done for the last ten months. I will make the deci- sions that are in the best interest of the town and its residents. I will be able to look myself in the mirror, knowing the decisions I make are the best possible decision I could with the information in front of me, and I will continue to do it with a high level of integrity. However, the same holds true if I'm not sitting on the council; I will still do the same thing. I will make myself avail- able to serve on boards that I feel could use my skill set. I will continue to work for the youth of our community, and to create opportunities for them. Because it's about something bigger than me. My challenge to whomever is sitting in those council seats come November is to remember that it's not about who you like, or don't like. It's not about making friends. It's about doing what's right for the right reasons. And my chal- lenge to everyone else is to find a way to serve your community. Attend council meetings, know the issues, get involved. Everyone has something to offer. Find a cause that means something to you and donate an hour of time. Sometimes, even just holding the door for some- one is enough. Just do something. Get involved. Leave each place a little better than you found it. Because that is what it's all about. Monica Timberlake Proud Resident of Quartzsite

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