Opinion

Having grown up in Phoenix, I've never really been involved much with festivals with the small-town feel of the Maricopa Salsa Festival Presented by inmaricopa.com.

Point - Counter Point: Robbie Olson faces off with Councilman Will Dunn.

That stench in the air you smelled this morning isn't coming from Cow Town Road; it's coming from Maricopa's City Hall.

When we moved to Maricopa two years ago, we knew it would be a challenge because it was a new city.

Having recreational facilities will give people, especially our youth, a productive outlet for their time. Crime - and the drain on our community's resources that follows - will decrease as a result.

The Boy Scouts of Maricopa are still having a strong impact on service in our community.

An open letter To: Maricopa City Council From: James Reynolds Hull, voter, citizen, and taxpayer Re: Recent development amendments on behalf of MA Maricopa (Legacy Traditional Charter School)

I will not live as a victim, but as a compassionate, loving, generous person - who cares about the people in my life and what happens in our world.

During recent weekends, members of the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce have alerted our board members to unlicensed vendors selling products within the Maricopa city limits.

Having read thousands of books in my lifetime, "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield is among my top-five favorites.

Celebrating Sunshine Week in Arizona might seem a bit like holding a snowball festival in Alaska - focused too tightly on the obvious to be useful.

This week's election confirmed that Maricopans want a new direction.

Congratulations to Tony Smith on winning the election for mayor.

Sept. 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina put a whole new spin on how heightened our awareness has to be regarding what really needs to be done to prepare for the unexpected.

Robert "Bob" Lewis is not only running for City Council, he is my economics instructor at Central Arizona College.

By now most of us have received the "blue paper" from the current Pinal County assessor.

Ah, the month of March - in like a lion and out like a lamb? Or is it the other way around?

The question of having shovel-ready sites and fast tracking the permitting process are issues on which every candidate for public office has been asked to opine.

The Synergy of Sustainability for Maricopa provides a conceptual framework to organize relevant issues facing Maricopa now and in the future. While there is a growing Science of Sustainability, it is a unifying concept and theme to address the above relevant issues that are most pressing for Maricopa.

Development impact fees are a time- and court-tested way for local governments to get new development and growth to "pay for itself" by assessing a one-time fee on new construction to assist the county (or city) in constructing capital projects that benefit those new residents.

The evil deeds occurring at our county government need to be exposed.

If you thought last month was busy - hang onto your calendars because the next several months are even busier than that!

I intend to be your Sheriff of Pinal County for the next four years.

In another apparent attempt to literally create controversy, Kathy Hall, the editor of the Maricopa Monitor, published in her Jan. 25 edition a photo of City Council candidate Marquisha Griffin with a headline of "Candidate found."

About three months ago I was informed about a real estate deal in town with a church, the fishy part of the transaction is that the citizens of Maricopa will be paying for the whole thing.

Mayoral candidate Anthony "Tony" Smith encourages community to discuss issues rather than buy into gossip or rumors.

Councilman Will Dunn and Marquisha Griffin, candidates for Maricopa City Council, have received the unanimous endorsement from the Professional Fire Fighters of Maricopa IAFF Local 4561.

The price for salvage copper is on the rise and so is the number of copper thefts, not only in Pinal County, but all across the United States.

Risk factors of drug abuse were the subject of my last article; now it's time to discuss specific protective factors that can be implemented in order to combat drug abuse.

By now we've all successfully negotiated the 2007 holiday season and are well launched into the bright, shiny possibilities of the New Year. And for those of us old-fashioned enough to still write the occasional paper check - it's time to struggle with the fact that the dates on those checks need to end in "2008" and not "2007!"