Opinion

In today's hard economic times, it is nice to know that creditors are so understanding and patient. I have been fielding calls for about a month now, always answering, always polite. I have explained our situation time and time again: my husband was let go on July 25th, since then we have only been paying the mortgage and feeding the kids.

You're caught up in the age-old dilemma: love the dogs... hate the shedding.

I look forward to a reversal of your previous decision to allow distribution of Pastor Johnson's religious materials in our schools.

As most of you are aware, the Sept. 2 election decided the contested primaries and provided some interesting stats to consider.

Candidate for Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu this week received the endorsement of the Professional Fire Fighters of Maricopa.

Several residents have expressed concerns over recent news that racing might not return to the racetrack at the Pinal County Fairgrounds.

However, for the last seven years, September is best known for the heinous acts that took place on September 11, 2001 - a sorrowful day that has indelibly marked our society, culture and how we do what we do almost every day.

In Tuesday's primary election I received 9,339 votes; Christopher Vasquez received 7,574 votes, and Jayme Valenzuela received 4,239 votes.

Being a parent and resident of Maricopa has been an interesting and challenging situation.

You might have seen recently here and in other places the focus on suicide in Maricopa. Desperate people take what they feel is the only option left. But what it leaves behind is grief so painful that it can spiral a family out of control.

Why was this information requested? Was this an attempt at retaliation against me for starting the recall on the sheriff?

Fortunately though, Tom Hollenbach is not bowing out of public service.

With the opening day of school comes an increase of traffic, especially near the schools, both vehicular and pedestrian.

Elections are about a lot more than candidates. They are about a cause. Pinal County property taxes are too high.

While border security is always a primary issue, we are also working on strategies to enable better coordination between first responders on both sides of the border, as well as issues such as sustainable energy, improving the infrastructure at the border points of entry and improving the environment along the international boundary.

I am running for Pinal County Sheriff to improve law enforcement service in the fastest growing county in America.

This story is to assist our community to do more research on the person or company that you sign a contract with to see if they will conduct a good business relationship.

What's that muted thunder off in the distance? Is it another monsoon storm rolling across the desert? A cross-country run sponsored by our proud veterans as part of the Rolling Thunder organization? Nope - it's the sound of school buses early in the morning and mid-afternoon!

Global climate change is one of the most serious issues facing our state and the world - and it's a threat we're taking strong steps to combat in Arizona.

Maricopa is lately talked about in a negative setting. I'm not dismissing there are problems, but there are a lot of positives in Maricopa.

According to the UDETC, in 2005 underage drinking cost American taxpayers about $60.3 billion in medical care, work loss and pain and suffering associated with the multiple problems resulting from the use of alcohol by youth.

On July 1, 2007, the Maricopa Police Department began providing limited day-time police services to the citizens of Maricopa with 12 sworn members and a handful of support staff.

Summer vacation in Maricopa is nearly over and many families are failing to take advantage of the television set in their home to continue learning while school is out and television viewing by kids is soaring.

Our weekend event to help us raise enough funds to participate in the upcoming Three-Day Walk for breast cancer was awesome!

July is half over, and for those of you who might not have been following my columns since the beginning, that means we've officially been together for half a year.

You all may know that I host several fundraising activities a year to raise the necessary money of $2,200 to walk in the three-day, 60-mile Breast Cancer Walk in November, so please mark your calendars for Saturday to help with our fundraising raffle.

The recently settled struggle between inmaricopa.com and Maricopa Police regarding whether the latter would release its daily operations reports to the media was not new, nor was it confined to one news organization.

July - the halfway mark of the summer, marked by the Fourth of July and the sudden gasp of recognition that the resumption of school is almost upon us, is here in all its monsoon glory!

Together, the Chief Adult Probation Officer and the Director of Juvenile Court Services for Pinal County recognize the exemplary service of their staff whose combined efforts and skills provide investigations and supervision of offenders, child advocate services, victim services and detention operations to benefit this community, its families and its offenders.

I watched the symbolic fireworks on the Fourth and reflected on our great country.