Candidate implores Babeu: Get story straight

Once again, West Pinal County has been targeted by the Pinal County Sheriff in his campaign to besmirch the district.

Since his election as Sheriff, Paul Babeu has used Western Pinal and most specifically Vekol Valley as his personal terror dome. If you did not know better, you would believe that Western Pinal is completely run amuck with drug dealers and human smugglers. How could there possibly be any room left for the generations of farmers, families in Arizona City, Maricopa and Red Rock and the many businesses that call Western Pinal home.

There is no doubt the area has a legitimate reputation as an aggressive drug trade and human smuggling corridor. However, that does not give the Sheriff, nor his officers the right to automatically assume every incident of violence is tied to those operations. Violence comes in many forms and from many realms.