Parker Live News from the Parker Strip since 2009.
The La Paz County petition asking the Arizona Supreme Court to review its appeal of the Yakima decision is now on the Supreme Court schedule for November 30. Their decision will be announced on that day, three weeks from tomorrow.
The La Paz County petition asking the Arizona Supreme Court to review its appeal of the Yakima decision is now on the Supreme Court schedule for November 30. Their decision will be announced on that day, three weeks from tomorrow.
If the Supreme Court declines to review this case, and we`ll know on that day, the County Supervisors will finally have to do what they all promised you when they were candidates more than two years ago, negotiate to settle. But of course time and interest has added more than $2 million to the debt since then.
The Supervisors haven’t done the right thing so far, what makes you think they will now?
It remains to be seen whether they do the right thing, however you may define it, but at least now they will now have to do something. No more dodgeball.
That’s true, Jim. Whether one takes the Supervisors’ point that they have nothing to lose by exhausting legal options, or yours, it’s clear that the real process may well begin after November 30th.
The Supervisors made their beds two years ago, now they have to sleep in it!
John, two years ago when they took office they had many options, the legal appeal had not been decided and I was anxious to settle. I thought the time was right, new faces and all. Two years later and everything has changed. The Supervisors (and Mr. Field) have pissed away every opportunity to establish a friendly rapport and settle this on favorable terms. It wouldn`t have been hard, instead they treated me with disrespect and contempt, a terrible mistake. Now they have nothing left to negotiate with, no more appeals, no goodwill, no time, no money and no good choices. I`m sorry but this is not going to have the happy ending that the Supervisors led you to expect.
The problem is that its not the Supervisors who will be sleeping in the bed they have made, its the citizens of this county.
The worst thing that will happen to the Supes is they will lose their jobs in 2 years. Big deal, Drum already has two fat pensions, Irwin has her restaurant in Blythe and a pocket full of grant money from her Park Ranger Hubby. Sandy can go back working for the town, she always find something to do there.
All of the Supes can afford to lose their gigs in 2012. The same can’t be said to the low level county employees who are at risk by this massive county debt.
We elected an entirely new board to solve this, and they went against everything they promised in the campaign. They give us corporate bars in the park, they’re reopening a useless road, and a new park police program we don’t need; but they bury their heads in the sand on the main issue that got them elected.
Jim, once we got a look at how the new board operates, I don’t think anyone with half a brain thought this was going to have a happy ending. As much as I wish this never happened and am not looking forward to the end, I understand you gotta do what you gotta do. You were wronged by our horrible county government, it needs to be made right.
I agree with everything you say. We eventually concluded that the biggest hurdle to a satisfactory ending was the fact that the money at risk didn`t belong to the supervisors and no loss to the citizens would effect them personally. That simple fact explains everything; filing the lawsuit, forging ahead without insurance coverage, manufacturing evidence, lying to ADEQ and BLM, stubborn refusal to negotiate, and finally the abject failure of leadership by the current board. To be blunt, the La Paz County Supervisors have no dog in this fight and never have. I believe that the ones with the most to lose are county employees and all property owners.
I don’t buy that the Supervisors can’t be personally liable for the damage caused by their actions.
This would involve replacing the current County Attorney with someone who is not part of the La Paz County political machine that rewards itself first and the citizens last. (or never!)
The truth is EVERYONE in this county should be furious with what’s happened here and throw all of the bums out of office NOW. I don’t see any reason to wait until 2012. (Waiting just rewards them longer!)
The County`s best shot at personal liability was against Fisher and to a lesser extent Edey. They fabricated evidence (proven in court), lied in writing to the BLM and ADEQ (also proven) and purjured themselves to the judge and jury. We thought that they were particularly exposed to a malfeasense charge or something similar but it never happened. I was struck but the apparent absense of any interest or curiosity on the part of the public during the trial. They were few if any people in the courtroom during the trial but possibly they assumed that the County was going to roll over me. Anyway, that all changed the day the verdict and judgment was announced. It`s unfortunate that there is no real media in La Paz County, present venue included, because if there was and they had bothered to publicly ask even the most basic questions of the supervisors, early on when it could have mattered, this case would never have happened.
Parker Live wasn’t around at the time, of course (and KLPZ doesn’t have the personnel for investigative journalism).
How much investigative talent does it take to ask, “Why.” It`s a simple question. There were many contradictions in the Supervisor`s headlong pursuit of the case that were answered. For example, “We don`t want sewage sludge from California brought to the County.” Since 1990 Arizona Soils in Vicksburg has delivered sludge from Orange County nearly every day. “We can`t tolerate truckloads of sludge driving through Quartzsite.” Since the landfill opened truckloads of sludge and worse are routinely driven through Quartzsite for disposal at the landfill. “The flies at Yakima`s facility are showing up as far away as Quartzsite and Bouse. “Why would a fly ever leave a sludge facility?” And the biggest question that has never been asked or answered, What caused Fisher to pursue this case with such a vengence? No insurance coverage, against the advice of the County Attorney and the County`s outside legal counsel he pushed the case into trial. Why?
Why is a simple question. For instance, why do people continue to post here if they feel this is not “real media?” By posting here, they feel this site (a.k.a. not “real media”) has credibility. It is an opportunity for them to post what they want in a venue that reaches thousands. The mere fact one posts on here acknowledges KLPZ/ParkerLiveOnline IS real media. Otherwise, they wouldn’t post. Hypocrite. Here’s another why…why would one insult the one media outlet that is willing to allow him to post his side? Why?
During the long history of this case whenever anyone questioned the Superviors about it their common response was, ” I cannot discuss that because it`s in litigation.” Which we know is nonsense. The legal strategies and tactics cannot be discussed but the decision to sue and the reasons behind it are a matter of public concern, or should have been. I believe that if the news media, radio or newspaper, had publicly asked the question behind the decision and pursued an answer it would have been readily apparent that this was the personal quest of one supervisor. I may be wrong on that but it raises some troubling questions. Your local meddia is full of fluff, pet of the week, somebody`s family birthday in the park, what`s wrong with Wash. DC or state government when the biggest story to ever affect La Paz County and it`s citizens was going on right under their nose. Honestly, if you knew then what you know now would you have spoken out and demanded some answers?
That’s the point, Jim. Few people understood the case well enough to know that it wasn’t going well for the County, or that it possibly wouldn’t. Businesses and municipalities get into disputes all the time without it escalating in this surprising way, and almost nobody thought you would win the case. Hindsight is 20/20, sir.
Agreed! But the point I`m trying to make is that few people questioned the supervisor`s decision to sue and those who did were stonewalled by their claim that they couldn`t discuss it, “it`s in litigation.” I think that the media had an obligation to publicly press the issue, just why exactly are we suing this guy? There were many warning signs if you had been interested. For example, late in 2003 after the county sued Yakima and I counter-sued the supervisors contacted their insurance company and requested lawyers to defend them in court and confirm that the county was covered for damages. The insurance company denied coverage and after reviewing the case wrote them a letter expressing the view that it appeared to be a case of deliberate breach of contract ON THE PART OF THE COUNTY. Supervisor Howe released the letter but nothing ever came of it. This kind of information, if publicly broadcast, could possibly have changed everything. Imagine if Kieth had read the letter on air and invited the supervisors to explain, or it it had been reprinted on the front page of the Pioneer. As one of only two media outlets don`t you think that the coverage could have been a little more agressive?
Possibly, but we have so few people assigned to so many daily tasks that often it’s just a matter of ‘not enough resources’. Also, when two sides are both very persuasive, and lawyers are involved, that lack of resources translates into not being able to parse rightness or wrongness. I think, while La Paz County is angry about what happened, you’ll find most people cannot articulate exactly what the County did that lost them the trial. That’s because there were two sides to the story, a story which arguably is still potentially in the legal system. So I wouldn’t say it’s the ‘fault’ of local media; just an understandable drawback of the kind of case it was combined with a lack of resources for investigative reporting.
I`m not persuaded. To seek out the reasons why your elected leaders are taking the actions they are, particularly in a case with financial liability, doesn`t require alot of resources. It`s a simple matter of public interest. Isn`t that what you and Kieth do every day? A little curiosity on your part would have gone a long way and perhaps derailed the litigation. And it`s happening again right now. All of the Supervisors campaigned on a pledge to negotiate with Yakima and attempt to settle. So far none of them have done that and once again nobody is pressing them for the reason why.
Believe me, the answers haven’t changed. When they do we’ll be sure to report it.