Parker Live News from the Parker Strip since 2009.
Yakima Company, which has been involved in legal entanglements with La Paz County for several years, has filed a writ of attachment on around $10.9 million in public funds supervised by the County, $10.7m of which belongs to other entities.
In a move County Administrator Dan Field calls “sad”, “foolhardy” and “unethical”, Yakima owner Jim Willett’s action freezes the money in the County’s care so that it cannot be used by the State, Special Districts, Public Works or any of the other entities to whom it belongs. A court judgment in his favor against the County in 2007 granted him $9.2 million plus legal fees. Since then, the case has been characterized by short periods of appeals, negotiations and stalled talks.
Field says the County had not been served with any notice of the action. He condemned it in the strongest terms, saying, “For a company [Yakima] who says they don’t want to hurt anybody, they did this knowing darn well the money isn’t ours.”
He continued, saying, “They know we have no money. Frankly, they’re injuring the people. What concerns me the most is the essential services like emergency services that rely on those funds, and payroll for our employees.”
La Paz County’s lean budget mirrors the lean budgets of municipalities and state governments around the nation due to the economy. Laws protect County services, including all the main departments, payroll and assets, so the County is initiating legal action to overturn the writ.
Field says the County is currently engaged in the legal logistics of releasing the funds, saying Yakima can’t do this, “but they did.” He says he hopes the money can be released within the next couple of days. “The payroll is what I’m worried about,” he said.
At a meeting this morning, some County employees were notified that their direct deposits would not be on time Thursday, but that the County had a plan to make payroll payments one day late, on Friday.
Field characterized Willett’s action as “a legal maneuver” designed to force the County into accepting his terms in the ongoing imbroglio, despite the County’s lack of excess funds with which to pay him. Another employee said he thinks Willett’s move was an attempt to “make this real” for the public.
Field says, “People should not panic. We’re going to get it released. This is a highly unethical tactic by Jim Willett. It’s just about money for him, but these are people’s lives.”
Dan, you were specifically hired to negotiate this out.
Drum, Pierce, you were elected on your pledge and promise to negotiate this out.
Willett made several attempts to work with anyone and everyone, but no would give him the time of day.
How is this Willett’s fault?
The BoS is going to pass the buck as much as they can. They could have settled this years ago. But they didn’t. Dan, what did you expect when you filed appeal after appeal that you, to your own admission, KNEW would fail.
This isn’t Willett’s fault. This is the BoS and Mr. Fields fault. Dan should immediately resign. It was his bad advice that got us here. So much for not getting blood from a turnip, eh?
We didn’t NEED funds to pay him. He asked for the dump. GIVE IT TO HIM! The people of the county have been screaming this for a year, only to fall of deaf ears.
If the BoS doesn’t settle this IMMEDIATELY, every employee with an empty bank account, and every citizen who’s tax payer funded services will suffer; should be at the BoS with torches and pitch forks. Willett is right to do something to force the board to act. if this doesn’t make them listen, nothing will.
Willetts Fault??? The guy that bent over backwards for years and offered deal after deal? Really Dan? How about this, we blame it on the current supes and Dan. County didn’t see this coming? ARE YOU KIDDING? Who’s idea was it to leave the County accounts exposed after the Appeals Court issued a mandate to the La Paz Superior Court on January 21st 2011?
http://apps.supremecourt.az.gov/aacc/appella/1CA%5CCV%5CCV080759.PDF
The blame for this action falls across a select few at the head of County Government. Not Mr. Willett
Of course Dan Field blames Willett. We’ve seen this played over and over again in Quartzsite for the 8 years he was here. This is his Modus operandi.
This is the fault of not only Dan Field but the current and past Board Of Supervisors. They should be held accountable for this. They arrogantly fought Mr. Willett every single step of the way. You reap what you sow!
I remember the meetings Mr. Willett held around the county and NONE of the Supervisors showed up. They sent their boy, Dan. Dan said repeatedly that Mr. Willett “couldn’t squeeze blood from a turnip”, that the county had no money and a “bankruptcy wouldn’t be a problem… you won’t even notice it”. “There’s nothing Jim Willett can do to us”. I even wrote a Letter To The Editor about Dan’s arrogant statements, which they refused to publish.
I say good for Mr. Willett because now, maybe, the people will start to wake up to out of touch our County Government is with the real world.
I don’t think Mr. Willett’s recent actions are a surprise to anybody but the BOS. I don’t believe that it is Mr. Willett’s purpose to financially hurt the people and/or employees of the county. Mr. Willett is a business man taking care of business.
Either Willett is absolutely, purposefully trying to hurt the working people of this county or he is a complete idiot who has no idea the amount of damage he has caused.
Does he realize he has seized money that the county is only holding for other entities? Every school district in La Paz County has their funds funneled through the county account. That means state aid, federal aid, grants, etc. that belong to the school districts, water districts, fire districts, sanitary districts is now tied up in Willett’s plot to get his money.
I also hold the supervisors responsible for not dealing with this issue, but Willett has only hurt himself now, because several hundred people might go without a paycheck because of this writ of attachment.
Who authorized the writ of attachment? According to wikipedia, it may only be issued by a judge. Did Judge Burke issue the writ? Was there a hearing requesting the writ? Where is the due process here and how was it done so secretly and so quickly. There are a lot of questions that need answered here.
Once again, we can all thank the almighty Gene Fisher and his bloated ego for getting us into this situation in the first place. What a mess…
I don’t think so Observer! If we had media here that does what it’s supposed to do this wouldn’t have happened, and you know it. Nobody in this county knew what was going on with this lawsuit all these years because there was no reporting of it. Anyone who stands up to the geniuses in La Paz County government get promptly swatted down. And if someone wants to push it further and take it to the local media, they are ignored. So Fisher, and ALL OF THE OTHER Supervisors too, got off Mary Scott free!
If KLPZ and Parker Pioneer had been doing their job and not ignoring the elephant in the room, this would’ve been resolved years ago. And get this, if the local media had been doing their job, the county might have made Millions with Mr. Willett instead of the other way around.
John, I’m saying you enabled the situation to get to where it is now because you would never cover the story with any real intentions of getting to the bottom of it. So yes, man up to the fact that you kind of dropped the ball here
‘ Field says, “People should not panic. We’re going to get it released. This is a highly unethical tactic by Jim Willett. It’s just about money for him, but these are people’s lives.”’ – Where was this concern during the negotiations? You have now messed with the livelihood of ALL your staff, the schools, etc. and their families. Shame on all of you!!!!!
Okay, let’s blame the media. Good one. Maybe Willett should sue the local media outlets, since they are responsible for him losing millions, according to your theory.
Saying that anyone who takes anything concerning La Paz County to the media “gets ignored” is ridiculous.
When people who are constantly suing, getting sued, harassing, being harassed and always complaining instead of contributing to the community bring things to the media, they tend to get ignored. Check out a story called “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” That will explain it better.
I’m sure some of you love seeing this come down because it adds chaos and discontent, which many people seem to thrive on, especially those who:
A) Have an interest in how much money Willett can make with/for them.
B) Have a beef with “the county” or some people who work for the county in some matter totally unrelated to the Yakima issue.
C) Just plain love a good fight.
The problem now is that a lot of people that have absolutely no involvement in this issue are going to be hurt by Willett’s actions.
Observer look at the link I put in post #3. That is the entire court case from filing on Nov. 7 2008 (after the county lost the main case) to the order for the Clerk of the Court of Appeals to issue Mandate. No secrets. All available for public view during the entire process. As you can see the mandate was issued to LPC on the 21st of Jan 2011. What happened after they got the mandate? WHy didn’t they immediately meet with Willett for immediate solution? In my humble opinion Willett was forced into this by the County’s complete DISREGARD of what could possibly happen to the people. They knew just as well as Willett what was at stake here. And continued to prod Willett anyway. So now it looks like the good folks of the County get to pay for the egotisitcal, uncaring and negligent actions of a leaders. Blaming this on Willett is like blaming the bullet that kills a man whom fired a shot straight into the air.
Here’s a first, John deleted his own post after he realized he touched the third rail of this thread!
“I decided I didn’t want to engage with you after all, Roth. I haven’t had much luck there in the past! (That old adage about insanity being doing the same thing and expecting a different result…)” -John
Observer,
I was ignored by the media repeatedly, and when they finally did take my one and only Letter To The Editor, they edited it against my wishes…. And YOU KNOW IT!
Parker Pioneer could’ve been on top of this story all along but didn’t. Why?
“He asked for the dump. GIVE IT TO HIM!”….Great advice! Pay for one breach of contract by breaching another contract. You would have to be educated in the Parker school district to get that kind of ‘common sense’ solution.
If simply reporting on something could resolve it, we would know who REALLY shot Kennedy, where Jimmy Hoffa’s body is and there would be world peace. Get Real!
The Parker Pioneer and KLPZ reported on Yakima ad nauseam (which means until you want to puke for those of you who were educated in Parker) and it resolved nothing.
The blame for getting La Paz County into this mess lies squarely with the Board of Supervisors past and present, but that in now way exonerates Willett who was not then and is not now an honorable man acting in good faith.
Parker Pioneer and KLPZ reported on all of this “ad nauseam”? Really???
Put me in A), B) and C)!
A) If Willett can make money in LPC, anyone can (or could have) made money in LPC.
B) My beef with the County Supervisors, especially Fisher, is documented and generally public knowledge. Fisher took a nice community and placed a huge unnecessary risk on our futures, with no possible reward.
C) I just plain love a good fight, especially a fight over the future of my community.
I don’t rely on the press, but in our citizenship responsibility efforts, the local press was beholding to Edey and Fisher, and they become adversarial to us, and misleading in what we were trying to do, and corrosive to the message we were trying to get out. That is not what I call a free press, where the press determined that the government was right, and anyone who questioned the government was a wacko to be ridiculed and talked down to.
Whether or not the press reports something is their business. When the press acts as a mouthpiece for the government, the power of first amendment is abused, and the respect for our institutions is diminished.
Cranky, it has all been explored. Willett can take ownership of the dump without violating the contract with Allied Waste, as long as he finishes the lease with them. If Willett didn’t finish the lease once he took it over, HE would be in breach of contract, not the county. Its not much different than when a Landlord sells property he has leased out to a tenet. The new Land Lord can buy the property, but has to honor the standing lease with the tenet. So yes, GIVE IT TO HIM is great advice. I appreciate the compliment.
Willett had the business he spent his life to build destroyed by this County. His actions are absolutely justified. If I was in his shoes I’d do the same thing. Its not his responsibility to look out for the people of this county, that belongs to our elected officials. And look at the great job they’ve done.
How the heck did I know it, Roth? You’re obviously confusing me with someone who cares about your never-ending drama and/or works for a media outlet. Neither is true.
Lost in La Paz- I did look over the link, but I’d have to be a lawyer to figure out what’s actually being said there. I did not, however, see anything about assets, writ of attachment or anything related. In fact, the thing that stood out in that document was that Willett waived his claim to attorney’s fees. Was that a preemptive strike that allowed him to clean out the county’s bank account? Why would he waive those fees that had already been awarded to him. He’s a “businessman” after all, so how was that a smart business move?
Hear, Hear Jerry.
I certainly don’t rely on the press either, which is why I helped start a new newspaper in Quartzsite, Desert Freedom Press.
You are absolutely right. The press doesn’t have to report anything. We can all choose to buy their paper or not depending on how good of a job they do. My belief here is the local media could’ve done a lot more to defuse this situation. We are where we are today for a reason. Here in La Paz County as in America.
Pointing fingers at the entreprenuer who prevailed versus the politicians who created the mess is asinine, and I already see media here using handles to hide behind to try and sweep their lapse in responsibility under the rug.
Observer,
You do know who you are don’t you?
Do Jones and McGuire stand to gain financially from Willett case? If so, it puts a new take on their “concern” for the county. There is nothing wrong if they do, but it would put their comments in perspective.
Blaming the local media is asinine. But then again, with Roth it’s always someone else’s fault. What maybe sad but true it that people won’t care until they are directly impacted by this. Then, you will see people start asking questions when it’s already too late.
John, did you delete your post? I don’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Roth. It should have been left. At most, leave the post and edit it with #.
I think you missed the point, McGuire.
I said A) Anyone who has an interest in how much money Willett can make with/for them. I’m not talking about making money in La Paz County, I’m talking about being in bed with Willett and his “business” ventures.
B) Someone who has a beef with the county in some matter totally unrelated to Yakima. Sounds like your beef with Fisher was indeed about Yakima.
The good fight comment I can agree with. You nailed that one.
Gosh, Roth, maybe I don’t know who I am. Am I Rupert Murdoch, or what? Please help me! I’m trapped in the Roth Zone (i.e., a confused state of reality in which nobody knows as much as you do, much less who they are).
RR, Why can’t the local media be held accountable? I try to ask questions BEFORE it’s too late. I guess that makes me a blamer?
Willett doesn’t even live here, he doesn’t have to give a flying F&$! about this town, county or the people in it! How can anyone be surprised at this! This mess has dragged on with no end or solution for so long, WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND EVER BELIEVED THIS WOULD TURN OUT GOOD. Willett is a businessman who wants his money and if he chooses, really doesn’t need to care who he hurts to get it!
P.S. John you dropped the ball on this, I’m holding you personally responsible for the outcome of this debacle! And for not reporting on the them like you should of, I’m blaming you for World Hunger, National Socialism, The Jewish/Native & Rawandan Holocaust, The current unrest in Egypt and The Cuban Missile Crisis….nice way to ruin the world John!
Not so funny Observer. The most important thing is….. never mind you wouldn’t get it anyway!
Ouch–laid low by another Rothism. Avoid the truth by dismissing people with a statement about how stupid they are.
You, sir, are a genius. But the most important thing is that you understand that already, right?
It’s true! But if your last post was funny, I would’ve told you so. It wasn’t. Get over it already…
I was impacted financially by Yakima. I spent a bunch of money on a recall. I lost friends. LPC spent a ton of money on Yakima that could have been used towards some positive economic pursuit that everyone could have benefited from, me included. And as a result of those, I now live a long way away from the river.
I never intended to leave LPC. My goal after college was to come back and contribute in my community. I tried, and while the economy boomed, LPC went sideways at best, but mostly backwards chasing Yakima, tourists and bike paths. I was accused of being hired by Yakima in the recall. That’s BS. Nobody hired me, or gave me a dime, dollar or otherwise. I don’t have a relationship with Willett, and I didn’t stand to make anything from this whether he won or lost.
I think we all lost, twice. First the county spending time and money on Yakima instead of the County and its future, or cutting taxes on property, and second, for those of you who still live there, your property values, your income and your way of live will be severely diminished by the supervisors actions. I suspect it may take two or three generations for the county to recover while the supervisors continue to attack the problem with ego and stupidity. With new leadership, maybe in ten years the county could be back to where it was last week. But I won’t be there either way. My family deserves better, and I will provide to it the best that I can. I don’t believe I could do that in LPC.
Thank you for that Jerry. And thank you for all you tried to do. I know how it feels to fight the entrenched “management”.
Your fight was not completely in vain though, now you get to tell all the SOB’s who ruined it for everyone else, I TOLD YOU SO!
No matter where you end up try to always shine the light where it’s needed most.
Having moved back to this County about 4 years ago…I found my self “wondering” how we got things done in this County. Un believable I say….Amazing also. Lest we forget, the previous BOS, (well hopefully they have left town…or should now anyway) The current? Poor folks have been “railroaded” around by Field. My jaw dropped when they chose him for his position. I would hate to think that he was the best canidate for the job? Have we NOT learned anything from watching Quartzsite implode? I plead anyone who has more than average common sense and isn’t afraid to “Tell Field NO!” to step up and run for BOS. I am embarassed for this County. As a lay person even I know if the Supreme Court says “Nope” well, then…Writs are the next step. I have to sort of side w/ Willet. That is sad. I should be supporting our County. You can not put your head in the sand and hope it all goes away. Could some one please make me a believer in this County??
There’s only one way to make an Un believer into a believer in this County. And that’s to recall all of the rats in office now and put all new ones in. But this time, instead of voting in friends of friends and former judges, or who has an “R” or a “D” next to their name, etc., this time put in principled people who truly want to see La Paz prosper for EVERYONE not just the pampered La Paz County Plunderers Club Members.
One thing I disagree with is that you believe the current crop of disgusting politicians are being led along by Dan Field. They’re not being led at all, they are all willing accomplices. Dan Field just brought his buddies into the fold. (or vice versa) They are all the same. Get rid of them all immediately.
I “think” the vice versa ….I agree. But now what?
boot ’em out
Wish I could help UB. LPC seems to find new bottoms to lows. I guess we lead the state. Just when you think it can’t get any worse.
Un believer: It is in our nature to want better for ourselves and our communities. You want to do your part, of course, you are a good person.
You may want to also take a step back and try to ascertain what it will cost you – your time with family, your ability to protect yourself and your family financially during bad times, your sanity and the effect of your commitment to community. It comes at the expense of your family, bank account and career. We didn’t create this mess, but we might be able to help it, but only if we are personally secure first. If you are vulnerable, saving a community will bury you. Protect yourself. Make sure you can be there for you and family before you take from you and your family and give it away.
Just my opinion, best wishes
As a journalism student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in Downtown Phoenix Arizona I have to ask. Mr. Wright. Where did you get your journalistic education? Your article seems almost completely one-sided. Couldn’t you have interviewed Willett and not just Mr. Field? Another thing missing is the lack of prior knowledge. Why didn’t you add prior info? Was it to make your article juicier? Or to get more hits to the website? In my opinion this whole article shows textbook bad journalism. You sir, seem just like another blogger to me.
LOL- he is a blogger! John’s a radio personality who does his best to keep us informed about local stuff. Asking him to summarize the Yakima soap opera would be asking too much of him. He’s not a journalist and he doesn’t get paid to be one. I think he’s trying to put up some info and let us work it out, which is what we’re doing on this forum.
Lighten up, kid.
Andrew-
1) I wrote an email first thing this morning to Jim Willett asking him to comment for this article; he hasn’t responded yet. This IS a blog, and it will be updated the minute we have a response from Willett.
2) What prior knowledge? This article assumes the reader is mostly familiar with the case thus far. In case you didn’t know this is the biggest news story in the County.
Thank you for your journalistic critique… I guess…
Why should we lighten up on bad journalism?
To all County Employees a hearing is scheduled for Thursday 2/3/11 at 1:30pm. This hearing is concerning the Freeze on County Funds. The location of the hearing is the La Paz County Superior Court Room.
I understand this is a huge story. This is why I am still concerned with it even after me leaving the county. I am not critic. I am just asking questions.
First of all, why couldn’t you wait to publish the article? Why did you decide to release content that didn’t offer both sides of the issue? I’m sure any contact would respond to media after something this big happening. Or maybe he didn’t respond because that contact believes you do not have enough integrity. I would infer this guess from the above statement you put in your comment. “Thank you for you journalistic critique… I guess…”
That just blatantly show disrespect and if I were a contact. I would not respond to you.
Ok People! No bagging on John. John does an outragous job with this site. He brings us the news and give us the opportunity to discuss it. Who else does that?
Willett is probably not responding upon legal advice. That would make much more since than he is worried about integrity. I follow Parkerliveonline.com daily. It seems to be fast news, updated often, so that people my be updated “as things happen”. Just saying….
and Mr. Roth. May I ask what you do for a living???
John does his best to keep a fair debate. I think. This is a really important subject and has attracted outside interest. I think Andrew was the student body president last year and still cares about his hometown. My daughter thinks he is cute. I don’t think John is the focus. The County government is to blame.
Andrew,
You’re saying you would prefer that no news articles had been written about this topic than the one above? I didn’t wait to publish the article because I was already being criticized by other armchair critics like yourself for not having covered the issue yet (see yesterday’s post on water rights for more on this).
Contrary to your inference that Jim Willett would not respond to this site, I should inform you that he has on many occasions and has turned to us as a conduit of information many times before too.
(By the way, you needed an ‘s’ on the end of ‘show’ to make your sentence grammatically correct.)
Mr Jones, as much as I respect you and enjoy your company, I also feel the need to point out, and I quote,
“I am not critic. I am just asking questions.”
If this is true you may want to stick with questions and shy away from insults and avoid throwing the first stone….
”In my opinion this whole article shows textbook bad journalism. You sir, seem just like another blogger to me.”
Lindee, why is what I do for a living important to you? You first. What do you do for a living? How long have you lived here? Have you ever run for political office in this County before?
My name is Lindee Woody. For 15 years I have worked for the same company in Sale and Marketing. I own a home in LPC. I have raised 5 kids in LPC. I have been asked to run for Public Office and I have respectfuly declined. I am closer than I would care to be to 50 yrs old. I like walks on the beach and my favorite color is Red. I was just curious Michael. Oh yeah…I am bad at spelling =)
Michael Roth has been exposed by the people of Salome. Were talkin to Quartzsite people and they all know he would sell you a wash in Wenden if you are stupid enough. If you buddy up with Roth your going to get bit cause hes like a wild animal. Sigfreed and Roy found out that wild animals can look tame but are always wild.
Hey Lindee, I believe it was the KLPZ crew that demonized his father and mother during the recall. I recall the KLPZ folks saying the recall was a waste of time and energy. And calling it a “Stupid Recall”. Now the young Jones is a top ASU freshman and has questions. I suppose his questions come from his new found knowledge in journalistic integrity and not the KLPZ tradition of “who do we promote” and “who do we destroy.”
He is not a stupid man and would not in my opinion throw the first stone. And you should know better.
Billy Wayne,
Is that all you got?
Keith & Juanita at KLPZ have opinions and say them, Lost. I guess that explains this hostility though.
Lost in LaPaz,
I know Andrew well. Think he is a great guy. Just trying to slow him down. If you have only questions…they should be questions. If he wants to attack he should. Call it what it is. Thats the guy I know. Thats all I was saying
Lindee,
Thanks for sharing. I met my wife here 5 years ago and we both decided to stay here because we thought it would be a nice cheap place to start out together, and we both dabble in the minerals trade. This place is perfect for us because we don’t have to travel the world to make deals on pretty rocks, the world comes to us once a year. We like it here even though the politicians (read Dan Field and his gang at Quartzsite Town Hall)) have destroyed one of the most free economies in the state.
I encourage you to run for office. We can’t do any worse than the batch we have in there now. Oh wait, we all said that when we voted in the current group….
Hey Andrew, Hope you understood what I meant. You said you had only asked “questions”, when you had actually made some harsh “statements”. I was trying to point out that may have generated the following comments by John. No sides here. Just observation and comment.
Mr. Roth, I was just tring to see how it was that you have so much time on your hands. You seem to be on the blog most of the day. Still not sure I understand….if you are in the Rock/Jem trade shouldn’t this be your really busy time. Kinda like CPA’s who work round the clock?
It’s true. I do have a lot of free time. I’ve always made it my goal to work smarter NOT harder than the average bear. There are CPA’s that trade their time for dollars and there are CPA’s that do deals. The deal making CPA gets rich while the time for money guy is a slave.
And for what it’s worth, Quartzsite’s vending opportunity is not like it used to be. Thanks again to Dan Field and his sycophants
hmmmm
Roth – Im just helpin the good people from being fooled by you. You say anything to promote yourselve or attack people even if it aint true. It really dont matter cause your rep is soiled in La Paz. We know about your Yavapai County days to. I think the people on this page should watch Roth on youtube. Its funny s**t.
?????
Post the youtube Billy. You are the one making baseless accusations now aren’t you?
Billy, don’t you know Roth wants to start an popular uprising in Quartzsite like in Cairo, and Roth will be the guy riding the camel through the crowds! See you again Sat. nite at the Octotillo, 7pm. Roth got caught again!!
“M” Caught at what?
Lindee – Roth stated in a prior post he hasn’t had a job in 20 years. That may answer some of your questions. You also offer Andrew good advice. Let’s hope he doesn’t waste the advice or education and learns to think for himself.
HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This has turned out to be the most pointless discussion EVER! JOHN I’m a journalist student at the JOAQUIN IS AWESOME school for Journalism in my living room and JOHN, SIR YOU ARE AN IMPOSTER! This garbage of a BLOG/NEWS OUTLET known as “parkerliveonline.com” is an embarrassment to TRUE Journalism! Look I don’t know how they do “NEWS” in NORTHERN IRELAND BUT THIS IS MERICA SON!!!!
TRUE Journalism? Guys, this is a local town blog, not NBC Nightly News. John deserves credit for listening to his community and getting this news out there as soon as it was validated. Hes not trying for a Pulitzer, hes posting small town news on a BLOG. Relax people.
If anything, John is showing more integrity in this story than the real news media. He at least confirmed the story was fact before he posted it. Most major news outlets don’t even do this anymore.
The fault with blaming the local media is that we really don’t HAVE any local media. The only form of news media we have is a once a week newspaper. The rest is internet blogs, music radio stations, and home made gossip columns.
I would say the people of the county can blame themselves for voting in the same politicians, but the voters cleaned out the people who made this mess in 2008. We elected janitors who promised to clean up this mess. But when they got the job, they didn’t bring their broom.
I do think the majority of the county has been content ignoring the Yakima problem. Hopefully this whole mess will finally put the fire under their britches and get people to go to the board meetings.
If the county needs money I hear the best place to get a loan is at the Joint Venture.
So all you people trying to recall the Sheriff need to take a much closer look at WHO you should be recalling. They PROMISED to fix this mess left by good ol Gene as their campaine b.s. and they let it get this far. Shame on each and everyone of you.