Letters to the Editor (7/4)

Huppenthal has earned my vote

Dear Editor:

Fred Barlam wrote in his June 25 editorial that we in Ahwatukee Foothills are extremely fortunate. I agree - but not for the reason he stated.

I very much respect Ted Maish's teaching experience. However, it takes much more than just that to effectively serve our district in the State Senate. I'll defer to Sen. Huppenthal to defend his record on education. He's more than capable of doing that on his own.

I'd like to focus on actions I believe show Huppenthal's strong commitment to Ahwatukee.

First, many in our community have been working very hard for many years to see that the State Land Department sells 240 acres of State Trust Land in the western portion of our district to the city of Phoenix. The city wants to build a fire station, park, library and trail head entry into South Mountain Park on it - but they've got to get their hands on the land first.  Huppenthal has been working hard to see that happens. I'm confident with the power of Huppenthal's position in Senate leadership and his deep knowledge of the state government's way of doing business we'll see the land convey to the city in late 2008 or early 2009.

I expect the city will break ground on the fire station and library soon thereafter. They have approximately $20 million in the bank waiting to be spent on the needed improvements.

Second, the Arizona Department of Transportation is proposing building a freeway on Pecos Road. Huppenthal has been down that road as a city councilman. He helped the citizens of Chandler mitigate some of the negative effects the Santan Freeway had on their community. Most recently, he helped organize a community meeting between ADOT and residents of the Lakewood community. I expect he'll do much more to ensure our voices are heard at ADOT in the future.

Maish may be a great guy, but he is inexperienced. We need an experienced senator to deal with Ahwatukee's complex issues. I believe Huppenthal is that person.

Chad Blostone

Crime is up in Ahwatukee neighborhood

Dear Editor:

Our garage was recently broken into. This may not seem like a big deal to most people, the only thing they took was my purse from my car, yet the feeling of being completely violated, knowing that someone was in my home, while I was upstairs asleep, is something I have not been able to shake.

Yes, I have an alarm that I had forgotten to set. Yes, I am fortunate that the only thing taken was my purse. While the purse and the credit cards are replaceable, there were things in it that hold no value to others, but meant the world to me. A note my husband wrote me on our wedding date. A charm of St. Francis that I held onto while my dog was sick. And lest we not forget the betting slips I made while in Vegas, if the Cowboys win the Superbowl that crook is in the money.

When I called in this minor crime to our police department I was told that their system was down and I would need to call back another time. I began to notice in the paper similar crimes listed. Notices went up on the mailbox of neighbors who also had lost items due to theft.

You say to yourself, "What gives?" Our neighborhood held a "crime watch" block party, but with no results. If you look at the stats, in the last month there have been 145 crimes reported in Ahwatukee. In the ZIP code of 85044 there were 104 crimes alone. In the previous 11 months there had only been 96 crimes reported. In that one month alone crimes in that area have more than doubled. And those were just for the items that were reported.

I contacted the HOA to let them know of these findings, to see if there was something that they could send out to the residents. I was told by the Mountain Park Ranch representative that they already did. Funny, no one I asked received it.

What do we do? Become a community that idly sits by as crime creeps into our neighborhood?

A common theory is that these are neighborhood kids, out of school for the summer and bored. To that I say, "Where are their parents?" What happens when they break into the wrong house or car and get shot?

And as for those of you who are parents, if your child comes home with a new camera, iPod or even a Coach patchwork bucket purse, ask them where they got these items, don't just turn a blind eye. And if it happens to be the Coach purse you come across, see if you can get my note back, it means the world to me.

Vanessa Ryan

Are left-leaning churches tweaking the Bible to suit their own agendas?

Dear Editor:

I found the June 20 open letter on the "Broken immigration system," signed by lots of impressive-sounding churchy types, curious, to say the least.

The assertion that the Second Commandment is to "love your neighbor as yourself" is simply untrue. The First Commandment is actually "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me." The second refers to making idols. God says not to, by the way. I think an argument could be made that the left has built several: the environment, diversity, global warming...

Is this a religious version of the "Living Constitution," of which the left is so enamored? Are the modern, more left-leaning mainstream churches simply tweaking the Bible to suit their own agendas? That seems a tad like "taking the Lord's name in vain," which means using it to further one's own ends without regard to the truth of what God actually commanded.

If we want to use The Ten Commandments in our discussion of illegal alien issues, perhaps we should look at all of them. For instance, the commandment about not coveting our neighbor's house, wife or donkey. How about coveting our neighbor's country? Not to mention our neighbor's health care system, education system and employment opportunities. Seems there is a lot of coveting going on on the part of our neighbors to the South.

How about the commandment about stealing? Does that apply to stealing jobs, medical care, education and welfare? No. 6:  "Thou shalt not murder." How many murders have been committed by illegal aliens? How about bearing false witness? Does that apply to lying about one's legal status and Social Security number? Does the ban on stealing apply to stealing the identity of a citizen of our country?

It appears completely disingenuous to pretend to be spouting the Word of God to justify your own political agenda. I know that Jesus said to love your neighbor, and that is often referred to as the 11th Commandment. Fine. I don't think he said to allow your country to be overrun and devastated by invading aliens. That's stretching the concept to the breaking point. People who call themselves ministers of Christianity should not stoop to such tactics. Leave that to the Democrats in Congress.

As for the statement about "embracing diversity," if ever there were a leftist bumper sticker, that would be it. In fact, it is non-diversity that has made the United States what it is - or was. Look at a U.S. coin. It says, "E Pluribus Unum." That means "out of many, one." The greatest attribute of the United States has always been that people come here to become Americans, from whatever country or culture they came from. In the past, that was celebrated, and no country on Earth accepts a more diverse population of immigrants than we do.

Try going to Holland, for instance, and being Dutch. They'll let you live there, but you'll never be Dutch. Here in America, if you come here to be an American, we will welcome you with open arms. That has always been our tradition. But if you come here to bring your culture and society with you, and not to assimilate and embrace the blessings of being an American, then you might as well go back to where you came from.

The left has made inroads into destroying the concept of E Pluribus Unum. We need to put a stop to that. Diversity will be the death of this country, as it has been to Europe, whose countries have allowed toxic cultures to move in and form pockets of unassimilated people who have no interest in embracing their adoptive countries' way of life. Only now are some of the European countries beginning to realize how destructive their love of "diversity" is to their own cultures and societies, and are trying to undo the damage. It is, it seems, too little and too late.

I recommend that everyone read Bruce Bawer's book, While Europe Slept, an eye-opener for the United States before we make the same mistakes as Europe.

I am sick of the sympathy for illegals. The system is not broken. We simply have to enforce the laws we have, and when we do, we see deportation by attrition taking place. No jobs, no benefits: they go home on their own. Yet when Sheriff Joe Arpaio does enforce the laws we have, he is called Hitler.

Time to wake up!

I was raised a Presbyterian, from a long line of Presbyterians dating back to my great grandparents coming from Scotland. I'm quite sure my departed family members are spinning in their graves at the sharp left turn - no doubt screeching around the corner on two wheels - made by many of the Protestant churches in America. The open letter of June 20 is an illustration of it.

Jan Pfahl