I'm appreciative that Dave Perry saw fit to publish my letter taking him to task on the previous week's editorial.
Dave had his say. He allowed me to have mine.
We will allow the people to decide who makes the better argument.
Please go to our posting of Oct 7, "Dave Perry Knows Not From Whence He Speaks" to read the editorial.
My letter-----
Dave Perry, as is his right, saw fit to chastise council members Bill Garner, Barry Gillaspie and Salette Latas for not attending the "State of the Town" speech last week, given by Mayor Loomis.
Far be for me to act as a spokesperson for my three council friends, and whatever their reasons, the real point should have been the comments by Loomis, not who did not attend this event. Mr. Perry saw fit not to note the absence of Supervisor Ann Day or Mayor Walkup, but made sure he directed his comments toward Bill, Barry and Salette.
Perry wrote: "State of the Town is the place to demonstrate civility and respect." From my standpoint, you can't demand respect; you must earn respect.
Mayor Loomis does not deserve respect. Perhaps if Perry was aware that Loomis orchestrated the removal of our dedicated Town Manager David Andrews only days earlier, he may have seen fit to editorialize that issue in lieu of making the issue Bill, Barry and Salette.
Additionally, although not part of his speech, Loomis advised the media that a property tax may well be on the horizon in Oro Valley. That news made page one in The Az Daily Star, and yet Perry did not even think this issue was worthy of even one sentence of his editorial, or for that matter, in the most recent edition of his newspaper.
We question the priorities of Mr. Perry and The Explorer.
Art Segal, Oro Valley
6 comments:
I would like to add that historically, when an event or a an address is give where both are conducted within an aura of pretendmanship (my word), where a false sense of propriety is advanced, and where reality is glossed, and where the
perpetrators are in 'charge', boycotting a charade is neither 'treasonous' nor does it demonstrate a lack of civility and/or respect.
The ultimate demonstration of lack of same was, in fact, manifested in the way a certain four Councilpersons handled the issue of our 'late' Town Manager, David Andrews. THIS WAS THE SHAME!
Did Perry ever make mention of the council members who weren't present in previous years? Or is he just so much in love with Loomis that he couldn't help himself this year?
"Mom"--- Dave Perry will need to answer for himself.
I'm sure he won't mind if I pass along his email. After all, he is the publisher , editor, and sometimes, reporter of The Explorer.
He does respond to my emails. I would think he'd respond to you, if you asked him the question directly. You can email him at
dperry@explorernews.com
Keep in mind, Mr. Perry has only been a resident of Oro Valley for just about two years.
Why should our elected officials or town employees attend a fund raising event for an organization?
The State of The Town speech is a paid fund raising event for the Chamber of Commerce.
It is not a public speech.
I commend Barry, Salette and Bill for not attending this fund raiser.
Once again the folks posting on this blog are ignorant of fact.
Zeeman....The State of the Town Address is not a fund raising event for the Chamber.
OV Mom.....While I have not attended every State of the Town address I have attended most of them. In my experience, this is the only year that the entire Council was not in attendance other than for personal/family emergencies.
Zev...I beg to differ with you. The non-appearance by the 'Three Stooges' was nothing more than a "lack of civility and/or respect." They may disagree with the position of the Mayor but they are the elected officials and therefore their appearance at certain events is expected. They disrespected the citizens of Oro Valley.
And I need not say anything about the original post by the egomaniac Segal. I thought it so very gracious of him to "allow the people to decide". What a piece of work.
Dear OV Objective Thinker - as a truly objective thinker watching this from the Pacific Northwest, I have to note that the Town Web site says …“The Northern Pima County Chamber of Commerce presents the Oro Valley State of the Town Address and Luncheon. You must purchase tickets to attend this event, individual tickets are $45 and a table of 10 is $425. For tickets contact the Chamber" So I'm unclear about the whereabouts of the profits for this event. It seems OV Mom's recollections and yours may be different. And your dismissive judgment of what appears to have been a legitimate political protest makes me wonder if you think elected officials are always infallible. Trying to rile people up by portraying it as a slap in the face of the voters is a tired and cheap old twist.
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