4A • SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2011 OPINION TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

OUR VIEW

Annexation deserves a ‘yes’ vote

The annexation of part of The
Refuge turned into a much bigger
and much more divisive issue
than should be warranted.
The Refuge annexation is really
about two people who saw a
potential business opportunity in
a failed golf course development.
It’s really about the right of Jerry
and Cindy Aldridge to operate a
very legal business on property
they own. It’s the same kind of
right afforded to anyone else
starting a business.
It’s also about whether the city
should be annexing a small par-
cel of adjoining land that can
increase the tax base and provide
jobs.
If the annexation wins
approval, it gives a green light to
the new business development, a
recreational vehicle resort. The
Aldridges say they expect to
employ 65 people and generate
some $200,000 in sales tax rev-
enue.
If the development works,
great. If it doesn’t, it’s the
Aldridges, not the taxpayers, who
will feel the brunt of failure. It is
they, not taxpayers, taking the
risk on this project.
It’s a plan already approved by
the City Council and endorsed by
business, tourism and economic
development groups. It’s almost a
no-brainer.
It’s a shame the original Refuge
development, complete with
Arnold Palmer signature golf
course, didn’t work out. It’s one
of many golf developments that
have fizzled in recent years
around the country. The Aldridge
purchase at least kept the course
open, giving residents and visi-
tors another recreation option.
Give credit to the Aldridges for
salvaging the property and work-
ing to create their own develop-
ment providing jobs and tax rev-
enue and an enhanced visitor future financial exposure in this
amenity. The community sorely annexation. The city will provide
needs these things. required public safety coverage
This development would have and allow the development to tap
been well under way by now had into the city’s allocation of indus-
not annexation opponents — the trial water, paid for in advance.
core composed of some Refuge That’s about it. There’s almost no
property owners — gathered downside and very good upside
enough petition signatures to for the community in approving
bring it to a public vote. Though the annexation.
the special election will cost If the annexation fails, it’s likely
some $138,000, the opponents the course will close and the
exercised their rights in bringing remaining 45 employees will lose
it to the ballot. Ultimately, the their jobs. There will be fewer,
city decided to spend the money not more, jobs in our community.
on a special ballot because delay- Think tumbleweeds rolling over a
ing the vote until the next elec-
desiccated landscape. Think of
tion would deny justice to the
Aldridges and effectively kill the the English Village and what
development plan. untapped potential really looks
Unfortunately, the election like.
battle has generated far more For these reasons and many
heat than light. Opponents claim more, The Refuge annexation
the annexation would be a fiasco question deserves a yes vote by
for city government. We, howev- the public.
er, can’t find much city cost or — Today’s News-Herald

SKETCH PAD YOUR VIEWS

More than a few

should start voting
Editor:
There have been recent mentions of Havasu becoming
another Palm Springs or Scottsdale, recently even the
zoning board made this mention, right after someone
made mention of left wingers moaning over those not
obligated by the sewer expansion. Please give me a break,
its plain to see that the few well to do in town with noth-
ing better to do, are running this town on there own agen-
da or are trying to get there own way with the almighty
buck.
Well, a lot of us retired here because we could afford to
and be able to enjoy life. We have helped the community
supporting it and volunteering time and yes, we voted for
infrastructure to be installed, because it was a scare and
also cared about the city welfare. If anyone should be
upset it should be the people that were originally on
sewer. All should have been paying for it then and should
be now ... but money talks in this town, not common
sense.
If you or we wanted to live in Palm Springs or
Scottsdale, you or we would have moved there and not
here. Havasu is a city for all the people not just a few and
OTHER VIEWS more then just a few should get out and start voting.
Walt Lloyd

Debt ceiling gamesmanship highs and lows Left and right lunatics call the shots
Lake Havasu City

Since the onset of World War II,
Congress has voted more than
once a year to increase the legal
ceiling on the national debt, rais-
ing it from $49 billion to the cur-
rent $14.3 trillion, mostly in the
last 30 years.
On many occasions, the votes
were sharply partisan, as each
party in turn used the situation to
criticize its rival’s alleged fiscal
profligacy. Democrats opposed
increases during Republican
administrations; Republicans did
so under Democrats.
Both parties bear some respon-
sibility. After all, due to a variety of
factors, the national debt rose 85
percent during the eight years of
the George W. Bush presidency
and an additional 35 percent dur-
ing President Barack Obama’s first
two years.
Generally, it was politically safe
to vote against increasing the debt
ceiling, since everyone knew
Congress eventually would act to
avert any threat to the nation’s
financial stability. Congress never
failed to raise the ceiling, though
in 2008 the House initially rejected
an economic bailout bill that
included a $700 billion increase.
Since 2006, however, lawmakers
have wrapped debt ceiling increas-
es into other “must” legislation,
fearful a “stand-alone” bill might
lose.
As yet another such vote
approaches, this year’s bitter parti-
san fighting over the deficit and
several other factors threaten to
produce a rejection both party
leaderships acknowledge would be
disastrous.
They include these:
—Republican leaders see the
vote as one of their best ways to
force Obama to accept more of
their prescriptions for curbing the
deficit. While they tout the $38 bil-
CARL P.
LEUBSDORF
lion cut by the recent agreement
on this year’s budget, both sides
recognize those reductions were
relatively modest.
—Many freshman House
Republicans were elected after
pledging to oppose the increase,
forcing the GOP leadership to rely
on Democrats who are not in
much of a compromising mood.
—Recent polls show the coun-
try strongly opposes raising the
debt ceiling, presumably in the
mistaken belief that would some-
how curb the deficit.
—Senate Democrats, and to
some extent Obama, are reluctant
to help Republicans achieve their
goals of further slashing domestic
programs and revamping
Medicare.
When Obama argues against
rejecting the increase, he faces one
highly embarrassing problem: his
own 2006 vote against raising the
debt ceiling and his contention
that the need to do so “is a sign of
leadership failure.”
Indeed, Obama voted only once
as a senator to raise the debt ceil-
ing, missing two other votes.
As the country’s debt nears the
legal limit, which officials expect to
happen in mid-May, it’s unclear
how much impact repeated warn-
ings against allowing that to hap-
pen will have on members of
Congress.
For one thing, Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner has
indicated the government proba-
bly can use various legal means to
avoid any crisis until about July 8,
giving lawmakers an excuse to Editor:
delay a showdown until late June. Well, here we are again, good old mainstream
They showed during the recent American voters stuck in the middle between the lunatic
battle over the 2011 budget that left and the lunatic right.
they were willing to squabble until We have seen the effect of the lunatic left in the person
within hours of the deadline, even of the Democrats and Obama who were going to end
if failure to agree might have
George Bush’s stupid wars and have an open government.
forced the government to shut That went out the window as soon as they were elected.
some services. But that’s what the American public wanted, so that’s
Still, there is general agreement what they were told.
this situation is far more danger- The lunatic right would have us believe that go to
ous than that one, which might church every Sunday (Christian of course) do away with
have mainly kept some federal abortion, homosexuality and Islam and all will be right
workers home and shut museums with the world. We rode that horse into Iraq and
and national parks. Afghanistan with George Bush and we know where that
Beyond preventing the govern- got us.
ment from borrowing to pay its So who will we vote for? We will, as usual, vote for the
bills, even the threat of a shutdown ones that do the best job of telling us what we want to
could have a significant psycho- hear, even though we know full well it will be just a pack
logical impact, as Standard & of lies.
Poor’s recently warned. That was Good luck to us, we are going to need it.
echoed Sunday by former Treasury Donald Moore
Secretaries Robert Rubin, a Lake Havasu City
Democrat, and Paul O’Neill, a
Republican. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR MUST BE 300 WORDS OR LESS
“An impasse or serious threats
with respect to a default” can do LETTERS POLICY
“great damage to confidence in
our political system, and potential- Today’s News-Herald welcomes letters from our readers.
Letters must be signed, and a telephone number and address
ly to our markets,” Rubin said on
CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.” must be listed to help in verifying the identity of the letter writer.
Letters are limited to 300 words. We will run letters by a given
Asked if he agreed, O’Neill replied,
author once per month. We reserve the right to edit all letters.
“Absolutely.”
Libelous or letters in poor taste or making personal attacks will be
But a day later, House Speaker
edited or not published. Letters about specific businesses will not
John Boehner showed little had
be published.
changed, warning he might not
MAIL LETTERS TO: Editor, Today’s News-Herald
even allow a House vote on the
2225 W. Acoma Blvd. | Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403
debt ceiling unless Obama agreed
or e-mail to editor@havasunews.com
to major entitlement cuts. “If the
president doesn’t get serious about
the need to address our fiscal HOW TO CONTACT ...
nightmare, yeah, there’s a chance Lake Havasu City Council Lake Havasu Unified School
it (the debt limit vote) could not 2330 N. McCulloch Blvd. District
happen,” he told Politico.com. “But Phone Number: 928-453-4140 Governing Board Members
Mayor Mark Nexsen
that’s not my goal.” mayor@lhcaz.gov 2200 Havasupai Blvd.
http://www.havasu.k12.az.us/staff
One would hope not. Lake Havasu City Council
Phone Number (928) 453-4140 /board.htm
Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Vice Mayor Don Callahan (928) 505-6900
Council member Dean Barlow
Washington bureau chief of the Council member Lee Barnes Jo Navaretta, president
Dallas Morning News. Readers Council member Sonny Borrelli Pat Rooney, vice president
Council member David McAtlin Ross Hobday, member
may write to him via e-mail at: Council member Margaret Nancy Iannone, member
carl.p.leubsdorf@gmail.com. Nyberg Randy Troyer, member

Owned and published by
RIVER CITY NEWSPAPERS, L.L.C.
2225 W. ACOMA BLVD.
LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ 86403
(928) 453-4237 • (800) 894-2109
SUCCESSOR TO THE DAILY HERALD & TODAY’S DAILY NEWS
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Mike Quinn | quinn@havasunews.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Becky Maxedon |
editor@havasunews.com
NEWS EDITOR
news@havasunews.com
BUSINESS MANAGER | Sandy Standifer
DIRECTOR OF
ADVERTISING & MARKETING
Gary Tackett | ads@havasunews.com
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Jim Abdon | circ@havasunews.com
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Kelly Parks | web@havasunews.com
Today’s News-Herald (USPS 302-340) (ISSN 1084-9009) is
published 7 days a week for a suggested home delivery rate
of $122.03 per year. Inside Mohave County by mail is
$228.32 per year. Outside Mohave County, Arizona is
$283.43 per year. Single copies Monday-Saturday $2.50
each and Sunday $4.50 each. Periodicals postage paid at
Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Today’s News-Her-
ald, 2225 W. Acoma Blvd., Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403.
For circulation, subscriptions, news items, advertising rates
and deadlines call (928) 453-4237.
If you have not received your paper by 7 a.m., call 855-6392.
Copyright 2010, Today’s News-Herald.
All rights reserved. Reproduction in
whole or part prohibited without permis-
sion.