SedonaEye.com financial columnist J. Rick Normand notes in his latest National Monument designation expose’ that the RESCUE OUR ARIZONA RED ROCKS (ROARR) Movement Gains Momentum as KSB Falters!
Sedona AZ (September 14, 2015) – Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled program, but the ROARR movement is gaining inmmense momentum against KSB, the Sierra Club and the City of Sedona activist Councilors!
For several months now, ever so slowly, small groups around the Verde Valley and its environs have been forming, independently, to explore the Keep Sedona Beautiful and Sierra Club’s marketing efforts relative to the proposed Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument designation. As they have begun to discover that there are immense and likely permanent downside risks to such a federal land resource designation, that deliberately have not been disclosed to an unwary public by its proponents, opposition has organized and coalesced into a movement.
One of the problems for this growing movement against KSB’s push for the SVVRRNM designation is that it doesn’t have a name, or handle, that is identifiable in the media that isn’t extremely wordy and cumbersome to refer to. The proponents are known as KSB, the anti-proponents as “the conspiracy theorists against the SVVRRNM.” I think its time for the anti-designation proponents to find a memorable name, or handle, that instantly identifies who we are to the rest of the country, our Congressional delegation, and the statewide, if not national, news media. Thus, I am proposing that our movement adopt the title of “Rescue Our Arizona Red Rocks” or “ROARR!” which is what we’re beginning to do!
I have intentionally left the name “Sedona” out of this proposed handle because the NM designation proposal involves the whole Verde Valley and northern Arizona, not just the City of Sedona which is fast developing a reputation for its arrogance by acting as if it speaks for all 80,000 residents of the Verde Valley without having the common decency to ask for their input.
Keep Sedona Beautiful 2010 logo photo
While KSB and the Sierra Club were both started by well-meaning environmental activists with the highest of goal standards, both have now been taken over by a political movement with an agenda that has departed from their original mission statements. Am I audacious for making this claim? Many will say so, but hear me out. I will prove what I allege if you’ll read on.
Consider these facts:
Why are certain City Councilors, and by proxy, the City Government, involved with this issue at all since it’s a political issue that affects all the Verde Valley and must be requested of another political layer for presentation to the federal government, namely our Congressional delegation, who’s majority does not favor the NM designation?
Why does the published marketing in favor of the NM designation list nefarious studies and supporting organizations supported by no demonstable facts, but rather only by unsubstantiated emotional arguments?
Why did Sedona’s Mayor publicly admit that the “Monument Workgroup” is KSB, whose members had never been identified in print, yet who were called to action by the City to prepare a report on the purported need for the NM designation?
Why do the Monument Workgroup and the proponents of the NM designation fail to mention a single downside probability to the NM designation when there are dozens of legitimate and probable legal, operational, economic and quality-of-life issues that are not ever mentioned? Not a single one, mind you!
Sedona Arizona’s Village of Oak Creek
Why can’t KSB, the Sierra Club, the Monument Workgroup, and the City of Sedona get a single federal land and resource management official in Washington, D.C. to come to the Verde Valley and admit, in a public forum, that all of the proponent’s purported fact allegations are true? For instance, the proponent’s marketing says that the National Forest Service rather than the National Park Service will manage the NM while they can’t produce a written guarantee from any federal land and resource managment agency as to that alleged fact. And, that is a huge, if not, cataclysmic distinction explained below…and KSB and the Sierra Club know it!
Since it is alleged that a National Monument designation results in extraordinary economic benefits due to an increase in tourism, how is the Verde Valley, and particularly Sedona, going to handle all that increased traffic flow seven days a week when we are currently being strangled by overwhelming unmanageable traffic just three days a week?
And, by the way, how many of you have noticed the traffic jams now beginning to occur in west Sedona southbound on 89A to Cottonwood? What is happening? Motorists experienced with the traffic jam ups on SR 179 on their way to I-17, in order to get home in the Verde Valley, have decided it’s faster to go through west Sedona to get to the SR 260 through Cottonwood to I-17. Just wait until you see what happens if the NM designation is passed. That prospect is not just a matted of traffic jams on steroids but horrendous air pollution that we’ve never known before.
Finally, why is it that every published writer in the area who writes supporting the ROARR movement and employs the support of empirical evidence, points of authority, expert opinions, legal opinions, economic opinions and logical arguments are immediately attacked by commenters and bloggers who never recite any such counter-evidence but always fall back on personal attacks upon the writers?
In light of the abovementioned unanswered critical questions, let’s examine the full-page advertisement published on August 28, 2015 in the Red Rock News by the undisclosed and nefarious proponents of the subject National Monument designation:
- In appearance, it is worded to appear official and unchallengeable, as well as reliable, when in newspaper print. That is, at least to the unwary eye who still believes KSB and the Sierra Club to be altruistic organizations. The top-of-page and across-the-page headline reads “Preliminary Management Recommendations for the Proposed Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument.” Recommendations from whom, explicitly, and to whom, explicitly? The advertisement never makes that clear. If it meets the definition of “official” then there should be no question about who makes the claim and paid for the advertisement.
Then, below that header is another page-wide secondary headline that reads, “The Monument shall be managed consistent with the values that underlie the designation as a National Monument:”
- Sounds great, but the fact of the matter is that National Monuments nationwide are suffering from an unfunded $11.5 billion dollar budget shortfall which has existed for most of the Obama Administration and there has been terrible degradation of most all of Arizona’s 22 National Monuments throughout the state.
- Note that not a single one of them is managed by the U.S. Forest Service which is claimed by the (nefarious) Monument Workgroup to be the federal management agency that will manage the proposed SVVRRNM – even though KSB, the Sierra Club, Tom O’Halleran, and AZ Congressperson Ann Kirkpatrick can’t come up with a written federal guarantee. In fact, all of our state’s National Monuments are managed by either the National Park Service or the BLM.
- Nevertheless, is there any consequence to a distinction between management of the subject proposed National Monument by the U.S. Forest Service or the National Park Service? Yes, there is a monumental (pun intended) consequence that the Red Rock News advertisement conveniently doesn’t mention. The U.S. Forest Service is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture which operates under lenient rules towards public access and activities inside the federal land management designation, whereas the National Park Service, that operates under Draconian rules towards public access and activities in the designated territory, is a sub-agency of the Department of the Interior.
- And, so is the Bureau of Land Management, architect of of state’s rights publicity disaster in Bunkerville, Nevada and the EPA, architect of the ecological disasters in Durango, Colorado and in eastern Arizona in 2002 relative to the nation’s worst ever forest fire known as the Rodeo-Chediski fire.
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Meanwhile, our National Monuments, nationwide, as mentioned earlier, currently suffer an $11.5 billion backlog of deferred maintenance of aging infrastructure facilities which has existed since the end of the Bush II administration – and will take many years just to catch up once funding is approved which isn’t even under consideration for Congressional action at this time.
Continuing with the KSB – Sierra Club full page advertisement content, there is a box with the caption at the top that says, “The following recommendations are essential to protect the values of the Monument and they must be consistent with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected by the Proclamation.” Within the box, there are 31 seemingly official recommendations. What they constitute, though, is a wish list, without any federal guarantee document proposed, to ensure that anything on the wish list is ever accomplished! -
What’s worse is that the most significant of the recommendations are predicated upon management of the subject proposed National Monument by the lenient U.S. Forest Service as opposed to the Draconian National Park Service, with no written federal land and resource management agency guarantee that the USFS will be the intial management agency nor will it not be subject to replacement due to the will of whichever Presidential Administration is in power. This is said in light of the fact that there are currently in the United States 117 National Monuments and all but 9 have had their management assigned to the National Park Service. This Monument Workgroup slight-of-hand is meant to deceive the unwitting public supporters of the SVVRRNM designation proposal into believing that the proposed management will be beneficent.
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What this rancorous debate all comes down to is this…if KSB, the Sierra Club, the Monument Workgroup, the Mayor, City Councilors and other former City public officials who are proponents of the proposed NM designation were really intent upon acting in the best interests of the City and the Verde Valley, they would evidence sufficient integrity to couch their published arguments in a foundation based upon presentation of both sides arguments, presentation of demonstrable facts, fair and equal consideration for the vast unincorporated areas of the Verde Valley, its other municipalities, and its other townships not within the Sedona City Limits, and, most importantly of all, to objectively inform the unwitting NM proponents who trust them without question of all known facts and potential repercussions!
But, instead, what the public has gotten from the aforementioned trusted people in power is a tactical shell game of “keep ‘em lookin’ eslewhere (see Mark Dice videos @https://www.youtube.com/user/markdice to see how this tactic works).” KSB, the Sierra Club, Tom O’Halleran, Congressperson Ann Kirkpatrick, and the NM proponents don’t deal with facts, nor even quantifiable probabilities, but, rather, in speculations based on their own personal belief systems. Not to mention intimidation of opposition writers by threats of libel lawsuits and complaints to the police of harassment and physical threats that never happened, published anonymous studies by anonymous workgroups who propose fallacious recommendations based on nonexistent or misstated facts couched in hidden agendas, guilt trips, and political overreach styled as speculative “consequences of inaction” (want to stop ATVs..then have ADOT ban them from state roads of access to the more sensitive Red Rock areas..), threat of political coercion such as Presidential Executive Orders, and, arrogance at public events with no mention of downside risks (they’d have you believe there are none)!
Colorado river canal delivers Arizona water, a resource impacted by a NM decision
Here’s what KSB and the SVVRRNM proponents never tell their adoring supporters:
The needs of a busy city are incongruent with the restrictions of a National Monument: Studies of the economic impact of National Monuments on a given area have stated that “land locking by a national monument may not be legal.” No one is sure as it has never been done. Sedona and the Verde Valley may be the unfortunate guinea pigs.
Real issues are water, sewer, power, roads, insecticides, herbicides, firefighting – all of which may become points of contention that may require EIS and NEPA studies costing millions of dollars payable by local Monument adjacent areas, not by the federal government. If so, we will be forced to pay for those studies, even if relative to adjacent private land. It would be rare that any new utilities or roads would ever be allowed in a National Monument, and infrastructure repairs may require NEPA studies.
As I have mentioned in my recent article @ https://sedonaeye.com/damn-all-of-you-who-want-all-the-facts/” the Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other property belonging to the United States …” (Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2).” When deciding whether it is appropriate for federal agencies to regulate private, county and state property, to protect federal lands from external threats, the federal courts have consistently ruled in favor of the “inholders rule” which gives the federal government the right and power to assert its political and physical control over adjacent non-federal property (including municipalities,) in order to eliminate any threats to the objectives of the federal land management policy within the federal stewardship land. Call it what you want…I call it martial law!
Thus, the following question from ROARR, from an ethical if not legal perspective, should be addressed in the Keep Sedona Beautiful, The Sierra Club, and the pro-SVVRRNM designation websites and marketing materials handed out to the public, as follows:
As I asked in my article at The Eye link mentioned above…”Is it possible, that it could be interpreted under the above mentioned ‘inholding rule’ that the federal jurisdiction of the Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument would extend into the Village of Oak Creek and the unincorporated environs of the Verde Valley and possibly into the incorporated municipalities of Sedona, Camp Verde, Cottonwood and Clarkdale that would be immediately adjacent to the proposed SVVRRNM designated boundaries?”
If the “inholding rule” can be applied to the extra territorial areas just mentioned, the fact of local self-governance could be impaired and we could find the place we live and love under indirect, or even direct, federal authority. At the minimum, if the inholding rule does apply in our case, if the subject National Monument designation is accomplished, this could give the Feds a choke-hold on our local economy, qualify-of-life issues, and our liberty.
What the SVVRRNM will give the Verde Valley and the cities of Sedona, Camp Verde, Cottonwood, Jerome and Clarkdale as well as the VOC, Cornville and Page Springs is a new layer of political control over private property.
We’ll have unincorporated areas of the Verde Valley and its city municipalities overlayed with the Local Land Use Program Administration, and the Jurisdictional Inquiry Unit, which provides advice to landowners and potential project sponsors regarding Agency jurisdiction, including informal phone advice and written jurisdictional determinations. Bureau staff will help citizens determine if an Agency permit or variance is required. Determinations often require a full deed history and other legal and factual research. The Jurisdictional Inquiry Staff also handles referrals from other agencies, telephone calls, and walk-in members of the public.
Harley McGuire and pals love hiking and walking Sedona red rock trails! Contact your local representative for more information on access restrictions to National Monuments by pets.
With National Monument status, we’ll have a whole new layer of political control as if we don’t have enough already.
There will be even more restrictions on public land usage that we currently enjoy.
Each of you now have a right to enjoy our public land, but the Feds believe that being inside a National Monument is a privilege, not a right!
Each of us could see a loss of mountain biking trails (99% of our trails were made by bikers), the elimination of some trails, inability to create new trails, loss of back country travel in our vehicles, more road closures without new roads to replace them, loss of ability to hike with a leashed dog – since the Feds believe dogs may chase wildlife even while on a leash – and we could even lose our choices of trail head and associated trails we’ve always known or the choice to go off-trail to do rock climbing.
As it is now, we all have the right to enjoy our public lands, but traversing a Monument is considered only a “federally defined” privilege. Unwitting violators will be met by uniformed and armed federal parkland police!
Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!
Thank you JRN, we are lucky to have you in our community how would we ever get along without you.
J. Rick
As usual, your analysis is spot on. Hope you plan to attend AZLIB’s Thursday meetings (12 noon and 7 pm) on at the Christ Center Wesleyan Church on Brewer Road where we will exposure the unintended consequences of the NM
Please attend the KSB town hall meeting being held at VOCA clubhouse at 5:30 on the 15th.
As you can see below, this Big Park Council flip flops, has no right to vote on behalf of our Big Park Community for ANY issue!!!.
They are a small group not representative of our community. It is a play group.
They must be stopped from speaking on our behalf and held accountable.
I will personally organize a group of homeowners to sue these people if the monument is passed for misrepresenting and assuming the wishes of our population.
———————————————
Message to the Representatives:
At the September Council, a motion to rescind the Council’s support for the Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument was made but the Council voted not to rescind its support. The original proposal to support the National Monument was passed unanimously at the June Council meeting. The outcome of the September meeting was the encouragement for the Representatives as well as all residents to attend two meetings next week on this matter. On Tuesday September 15, there will be a public meeting at the VOCA Community Center at 690 Bell Rock Blvd in the VOC from 5:30 to 7:30 PM that is being organized by supporters of the National Monument. There is a second public meeting on Thursday September 17 at the Christ Center Wesleyan Church at 580 Brewer Rd, Sedona from 12:00 to 1:30PM or 7:00 to 8:30PM that is being organized by those opposed to the National Monument. After the Representatives have assimilated the information from these meetings, the Representatives at the October Council meeting will decide if there should be any modification or amendment to the approved motion of support from the June meeting.
I have attached a flyer for each side of the question, i.e. the pro and con.
Steve Nelson, President BPRCC
Join Us!
EVENT: Public Meeting on Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument where KSB will present their monument plan
WHEN: Please join us –
Tuesday, September 15th 4:30
WHERE:
Village of Oak Creek Community Association
690 Bell Rock Blvd.
Village of Oak Creek, 86351
DETAILS:
Please consider joining us to show up in opposition of the plans to create a Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument.
LET’S SHOW THE KSB WORKING GROUP THAT PEOPLE DESERVE MORE INFORMATION AND A MORE IN DEPTH DISCUSSION; WE WANT A VOICE IN THIS DECISION.
THANKS FOR COMING OUT TO SUPPORT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT: VOTE NO!
Also, join us Thursday, September 17th, at either noon -or- 7 PM (two options) for the “VOTE NO ON THE NATIONAL MONUMENT” TOWN HALL meeting at Christ Center Church, 580 Brewer Road, Sedona, 86336. The meeting is open to the public and will include comments by Arizona Representative Bob Thorpe, LD6.
THE CITIZENS OF THE VILLAGE, SEDONA, COTTONWOOD, CAMP VERDE, CLARKDALE AND SURROUNDING AREAS DESERVE TO HEAR THE “OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY”. WE PROPERTY OWNERS AND BUSINESS OWNERS IN THE VERDE VALLEY DESERVE FULL DISCLOSURE AND AN OPEN DISCUSSION. THIS DECISION SHOULD NOT BE MADE VIA EXECUTIVE ORDER.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR BOTH MEETINGS! YOU HAVE A VERY PERSONAL STAKE IN THIS OUTCOME SO GET INFORMED! PLEASE BRING NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS.
This is Government by the People and We Have a Voice in This!
FIGHT THIS; IT IS IN OUR OWN BACKYARDS!!!!!
We need all the help we can get!
There is more information on what you can do on our website:
Stop the Federal Government from Taking Over More of Our Land Rights
——————————————————————————–
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUBMIT A QUESTION FOR THIS PLEASE USE THE FORM ON THIS LINK
– please visit –
http://www.ConcernedCitizensforAmerica.com
Thank you for your attention and your help.
Sponsors: Concerned Citizens for America
Sincerely,
Concerned Citizens for America
ccontact@concernedcitizensforamerica.com
Visit our website:
http://www.ConcernedCitizensforAmerica.com
Thank you for this sentence Rick! This cuts to the core of why the opposition is and should be so strong!
“Each of you now have a right to enjoy our public land, but the Feds believe that being inside a National Monument is a privilege, not a right!”
https://sedonaeye.com/national-monument-by-executive-order-dilemma/
Dear friends:
We need your help NOW!
Please join us today, Tuesday, September 15th, at 4:30 PM at the Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument Public meeting at Village of Oak Creek Community Association, 690 Bell Rock Blvd., Village of Oak Creek, Sedona AZ 86351. The meeting is open to the public and will be KSB’s presentation on their support of the national monument designation plan.
Let’s all ask: Do we want the President to designate our own community a “National Monument” via Executive Order without our input? Fully explain the consequences.
LET’S SHOW THE KSB WORKING GROUP THAT PEOPLE DESERVE MORE INFORMATION AND A MORE IN DEPTH DISCUSSION ABOUT THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS; LOCAL RESIDENTS WANT A VOICE IN THIS DECISION.
THANKS FOR COMING OUT TO HEAR THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT, TOO.
Join us Thursday, September 17th, at either Noon – or- 7:00 p.m. (two options) for the “VOTE NO ON THE NATIONAL MONUMENT TOWN HALL” meeting at Christ Center Church, 580 Brewer Road, Sedona, Arizona 86336. The meeting is open to the public and will include comments by Arizona Representative Bob Thorpe of AZ-LD6.
It is essential that you hear all sides of the debate.
THE CITIZENS OF THE VILLAGE of OAK CREEK, SEDONA, COTTONWOOD, CAMP VERDE, CLARKDALE AND SURROUNDING AREAS MUST HEAR ALL SIDES OF THE STORY.
WE PROPERTY OWNERS AND BUSINESS OWNERS IN THE VERDE VALLEY DESERVE FULL DISCLOSURE AND AN OPEN DISCUSSION.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR BOTH MEETINGS. YOU HAVE A VERY PERSONAL STAKE IN THIS OUTCOME SO GET INFORMED.
PLEASE BRING NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS.
Hi,
I signed a petition to Sandy Moriarity, Sedona City Mayor, Sedona City Council, and 7 others which says:
“*Please note: There are many groups opposing this proposal. Therefore, there are several petitions circulating. Please sign only one.
Thank you for your support to stop the proposed national monument designation that will include Sedona and the Verde Valley.
Our communities have been given just a few short weeks to research both the intended and unintended consequences. We need, want, and have a right to more time to weigh the effects of what will be a lifelong change.”
Will you sign this petition? Click here:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/united-citizens-opposing?source=s.em.mt&r_by=703153
Thanks!
The KSB Monumental mistake presentation is today. Above it is listed as 4:30, but Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument Facebook page lists the meeting as 5:30 to 7:30.
Are you suggesting we get there an hour early to make sure we get a seat?
Thanks.
After the Representatives have assimilated the information from these meetings, the Representatives at the October Council meeting will decide if there should be any modification or amendment to the approved motion of support from the June meeting.
IF YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING TO PUT IN A DISCLAIMER TO MAKE YOU EXEMPT FROM LIABILITY
LET IT BE KNOWN WHO YOU REALLY ARE>>>>>
Message to the Representatives:
At the September Council, a motion to rescind the Council’s support for the Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument was made but the Council voted not to rescind its support. The original proposal to support the National Monument was passed unanimously at the June Council meeting. The outcome of the September meeting was the encouragement for the Representatives as well as all residents to attend two meetings next week on this matter. On Tuesday September 15, there will be a public meeting at the VOCA Community Center at 690 Bell Rock Blvd in the VOC from 5:30 to 7:30 PM that is being organized by supporters of the National Monument. There is a second public meeting on Thursday September 17 at the Christ Center Wesleyan Church at 580 Brewer Rd, Sedona from 12:00 to 1:30PM or 7:00 to 8:30PM that is being organized by those opposed to the National Monument. After the Representatives have assimilated the information from these meetings, the Representatives at the October Council meeting will decide if there should be any modification or amendment to the approved motion of support from the June meeting.
I have attached a flyer for each side of the question, i.e. the pro and con.
Steve Nelson, President BPRCC
Bumper Stickers! Support the effort and buy yours at: http://www.ArizonaLiberty.us
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NoSVVNationalMonument
Thank you for your support opposing the national monument designation! Through our joint efforts the Monument Workgroup and the Sedona City Council are getting the message loud and clear for you the citizens that this is NOT a DONE DEAL.
There are many VALID unanswered questions being asked by passionate and concerned citizens of Sedona and the Verde Valley about the unintended consequences of more federal control.
The Arizona Liberty team has been making progress on building support for the opposition:
– Attending KSB led public meetings each Thursday @ 1:00 PM at the KSB Office
– Speaking to people about the unintended consequences of the national
monument designation
– Hosting events such as September 3 Concerned Citizens for America meeting,
standing room only!
– Hosting upcoming Town Hall meetings on September 17 at 12 PM and 7 PM with
speakers and presentation including video. Please join us.
– Manning booths at the Sedona Farmers Market and at the Coconino County Fair
– Watching the KSB led Coalition faltering now that Tom O’Halleran has stepped down
– Running newspaper ads and posting on websites.
What YOU can do to support the effort:
– Stay educated visit http://www.ArizonaLiberty.us For in depth articles and more.
– Do your own research, people like you are uncovering new information every day.
– Attend the September 17th Town Hall and other meetings.
– Talk to at least 5 friends and neighbors
– Read the Preliminary Management Plan and make comments at:
http://www.sedonaverdevalleyredrocknationalmonument.org/
Bumper Stickers! Support the effort and buy yours at: http://www.ArizonaLiberty.us
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NoSVVNationalMonument
Thank you again for your support!
To All Readers at The Eye:
*In my second article at this link is Eddie Maddock’s comment:
https://sedonaeye.com/is-there-a-national-monument-designation-downside-part-ii/
Eddie Maddock says:
August 18, 2015 at 4:52 pm
In a phone call to Nicole Branton, local District Forest Ranger, she responded to my question about whether or not a USFS representative could address a public meeting and field questions about the proposed National Monument…..She explained that at this time there would be NOTHING FOR THEM TO OFFER because they do not not know what the.proposal from KSB will be or, obviously, what the final “Proclamation” will contain. In other words, only after the fact and the deed is done will they or anyone else be aware of the terms, conditions, jurisdiction, or other details the official “Proclamation” will provide; and that will come from Washington, DC, under the authorization of the President of the United States.
USFS personnel cannot respond to questions such as will Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, or USFS have jurisdiction.
*In my first article at this link is a comment from KSB’s Nancy Brown:
https://sedonaeye.com/is-there-a-national-monument-designation-downside/
Nancy Brown says:
August 14, 2015 at 10:30 am
“Your statement shown below that becomes your subsequent premise for this whole inflammatory article is flat out FALSE. It is highly irresponsible of you to masquerade this fabrication as fact.”
*In the commenters blog to the same article, I replied to Nancy Brown, as follows:
J. Rick Normand says:
August 14, 2015 at 2:32 pm
@Nancy Brown.
First, would you please state your credentials in detail,
Secondly, please provide hard evidence that the U.S. Forest Service will provide the Red Rock Country National Monument management as opposed to any other agency I’ve mentioned
Thirdly, please provide hard evidence of any U.S. Government GUARANTEE that the management of the proposed National Monument will not ever be changed to a different agency of the federal government from the agency who will initially manage the monument.
Fourth, please prove that any of the recounts of Federal Land management that I have mentioned in this article are false or misstated.
*From that point on and through my subsequent three articles, Nancy Brown refused to answer my questions.
LAST NIGHT, at the VOC Community Center, KSB gave their full 2 hour presentation as to their argument for approval of the NM designation. The entirely of the interminably tedious and irksome presentation, which was essentially a reading of the RRNews ad that KSB placed on August 28, was shown on a screen from an overhead projector and read to the audience by a panel member.
The entire KSB argument is built on a mere ASSUMPTION that the US Forest Service (USFS) will be the Monument management agency even tough there is not a single one of Arizona’s 22 National Monuments that is managed by the USFS. At the end of the meeting, the moderator, Barbara Litrell, took questions. Mine ended up being the last question of the night before the calamitous fist fight broke out (yes, the YCSO had to send 5 deputies and 5 paramedics to deal with the fisticuffs). My question was addressed to KSB panel member Nancy Brown mentioned above. The question I asked of her was “DO YOU, OR DO YOU NOT, HAVE A WRITTEN GUARANTEE FROM THE USFS THAT STATES THEY WILL BE THE MONUMENT MANAGER IN PERPETUITY?” The resounding answer from Ms. Brown was “NO!” We all could have left two hours earlier if that fact had been disclosed. What was painfully clear was that KSB wants to push its illogical, undocumented and unsubstantiated Marxist/Utopian dream on 80,000 unsuspecting Verde Valley residents who NEVER asked for this land grab!
JRN.
@JRick you wrote —— Real issues are water, sewer, power, roads, insecticides, herbicides, firefighting – all of which may become points of contention that may require EIS and NEPA studies costing millions of dollars payable by local Monument adjacent areas, not by the federal government.
Am convinced. Bad deal for Sedona & area. Nicely done, succinct, in your face. Easy to read & easy to share. You’ve found a match for your writing finally. Who knew it could be, eh?
HEY MR. EDITOR & STAFF WE LIKE THIS SITE, BEST IN NOAZ.
National Monument
National Park
Creation of a greater evil
You are fools if you don’t watch this true story of an Ohio area that thought at first it was a wonderful idea for a park until the feds destroyed the area when they took it over ——–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhruoZq7qQ&feature=youtu.be
a website called mclean brown
(SedonaEye.com editor: Edited to remove dotcom hyperlink business access, use a browser search)
Can somebody in the film industry here in Sedona find the movie “For the people for all the time” or something like that…it’s mentioned at the end of the PBS Frontline link above and post it here?? I was supporting the National Monument. Thanks for making me see the error of my ways Mr. Normand and others. Will be ordering a No Monument bumper sticker. Would get one for everyone in Arizona if could afford it.
Who got in the fight????? Did somebody go to jail ???????
NATIONAL MONUMENT
HONEST FACTS FOR CONCERNED CITIZENS
This is for those who:
1. Do not want to increase traffic and maintenance of our current infrastructure without any immediate or future compensation.
2. Want to retain our volunteers and budget for park services, upkeep and rangers. We have some money. The Feds have NONE.
3. Want to keep our freedom to repair, clean up, and walk or drive to any trails, Stupa or ruins without a mandated shuttle required.
4. Want to fish in the Creeks and the Verde River.
5. Keep our senior water rights for wells, creeks and rivers. Oppose the 1.7 million acre Grand Canyon watershed National Monument.
6. Do not want our water usage restricted from our own wells.
7. Want the freedom to buy and sell our homes and vacant land when we so choose and not have to worry about being forced out through Eminent Domain Laws and low ball offers from LWCF. Private property pays taxes for schools and infrastructure.
8. Want to repair or add a driveway, road, guest house, fence, landscape lighting, garden, chickens, new home by getting a permit for $25 – $500 instead of a NEPA STUDY FOR $50,000 TO $200,000.
9. Want each city to retain their current laws protecting our citizens and businesses, instead of bowing down to Federal Laws with one size fits all mentality.
10. Want cattle to continue to eat grasses that fuel wildfires.
11. Do NOT want Homeland Security patrolling to protect the Monument.
12. Want to come and go without gated checkpoints on all roads.
Can you imagine the traffic backup at all access points
13. Want to tell KSB they have no authority to run a Public Process on management of federal lands. They did not inform or invite the public to planning meetings.
Watch this video to see what a small town like ours experienced :
Frontline news special on how National Parks and Scenic Areas are used to steal homes and ranches. Laws have not changed much since the 80s.
# 1 through #10 https://youtu.be/rWhruoZq7qQ
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/united-citizens-opposing.fb51?source=c.fb&r-by=14115546
Corroborating links to confirm the information to the left . Area-
180,000 acres, 16,000 residents in Camp Verde, Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Munds Park, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, Wilderness Areas, Scenic Forest Lands
# 1&7. “This Bill maintains the 40 percent minimum funding of the federal land acquisition.” “ Bill has nothing in it addressing the issue of state funding for parks in larger metropolitan (urban) areas”. “ C) We also are disappointed to see nothing in the bill which attempts to address the lack of funding going to larger communities for local outdoor recreation.”
#7
The reason why the schools have little funding in Utah is because of the National Monuments. Every time an Inholder (property owner) put a property up for sale, the government bought it and added it to the Monument land. This eventually removed 175,000 acres of land that was previously taxable. Many of those poor people were forced to sell because they could not make improvements on their land.
http://www.nrpa.org/Blog/Moves-Made-in-the-Senate-on-LWCF/
#4&5
“State of Arizona in continued opposition to the creation of the proposed 1.7 million acre Grand Canyon National Monument (GCWNM) and any other new or enlarged National Monument within Arizona”
http://www.thorpe4az.com/documents/National-Monuments.pdf
#11
“there are concerns that some sites could be targeted by terrorists due to their symbolic nature” National Monuments are targeted.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/09/report_questions_security_at_n.html
The NMI prioritization ensures that resources are applied where they contribute the most to risk mitigation by lessening vulnerabilities, deterring threats, and minimizing the consequences of terrorist attacks and other natural and manmade hazards.
http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=691263
The feds are better than dimwit locals, look at those carpetbaggers in the Canyon, they’ll be first to go & good riddance. Their properties will become parkland like they should be because they keep it in private hands now!! Vote for Hillary or Bernie & get those lands for the poor and screw the rich land holders there!!!!! I’m with DORR on this. Those big homes within sight lines of our rocks need to be demolished!! Thought so for years. Demolish uptown & get rid of the businesses lining the best scenic road in Sedona to the Canyon. Go KSB!!
If you are suggesting a National Monument designation would do away with the regional Chamber of Commerce then it has my support. The scam that continues with those freeloaders should be stopped and even better yet the overbearing Sedona City Council(s) that allowed the Chamber to take control and dump on Sedona businesses unless they are members. They already rule the Verde Valley but certain individuals and businesses benefit.
City based non-members of the Chamber are so intimidated they are frightened to stand up for their rights. Pity, it is, because if they protested like the anti-NM group they might be heard but they also stand to be put out of business. If it takes a NM designation to get rid of the the local control freaks, and as much as I really don’t want for it to happen, then for that reason alone I think it’s the better choice.
Throw the bums out!
Jim: Geese you must be one of the locals……
@Jim the Communist,
KSB and DORR will be crushed along with there Marxist/Utopian One-World dreams! Where do you want flowers sent?
JRN
Nice command of the language Verde News.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/melee
Melee:
noun
1.
a confused hand-to-hand fight or struggle among several people.
I’m surprised the story made it in to that slanted,tightly controlled politically run publication…….no comments unless you sign up to the privacy invading facebook.
VILLAGE OF OAK CREEK — Ten minutes before the close of a national monument meeting here Tuesday, a melee broke out in the crowd of approximately 300 attendees.
I’m stunned that 300 people in the village are paying attention, way to go neighbors!!!!!!!!!!!! Get involved. Money and my backyard are the two biggest motivators for participation. Wild cowboys!! That village is rife with malfeasance and corruption. Let’s clean it up once we get this Monument nonsense out of the way.
verdenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=67252
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 – 4:30, Sedona City Council meeting
Sedona City Council agenda shows:
AB 1961 Presentations/discussion/possible action on a resolution in support of creating a National Monument in and around Sedona.
BTW @JRN
This is neither a Democrat or Republican issue. Why can’t You stick to the subject which is Bipartisan. You don’t really want to put a bad taste in the mouths of all we anti-NM Democrats do You.
@Notice
Re: your comment to me…
I happen to agree with you, wholeheartedly! THIS IS NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE! Unfortunately, the DORR leadership does seem to think it’s a partisan issue since they have officially and publicly endorsed KSB’s proposal as I learned Tuesday night at the KSB presentation at the VOC Community Center. KSB refers, constantly, to the “coalition” they represent and their printed handouts show DORR as a member of that purported coalition.
JRN
I visited Sedona many years ago with friends from Idaho and it was breathtaking. My friends stopped going to their Diamond Resort timeshare after rates went sky high and the town deteriorated. They were no longer seeing locals but undocumented workers in restaurants and at the resort. It was unnerving when walking in the rock trails and seeing people looking intimidating and unclean perched in the hills and some camping. The forests between Sedona and Cottonwood are packed with scary types now and it’s a shame. If you make it a monument maybe those people will go away? That might be something to consider. Safety first please. There is Bryce which is quite nicer than Sedona and it’s a monument, isn’t it? We now go to the Ozark area and it’s beautiful and quiet. Goodbye and consider the monument to clean out the businesses and homes that don’t belong and keep it pristine. Phyllis Geyer
Speak up! Doesn’t matter where you live. Sedona’s City Council should NOT endorse or agree to any proposal. WRITE before TUESDAY!
Sandy Moriarty – Mayor SMoriarty@sedonaaz.gov
Mark DiNunzio – Vice Mayor mdinunzio@sedonaaz.gov
Scott Jablow – Councilor – SJablow@sedonaaz.gov
Angela LeFevre – Councilor ALefevre@sedonaaz.gov
John Martinez – Councilor JMartinez@sedonaaz.gov
Jon Thompson – Councilor JThompson@sedonaaz.gov
Jessica Williamson – Councilor JWilliamson@ci.sedona.az.us
DORR was also very active in supporting the West 89A lights versus City ownership of that section of the State Highway. Remember? They even conducted their own “poll” to get the results THEY wanted. And what did it get them?
ANSWER: Referendum & Initiative Ballot Issues
QUESTION: Will history repeat?
Clarification: DOrR first opposed the West SR89A lights. Then when ADOT approved installing them, that was when the option was out there for the city to take ownership of that portion of the highway and at which time DORR lobbied heavily for the city to do just that. After the city council voted to approve their deal with ADOT, to own the highway, was when the ballot issues prevailed.
Sorry for the confusion.
My interpretation is that there is nothing that will stop this from being submitted to DC.
The reason being is that Mr. Ohalleran is running for congress as a Democrat. He has already lost once as a Republican and once as an Independent. This is his environmental credibility feather for his Democrat congressional campaign hat. Notice he didn’t show his face or speak last night.
As someone who has been in the middle of several of these battles in Sedona it would be best for all anti monument efforts to make sure the Feds know there is substantial and sustainable opposition. It’s the only hope. This train has left the station. These meetings are just dog and pony shows.
I was at the opposition meeting and the meeting last night and the KSB presentation was amateurish and mostly double talk on the most important questions. No direct answers. The panel was mostly asleep at the wheel. It was way past their bedtime if you know what I mean.
This proposal is being submitted to DC and there is no mechanism to measure the public opposition and nothing in the KSB timelines that says it can be stopped from being submitted if public opposition reaches X level. Nothing.
Those who are opposed should focus max attention to Washington DC to stop this freight train.
Freight train is right. What do you Democrats who support Obama past Exec Orders think of his highhandedness now that it effects our very existence? You Democrats and Republicans and Independents supporting this are sheep. I hope it’s your homes & business that the government condemns. Did you pansies watch the video someone posted about Ohio?
You think it’s better now than in the 70s and 80s to fight government? LMAO Our office can’t believe the inability of our politicians to be honest and forthright.
Tom O you ain’t got any of our votes. You’ve been to more Parties than an old man of 100!!! You’re a joke! Stay home. We don’t respect you!
@Phyllis Geyer – Sedona is protected by Amendment 12 which ensure rigid rules about camping in our forest. It is illegal to camp inside city limits – both are strictly enforced.
There’s a homeless shelter in Cottonwood – the only one in the Verde Valley. Due to the high unemployment rate in Arizona, the low wages, and drug addiction there are a lot of homeless in the valley. The homeless shelter isn’t really a “shelter” since they do not provide sleeping quarters, but they loan out tents and sleeping bags and give them maps where camping is allowed. I know of two men who are homeless – I’ve hired them for landscape work – and this is their life. They are having a hard time finding rentals and having a steady income to be able to afford it.
A National Monument, according to you Phyllis Geyer, is “Let them eat cake.” Just because you don’t want to see poor people when you’re on vacation, then be prepared for even higher rates so the timeshare companies can afford to pay them a living wage and provide health insurance (which has done much to increase under- and unemployment in the Verde Valley.
Good luck to you. But what this means is that Sedona will be gutted – only businesses that support the National Monument will be allowed. You’ll have to pay to get in. You’ll have to pay to park your car because cars won’t be allowed. You’ll have to put Fido in Doggie Daycare because dogs won’t be allowed. You’ll have to ride the trolleys to the trailheads – what part of no vehicles did you miss? You’ll have to pay additional fees and taxes, because without the residential life that is the Verde Valley tax base, SOMEONE is going to have to foot the bill, and that someone will be you, Phyllis Geyer.
Moreover, taking an entire rural area and “preserving/returning to nature,” is a test. Be sure to look up the United Nations policy of Agenda 21. The government has already taken Bradshaw Ranch and Woo Ranch, both are outside of Sedona, fenced, locked, and NO TRESPASSING. This is Sedona’s future for all to see, Phyllis Geyer.
@Phyllis Geyer,
If you know how to do a simple Google search, type in the words “Picture of Trash in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument” which was formerly our second most beautiful National Monument here in Arizona. This is happening all over southern Arizona and the Feds have done absolutely NOTHING about it.
No, no, no…a National Monument designation not only will not help the situation here, it will make it worse. The majority of our state legislature is dead set against this outrageous idea. After you’ve seen the pictures, please write another comment and tell me what you saw…and think!
JRN
@ Cliff,
I agree with your interpretation…this issue probably will go to Obama’s desk. But like most, you’re assuming that his Executive Order will be implemented with the force of law under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and that will be the end of the opposition movement. Nope, it won’t we the end of it.
Virtually all Constitutional scholars will tell you that the public generally misinterprets the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. The Tenth Amendment’s nullification has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court since 1842 and has NEVER been overturned. The original nullifiers were northern state abolitionists who used The Tenth Amendment nullification right to enable states to refuse to arrest runaway slaves who, under Federal Law, had to be captured and returned to the “owners.” Thanks to Tenth Amendment nullification, almost no runaway slaves, subject to Federal Law, were arrested by local sheriffs and police and sent back to the “owners” by rendition.
The State of Arizona has already adopted its Tenth Amendment nullification law and it is known as Proposition 122. It is the law in Arizona and the Feds will not oppose it.
So, the state can and will nullify Obama’s Executive Order by refusing to assist the Fed’s implementation of it. The NM Monument cannot be implemented and enforced without State of Arizona assistance which will not be given and it will not be implemented…period. I am informed of this by our district state legislator, Bob Thorpe who also is introducing a bill into the state legislative to call an Article V Constitutional Convention of the States to Nullify the Antiquities Act of 1906 (which a large majority of the western states favor). So, in the short run, Arizona will use the Tenth Amendment nullification principle and in the long run we will use a Constitutional Article V Convention to kill it once and for all.
See my article at https://sedonaeye.com/sedona-verde-valley-red-rock-national-monument-proponents-mislead-public/
and,
Learn about it at the Tenth Amendment Center website at:
http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com
Gone fishin’ and canoeing but not in Oak Creek or Verde River or Middle Verde, USFS closed it to us. Can’t swim on hot days either. Adams you figure out yet the creek park isn’t going to happen where you want it? You figure out yet Brewer road won’t be parking in a NM area? Goodbye Zonies….
Was leaning toward monument, after all friends seemed adamant that it was what Sedona needed. It isn’t. Glad I took a second long hard look…
Where is Supervisor Davis in all of this? Keeping a low profile as to not mess up his election plans?
The last thing we need are any of these players in any positions of power.
Do not vote fore:
OHallaren
Davis
Joens
Adams
They need to retire and grow grapes and reflect on what they have done to this area.
Thank You Mr. Normand, for your dedication to this issue, I appreciate you as a neighbor.
Since Senator McCain has a home within the proposed National Monument, I wrote to him to see if there was anything he could do in Washington. This is the reply I received today:
Thank you for contacting me to share your views regarding the creation of new national monuments. I appreciate knowing your thoughts on this issue.
As you may know, the President of the United States has the sole power under a 100-year old law, called the Antiquities Act of 1906, to unilaterally designate “national monuments” as a way to restrict access to federal lands without having to consult with Congress or the impacted State. So far, President Obama has used this law 16 times during his presidency and has locked away millions of acres of public land. Without Congressional approval or public review, which is required for establishing National Parks, these national monuments can lead to restrictions on public recreation, including hunting, trail use, and the right for individuals to use firearms. Moreover, these designations often impact job creators that are important to Arizona’s economy, like tourism, mining, timber, and ranching.
Unfortunately, some environmental lobbyists are calling on the President to declare a so-called Grand Canyon Watershed Monument, which would cover 1.7 million acres—an area larger than the State of Delaware. This latest proposal extends far beyond the scope of the Antiquities Act, which states that the President should limit his declarations to “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” Arizona is already home to 18 national monument designations, more than any other state. If this authority isn’t reigned-in, there may be no satisfying environmental lobbyists who will continue to use their political connections in the Obama Administration to lock away even more land in Arizona from multiple use and public enjoyment.
While proponents of this new monument claim it will protect the Grand Canyon’s drought-stricken watershed, it’s important to note that the area’s water supplies may worsen if land managers and private property owners are restricted from thinning the area’s overgrown forests or if hunters are barred from culling overpopulated wildlife. Many decades of scientific research proves that science-based wildlife management and federally-regulated timber projects can improve forest health and reduce the frequency of wildfires. According to a recent report by Northern Arizona University, restoring our overgrown forests to their natural states can increase water supplies by 20% in some watersheds. On March 10, 2014, Senator Flake and I sent a letter to the President urging him not to issue this designation because Arizona cannot afford to have its hands tied when it comes to controlling wildlife populations, enhancing its water supplies, and preventing wildfires.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to do so in the future regarding this or any other matters of concern.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senator
Your publisher has connections!! Ask who moves and shakes their worlds!!! Comments here reflect best writers, best publication, best citizen efforts bar none ever in this town. Maddock ranks best in my book. What a historian with a keen eye.
Proud to say Sedonaeye hometown heroes Normand Maddock Woodward & Chamberlain & Baer & Jenks & City Council & Chamber & hundreds of others get heard. Can you change name back to Sedona Times?! Give ’em hell SedonaTimes.com!! Fire to fire keep it going! No one ever heard of this monument thing until it got published here. Same with smart meters. (That Verde news piggybacked here, who cares about them, Engler is a control freak progressive that no one reads except for a couple diehards, even Sedonaeye gives Dan free credit so they get heard like .Biz !!)
Don’t knuckle under Sedonaeye. We LOVE YA in Arizona & Sedona. Change name please? Be Arizona Times or something to reflect your readers & reach!!
The following is authorized by publisher:
We have always been and will remain SedonaTimes.com as seen in our logo (Editor’s note: See above logo).
The landing page of http://www.SedonaTimes.com to http://www.SedonaEye.com occurred as a result of discontinuing the Sedona Times print newspaper in 2011, and on the recommendation of a national marketing company to encourage online subscriptions. It worked; we now have thousands. Our online news outlet is reachable via either URL.
Years ago we enhanced our website for mobile application and we have social networking options embedded with every article. We were and remain ahead of the online news curve.
Thank our readers/subscribers. We encourage and expect to hear about our best and brightest, and our need for improvement. Pride is ugly no matter how it’s sliced, so let’s keep our noses to the grindstone and put our best effort forward to serve our public. The public deserves a voice.
Thank you.
_end_
Thank you Sedona Times/Eye. Whatever works is the name of the game. But without the integrity of those making it possible it wouldn’t exist.
With deep appreciation to Publisher/Editor C. Bentley Hill. Plain and simple – you make it happen.
@Jake,
Thank you for your great comment and your spot-on observation. For my money, Eddie IS the best. Trust her to carry the ball for the Eye/Sedona Times. She is Sedona’s conscience. And, she has the heart and resolve to do what’s in this town’s best interests and when she puts her mind to it, she gets things done!
J. Rick Normand
So, J. Rick was forever banned from printing of his remarks at Sedona.biz. Then why is this remark printed at sedona.biz this morning as a comment to Tommy Acosta’s article entitled “In the Political Ring with Tommy Acosta…”?
Looks like Sedona’s NM is going to have some stiff competition for all those (non-existent) federal funds and grants!
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-0822-desert-monuments-20150822-story.html
@JJ Could this be the reason McCain sold his property in Pagesprings- Cornville?
The comment I posted on September 13 – 12:46 PM included information taken from the Keep Sedona Beautiful web site, “History of Protection Effort.” Attempting to ascertain names of those I presumed served on a Citizens Engagement Committee, I was told during a telephone conversation with Lauren Browne, Citizen Engagement Coordinator, that such a committee never existed under Sedona’s Citizens Engagement Program.
As I had copied her with the comments made on 9/13, we noted that in 2013 the Sedona City Council requested Keep Sedona Beautiful to organize effort to determine how best to permanently preserve Forest Service lands in the Greater Sedona Region.
It was in 2014 that “Sedona City Council establishes Citizens Engagement Committee (Program) to review priorities for 2015-2016. Besides 5 priorities the committee also recommended that seeking permanent protection for national forest lands be considered March 21, 2014.” (over one year ago)
Sedona City Council then “sets priorities for 2015-2016. Included in priorities is permanent protection for Forest Service lands in Sedona area. Keep Sedona Beautiful then “initiates a committee to investigate preservation of lands.”
Considering that committee was not affiliated with the Citizens Engagement Program, why has the reference been included in the KSB “History of Protection Effort” web site?
Then, comparing what appears on the KSB web site with statements in the full page ad appearing in the Red Rock News on August 28, 2015, the two references to the Monument Workgroup specifically “called to action by the City of Sedona” conflict with the information on the web site which implied the “workgroup” was a product of Citizens Engagement Program. What was the purpose for KSB to even reference that since they did not participate in it?
Since the seeds for this endeavor were planted back in 2013, different council members have now been elected and it would be interesting to know if they are aware of the names of the people serving on that “Monument Workgroup.” Is it possible that members of the original deciding City Council are participants? Just who, specifically, represent those in the City of Sedona that called to action the “Monument Workgroup? Why doesn’t KSB reveal the names of their workgroup?
Will the present City Council rightfully discuss this at the Council Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 22. And further, will the City Council be prepared to make an endeavor to ascertain if other perceived manipulative maneuvers have been employed by Keep Sedona Beautiful to further their efforts to push through a National Monument Designation?
@J. Rick – you are way too kind with your accolades. Contributors over and above those mentioned by “Jake” work together to make Sedona Eye/Times an interesting contribution to the area and apparently judging by the number of “hits” exceeding far beyond. But mostly it’s the readers who feel comfortable to throw in their two cents worth, adding to the mix of varied opinions to create (most of the time) healthy discussions. Team work serves to accomplish positive results. Corny but true: There is no “I” in “team.”
Eddie wrote- Will the present City Council rightfully discuss this at the Council Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 22. And further, will the City Council be prepared to make an endeavor to ascertain if other perceived manipulative maneuvers have been employed by Keep Sedona Beautiful to further their efforts to push through a National Monument Designation?
Who keeps its books?
Point of clarification here. My purpose is not to disparage or engage in a negative attack on Keep Sedona Beautiful. For the record I’ve been a supporting member for many, many years and at one time served on the then Board of Directors as Secretary. Being aware of many changes that have occurred since my previous active involvement, such as the change from Board of Directors to Trustees, it’s fair to conclude the turnover in Sedona population has also been reflected in the faces of those making decisions for the projects being pursued by Keep Sedona Beautiful. (What’s happened to the crack-down on ugly signs?)
That being said and as most people that have taken time to comment here, preserving resources, beauty, environment, etc. remains of deep concern. But the disturbing part of this recent KSB endeavor is the urgency, lack of other options, and really unanswered questions as getting to the bottom of just who is involved in this current race to a fate of uncertainty based largely on the premise that funding from a defunct pot of gold will miraculously become available. The extensive area this will impact should be a red flag to those residing in those Verde Valley “necks-of-woods” since there’s absolutely no valid prediction of the outcome.
Whether or not currently seated Sedona City Council gives their vote of approval apparently won’t much matter if Keep Sedona Beautiful has the drive and ability to move forward and seek the President’s signature on whatever it is “he” chooses to approve, as indicated in the letter from Senator John McCain, courtesy of J.J.
Too much, too soon remains my opinion but for certain protecting the natural qualities and beauty of this very special place should be and remain the ultimate endeavor, and that, in my opinion, should begin but not end within Incorporated Sedona, land use, transportation control,development density, and other progressive movements which presently tend to serve towards contradicting even the Vision Statement presented at the beginning of every City Council Meeting.
Yes, Nick Gioello, you still remain top billing! (Phew!)
Eddie Maddock
Jay Norman has points anout Sedona being inside the boundary lines. At the start I guessed he was wanting to save the area by joining monuments at the first and clearer he said savimg the rocks from the land grabbers at Congress at last. Grazing and water. where’s that protected Supervisor Davis ? Don’t let me down now boys. Don’t let us down boys. Are you doing droughts? How about invasive trees?
With all due respect to Eddie Maddock: I too have been – in the past – a supporter of KSB.
Once, decades ago, I realized their demogoary theory’s and tactics went well beyond the signage and landscaping issues they started with, I moved (actually Ran) away from them.
KSB has always held themselves up higher than any governmental entity which they have done by using emotions, threats to business’s who disagreed with them and never giving both sides to any issue…..we only get KSB’s side.
Personally I’m just dead tired of watching them attempt to be a governing entity with their bully tactics and lack of facts. This latest attempt about a National Monument is just yet another one of their attempts to rule without public votes and only based upon them Telling US that what they say is correct. Anyone remember the National Scenic Area they tried to pull off and it also got shot down?
If KSB wants to rule the City then I suggest they all run for Council and become totally transparent. O’Halloran keeps using KSB as his personal strong hold to run for another office….whoa.
Again and with all due respect to Eddie Maddock: the votes our Council members take on 9/22/15 actually do make a difference as either way the Feds will learn of their votes.
In the past KSB has intimidated people and business’s with their threat of boycotting same. Is this still their tactic?
KSB and City Council tried this same tactic on the 89A issue and over 70% of the voters shot them out of the water!
No different @sheri g than the chamber-lodging group.
Lodging Chamber are the biggest bullies. The City of Sedona needs to step away from ALL these groups. They are pushing themselves on others. Stating they are responsible, the city owes them. The city is a incorporate district, health welfare and safety within the city LIMITS.
Cut it ALL off let the City of Sedona become a fair city for the people. The millionaires and corporations should not be using Taxpayers money to pay for their advertising.
The people come to Sedona for the forest, hiking is the number one activity. Instead of taxing them to death, welcome them with open arms and stop the disneyland development of Sedona. Which is only padding the pockets of greedy lodging & Chamber members.
People don’t come to Sedona because of the chamber they come because of pretty red rocks. They only spend money shopping and eating if those merchants PROVIDE product and services they want. Give credit fairly. Stop all the BS.
Make the lodging and chamber pay the forest service for all the abuse they subject it to. They cost and create more ware and tear then the residents. They should PAY to play instead the city sadly pays them. Greedy BS