A history of abuse: Your story on the addicted doctors was scary as hell ("The Doctor is Out," John Dickerson, March 6). Can you imagine? Your physician goes out of the room during your operation for coke breaks! And I don't mean the soft drink.
The Arizona Medical Board, like others in states around the country, needs to stop protecting doctors and start protecting patients. It's amazing that doctors like Thomas Grade and Stephen Locnikar continued to practice for as long as they did.
The same kind of complaint might be waged against the Arizona Bar Association, regarding lawyers. It, too, has a history of a "hands off" approach when terrible abuses are brought forth.
William Brooks, Phoenix
DREW'S STORY
Hang in there, BJ: This story upset me so much! How could this stuff happen? This is the United States; not some Third World country ("Arrested Development," Megan Irwin, February 28). Hang in there, BJ Bolender. I also have a son with some problems, but, thank God, not as many as Drew has.
Sharon Niven, via the Internet
Little help for those who need it: Thank you, New Times, for writing this article! It's sadly ironic that those who need our help the most, and have the most difficulty advocating for themselves, receive the least attention.
Please keep this kind of information in the public eye. Then, and only then, will additional funding for housing, training of caretakers, and general care of the disabled members of our community be allocated.
Name withheld by request
Why should I have to pay for their care?: First, let me say that this situation is unacceptable on so many levels. No one should be treated like that. As taxpayers, we shouldn't be forced to pay for ineffectual, useless social services. But, while I have no problem paying taxes for police service, roads, etc., I have to ask: Why should I have to pay for other people's problems?
I don't mean to sound cold-hearted, but Drew's parents knew exactly the kind of care he would require for his entire life. Sounds as though, according to Drew's doctors, he should have been even worse off.
But why should I have to pay for [Drew's care]? I have family members with severe illnesses. Nothing on par with what Drew has, but taxpayers aren't paying for my healthcare needs or my family's.
Also, I wonder how much the family's religion played a role in deciding to keep Drew alive.
Name withheld by request
BANANA REPUBLIC
A sick joke, indeed: I was watching TV the other day and saw Joe Arpaio snarling that nobody would tell "this sheriff" how to run his department, by God! He was referring to the Honduras adventure that his upper-echelon deputies have enjoyed at taxpayer expense and at the expense of RICO money that's supposed to be used for local law enforcement ("Evil Weed," The Bird, Stephen Lemons, March 6).
This Honduras thing is an outrage! A classic example of public corruption, complete with the picture of Chief Deputy David Hendershott in a Hawaiian shirt. What I would like New Times to do next is go to Honduras and figure out whether this fat piece of garbage is investing in real estate down there while he's supposed to be "training" the banana republic's cops.
As for that training, come on! What are creeps like Hendershott going to train these police to do: harass Latinos, kill innocent people in their jails, hold "Inmate Idle" competitions, make inmates wear pink underwear and steal the money from their sales, arrest anybody in the press that seriously exposes their corruption, put out smear campaigns against political enemies and anybody else who crosses them?
What a sick joke! If any training is actually going on (and I seriously doubt any is), these are the last American cops who should be running it! Anytime Maricopa County Sheriff's Office bastards do anything that they purport is for the greater good, look out! These guys are only in it for themselves, to keep themselves in power so they can continue milking taxpayer coffers for whatever they can get.
I just hope they have stepped in it this time. Taxpayers don't seem to care about Joe Arpaio's malfeasance unless it pertains to their pocketbooks. This caper — though small-time when you consider how much money Arpaio has cost taxpayers in lawsuit judgments ($43 million-plus, and counting) — has a public corruption stench about it that I hope reaches the noses of a majority of voters.
A good old-fashioned housecleaning needs to take place at the MCSO. Joe must go, and so must all the henchmen he keeps on our payroll, especially Hendershott (the evil puppet-master behind the geriatric troll doll Arpaio). Next should be the overpaid band of liars who keep Joe in photo ops: Lisa Allen MacPherson, Paul Chagolla, and Jack MacIntyre.
John Price, Phoenix
Don't ask Joe . . . It's a secret!: It's very interesting how Joe Arpaio refuses to tell anybody just why he needs to send all those deputies to Honduras. Something about some gang coming in here, but don't ask him . . . It's a secret.
He doesn't get to play it that way! Somebody in this county needs to tell this lying old goat that he must come clean on this — with specifics — or charges will be filed. Because, I'm certain, that when and if he did come clean, charges would be filed against him or somebody(s) in his employ.
And for Governor Janet Napolitano's issuing a proclamation about this corrupt bullshit . . . Now that's rich! She and Arpaio have been in bed with each other for years, as The Bird notes, so what should we expect from Napolitano! It all makes me sick.
Rick Nance, Phoenix
So many good questions here: Since when is it the role of a county sheriff's office to conduct business outside the United States? We have federal agencies to do this. And why, as taxpayers, are we allowing this?
Joe and County Attorney Andrew Thomas should be removed from office immediately. And why isn't Janet [Napolitano] doing anything about this?
I'm outraged that [Thomas and Arpaio] are not arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Let them both spend a little time in Tent City.
Ron Mahan, Phoenix
Dumbest voters in the world?: First, it was 30 grand in RICO money [used for alleged MCSO training in Honduras], now it's 34 grand. None of that includes counting the 81 grand (estimate) of county-paid salaries and overtime that also needs to be added to the total costs.
How convenient that Arpaio says it's only 30 grand but leaves everything else out. Typical of Arpaio, Hendershott and the goons. They always seem to lie or leave out facts about everything they do.
Then it states [that the MCSO has taken] 1 million photos in Honduras [to help to stem gang activity], now it's 5 million.
How much does it take, and how much does it have to cost Maricopa taxpayers to see how full of shit Arpaio, Hendershott, and the goons are?
How many lies can they get away with before the general public wakes up? How many people need to die in Maricopa County jails? How many more millions of dollars have to be paid out over the $43 million [and counting] that has already been paid out for civil suits?
Arizona voters have got to be the dumbest voters in the world.
The governor, the county Board of Supervisors, they're all a joke. Typical politics in Arizona: One of them lies, and they all swear to it while looking the other way.
They all need to be replaced with politicians that care about the welfare of the public, and not their personal agendas — if that's even possible when it comes to politicians.
Obviously, none of these leaders has any ethics or morals and could care less about being laughed at by the rest of the United States.
Jim Cozzolino, Phoenix
Throw the bums out: The unconstitutional thug Joe Arpaio and his little, newspaper-arresting Nazi sidekick [Andrew Thomas] celebrated that the recall against them has ended [because not enough signatures were gathered inside the time limit allowed]. Well, Arpaio should know that it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings (or, in his case, until he's out of office and indicted where he belongs).
I am getting very tired of our governor's letting these thugs get away with murder in Maricopa County. Many people who are afraid to so state publicly are saying that Governor Napolitano has helped quash, directly or indirectly, investigations that have been conducted on this anti-American/Arizonan/drugstore cowboy [Arpaio].
The governor should know that there is such a thing as karma and that to continue to let the Abu Ghraib-like conditions kill, maim, and dehumanize prisoners (many who have not been convicted) is a disgrace and black eye on my native state of Arizona. I had to witness these type of conditions while stationed in Iraq, and I'll be damned if I will let it occur in our beautiful state of Arizona!
We will continue to pursue all legal, constitutional, and nonviolent civil actions against these two thugs, Arpaio and Thomas, until they are thrown out of office.
Leonard Clark, Arpaio-Thomas recall chairman
Janet's fan base is dwindling: Since you first gave us this news about Janet Napolitano, I've been shocked! This is a woman who I'd always admired. Now, I have second thoughts.
Do you think she has public relations people who force her to do this kind of thing [get her picture taken while giving Arpaio, Hendershott, and Honduran cops a proclamation], or do you think this was all her own doing? When I first read that she was involved, I was in disbelief!
Melanie Bulseco, via the Internet
When have we ever bitched about drugs and Mexicans?: When are you damn pinko liberals going to wake up and smell the coffee? You bitch about all the drugs and illegals coming in, yet when someone like Sheriff Joe does something to stop them, before they get to our state, by using money that was designated to stop drugs, you try to blame him for misappropriating funds.
If you need to sell papers that bad, why not go back to California where the rest of your ilk are?
Lonnie Faubion, via the Internet
A DENNIS FAN!
Not likely: Sometimes, when we're deeply involved with something in our lives, certain things get overlooked, and hopefully, when they're brought to our attention, we correct them.
Whether the bullet hole placed on [fired Maricopa County special prosecutor] Dennis Wilenchik's head (in the cover illustration for "Blowback," Stephen Lemons, February 21) was intentional or not, it was unethical and I'm sure hurtful to his family.
An apology is needed, especially to his kids. Thank you, and I'm sure you'll do the right thing.
Rosemary Protocollo, Scottsdale
