Letters from the issue of Thursday, March 13, 2008

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 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.