OUR VIEWPOINT EDITORIAL


Quit feeding the immigrants


Fellow birds of a feather, we must fl ock together to protect our communities from an invasion of immigrants. They’re crossing the border in droves, settling in our territory, contributing nothing to our society and living off of our welfare. The only way to encourage them to leave is to quit being so generous to them. Don’t feed the geese. The Canada goose is a noble-looking bird. (Before we


go any further, we should point out that unless you want to incur the wrath and derision of bird enthusiasts, never, EVER, call them Canadian geese. We made that mistake in an editorial once, so we know whereof we speak.) Canada geese are also fun to watch, especially when


they’re raising their young. The two parents, who mate for life, are very watchful of their goslings. The families can often be seen parading in a straight line, with one parent at the front and the other bringing up the rear as the goslings (little-known fact: actor Ryan Gosling is a Canada human, not a Canada goose) obediently march in between. They’re supposed to be migratory birds, but many of them, like their human counterparts from the far north, fi nd Arizona’s climate to their liking. They create big problems (the Canada geese, not the Canada humans or Ryan Gosling). They come down here to our man-made ponds and lakes and decide to hang out here forever. Their main activities are eating, breeding and pooping, pooping, pooping (again we should emphasize that we’re talking about the Canada geese, not the Canada humans).


And why wouldn’t they like it here? Where they come from, predators such as wolves, foxes, coyotes and bald eagles like to eat them. Around here, the most dangerous things they encounter are Jaguars, Rams, Beetles and other deadly members of the genus Motorus Vehiculus. They’re so plentiful in places such as Avondale’s Crystal Gardens community that they’re becoming pests. That’s the fault of us humans, not the birds. First of all, we’ve created ideal habitats for them. Even before it was built, the Crystal Gardens Wetlands Project was expected to be a great habitat for water fowl, including ducks, egrets, herons and, of course, geese. We give them the water to swim in, the fi sh to eat and the reeds to nest in. We’ve eliminated natural predators. They’re not even afraid of the humans with whom they share the habitat. As far as they’re concerned, it’s their home and we’re the intruders. They don’t care about traffi c laws. Crosswalks mean nothing to them. You’d think they’d prefer to fl y across the street from one pond to another, but they’d rather waddle … sometimes in large groups … always very slowly. Some motorists try to carefully drive around them, others stop to let them all cross safely and some honk at them hoping to scare them into moving. Apparently, the honking only makes the birds think of motorized vehicles as nothing more than some large, non-threatening species of very odd-looking goose. They’re non-threatening until someone runs them over, either by accident or on purpose. We’re fairly certain that only a very small number of humans want to harm the geese. However, they are a nuisance and they don’t belong here all year round. The birds present a traffi c hazard and their droppings present a health hazard. Many people with good intentions like to feed the


water fowl living in area ponds. They sometimes take their young children and grandchildren out to the ponds with loaves of stale bread to feed to the ducks and geese. That only exacerbates the problem. Fat, hand-fed birds don’t want to leave, and uneaten bread crumbs rotting in the water can foul up the lakes by providing a breeding ground for harmful algae. Regardless of how beautiful you think they are, please


don’t feed the water fowl. Your restraint is better for them and better for us.


Our Viewpoint editorials represent the opinions of the West Valley View editorial board, which is composed of Publisher Elliott Freireich, Managing Editor Jim Painter and News Editor Cary Hines.


DARKOW’S OPINION — Columbia Daily Tribune


OUR READERS’ VIEWPOINTS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


spelling, punctuation or grammar are those of the author. Two online reader polls have indicated that a majority of View readers prefer that the letters not be edited.


L We need better


health care Editor: I get very frustrated when I read criticism about nationalized healthcare.


Americans only hear the bad things said that comes from countries with a nationalized system. People do not want to be paying for people who can’t pay for themselves, don’t you realize the insured are already paying for the uninsured. I don’t envisage the U.S. will


etters to the editor are published without any editing. Any errors in


large corp and on a company health plan. The scary thing is having health insurance is no guarantee of coverage, if one is unlucky enough to have a health problem, it is somewhat impos- sible or unaffordable to even get insurance. A nationalized system takes away all that stress. Nationalized healthcare is


ever have nationalized healthcare because the insurance and phar- maceutical companies have too much power and control. You shouldn’t knock the healthcare system in England or Canada unless that is, you have experienced it for yourself, if one was diagnosed with a life threat- ening illness in the U.S., it’s not about will I survive through it, but more like how am I going to pay for it. Putting money before health is unacceptable. Health- care is unaffordable unless one is lucky enough to work for a


taken at source from ones pay- check according to earnings and then one can visit ones GP, or ER as often as one has to without having to get out their wallet, plus all medications are subsi- dized. Also once one reaches retirement age all prescriptions are free. No ordering medications from Canada or travel to Mexico for prescriptions. The govern- ment here should enforce lower prices and keep that money in house. The U.K also has a private healthcare system as well as our NHS. One annual premium, no deductibles or copays. The U.S. health system ranks 37th in the world, which says it all.............


Litchfi eld Park Historic treasure


being destroyed Editor:


Litchfi eld Road, the 1928 gym with its iconic tower, is being


The landmark on Old Sue Hall


torn down this week. It is not being replaced with another gym. Anyone in the local his- torical societies and the general Litchfi eld Park community, who wishes to do so, should take photos immediately. It is the fi rst and the last remaining original public building in the city of Litchfi eld Park and it has been in continuous use for 84 years. The demolition date has been


advanced from July 1 to June 18. The publicly-stated reason the 1928 building is being torn down is the board wanted a change in the school’s architecture. Also, that if it was rehabilitated for re-use, perhaps it would not then meet the school’s needs. There- fore, there was no need to develop an evaluation of the building or the estimated costs of rehabilita- tion and adaptive re-use. That data is not available to the community to justify the destruction of this historic large brick building. Ken Wood and I have requested the information and have been told it does not exist. Ken Wood and I made an appeal fi rst to the superintendent, and then to the school board, to halt demolition of this historic landmark to provide time to develop information as to its rehabilitation and potential uses. Our appeal was denied. Buckeye High School is


(See Letters on Page 7)


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West Valley View, Avondale, Arizona, Friday, June 15, 2012


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