Credit where credit is due!

I recently picked up a copy of the Tea Party and was compelled to write you. My intention is to give credit where credit is due. Flagstaff has been overrun by many issues over the years. Many of them have been met with indifference until, it seems, they reach an adversarial situation.

I recall many years ago in the 70s, an organization called The Black Mesa Defense League, a group whose goal was to stop the mining of the Black Mesa. Since then this issue has developed into the unfortunate and complicated issue of the relocation of Navajo families. Then there was the Big Mountain Legal Defense/Offense Committee whose efforts to stop the relocation were valiant but, now there are only a handful of Navajo resistors left to stand against apartheid in America. In both these groups were people like Pelican Lee, Larry Wood, Michael Brown, Jay Mocilnikar and a host of other visionaries.

Then there was the group of people in the 70s who sought to stop the building of a ski resort on the San Francisco Peaks, declaring them sacred; this group also included Larry Wood and Michael Brown who's diligent efforts I applaud. Yet, now there is a ski resort and a gaping hole in the side of the Sacred Mountain, both a testament to indifference.

As for Dry Lake, I recall 10 years or more ago a man, there was a Mr. Dave Lehman whose visionary foresight saw public use of this beautiful area. He single-handedly approached city council after council, researched and sought ways to bring this area into public use. With all due respect to Mary Sojourner and others, Mr. Lehman had the visionary foresight to be ahead of the adversarial melee that since has occurred around the issue of Dry Lake.

Then there was the organization (the name escapes me) that fought so hard to keep Wal-Mart out of Flagstaff, but to no avail. Since then Flagstaff has been overrun with Smith's (a.k.a. Fry's), Albertson's and a host of franchises, fast food restaurants and hotels that have changed Flagstaff's appearance to one bordering on gaudy and offensive. Perhaps the attitude of indifference and "after the fact activism" is what has brought Flagstaff to the crossroads it has reached.

As a resident of Flagstaff for 16 years and an activist in my own right, I finally accept that Flagstaff has changed too much for me, so I have sought refuge with the bears, the mountain lions and other wildlife in the more rural areas of Northeastern Arizona. I bid farewell to the old Flagstaff that is no more and will never be again, and wish good luck to the Flagstaff of the future. Perhaps like Mr. (Andy) Bessler, Flagstaff has learned its lesson too late and at much too high a price. We must remember it is important to listen to the visionaries who stand alone.

John Garza, Snowflake

Local merchants price gouging

I have just recently discovered your paper and can only say, it's about time for an alternative paper. 

I would like to take you to task however for chain-store bashing. Now granted, Wal-Mart is where America buys cheap plastic garbage, but with the prices charged in this town by local merchants, it seems that the protests come more from local retailers than from the local citizenry. Our smoggy neighbor to the south seems to have plenty of mom and pop stores that do well, yet do not feel compelled to price gouge. 

Here in Flagstaff, local retailers, hotel owners and landlords know  they have a captive audience for their goods and services, and that the competition is minimal; that is, until mega-stores move in and force them to adjust their prices accordingly.

As far as the jobs debate goes, when a mega-store does move in, I am curious as to how it destroys "valuable jobs" when the only possible jobs destroyed are in the retail business. If we're talking about Flagstaff, then we're talking about minimally waged, part-timers with no benefits, employed by local merchants.  If thrown out of a job, then these same persons may find themselves working for a mega-store as minimally waged, part-timers with no benefits.

I am not trying to stick up for corporate America and the capitalist myth, but the local businesses in this town have gotten off too easily with little or no criticism regarding their own mini-monopolies and opportunism. Sure, they want to make their house payment; I just want to save enough to get out of low-income housing.

Mark Bremer, Flagstaff resident

Editor's and Publisher's note: Price gouging may have existed when Flagstaff was smaller. In a free market economy, fair prices depend on competition between a number of retailers. We think that price gouging is a sign of a lack of true community. In a healthy community, business owners treat their customers fairly, partly out of courtesy for a neighbor, and partly because they know that at some point, the situation will be reversed.

However, if the large chain stores had not  moved here, new small businesses could have been established to meet people's needs. In the place of a giant like Barnes & Noble, maybe a few new small bookstores would be here instead, offering plenty of competition.

Furthermore, megastores are not needed to achieve economies of scale. Smaller businesses can cooperate with one another to lower their prices through cooperative buying and sharing information on how to become more efficient.

In addition, the growth of chain stores  further concentrates corporate power. This state of affairs is eroding our democracy and diminishing the character and creativity of local communities.

Children Pay the Price of Sanctions on Iraq

 "It's disgusting."

The woman sitting next to me shuddered at the pictures flickering on the television screen. We were in Flagstaff, watching a documentary filmed thousands of miles away, in  Baghdad Children's Hospital, present-day Iraq. An emaciated child, not more than 5 years old, lay helpless in the arms of her grief -stricken father.

"I hate that country," the woman said vehemently. "They do terrible things."

"Saddam Hussein isn't responsible for that child dying," I said. "We are. The United States, and the United Kingdom."

My companion looked at me, nonplussed.

"It's like we've imposed a medieval siege on Iraq," I continued, trying to explain the improbable. "A committee in New York decides how much food and medicines 22 million people receive. As a result, 5,000 children die each month from malnutrition and disease." The woman stared, not sure whether to believe me or not.

How to explain a silent, hidden crime of genocidal proportions paid for by our tax dollars?  How to explain that this crime against ordinary Iraqis is being orchestrated by the United Nations, the very organization intended to bring peace and stability after the second world war? How to explain that the video pictures we were watching, are only available through independent filmmakers?

The mind boggles, but the heart knows.

People who have visited Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, and that includes my husband, colleagues, journalists, and UN humanitarian workers, report a remarkable and unprecedented phenomenon: an advanced, oil-rich country reduced to the status of the poorest African nation by the most comprehensive blockade in modern history. Triggered by Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, the UN sanctions are still in place today, 10 years later. Appalled humanitarians and most governments around the world want to lift the sanctions, but the US refuses. What has this accomplished? Well, Saddam Hussein himself  remains in power, but millions of ordinary Iraqis, especially the poorest and the youngest, have lost their lives.

Why, you ask? The official reason is that Saddam Hussein might   (and might is the operative word - no one knows for sure) have the potential to smash the world with weapons of mass destruction. But Scott Ritter, of the UN Weapons Inspection team (UNSCOM) states categorically that this threat does not exist. "Everything we set out to destroy in 1991, has been," he says.

James Rubin, spokesperson for the US State Department, thinks the ongoing cost to human life is worth it: "We must weigh our sorrow against national security challenges...It's the policymakers' ultimate calculation."

Yet when there was a chance to defeat Saddam Hussein with a Kurdish rebellion, the U.S. backed off. So what is the real agenda? Investigative journalist John Pilger believes that bringing Iraq to its knees is a blueprint for policing the Middle East region and its vast oil wealth.

What I want to know is, how will James Rubin explain his "ultimate calculation" to the Iraqi father whose child is dying in his arms?

John Pilger's documentary is called "Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq." Contact: pjw8@dana.ucc.nau-.edu)

Philippa Winkler, Flagstaff

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Flagstaff Tea Party welcomes letters to the editor about stories that have appeared in Flagstaff Tea Party and letters dealing with issues of local importance that have not been adequately covered by the mainstream press. Letters about stories that have appeared in the Daily Sun or other local publications will also be considered if they have not previously been published. Letters should not exceed 500 words in length. Letters should be typed if at all possible. Electronic submissions are encouraged. Letter writers may request that their name not be published. However, such a request could reduce the likelihood that a letter will be published. In any event, please provide a name and contact information for office use.

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