The Arpaio recognition and tribute event could have, and should have, been a nice, private event; but the organizers, the local Republican Club, or Town officials, apparently weren’t satisfied with the established procedures for private use of our town’s Community Center.

Here are a few facts to weigh against the fabrications and half-truths.

1. In December, 2016 the FH Republican Club submitted an application to use the Community Center and obtain a special event liquor license for the tribute event.

2. The application stated that 100 percent of the proceeds would go to the Republican Club.

3. That application made no mention of a request to waive fees and was never amended.

4. On January 5, 2017, the Council approved the Republican Club’s original application, not an amended version.

During the weeks following the original application, someone – either the Club, or Town Officials – decided to waive fees and change the beneficiary of the proceeds. The proceeds would now go to the Extended Hands Food Bank. There was no disclosure of the fee waiver in any of the records for the Jan. 5 agenda, nor were there any disclosures of the waiver by the Mayor, Manager, or any Councilmember at the meeting.

This paper, The Fountain Hills Times, reported that no one from the public protested at the Jan. 5 meeting to any fee waiver for the Republican Club’s use of the Community Center. True, but of course there weren’t any protests; the waiver had not been disclosed.

The Community Center is a Town asset, not the private clubhouse of a favored organization. Undisclosed agreements to waive fees are improper and unjust.

An old axiom reminds us that a half-truth can be more deceptive than a complete lie. Half-truths, designed to mislead and/or conceal, seem to be the order of the day.