Having attended the meeting covered in the 12/24 Fountain Hills Times: “Sheriff supporters, opponents face off in FH,” I take exception to multiple statements attributed to Mayor Linda Kavanagh. Her assertions, reportedly emailed to The Times, are, at least, biased and, at worst, untrue.

Mayor Kavanagh asserts that Fountain Hills residents asked questions respectfully but “very often were shouted down by the out-of-town protesters.” Is once “very often?”

The impolite tide ran strongly from the other direction. When my wife attempted to explain the underpinning of fear in Fountain Hills about speaking out publically against Sheriff Joe, she was immediately shouted down, not by anti-Arpaio protestors, but by multiple, loud pro-Arpaio residents, including a former member of the Town Council.

The mayor asserts that the meeting was held in Fountain Hills to inform “residents” about issues concerning the lawsuit against MCSO. Wrong. The moderator specifically stated this was not a community meeting. Instead, it was his quarterly report on MCSO progress against court-ordered changes. MCSO oversees the entire county. Out-of-towners had a right to attend and were not “bussed in” as the mayor claims.

Mayor Kavanagh proudly noted her Hispanic heritage. Why? Her lineage is irrelevant to the matter at hand – unless you care to note the irony of Mayor Kavanagh’s consistent, enthusiastic pro-Arpaio stance.

Here are two indisputable facts. First, Sheriff Arpaio has been warned by Judge Murray Snow that he can be held in contempt of court for refusing to institute in a timely manner the changes ordered by the court – changes needed to ensure that MCSO does not display racist and discriminatory enforcement practices.

Second, the sheriff was at this meeting and, for once, was silent during Q&A. Perhaps he finally realizes that the federal government means business about MCSO operating in line with the U.S. Constitution.