Thomas Meixner
would want
you to vote
Dear Family, Friends, and Community of Thomas and our family,
Our hearts are broken, and at the same time, overwhelmed by your support, presence, and generosity to us during this time of profound loss and confusion. We are so grateful for the many kindnesses we have received, including from strangers.
Here in Arizona, we received our midterm ballots in the mail yesterday. Thomas would have been so proud to see our youngest son’s ballot arrive for his first election. It deepens my grief to know that my husband will not be volunteering to knock on doors and make phone calls to encourage our neighboring community to make a plan to vote. He will not be “calling a representative” which I noticed on his to-do list for this week. And, he will not be casting his vote, which was a civic responsibility he viewed as a sacred duty.
Since he died, I have often asked myself, “What would Thomas do?” Thomas would encourage us to vote, and to select candidates who have the courage to pass red flag laws and universal background checks, which could have prevented our tragedy along with too many others.
I cannot express in words my appreciation for the many individuals and groups who have reached out to us and surrounded our broken hearts with love. I have one request. Please make a plan to vote, because it is perhaps the most profound way to effect change in preventing future tragedy and loss. Thomas never gave up on the possibility of change, and did everything in his power to make it happen, beginning with his vote.
Gratefully,
Kathleen Meixner
Tucson
Choices
Why are people leaving Democrat-run “blue states” and heading to “red states” like Florida and Arizona? Many say that they were tired of high taxes, overrun sanctuary cities, entitlement programs, homeless people living in front of their homes and businesses (and doing their “business”), and seemingly unabated crime.
So, I can’t understand why they would come to Arizona and then vote for Democrats. Do they want to “ruin” what they came for?
Rosalie Wright
Oro Valley
Education,
not propaganda
The goal of the 1776 Project, a PAC which is supporting the Back to Basics slate in the CFSD election, is to "promote patriotism and pride in American history." As a former high school history teacher and university political science teacher, I had always assumed that students would be best-served by learning that the story of the United States, like that of any other country, is one of successes and failures. Successes would be our interventions in World War I and II on the side of democracy versus authoritarianism and fascism; failures would be the dispossession of Indian land and mineral resources and their consignment to reservations and economic dependency, and the 250 years of slavery, a system based on forced labor and rooted in racism.
If we try and rewrite history, in some ludicrous attempt to shield students from the pain of reality, we do a profound disservice to them because they are entitled to education, not propaganda.
Michael Simon
Foothills
Biden's choice
not rational
In response to a reporter's question about the unprecedented numbers of people entering the country illegally under his presidency, President Joe Biden responded, "it is not rational" to "send them back." He then mentioned how most of these people were coming from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. I found this to be a disingenuous excuse by Biden. His objective should be stopping them from entering in the first place. Biden could easily do what Donald Trump did, threaten Mexico with shutting down the U.S./Mexico border if they do not secure their southern border. Trump's threats worked and Mexico placed its National Guard on their border with Guatemala where all these people are entering. But of course Biden does not want to stop the flood. I think he sees every person entering illegally as a future new citizen and Democrat-registered voter, eventually becoming addicted to social welfare government entitlement programs. This is all about expanding the Democrats' voter base, thus forever cementing their power and control of the country.
Alfred Chompski
Midtown
Agricultural water
use in Arizona
The elephant in the state in Arizona's water future is the use of 74% of CAP water for agriculture. The financial interests of Arizona's big commercial corporations are powerful and deeply-rooted in Arizona's history.
However, much of the commercial crop of alfalfa is sold overseas and foreign countries are even buying up our land. In addition, our legislature has committed itself to making cash subsidies to farmers for any water reductions.
How about if the state pays farmers to retire their land and water rights in return for state funds that must be used to build solar installations on their land? The land is cleared and leveled and the revenues will provide a significant cash return to the heirs of these farmers for many years.
More water and more clean electricity. What's not to like?
Bruce Hilpert
North side
American Dream
and inflation
Re: the Oct. 15 article "Ciscomani for Arizona — and America."
The writer begins by defining the American Dream and that it is out of reach. He blames this problem on inflation (more of a supply/demand problem post-COVID than a political dysfunction), broken immigration (we can all agree policy needs fixing, but he doesn’t indicate how that makes the dream unattainable), and education systems (Arizona has been experimenting with choice for a generation with no measurable success). The bottom line is that the writer blames all things “government” for the unattainability of the dream. The writer’s, and presumably Juan Ciscomani’s, answer is to lower taxes and less regulation. Perhaps they dream of the laissez-faire politics of the Gilded Age where privilege and power had nothing to do with playing by the rules or working harder. Kudos, however, to the Star for its efforts to publish opposing viewpoints on the candidates.
Philip Baca
East side
Voter registration
I was very active in local politics in the ’80s when I was a much younger man. I was active with campaigns, did a lot of canvassing and was a voter registrar. In those days you had to go to the recorder's office and go through a little instruction course before you could register people. We would fill out the forms for them and turn them in. And if I am not mistaken, at the time, if you failed to vote in the general election every other year, your registration would be purged and you would have to re-register if you wanted to vote in subsequent elections. That way, people who had moved, or died, would not be on the voter rolls any longer and time would not be wasted on them by candidates or whoever was working off of registration lists. A biennial purge these days might help to allay some of the paranoia some of our "red" population has with regard to dead people voting, etc.
John Harman
Southeast side
Mean girl on the
debate playground
Kari Lake is going after Katie Hobbs hard, taunting her with childish epithets like the mean girl on an elementary school playground — Coward! Chicken! Naahnaahnaah! Lake obviously wants to turn the race for Arizona governor into a hair-pulling cat fight and Hobbs won't let her. Hurray for her! And shame on the Citizens Clean Elections Commission for piling on. They don’t realize that forcing Hobbs into a debate with an opponent who has embraced Donald Trump’s Big Lie would lend a spurious legitimacy to Lake and that lie. Allowing her on the same debate stage with a serious, experienced candidate like Hobbs gives Lake a status she doesn’t deserve. As long as she refuses to either back off the lie or show the proof she says she has that the 2020 election was stolen, she is not a legitimate candidate in my opinion. She’s an imposter, a fraud and a danger to democracy.
Ann Shoben
Northeast side
CFSD election
Re: the Oct. 9 article "Save public education in Catalina Foothills."
I have been a student, a parent and a teacher in CFSD over the past 50 years. As a lifelong resident of CFSD, David Hill’s guest opinion resonated with me, especially regarding the strong community.
In discussing the recent expansion of vouchers to K-12 students, the situation is even worse than what David Hill described. The base funding he referred to was about $4,477, but the voucher is actually for about $6,500. Moreover, in 2018 Arizonans rejected voucher expansion by a 2-1 margin, which the Legislature subsequently ignored. It's outrageous that money intended for public schools is not protected. This is part of the reason why public schools stand to lose millions under this terrible new law.
I share Hill’s enthusiasm for CFSD board candidates Amy Bhola, Amy Krauss, and Gina Mehmert. Unlike their opponents, these women oppose universal vouchers. They are wholly committed to public education, and to seeing that every CFSD student is provided with the resources they need to be successful.
Kathleen Bowman
Foothills
Lake's plan
a pipe dream
Re: the Oct, article "Governor candidates' water plans analyzed,"
In a recent column, Tim Steller reported that Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has floated, among other long-term solutions to Arizona’s water crisis, the idea of building a pipeline from the Mississippi River. She might want to first see if there is enough water in the river to send to us. According to recent reporting, the Mississippi is suffering under severe drought (no surprise there) and has absolutely no excess water to send our way. Lake might want to drop the idea of this particular pipe dream (good pun, huh?).
Tom House
Midtown
Dems drained
retirement plans
Re: the Oct, 18 letter "GOP extremism threatens future."
In the final paragraph of this letter it read “Are we ready to watch our investments in 401(k)s and retirement plans decline?” As the well-worn old saying goes, "what planet is this person living on?” We have already lost a considerable amount. It is the Democrat Party that is responsible. It is time to wake up and pay attention.
Jack Walters
Northeast side
