Misery awaits returned Haitians
When in the history of America have we ever shipped refugees from a catastrophic earthquake back to their country where their homes have been destroyed and there is no assurance they will have shelter, food or water available for them? In the same period we accept 200,000 Afghan refugees we turn away 15,000 Haitians? Why? The Haitians are our neighbors. Many have family members living in the Untied States for generations. What is going on here?
Bette Richards
Northwest side
Hansen analogy rubs wrong way
Re: the Sept. 20 article βLoss to βJacks causes more pity than pain.β
I have always enjoyed reading Greg Hansenβs column, however, his comparison of the UA coaching performance since 2015 βas the equivalent of an elementary school substitute teacherβ was completely out of line.
I taught first-third grades in the Sunnyside School District for 35 years and have been subbing for about eight years since retirement. Elementary school teachers (and subs and teaching assistants) are some of the hardest working, most qualified people I know.
They do this job because they love the kids and seeing the progress they make. They certainly donβt become teachers for the big paycheck or, in Greg Hansenβs case, the respect.
Kathy Hotchkiss
Midtown
White House stumbles along
When asked if you are better off than 10 months ago, the answer is a resounding no! The Dunkirk of Afghanistan was a poorly planned and executed and Biden did not keep his word to American citizens residing there. The administration will not enforce current immigration laws, and the result is that hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have been allowed to enter this country.
Unfortunately, we will foot the bill for many years to come. Inflation is raging, hurting the poorest of us the most. Energy prices have risen steeply, particularly gasoline. The poorly conceived rush to green energy has put our existing grid system in peril. Even though he pledged to be the great uniter, are we actually better off? And what will happen to taxes?
Pudge Johnson
Oro Valley
US government fails its people
Sometimes 150 words is just not enough to cover all thatβs wrong with the current administration of our country. I know the decisions being made are not rational or in the best interest of the American people. Congress is in a state of disarray, I think our borders are wide open and we have no control of who is entering our country. The country is in a pandemic and itβs out of control.
A government is judged by the action it takes to protect its people during these hard times and and when you can describe this action as βtoo little too lateβ is a sure sign of failure. The future seems to hold much of the same. Nope, not enough words.
Thomas Fletcher
South side
Librarians know what you want
I have always loved libraries and have been visiting the Woods Library since it opened many years ago. Librarians are great resources and recently I learned of a new service our library offers called Personalized Reading Recommendations. You answer a few questions about books youβve loved, books you didnβt and what kind of books you enjoy reading. Then you get recommendations from a real live librarian. I have read three of the recommended books and loved them all. What a great service. How wonderful to have dedicated public servants who are book lovers.
Kate Maguire Jensen
Northwest side
Donβt impeach our incompetent prez
Our president has gotten himself into a huge mess in only a few short months in office.
COVID: Former President Trump handed him two approved and incredibly successful vaccines accelerated by Operation Warp Speed. He told us that he was the antidote to Trumpβs alleged mishandling of the virus. Howβs that going?
Our southern border: Trump also handed him a semi-stable border situation where desperate hopeful immigrants understood the steps to come here before uprooting their miserable lives. Now thereβs chaos and despair at Del Rio, Texas, and elsewhere.
Afghanistan departure: Almost no one is defending this humiliating fiasco so I donβt need to add more.
Iβm not a big fan of impeachment proceedings by either party of an incumbent president. When you sort through the diatribe, theyβre either βcriminally Republicanβ or βcriminally Democrat.β Either way, it distracts from governance and weakens America.
I say, 40 months to go until the election.
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
What motivated this sham audit?
What motivates Arizona Senate Republicansβ pursuance of an unnecessary, time-wasting sham audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, and why question the validity of the election in which they won their seats? Why has this sham audit, funded by βBig Lieβ supporters, dragged on for months? What did they do during those months?
Read the βReport on the Partisan Review of the 2020 General Election in Maricopa Countyβ found online at the Secretary of Stateβs site, azsos.gov. It has me extremely worried, angry and sad. To be clear the Arizona Senate Republicans have one goal: raise doubts in votersβ minds about the integrity of all elections to come. Arizona Senate Republicans do not believe in democracy or the right of all Arizonans to vote. Arizona Senate Republicans will do anything to stay in power. Anything. Remember that when their sham audit report is released and vote them all out in 2022.
Tina Whitley
Northeast side
Making things more personal
Re: the Sept. 22 article βIn pocket-phone age, why do we feel less connected?β
What the article says is so true. Itβs not just nostalgia for geezers. Itβs really true that the effort needed for communications made them more deeply felt. Here are a couple of other thoughts:
First, we werenβt tied to the phone on the wall. In more recent times, when we werenβt required to buy everything from the (only) telephone company, you could get an extra long curly cord that let you walk around the room, or even around several rooms, dangling the cord behind you (which always got tangled up into a blob as you hung up the phone). And extension phones in other rooms, remember leaving one phone, picking up an extension in another room, then going back to hang up the first phone?
Second, folks who arenβt familiar with the joy of receiving a paper letter might try it. Thereβs something special about holding paper in your hand that the other person has created for you.
Jerry Peek
Midtown
Donβt change Ariz. Constitution
When there are so many larger issues facing our workers, businesses and communities, changing our state constitution to wipe right-to-work laws off the books is tremendously misguided. But that is exactly what the PRO Act would do. Among its sweeping changes to U.S. labor law, the PRO Act would nullify right-to-work laws here in Arizona.
Arizona was founded over 100 years ago, and right-to-work protections were so important they are written into our state constitution. To simply erase these laws from existence takes away rights from workers and also completely disregards the will of who we are as a state.
We should not be wasting time, money, and resources to effectively rewrite our state constitution when there are bigger fish to fry. Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema should oppose the PRO Act and help ensure Congress focuses on more pressing priorities.
Michelle Rill
Downtown
Security demands are inconsistent
If security by the TSA is so important when we board an airplane, why should not security be just as important at our borders when someone wants to enter the United States?
Robert Lenhard
Northeast side
