Save the scenic Santa Ritas
Copper World Mining is in a heavy residential area! Absolutely wrong. Our Heavenly Father made us stewards of His creation. Genesis 2:15 and Psalms 24:1. Mining has several negative effects. Environmental: Removes vegetation and topsoil which can lead to soil erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, contamination of soil, drinking water aquifer, local streams, farmland, wetlands, groundwater and surface water by toxic chemicals emitted from mining processes. These processes also affect the atmosphere through carbon emissions which contributes to climate change. Deforestation/habitat destruction, pollution, humans/wildlife conflicts. Noise pollution, dust. Increase risk of lung cancer and respiratory disease. Mining is an inherently invasive process that can cause damage to landscape (majestic views) in an area larger than the mining site itself. Plumage residence property value. Mining laws need to be changed! Laws date back to 1872. President Ulysses Grant.
Sincerely,
Aileen Sluka
Sahuarita
Overview of part of the site of Hudbay Minerals Inc.'s planned Copper World project southeast of Tucson.
Restrict assault weapons
Re: the Sept. 7 article “Knowing where candidates stand on gun laws is a matter of life or death.”
The recent shooting at the high school in Georgia made me again fear for my grandsons’ safety. So, thank you to Katie Woodall, a mass shooting survivor, for her excellent piece calling for voters to elect politicians who favor gun restrictions.
I am encouraged when I read that the 14-year-old shooter’s father is also being charged. But it is only mildly comforting to see justice carried out after a killing takes place. The boy in Georgia used — you guessed it — an AR-Platform Style assault rifle. Trauma surgeons, ballistics experts and medical examiners will attest to the unspeakable damage done to the human body by this weapon. The mass killer that Woodall experienced in Las Vegas in 2017 had 14 AR-15 semiautomatic rifles and eight similar guns called AR-10s. Yet little has been done by craven politicians to restrict their production or availability.
Peter Bourque
Midtown
Corporate welfare
The MAGA Party is warning us all that we will see socialism under a Harris administration. Harris wants to support small business and Trump wants to help corporations.
I worked for a great company started up by two local Tucson visionaries. Our product was in hospitals all over the country. We were paid a decent wage and earned merit raises every year. Unfortunately, the company eventually sold to a large corporation.
Under this corporation, we began seeing low level support coworkers being ushered out of the office as their jobs were sent to offshore employees. Our wages were frozen and raises and bonuses were a thing of the past.
The company got sold to another corporation and employees who had years of knowledge that made our product valuable were being pushed out and replaced with more offshore workers. I call this corporate welfare and it ended up destroying this company we were all so proud of. Think about that when you vote.
Donna Pierce
Northeast side
Where does the buck really stop?
Perhaps future parents need to be advised that they will be legally and financially liable for their children’s actions until age 18 or whatever legal majority. The day parents fail to gift their children with decent values and respect for themselves and others and instead gift them with an AK or fail to keep lethal weapons under lock and key they will be charged along with their child for any misuse. It is time for parents to take the hard line of monitoring their progeny. Why should schools have to be the ones to check 100s of backpacks for weapons? One parent can check their child’s backpacks and other places of hiding before they leave home. Each household needs to know when their child is leaving for school each day and how they are doing as their day begins. Most parents are doing a good job of raising their children, but it is the one child who is missing the love and direction that can change other family’s lives forever.
Jean Groman
Midtown
Worldwide fear of Trump
After 10 days as a Paris 2024 Olympics volunteer, I met people from everywhere — Hungary, Morocco, China, Argentina, France, Ukraine. The common thread: fear of a second Trump presidency.
A Hungarian teacher living under authoritarian Viktor Orban described: The headmaster published a weekly newsletter, often criticizing the government. The day before school started, he was fired, despite huge protests. She fears the Putin/Orban friendship will lead to Hungary leaving the EU — already a poor country only maintained by the EU, will become poorer — “become the Soviet Union.”
A Chinese neurobiologist said, “He’s crazy, dangerous for the world.”
A French man said, “I never understood the gun culture. We take care of each other. Why so many killings in the US?”
Disregard Republican accusations of “flip-flops, no experience, sexual encounters” of VP Harris. Instead consider our country’s future. Question Americans electing a felon, liar, sexual predator, narcissist ... multiple bankruptcies/divorces, nonsensical word salad speeches, vengeful authoritarian wishes embodied in Project 2025.
They fear for their countries as we should fear for ours.
Sandra Katz, M.D., J.D.
Foothills
Re-elect Lea Marquez Peterson to the ACC
Raised in Tucson with “Beat the Peak” PSAs, I am interested in energy issues. In my classroom, many students choose this topic for their speeches.
Arizona is growing rapidly while transitioning to energy diversity with less reliance on fossil fuels. The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) plays an important role in determining Arizona’s energy future.
I’ve known Lea Márquez Peterson since we were in elementary school and unequivocally trust her judgment on the ACC. She has served as a commissioner since 2019 and as chairwoman. Lea provides a common-sense approach to the incredible energy demand that Arizona is facing and takes great care to consider everyone’s needs while weighing her decisions. Her priority is to ensure that we have energy reliability at the most affordable utility rates.
Lea has been a business leader in Southern Arizona for decades, and I’m proud that she is representing us in her statewide role at the Commission. Please vote to re-elect Lea Márquez Peterson to our ACC!
Suzanne Allie
Northwest side
Ciscomani delusions
Juan Ciscomani is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. He did not earn the appointment. He was appointed by former House Leader Kevin McCarthy because he was a freshman Representative who could be manipulated. McCarthy’s main priority, hence Ciscomani’s main priority, has been to defund the IRS. Biden increased funding to improve service and curb tax evasion by millions, which according to IRS Commissioner Werfel exceeds 150 billion dollars/year. Ciscomani partially succeeded, which will impair our ability to pay for the bipartisan investments which Ciscomani misleadingly claimed sole credit for on 9/8. There is a pattern here: when Ciscomani served as former Governor Ducey’s Chief of Staff, he spearheaded Ducey’s push for a flat state income tax, which dramatically benefited millionaires and is now hampering the State’s ability to provide basic services. This bending of the knee is lucrative: Ciscomani was able to outspend Kristen Engel by 6-1 in 2022.
Doug Pickrell
Midtown
Tucson’s murals
Re: the Sept. 8 article “Murals convey story of Tucson.”
I agree with Steve Auslander that the vast and growing number of murals make me proud to be a Tucsonan.
I am grateful to the many muralists, property owners, and philanthropists whose partnerships have enlivened Tucson’s built environment with art that enriches our lives with visual beauty, emotional joy, and intellectual connections with our history and natural environment.
Do these visual splendors suggest bestowing the label of “City of Murals” to Tucson in the same spirit that our cuisine inspired our designation as a City of Gastronomy?
Mitch McClaran
Midtown
18 million lives shattered
I fear for my friends and neighbors whose lives and livelihoods will be in jeopardy should Trump be elected. His manifesto stipulates arresting 18 million undocumented immigrants across the country, detaining them in camps, and ultimately deporting them by mobilizing our military to enforce his far-ranging assault on them.
His war on foreign-born immigrants includes dismantling the DREAM and DACA programs, expanding his dreadful, hateful actions to include school children and college students.
Massive chaos, misery, physical and psychological damage awaits them and those of us who must witness such an attack on ordinary people going about their everyday lives.
This is not the America I want to live in. I hope you will join me in alerting our friends and neighbors about the dangers they may face and together making sure Trump never has the opportunity to shatter 18 million lives, create widespread fear and uncertainty, and do untold damage to our economy and our country.
Jackie Marshall
Oro Valley
Love for all, hatred for none
Dear Sir,
In these troubled times of social unrest, here and abroad — some say World War III is looming — we should remind ourselves why this has come about, and to offer remedies.
Fundamentally, the lack of belief in God and the lack of love and sympathy for fellow human beings are the root causes of these conflicts.
As Muslims, we believe that the essence of peace is belief and submission to God who is Gracious and Merciful. The word “Islam” literally means both “peace” and “submission” — thus true peace at personal, societal, and global levels can only be achieved by submission to God and love for all peoples. Hence, a motto of The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam is, “Love for all, hatred for none.” Through submission to God and love for humanity, we will build a better society and reverse many of the problems inflicting us today — loneliness, alcoholism, greed, and the vast gap between the wealthy and the poor.
Sohail Qureshi
Downtown
MAGA entity
Re: the Sept. 4 article “How Arizona-based Turning Point climbed GOP ranks.”
The TPUSA article omitted a number of pertinent facts in relation to AZ politics.
AZ State Representative Austin Smith was senior director of TPUSA’s Turning Point Action but resigned after a complaint was filed against him in court for forging signatures on his re-election petition. He withdrew from his re-election campaign in April.
Tyler Bowyer, Chief Operating Official for TPA, was indicted on 9 felony counts in April for his involvement in the AZ fake elector scheme that tried to “prevent the lawful transfer of presidency” and “deprive AZ voters their right to vote.”
AZ state senator and leader of the AZ Freedom Caucus, Jake Hoffman, also an indicted conspirator, was president of Rally Forge, a group closely associated with TPUSA which was banned by Facebook and Twitter for “trolling” misinformation through social media involving teenagers.
TPUSA exudes images of “youthful enthusiasm” and “hard work and innovation” as a political strategy. But TPUSA is above all, an ultra-right-wing, conspiracy-driven MAGA-entity first and foremost.
Linda Dugan
Midtown
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) endorsement
It is truly a sad day for law enforcement when FOP endorses a 34X convicted felon, fraud, con man and rapist that wants to pardon January 6 insurrectionists responsible for assaulting and killing police officers.
How does an FOP member explain to his/her mother, wife, daughter or granddaughter that they support a rapist? Why would a police officer organization support assaulting and killing other police officers? How does anyone rationalize ever telling their children or grandchildren that they should ever respect a police officer? Why would anyone allow their children or grandchildren to participate in any event sponsored by a group that supports such amoral, unethical and illegal behavior? Do not let any FOP member near my family!
Patrick Mulloy
Oro Valley
Future of the USA
Make no mistake,
The November Presidential election is only nominally about personalities, policies and proposals. It is actually about the future of the United States and the choice between 248 years of democracy as laid out in the Constitution, and a Putinesque totalitarianism as espoused by the 2025 Manifesto. A choice between the freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the controls and restrictions mandated by Project 2025.
Look beyond political rhetoric and campaign promises and consider the framework of government you wish for your children and grandchildren.
Vote for Harris if you want to continue democracy.
Vote for Trump if you want a totalitarian government headed by a felonious shill for Project 2025.
Todd Ackerman
Foothills
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