Elected officials aren’t helping
I’m so disappointed in America and the so-called “civilized” world.
I would hope we and our children have a better moral compass than is apparent from what we see on the media. One bad country is tormenting and destroying a smaller country. No one has stepped up and tried to physically stop it. Lots of words floating around which does not help the family whose home is destroyed and some who have had their life taken from them.
No one wants to be the world policeman.
The ones who can make a change in our relationship with the invaders are hired by us, the voters. Apparently, we didn’t do this voting very well last time.
Rick Ricketson, Retired U.S. Army major
Sahuarita
Wildcats play for love of game
As a young boy growing up in Pittsburgh, I spent many Saturdays at a shrine called Forbes Field watching the great Roberto Clemente do incredible feats with a baseball. I was the kid in the Norman Rockwell painting who slept with his cap and a glove beside his bed. That’s why it’s so sad to read the headlines about the baseball lockout, which recently ended. I’m sure the issues were about more than money, but it’s hard to have any sympathy for millionaire players fighting with billionaire owners. Fortunately we have both the Wildcat softball and baseball teams to tide us over until the MLB season begins. I urge all baseball or softball fans to go out to Hillenbrand or Hi Corbett to see players who take the field simply because they love the game.
Charles Schultz
Northeast side
For the sake of world peace
I used to regard Vladimir Putin as a very cunning man. He managed to subvert Russia’s attempt at existing as a democracy by singlehandedly modifying its Constitution so that he could ostensibly become president for life, and he did that while he was simultaneously robbing Russia’s treasury to literally gold-plate his lifestyle.
Now, however, he has initiated a one-sided war with Ukraine by promulgating lies about NATO’s objectives and the prospect of Ukraine joining that association. Ironically, those lies might very well become truths as a result of his unwarranted amoral aggression. For the sake of world peace, that does need to happen and it needs to happen immediately. NATO members need to act before their nations are in Putin’s crosshairs. And then, just like a former U.S. president who admires him, he will be victimized by his own megalomania.
Rick Cohn
West side
Baseball needs to speed up
Re: the March 4 article “Owners’ priorities in the wrong place.”
This article had a line near the end of the piece: “... the game is dying a slow death because it is simply becoming unwatchable.” I, too, believe that games are too long and can be boring. To remedy this, I propose two solutions. One, defensive shifts in the field should be banned for cutting down on the number of hits, thus reducing the action fans like to see. The second is a radical proposal: Reduce the ball count to two strikes for a strikeout and three balls for a walk.
This will certainly save time and cause batters to concentrate more and pitchers to be more accurate. Of course this will affect baseball’s statistics, especially strikeouts and walks, but basketball affected its statistics with the three-point shot, making games more exciting. I think it is more important to worry about game length and interest than statistics to make baseball a more relevant 21st century game.
Raymond Silverstein
Midtown
The Russian ‘Z’ phenomenon
I recently saw images of militant Russians including a Russian gymnast sporting the letter “Z.” This military identifier used by Russian army vehicles and now displayed with Russian military units on the ground there has been picked up by those supporting Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. In Russia this apparel has been printed on black hoodies and T-shirts and worn as a point of pride. It reminded me of the Fasci di combattimento, the Italian ultranationalists who wore the black shirt as a symbol of their unity with Benito Mussolini back in the 1930s. It is interesting to me that when you add another “Z” by bisecting it with the original and tilting it you get the Nazi logo. Wearing the “Z” is a political fashion statement in Russia, however the reality is that it is a “fascist” statement. We must condemn both the symbol and those wearing it in support of Putin. Wearing the “Z” is not a point of pride but a point of shame.
Richard Harper
Northeast side
Don’t encourage gun purchases
As someone who lives in a community where a mass shooting killed six people and injured 13 others, including my congresswoman, nothing will ever convince me that arming more people will make me or my community safer.
HB 2166 exempts firearms and firearm safety equipment from sales tax. Why? Granting firearms the same tax status as truly necessary items like food and prescription medicines is senseless.
Why encourage people to buy more guns when every day more than 100 people are killed with a gun?
When ammunition was added to the tax exemption, HB 2166 went from being senseless to being dangerous. Ammunition can be purchased in Arizona without a background check, in unlimited quantities with no record of who bought it, what they purchased and where it may have been shipped.
Guns and ammunition are already selling in record numbers. It is beyond senseless to make stockpiling them even more affordable.
Meg Pradelt
Foothills
Account of epic game was a joy
Re: the March 7 article “Epic McKale experience will live on forever.”
I’ve never seen an Arizona basketball game or been in McKale, but Bryan Savic’s article about the win over Oregon was something that made me want to run out and buy tickets!
Congratulations on having such a fine apprentice at the Star — he is certainly someone who is in the right occupation.
Keep on writing Bryan, I look forward to reading you again!
Marilyn Dale
Green Valley
Many Russians abhor invasion
I recently received an email from Russia, from friends of my family. To protect their safety, I include the text here but not their names.
“Dear friends,
“We dreamed of seeing you after the pandemic ...
“Now it’s clear that our plans will never come true.
“We want you to know that we are against this criminal war unleashed by Putin. And we are ashamed of our country, where a lot of people still believe everything that the state TV channels broadcast.
“We wish you all the very best.
“P.S. Note that Facebook does not work here anymore.”
They wanted us to know that they and many Russians are appalled by the invasion of the Ukraine. We should direct our anger to Vladimir Putin and his circle of enablers and not to the Russian people. Let’s not get back into a cold war that is costly to us and the Russian people.
Douglas Holland
Midtown
