Letters to the Editor Sept. 16

Who’s paying?

I see our White House mainstays, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, have everything under control. COVID, the southern border, Afghanistan, etc. Who is paying the salaries and expenses for them to spend time campaigning in California for Gov. Gavin Newsom?

Having just mailed my quarterly estimated income tax, I think it is me, and that is not what I see in the president and vice president job descriptions. Neither of these two have a very good record of accomplishing anything, so get to work and focus on your job.

Don Flood

Green Valley

Save our water

With the grave threat of Lakes Mead/Powell becoming “DEAD POOLS,” common sense is mandatory: 1) Don’t develop new tracts of houses in the desert; 2) Don’t build any new dwellings; 3) Don’t allow private swimming pools; 4) Don’t plant green grass (use fake or gravel) or thirsty plants; 5) Golf courses must use recycled water; 6) Clean up poisoned water sources; 7) Don’t allow the southern Tucson mountains to be destroyed by Rosemont (we can’t drink copper); 8) Collect shower water in a big bucket while the water is warming up, then use it to flush the toilet; 9) Don’t use the dishwasher or washing machine until you have a full load.

In Maine, houses with septic tanks near a lake have signs, “If it’s yellow, it’s mellow”....”If it’s brown, flush it down.”

Let’s implement water-saving measures before it’s too late.

Diane Stephenson

Foothills

Remembering Don Shropshire

Re: the Sept. 12 insert “Rotary Club of Tucson Centennial.”

This insert, concerning the great accomplishments of the Tucson Rotary Club, contained a remembrance of long-term and fellow Rotarian, Don Shropshire the iconic former CEO of Tucson Medical Center.

I was fortunate to have worked with both him and Jerry Gilmore, who headed up the program, as they joined us in Green Valley in the 1980s to create and develop La Posada. Today it is rightfully honored for being one of America’s most prestigious continuing care retirement communities. He was, and remained so his entire life, a man of great character, honor, vision and fortitude, as was his counterpart, Mr. Gilmore. I appreciate the Tucson Rotary Club for including him in the article.

Carl Bosse

Green Valley

Forgotten group in ‘roll call’

Re: the Sept. 12 letter “Roll call for the unvaccinated.”

The letter provided a list of groups who are resisting vaccination, and the reasons why. Pretty accurate, but one significant group was left out — those with a political axe to grind. Many are still embracing the original words and messaging of Donald Trump — “it’s a hoax, it will disappear, it’s like the flu, kids don’t get it” etc.

As did Trump, some conservatives are still promoting quack cures and ineffective drugs (horse de-wormer, anyone?). Though the ex-president is now saying “take the vaccine,” his prior words and messaging have done a great disservice to public health and have done much to keep this pandemic alive and well. How unfortunate many still buy into that dangerous and false messaging, keeping us from vanquishing the virus and getting back to some degree of normalcy.

Deb Klumpp

Oro Valley

Dead pool? Really!

Re: the Sept. 12 article “’Dead pool’ in Mead, Powell?”

What will it take to get us to take climate change seriously? I’m sure that I, like many Tucsonans, was dismayed to see on the front page of Sunday’s paper that now the experts feel a dead pool of our water CAP source is a distinct possibility. We need to plan now for adaptation. But we have ignored too long the root cause, climate change. We need to address it now aggressively.

We have a great opportunity to do so with the budget reconciliation process in the U.S. Senate. According to climate scientists and economists alike, putting a price on carbon is the most efficient and doable path forward. Rebating households with those fees provides a buffer to protect lower income households. The Senate finance committee is really considering this; we must encourage Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly to support this and encourage their colleagues to do so, too.

Linda Karl

Northeast side

Entity?

Re: the Sept. 12 article “To curb abortions, support women at work, in their lives.”

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Renée Schafer Horton argues in her Opinion piece on abortion that “The embryo and fetus are separate entities from the pregnant woman, and we need to be honest about that biological fact.” She bases her objection to abortion on this: Apparently a woman should be prevented from deciding the future of her embryo/fetus — this “entity” in her uterus.

The embryo/fetus may be a separate entity, but it is completely dependent on the woman and must reside in her uterus to become a fully developed human being. We quibble about weeks, but the fact is that there is only a 50% chance of survival outside the uterus at 24 weeks. Separate entity or not, the question remains: Who bears the responsibility for the fetus/embryo? I assert that the woman alone has that responsibility, her decision to make while it is in her body.

Horton’s suggestions on curbing abortions are fine, but they do not obviate the need for the procedure itself and who should make that decision.

Kathy K.E.S. Donahue

Foothills

A woman’s choice

To the ‘Pro Life Movement” I would like to say: So it’s OK to take control over someone’s uterus, any woman’s uterus? I am so glad that I had to have a very necessary complete hysterectomy at 40 years of age. I am also glad that I had very diseased organs, so that it was my choice to take the ‘pill’ until the situation became unbearable. No one could make those choices for me either.

My 82-year-old partner is so glad no one could stop him from having a vasectomy. I’m also glad for him.

Now the U.S. is suing the state of Texas on behalf of women’s rights. Let us respect the rights of all women and men.

Let us help keep women who endanger their lives by getting backstreet, unsterile abortions. Making ridiculous laws will not stop helplessly desperate women who have been beaten, raped and tortured for the enjoyment of men.

Janice Campos

Foothills

Think of others!

If there was a shot to help mitigate diabetes and people with heart disease, I would be the first to get the vaccine. It is not necessarily due to exercise and diet. My brother fell and was in the emergency room for five days, no beds available, and he subsequently died. People who are not vaccinated are selfish and the cause for the overcrowding in hospitals. I do not get it.

Andrew Kunsberg

East side

Thank you, COVID believers!

Thank you, COVID believers, for: Wearing your masks to protect our frail, elderly and children so they might breathe without a respirator.

For agreeing to get vaccinated for our public health and not insisting your rights are being trampled on.

For looking forward and appreciating the fact with freedom comes responsibility for all.

For not burdening our health care workers and not allowing non-COVID patients to be sent far away to receive health care.

For not contributing to the health care costs that our insurance companies will pass on to all consumers.

For educating yourselves off social media and finding credible sites that speak credible information.

For not letting your friends die with the misinformation.

For continuing to get the word out to help move us up from No. 40 of the top 50 vaccinated countries.

Susan Bennett

Southwest side

Hospitals have it all wrong

Every day there are reports of people requiring emergency care and being denied, while COVID cases fill all available beds. The vast majority of these are people who have refused to take the vaccines, so easily available. Why should they be given preference? If it was up to me, they would be allowed in after anyone else. I suppose there is a rule somewhere. If so, it should be rescinded immediately.

Jack Walters

Northeast side