Tucson Speaks Out: Aug. 27 letters of the day

Juan and the laundry

With our beloved Tucson already surrounded by the Santa Catalinas, the Rincons, the Santa Ritas and the Tucson Mountains, what need have we for a new mountain proposed to be constructed from a mole hill right in the heart of the town? And perhaps to be constructed in the seventy-some days between now and November 5?

If I’m not mistaken, the conflict-of-interest controversy — Casa Alitas engaging, without bid or contract, the laundry services of a company owned by the mother of Casa Alitas’ then-director — came to light and the director and his supervisor resigned in May. Amado Laundry Service’s arrangement was terminated and Pima County has undertaken appropriate remedial measures.

And now Representative Juan Ciscomani is asking for a Homeland Security review of all federal funding to Catholic Community services back to 2020. Perhaps this is perfectly appropriate, but to my suspicious mind the timing is suspect.

Frank Bergen

North side

Brennan doing what he was hired to do

Re: the Aug. 24 article “Bear Down? More of a fan engagement letdown.”

I disagree with much of what Michael Lev says in his article postulating that Brent Brennan erred in not engaging fans in preseason. Brent’s primary job is to prepare this multi-headed football machine for a rigorous first season in a new conference. Despite this huge responsibility, Brent has put in the time to engage with the Arizona fans throughout the state in the multi-city Wildcat caravan, along with other head coaches. He has been readily available for local media interviews and has made his coaches and players available for interviews. We have full time media staff whose job is to prime the public with interest generating events and stories. They do a good job of that. I want Brent concentrating most of his efforts in getting us wins. Wins will be more effective in generating the interest for our program. He is doing what he was hired to do and he will be successful.

John Gonzalez

Northeast side

ACC election needs to go to front burner

The ACC election is so down-ballot that its importance is often overlooked. In purple Arizona, the result is a skewed current Republican advantage of 4-1 resulting in policies that favor fossil fuels over renewables. The Republicans argue that this keeps current energy costs low. But this view is far too short term given the current climate crisis. It also ignores that renewables are competitive if not cheaper than fossil fuels. And it overlooks the incredible solar resource in Arizona and wind resource of the Colorado Plateau-Arizona should be leading the way in renewables.

Two factors stand in the way of Arizona’s continuing prosperity-water and climate change. Climate change makes the shift from fossil fuels to renewables absolutely vital. I urge the people of Arizona to vote in the 3 Democratic candidates for the ACC. Arizonans presently have been ignoring the elephant in the room (pun intended) in that if we overlook the ACC elections, Arizona will eventually just be too damn hot for humans.

Robert Phelps Jones

North side

Why some support Trump

Some people support Trump because they remember prices for gas and food were lower four years ago. They were. But so were wages. Then COVID happened; the economy collapsed. Trump disparaged medical science and encouraged followers to go maskless, causing 300,000 avoidable deaths out of the one million Americans who died.

Under Trump, government aid checks were sent to keep people in their homes, and food on their tables. When Biden became President, Congressional Republicans voted against extending the COVID aid, but Democrats prevailed. Biden’s aid saved millions from hunger and homelessness, but also caused inflation. Now, 3 ½ years later, inflation is coming down, prices are returning to normal, 15 million new jobs created and wages rising faster than prices.

Yearning for imaginary better times, when science was dismissed and relatives died because a power-craven, boastful narcissist couldn’t admit he was wrong, isn’t the path to a better future.

Bruce Joffe

South side

Chutzpah

Re: the Aug. 24 article “Is it 1968 all over again, and will the results be the same?”

I read Gary Franks’ guest opinion with utter disbelief. Franks spent 1000 words condemning the “Biden-Harris” administration for their lies, without once mentioning the most mendacious person ever to occupy the oval office.

I believe that’s called chutzpah.

Laura Penny

Foothills

Dust exposure from Hudbay’s new mine

I am a retired Sahuarita public school teacher and a frequent hiker in the Santa Rita Mountains. I strongly oppose the new mine proposed by Hudbay Minerals/Copper World. Missing from arguments against Hudbay’s mine so far is a close estimate of the number of people living within two miles of tailings dump TSF-N, which would extend to the edge of Corona de Tucson and Sycamore Canyon. These residents’ health could be affected by plumes of toxic dust in prevailing wind currents from the tailings. How many would this be?

Corona de Tucson’s population is 9,600. About a third — 3,200 residents — live within 2 miles of tailings dump TSF-N.

The Sycamore Canyon subdivision has 600 homes. The average household is 2.92, totaling 1,752 people.

Therefore, the total number of people near TSF-N is about 5,000. A huge mine operation should not be allowed to suddenly move in and potentially affect 5,000 lives — or more.

David DeGroot

Northwest side

Happy Warrior Volk

Kevin Volk, who is running for state representative from Legislative District 17, exudes optimism and positivity. I’ve heard him speak several times and his passion and commitment to make government work for the betterment of all Arizonans is off the charts.

In a way, it’s not fair to compare Volk to Cory McGarr and Rachel Jones and yet we must, since he is running against the Doom Twins in LD 17. But there is really no comparison. The Twins exude paranoia, bitterness and negativity. In their world view, public schools are cash machines for vouchers, elections are fake unless they win, and women are not capable of making their own healthcare decisions. The “Freedom Team” only believes in freedom if it adheres to their world view.

Arizona needs Kevin Volk and his commonsense approach to public service. He brings a smile to politics instead of a sneer. Our state has never needed these attributes more than we do now.

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Jim Lombardo

Oro Valley

Military service

There have been a number of opinions regarding Governor Walz’s military service. Some from people who identified themselves as veterans and others not. For those who are veterans I applaud your commitment and you are entitled to render your opinions. But so are those who are not vets. I just view the opinions differently. To me the “combat veteran” is a non-issue because there are many classes of combat vet. I am a Navy vet who served in the submarine service. Do the submarine patrols in various bodies of water count as combat? Approximately 16% of Congress has any record of military service and some of those may have embellished their record. Purple Heart recipients are excluded as their record stands alone.

Regardless of your political affiliation please focus on issues and not embellished resumes military or otherwise.

Gerald Schwartz, EM1(SS) and LCDR USN(Ret)

Foothills

Addiction crisis is far from a two-party issue

Re: the Aug. 25 article “Dems leave addiction-crisis issue to GOP.”

Tim Steller’s column paints the picture that Dems are expecting the GOP to solve the addiction-crisis issue. The addiction crisis has plagued our nation and the world for decades and will continue to do so until a plan/solution is put into place by every nation, government, city, state, and province to eradicate the demand for drugs while negating the supply of drugs. This is everyone’s crisis! It doesn’t matter what political party, religion, or demographic you belong to. It has had an effect on someone we know, whether it be a family member, friend, classmate, co-worker, or neighbor. The addiction-crisis can and does foster homelessness, increased crime rates, while burdening our criminal justice system. It’s going to take a heck of a lot more than 2 parties to tackle the addiction-crisis. There’s an episode on 60 Minutes about an addict curbing his addiction by undergoing a cutting-edge ultrasound therapy by Dr. Ali Rezai. This is a step in the right direction.

Max LaPlante

Southeast side

The magic of Casa Alitas

I have been a volunteer for Casa Alitas since 2019. I have worked as an airport escort for much of that time. Over 300,000 migrants came through the Benediction Chapel and the Welcome Center on Ajo. Sweet little families and individuals who come are hungry, tired and scared. All most of them have is the clothes on their backs. We volunteers treated them with kindness, respect and love. Most had left everything they knew because of the lack of jobs, food and so much violence! This happened partially during COVID and everyone was tested and cared for. The volunteers are the most loving, caring, well educated people I have ever met.

I worked closely on occasions with Diego Pena Lopez and Teresa Cavendish. Both addressed the impossible number of people with care. We worked hard to reduce their stress, fear and anxiety! Think about leaving everything you own and love and going to a country where you don’t speak the language. We are truly “Good Samaritans.”

Marilyn Garrett Civer

East side

The border wall

It seems just plain weird to hear the ex-president denigrate VP Harris in regard to the border wall. Everyone knows that Biden and Harris negotiated a bipartisan border deal. (One of the few times that enough Republicans and Democrats came together to accomplish something.) It certainly wasn’t perfect, but it would have been an improvement.

Now it is getting used for political football. If the bill had passed, then Biden/Harris would have had a political victory ... and the ex and his minions would no longer be able to point the (lying) finger at VP Harris (and others in the political arena) to claim they want an open border.

It is surprising that many give a free pass on this. The bill might not have passed anyway, but he saw a political advantage to make it fail!

Harris’ path for the White House ... Wisconsin!

Trump’s path ... the southern border!

David Hatch

Southeast side

Presidential Campaign — when you lose your direction

When the Dems lose a Kennedy, they’ve lost their way.

The Kennedys have been the lighthouse for the Democratic Party, but party power overrules party identification.

The Dems didn’t lose a Kennedy; they pushed him out. Then the same Dems pushed Biden to the curb and inserted their puppet, when it was too late to run any kind of primary. They call it democracy.

Black Lives do matter; but can any of you actually claim relief? Oh yeah; they promise all kinds of bailouts as they bankrupt this country. You would be better off crossing the border as an illegal migrant then being a US Citizen.

The rich oligarchs really don’t care about your wellbeing. The elite rich want your vote but that’s it. Look at all the turmoil the Dem-run cities created with homeless and crime. Have they addressed that?

Bottom line: Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?

James M. Quigley

Marana

Fool you twice?

In 2020, Harris is employing the same strategy that worked for Biden in 2020, duck and hide. This time, however, with the help of the marketing arm of the Democratic party, a.k.a. the liberal mainstream media, Harris is able to hide in plain sight. By not being forced to have any unscripted interviews or news conferences where she could give the details of what her policies would be, her anonymous aides are being allowed to claim that every far-left policy she has espoused for her entire political life is no longer what she believes. They claim, whoever they are, that if elected, Harris will govern from the middle left. Seriously?! There can’t be enough stupid voters out there who don’t understand that, if elected, Harris will lead the most radically left administration this country has ever seen. She’ll make Bernie look like a moderate. If you think inflation, prices, immigration, violence, and international crises are out of control now, just wait until Hope and Joy is elected.

Kevin D. Kaatz

Oro Valley