Scott has tools
to be supervisor
The 2020 elections draw near; on every level — national, state and local — how we vote can make a critical difference in the future of our community. Electing Rex Scott for County Supervisor District 1 will help us do the work to move forward. You learn much about governance as a high school principal — about leadership, teamwork and organization.
I was a teacher at Catalina High School while Rex was principal, and I’d add a couple other attributes to the list that Rex brought with him every day — trust and generosity. Trust and generosity were extended to everyone — teachers, staff and students alike. I don’t know that these things are mentioned in a serious way in a political campaign, but in daily life these are the glue that hold things together. You notice if they are not there.
He’s prepared for this moment; his experience gives him valuable perspective and appreciation for the complex issues and problems we are faced with. Please give him the opportunity on Nov. 3.
Karen Lieneke
Midtown
NFL lost this fan
NFL should be NFE (Not For Everyone). That was some show on Sept. 10. So they are not only disrespecting our flag, but they are trying to steal our national anthem. Guess I’m done with pro sports as long as this continues.
Tom Taylor
Oro Valley
Rotten culture
at UA starts at the top
Re: the Sept. 13 article “12 former track athletes back up claims of harassment, emotional abuse at UA.”
Regarding Caitlin Schmidt’s updated article on the abuse/neglect claims by former track and field athletes, I’m even more angered about what these athletes endured. Evidence in the hands of the Daily Star appears to corroborate most of the athletes’ accusations. I trust the UA is investigating the full extent of these claims by independent means and not utilizing AD Dave Heeke’s own group.
This “rotten culture,” coined in the Star’s August story by an expert, doesn’t just happen by itself — it comes from the top of an organization, either from lack of oversight or through its own actions. And while Dave Heeke is making statements that the athletic department will continue to “build a foundation through intense focus on the values of integrity, compassion, support, teamwork, communication, sportsmanship and good citizenship,” these incidents happened right under his nose! A lot of heads should roll after the investigation is complete, starting right at the top of the athletic department.
Don Wagstaff
Oro Valley
Some conservatives do see the light
Re: the Sept. 14 article “To get what they want, supporters of Trump will overlook all his sins.”
Mr. Gerson’s completely accurate description of Donald Trump and his supporters echoes Hillary Clinton’s past campaign statements that Trump is “unfit to be president” and is supported by a “basket of deplorables.” Well, as George Will is fond of saying, he’s right. If one defends the indefensible, one is deplorable.
Along with Jeffrey Goldberg’s more-than-less credible Atlantic piece regarding Trump’s disdain for fallen patriots, and dozens (hundreds, thousands, millions?) of honorably intentioned anti-Trump conservatives chiming in, the giant conservative lie of Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, et al. is exposed. Although Gerson, Will, Jonah Goldberg and many others have worked for years to foment our current repugnant dire apocalyptic circumstances by engineering the tyranny of the minority (GOP gerrymandering), it is encouraging that even backward, hard-core conservatives like Gerson, Will, and Goldberg can see the light when confronted with the current conservative conflagration.
Philip Jaskoski
Midtown
McSally fights
for our freedoms
As proud Americans, my husband and I support the Constitution of the United States, are pro-military/law enforcement and pro-traditional values. Henceforth, we strongly advocate the reelection Sen. Martha McSally! We must not succumb to opponent Mark Kelly’s campaign ads.
Remember the “bait and switch” that occurred when Obamacare passed? We recently moved from Northern California to Arizona to escape high taxes, insane laws already difficult to enforce, let alone recent ones passed by the governor, exorbitant health-care costs, small businesses struggling (pre-COVID-19) and liberal education for young minds. Those are just a few reasons precipitating our exodus from the “tarnished” Golden State. We implore our Arizona friends not to “California-ize” Arizona and the rest of the U.S. by electing Mark Kelly!
He will transform Arizona by raising taxes and moving toward socialized medicine! The fighting spirit of Martha will prevail for prosperity for America!
Arlene Stassinos
Southeast side
Imagine COVID-19 without Trump
Imagine this: Imagine a leader who didn’t constantly lie to us. Imagine a leader who said in February: There is a dangerous airborne disease coming, but we can beat it by wearing masks, distancing and not gathering in large groups. Imagine a leader who didn’t contradict doctors and public-health experts, but used the pandemic playbook left to him by his predecessor to roll out a coordinated national plan to fight this virus.
Imagine a leader who was not, even now, defying state and local laws by holding large campaign events with cheering crowds to stroke his fragile ego, and still ridiculing people who wear masks. What would our world be like today?
How many of those nearly 200,000 Americans didn’t have to die? How many more will die in service of his dishonesty and arrogance? Just imagine. And please think about that in November.
Carol Conniff
Foothills
Second-guessing
is not a strategy
Bob Woodward with his new book “Rage” and Joe Biden do not understand what it is like to be a CEO of a corporation or the president of a country. If you are the person where “the buck stops,” you protect the people in peril. If your company or country is facing a potential bankruptcy type of situation, you do not run around yelling, “The sky is falling.”
You assure your employees/constituents that “everything is going to be all right.”
In the early years of the Great Depression, FDR tried to comfort U.S. citizens when he said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Joe Biden plays Monday-morning quarterback with accusations of what may have been wrong regarding COVID. But what would his plan have been, and what are his strategies for the future?
It is easy to find fault.
Mark Tornga
Oro Valley
Homeland security mission needs update
Re: the Sept. 14 article “Leaders at DHS have duty to protect human rights.”
I couldn’t agree more with this piece. DHS was born during a time of great fear and it was flawed from the start, even as it was organized around a noble purpose. That purpose is out of date and in need of an overhaul.
Today, we need the DHS to bolster FEMA and invest in its ability to respond to a growing number of natural disasters, even simultaneously. We also need the DHS to be more reflective of who we want to be as a nation and how we want to be governed. President Trump and his allies have used the DHS as their own federal militia.
This is now how our government should operate, and it must stop. If Joe Biden is elected, he should reverse course, articulate a clear, new mission for the DHS, and reorient the department to serving rather then defending. That’s what America needs.
Katrina Mulligan
Downtown
Prop. 481 corrects
PCC funding slight
Students are at the heart of Proposition 481. The initiative will position Pima Community College to better serve its diverse student population and continue its mission to help students succeed. For years, PCC has maintained a steadfast commitment to provide a high-quality education at an affordable price.
PCC’s in-state tuition is the third-lowest among Arizona’s 10 community colleges. However, a 1979-1980 expenditure limitation cap limits the amount that can be spent on its students, technology and in the classroom. As a result, PCC can spend less per student than all the other community college districts in the state.
Proposition 481 is an opportunity to correct this funding slight and give our college the same flexibility and investment as everywhere else in the state, up to $3,000 more per student, without raising taxes. Proposition 481 can provide students with more scholarships, tuition assistance and increased access to tutoring and child care. Vote yes for our students and yes on Prop. 481!
Irma Gastelum
Northwest side
Baffled by those voting for Trump
Disappointed and baffled best describes my feelings toward the upcoming presidential election. Disappointed that close to 50% of the voting population will still vote for Donald Trump, and thoroughly baffled at their reasoning. When I ask Trump supporters, I get a similar answer: “It’s what he has done for the country.”
When I ask for specifics they get fuzzy and nonspecific. When I list the bad things he has said and done, and the bad people he has had around him and the lies he has told, they just get mad. When I question his character based on what he says and does, they seem to not care. If you don’t care about the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual, then I’m sorry to say, you have no character.
I will remain baffled until, hopefully, the election proves me wrong.
Carl Foster
Green Valley
Legalizing marijuana an act of social justice
I call on Ann Kirkpatrick to vote Yes on the MORE Act. It is time to put aside the deliberate criminalization of marijuana for political purposes. President Richard Nixon made marijuana illegal to punish Blacks and hippies for protesting against the Vietnam War, where the poor were shipped off to die and the rich like Trump flouted their exemptions.
Since then, “suspicion of marijuana” has been used by law enforcement to pack the prisons to continue the practice of legal slavery. This is a dark side of our supposed democracy. It must end.
The USA cannot move forward until we allow people the choice that is no worse then alcohol and possibly better. Prohibition proved criminalization will not change behavior. Only a better economy can get the result we want.
Irbie Wylie
Benson
Biden powerless
on climate change
A disgusting Joe Biden just called Donald Trump a “climate arsonist” regarding the West Coast forest fires. Those fires were caused by dry conditions, lightning strikes and failure for decades to thin forests. In August, California signed a historic massive forest thinning agreement with the Trump administration.
Nearly 75% of the 184 countries that signed on to the 2015 Paris Climate Accord are not meeting their CO2 emissions pledges. The world’s biggest and and fourth-biggest emitters, China and India, are expected to have higher emissions by 2030. In order to significantly reduce CO2, countries would need to take drastic efforts to transform every sector of their society, likely causing social and economic upheaval.
CO2 in the atmosphere can take 20 to 200 years to disperse. What Biden is proposing will not have any impact on the overall climate. But it will negatively impact our oil/gas industry and our economy. China and India can’t wait.
Marsella Mavis
Northwest side
McSally has it all; Kelly? Not so much
Mark Kelly may seem “out of this world,” but his spacecraft is unsuitable for his mission! You see, Mark has a Democrat problem. With Democrats raging and fueling fires across the country, defunding and disrespecting law enforcement everywhere, creating rumors and lavish stories, it is a very bad time to welcome that team of wannabe socialist revolutionaries in Arizona!
The Democrats are more opposed than helpful in righting this ship of state from that awful COVID and the bruised economy it has left us with, and changing horses midstream is a lousy idea for Arizonans.
Sen. Martha McSally, the Warthog pilot, an aircraft so endeared at Davis-Monthan, gets my vote! The governor and the president are on her side. Her team defends Arizonans, protects our borders, supports law enforcement and bets on stability.
Why? Because a strong will and a stable course is the surest way to defeat COVID and insure the return of prosperity and jobs for all. She’s got the team, she’s got it all!
Tony Whitehorn
Southeast side
Want my vote? Wear a mask
Re: the Sept. 16 photo “Supervisor surrounded in plexiglass.”
Having just bought a house on the northwest side of Tucson, I read with interest, and dismay, that my County Supervisor Ally Miller had to have a plexiglass booth constructed around her for the recent meeting of the County Board of Supervisors, because she refuses to wear a mask. Thank you for reporting this.
In my opinion, unless they have a serious medical condition, people who refuse to wear masks in public during this pandemic are either science deniers or just plain selfish and I don’t want either to represent me. Steve Spain, candidate for county supervisor in District 1, proudly features Miller’s endorsement on his signs that are at nearly every intersection. Thanks for making the connection so clear, Mr. Spain. Now I know who I won’t vote for this November!
Hilary Ring
Northwest side
