Trees initiative
an important step
Re: the Oct. 19 article “Tucson hires forestry manager to lead ‘massive’ million-tree planting initiative.”
As graduate students in public health, we recognize the importance of urban green spaces. We believe the city of Tucson’s Million Trees initiative will increase equitable access to green outdoor spaces. The benefits of plants are manifold: Studies show that green spaces promote exercise, social cohesion, mental well-being and clean air, which in turn can lead to improved health outcomes.
Now with the current COVID-19 pandemic, having comfortable and safe outdoor spaces is more important than ever, as viral transmission is less likely to occur outdoors than indoors. Furthermore, outdoor spaces allow reprieve from fatigue related to online work and school.
The city of Tucson’s Million Trees initiative is a major step in the right direction for Tucsonans’ health and well-being. The trees we plant today will help both us and future generations.
Martin Dufwenberg
Midtown
Border wall built with our pennies
Donald Trump told Tucson crowd, “You aren’t paying a penny for the border wall; it’s all compliments of the federal government.”
He somehow neglected to mention that about 50% of government revenue comes from individual income taxes. We are paying a lot more than a few pennies. Pennies that could help those who need food and shelter during our current crisis more than they need his border wall.
Norlaine Sproul
Oro Valley
Trump sets the stage
for post-election chaos
My hope is that there are enough well-trained enforcement and investigative officers in the CIA, FBI and local police forces to control the thugs that the paranoid maniac in the White House has called to arms.
The planned attack on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is, in my opinion, only the tip of the iceberg. Trump has given credibility to, and even incited, cultists, racists, anarchists and misanthropes to commit acts of terror and mayhem.
He has already set the stage for a tumultuous post-election period during which he will ask “his people” to help him stay in office even if he loses. He has shown that defeat is not something that he will accept or acknowledge. “Orderly transition” will not happen.
I am pleading to all registered voters of good will to cast your ballot and end the reign of this unqualified, would-be dictator.
Morton Cederbaum
Green Valley
One wrong tweet
and missiles fly
A president’s state of mental health is a concern regardless of personal political persuasion. He is at the helm of a powerful nation; what he says and does is important to everyone, not just the citizens of this country. Leaders throughout the world are listening, and so are the advisers and military organizations that keep those leaders informed.
It is desirable that words be carefully chosen so his position (and by extension that of this country) is unambiguously understood. Erratic behavior in the Oval Office is a nightmarish concept. Saying or tweeting a mystifying statement that might appear threatening or even counterintuitive is an example.
The leader of North Korea might not wait for the TV news analysis. He might be unbalanced and send his missiles before ours arrive. It will be too late to issue another tweet.
I will sleep better with a president that does not exhibit signs of bizarre or erratic behavior.
Michael Burdoo
West side
No wonder China
wants a Biden victory
If the Biden-Harris administration is successful, remember what will happen to foreign policy. Robert Gates, the Obama-Biden administration defense secretary, said that Biden was wrong on nearly every foreign-policy issue.
Ask yourself why China is pushing so hard for Biden to win by interfering in our election. China prefers to deal with Biden due to his pro-China support.
There will be no limit to how much China will dominate essential products. Remember their impact on drug supplies during the pandemic (that they released on the world). China has telegraphed their intent of global domination. Look at what’s happening in the South China Sea!
Elections have consequences. Should we rein in China or let them step all over us?
Candace Crohurst
Marana
President’s actions
highly questionable
Let’s assess President Trump’s most recent questionable actions. He held a “super-spreader” Rose Garden event that led to the infection of some two dozen people linked to the White House, including himself. Has he expressed any concern for any of them, which includes his wife?
He then spent three days in Walter Reed where he claimed that he was near death but somehow was able to make videos and have his Secret Service drive him to wave to supporters outside the hospital two days after admission. He then returned to the White House claiming to be cured and feeling better than he had in 20 years and wanted to get back to work.
Of course his work allowed him to find two hours on the air, live with Rush Limbaugh, all while inviting 2,000 supporters to the White House for a Saturday rally. All this with no mention at the time of whether he had tested negative.
Chuck Cabrera
Northwest side
Don’t retain justices
on state’s high court
Re: the Oct. 10 article “Sentencing juveniles to de facto life terms is OK, Arizona high court rules.”
I strongly encourage everyone to vote “no” for all incumbent Arizona Supreme Court justices. They voted unanimously to allow kids under 18 to effectively serve life sentences! Even the U.S. Supreme Court has voted against life sentences for juveniles, but these justices said they aren’t life sentences: They are concurrent sentences that just happened to add up to more than a hundred years.
They also said the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions were based on “judgements of other nations and the international community.” Apparently, they missed the class on the Magna Carta.
These kids committed terrible crimes and should be punished. They also need mental health support and perhaps lifetime counseling, but not life sentences.
Science reports that the frontal lobe of children’s brains do not fully develop until around 25 years old. I think these justices are despicable and should be duly relieved of any future legal decisions.
Sally Reed
Northeast side
Under Trump, US didn’t put up a fight
The struggle against the SARS-CoV-2 virus is frequently referred to as a war. A few years ago, Donald Rumsfeld noted that “you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
At present, we are limited to fighting this coronavirus with few weapons — social distancing, wearing masks and contact tracing — not the army we want, but the army we have. Sadly, the Trump administration has opted not to use the army we have. Instead, the country has yielded to the virus.
When attacked by disease, other species simply live or die, unable to understand or to formulate a response. Humans, on the other hand, have the ability to learn about disease organisms and to use intelligent thought to develop response strategies. Too bad that the Trump administration is not smart enough to use the army we have.
Jim Walworth
Foothills
Why we should fear COVID-19
The first reported death in the United States from COVID-19 was on Feb. 6. Since then, about 263 days have passed and the baleful microbe has claimed over 223,000 American lives. Dare to average that out and the calculator will cite that 848 people have died each day.
To put in perspective, a Boeing 737 carries 189 passengers. If four crashed daily with no survivors, there would still be 92 fewer casualties than those attributed to the coronavirus. Even so, nobody would want to board a Boeing 737 because of the rational fear that they would be one of the unlucky ones.
Yet somehow, our commander in chief has the arrogance to suggest that we should not be afraid of COVID-19. As a husband and a father, I am terrified of the coronavirus. That fear keeps a mask on my face, hand sanitizer in my pocket and drives me to elect the candidate who views the unpleasant emotion as a necessary motivator, not a character flaw.
Andrew Ginsburg
South side
Trump failed to put American’s health first
Here’s a quote from Vice President Mike Pence during the debate: “But I want the American people to know that from the very first day, President Donald Trump has put the health of Americans first.”
This is so easy to refute. It is a fact that wearing a mask reduces the spread of the coronavirus. Obviously then, either mandating, or, at least strongly suggesting (and then leading by example), that everyone wear masks, would be putting the health of Americans first. Not only did the president not do that, he took the opposite course and, by his actions and words, mocked people wearing masks and encouraged people not to wear them.
He visited several places where masks were required and yet he and his family, did not wear them. That is not my idea of putting the health of Americans first.
Shawn McNamara
South side
Longtime Republican
voting for Kelly
Re: the Oct. 10 letter “McSally unbecoming in debate with Kelly.”
I agree, and your assessment of Martha McSally is exactly correct. McSally does not represent Arizonans’ interest and is not fit to be in the Senate. McSally is not a civil person, as evidenced in the debate with Mark Kelly and also her action several months ago when she rudely interacted with a reporter at the Capitol. Her actions follow the same road as those of Donald Trump, for which she is nothing more than a puppet.
I am a longtime Republican, but first I am an American. This country needs serious leaders and McSally is no leader. Mr. Kelly, you have my family’s votes.
Charles Leaver
East side
We need competent, caring leadership
Throughout his reign as president — Donald Trump, reality TV star — has played the mean-spirited comedian, powerful Republican leader and divisive racist demagogue. It has all been a show for his hardcore fans, and the truth never mattered to him or to them, because it was all about his ego and fighting the liberals. I’m a liberal, a caring patriot with deep roots in America.
I have watched this horrific clown tear away at all the institutions of American government that have been with us for decades, maybe centuries, all in the service of his reelection and as payoff to the people who hate our government institutions. Now with COVID-19, the 220,000-plus dead call out for an experienced, caring, competent leader who respects the institutions, knows how to manage them and believes in science.
Joe Biden is that leader. Donald Trump is the living nightmare that is destroying lives, decency, the planet and America. Please change that with your vote.
Roger Barthelson
West side
Trump supporters
cruelly detached
In spite of President Trump’s disastrous COVID-19 decisions, his continual lying, erratic behavior and even the cruelty he has inflicted on migrant children by separating them from their parents, his base of supporters remain steadfastly loyal, which amounts to a “so what” response. If Trump is reelected and our country is turned away from democracy to become an autocracy his faithful enablers will say “so what” and others will ask “how could this happen?”
Helen Murphy
Sierra Vista
Let’s be frank,
he’s on a roll
As a visitor, I see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is coming to your town. I’ll bet Tucsonans are awaiting the return of the Wienermobile with relish. I’m sure Dijon’s Mustardmobile is playing catch-up.
I had always thought the Wienermobile would have a bigger grill. I hear that the Wienermobile barely avoided a collision with a drunken, reckless driver (who was later charged by Tucson police with a missed-de-wiener).
Frankly speaking, I’m having trouble with this topic. I understand that driving the Wienermobile in city traffic requires dogged determination. Unfortunately, the Wienermobile gets the wurst gas mileage in its class.
Drivers of the Wienermobile liken its gas mileage to that of a Wiener-bago. Once entered in a drag race, the Wienermobile prevailed as its opponent’s engine blew up half way down the racetrack.
Immediately, to the audience, the announcer declared: “We have a wiener.” These Wienermobile puns had me on a roll.
Thomas Corbi
SaddleBrooke
Biden catering
to America haters
Joe Biden just said “America was an idea.... that we never lived up to.” How ignorant to say. America fought a Civil War to end slavery and 600,00 soldiers died. We defeated Nazi Germany’s fascism wherein 6 million Jews were slaughtered and 400,000 American soldiers died. We have passed constitutional amendments giving women the vote. Defeated Soviet Union communism. Does Biden not understand that racist America twice elected a Black president? We have defeated Islamic extremism in the form of ISIS. We allow more immigrants to enter the country than any other country in the world and provide more free food than any other country in the world. We have a high standard of living envied my millions around the world who clamor to still come here; some die doing so. Biden is catering to America haters, indoctrinated in anti-Americanism in colleges and universities since the 1960s. He apparently sees nothing but systematic racism, injustices and unfairness in America, while his family cashes in on the Biden name.
Michael Wayne
Midtown
