Police reform
symptom of real issue
I’m a car guy who has always had fast cars and a bit of a lead foot, so now and then, I have been pulled over to discuss how fast I was going. The officers were always professional but I have noticed that as the years went by they became more wary and impersonal; there was a tension that both of us felt that didn’t used to be there. I think I know one reason why.
Growing up in Tucson in the ’50s and ’60s many people owned guns; they used them to hunt and that was it. Then thanks to the fear stoked by the NRA/ firearms industry, people acquired guns whose only purpose was to kill other human beings. Now, any time a cop answers a call they must be ready to encounter someone with a piece of military hardware that can pump out 30 deadly rounds as fast as the trigger can be pulled. Since society refuses to deal with this situation, police reform will not be productive.
Peter Kasper
Foothills
Local leadership
may be saving lives
It cannot have gone unnoticed that during the current spike in COVID-19 cases, Pima County accounts for only about one-tenth as many cases and deaths as Maricopa County despite the fact that our population is about one-fourth their size. Early on, Pima’s cases stood at a ratio of about one to four compared to Maricopa. But that has changed significantly since Arizona reopened.
We should appreciate the leadership of both our Tucson city government and the majority on the Pima County Board of Supervisors for these strikingly disproportionate figures. Add to this the responsible actions of the leadership of our two major hospitals, Tucson Medical Center and Banner-University Medical Center.
There are other factors responsible for this sharp divide. But it’s sufficient to say that we who live here are fortunate.
Thanks to all who contribute to making us safer.
George Newman
Midtown
Making D.C. a state
is a waste of time
As a lifelong Democrat, I am dumbfounded that my party has passed a bill in the House authorizing the admission of the District of Columbia as a state. Why? Everyone knows that the Republican Senate will never go along with adding two more Democratic Senators.
If they were serious they would have followed the example set in 1959. Two states were added (Hawaii and Alaska) adding two Democrats and two Republicans to the Senate. If they were serious they would have proposed two new states, DC and another. For example, everyone knows that California is too big. Splitting off the northern counties should produce a Republican state.
So, since they can’t possibly be serious, perhaps my representative (Ann Kirkpatrick) can explain why they’re wasting their time on this rather than passing bills to improve immigration or health care or the accountability of the president.
Steven Brown
Midtown
Military salute reserved for veterans
Once again, President Trump passes himself off as something he isn’t. There he was at Mount Rushmore, rendering the hand salute. Only veterans, even in civilian clothes, are authorized to render the hand salute for the national anthem. Trump wasn’t/isn’t a veteran!
Please see him for the phony he is.
P.S.: No, the president, even as commander in chief, isn’t authorized by U.S. Statue to render the hand salute at the national anthem.
Norman Patten
Midtown
Trump is either lying,
ignorant of ‘Bountygate’
President Trump now claims that he was never briefed over the alleged plot by Vladimir Putin to pay bounties to the Taliban for every U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan, although pertinent intelligence had been gathered since January of this year, if not much earlier.
Whether Trump’s self-defense can be trusted or not, there are only two possible conclusions: One, Trump was really ignorant and has not paid any attention to the needs of and threats to our military. This means he has ignored all briefs, all warnings, and has thus utterly failed as a leader who is not prepared to stand up to defend our country and people. Or two: Trump was briefed and now callously lies because he wants to protect his buddy Putin, or hide the fact he pushed that critical matter irresponsibly aside, being responsible for the death of American soldiers!
Either way, whether total incompetence or public traitor, this man has lost any right to hold the honorable office of the president of the United States.
Albrecht Classen
Midtown
Mosher most qualified
for county attorney
Jonathan Mosher is the most qualified candidate for county attorney. He is experienced, skilled and has exceptional mental acumen to see that things are done effectively. He has the experience to supervise trials, being a skilled trial lawyer, as I have tried three jury trials against him. He has innovative ideas to improve the office.
Mr. Mosher’s ethics are beyond reproach. If a mistake was made by him, it was not to purposely mislead the court. One opponent has personally attacked him, and I query her trial skills compared to Mr. Mosher’s.
A vote for Mr. Mosher will elect a skilled, competent, and fair county attorney.
Brick Storts
Midtown
Support Cano
for reelection
There’ll be a lot of names on the ballot in this year’s Aug. 4 Democratic primary. As a regular Joe Schmoe living in West Tucson, I’m writing to make a case for Andrés Cano, our sitting state representative. I have no affiliation with his campaign.
Two years ago, I wrote a similar letter to the editor saying that I was impressed with this young man’s willingness to answer his phone from potential constituents while he was initially running for office. Now that he’s in office, that willingness to offer access to regular Schmoe constituents like me hasn’t changed. He answers his cell phone with a cheerful, “Hi, Jon!”
Here are his priorities: public schools, improving health care, the environment and good-paying jobs in Arizona.
Jonathan Quindry
West side
HOA being proactive about fire hazards
Our homeowners association in the Fairfield Foothills area (Sunrise Presidio Village) has been proactively removing fountain and buffelgrass, as well as potential fuel for fires in our association. Members have been notified and urged to remove plants and trees that can be fire hazards.
We have met with Rural Metro Fire in surveying potential fire hazards and acted upon their recommendations. Other HOAs in the area have done likewise. Our landscape committee has specified this in instructions to our landscape contractor.
Dave Locey
Foothills
We should reclose, do it right this time
Re: The July 7 local opinion “Local action is needed to mitigate economic fallout from pandemic.”
I agree with Lynn Nadel. Reclose. I walked into a Target today. There were employees at the register, lots of people cleaning, but only a handful of customers with the lights dimmed. Having limited my car trips pretty much to my grocery store and gas station as a high risk person, I was stunned! It seems like the big stores will struggle financially whether they are open for business or closed until COVID-19 cases go down.
Our governor was handling it until he kowtowed to President Trump, opened the state up, let rallies be held and played down the risks. So here we are. By now, most people know someone who has/had COVID-19, they know it isn’t a hoax and that it can have long-term consequences or death.
We should close down and do it right this time. But without federal help to laid off workers and business owners, we can’t do it without resolve and sacrifice. Is your life and that of your loved ones worth it?
Frances Dorr
SaddleBrooke
UA needs decisions based on reality
Re: the July 7 opinion “Why I support UA President Robbins’ campus plan.”
Mr. Fred DuVal’s opinion of the UA pay cut plan reinforces the neo-liberal argument of scarcity to enable inequitable decision-making hitting hard at the living wages of our most vulnerable academic labor force: adjunct faculty, staff and graduate students, which cuts across racial/gender lines.
In his itemization of financial losses, Robbins includes housing and athletics, which are self-sustaining auxiliary units, and projected decrease in fall semester enrollments. Yet there is no proof of the latter, and thus, delaying implementation of these cuts until a transparent account of the projections is obtained allows time for decisions to center on reality, not worst-case scenarios.
Ensuring that the other half of the institution aforementioned, in addition to faculty, do not incur unnecessary pay cuts or lose their jobs, which means no medical insurance, is precisely what ensures quality learning experiences for our students. This is the time to leverage the UA’s $805 million in reserves to sustain operations for almost six months — if not now, when?
Raquel Givens
Southwest side
