Romero, council should work toward real reform
Re: the July 23 article “Council approves $1.7 billion budget but balks at requests to defund police.”
According to the article, Mayor Regina Romero stated she will continue to fight for funding of community resources, mental health and social work. However, the mayor and council aren’t willing to divert some of TPD’s budget to provide funding for community resources at this time. If not now, when?
If there is money in the police budget to buy military equipment, why not divert that? Establishing a community safety pilot program is not sustainable. It will not solve these entrenched community social ills. It’s time to put real money into social reforms, not Band-Aid solutions.
Joyce Bertschy
East side
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A surgeon’s opinion on wearing masks
As a surgeon, now retired, I spent my days wearing a mask and not for my own comfort. Masks are worn to protect patients from infections. Scientific studies show masks (some better than others) significantly diminish the spread of both bacteria and virus particles when we exhale, sneeze or cough.
Knowing this, our government, responsible for the safety and well being of citizens, would be remiss to not require the wearing of masks while the coronavirus is active. No difference from being required to stop for a red light. Society (you and I) are protected by a network of rules and requirements that guard our well-being.
Would you let your surgeon operate on you without wearing a mask?
Alex Little
Oro Valley
Do your part to ensure the youth vote grows
According to an analysis by TargetSmart of early voting in Arizona in 2018, 18 to 29-year-olds accounted for only 7.5% of the more than 1.1 million votes cast, despite the fact that young voters make up one of the largest demographics.
Recently, Mission for Arizona launched a novel, statewide project called First to First, where first-time high school voters reach out to other eligible first-time high school voters to register them.
It has never been more important to get young people involved in our democracy.
But it is a particular challenge identifying first-time unregistered voters because they have no public voting record. We need your help. If you know a high school student who will be 18 by Nov. 3, encourage them to vote. Better yet, encourage them to become a First to First Captain by leading voter registration in their high school.
Leo Gruenstein
Foothills
Wearing a mask is really the least you can do
A letter writer asks why he should wear a mask “just to make someone else comfortable.” Here’s why: Because I am currently recovering from cancer; because my 82-year old husband has serious breathing issues; because my 57-year old son has recently had open-heart surgery and his immune system is compromised; because someone I love dearly is recovering from breast cancer and a double mastectomy; because many of my friends are caring for aging spouses with conditions like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer; because my neighbor’s 7 year old is enduring treatment for leukemia and the virus could kill her; because the first and most important responsibility for every decent human being on the planet is to treat their fellow human beings with care and compassion.
So grow up and put on a mask. It is quit literally the very least you can do.
Carol Conniff
Foothills
Socialism vs. capitalism will be on Nov. ballots
This is the first time that I can remember that the upcoming presidential election is not about voting for a person, Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Rather this election is about what form of government we want. The clear choice we have is: Do we want to be governed by socialism or capitalism? Be sure you vote on Nov. 3, 2020.
Lyle Johnson
Foothills
Trump must believe ’16 election was rigged
Not content with fake and rigged elections, President Trump now thinks he can cancel the November election.
If he would just use his tiny brain cells he would know that the Constitution bestows the power of delaying elections to Congress. Trump calls himself the “War Time President,” not knowing that two real presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, held their elections during a war.
Trump, nor his base, remember he claimed weeks before the 2016 election that voters already were going to the polls and the election was stacked against him by the dishonest media pushing “Crooked Hillary.” Now, four years later, he’s still claiming the election is rigged and that mail-in ballots can’t be trusted (though he voted by mail).
Here is the conundrum; doesn’t it mean the 2016 election was rigged in his favor? The Arizona Republican legislature suffers from the same affliction. When microwave fraud was claimed, but couldn’t be proven, they didn’t realize that perhaps that was why they were always winning.
Clyde R. Steele
Oro Valley
Follow virus guidelines for the good of others
Reading the editorials, I sense that a lot of the discussion about masks and lockdowns comes from the retired.
I am retired and COVID has not affected me much monetarily, but has limited my travel, access to routine medical care, and my social interaction, but that is a small price to pay.
Not so for the young who no longer have a job, those who are determined “critical” and must work and those business owners who have dedicated their lives to build a business, only to have it devastated.
For us retired folks, quit being so selfish and suck it up, quit griping and use your accumulated wisdom to follow the guidelines to avoid COVID. Let the rest of the country get going, because robust economic health also affects you and I very significantly in the long run.
Pudge Johnson
Oro Valley
Congressman Grijalva needs a priority check
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” is exactly the wrong approach regarding Rep. Raul Grijalva’s obsession with passing the CECIL Act.
Every year, the Congressman tries to pass this bill that would ban the importation of legally hunted wildlife from Africa.
Every year it fails because it attacks America’s hunting heritage and is wholeheartedly opposed by African wildlife professionals whose scientifically backed conservation plans would be kneecapped by the proposal.
Instead of attacking a crucial component of Africa’s conservation strategy, Grijalva should focus his efforts on legislation that addresses the immediate needs of Arizonans, especially as our state continues to suffer from the health and economic damage inflicted by COVID-19.
As California Rep. Tom McClintock noted during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on this very bill, “no one has more incentive to conserve the habitats and populations of these animals than the people and governments” of Africa.
Laird Hamberlin, CEO, Safari Club International
Northwest side
A mental health team would help TPD a lot
On a Saturday last month, I was at my local Walgreens and heard cuss words directed at a staff person.
The manager was standing with a young clean cut man, who was pounding the floor and speaking incoherently. It appeared he was experiencing a mental health episode.
The staff said they had called TPD at 11 a.m.. It was now 2:30 p.m. and no response.
The young man refused to leave the store.
I called TPD and explained the situation. The response was a non-committal “we are doing our best.”
On a hot Saturday afternoon, I am not sure this was true.
Rather than spending money on military/SWAT material, let’s spend on a mental health team who are trained to deal with mental health problems. We would be better served.
Melanie Heavilon
West side
A Trump meltdown could lead to civil war
Because of the president’s erratic amoral nature, the results of the November election could threaten the fabric of our nation. Should President Trump win having, again, a minority of votes, there’s a probability of continuing more violent demonstrations with proportionally more violent responses. With the massive pool of weapons publicly available, a full out civil street war could ensue.
If Trump loses, even by a landslide, he is presently laying the groundwork to claim massive voter fraud and refuse to accept the results.
His followers already parade around in cammo with automatic weapons so it’s easy to imagine real street carnage.
Fortunately a bipartisan group, including retired military officers, have been meeting to study the scenarios and propose solutions. My hope is that these cooler heads will prevent our country from being immersed in violence and in civil warfare.
John Kuisti
West side
A true leader is needed during virus pandemic
A person is not defined by what they face but how they respond.
The coronavirus coming to the United States was not President Trump’s fault, but his refusal to acknowledge its seriousness is. As a 19-year-old, I have learned that eventually you have to take responsibility for your own actions rather than blame others.
When two Americans died of Ebola, there were calls for Barack Obama to step up, and now those people deflect due to partisanship, the same partisanship that has left many hopeless.
Five months into the pandemic and over 150,000 Americans are dead. A recession has begun with a 33% decline in GDP last quarter and thousands of businesses that have closed for good.
The economy can’t file for bankruptcy, it’ll need true leadership and innovation to build it back for us all, regardless of color, creed or even political ideology.
Jacob Owens
Northeast side
What matters is that students are learning
With schools set to start soon, many parents are wondering whether in-person classes are safe or online classes are effective.
I know firsthand the difficulties this past spring held. I was finishing up my student teaching and halfway through the semester we went virtual. However, switching online was not abnormal for me since I was an online school student with Arizona Virtual Academy.
In that time, I learned the importance of self-discipline and organization.
My experience led me to explore teaching virtually, and now I’ve found a job for the fall as a social studies teacher at my alma mater.
I want families to remember there’s a difference between learning virtually in an emergency situation and learning virtually in a school designed to be online.
Where we learn is not nearly as important as what we are learning and how we are taught.
The only thing that matters is that students are learning and everyone is safe. Families across Arizona should consider their options.
Rachel Francher
Southwest side
