Abundant solutions
to zoo's problem
The recent survey initiative proves that the zoo has (and always had) no-harm solutions to its expansion problem. The clear path forward is Option G, to convert the facilities to the north. No harm to the park, the zoo gets to expand, a net loss of concrete in a hot city and the current facility users can upgrade to more modern facilities.
The funding comes from the zoo's bloated budget and we all get something good out of it. With Tucson temps rising faster than ever, eliminating concrete is in everyone's best interest. Early intervention avoids crisis down the line. My grandma would always say "a stitch in time saves nine."
The extent that the zoological society board continues to dig in their heels to go west when viable alternatives have been presented, shows that they are short-sighted and would prefer to cause long term harm for short term benefits. Is that really how we want to behave?
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Lee Sharp
Midtown
Water and trees
lost to gain mine
In Tucson, as our Colorado River water disappears, we are plowing the desert to build more tract homes and high-rise apartments to suck the desert dry.
In exchange for a thousand jobs, we face the loss of 75,000 trees (adding to global warming and our desert heat), destruction of the pristine beauty of a sacred Native American mountain for thousands of years and, most devastating, precious water.
A foreign country will sell copper to a foreign country to manufacture products to sell back to us for billions of dollars — even when we have as much copper elsewhere in Arizona yet to be mined.
What is more valuable? Copper or water? John Denver (trained in the Tucson Boys Choir) sung: "More people, More scars upon the land." Shakespeare: "Oh, what fools we mortals be."
Diane Stephenson
Foothills
Congress must act
to stop shootings
United States senators and Congress members, work on a new bill for gun control and mental health. Our senators and Congress people controlled by big business do nothing, while back home we continue to lose people at the hands of murderous men.
The other day, Rep. Jim Jordan claimed our medical experts were denying people's First Amendment rights, like the right to assemble and voice your opinion. I guess he forgot Jan. 6, when Donald Trump and his thugs tried to overthrow our government.
Jordan encouraged the revolt against our government. Our elected officials aren't representing us.
David E Leon
Vail
Punishment passé
To the new Pima County attorney, Laura Conover, I have just one question. What happened to “If you do the crime, then you do the time?" I guess punishment is no longer part of the progressive equation.
Chris Scholl
Foothills
Horses poop, too
Re: the April 18 article "Mind your manners."
I enjoyed reading Ann Brown’s article and certainly understand the logic behind a dog owner’s responsibility to pick up waste, but shouldn't that also apply to horse riders on the trails as well? Many times we have had to carefully side step large piles of equine waste on hiking trails throughout the Tucson area.
Lesli Hanby
Oro Valley
'Woke' portrayal
losing its meaning
It’s amusing to see the GOP apply the term “woke” to anything with which its members do not agree. A corporation protesting restrictive voting laws is “woke.” An organization that moves a sporting event out of a state because of those same laws is “woke.” A university offering a course on racial justice is “woke.”
A restaurant requiring mask and social distancing qualifies as “woke.” A major business protesting voter suppression is also “woke." The biggest purveyors of the term are on Fox News. One can barely make it through the first five minutes of Tucker Carlson without hearing it.
One can only hope that its users will someday wake up and realize that its overuse will make it meaningless, if it hasn’t reached that stage already. One thing is for sure, the Arizona Legislature is not “woke.” It’s making voting harder than ever. One wishes they were “woke.” Unfortunately, they are asleep.
Rick Smith
Foothills
Police reform must
be national effort
Why Minneapolis? Why not everywhere? Merrick Garland is instituting investigating police policies in Minneapolis. I suppose that should be done in every police department. Without that mandate, really nothing can change.
We constantly hear about rogue police doing awful things to unsuspecting people. It will be amazing if that stops. Fingers crossed!
Binky Luckhurst
Foothills
E-vehicles address
drugged driving
Re: the April 20 letter "Self-driving cars, trucks can kill."
A letter to the editor decried the advent of autonomous semi-trucks: "Imagine the carnage." Sadly, one needn't imagine the carnage created by human-controlled vehicles because it's known: 40,000 deaths each year.
Robots don't get high and then proceed to think that they can emulate Mario Andretti's driving skills. We lost a beloved extended family member to an individual who had been up for three days after downing amphetamines.
He ran a stoplight at (an underestimated) 80 mph and impacted her car and compacted it to half its original width. He was charged with homicide, but the magnitude of his eventual punishment will pale in comparison to the magnitude of the heartache he invoked.
Rick Cohn
West side
Military policies
aren't political
Re: the April 21 letter "Ex-President Trump will be vindicated."
I just read this letter and the writer was clearly never in the military. She touts that the former president will be vindicated. Why and for what I'm not sure. She asked, "When did joining the military mean submitting one's entire being, a puppet for the state, even relinquishing the right to determine what does and doesn't go inside our bodies?"
To answer her, the minute we signed up and put our name on the bottom line. That wasn't a Democratic senator that established this policy; it's the military that did. Don't try to pawn off bogus beliefs and call it a Democratic conspiracy.
John Bingham
Northwest side
No good reason
for deep divisions
I think we may face a civil war or protests on a scale we have never seen before. This country is divided over "red" or "blue" like we've never seen. Why can't people agree to disagree? Instead, they like arguing over the internet, over gun laws or if transgender people should be allowed in women's sports.
We should be civil and understanding of each other's opinions, and it makes me sad to see how this country that should be so great and powerful, "the land of the free," can be struck down to its knees by electing a new leader. Both sides are responsible for this, and for what? Absolutely nothing.
Tryston Tallman
Midtown
Disenfranchisement
is all the GOP has
Although there’s no evidence of fraud in Arizona’s election, Republicans are blatantly attempting voter suppression by proposing “voter reform.” They justify their bills by stating there is concern among their constituents about voting fraud.
The only reason there is concern is because Donald Trump and his allies, like Arizona GOP head Kelli Ward, continue to push crazy conspiracy theories. These bills will make it more difficult for ethnic minorities to vote, and therein lies the problem.
Arizona’s demographics are changing and minority activists are doing a better job at getting out the vote. The only way for Republicans to stay in power is to suppress and disenfranchise voters. Their attempt is so obvious, Greater Phoenix Leadership, a fairly conservative group of business leaders, have called them out on it.
These bills are systemic racism on display. Calling them reform does not make it so. A hog with lipstick is still a hog.
Edward Espinoza
Southwest side
Masks are still
needed in schools
This is not the time for our schools to end mask requirements. The prevalence of COVID-19 in Arizona and Pima County remains high. Over 18,000 of the Pima County cases have been in young people, and we are seeing increased numbers of pediatric COVID infections in the United States, especially in schools without mask requirements.
When school outbreaks occur, schools must revert to virtual learning and children miss out on the benefits of in-person education. We know that in-person education is best for kids and face masks reduce the risk of COVID outbreaks.
Arizona schools should use science and data to make decisions about face masks and continue to require students to wear cloth face coverings. Let’s keep our kids in school by continuing to require masks until the end of the school year.
Mary Rimsza, pediatrician and chair of the Advocacy Committee of the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
West side
A real life term
Derek Chauvin needs to stay in prison for the same length of time that George Floyd stays dead.
Sandy Salz
Oro Valley
