Tucson Speaks Out: June 7

Crooked Tree Golf Course = an embarrassment

This past weekend I golfed at Crooked Tree (formerly Arthur Pack Golf Course). Disappointed, yes.

Yardage markers poorly maintained or non-existent on holes and the driving range.

Crowned tee boxes throughout the course.

Cattails too high on holes No. 1 and 9. Cannot see the target area.

No ball washers on course or electric carts.

Fairways poorly maintained. Sand traps are mostly grass or many left with gravel and small stones.

CART PATHS needed.

No embankments surrounding driving range.

A screen barrier needed on left side of the driving range to prevent range balls from landing on hole No. 10. The day I played hole 10, I hit 13 range balls back onto the range.

Thin grass on driving range tees. Provide MATTED TEES to allow extra recovery time to replenish the grass.

Piles of dead brush, trees, branches and cacti = fire hazard.

No refreshment cart or electric carts containing fresh ice coolers. No fresh water thermoses on course or driving range.

Please clean this course up and return it to a premier golf facility.

Dennis Sabol

Northwest side

We need solutions, not more excuses

Tucson needs to require that city council wards be responsible for reporting potholes and street sweeper requests, especially in the bike lanes. Gravel, sand and debris are left in bike lanes daily by companies who are contracted for road work, e.g., Glenn Street. On Limberlost, the University has completely covered the bike lane with sand just west of Campbell Avenue.

The companies hired by the city as well as the university need to be required to sweep up bike lanes at the end of their shift, to prevent bike riders from slipping and falling into the oncoming traffic that drives well over the speed limit. They also must be held responsible for sweeping the sidewalks that they cover with debris that then subjects pedestrians to injury.

We could make Tucson's streets much safer if each ward were held accountable for street maintenance in their ward.

There are those who make up excuses and then apply bandages to problems, and there are those who create solutions.

Cheryl Kelli

Downtown

Ciscomani fails on resolution

On Tuesday, the Republican led House of Representatives, by a seven-vote margin, approved a War Powers Resolution to require Congressional approval for the continuation of Donald Trump’s Iran War. Passage of the resolution required four Republicans to buck the Trump administration and join with all the Democrats. Sixth District Congressman Juan Ciscomani was not one of the brave four.

As a former serviceman, I believe Southern Arizonans, especially our active-duty service members, deserve a member of Congress who prioritizes U.S. stability and their safety over loyalty to Trump. Ciscomani’s refusal to support a commonsense, bipartisan limit on Trump’s war powers shows a willingness to risk American lives in a conflict that has produced only bad results.

James Overmyer

Foothills

Drone on

As Donald Trump continues to implode as president, America continues to suffer. His latest diatribe about the infamous ballroom confirms his disconnected obsession with issues of no importance to the majority of Americans, like rising costs of food and gasoline. His latest pitch for the ballroom as a “Drone Port” adds to his confusing and erratic rationale for another unnecessary project by the most ego-driven president in America's history. Clearly, this president's mind is in the ultimate “Drone Port,” droning on about his self-focused schemes in late-night ramblings on Truth Social.

Roger Shanley

East side

Racial discrimination OK for SCOTUS

The Supreme Court of the United States of America is supposed to be the ultimate arbitrator to ensure that all Americans receive equal justice and representation under the law.

By allowing Alabama and other states to gerrymander maps that dilute the political influence of voters of color, SCOTUS has given the green light for brazen racial discrimination in the drawing of congressional maps. Gerrymandering — whether political or racial — is wrong. Gerrymandering eliminates fair competition in our elections and ensures predetermined outcomes.

SCOTUS has devolved into a political body that does not abide by the ethical Cannons adhered to by all other justices in our country. The Court has destroyed a bedrock of our democracy — voting rights and voter protections.

As we celebrate the 250th birthday of our country, I am ashamed of SCOTUS’s systematic destruction of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. I am also ashamed that Congress has allowed this to happen.

Kathy Krucker

Midtown

TEP, etc,

There has been a lot of interest about TEP, water, and gas rate increases. For example: TEP spent millions on upgrades and now wants us to pay for it. Maybe we should have been included in the beginning. I propose that rate increases be no higher than the cost of living increase each year. We have to watch our budgets based on the cost of living; it's about time these companies do the same.

Jerry Ferguson

East side

Withering media

That Brenden Carr, FCC Chair, is moving to put a foot on the throat of free speech comes as no surprise. He is falling in line with the authoritarian playbook Trump has mastered.

CBS has fallen prey to the owner’s desire to deviously shape media. The removal of Stephen Colbert and the firing of Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi, among others, are a harbinger of more dire things to come.

We are witnessing firsthand the demise of our democratic values and institutions. All of us must call out the perpetrators of the maligned effort to curb free speech. This country is not a place for a select few to diminish our values and inalienable rights.

I have removed CBS from my channel lineup, and I urge you to do the same. They won’t listen to a few of us, but if we can collectively impact ratings and bottom lines, that would be meaningful to show how powerful we are together.

Arne Maki

Green Valley

Oil company profits

Missing from the conversation about Mr. Trump's undeclared war in Iran is more on who benefits from it. A number of readers, especially his supporters, have said that the huge increase in the cost of gasoline (and therefore the overall cost of living) is a price well worth paying for security. I suspect, however, that these well-meaning and patriotic individuals presume that the burden is equally shared. What then do they say to the fact that — since the war began — giant oil companies are estimated to be making an extra $30 million per hour (check it out). And — did you notice — the jump in gasoline prices occurred the moment the War started, when there was still plenty of oil in the pipeline. Shared burden?

Mark Twain's parody of the Battle Hymn of the Republic about war profiteers is relevant: "As Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich. Our greed goes marching on." Second thoughts, anyone? Those profits, of course, turn into buying elections.

Abraham R. Byrd III

North side