Voting hearings
Re: the Feb. 28 article “Lawmakers on defense over election hearing.”
Arizona Republican legislators continue to embarrass themselves and Arizonans with irresponsible bills and behavior. Most recently, a hearing to present election improprieties and arranged by Republican Rep. Liz Harris resulted in the preposterous claim that the Sinaloa Cartel bribed the governor, legislators, and other officials. Following this inane hearing was finger-pointing and denial of responsibility among Republican House and Senate members. From Senate President Warren Petersen and Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli to House Speaker Ben Toma and Sen. Wendy Rogers, blame was mixed with temporary praise, illustrating that these legislators are ignoring the numerous, weighty issues facing Arizona and focusing on problems that don’t exist. I urge readers to email these legislators at the Arizona Legislature website to voice disapproval of these misdirected efforts.
People are also reading…
Roger Shanley
East side
Humans can slow global warming
Re: the Feb. 24 letter “Warm weather to come.”
The letter writer points out that natural disasters exist that humans cannot prevent. He then concludes that it is futile to try to prevent global warming. This is nonsense.
Humans are causing global warming by increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. Humans can slow global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We are not helpless pawns.
I recommend Jessica Tierney’s recent lecture, “Why is climate change a problem?,” part of the U of A myth-busting lecture series (google “Tierney myth busting”) or visit the Plug In or Citizen Climate Lobby booths at the upcoming book fair.
Doug Pickrell
Midtown
Biden’s trip to Ukraine
First, congratulations to President Biden for a well-planned and inspirational trip to Kyiv. Let’s follow it up by giving Ukraine all it needs to win, not simply enough to not lose. Enough with worrying about “provoking Putin,” “escalating,” “involving NATO.” Russia has far more to worry about NATO getting involved than NATO does regarding “provoking” Russia.
Many historians felt Hitler could have been stopped when Germany invaded the Rhineland. The failure to do so led to the world paying a far greater price. Let’s not make the same mistake again when we can stop Putin in Ukraine rather than with a much greater war if he’s not stopped now.
Give Ukraine what they need to win, and do it now. Fighter jets, long-range HIMARS and other long-range weapons to get back the Donbas and hopefully even Crimea.
To borrow a phrase, “Let’s finish the job.”
Phil Lyons
Foothills
Wadsack and self-rule in Tucson
How on earth did Tucson end up with a state senator like Justine Wadsack, who hates this city? After failing to get a measure approved for the ballot that would strip all Arizona cities of their charter city status, destroying the constitutionally protected concept of self-rule, Wadsack now wants to strip only Tucson and Phoenix of self-rule.
Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that those cities lean Democratic in elections, would it? Sadly, Gov. Hobbs can’t veto this punishment proposal because the state Legislature can place changes to the Arizona constitution on the ballot without her approval. Punishing only Tucson and Phoenix is patently unfair and anti-democracy. But what else does one expect from the anti-democracy forces in the Republican Party?
Does anyone really want Republicans in the Legislature running Tucson? Next time, can we elect a state senator from Tucson who actually likes Tucson?
John Vornholt
Northeast side
Sam Hughes Elementary
Re: the Feb. 26 article “School fencing halted after complaints.”
The poise and courage of Principal Kathryn Bolasky was impressive as she placed herself in danger while confronting a strange and erratic man who last year jumped a short fence and entered a classroom of 25 children at Sam Hughes Elementary school. No doubt her first instinct and act of bravery was to protect her children. She did so without hesitation. TUSD safety attempted to increase the height of the fence. And without hesitation, the HOA showed up at the school board meeting to protect the “aesthetics” of the neighborhood. The issue is the height of the fence. I wonder if you were to ask the parents of the murdered children at Uvalde about issues like “aesthetics,” what their answers would be? With principal Bolasky and the educators at that school, the children are lucky to attend Hughes, but on the other hand they are unlucky that they live in a NIMBY neighborhood. The action of the adults to choose appearance “aesthetics” over safety is disgusting and shameful.
Richard Harper
Northeast side
Letter to my Congressman
Dear Rep. Ciscomani:
I received your form letter of Feb. 27 by email, purportedly thanking me for “taking the time to share” my positions with you. However, in the fourth paragraph of your letter, you do not once allude to any of the concerns I wrote about.
Since it is now so easy to “plug in” to any text any words or phrases about any subject (your staff could have cut them out of my letter and pasted them into yours, in fact), I am particularly offended that you did nothing but have your staff send me a general form letter. Although I likely will indeed “stay in touch” by writing you again, I don’t really expect you, or your staff, to take any note of what I think or have to say.
And I don’t expect to vote for you, either.
Sincerely,
Suzanne Ferguson
Southeast side
Save water now or go thirsty
I’m glad to see that, after decades of warnings, people finally realize we are in a water crisis. Many people have suggested ways of getting more water to Southern Arizona; some are unfeasible, and others are ridiculous. Perhaps someone will eventually devise a practical way to get more water to the desert, but for now, we need to learn to live with the water we have. I won’t try to list all of the ways people can save water, there are too many and not all can be done by everyone. But we all need to do everything we can to save water before it gets much worse. We also need to prepare ourselves to pay a lot more for the water we use.
Floyd Newsom
Northwest side
Water conservation crisis
Re: the Feb. 27 article “Federal memo may bolster Hudbay’s position on Rosemont Mine site.”
Every open pit mine, whether active or abandoned, is a toxic waste site, including Hudbay’s current mines in Canada and South America. The Santa Rita Mountains are Southern Arizona’s rainwater harvesting tank for our precious groundwater serving the million living here. Whatever water Hudbay does not use for their proposed Rosemont/Copper World mine will be rendered forever toxic. Hudbay is a poison pellet that must be stopped. There can be no conversation about water conservation or supply without first taking action to prevent this proposed destructive mining project. No amount of CAP or desalinated water can compensate.
Paul Strautman
Midtown
Lloyd gets it
Bill Belichick once told athlete Julian Edelman that players win games and coaches lose games. This was after a Super Bowl win. To translate, he has never taken credit for a win but takes the blame for losses. Tommy Lloyd embodies this great coaching quality after the ASU game where he didn’t blame a single player, rather he took the blame for not having his players prepared. That is the type of coach I would want my kid to play for.
Gabriel Bustamante
South side
