Let’s fund a more inclusive playground
Re: the April 18 article “TUSD funds fine arts.”
I read in last Sunday’s paper that TUSD is allocating $7 million dollars for music and arts, inter-scholastics and Pre-K playgrounds.
I would like to remind those involved with the playgrounds at the schools that TUSD has always overlooked those students with disabilities when designing playgrounds.
As a kindergarten-through-third grade teacher in TUSD, I tried hard to get equipment in the school playground for my students. I even wrote and won a grant for a swing that locks in a wheelchair.
All my students used wheelchairs. They would spend their recess watching their non-disabled peers on the playground equipment as the playground equipment was not inclusive.
People are also reading…
Please consider funding inclusive playgrounds.
Fran Krackow
Foothills
Let people choose to die with dignity
Re: the April 18 article “Law would give some medical aid in dying.”
Mary Ganapol’s op-ed addresses a very important issue that eventually affects most of us. At 82 and living with low-level pain, I am nowhere near ready to end my life. But when or if my pain level becomes unbearable. I want the option to end my life with dignity when I choose.
Unfortunately we have too many legislators in Arizona who think a mythological guy in the sky should make that choice for me. Death with dignity should be an option for all, and our legislature should pass a law like House Bill 2254.
Jim Notestine
East side
Gov. Ducey, protect Arizona’s reputation
Dear Gov. Doug Ducey,
I know you do not want your legacy to be signing bills into law that hurt Arizona’s economy. So please veto all of the voter suppression bills coming through the state legislature. Businesses are paying attention, stating they will not hold events in states (see Georgia) passing voter suppression bills.
Like Major League Baseball. We don’t want Arizona’s spring training jeopardized!
Veto the worst bills: Senate Bill 1485 kicks voters off the Permanent Early Voting List and SB 1713 adds unnecessary hurdles and administrative burdens to voting by mail as well as others limiting or criminalizing common voting practices.
These bills needlessly make it harder to vote. You, yourself, noted how smooth and secure Arizona elections were in 2020.
Courts have rejected every lawsuit claiming election fraud for failure to provide any evidence. Arizonans have been proudly voting by mail for decades without issues.
Protect your legacy and our voting access!
Priya Sundareshan, chair the Election Integrity Committee for the Arizona Democratic Party
Midtown
Ex-President Trump will be vindicated
So, two Democratic senators want to require all military personnel to have the vaccine. 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?
Democrats have relinquished all good sense, having not the slightest semblance remaining of logic or reason.
Through vaccination passports, voting changes, “military uniformity,” censorship, even court packing — eliminating all opposition — Democrats hope to establish their socialist takeover.
But they need to hear once again it isn’t going to happen. God controls this world. The United States is his nation, established by him, through people who loved and cherish our Creator, and we will not be moved or silenced.
Our faithfulness in having elected President Donald Trump will be recognized and rewarded. Donald Trump will yet be inaugurated into the presidency that is his. America will be preserved — with all the freedoms, justice, equality, harmony and brotherly love intended and given by our Divine Creator from the beginning.
Elizabeth Hinesley
Southeast side
Congratulations to mariachi director
Re: the April 19 article “Mariachi director earns arts award.”
I have listened to the TUSD Student Band preform at the Fourth Avenue Street Festival. They are absolutely outstanding, in large measure due to their training and their motivation by Mr. John Contreras.
Congratulations for your well deserved recognition!
Francis Saitta
Downtown
Prosecutor Conover is not right for job
Pima County’s new prosecutor, Laura Conover, is a Democrat and a liberal progressive. Right off the bat she is declining to seek the death penalty against Christopher Clements in the heinous murders of Isabel Celis, 6, and Maribel Gonzalez, 13.
Clements has a lengthy criminal history involving fraud, burglary, child pornography, etc. Why no death penalty? Conover says she is ushering in a new “restorative justice” system to address crime, essentially mediation between violators and victims.
She will focus on fraud cases, but why not homicides, which are up in Tucson? She professes sympathy for families whose criminal perpetrator is sent off to prison. Where is that sympathy for victim’s families? Perpetrators of crimes will meet with their victims, profess regret and that is that.
What progressive Democrat Conover does not seem to understand is a prison sentence is intended to keep violators off the street to protect the public from their commission of more crimes.
Laticia Lewis
Green Valley
Policing must be addressed
Americans are reacting to the incredible multiple shootings in our country by our police.
Night after night, outraged people are protesting and suddenly, it seems, we perceive ourselves as a nation of violence. But as I think about what we have become, I am aware of something very different.
Minorities have long dealt with injustice as a daily factor in their lives. The police were left to deal with public order and violence, seemingly without real accountability.
Now we are beginning to face the realities of the past (and the present!) and the time for openness and accountability has finally arrived. Painful introspection and pursuit of justice are now seen as challenging, but absolutely required.
If we can now muster the honesty, courage and endurance, we have the chance to create a much better future for all of us. We know how to do this, let’s get on with it!
Frank Parsons
Northeast side
Finchem’s priorities lacking; recall him
While jangling along Oracle Road, I thought, “This disintegrating blacktop is horrible and increasingly dangerous as cars swerve to avoid ruts and potholes.”
I contacted my Arizona State Legislative District 11 Representative Mark Finchem and learned Oracle Road repairs from Calle Concordia to Tangerine are merely a “tentative” project in ADOT’s Five-Year Plan 2022-2026.
What, then, have been Finchem’s priorities? His newsletters show he’s addressing Ottawa County Patriots in Holland, Michigan, pleading for donations to sue those who object to his role in the Capitol insurrection, hypocritically voting to ban private funding in public elections while Republicans take private funding for their Maricopa ballot audit, and wasting six months searching for election irregularities with no court-worthy evidence to show.
Finchem’s been fiddling while our roads burn.
If you’re concerned about Oracle Road, Finchem’s role in the Capitol insurrection and his self-serving election falsehoods, join thousands of LD-11 constituents who’ve signed petitions to remove him from office. Go to recallfinchem.com.
Thea Chalow
Oro Valley
Excellent care at Banner-UMC
Wanted to describe the wonderful medical care I received from Banner-University Medical Center. I was rushed by ambulance on Wednesday night at 11 p.m. with severe abdominal pain. After a couple of hours, the doctor sat with me to say that the CT scan showed an obstruction and they would operate.
There was a team of trauma doctors and when finished I awakened to caring voices explaining the recovery process. My room was in the new tower at Banner-UMC with a view of the Tucson Mountains. There were complications which the doctors and nurses attended to.
The nurses were kind, caring and reliable. And the doctors’ visits were attentive. I found this whole experience to be first class and I hope in the coming days I can care for others as I was cared for. “I was a stranger and you helped me.”
Denise Mulloy
Midtown
Monthly recycling options available
Re: the April 19 letter “Recycling, hazardous waste.”
I would like to say that there are quite a few options for disposing of household hazardous waste. I’m sorry that he did not receive the same mailer that I did. If he calls the City of Tucson Environmental and General Services, he can get a listing of community collection events for 2021. All events are scheduled for 8 a.m.-noon.
The next one will be on May 8, at the Price Service Center, 4004 S. Park Ave. On June 12, the event will be held at Hi Corbett Field, 700 S. Randolph Way. There is an event scheduled for every month of 2021. Go to tucsonaz.gov/hhw for detailed information, including items that can be collected.
Patricia Dow
Midtown
Conover
