Darth Vader circles the Star
Re: the Nov. 28 article “Tucsonans may need to imagine life without Star.”
We recently moved here from The Reading/Berks area of Pennsylvania. One of the influences was a great local paper, the Star. I had an e-subscription a few months before the move, to keep an eye on local issues. The Star is doing a great job in my opinion. The local paper in Reading was The Eagle, formerly Der Adler when it was established in the 1850s. It was the only survivor of several dailies. Shortly before our move, the Eagle was sold to a conglomerate, and the newsroom was gutted. Not only that, the physical newspaper turned into a poorly formatted tabloid. And of course, and most importantly, the oversight of local politics evaporated. They still pester me with robocalls to renew my subscription. Tucson, please don’t let this happen to the Star.
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William Taylor
Marana
Virus mutations will continue
This COVID virus will continue to mutate as long as it meets unvaccinated people. That’s what it does to survive.
If the virus keeps running into vaccinated people, it hits a wall and can’t keep spreading. Decreasing the number of infections in a community is the best way to prevent new variants from developing.
People in many countries are desperate for the vaccine and cant get it. Here in the United States disinformation and politics are holding up vaccinations.
Please, please get your vaccination if you’ve not already done so. We’re all desperate to discard our masks and restrictions and return to normal life.
Violet Juodakis, M.D. retired
Midtown
Neither pro-life nor pro-freedom
Re: the Dec. 2 article “Ducey: Court must correct Roe v. Wade.”
With the Supreme Court poised to change abortion law, politicians are jumping in to score points with their constituents. Based on a religious position, GOP politicians are erroneously claiming the fetus has a right to life under the Constitution.
Let’s get a couple things straight. GOP politicians are not pro-life. If they were, we would have sensible gun-control laws so that our children are not gunned down in school. GOP politicians are just anti-abortion.
Also, GOP politicians are not pro-freedom. They want to take away the right of a woman to control her own body, even though the state has no reason to do so.
It’s time we get rid of GOP politicians.
Robert Mann
Northwest side
The right kind of bystander
Re: the Nov. 28 article “The limits of self-policing.”
That off-duty cop better thank his lucky stars that Kyle Rittenhouse wasn’t the innocent bystander! The innocent bystander that was there did an incredible job of talking down that out-of-control cop. That cop does not deserve to be on the police force anymore.
Larry Dailey
East side
Sen. Townsend needs to butt out
Recently state Sen. Kelly Townsend, Republican of Mesa, asked the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to look into whether Tucson’s vaccination mandate for city employees violates a state law. My advice to Kelly Townsend is to butt out of our local affairs. Since her city area (Phoenix) has a higher level of COVID infections per capita than Tucson, she needs to concern herself with plans to lower the COVID infection rate in her own area.
Kelly Townsend is a political hack and is one of the supporters of the failed audit of our last certified presidential election. She should be looking into how she will reimburse the taxpayers of Arizona for the sham audit that she supported.
David Keating
Northeast side
Hard to imagine losing the Star
Re: the Nov. 28 article “Tucsonans may need to imagine life without Star.”
Tucson would be a lesser place without the Arizona Daily Star. In particular, the reporting on immigration and the environment is solid and fair. Tony Davis’ reporting is the best, knowledgeable and meticulous. It would be a sad day when the writings of Tony Davis, Henry Brean, Carmen Duarte, Tim Steller and David Fitzsimmons (and the others) are not available on a daily basis.
Editorial boards all over this country routinely study political candidates in their states. If they endorse a candidate it is because they have determined that candidate would best serve their readers and communities. It is a service to the community. If Republicans are interested in securing newspaper editorial board endorsements, I suggest they concentrate on recruiting sane, competent and honest candidates for consideration.
Living in this remnant of the Confederacy is not always nice, but losing the Arizona Daily Star would be intolerable.
Janet Smith
Oro Valley
Rental process is exhausting
Renting an apartment these days is like going through the third degree. You and co-applicant must each pay an application fee. Most agencies want past rental info, Social Security number, picture ID, credit score, proof of income, driver’s license number, number of cars, license plate number, if pets, name of each, kind of pet, each future occupant must sign his/her application. There are often monthly charges for water/trash service, monthly per pet charges and others monthly fees. You are informed upfront that your income must be two to three times the rent, or you will not qualify. You really are assumed guilty until you can prove your innocence (worthiness). It is exhausting, very time consuming, and downright insulting. You grovel ... very unpleasant, needing reform.
Ruth Jenkins
Midtown
Bicyclists make Loop unpleasant
I stay off the paved Loop! My time on the Loop has been along the Pantano Wash from Broadway east to Harrison. A third of the cyclists are quiet racers who did not slow down and I had to get out of the way. The rest of the riders were slower or louder or more friendly or rang their bell so I had time to get out of the way. From now on I walk on the nearby dirt jogging path. So the paved Loop is not really for walkers or joggers.
John Higgins
Southeast side
Animal shelter overcrowded
If you’ve ever been to our county animal shelter, the Pima Animal Care Center, you know it is a place that can tear a bit at your heart. It’s difficult to see hundreds of dogs contained in one building, with dogs paired up in kennels. The crowdedness can be stressful for dogs and the staff. On the PACC website there is a “PACC Plan for Kennel Space Crisis” document dated September 2021 stating “PACC has seen intake go up month by month around 15% while adoptions and transfers decreased around 30%.”
So it’s a tough situation at PACC. The dogs need good forever homes and fosters to get them out of the overcrowded shelter. The community can relieve the problem. Spay/neuter and adopting these dogs is the answer. We owe it to “man’s best friend.”
Linda Dugan
Midtown
Take charge of your health
Obesity is an illness and like most facets of disease, it’s from a poor diet. We learn responsibility as we grow up, from going to the bathroom by ourselves on to getting a job. What we don’t learn is responsibility for our health. We learn to be dependent on doctors and drugs. Behavioral therapy is needed and nutrition education. Even doctors get little. Baylor University provides its doctors-to-be with 80 hours, but most medical schools teach less than one fourth that. So we end up with doctors pushing drugs. People eat whatever they can get in their mouths, swallow and live to tell about. Whole cars, houses, etc. make sense. Imagine a partial car without brakes or a house with no roof. Partial food isn’t any better. But whole foods? Even vegans are clueless. The truth is that whole foods keep you whole. Anything less, and you’re taking your chances. We would rather take our chances and have a pandemic than behave ourselves, eat whole foods and stay well.
Gail Sutton
Oracle
Keep Star off casualty list
Re: the Nov. 28 article “Tucsonans may need to imagine life without Star.”
As numerous letter writers have said, “We can’t afford to let this happen.”
Many newspapers have become “casualties” over the past years. We take newspapers for granted, and forget that they provide a needed connection to the community they serve. Without a local paper, community pride dwindles and dies. We cannot let this happen here.
It’s time to ponder alternative ownership for the Arizona Daily Star. I don’t know how this might work; and would Lee Enterprises be willing to sell? A local “Save the Star” committee could research how ownership of our paper would work. Surely we can come together to find a way to continue publication of our printed source of local news and community information. The continuation of the newspaper is vital to the future of our greater Tucson region.
Carol W. West
Northeast side
Buy your tree from Boys Choir
Having read the article regarding a shortage of Christmas trees, I have a bit of advice. Purchase your tree from the Arizona Boys Choir on East Pima. The volunteers are extremely friendly and helpful, and you will feel as if you have gone back in time when things were simpler and more personal. Plus, you are contributing to an outstanding local cause that has been doing great work for decades.
Scott McKinzie
Northeast side
Justice Barrett’s repugnant remark
In the recent hearing on the Mississippi law on abortion Judge Amy Coney Barrett essentially made the remark that women, rather than abort, could carry their baby during pregnancy and then put it up for adoption. As repugnant as this remark would be if made by a male justice it was doubly offensive coming from a woman. For me it was too close to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” where certain classes of women were used like vessels to carry babies for upper classes. And we know in the United States which classes of people would suffer if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Barbara Holtzman
Foothills
Nurses at TMC are true MVPs
Thank you to the busy, skilled and caring staff of the Tucson Medical Center ER, GI Lab and Units 650 and 700. My recent admissions for a non-COVID related, life-threatening condition reminded me of how valuable and too often unappreciated these nurses, techs, dietary, housekeeping, transportation and other staffers are, literally, to our survival as a community. As one of my ER docs said, “Nurses are golden!”
Robin Gwozdz
Northeast side
Don’t bring coal for me, Santa
Dear Santa, please don’t put a lump of coal in my Xmas stocking. I was good all year, and coal is bad for the environment.
Also, no coal please for Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick, Raúl Grijalva, Ruben Gallego and Tom O’Halleran. They voted to act on climate and passed the Build Back Better Act in the House!
How is the North Pole? I hear the ice gets thinner every year. Have you moved your workshop to a safer location yet? It’s hotter here, too.
All I want for Christmas is the Build Back Better Act passed in the Senate. If so, no coal for Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema. Call their offices! They need to know that you support carbon pricing, our single most effective way to slow down climate change.
Give my regards to Mrs. Claus. I sure hope she can swim.
Jerry Borchardt
East side
TPD brutality jaw-dropping
This video that surfaced from TPD of the shooting outside of the garden center of Lowe’s of the man in the wheelchair, Oh, my lord — What have the police become? This is the most unbelievable thing I have seen ranking right up there with the shooting in the St. Louis area and others. Wow! Not only the man in a wheelchair but moving away from TPD and shot in the back nine times.
If there is any justice in this world, these men should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It does not matter if this man was a habitual criminal or not. He still is a human being and there could have been multiple ways to stop this individual without this fatal ending.
Just unbelievable. Totally ashamed of the actions of TPD. Firing these individuals should only be the beginning.
Mark Witkowski
Midtown
