Tucson Speaks Out: Jan. 29 letters of the day

The media is reporting that young voters aren’t going to vote for President Biden because of his age. To me that says they won’t vote for Biden because he may not serve the entire four years and will therefore be followed by, heaven forbid, a highly qualified Black woman. They don’t realize that the alternative is spending the rest of their lives under the rule of a dictator who has given no indication that he will serve only four years if elected this year. In fact, he has shown us that his term will never end short of his natural life.

Marilyn Pollow

East side

Disappointing local administrative actions

When Tucson Residents for Responsive Government (TRRG) organized, we identified five essentials of good government: Integrity, transparency, accountability, collaboration, and sensitivity to quality of life. Ten years later, are Tucson’s two major governmental administrations meeting these essentials?

Jan. 9, 2024: Mayor/Council Call-to-Audience. I saw the backs of the speakers; apparently televising any people in the chamber as the elected officials see them is now inappropriate. So much for transparency. Several speakers, including the Metro Chamber head, reported failed attempts to get ANY response when seeking to remedy property issues or to participate in new policy development. So much for accountability, collaboration, and sensitivity to quality of life!

January 10, 2024: front-page Star headline, Ex-CFO still working at UA with full salary. So much for integrity and accountability!

Both CEOs have recently received votes of confidence: Mayor Romero from voters, President Robbins from Board of Regents. Basic adherence to TRRG’s Five Essentials of Good Government is more important than ever. The community must demand it!

Ruth Beeker,

Co-founder of TRRG

Midtown

Keep fighting cancer

When I first started Arizona Myeloma Network, treatments were nearly non-existent. Today, advancements such as novel therapies offer much hope for those with myeloma. That is why it is disappointing to see our administration attempt to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act, which gave universities, non-profit research institutions and small businesses the right to own, patent and commercialize inventions developed under federally-funded research programs. As part of the Act, the federal government could exercise “march-in” authority and essentially take back a patent under extreme circumstances, such as if the patent was not being used in a timely manner. In 43 years, this authority has never been used in any industry, but if this change were made, it could be used for any number of reasons, including pricing. The fact is that the Bayh-Dole Act created an environment where competition and research and development lead to new treatments and ultimately, to cures in biotech. We shouldn’t change something that has provided hope for so many.

Barbara Kavanagh

Downtown

Coach’s salary ridiculous

I’m all for supporting “my team.” I’m good with loyalty to a college and cheering on athletes. But I can’t fathom paying a football coach $17.5 MILLION for 5 years. That’s $3.5 million a year. We pay the president of the United States (arguably the most important job in the world) $400,000 a year, plus $50K for expenses. Paying the coach of a collegiate sport nearly eight times what the president earns is, in a word, obscene.

Karen Micallef

Oro Valley

Public education funding

I support Governor Hobbs’ budget proposal to increase public education funding from the state land trust. The increase provides funding to improve salaries for teachers, essential staff like guidance counselors and librarians, as well as more funding for school safety and security. Most importantly, the governor advocates for continued public education funding, a concept historically missing from Republican public education funding plans. Ironically, State Treasurer Kimberley Lee criticizes Hobbs’ plan as “unsustainable” but voices no concern about the Republican school voucher program. Void of testing or accountability features, the cost of school vouchers increased from its original estimated cost of $65 million to as high as $900 million. The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting found that private schools accepting vouchers are increasing tuition, limiting access to the program from lower income families and serving as a subsidy for the affluent. Hobbs’ budget proposal benefits all Arizona students and deserves public support.

Roger Shanley

East side

Basketball etiquette

For most of the last 50 years I have followed UA basketball. So last night (Jan. 18) I settled in to watch the UA/USC game and was mystified as to why there was booing. Did the refs make a bad call? Was there some on court issue that the fans didn’t like and we didn’t see on TV? No, the fans were booing because a player named Bronny James had the nerve to bring the ball down court. His crime? He is the son of LeBron. I always thought we were a good sports town with fans that knew how to behave. We stand ‘til the other team scores their first basket. We don’t cheer when a player is injured. But apparently I was wrong. That behavior last night was rude and unacceptable in my world. If I wanted to participate on that level I would move to Boston and buy Celtics tickets. Shame on us.

Barbara Tanzillo

Downtown

UA football reality check

I am tired of reading what a terrible person Jedd Fisch is for leaving the UA. When interviewed, I’m sure he said he’d be here for the long term — the standard response most give when asked that same question applying for a job. He elevated the university to national status, now everyone wants more. When an opportunity came up and he was offered a substantial increase in salary at a prestigious university we expected him to say NO? Who among us, to be honest, would say I value an institution/tradition over my family and career? It’s football baby!

Susie Eckhardt

Green Valley

I support Laura Conover

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover inherited a backlog of 144 homicide cases when she took office in early 2021. An alarming 116 homicides were added to the workload that year. It’s fair to say that Conover started her new job behind the 8 ball. But she persevered. Now, violent crime in Pima is down significantly. Annual violent crimes in Pima County hovered around 5000 from 2017 to 2021. In 2022 and 2023 the number was approximately half that. This is a big win.

Until crime rates go to zero, they will always be too much. But Conover has overcome significant challenges. She built a strong team to hold perpetrators of crimes accountable while seeking justice for the victims. She is a strong voice for reproductive rights and is working with the Arizona Attorney General to preserve those rights. I support Laura Conover and look forward to her re-election in 2024.

Alison Jones

Midtown

Heeke firing

The good news is that when Dr. Robbins throws Dave Heeke under the Sun Tran bus that passes by the newly updated Arizona Stadium, he can then hop on board for a free ride home. When you have a 240-million-dollar deficit — every penny counts!

Ron Church

Foothills

UA football deserves better

As a Tucson native, and Arizona alumnus, I have a lifelong dedication to Arizona sports. The extremely disappointing move by coach Jedd Fisch to Washington demonstrates all that is wrong with college football. Not only did Fisch abandon a program already achieving success on the field, his action triggered the inevitable transfer of many key players to Washington. Fisch recently expressed his desire to stay at Arizona, but the allure of money and a “power” team overrode his commitment to our school and to its players. A good role model would not do this. The transfer portal and name, image and likeness have combined to make college football a self-serving program, where the term “student-athlete” is a misnomer. The realignment of the Pac-12 and other schools destroyed any regional or local rivalries. Combined, all of these actions result in an erosion of what once was a national treasure. Now it is a just a collection of athletes and coaches with no sense of loyalty or tradition.

H. Rene Ramirez

West side

22 anti-Trump letters in 6 days

From January 13th to the 20th, the AZ Daily Star published 22 anti-Trump letters. There were no Letters to the Editor (LTE) published on the 15th. So at least three per day. A previous writer in December had estimated that since 2016, the Star had published about 2,500 anti-Trump letters. But based on my readings of the LTE section over those years, I would say that the numbers are in excess of 7,000. Seven years of sickening diatribes of hate for another human being gladly published by the Star. Clearly, an obsessive psychosis about Trump, stoking uncivil discourse. The Star’s previous Editor Sarah Gassen placed the ratio of liberal to conservative written letters at 9 to 1. Yet there is no Diversity-Equity-Inclusiveness (DEI) affirmative action for publishing minority conservative written letters. They often wait two weeks before having their letters published if at all. Follow up emails about non published letters to the Star’s LTE gate keeper Sara Brown are often ignored.

Marsella Mavis

North side

Much to do about nothing

Why are the governor and the legislature arguing about homemade tamales? I am 76 years old and have eaten homemade tamales since I was a kid. My mother’s green corn, red chili, and sweet tamales; my aunt Esther’s chicken and vegetable tamales ... I buy then from ladies on street corners. As a lawyer, I have people who need advice but who are too poor to pay; and they express their gratitude by bringing me home made tamales. On the rare times when my freezer is void of tamales I buy the homemade ones at the carneceria. The ladies who sell tamales do it to support their families and their profit is very little. I have never become ill from eating a homemade tamale and have not seen any reports of it. I guess the great tamales crisis will be solved by sending the tamale police on rounds to see if home kitchens are clean.

Robert Murray

Midtown

Oil production misinformation

It was interesting reading the columns about bridging the energy gap and misinformation and then the letter about record oil production that is somehow not associated with President Biden’s efforts to revitalize the American economy made a shambles by the Trump administration.

Facts do matter. In February 2023 there were 6653 permits for oil drilling in the US. That is down from over 9000 in 2021. That means more oil drilling has occurred in the past two years, not less. Electric car sales were higher by 9% in 2023 than 2022.

Pollution is caused by burning fossil fuels. An initial step towards reducing pollution is passing the Bipartisan PROVE-IT Act which assesses the greenhouse gas emissions related to products made domestically and in foreign countries. As Senator Graham said regarding this bill: “If you believe China and India need to be dealt with to get global emissions down, this is the way to do it.”

William Jones

East side

UA president’s residence

For sure, there’s likely been some fiscal mismanagement at UA, but this letter alleging that the president bought the home with his $70,000 housing allowance after the UA spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on updates contradicts my memory. In 2019, the UA graciously let the Sam Hughes Home and Neighborhood Tour showcase the home, furnishings and gardens. The only viewing area excluded was the guesthouse, which was the private quarters of the UA president. Our understanding was that the home was owned and used by the UA for public events, and that the president lived in the guesthouse in lieu of the housing allowance. Unless something has changed in five years, that is still the situation today.

Denice Blake

Midtown

Is Trump losing it?

All of us stumble over words at times, but Trump’s flubs are more substantial and increasingly frequent.

He repeatedly blamed Nikki Haley when he meant Nancy Pelosi. Newsweek.

Said he won New Hampshire in the 2016 and 2020 general elections, when he actually lost NH both times. NH Victory Speech. CNN.

Read teleprompter notes instead of his speech in NH, saying “Yes. Oh yes, and quickly says President Trump.” X (Twitter).

Confused Biden, Obama, and Hillary Clinton multiple times. Washington Post.

Spoke nonsense at a rally, “We are an institute in a powerful death penalty. We will put this on.” The Independent.

Couldn’t get out the word climate, “But it’s certainly not great for your clime. Your clime. They call it climate.” X (Twitter).

Bragged that he beat Barack Obama when he never ran against him. The Hill.

Does this man have the mental sharpness to lead America?

Neil Weinstein

Foothills