Tucson Speaks Out: June 9 letters of the day

Re: the June 2 letter “What about the rest of us?”

Like probably many of your readers, I never read Letters to the Editor until recent strong opinions were being published, nor certainly did I ever write any. However, the letter writer’s quiet succinct clear letter to the editor regarding Alito’s comment about his wife must be joined by all the rest of the millions of “private independent citizens” like myself who agree with her.

Mary Ann Stock

Oro Valley

Poll-icies

Well, what do you know!

Despite Biden and his handler’s many proclamations that there was nothing else, no unilateral action that the President could take to secure our southern border — something has changed!

Call it a new poll-icy.

You can add it to the huge and ever-growing student loan forgiveness poll-icy. And the post-student antisemitic protests poll-icy that Netanyahu and Israel should negotiate with the Hamas terrorists.

We’re being run by poll-icies, for now, anyway.

Until the only poll that matters — this November.

Bud Snyder

SaddleBrooke

Sex and political careers

Many Rs are trying to fog up the picture of Trump’s scandal by claiming he would not have been so worried about his affairs’ effect on his election campaign — it must have been a mere misfiling, not a real attempt to fool the public about his guilt and attitude toward women. Throughout I have heard no mention of John Edwards, a once-promising young Democratic pol, a potential vice-president who crashed and burned when his adultery and its complications came to light. (In fact New York state seems to breed problematic liaisons, starting at least with FDR (the Cuomos had other problems).

Herbert Schneidau

Foothills

Reaction to Trump trial

I saw a post today on social media, referring to Mr. Trump’s conviction, that said, “Jesus was wrongly accused and convicted, but I still follow Him.” Now, there is a thought for the ages, that Mr. Trump can be in any way compared to Jesus. So, let’s make a list of attributes, Jesus on the left and Mr. Trump on the right. Tolerant: Bigoted; Chaste: Adulterous; Honest: Deceitful; Compassionate: Insensitive; Sincere: Duplicitous; Humble: Arrogant. The list could go on, but it boggles my mind that anyone could attempt to make a comparison between that person and That Person. As a switch on the question, “What would Jesus do?”, maybe the question should be, “Would Jesus do that?”

Sam Page

SaddleBrooke

Copper World

Supporters of Hudbay’s proposed Copper World list all the great economic advantages Arizona is going to receive from this mine. Defenders of the mine may sing a different tune in a few years when the copper is depleted and Arizona is left with the bill to clean up a Super Fund site and the drinking water in Tucson and surrounding communities is polluted.

Do you seriously think that Hudbay can be trusted to self-monitor their wells? Hudbay has a history of environmental disasters and human rights abuses in their mining in Canada, Peru, and Guatemala according to investigative reporter John Dougherty, who detailed these matters in a 2016 documentary film, Flin Flon Flim Flam.

A mine this large should not be built close to a major metropolitan area. Since copper is a valuable mineral, its price will continue to rise and Hudbay can afford to mine copper in a more isolated area. Let us protect our beautiful and irreplaceable Santa Rita Mountains.

Anne Edwards

West side

Interstate 11

An open letter to the Governor:

I was extremely upset at your statement that you would not intervene re the proposed Interstate 11 due to economic concerns. There are so many reasons why I-11 is a bad idea:

1. We don’t need another highway. It’s well past time to build a train line from Guaymas to Las Vegas.

2. If a highway is built, it should be where there is already infrastructure, ie along I-10.

3. Businesses along I-10 will fail with the construction of I-11, an economic issue for Tucson.

4. I-11 will cut off the Tucson Mountains from surrounding areas. Wildlife need space to live and reproduce. I-11 will likely stress wildlife to the point of extinction.

5. The building of a new highway will contribute to the climate crisis, increase air pollution and require lots of water.

Please remember: There are no jobs on a dead planet.

Ivy Schwartz

West side

Pima County Attorney

As a fairly close reader of the online edition of your newspaper, I’ve come to believe that your coverage of the primary race for Pima County attorney is unfairly slanted against Laura Conover. From what this non-attorney can see, Ms. Conover has always acted with professionalism and has greatly improved the practices of her office, and since I’m naturally suspicious of someone who has recently registered as a Democrat in order to seek office in an overwhelmingly Democratic county, I intend to vote for Ms. Conover next month and encourage fellow residents to do the same.

Jim McWilliams

Midtown

Better off today than 4 years ago?

With Election Day looming many will ask themselves if they are better off today than four years ago. Aside from the fact we have never been more divided as a nation, we are in the midst of two wars and have two aging figures as our only options. Examine only the cold hard numbers.

In November 2020 the average price for a gallon of gas was $2.17. Today it’s over $3.50. Interest rates for a 30 year mortgage was 2.96%. Today it’s over 7%. Inflation? Skyrocketed.

Seems to me, based solely of past performance, the answer in my mind is NO, I am not better off.

Whether you vote for Trump or Biden one thing is clear, our country’s leadership must do a better job. We MUST hold them accountable.

Tom Peña

Northwest side

Lgbtq+ rights

Re: the June 6 letter “Gay pride.”

Dear Editor,

This is in answer to this letter (In a way it’s kind of D-Day for us gay people also).

The letter writer is like the people St. Paul writes about in Romans 10:2: “For I bear the record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.”

And what knowledge could that be? Well, we could start with the three single gay men in the Bible. Or we could talk about the two different kinds of gay marriage in the Bible, which God approved of, by the way. Then we could go on to discuss the third great covenant — the Gay covenant — in the Bible. Or we could discuss the...

I can’t really fault the letter writer for his attitude. For almost a thousand years we have been told by the Christian Churches that we were condemned in the Bible and I believed that until I was 43, almost 40 years ago.

Then I decided to read the whole Bible for myself. I was AMAZED at what I read. And it was all there in plain black and white and just as plain as the nose on my face.

If the letter writer would take the time to read his Bible — I’m talking about the King James version — he would readily discover what I did.

Now if anyone would care to debate me, all they would have to do is to name the time and the place. And God willing I’ll be there.

I would only have two requirements. 1. That I could have chair to sit on, and 2. that they bring their Bibles!

Thomas Krahn

South Tucson

Mining

Re: the June 2 article “Devil is in the details for Copper World.”

Mort Rosenblum, a person the “Star” claims to be a “renowned journalist”, suggests in his opinion page article that his penning of words has relevance. I find this interesting because I want to point out most of his comments were directly out of the Center for Biodiversity talking points against mining. So much so that I thought this article, at first, was written by someone other than Rosenblum himself. Then there was the part that actually gave him authorship in my mind when he spoke of research being conducted at the Cadarache center on fusion. HELLO, earth, fusion energy, not at all proven viable yet, is decades away, if not longer, and what does that have to do with mining today? Mort, quit trying to be relevant here and go back to Provence and write about the aesthetics of southern France. Just like the Center for Biodiversity, your talking points are riddled with fiction.

Dave Efnor

East side

Baby, the rain must fall…

Re: the May 24 article “‘Heat dome’ leads to sweltering temperatures.”

The article mentioned that Florida and Texas were in this zone (closer to the equator?). What are we, chopped liver? I see now this week that our three major TV channels in Tucson are saying that AZ had way-too-many heat-related deaths in 2023.

My point here is WHY are so many car washes being built in Tucson when we have a water crisis? There is one in the process less than a mile from our humble abode. It doesn’t make any sense. Maybe they are a big money maker? I don’t know I never owned one. Can’t the City stop this?

Ken Unwin Jr.

East side

Gay pride

Re: the June 6 letter “Gay pride.”

June is still the month for children to begin summer fun. The rainbow is still a beautiful sight. Gay still means happy. Only in the letter writer’s homophobic mind have those changed.

How sad.

Hugo Wessels

Downtown