Tucson Speaks Out: November 2

School closure

I was saddened to read about the planned closure of Cavett Elementary School. To me, it is symbolic of how our State legislature has worked diligently to undermine the public school system. I attended Cavett the first year it opened, and I still remember my first- and second-grade teachers. They were such good educators. The rest of my pre-U of A education, minus two years, was in the Amphitheater District. And I have many memories of those outstanding teachers, as well. I have to wonder: did any of our legislators who have attacked public schools attend any of them? Surely they did, and now cause their ex-teachers much pain that their former students are abusing the institution that provided so much to them.

Dee Ann Barber

West side

Who cleans them up?

With all the talk about the proliferation of data centers focusing on energy, noise and water, no one is talking about their shelves, the life and who cleans them when all the profit is taken, and they are abandoned. These sites are loaded with toxic materials, and if history repeats itself (think mines, energy production sites, old chemical processing plants, etc.), so many sites were abandoned, and guess who cleaned them up … the taxpayer. If you build a data center, a percentage of profit should be put into a fund for the future. I can almost guarantee that these hedge funds and corporations will abandon those sites and say they don’t have the financial ability to clean them, and they will sit for years, leaking into the air and local water table, as these sites will be left to degrade as the courts decide.

Mike Burton

Midtown

How many remember?

Nov. 11 originally marked the Armistice Day ceasefire that ended active fighting in World War I on Nov. 11, 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

British author H.G. Wells coined the phrase "the war that will end war" in August 1914 at the start of World War I.

Donald Plummer

Northwest side

Oil profiteers

President Trump has made some revealing comments about oil prices recently. A story in the Star on Oct. 28 quoted Trump: "President Trump is talking about all the money they're (the oil companies) making while people are suffering at the pump, that'll be the headline," he said. "I don't give a damn, I'm going to say it, we're making a freaking fortune.”

Just who is this "we" Trump refers to? Besides showing he doesn’t care about the suffering of us "common folks," is this an admission that Trump is enriching himself in his unlawful Iran War? So, are you getting rich too?

Ronald Pelech

Midtown

50 years and counting

I had the honor of following Punch Woods as the CEO of the Community Food Bank and served in that role from 2006 to 2013. During that time the food bank expanded services dramatically by implementing rural food distributions, building new food banks in Tombstone and Wilcox and opening a facility in Nogales. We also were recognized in the Top 50 nonprofits to work for in the United States by the Nonprofit Times. We served the community and we served our staff. We could not have done this work without the unwavering support of the Tucson community, our donors and our board of directors.

Congratulations to the staff, board and the greater Southern Arizona community on 50 years of great service.

William Carnegie

School funding

– Major League Baseball average salary: $5.34 million/minimum salary: $780,000.

– National Football League average salary: $5.2 million/minimum salary: $885,000.

– National Basketball Association average salary: $12.06 million/minimum salary: $1.3 million.

– National Hockey League average salary: $3.5 million/minimum salary: $850,000.

– Arizona teacher average salary: $65,000/average starting salary: $45,000.

Why do we pay people more for playing a game than we pay the people who educate our children?

Larry Hammond

Southwest side