Tucson Speaks Out: September 10

Swim team fees

If the Vail School District is perturbed by the fee increase for their swim teams’ use of a City of Tucson pool, they certainly have the option of constructing their own swimming facility for their teams' use.

The City of Tucson is doing them a favor by allowing them to use a city pool, reserving lanes for their team to use, to the detriment of the general public who would appreciate the use of all the available lanes.

Recreational venues offered by the City cost money to build and maintain. I'm sure the costs associated with those facilities increase over time. Lap swimming at a city pool was free for a number of years but not any longer. I suspect that VUSD will conclude that any fee increase is still more cost-effective than building their own pool.

John Fristik

Southeast side

Why I do hate him

Suggesting policy changes is a far cry from actually having a realistic plan to implement them. Trump is famous for suggesting all kinds of things that will happen “in two weeks,” but rarely do. I don’t disagree with the assertion that not much gets done under Democrats, in part because Democratic administrations are usually too busy repairing the damage done during the previous Republican regime. Biden was forced to spend the first two years of his term addressing the COVID pandemic that Trump all but ignored. But the main reason I hate Trump is because I’ve never had a president of any party call me vile names, tear down historic buildings, destroy our Rose Garden, wreck our Reflecting Pool, chop down lovely cherry trees, threaten to withhold help for blue states during devastating wildfires, obsess over “his ballroom,” import foreign beef while our ranchers suffer and engage in self-aggrandizing behavior on an unprecedented scale.

Anne Lane

Northeast side

'9/11 — my forever tears'

It started Sept. 1, 2026. My mind immediately went back to Sept. 11, 2001, when my husband and I were living in our apartment at Park and East 81st Street in Manhattan. My producer at the Greek radio station called on my landline.

Producer: “Karen, turn on the news.”

So I did. In time to see the second tower hit.

I did not know where my husband was — some meeting.

Nor my son, a student at NYU. And then my daughter called from a Harvard landline, frantic. She asked about her father and brother. I lied. Told her they were fine.

The next a call came from my supervisor of volunteers at Lenox Hill hospital at 77th and Lexington. I worked the front desk phones. She said that they needed me to work the phones from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. I went.

I’ll never forget the calls from anguished relatives.

Nor the EMS workers with their injured dogs.

Nor my neighbor’s tears as she lost a sister-in-law.

Never forget. Never.

Karen Papagapitos

Northwest side

Clergy must challenge power

What a refreshing opinion piece by Rev. Richard Mallory on Sept. 2. With a total absence of hyperbole, obfuscation and exaggeration, he articulated so much that is wrong with the current resident of the people's house. It is so important that those of us who disagree with Donald Trump not resort to the way he personally attacks and distracts from important issues by manufacturing problems. We need to offer cogent objections and stand for what we believe should be happening. Without doing so, I am afraid that the President will think he can get away with destroying people's personal liberty, our ability to vote legally and oppose his positions without fear of retaliation. We don't need to be profane, rant or lie. All we need to do is point out the truth!

Norie Nelson

Foothills

Trump's presidential record

In response to Loyal Johnson's mostly false litany of Donald Trump's accomplishments, let the record show: Under Joe Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and these negotiated prices lowered discounts from 38%-79% off some list prices. The Obama Administration deported 2.7 million people during his two terms. So far in Trump's second term, ICE claims that 229,000 individuals with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges have been apprehended. Data analysis has shown that about 40% of those arrested by ICE over one year had no criminal record at all. As for DJT's aggressive apprehension and prosecution of known criminals, over 1,000 convicted of January 6th insurrection were pardoned, and several deaths in Minnesota and elsewhere involving ICE personnel remain without criminal charges. Addressing Democratic promises, Trump, a convicted criminal, promised to end the Ukraine War and no more long-lasting U.S. wars. Enough said!

Chuck Cabrera

Oro Valley

Yes, ‘Arizona needs a water fund,’ but ...

Yes, “Arizona needs a water fund,” as suggested in an opinion of that title on Sept. 5, but the funding source suggested is wrong. The General Fund sales and use tax is funded by everybody, and diverting that revenue to subsidize water users is a bad idea. A water fund is a great idea, but it should be funded by water users. The cost of water must go up to reduce demand. An obvious funding source is a tax or fee added to every acre-foot of water that flows up the CAP. Yes, that will make water more expensive, and buyers will respond as they always do. That’s the whole idea.

Loring Green

Foothills

Madness

There is a military action (otherwise known as a war) against Iran. The world economic system is crumbling because of Trump's tariffs, some of which have been ruled illegal. A traditional ally and friend, Canada, is deemed an enemy. Our traditional allies no longer find us trustworthy. Our military is being decapitated from within by an incompetent Secretary of Defense. Our streets are invaded by untrained thugs from ICE who also threaten our right to vote. Americans are dying because an ignorant Secretary of Health and Human Services has doubts about vaccines that have prevented outbreaks of diseases for decades. So-called ordinary Americans have to choose which necessities are most important to purchase. And all this while our President worries about remaking maps that reflect his renaming of lakes and states and frets about "renovations" to his ballroom, which no "regular" American will ever enter, and building his Napoleonic Arch. To take a line from "The Bridge on the River Kwai": Madness. Sheer madness!

Barbara Benjamin

Foothills