Tucson Speaks Out: March 13

Respect?

In announcing his attack on Iran, the president said, “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war.” The dismissiveness of those comments was breathtaking — it felt like the equivalent of a shoulder shrug accompanied by “stuff happens.” Perhaps, like those buried in Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, he thinks they are “losers” and “suckers.”

On March 7, he was present for the dignified return of the war’s first American casualties, which he “dignified” by wearing a USA baseball cap that looked like merch from Trumpstore.com. Are men no longer expected to remove their hats as a gesture of respect?

As the daughter of an Air Force pilot who sacrificed his life in service to his country, I am offended by the president’s flippant comments and cavalier attitude toward military deaths resulting from a war he started. No, I am more than offended. I am furious. Our service members deserve better.

Laura Penny

Foothills

Vote out Republicans

As I approach my 77th birthday, it is becoming obvious that my memory is failing. For example, I recall that less than a year ago, President Trump bragged that he had “obliterated" Iran’s nuclear capacity. Now we have waged war on Iran to stop it from getting a nuclear weapon that it supposedly was incapable of obtaining after last year's attack. I also recall that, after almost every school shooting, Republicans say that the easy access to guns isn’t the problem; rather the problem is the need for mental health treatment. Now, Republicans in the Legislature want to eliminate funding for mental health services in schools. I guess I should try to get some sort of medication for my memory lapses. Or perhaps, come November, we should vote against the double-talking Republicans, so they don’t control either the Arizona Legislature or the United States Congress.

Donald Klein

North side

Oppose guns on campus

I want to urge Arizona lawmakers to oppose SB 1068, a bill that would force Arizona colleges and universities to allow anyone with a concealed carry permit to have a gun on campus. I have been part of the University of Arizona community as a student and educator, and I was a doctoral student when Thomas Meixner was murdered. I want the UA campus to be a safe place for my family and community. Since 2013, more than 300 incidents of gunfire have occurred on college campuses in the United States. Forcing colleges and universities to allow guns is likely to increase homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings. Please help make our community safer, not more dangerous.

Jessie Erikson Pyarelal

Midtown

TEP investors have it both ways

TEP is a for-profit monopoly (guaranteed no competition). In return for this very low-risk investment with guaranteed customers, TEP's investors should receive a low return on equity (profit) closer to the interest paid on Federal Bonds (about 4%). That's how the market is supposed to work.

But the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), whose job is to keep utilities like TEP from charging too much, has let TEP raise its profits and rates far more than inflation for decades! TEP now gets 9.5% profit and wants it raised to 10%!

The online "Institute for Local Self-Reliance" has a calculator to see how much your household is overpaying yearly. In Tucson, if you pay $100/month, the result is $13.50/month ($162/yr). That's the amount you are paying above and beyond the actual cost (including a 4% profit for TEP investors) so TEP investors can get almost risk-free ever-increasing profits.

Lee Stanfield

East side

Trump wants hands-on

Trump says he wants a hand in selecting the next ruler of Iran. Iran's council has already made its selection: the son of the former Supreme |Leader. We learned on "60 Minutes" that the exiled Shah's son has made contact with Trump and claims that his name is being called for to return to Iran as "interim leader". This seems far-fetched since the Shah's son, who is now 65 years old, has not lived in Iran since he was 18. I wonder how much lucre he has offered Trump to be the next ruler of Iran and whether this will influence Trump to continue military action until he gets his way.

Barbara Benjamin

Foothills

Not acting their age

Trump says, “Iran was planning to take over the entire Middle East.” Wow, that’s a crazy new piece of Presidential propaganda for sure.

Trump’s idea of Iran’s citizens “rising up” also turns out to be a juvenile pipe dream. Those folks are running away from missiles and breathing toxic petroleum rain outside their homes.

In my mind, Democrats in this country are just as misguided as Republicans. At a time of the greatest constitutional crisis our nation has ever seen, their plan is to get to the Promised Land by riding the train of “affordability” at the gas pump and the grocery store?

Our Founding Fathers and Mothers didn’t have much in their pocketbooks, but they knew what the real issues were for a democracy-starved people. They wrote those things into that document Democrats and Republicans alike have never read.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah

Which is it

In a recent interview, POTUS said that we don't need any oil from the area, and that we are protecting the Strait of Hormuz for other nations. Since we don't need this oil, why is it already almost a dollar more expensive per gallon of gas?

Steve Arnold

Foothills

Evidence

There has been more evidence of Donald Trump being a pedophile revealed in the past year than there is evidence of Iran having nuclear weapons capability in the past 30 years.

Terry Louck

East side

Trump's weird quote

I’m worried about how we can win the Iran “this is not a war” as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson calls it. Trump made this exact quote regarding the Iranians.

“All the people who died through roadside bombs are walking around with no arms or legs.” Wow!

It has to be tough enough to walk around with no legs or arms. But, to do it while already being dead, is really hard. If those Iranians can be dead and still walk around with no legs or arms, they must be way tougher than Pete, “Call of Duty” Hegseth thinks.

Maybe Karoline Leavitt will blame Biden for Trump’s so weird quote.

Gary Haslett

SaddleBrooke

Absurd opinion

In the March 11 edition, an opinion written on the absurdity of prosecuting parents for crimes committed by their children. The laws are clear on when a child becomes an adult, able to be prosecuted as such.

The author notes the weapon was given to the minor by his father. His father is responsible for any crime committed with that weapon. This is not a difficult concept. This is simply another attempt to criticize gun control.

This weapon was an AR-15, specifically designed to an effective killer of enemies. In 1963, my father gave me a military weapon, a surplus WWI Rifle, a 1903 Springfield, a bolt-action rifle. It has a magazine capacity of 5 rounds. A capable rifleman can sustain a rate of fire of 20 rounds a minute. An AR can deliver those 20 rounds in less than 10 seconds. So not only was the father negligent, he enabled his son to be more effective in his slaughter.

Jeff Rayner

SaddleBrooke

RTA Next

I voted for RTA Next and am happy for its passage, but am concerned that ads suggested that the funds would be used to fix potholes when, in fact, very little would actually do so. I think that 100% of the voters showed displeasure with the quality of the existing roads. Now is the time to take the municipalities and the county to task to use current tax dollars to fix the roads without delay.

Glen Smart

Oro Valley

New state bill on marijuana smoke

I greatly applaud the bipartisan passing of Bill 1725 that criminalizes the intentional emitting of excessive marijuana smoke that was in Wednesday's paper. Every day when I go outside to exercise or walk, marijuana smoke is in the air. Marijuana is dangerous. According to the CDC, many of the cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco smoke are also found in secondhand marijuana smoke. I am only 20 years old, and I live in constant fear and distress from hearing about healthy people my age who have never smoked or vaped being diagnosed with lung cancer and respiratory disease because of this. Marijuana smoke is literally poisoning my generation's health. Yet Arizonans voted to legalize it. After this new "law", I saw it being used illicitly in my high school. Is this some kind of joke to you? Smoking and vaping should both be illegal. Period. How many more of us will need to receive a life-altering diagnosis from our doctor before the Arizonans who voted to legalize marijuana understand?

Hector Guzman

South side

Wag the Dog

The great LTE “Wag the Dog” in Arizona Daily Star’s March 11 edition was a wakeup call for all.

I would add one more: “Shock and Awe." A biographical drama that is equally if not more relevant in 2026. It exposes the extent that the Republican administration misled the American voters that resulted in such tragic loss of life. A drama about the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the Weapons of Mass Destruction said to exist. Available on TV streaming.

Pat Bannon

Midtown

Colorado River

Colorado comes to the meetings with refusal to take mandatory cuts and the misstatement that the Lower Basin states take more than their share.

The Upper Basin states have consistently taken 4 maf (million acre-feet). The Lower Basin States have reduced usage to 6 maf.

How accurate are the numbers in the Upper Basin for stream discharge, rating curves, withdrawals, and return flows? Acoustic Doppler accuracy approaches 1%. Why hasn't the Upper Basin lost its appropriative right by non-use? Is Denver building infrastructure to take more Colorado River water?

The Law of the River is that the Upper Basin will deliver 75 maf/10 years to Lees Ferry, ratified by all the states.

They could reach an agreement of proportional cuts from current usage to a base of 4.5 maf and 3 maf, respectively, and proportional additional cuts, if necessary, based on the run of the river.

Michael Carpenter

West side