Tucson Speaks Out: Jan. 24

Prisoner release will hurt our country

One of Trump’s big “selling points” during the campaign was to state (falsely) that other countries were emptying their prisons and mental institutions and sending those people here illegally, invading our country. Now, within one day of his presidency, Trump has pardoned all of the January 6th insurrectionists and ordered them released from prison back into society. These are people who assaulted police officers trying to defend our capitol. Many of the violent offenders are likely to offend again.

I’m just wondering: Is “buyers’ remorse” for those who voted for Trump kicking in yet?

Karen Micallef

Oro Valley

Peltier clemency

As a former FBI agent, I believe that Biden’s decision to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier will “live in infamy.”

FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were murdered by Peltier.

Mr. Peltier shot Coler “twice in the head as he lay on the ground unconscious,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said last summer. “Williams was on his knees, unable to stand, when Peltier shot him in the face through an outstretched hand.”

In 1977, Peltier was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.

Over the last 45 years, no fewer than 22 federal judges have evaluated the evidence and considered Peltier’s legal arguments.

They were meritless.

I am outraged by then-President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Peltier. All law-abiding Americans should be outraged.

This last-second, disgraceful act by then-President Biden does not change Peltier’s guilt but does release him from prison.

Agents Coler and Williams gave their lives in service to this nation.

Tom McGorray

Northwest side

End the hefty orange rule

Like many, I appreciate now being able to recycle certain plastics that aren’t allowed in our blue bins. While I agree with Tim Steller that reducing plastic consumption is the ultimate goal, certain plastic waste seems unavoidable. At least we can try keeping it out of landfills. I save up all manner of thin plastic wrap and packaging, then drop it off in the orange bin behind the eastside ward office.

But I won’t spend my money on the orange bags Hefty wants us to buy. That just generates additional plastic and feels like a revenue grab by Hefty. When it’s processed, I imagine the contents are removed from whichever outer bag is used. So why must we purchase their proprietary bags?

Want to make recycling better and easier? End the orange bag requirement — or provide them for free — and schedule more frequent pickups to prevent bins from overflowing.

Doug Tepper

East side

Troops to the border

So Trump has ordered troops to the border. Thank God! Now, I’ll be able to sleep at night protected from all those dangerous immigrants seeking political asylum. I did a quick calculation to determine how many troops that will require. We need to make sure that none of these criminals manage to slip through the cordon so we’ll need to position the soldiers arm-to-arm. With an average arm span of six feet and a 1,951-mile border, we’ll need 1,716,880 soldiers. But to ensure 24x7 coverage, we’ll need five shifts so the grand total comes to 8,584,400 soldiers. We’ll need to reinstitute the draft to provide that many soldiers which should help reduce our unemployment rate. Sunny days are here again!

James Dolian

SaddleBrooke

Trump doesn’t back the blue

It’s disgusting that Trump pardoned multiple people who viciously assaulted police officers on January 6. Trump doesn’t support police. Trump only supports himself.

Andy Flach

Northeast side

Hard to recycle plastics

When I attended a planning session for ByFusion we were told we would be able to deposit the orange bags in our blue bins by June 2025. Wouldn’t that eliminate the illegal dumping at the collection sites which should no longer be required?

Also, it would help if manufacturers didn’t bundle everything in so much plastic.

Jan Foiles

West side

Prop 414 — The wrong tax at the wrong time

As a Tucson resident, I urge voters to oppose Prop 414, the proposed half-cent sales tax increase. This regressive tax places an undue burden on low-income families and senior citizens on fixed incomes, in a city that already faces one of the highest poverty rates in Arizona.

Sales taxes hit those with the least the hardest. For families already struggling to afford basic necessities, even a small increase can have a significant effect. Prop 414 shifts the responsibility for funding essential services onto the backs of the most vulnerable, while leaving wealthier residents largely unaffected.

Instead of resorting to a regressive tax, the City of Tucson should prioritize equitable solutions such as reallocating existing funds, to address our community’s needs. Tucson deserves a thoughtful and inclusive approach to funding vital services, one that lifts all residents, not just those who can afford it. Let us reject this harmful measure and work towards solutions that truly invest in our future. Vote no on Prop 414.

Salvador Aguirre

Midtown

Keep school choice fully funded

It was depressing to read that Governor Hobbs is still trying to limit school choice by underfunding it.

She is wrong, and after herself benefiting from a parochial school education paid for by her parents, she knows it. One supposes that she wants to make parents pay more so that Democrats can fund their pet priorities such as housing.

Cannot she see that funding school choice leads to a better-educated state? And that a better-educated state is a more competitive state in the national and world economies?

James Stewart

Foothills

Federal aid with “strings attached”

I was amazed that year after year the federal Government supports FEMA efforts without any preconditions as to the financial contributions of the states involved. Now with huge needs that California faces representatives like Sen. Barrasso of Wyoming and Rep. Johnson are suggesting that all the funds need should only be given with with strict limits. Never mind the fact that California is by far the greatest contributor to the federal budget exceeding the support they receive back from the federal government annually by $83,107.00 while both Wyoming -$493.00 and Louisiana -$6.215.00 are debtor states! These states are lucky that California allows them a seat at the table whenever federal expenses are discussed. What chutzpah. Perhaps it would be advisable if instead of seniority financial contributions are the criteria Wyoming and Louisiana ought to be sitting outside selling yellow pencils to pay for admission!

Robert Cozad

Oro Valley

Immigration raids

We may lose civil rights we have enjoyed for many decades. Currently, all human beings in the United States have civil rights according to the 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution:

We have the right to remain silent. If we do speak, anything we say can be used against us. We have the right to an attorney. If we can’t afford an attorney, one will be appointed. We do not have to open our doors unless the police have a warrant signed by a judge.

Check your vehicles’ lights, a common cause of traffic stops. If stopped, the driver must produce license, insurance, and registration but passengers say nothing but their names. Refuse to speak without an attorney present. Speak English if possible.

All my grandparents were immigrants. At that time, the system was intact and over-population and climate were not the problems they’ve become.

Gaye Adams

Midtown

Teddy on immigration

In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt said, “In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

Historians characterize Teddy as a progressive and perhaps Donald could be remembered as one too. Let’s watch this play out.

Jeffrey McConnell

West side

January 6 pardons

Over 1,500 of the insurrectionists who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 were pardoned on January 21, 2025. They were characterized as innocent victims, patriots and hostages if found guilty for their activities. Capitol police and others were assaulted and beaten. Some were bear sprayed. Over 150 were injured and 5 died as a result, some by suicide. The insurrectionists were not ushered into the Capitol and considered peaceful tourists. There was disorder, destruction and chaos to the interior and those within to try and overturn the 2020 Election.

The January 6 Committee was assembled to investigate the proceedings. They reviewed numerous videos, and interviewed those knowledgeable of occurrences, mostly Republicans and police. A complete picture of activities on some news sources may have been sanitized.

Watch the videos of January 6, 2021 and the Jan 6 Committee hearings, then decide the responsibility for what occurred with more complete knowledge.

Paul McCreary

Green Valley

Superiority

Majestic elephants at a Colorado zoo do not have the legal right to pursue their release, Colorado’s highest court said.

The ruling from their Supreme Court follows a similar court defeat when Happy, Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo, pursued a long-held legal process for prisoners challenging their detention in an effort to reduce sentence and live in an elephant sanctuary instead.

The Colorado court said its decision does not turn on our regard for these majestic animals, but because an elephant is not a person, they do not have standing. Thus as Isaiah 46:9 suggests: For we are the chosen and there is no other like us on earth!

So, it goes for the 680 vertebrate creations that have gone extinct and the 4,300 others — mammals, fish, birds and amphibians — that have declined from human greed these past 50 years.

“His work is perfect,” says the bible even as we dismantle it, setting ourselves on the throne of judgment.

Richard Kimball

Midtown

The Trump militia

With the pardoning of 1500 insurrectionists they have the nucleus of a nationwide Trump military militia. This was tried before but now may succeed.

The well-armed Trump Minutemen could be ready for 2028 election.

Donald Plummer

Northwest side