Ducey should veto anti-sex-ed bill
Another attack on public education. The legislature’s newest anti-sex- education bill seeks to prohibit history, science and health teachers from covering required course material.
This bill is in violation of the Arizona State Board of Education, which is solely responsible for determining curriculum and setting specific instructional standards that teachers must meet.
It would prevent teachers from doing their job and deprive students of information necessary to keep themselves safe and healthy.
This bill is also in violation of their First Amendment rights. Justice Abraham Fortas (1969) ruled that “teachers and students do not shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gate, and students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State chooses to communicate.”
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Parents who want absolute say over what their children can and cannot learn have the right to home school them or send them to private or parochial schools. They do not have the right to micromanage public schools.
Demand that Gov. Doug Ducey veto Senate Bill 1456.
Lois Postil
Northwest side
Station troops in D.C., not AfghanistanI think it is obvious, be it another 50, 150, or 300 years, the results in Afghanistan will be the same. The Taliban will wage a bloody war to regain control. Our 2,500 troops currently deployed there will have absolutely no effect on the eventual outcome of the current conflict.
The 2,500 troops could have a very impactful and successful impact on preventing the fall of another democracy to anarchy and insurrection: the U.S. Capitol.
If we station those 2,500 troops to surround the perimeter of the Capitol grounds, they would most assuredly prevent the repeat of the attack upon Democracy by the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
The cost to do so will be substantially lower and the results far more satisfying.
Robert Cozad
Oro Valley
Vaccine passports show that you care
Our governor, Doug Ducey, has shown throughout the COVID pandemic a lack of knowledge or concern about the health issues caused by the virus and instead has focused on the economic issues. I for one will not be risking my health by doing business with places that don’t require masks.
I also would love to travel and go on a cruise but I will expect that all passengers and crew have been vaccinated and tested for COVID-19. The folks that choose to not get vaccinated have that right but I have the right to not want to be around them and to think they are not very caring about their fellow man and frankly, not very smart.
I am all for vaccine passports.
Gary Jones
Northwest side
American Dream gives a chance to all
When I read or hear about immigration and children at our border I often think about my grandmother. My grandmother came from Ireland 120 years ago. She was 16, the oldest of eight children.
Alone she boarded a ship out of Cork, Ireland. She landed in New York and had to make her way working at anything she could get. She left poverty, hunger and oppression. The only thing her family had was hope that she would have a better life.
Amongst the immigrants that now cross our border, there is likely a 16-year-old girl whose family, out of desperation and hope, sent her to our country. My hope is that the young lady is treated with kindness. I hope she is given opportunity. I hope she is given the same chance my grandmother was given.
Daniel McDonnell
Foothills
Accessible playgrounds are a must for Tucson
Several years ago, our family reunion was held at a city park, Camden Playground in Janesville, Wisconsin.
The playground was, for myself, a revelation. It incorporated several play sites for the disabled. You could roll up in a wheelchair and play. Most amazing and totally impressive.
As it were, Wisconsin has several accessible playgrounds with features specifically designed for the disabled.
I would think and hope, within the not too distant future, Tucson would have within the Parks and Recreation budget allocations, plans for an accessible inclusive playground.
The Edith Ball Adaptive Recreation Center is a most impressive beginning. Tucson could and should do more, including within the Parks and Recreation financial support system, make plans for a totally accessible inclusive playground.
Sara O’Neil
Midtown
Migrant numbers are disingenuous
Re: the April 21 article “AZ Guard going to border.”
Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services is featured frequently by the Arizona Daily Star.
In his article about the Arizona National Guard being deployed to the border, he wrote, “But what Ducey did not say is that there has been a steady increase in illegal crossings for nearly a year — back into the Trump administration — after they dropped following the COVID-19 outbreak. In fact, Customs and Border Protection reported that crossings during the last three months of 2020 were higher than at any similar point during the Trump administration.”
However, during fiscal 2020, the Border Patrol did not encounter more than 55,000 a month. Encounters increased significantly in the last three months, November through January, under Trump because Joe Biden had just won the election, which incentivized migrants to come.
In February there were 100,000 and in March 172,000, including 18,500 unaccompanied children, a record. Fischer cleverly, but unsuccessfully, tried to deflect any responsibility for the border “crisis” away from Biden, who used the same disingenuous numbers argument.
Rosalinda Vasquez
South Tucson
Military vaccines common, good idea
Re: the April 21 letter “Ex-President Trump will be vindicated.”
In response to the above opinion, the attitude that it isn’t logical for military to be required to get the COVID vaccine has two main problems.
First, our military’s job is to keep our citizens safe. If they are spreading a deadly disease (which they very well could be unaware of), we are not safe. They could be killing us.
Secondly, who has a right to tell us what to do with our bodies? In 1970 I was required by the International Harvester Company to get a smallpox vaccine. Sure, I could have refused, but I wouldn’t have been given the job.
My father had polio in the Navy during WWII and he sure wishes a polio vaccine had been developed. I spent 17 days on a ventilator in March 2020 and would have gladly taken a vaccine to prevent almost dying.
When my husband entered the Navy, he was required to get many vaccines. So why now, with our new deadly virus, are vaccines suddenly a bad idea?
Constance Amspaugh
Southeast side
Death penalty isn’t justice
Re: the April 22 article “Conover seeks delay in Atwood execution.’’
I’m glad to see more community discussion of Arizona’s death penalty. That antiquated device just doesn’t work. Killing very old men is proving hard to do.
Truth is, the state just doesn’t want to pay the medical bills of men who are dying anyway. The death penalty has never been about heinous cases. It never was, since that definition has changed over time anyway.
It is about killing, plain and simple. The Ten Commandments are very specific about that, just four words, “thou shalt not kill.” No exceptions listed.
Arizona needs to rid itself of the notion of killing as justice. Killing is never justice. Revenge is never justice. Why keep dragging the families of victims back into court decade after decade? And the death penalty costs more than prison.
Right now, the Arizona Attorney General is using this device to look “strong” on crime so he can run for higher office.
John Yoakum
Downtown
This conservative
supports Sinema
You are publishing letters from radical liberals that are complaining about the votes that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is taking on issues like the filibuster. There are many conservatives like me in Arizona that are writing her with congratulations for using her good judgment to protect the rights of all Arizonans and not just the un-American liberals.
Ken Wolfe
Marana
PRO Act protects striking workers
Throughout history, workers have used strikes as leverage in the fight for workplace rights. But today, an employee’s decision to strike is unjustly weighed against the potential for disastrous retaliation.
While its legal for workers to withhold their labor, corporations have undermined this right by permanently replacing strikers. Increasingly, employers retaliate against striking workers with little, if any, consequence.
Look what happened last year at ASARCO. In their fight for a fair contract, 1,800 members of six unions, went on strike.
During that fight, ASARCO replaced striking Tucsonans with hundreds of non-union workers. With the strike now over, ASARCO says striking workers are entitled to positions “only as jobs are available.” What an insult to workers who fought for safe and fair working conditions, and the protection of their healthcare.
The PRO Act will prohibit employers from permanently replacing strikers. No one should fear for their livelihoods when going on strike.
Working people deserve better. It’s time for change. It’s time to pass the PRO Act.
Russell Crossan
Picture Rocks
