I’ll take antivenom but not the vaccine
A letter writer says getting the vaccine should be a prerequisite for receiving the next stimulus check (which we don’t need). Simple and fair? No way. Fascist? Yes.
I’m not so much anti-vaccine as I am plain anti-drugs of any type. I don’t want anything in my body that’s not food or beneficial biotics. That means no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, etc.
And no drugs, other than maybe ones for pain. Antivenom is OK as I got struck by a diamondback rattlesnake on Tuesday and am writing this letter from my hospital bed.
Gail Sutton
Oracle
Funds for migrants are being misused
The Associated Press reported that since February, the Biden administration has awarded $3 billion in taxpayer money to contractors for housing mainly unaccompanied migrant children from Central America. $2 billion was awarded to three companies with no bidding.
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The AP report said, “HHS has refused all access to news media once children are brought into facilities, citing the coronavirus and privacy restrictions.”
Sarah DeYoung, a University of Delaware professor who studies evacuation shelters said, “Many of the sites have a very institutional setting that is not optimal for children. It is critical that there would still be an outside assessment including public health experts and people who have pediatric expertise.” $3 billion thus far of taxpayer money awarded to care for migrant children that could otherwise be spent on the needs of impoverished or elderly Americans. Thanks, Joe!
Rory Smith
Marana
ACC commissioner’s comments deplorable
When will our elected representatives start policing each other when they lie and misinform? I’m referring of course to the Arizona Corporation Commission’s Jim O’Connor and his false statements regarding COVID vaccines. Really, Jim!
Our elected officials are slow to respond to these harmful and ridiculous statements. Where is the backlash? A lie is not free speech. This is Arizona. We deserve better.
Pati Stein
East side
Masks still needed inside supermarkets
Pima County’s mask mandate is being ignored by selfish shoppers and not enforced by stores. On May 10, I saw people in Fry’s and Safeway not wearing masks. I reported this to a store manager. The manager at Fry’s said she would mention it at a staff meeting. The manager at Safeway said they don’t enforce their mask requirement.
This is absurd. People should wear masks in stores and stores should require it. We haven’t conquered the virus yet.
Opening back up doesn’t mean leaving our masks at home when we’re in indoor public spaces. Especially since it’s the rule in Pima County that masks are required in those spaces.
Pathetically, there are selfish people who believe they are privileged to flout the law and put others at risk. And stores who let them do so, putting their employees, shoppers and the public in danger. Until those stores stop enabling those who egocentrically refuse to wear a mask, I’ll shop elsewhere.
Sue Harrison
East side
A balanced view of immigration
True, America is a land of immigrants. Even Native Americans had roots elsewhere.
Americans generally welcomed immigrants, “Give me your tired, your poor,” Lady Liberty proclaims. These tired and poor worked at hard physical labor, slaves on plantations, Irish in factories, Asians on railroads. All were welcome, so long as they knew their “place.”
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants arriving in 1619 and after had mixed emotions on immigration. They profited from free and lowly paid labor, but didn’t particularly care for those providing it. Over generations that included Blacks, Irish, Italians, Catholics, Jews, Asians, Hispanics and Muslims.
Anti-immigration sentiment has existed over that 400-year period. Such sentiment, still powerful today, propelled the 1840s Know Nothing Party into a major political force.
Countries have a sovereign obligation to secure their borders and to determine who should be admitted. But a touch of human kindness in that obligation and determination is not outside the realm of reason.
Edward Pokorney
Marana
Jails hold many eligible voters
It’s the worst voter suppression you’ve never heard of: The disenfranchisement of voters behind bars.
A new report I co-authored shows that, in Arizona, most people held in local jails never lost the right to vote, because their trials are still underway and they have not yet been convicted of a crime.
But few of them ever do.
In the lead-up to the 2020 election, voting rights advocates like me worked hard to provide the necessary resources for jailed voters to cast ballots.
We demand that state and local authorities show integrity and enact robust changes to inform people in jail that they have the right to vote, and provide services to help them request and cast their ballots.
Teresa Mabry
Downtown
Paying for COVID hospitalizations
Now that there are several safe and effective vaccines that protect against COVID-19 infections and these vaccines are available free of charge to all adults who are responsible enough to get vaccinated, it is time that taxpayers be relieved for having to pay the medical costs for persons who choose not to get vaccinated. Many now avoidable hospitalizations will be paid in part by Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance policies, which of course means that we are all paying for these costs.
You have the right to choose not to be vaccinated, but it is not right to saddle others with the costs of this choice. Trillions have been spent developing and distributing vaccines and on trying repair the damage to the economy caused by this disease. Taxpayers should not have to pay billions more for persons refusing to do their part to end this pandemic.
John McConnaughey
Oro Valley
Racing scene here was spectacular
The death of race car legend Bobby Unser brought back some beautiful Tucson memories. I was 12 years old when my family moved to Tucson in 1959. My uncle, Bob Huff, owned Tucson Speedway, a 3/8-mile dirt oval race track at Orange Grove Road and the Tucson-Phoenix highway.
In those days, there was no IndyCar circuit and the Indianapolis 500 race cars ran once a year, on Memorial Day. The rest of the year, the Indy 500 drivers raced what were called Sprint Cars or Supermodifieds at local racetracks.
On any given Saturday night, Tucsonans could go to Tucson Speedway and watch Indy 500 drivers Parnelli Jones, Roger McClusky, Bill Cheesbourg, and Al and Bobby Unser race Tucson’s hometown hero Hank Arnold. The cars were built and maintained by the same crews who did the Indy race cars, they didn’t have ugly aerodynamic wings on them, and the racing was spectacular. Today’s NASCAR and IndyCar races seem tame by comparison.
Brooks Keenan
Oro Valley
