Road repair needed before El Tour
Re: the April 25 article “El Tour de Tucson, CEO digging ‘deep’ to make improvements.”
This will be my first year to ride El Tour De Tucson. My father has done it several times. I have seen the issues he has had to deal with in the past, including the walk across the Sabino Canyon wash section. The one thing I have noticed this year is that several of the roads on the current map are in great disrepair and have little or no current bike paths. When training for an event like this, as I have been trying to for the last few weeks, I ride the same path that I will take on the course so as to familiarize myself and my body for what it will take.
I am hoping that talks with the city have been put in place for repairing these roads prior to the tour or it is going to be very off-putting to riders coming out to want to venture here again. If you are unfamiliar with what I mean, take a bike ride on Irvington Road between Kolb Road and Houghton Road and Houghton to Escalante Road and feel how much your bike jumps and bounces as you try to maneuver.
People are also reading…
Look at the width of the bike path on Irvington, especially, as you get closer to Houghton or the path on Escalante. I have almost been run off the road a couple times, even while wearing a neon yellow shirt on a white bike. I really do look forward to the tour, but I’m hoping as I explore more of the course, I don’t find the same conditions.
CJ Stanley
East side
Big college sports
not worth the trouble
Perhaps the time has finally come to evaluate the role of university sports, most especially football and basketball. The players are supposedly students first and athletes second. Hardly. The reality is many top-tier universities are minor leagues for professional football and basketball teams.
Additionally, they have become big businesses, sources of revenue for the university at the expense of higher education for the players. Also, some players believe they are special — not students — and frequently behave as though they are above the laws of the schools and communities. Lastly, some top-tier schools and/or coaches and players have succumbed to the temptations of money from unethical members of the professional sports community.
Let the athletes with the skills go professional from high school, either to the big leagues or farm clubs, allowing the universities to focus on their primary objectives, education. Regarding the football players who are demanding special considerations or they will boycott — let them go.
Lee Dapper
Sierra Vista
Trump’s campaign ads show desperation
The desperation of the Trump election campaign shows in his television ads. They are supposed to show the fear and violence of a potential Biden administration, when ironically they show actual films of Trump’s street riots. Looking back at the eight years of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, I don’t remember riots of nearly the scope of Trump’s. They have actually been the hallmark of Trump’s time in the White House.
Review for yourself the last four years and ask if you want this chaos to continue. We need to make sure these are Trump’s only four years.
Don Vandine
Sierra Vista
Christian nationalists
seek stranglehold
Re: the Aug. 2 article “Trump aims to cast Democrats as threat to religious freedom.”
The First Amendment has two clauses concerning religion: one that guarantees the freedom to exercise religion, and another that prohibits the government from establishing any religion. That said, when Christian nationalists talk about “religious freedom,” they are really asking for the privilege to impose their religion on other people. All the while they are demanding money from taxpayers to do so.
The religious rights of the majority of Americans are being placed as collateral damage in the evangelical war aimed at looting our public coffers. These same activists condemn direct government aid to the poor, while attempting to increase the flow of government handouts to churches and specific religious groups.Their ultimate goal: dominate government and access to federal monies to fund right-wing political channels through religious organizations, which in fact are partisan political cells.
The extent to which these Christian nationalists are willing to go was evident in this article.
Linda Dennis
East side
Teachers get
a raw deal
Re: the Aug. 2 article “Teacher who quit over virus fears faces fine.”
When I retired from a school district in northern Virginia 25 years ago, the starting salary was $40,000, not much less than the bare-bones starting salary for teachers here in Arizona today. Even so, recent attempts to raise teacher salaries via citizen initiatives have been foiled by our Republican Legislature and certain business constituencies, so there’s clearly no interest in curing the long-running teacher shortage.
I thought I’d heard it all, but apparently not. In all my years of teaching I never heard of a law that charged teachers who quit a $2,000 fine. I guess it makes sense, though: if you’re going to shortchange them coming in, why not trap them in the job by financially threatening them on the way out.
Denice Blake
Midtown
Deal for Ashford a real gamble
Re: the Aug. 7 article “UA swings and misses with Ashford acquisition.”
The University of Arizona and Ashford University deal may have arisen because of a 2017 suit by California against Ashford for allegedly false financial aid promises to students and allegedly using “illegal debt collection practices” against students.
The Ashford takeover, to be run not as a UA subsidiary but by the new University of Arizona Global Campus led by its own board and president, seems like a structure designed to shelter the UA from potential liability from the California litigation.
The UA is stepping into an entirely different field of business with acquisition of a troubled for-profit online university. Whether the UA will be able to successfully compete in this different industry consisting of enormous online, for-profit conglomerates and withstand that kind of competitive heat and prosper will be determined over time. This may prove to be a riverboat gamble. The devil will be in the details.
Mort Ganeles
Foothills
If we aren’t reminded, we might repeat history
Confederate statues and monuments are being taken down. There has also been pressure to take down statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. There’s also talk of banning the book and movie “Gone with the Wind.” Even Mount Rushmore isn’t safe. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was built (as opposed to taken down) in order to give us knowledge of the history of the 6 million Jews that were murdered so we can confront hatred and prevent genocide today.
This makes sense to me. Taking down statues and other historical objects will not change the past. We will lose far more than we gain by hiding these physical reminders of the South’s embrace of the evils of slavery. A wise man said those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
Douglas R. Holm
East side
Kelly showing
right temperament
Re: the Aug. 3 letter “Kelly strays from party script.”
Seeing as how Martha McSally is in lockstep with her mendacious mentor, and seeing as how she has nothing to offer but criticisms regarding Mark Kelly, and seeing as how Kelly shrugs off the criticism instead of retaliating, I would agree that he should not be running for senator.
He should have aimed much higher! It’s to late for 2020, but maybe 2024? We need someone at the top who is not full of vengeance.
David Hatch
Southeast side
Learning to cherish
each and every day
As a nurse working in the era before AIDS, I learned about the value of thorough hand-washing. We had not yet learned about MRSA, either. My years working with tuberculosis patients taught me the critical importance of wearing masks and having proper ventilation systems.
What am I learning now? I take more time appreciating beautiful desert blooms, sunrises, sunsets, clouds, chatting with neighbors who walk dogs, and friends who call from far and near. I treasure spending time cuddling and petting my tiny senior dog. I’m enjoying donating and volunteering! I especially value others who are kind, respectful, warm and courteous.
I feel better when I say and write the words “stay safe” and “be well.” Finally, I am learning to cherish each and every day (as well as the company of my wonderful partner)!
Janice Campos
Foothills
Please track our progress
on school-return targets
First, I would like to applaud the Arizona Daily Star for their regular reporting on state and county metrics related to COVID-19. Recently the Arizona Department of Health Services has provided recommended benchmarks for relatively safe reopening of schools in Arizona.
It would be helpful to parents and educators for the Star to add a section to either their daily or weekly reporting detailing where we are in Pima County compared to these established targets. Please consider making this data more accessible to the public.
Katherine Prewitt
West side
