Bighorn Fire crews
deserve a lot of praise
Job well done! Even though there is much remaining to do I feel that this comment will still apply when the job is actually finished. As someone who has “been there, done that,” I want to commend all the people who have responded and continue to respond with professionalism and caring, especially the initial response personnel, the current incident management team and all the cooperators. I have a special place in my heart for the Pima County Office of Emergency Management and the Sheriff’s Department.
I have lived off the end of Pusch Ridge since 1974, and the Santa Catalina Mountains have been part of my professional and personal life since arriving in Tucson. I have watched the mountains change and stay the same. I ask people of this community to remember that fire is a part of these mountains.
People are also reading…
Steve Plevel, U.S. Forest Service, retired former Santa Catalina
District ranger
Oro Valley
Improve police forces,
don’t take them away
The execution of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer was shocking and inexcusable. However, there are bad apples in every profession, and the abuse of power by one officer should not be imputed to all police. It makes sense for police departments and local governments nationwide to implement reforms regarding the use of force much like the policies already adopted by TPD. It also makes sense to examine the role of police unions in the disciplinary process.
What makes no sense is to “defund the police.” Ten years ago, TPD had 1,150 commissioned officers; today the number is 850. According to the FBI, in 2014 the Tucson area’s property-crime rate is 4,849 per 100,000 residents, while the national average for metro areas of more than 100,000 people is 2,730 per 100,000 residents. Police response time is a frequent complaint.
Reducing funding for the police will only make these problems worse. Let’s instead work together to improve law enforcement for everyone.
Ted Hinderaker
Midtown
Sound logic
Misplaced the TV remote? You’ll always find it in the last place you look.
John Warde
Midtown
Conover clear choice
for county attorney
There is nothing worse than expecting a different result from the same actions. This is what will happen in the county attorney race if nothing changes. We need a new and fresh perspective which is in keeping with the different and unsettled times we are living in.
Laura Conover is the fresh voice and fresh perspective. Bilingual and a nearly native Tucsonan, Laura has the skill set and the perspective to lead and to change the long-held direction of this office into one that represents and protects the citizenry of Pima County more completely and fully.
We need a candidate who is a manager of people and an attorney. Not another attorney who wants to continue the status quo. Look into Conover and you will find the exact person suited for this job at the time of great change in our community. Conover is already proving herself qualified with key endorsements. Conover is the one!
Rick Small
Midtown
We want to know where it’s safe to shop
If the shocking spikes in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Arizona don’t cause alarm, professor Elizabeth Jacobs and her colleagues did a fine job in the June 15 Arizona Daily Star explaining the dangers we face. Since our leaders, at both the state and federal levels, are focused exclusively on the health of our economy, we, the people, are left to fend for ourselves. To survive this pandemic, we need pragmatic information from public-health specialists as well as reliable news outlets, such as this newspaper.
We know what to do when we venture out, but we do not know what to expect once we get there. It would be extremely helpful if the Star published a weekly list of “essential” businesses, such as grocery stores, that require shoppers to wear a mask, especially now that “senior hours” are meaningless. Knowing what local businesses are operating responsibly would be more than “helpful.” It could be a matter of life and death.
Leslie Kanberg
Downtown
Make ‘This Day’
a permanent fixture
I want to give many thanks to the sports editors and the staff at the Star. I am a 91 year-old female sports fan. My grandfather got me interested when I was a child, listening to baseball games on the radio. I hope the decision will be made to continue “This Day in Sports History” when the pandemic ends. It is fantastic! Reading it brings many pleasant memories of events I attended or watched on television.
Thanks again! Great idea!
Elaine Cross
Rio Rico
Cheerful librarians
at Murphy-Wilmot
Has anyone been to the library lately? I just returned from the Murphy-Wilmot Library and was so impressed with their service, helpfulness and care. You order your books online, pick them up from an outdoor table and avoid any uncomfortable interactions.
You’re allowed in for only 30 minutes of computer use, after you’ve had your temperature checked. The librarians are cheerful and polite and efficient. What would we do without our public libraries? We didn’t even realize how much we needed them until now. Thank you for being there for your faithful readers.
Mary Vida
Midtown
Leftists stifle expression
through intimidation
Recently we witnessed many incidents across America where left wing activists, aka progressive Democrats, tore down or defaced historical statues and landmarks that they found to be offensive. These included Civil War statues or memorials, statues of President Thomas Jefferson, etc.
This behavior destroys, intimidates, threatens and violates the First Amendment. The First Amendment was created exactly for the purpose of protecting the expressions that some might feel to be offensive. Progressive liberals ignore that.
They have intimidated Fox News hosts through pressuring advertisers on shows. Tucker Carlson is their latest target. He was targeted before when leftist activists showed up at his home while he and his family were there. They have targeted the NRA by pressuring advertisers in their monthly magazines.
They pressured credit-card companies to not do gun sales. Now these same intimidating leftist forces seek to rename our longstanding military installations like Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that they find offensive for whatever reasons. Even Biden supports doing this!
Juan Santiago
Southwest side
TUSD’s Foster
smears the police
Re: the June 12 article “TUSD to discuss use of officers as effort to defund police grows.”
It is reported that the TUSD Governing Board president, Kristel Foster, stated at a June 9 Board meeting that she “imagined” students reactions to school resource officers, and said, among other things: “And we’re asking them (students) to come to our schools every day to this space and feel safe with an authority figure that threatens their very existence.”
Ms. Foster should publicly issue a written apology for this outrageous statement that puts the issue in negative existential terms which, without foundation, denigrate the police universally and accuse them of being a danger to schoolchildren.
I hope the rest of TUSD’s board will act on this matter objectively based on investigation, facts and well-founded opinions, not on their own imaginations. Perhaps voters at the next election of the TUSD board president will remember what Foster said.
Richard C. Henry
Northeast side
‘Pro-lives’ piece
was illuminating
Re: the June 14 article “How I became ‘pro-lives’ instead of only ‘pro-life.’”
Thanks to Carol Dolaghan and the Arizona Daily Star for an insightful piece on the pro-life/pro-choice issue. For a long time I have been aware both sides have a strong moral position.
I have struggled with my personal position, and I have been troubled by the narrow focus of the pro-life position. The concept of the differences between pro-fetus, pro-life and pro-lives is illuminating.
Bill Krauss
Downtown
Spineless health chief needs to be replaced
Re: the June 14 article “Ducey’s energies directed less at blunting surge than at countering ‘misinformation’.”
Dr. Cara Christ should be replaced. What health director says “We are not going to be able to stop the spread, and so we can’t stop living, as well”? And, she doesn’t wear a mask!
Like my husband said: “Some of us are going to stop living.” Thanks to her milquetoast direction, many of the fence-sitters will not wear masks and the “you’re taking my rights away” folks will trumpet her quote as a: “See? The health director said that!”
Dr. Christ should keep her opinions to herself and start directing the health of Arizonans. We don’t need another Donald Trump lackey in this state.
Now, about replacing Ducey ...
Judy Mercer
Oro Valley
Require masks
inside grocery stores
So we are opening our facilities with the caveat that all people visiting such businesses comply with certain limitations recommended by the CDC. The problem is, as anyone can see, people are not complying with those recommendations. Recent trips to the grocery store for necessary supplies confirm less than one-third are wearing masks, a CDC recommendation.
I wear a mask, but that only protects others from me. I am in a threatened subgroup of people especially susceptible to complications including death from the virus. It’s unconscionable that there is not an order that all facilities deemed essential, such as grocery stores, require patrons to wear masks for the protection of at risk populations.
If everyone wears masks, everyone gains a level of protection and our current spike will smooth. Gov. Doug Ducey, do your job. Mandate the order for people to wear masks in essential businesses. And set an example by wearing one.
Bruce Fulton
West side
Trump supporters
chase their losses
Good money after bad. That’s a phrase describing what bad gamblers do when they’re losing money. They keep betting more and more in the hopes that they will make up for their losses.
This behavior might help explain why some of my friends continue to support Donald Trump. I believe they voted in good faith for Mr. Trump in 2016, hoping for something different, something that would change things for the better. I don’t think they voted for Donald Trump believing that he would systematically and deliberately divide the country. That is exactly what he has done.
To my friends: Do you continue to throw good money after bad?
Donald Brown
Foothills
