A shout out
to Black women
After days of watching the voting, I realized how many of the workers and then the counters and then those who recounted, were Black women. I also realized how many Black women were out there going door-to-door to encourage people to vote. Time Magazine is even proposing one of those who helped with organizing as Person of the Year.
I don’t think many of us realize how much Black women have helped us grow as a nation. They worked hard to get the vote for women and then were put down. They helped in the Civil Rights Movement and now put their lives on the line to sit at polling places and then count and recount votes. I think they are owed a huge “thank you” for making sure that false claims were shot down because they chose to put themselves at risk (we know that people of color are at higher risk of infection) to ensure a fair election.
People are also reading…
Thank you!
Judith Doran
East side
No need
for Electoral College
The people of our country should understand that we live in a much developed country since 1776. We are a free country, and the people should have the right to chose their leaders, one vote per person. At this time there is no need for an Electoral College. Let’s get rid of it.
Robert Long
West side
Bus assault emblematic of unhealthy culture
I don’t usually read much in the sports section but the sex abuse article caught my eye and I can honestly say that I wished I had not read it. The feeling of revulsion toward that football team, to include the coach and indirectly the bus driver, made me furious. The coach is emblematic of why people have a dim view of public schools.
Not just poor academic performance, but lack of discipline. I don’t understand the attitude that anything goes in sports: bullying, shaming and now sexual abuse. There needs to be consequences for all.
And I would also suggest counseling, because that kind of treatment toward another classmate, even with a mob mentality, is far from normal.
Right now, schools are sending kids home for wearing political apparel or eating a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun, but this school decided to overlook the degenerate behavior of a bus full of football players. We have hit a new low!
Maryam Wade
Northeast side
Curfew not enough
to fight virus spread
Re: the Nov. 24 article “Pima County issues voluntary nightly curfew to curb virus spread.”
We feel as though the Pima County Health Department is doing the bare minimum in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and should petition against Gov. Doug Ducey’s lenient public-health regulations.
With the upcoming holiday season, increased travel and the increasing COVID-19 numbers, the “voluntary” curfew is not enough. The weekly average of new cases has increased higher than initially witnessed since the onset of the pandemic.
When large groups gather, the odds of a super spreader event occurring is more likely. Our health-care system is not equipped to handle the abundance of new cases. We believe that public-health officials can do more to protect the public and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Kyle Higashidani and MPH
students at UA Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
Downtown
If you wear a mask, good times can return
Now that COVID-19 vaccines are on the way, it’s a great time to be careful and wear a mask. Just think, if you’re careful for just a year or two, maybe you’ll live for another 20, 40, or 60 years. Think of the good times you’ll have.
George Robinson
East side
A better America needs a change in thinking
The hope of a better America starts with a change in thinking on the part of all Americans. Let’s stop thinking in terms of “I, me and mine,” and start thinking in terms of “we, us and our.”
Richard Bechtold
West side
Election rigged
in broad daylight
How was the election rigged?
In plain sight: All the Democrats got together and secretly voted for Joe Biden.
John Warde
Midtown
Trump haters got their wish; now live with it
Re: the Nov. 25 letter “Accomplishments by Trump are many.”
Thank you for printing a perfect letter by Robert Baker. He listed all the things President Trump has accomplished in spite of the media and Democrats who continue to try every way they can think of to make it difficult for him. What a contrast to the unkind letter written the following day by John Vornholt.
Maybe he will be happier with an old man who can’t answer a question without help, a rerun of the Barack Obama days and a return of the swamp creatures. Good luck with that.
Lyletta Groves
Northeast side
Nod to hospital workers incredibly moving
As a retired, emergency doctor, I was incredibly moved to hear that Mayor Regina Romero organized the delivery of 500 hot meals to the front-line medical workers at TMC, St. Mary’s, and Banner-University Medical Center the day after Thanksgiving. All of these meals produced by locally-owned restaurants not only help one of our hardest hit industries but quietly honor the incredible and heroic hospital workers who are on the front line of the pandemic.
Doctors, nurses, techs, CNAs and all of the others who are putting their lives on the line deserve our resounding gratitude. Nine months into COVID-19, it’s easy to forget the impact this has on the lives of these workers and their families.
This holiday season I am thankful we have a mayor who has put the safety of our citizens first and continues to recognize, without fanfare, our community health-care workers, and I’m incredibly thankful to our doctors, nurses and hospital workers who are dedicated to our communities well-being.
Dr. Paul Clinco
East side
Welfare of our children is a higher priority
Re: the Nov. 28 article “AZ bends US rules on how COVID relief funds can be used.”
I have four grandchildren who attend elementary school in Tucson, all good students who have suffered both social and academic setbacks in the past year. That’s why I was angered to read in Saturday’s Daily Star that Gov. Doug Ducey spent $400 million of federal coronavirus relief funds for “operations.”
Apparently, our governor prioritizes low state debt over our children’s welfare.
Arizona made a decision early to open bars, restaurants, gyms, hair salons and clothing stores as so-called “essential” services and to keep our schools closed. By contrast, most of Europe decided to keep their schools open, and shut or limit adult entertainment and cosmetic services. They have found that it’s fairly easy to keep infection low if children wear masks and keep socially distant.
My grandchildren have lost so much this year, sacrificed to the governor’s fiscal conservatism, and the citizens’ petty selfishness. It’s time to open the schools now.
Cheryl Lockhart
North side
Honest service produced honest result
Criticism of Arizona’s election process is being heard from people whose only involvement is voting. As a voter who also volunteered as a poll watcher, I can tell you that what I witnessed was impressively fair.
As a poll watcher, I had to be precertified to remain in the voting space while votes were cast, communicating only with the site manager. The poll workers I observed tried to assure that every person could cast a ballot. Sometimes that was a provisional ballot.
If a person’s voter registration wasn’t evident, address had changed or they had been mailed a ballot, they were allowed to cast a provisional ballot. After voting day, the Cochise County recorder checked their ballot against other factors (like having already voted by mail) to be sure the person got to vote. The only people I saw turned away were people registered in other counties.
The poll workers, and especially Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, should be thanked for their time and honest service.
E. Kathy Suagee
Benson
Recycling a bunch of fuzzy math
Eliminating glass recycling appears to be a good idea from council man Steve Kozachik, with a short-sighted implementation. Currently, recycle is collected biweekly and sorted at Los Reales, into various streams, including glass.
The proposed system will not lower the number of trips for the glassless collections.
We will now have over 200,000 households going to 22 points and additional trucks to take glass to Los Reales (where it ends up now). It will still have to be sorted before grinding. I do not understand how increasing the number of trips will lower greenhouse gas emissions 69%.
I suggest the reporter ask Carlos De La Torre for a follow-up on where he got his information. I suspect it was from the MSU Data Base (Make Stuff Up). Maybe he will have an answer by the virtual town halls. Ask how much it will cost for this consultant on “habitual contaminators” and how much we will pay to holding contaminators accountable.
David Germain
East side
Time to seriously enforce mask mandate
Re: the Nov. 29 article “State ‘risks catastrophe’ if it doesn’t issue virus mandates, officials say.”
The front-page article sounded an important and chilling alarm. But it is unlikely to prompt action from the state government. The Pima County governing body, the Pima County Board of Supervisors, can and should act to strengthen, clarify and enforce the June 19, 2020, countywide requirement (2020-49) for “the wearing of face coverings when in public if 6 feet of physical distancing cannot be maintained.”
Currently the resolution states: “No civil or criminal enforcement action will be taken without the express approval of the Board.” Apparently, the board has decided to limit action to “education.” We are past the need for education.
We need the board to authorize serious enforcement, particular to repeat offenders, whether a grocery store, bar, or private gathering in a public place. If we are masked and distanced, we can continue with more freedom. Note, too, the state and the county are scaring away potential visitors by allowing the pandemic to overwhelm our medical facilities.
Eloise Gore
Foothills
