Magnus trains TPD for tough situations
I applaud Chief Magnus for his sensitivity and foresight in the positive training techniques our Tucson Police Department employs. This give our Tucson community confidence in being protected. I admire all officers’ stamina and fortitude when confronted with difficult, angry and hateful situations.
There are people who demonstrate peacefully so their voices can be heard. Then there are the troublemakers who take advantage of a mass crowd to taunt police and cause criminal destruction and injury. Who are these people? Drifters? Racists? White supremacists? Sad people.
Thank you, Chief Magnus and everyone in the Tucson Police Department.
Nancy Reid
Northwest side
Property prioritized
People are also reading…
over human life
Our commander in chief has been strangely reluctant to deploy the U.S. military to fight COVID-19. Now he seems almost eager to use our troops against fellow Americans. Protecting real estate instead of saving lives — talk about perverse priorities!
Gary Woodard
Midtown
So much effort goes
into stifling dissent
If this is home of the brave and land of the free, why are we being shut down and silenced? There have been more resources and time put into stopping protests than there was for helping those in need from COVID-19. Our resources and priorities are aimed at stopping protests that are peaceful until the police get involved rather than housing and taking care of citizens threatened by a dangerous virus.
We the citizens are enraged that our president and government officials are more concerned about keeping us quiet than our safety and well-being! The curfew had been put into place quicker because of the protests than the one set in place for the virus. Help!
Jasmine Sepulveda
Foothills
Harding hands Trump
worst-president trophy
Given President Trump’s continuing behaviors of ignoring his own scientists and experienced advisers, I doubt history will be very kind to our 45th president. It is clear he totally lacks an understanding of a democratic government with its checks and balances. He ignores the laws of the land with a peculiar brand of sarcasm.
He then abuses, sneers and mocks the Bill of Rights or those whose job it is to defend it. In his mind, all governmental powers rest in him.
The descendants of President Warren G. Harding must be breathing easier. I suspect in a very short time after Trump leaves office, he will replace President Harding as if not the worst, then one of the worst presidents in our history — a title he will have richly deserved.
Who knows? In his mind he may find that an achievement. To him, aren’t lies and negative press as good as the truth?
Marion Weber
Northwest side
Leftist rioters deaf
to appeals for unity
Some are calling for President Trump to do a televised appeal for national unity as the riots and destruction continue in cities across America. But do you really believe for one minute that these liberals rioting and looting would heed it? No!
George Floyd’s brother Terrence has now called for the destruction and violence to end. He said his brother was a gentle person and would not want this mayhem to be going on as it accomplishes nothing. He asked to let justice take its course with the prosecution of the officer. That is the correct response here!
Trump is also correct in chastising mayors and governors across the country, i.e., in Minneapolis, who have shown weakness and an attitude of “let them vent,” or that the rioters are justified.
All nonsense! There should have been and needs to be zero tolerance for destruction of property and violence, with arrests and prison time — and no charges dismissed later by liberal prosecutors after the riots end.
Ric Hanson
North side
Floyd’s death a catalyst
in fight against racism
Dear George Floyd,
I am so very sad that you were killed and won’t be here to watch your children grow up, to attend family celebrations and to do all the things you hoped to do with your life. However, I want you to know that you have a big legacy. As we watched a bully snuff out your life, the feeling of fury grew until thousands filled streets across America to say this must stop. It is your legacy that individuals and institutions must question how they think and how they act. We cannot give your life back, but your death demonstrates profoundly there is no time to waste for all of us to fight racism. God help us.
Nancy Rochman
Midtown
Tragedy unfolding
at La Palma facility
The dangerous conditions of crowding, lack of sanitation and positive COVID-19 cases are life-threatening for detainees in CoreCivic’s La Palma facility. These detainees in quarantine, awaiting hearings regarding seeking legal asylum or lack of proper paperwork, have no access to legal representation or hearings, according to Arizona Republic and Arizona Daily Star reporting.
We call on our Sens. Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema to join Sen. Tom Udall in demanding the Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigate these conditions. We see pictures of La Palma from 2015, but since the 2018 ICE contract, we see no pictures. Only through letters to family and press stories are we aware of this tragedy.
We demand action now before someone dies. We know the history of the Japanese American detainees suffering from racism and detention camps, and we say “never again!” to this treatment of human beings in our state and our United States of America.
We expect bipartisan anti-racism action by all our elected officials and public servants. Now!
Lynn Price
West side
To begin healing,
let light and love in
We are in a broken, divided world. Yet, I believe there is a solution. It is so very simple, yet monumentally difficult. I propose this solution: Offer one drop of unconditional, pure, heartfelt love into the ocean of anger and despair of one person you know who sees the events of our times differently than you do.
As that one drop of love enters, a pinhole will open where hate can seep out, leaving room for a drop of hope. As that one drop of hope enters, a pinhole will open where despair can seep out, leaving room for a drop of light.
As that one drop of light enters, a pinhole will open where darkness can seep out. The only way to change the world is to change our individual worlds that we have created for ourselves in which we can hate or love, despair or hope, perish or prosper. It is our choice. Which do you choose?
Susan Hillman
East side
Important to remember
we are interconnected
Leo Tolstoy wrote: “I sit on a man’s back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible ... except by getting off his back.”
His words may explain why our country’s problems don’t get resolved. Where individualism and self-interest is seen as the source of its greatness, the solution to change seems dependent on each person acting ideally. Why is the economic system assumed to be the natural order of things? Does it, in fact, produce the values that Tolstoy describes, resulting in people unable to see the whole and their connection to it?
Will the future of the U.S. or humanity as a whole depend on a real change of values, or will we continue to wonder why people can’t just get along?
Bill Baker
West side
Make it easier
to shop local
On Wednesday I had an MRI and today I saw my neighborhood dentist. In both places I felt safe because of the amazing precautions I witnessed by the staff and management. Upon leaving the dentist I visited my locally owned hardware store. Sadly, I didn’t see any employees taking any precautions or wearing a mask like myself. I want to support my neighborhood businesses, but it’s not likely if they choose not to follow any simple, common-sense procedures.
Susan Essington
Southwest side
Hoping arrest list
acts as a deterrent
I was so happy to see the Star publish the names of those arrested after the state-imposed curfew hour. It shows more than just curfew violations and outstanding warrants and such; it creates a steppingstone for their records to build into real jail time! I hope their families feel the shame of their children and that their friends will take note that they will be arrested and their past revealed as well! Hopefully this will deter or lessen any further these types of conduct!
Troy Curtis
East side
Masks show
respect, courtesy
Several local TV news stations have interviewed Tucson citizens who are out and about in Tucson about why they were not heeding the CDC recommendation to wear masks. Most of these people answered that they felt healthy and that, in the words of one person interviewed, if you are “old, sick and worried,” you should just stay home.
I have lost sleep over such comments. Wearing a mask shows courtesy and respect for others, it does not reflect your personal fear or lack thereof.
While I certainly do not hope any of these strong, healthy people get ill, they will at some point age. Also, these people are showing a lack of respect for children in chemotherapy and older folks who just want to procure groceries. Where is our Tucson smartness and kindness? Maybe our local officials should demand masks be worn. It worked for Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York.
Carla Springer
Northwest side
Mosher brings needed experience
I might be old school, but I believe that experience matters when picking the right person for the job. The job of Pima County attorney requires upholding the Constitution, applying the law justly, and reforming a system to provide justice and mercy equally to all.
I support Jonathan Mosher because he is the best candidate with the experience to make the right changes where needed while maintaining respect for the law and protection for victims.
Mosher is the only candidate who has prosecuted an officer for breaking the law and has been endorsed by the Tucson Police Officers Association. He understands that addicts need treatment alternatives to incarceration and will expand these programs that he helped create. He knows how to manage hundreds of attorneys and run a large department. This is no time for on-the-job training. Jonathan Mosher is the best choice to serve as our next Pima County attorney.
Don Jorgensen, former chair, Pima County Democratic Party
Foothills
What we have is
a failure to plan
There is no planning in recent pre- and post-crisis in America. Careening from pothole into crevasse to cliff like a dysfunctional circus caravan is not domestic or international leadership. Massive tax-break deficits, compounded, with a national economic depression, lethal disease spreading the fastest in more than 100 years, and minority lynchings in broad daylight. These bills will not be paid by those who took and borrowed.
It is a long way to the November elections, yet what are the Republican and Democratic plans? Where is health care, economic development, domestic production of medical materials, repairing dysfunctional laws, climate change and repairing the national security? Will acting unqualified officials, unable to pass security clearances in normal administrations, be allowed to continue collaboration in crimes with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabian monarchs? Will the presidential library be in Moscow?
John Corbett
Foothills
Do something
to close wealth gap
As a white kid growing up in the Deep South, I was privileged. Not by choice, but I happened to be born white.
First, let’s admit that since the Greeks and Romans, slaves and minorities did the work while the privileged benefited. People of color must have better living conditions and education.
Something must be done to equalize wealth. There are more lobbyists in the capital than lawmakers. Face it, our government at all levels takes money for influence. Money is stronger than the vote.The sacred right to vote must be federally legislated and virtually the same across all states. If voting is important, then it should be modern, efficient, automated, regulated and exact across all boundaries.
There must be federal standards for police and our prisons, state and federal. Almost 80% percent of those in prison are minorities. The privileged hire an attorney, the poor go to jail.
Roger Engels
Northeast side