The late Helen Schaefer poses during the 2007 dedication of the University of Arizona Poetry Center building that bears her name.

If the Taliban or some similar organization opens a school in Arizona, will our taxes pay for their vouchers?

This is what the human smugglers and drug traffickers south of the United States border are saying to Gov. Ducey’s newly placed shipping containers filling in the gaps of the incomplete border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Why are they thanking our illustrious governor? We all know that these smugglers and traffickers are very industrious and innovative when it comes to getting humans and drugs across our border. All these smugglers and traffickers have to do is cut a hole in the container on the Mexico side using a cutting torch, angle grinder, or reciprocating saw. Once inside, they now make another hole on the opposite U.S. side of the container, while using the inside of the container to conceal their cutting. They now make jib doors out of the cut pieces of metal. Once the large holes are cut and jib doors in place, the smugglers and traffickers can now move their hidden stored loads out of the container and into the U.S.

Disappointed with your changes to the comic pages and puzzles. We need more laughter in our lives, not less. And my favorite puzzle, Cryptoquip is gone! You have replaced these with a horoscope and a fashion column!? What a pity!

Re: the Sept. 11 article “Cash shortfall could affect RTA projects.”

I am disappointed and dismayed by the failure of the Regional Transportation Authority to follow through on its obligations and complete the projects it promised the voters in 2006, especially the reconstruction of a Silverbell Road as a desert parkway. The unreconstructed section of Silverbell Road between Tucson and Marana is dangerous for nearby residents and other users. The recent development of a large distribution center at Ina Road and Silverbell Road will only exacerbate an already bad situation.

There has been more than enough time and opportunity to plan for the current shortfall and to take corrective action. The RTA has fallen down and broken faith with the voters. It does not deserve to exist as presently constituted. The State of Arizona should assume control of the RTA and cause the completion of the projects as promised 16 years ago. No RTA next. Silverbell, now.

Why are we all just standing by and letting Katie Hobbs be pilloried as a coward for opting out of the debate with her rival for the governorship? Why are we not putting the onus where it belongs — squarely on the head of Kari Lake, a brazen cult follower of Donald Trump, who hasn’t even bothered to pretend she is going to debate in good faith?

Better yet, why don’t the organizers of the debate deny Lake the privilege of participating until she either admits the election was not stolen from Trump or produces the evidence she claims to have that proves it was? If they make that a condition, I guarantee Kari Lake will drop her demands to force Hobbs into a debate where Katie is the only one constrained by decency and respect for the truth.

I recommend voters check out Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection to learn more about about who is running for office in Arizona. The answers by Abraham Hamadeh, running for attorney general, are quite enlightening. Most frightening to me was his statement that “The left has infiltrated every aspect of our lives and is trying to erase history in order to reshape the future.”

Infiltrated every aspect of our lives? Is he kidding? As opposed to what? The “radical right,” which seeks to control women’s reproductive rights? The reversal of a right to bodily autonomy that women have enjoyed for over 50 years? Please study the candidates carefully — our very rights may depend on it.

With the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, there are so many questions to be answered. And in my mind not only the contents retrieved by the FBI, which will eventually come out, but how did they get to the former president’s home? What was the mode of transportation for those documents? Were they transported by Air Force One? Mayflower Moving Company or whom?

In that transit process who did the actual moving? What kind of security clearance did they have? When they got to Mar-a-Largo, the same questions come forward. Was anyone assigned to guard the material? How many people could have had access to Top Secret or Classified material?

It is mind-boggling how many people could have had access to material that should only have been viewed by individuals with the highest clearance in a secure location.

Attorney General Merrick Garland may prove himself to have been more astute and cagey in his Department of Justice’s arduously protracted investigation into the mind-numbing and weighty catalog of the innumerable Trump crimes just since 2017.

Many of the crimes the entire world saw on TV may be freighted with political overtones while those revealed by the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid are incontestable and blatant violations of U.S. security laws.

Garland has Trump nailed for crimes that imperiled America’s security.

67 confidential documents, 92 secret documents, 25 top secret documents.

If Hunter Biden broke the law, hold him accountable. If former President Trump broke the law, hold him accountable. These are not mutually exclusive. If I say Trump should be prosecuted, and your only response is “What about Hunter’s laptop?” let’s focus. One doesn’t cancel out the other. Anyone who breaks the law, should face the consequences. That’s how law and order works, isn’t it?

Re: the Sept. 9 letter “Biden’s name-calling.”

The letter writer seems to be upset because President Biden labeled Trump supporters as being “semi-fascists.” She proposes that he be removed from office for telling the truth. I take exception to her assertion that “over half the people” were humiliated by his truthful comments. Eight million fewer Americans voted for Trump, and many of them do not support him now. Just ask Rusty Bowers. In my 72 years, I have never experienced the level of hatred for Americans expressed by Trump supporters. We may be headed to a civil war, and if so, you will have started it.

Judge Aileen Canon warns of “reputational harm” to Trump if he’s indicted for stealing secret government documents.

Reminder: Jan. 6, 2021 — Trump urged supporters to come to a rally in Washington, D.C., and “be wild.” His intention was to stop the peaceful transition of power. Thousands of people responded and arrived in Washington, many bearing a variety of weapons. Many are already serving prison sentences. Others have cases pending. Still others have received suspended sentences or probation and fines. The vice president’s life was endangered.

The Jan. 6 committee and the DOJ have ongoing investigations into this event and what led up to it, but it was likely the result of a well-planned and well-funded conspiracy against the government of the United States of America.

Jan. 20,2021 — Already spreading The Big Lie, Trump leaves the White House, taking with him numerous boxes of secret government documents.

Re: the Sept. 9 letter “Biden’s name-calling.”

I think the letter writer’s memory is possibly a bit short if she thinks President Biden has dementia because he calls a fascist a fascist. Where was her sense of offense when the previous occupant was calling anyone that disagreed with him vile names, firing people that gave him their best advice, giving support to white supremacists, when he was fomenting hate and division among the citizens of this country while lining his pockets with the dollars of people who cared about this country and were deluded by his grift?

Should we really discuss mental stability between the previous occupant and President Biden when the previous occupant is so delusional that two years later, he keeps demanding the 2020 election be overturned when countless courts have told him there is no there there?

I’ve been around for more years and I can and will call a fascist a fascist and vote for democracy.

Blaming government elected officials for trying to help our neighbors with student debt misses out on the reason many ended up in deep debt to begin with.

I was lucky to go to a state university with the help of grants and federal student loans. I was fortunate enough to get the help that allowed me to pay off my loans without having to go through banking institutions that charged high interest rates and then multiplied the debt with penalties/late charges if payments were late.

Working part-time jobs allowed me to pay off the loans without getting gouged by financiers. That was in the 70’s. Now student debt has ballooned as predatory finance companies continue to reel in the dough from high interest, penalties and late fees.

Shame on them. A $20,000 loan should not be allowed to balloon up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Prepare to be subscribed. Many net services and products now require you to sign up, i.e. “subscribe” to their enterprise, ongoing.

Monthly payments have turned into annual memberships that are being “automatically” renewed, and there is no box to check saying you don’t want that security, that protection — “for my own good” is how forced renewal was explained to me by an Avast software rep after I’d complained about it. You don’t want to become a subscription serf.

Newer online offers attempt to waylay you by offering assurances there will be no need for passwords, it’s all painless, joining them. You can join a new net group in a click, using existing accounts like Google as portals. And how about that Prime, huh? They have more ways to “join” you to Borg Prime than you have sense and sensibility to detect. What did you do for “Prime” day? There is no sinister plot. The Borg never needed one, it was just their nature, like now.

Re: the Sept. 10 article “Let’s protect public schoolchildren from Arizona’s witch hunters.”

Fitz’s Saturday column on public schools was over-the-top outstanding! As a retired public school teacher who was active in my state and local chapters of the National Education Association, I’m really grateful for his ardent support. This column is not only timely, but also crucial. It is also Fitz at his best: “bloviating blast from Arizona’s past,” “cultural war claptrap, critical race theory blather and salacious suggestions of grooming.”

Wow! What a way with words! He uses his writing skills to make such important points regarding being vigilant about what could happen to public schools in the future if we’re not careful about who is elected to be at the helm of the public schools and even the state. Fitz captures the vital importance of our public schools in calling them “our democracy’s foundational melting pot, America’s cornerstone institution, our public education system.” Hear, hear!

Re: the Sept. 4 article “Helen Schaefer remembered fondly.”

I was saddened to read that Helen Schaefer had passed away. The Star highlighted her work in the community, but I think you missed something she did in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time Helen was the president of the board of Tucson Hospice. This community board established the first free-standing hospice in the United States. Helen, through her kind, persistent and intelligent direction, raised funds to keep hospice a viable program until reimbursements through Medicare and other third-party payors were established. She also helped transition the program to St. Mary’s Hospital, thereby incorporating hospice into the Tucson health care system. Her work helped thousands of Tucson patients and families receive end-stage palliative care.

Helen was indeed a gift to the Tucson community, and I was honored to have worked with her during this time. My condolences to her family.

Respond: Write a letter to the editor | Write a guest opinion

Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community.

Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!

Letters to the Editor for Sept. 13

Letters to the Editor Sept. 12

Letters to the Editor for Sept. 11

Letters to the Editor for Sept. 15

Letters to the Editor for Sept. 16

Comments may be used in print.

The late Helen Schaefer poses during the 2007 dedication of the University of Arizona Poetry Center building that bears her name.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.