Tucson Speaks Out: June 7 letters of the day

Kathy Waldron picks up litter with other volunteers inside the Arcadia Wash near Highland Vista Park during the Earth Day Team Up to Cleanup event, in Tucson, Ariz., on April 22, 2022. Forty-one volunteers picked up trash, painted over graffiti and pulled out overgrown patches of Bufflegrass that grew along the wash's walls.

Has everyone noticed that tipping at restaurants has gotten out of hand? This is true especially if you use your credit or debit card where the minimum suggested tip is 18%. We recently had lunch at a very casual place where you stand in line to order, and there was a plastic tub with a sign to place dirty dishes there and using the electronic card device suggested tips of 18, 20, or 25%! Tips were originally for good service beyond what was expected, but nowadays seems to be a mandatory fee to supplement pay the employer should be paying for a living wage. While I always tip what I consider to be a generous amount, I am offended by an electronic device telling me that the minimum tip acceptable is 18%. I plan to pay cash from now on, and then I can decide what the acceptable tip should be for the service we received.

William Ridlinghafer

Foothills

Re: the June 5 article "We must produce and use less plastic."

This article by Kevin Green about using fewer plastic products prompts me to bring up the issue of reusable shopping bags in our grocery stores. All the stores now permit you to bring in your reusable bags once again — but the signs reminding everyone to do so have not reappeared! A simple sign would remind people to bring their bags with them when they shop and cut way down on the number of single-use plastic bags, which generally hold only a few articles. And it's also possible to reuse the produce bags in which you bring home your tomatoes and lettuce — try it!

Katy Garmany

West side

As prison sentences are handed down on Jan. 6 insurrectionists, it seems there were an inordinate number of veterans (and some active duty) involved in trying to obstruct Congressional business and overturn the 2020 election. US Census data indicate 7% of adult Americans are veterans, but estimates of veteran participation on Jan. 6 range from 10-20%. The Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, some of whom were found guilty of seditious conspiracy, are known to target veterans for membership. J6 veterans took lifetime oaths to defend the U.S. Constitution —they did the opposite.

All branches of the military should add courses in Civics and the U.S. Constitution to boot camp training. Soldiers should also be trained in critical thinking when it comes to discerning truth from conspiracy theories so they do not fall victim to nationalistic, domestic terrorist organizations. Anyone pledging to defend the Constitution should know what they are fighting for.

Alison Jones

Midtown

Re: the June 4 letter "Transgender."

I am in fact a trans woman, and I use the ladies’ room when I go to the restroom. I find this lack of acceptance by the United States citizens who are literally in the stone age in regard to other places like the UK, Taiwan, Mexico, etc., where it's widely accepted as just another day. Secondly, I do exactly what the other women do. I use the restroom and freshen up and leave. I don't stalk women, no one bothers me, and I bother no one. Third, Arizona needs to do more on gender-affirming care for people on Medicaid plans other than just offering prescription drug coverage and counseling costs if you’re lucky enough to find a counselor. Get with it, people. We aren't going to back down, and we’re not going away. So either help those who otherwise might not ever fix their lives or get out of the way of progress.

Andrea Gayle

Downtown

The country's gun problem has four elements: too many high-powered guns with excessive capacity and too many being carried; third is panic buying to just anyone; and most importantly, fear — pumped by pro-gun people, politicians and organizations.

Fear drives out thought; why else would a person purchase a three-foot-long weapon of war that could shoot through walls and into another house? Perhaps a less powerful revolver would do because all you need is the bang, you’re not aiming anyway. Better yet, stay in bed and analyze what went bump in the night before getting your blood up.

In any event, all the bedwetting over gun legislation on up to take them away is counterproductive. People must come to their individual decisions — how silly it is to be armed to their teeth with high-powered, expensive weaponry they never get out of the closet six months after the purchase.

Ted Morrison

Midtown

So many concerns. Climate change, water scarcity, crime, highways bulldozed through natural beauty. This list goes on. But, as I walk, bike and drive Tucson, I return to trash as the issue that hounds me. Just this morning, I walked past a lone woman cleaning up beside a bus stop where a trash can must have been emptied. A few days ago, it was while biking the loop. Heaps of trash piled mostly near where tents were pitched and shopping carts parked. I know the homeless are not solely responsible for trashy Tucson. Still, I can't help but think that if the city restricted their camping to designated areas where services, sanitation, mental health, and others, were consolidated, those individuals might be better off, and the city might be tidier.

As for the trash can? Who knows what the dumper was thinking? But, thanks to the woman cleaning it up. I’m sure that task wasn't first on her list of chosen activities for the day.

Betsy Lubis

Midtown

Re: the June 4 article "D-Day still the most glorious of glory days."

Jerry Wilkerson's piece the other day about his trip to the American Cemetery reminded me of the couple of times we had visited there, its beautiful serenity and quietness stirred only by the occasional ringing of a bell or chirping of the birds. I was dismayed that Wilkerson referred only to the crosses above the graves, not mentioning the numerous Stars of David above the graves of soldiers of Jewish faith. Officials indicate that there are approximately 150 graves with the Jewish symbol but believe that number would easily double as many Jewish soldiers opted to have their dog tags indented with a ‘P’ for Protestant or a ‘C’ for Catholic, rather than ‘H’ for Hebrew, knowing that if captured, they would be worked to death in a concentration camp. Readers might be interested in knowing that France ceded this piece of land to the U.S. in recognition of the thousands of Americans lost there, and the stones, always perfectly upright, are anchored beneath the soil in concrete trenches.

William Muto

SaddleBrooke

Who would have thought after seeing the movie The Terminator that it might now come true?

John Rothstein

Green Valley

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