Tucson Weekly: Mailbag (February 25

Field Of Screams

To the Editor,
Regarding Dave Devine's "Park Place" (February 11), which examined the development of the field across the street from my house: Developer John Wesley Miller says, "Armory Park is a treasure that needs to be preserved."
Mailbag According to my dictionary "to preserve" means "to keep safe from destruction; to keep alive, intact, or free from decay." Until last fall, when the bulldozers arrived to completely level the area, this field had been teeming with the life of tall palo verde, flowering bushes, and even reeds and cattails that had grown up around a broken water pipe. Raptors alighted on telephone poles to wait for unlucky doves. My cats had grass to hide in and mice to chase. People in the neighborhood had a lush field on which to run their dogs. Even seed collectors harvested its bounty. Now, as I look out my front windows I see only brown grass and a huge pile of the homeless peoples' belongings that the bulldozers gathered into a heap. Soon, apparently, the bulldozers will be back.
Some may call me naive for believing that the small open space in my neighborhood would remain alive, intact, free from decay. Just because we are not getting four-story apartment buildings and more warehouses, does not mean that we should celebrate the loss of this very important open space. Must every lot within the city limits be developed? I did not attend the meeting where Miller made his proposals. However, it is a gross generalization to relay the "overwhelming approval" of those 30 people in attendance as fairly representing what all in the neighborhood think.
I run an editing business out of my home across the street from that field. I cannot imagine how I will be able to work or to even think straight with the crashing sounds of bulldozers arriving at the break of dawn for months on end. (This is not to mention the continual hammering and the eventual arrival of ninety-nine families to a fourteen-acre plot.) Good-bye, Armory Park Neighborhood. It seems that I will need to find an apartment somewhere else. And I, for one, will miss that precious field.
--Lisa DiDonato

Do Unto Others

To the Editor,
Your astonishing "Sex Survey" (February 11) has implications far beyond what you intended.
First of all, it brings to mind Bill Clinton's sexual activity. By making the issue "lying" the senators and congressmen exculpate their own extramarital affairs. Your survey reveals the extraordinary hypocrisy in our American puritanical sexual code, especially as it is espoused by the Religious Right. Think what would have happened to John Kennedy, womanizer and fornicator of historical proportions!
Your survey is ample evidence that sex in nature cannot be contained in religious or so-called moral codes. So I guess that the only guide is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
--Al Giella

Expense Accounting

To the Editor,
Regarding "Passing The Bucks" (The Skinny, February 18): The annual coverage of legislator per diem and mileage is as predictable as the start of spring training. The implication always is that these monies go directly into the legislator's pocket, just like salary.
The next time a newspaper editor decides to run the annual payment totals, it would be nice if someone took the time to analyze the payments in a little depth and document how much of these payments truly are a form of salary.
Most of us who live and work in Tucson, probably drive no more than 10 to 15 miles to work each day, maybe less. For Tucson legislators going to their offices in Phoenix, the distance is closer to 110 miles, depending on where they live. Perhaps the cost of this extra mileage is a reasonable business expense which we as their employers should cover. The question should be: Is the amount of the reimbursement equal to, greater than, or less than their actual costs?
With regard to per diem, the reimbursement for food and lodging, we get to go home at night after work, sleep in our own bed and raid our own refrigerator. Tucson legislators often need to stay overnight in Phoenix, especially when the Legislature is in session. Again, the analysis should be: What does it cost a legislator for lodging in Phoenix and what does the flat per day rate cover? I leave to your judgment the issue of whether the cost of food is the same or different between living in Phoenix versus Tucson and how much should be reimbursed.
To me, the more interesting question is: How much do Phoenix legislators net as extra salary from their per diem and mileage when many live no more than 15 miles from their offices at the capitol and always get to go home to their own bed?
I will be looking for your coverage of this topic about this time next year.
--Art Evans.

Travesty Of Justice

To the Editor,
Norah Booth's "Maelstrom of Justice" (February 18) was bleeding-heart journalism at its best (or worst): selecting bits and pieces here and there, often with items pulled out of context and without elaboration, and then carefully assembling them so the reader can go sit in the corner and have himself a good cry.
I sure hope Booth doesn't teach that to her students at Pima College.
Having investigated the Givens' case from the outset (September 1997), when the Court appointed James Stuehringer as defense counsel, until November 1998, when the trial was scheduled to begin, I think I know more about the facts than Booth.
In 45 years of investigating I have seen many travesties of justice, where innocent people have been convicted and guilty people have stayed out of jail. Near the top of the travesty list perches Givens.
There was not a scintilla of forensic evidence which positively linked Givens to this horrible crime and what was there pointed in a different direction. For a jury to disregard professionally done forensic footprint evidence and take it upon itself to do their own is beyond stupidity--it's right out of "Alice in Wonderland."
I don't have the time to answer point-by-point all of Booth's bullshit, but do have the time to say it never should have been published.
--Robert Annenberg
We Want Letters!
Thrilled by our brilliant insights? Sick of our mean-spirited attacks? Need to make something perfectly clear? Write: tucsonweekly@tucsonweekly.com

Home | Currents | City Week | Music | Review | Books | Cinema | Back Page | Archives