No Class To the Editor, Regarding "High School Confidential" and "Civics 101" (Tucson Weekly, April 2): Thanks for continuing to cover the unfolding Amphi drama. The legal issues the district faces now are no big surprise. This showdown has been coming for a year. The board's decision to stick with this ecologically sensitive property is costing time and money. As Amphi parents, we'd rather see the high school built somewhere else now, and have our tax monies spent on students rather than lawyers. This shouldn't be personal. This should be about problem solving, whose cause isn't furthered by attacking Nancy Young Wright. What are we teaching students when some of the adults involved scream in the face of a person whose opinion they disagree with? --Steve and Marge Pellegrino Total Recharge To the Editor, Could the pilot project on the Rillito River be another excuse not to recharge a large amount of CAP water at one time? Are the projects in Avra Valley and on Pima Mine Road other examples? What will happen when Tucson Water finishes replacing the old metal pipes with plastic pipes? Will the people of Tucson get a chemical concoction similar to the last disaster they wanted us to drink? Are they going to stop the recharge projects at that time? What would happen if a large amount of CAP water was recharged and the recharged water turned out to be of better quality than the water being delivered in the plastic pipes? Would the people of Tucson continue to accept the chemically treated water out of the canal? I don't think the people who are against recharge want to take that chance. As long as the water is in the canal, every gallon can be accounted for and growth can continue. The only way recharge well take place is when there is no alternative but total recharge. When's the next election? --George Hentz Plumbing Problem To the Editor, I was stunned to read Paula Huff's "Plumb Bums" (Tucson Weekly, March 26). Although Huff interviewed me for the article, I hardly recognized much of what I said. I did not tell Huff the Legionella found at UMC in 1996 was due to backflow from the hospital's sewage lines. It is true that had low pressure occurred on the city's mains, the working backflow prevention assemblies would have prevented the internal plumbing lines at UMC, containing the Legionella bacteria, to siphon back into the public water system. I have no knowledge of fines Flowing Wells Water has incurred due to the citations it has received from ADEQ. My understanding is that Flowing Wells Water does not keep records of any functioning backflow prevention devices that it may or may not have installed. I have absolutely no idea if or how Mr. Triphan's career would advance if SB 1266 passed. And finally, when the backflow incident occurred at the Tucson Police Department in 1990, it was discovered after red dye was placed in the chilled water lines, not the sewer lines, and then appeared in drinking fountains at the Tucson Convention Center. My concern is that your readers understand these dangerous backflow incidents occur when drinking water lines are cross-connected to plumbing that contains contaminates such as anti-freeze and other chemicals not intended for human consumption. Unfortunately, Ms. Huff confused the issue and your readers by suggesting the occurrences are the result of the sewer lines being cross-connected to the drinking water lines. --Pamela Francis Certified Backflow Testers Hack Attack To the Editor, My goodness me! Jeff Smith really lost it! ("Grope Springs Eternal," Tucson Weekly, March 26). It's comforting to know that it is just a personal opinion from an unknown local hack. --E. Hein Stripped Down To the Editor, We recently vacationed in your city and in reading the Tucson Weekly were appalled to see Max Cannon's "Red Meat" cartoon. We found it offensive and definitely not something that should appear in a section of the paper most assuredly read by children. It is apparent that someone should be making a more responsible decision in including or not including certain material in the newspaper. This is definitely one that should have been censored! Please follow up with us regarding your comments to this questionable cartoon. --Mr. & Mrs. Ellis Reynolds Love Letter To the Editor, It has been five months since Rainer passed away, and since that wonderful tribute issue came out (Tucson Weekly, November 26, 1997). I never thanked Mari Wadsworth for the exceptional job she did in putting that piece together. Mari, thank you so much! It was helpful to my family, friends and myself to read all the stories and to feel the outpouring of love from the community. I want you all to know that I could not have made it through without your support and love and kindness during his illness and passing. He felt the same way, too. In his writings, he refers to it as a "love show." I also want you all to know that the children and I are doing fine. Life is very much different without our beloved Rainer, but he left so much of himself to help sustain us when it gets really difficult. He is just as amazing now as he ever was! As he would say, "God is in the house and magic is afoot." It's true. Finally, I want to let you know that I will be releasing new material that he recorded three weeks before he died, and a concert that he played last year at the Performing Arts Center. He will never be forgotten! --Patti Keating Sunny Side Up To the Editor, I'm beginning to wonder about your journalistic integrity when The Skinny slams one of the most hopeful development projects in Tucson ("Cloudy Future," Tucson Weekly, April 2). As someone deeply concerned about our desert environs, I too met the Civano development's 2,600 homes with scrutiny. What I learned through doing homework that you folks at The Skinny would be better served doing is that Civano is the real deal. While it certainly won't meet everyone's, or hardly anyone's individual expectation for what "sustainable development" means, it will serve all of us far better than any development we've ever seen. It is true that many of the homes may not have solar panels (still an expensive option). What is also true though is that all of the homes in Civano will be more energy and water efficient than almost any other homes, let alone developments in Tucson. To be commercially feasible, it has wisely been decided to allow the builder (a diverse group) to decide how best to meet Civano's stringent code... which by the way is far more aggressive than the Model Energy Code. So some houses will have solar panels, some solar hot water heaters, some will be oriented for passive solar benefit. Others may choose super-insulating materials like straw bale construction, or other alternatives. It will not be, regardless of appearance, a typical development. In fact, if you ask anyone who knows green building and new urbanism, you'll find Civano high on their list. Please research these issues a bit better before loading your up your rotten tomato gun. We are surrounded by valid issues to attack, but by targeting Civano, you are only hurting yourselves, and everyone else who shares this desert with you. Oh, and by the way, designing a development with sensitivity to the natural drainage is a good thing, not a bad one. --Tony Novelli Editor's Note THE TWO PHOTOS in last week's arts section should both have been credited to Wayne Pearce. We certainly appreciate Wayne's contribution to our arts section and we're terribly sorry we can't seem to get it together when it comes to his name. Luckily, we're about to hire a new staffer to take care of just that problem. We deeply regret the error. We Want Letters! Thrilled by our brilliant insights? Sick of our mean-spirited attacks? Need to make something perfectly clear? Write: tucsonweekly@tucsonweekly.com

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