Falling Star To The Editor, Thank you for printing the revelations about life here at The Arizona Daily Star in the Skinny. It's always fun to be critiqued by an anonymous writer with a grudge in a column that favors innuendo over fact in a publication that gets its Capitol news from a registered lobbyist who writes under a fake name. All that aside, much of what was written in the Skinny was true, and might have been received more enthusiastically here if it had not attacked editors in general, and some editors in particular, as much for their looks and fashion sense as for their ability. We all work hard here and most of us work well. The pressures of the business drive us all nuts from time to time. We make bad decisions. Some of us don't work well with others. And, alas, we can't all be tall, attractive and fashionable. But those personal foibles aren't the issue here. There is a need for national debate about bottom-line journalism and a need for community debate about its impact on Southern Arizona. The Tucson Weekly is an appropriate medium for discussions about our shrinking news hole and the machinations of the corporation that owns us. As the Skinny did, I take a jaundiced view of focus groups (especially those with one-way mirrors) and surveys, and I am suspicious of the motives behind Odyssey 2000. I'm doubtful that it will produce any great answers about the future of my newspaper and my profession. But it will certainly accomplish a lot more than calling people names. --Tom Beal P.S.: Please print my letter in its entirety or not at all. As much as I love editors, I don't like to entrust my career to them. The Skinny Replies: Mr. Beal's well-earned reputation as a quality human being with impeccable integrity shines through in his letter. However, if he wishes to imply by his opening paragraph that the Star's coverage of the Legislature--or any other community issue, for that matter--is superior because it lacks bias or an agenda, we believe he is mistaken. It is precisely the Star's brand of bland, "balanced" coverage by "professional" (read "wage slave") journalists that, unchecked, has bled the life out of public debate in this community and contributed to the general apathy that allows pinheads to seize control of the Legislature, the greedy to lay waste our vanishing desert environment, and out-of-control bureaucrats to force crappy CAP water into our homes. With a few exceptions, of which Mr. Beal is one, the Star is a passionless, dysfunctional publication lacking in every department except perhaps Sports and the business office. Seeing Red To the Editor, Regarding The Skinny item "A Strange Shade Of Green" (Tucson Weekly, April 4): While you write with your usual well-tuned poison pen, your facts are wrong. It makes me wonder what percentage of your stories are made up. With a simple phone call to me, you would have avoided the embarrassment of getting it all wrong. First, Reg Morrison deserves recognition for his quiet but effective work for open space in Eastern Pima County. Reg was instrumental in establishing the Empire Ranch conservation area, the Cienega Creek Natural Preserve and the 1991 expansion of Saguaro National Park. For these reasons, Reg was nominated for an award; however, when the Rincon Institute board reviewed nominations on March 28, the board selected two other well-deserving recipients. Second, with RI's leadership, Saguaro National Park has been expanded twice in this decade. Contrary to your article, it's no longer "Saguaro National Monument." We're also leading the effort to add portions of the X9 Ranch to the park. RI also is spearheading a grass-roots effort to get a $40- million bond referendum before the voters to protect open space; we are helping private landowners protect Rincon Creek and Tanque Verde Creek; we're doing long-term ecological research; and we provide environmental education for kids in the Vail schools. It upsets me that you write an article telling people not to attend a fund-raising dinner when your facts are all wrong. The honorable thing for you to do is to retract your article, learn how to use the phone before picking up your poison pen, encourage people to support the Rincon Institute, and buy a table at our fundraising dinner so you can write about who we really do recognize. --Luther Propst The Skinny Replies: Excuse us, Luther, but the memo the Rincon Institute sent to members of the Citizens Committee for Open Space named Reg as the winner. Sorry your board changed that decision, but your outfit had already officially announced it. And while environmentalists were split over the acquisition of Empire Ranch and Cienega Creek, we note that developers who were Reg's campaign contributors needed a bail-out and got one at taxpayer expense. And expansion of Saguaro East has gotten a whole lot more expensive since Reg and others gave Don Diamond that big Rocking K rezoning, thereby raising the cost of acquisition--not only for Diamond's land, but for other parcels for that open space you want us to buy. Again, we're still not quite sure what it is you do besides promote land purchases from land speculators with public money while the rest of the valley is getting clear-cut. And your paean for Reggie tells us your environmental values may be a tad shaky. Please note that the voters are not in a mood to pass bond issues for much of anything, particularly since the new assessments came out. Those increased assessments--and the higher taxes they will bring--are a direct product of all that growth guys like Reg Morrison promoted. Also please note that voters are leery of any bond election because too often their money didn't get spent on what they voted for--like flood control money used to bail out developers under the guise of "open space acquisition in riparian areas" as in the above. There was another Supervisor who voted the same way as Reg on the issues you name. It was Ed Moore. Maybe you could honor him next year. Oh, and those of us who have lived here for a while still call it "The Monument." 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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