Letters to the Editor
by Tucson Citizen on Jul. 12, 2008, under OpinionCondolences to family of 81-year-old victim
Re: “Suspect in death of Tucsonan, 81, awaits extradition from Calif.,” July 1.
My heart goes out to the family. I lost my 87-year-old mother a couple of days after this tragedy. Although it is never easy, I cannot imagine what her children are going through. God bless each and every one of you.
DEBE BONI
Cat shelter story just scratched the surface
Re: “Cat shelter undergoes major changes,” July 4, by Staff Writer Ryn Gargulinski.
I was an employee of the Hermitage Cat Shelter from July 2007 to June. I do not think the article on the Hermitage was investigated as thoroughly as it could have been. It seems as though a side was taken and the other side was not given a chance to tell their story.
During my time at the Hermitage I did form close bonds to some of the cats, many of whom were adopted out. I may have cried when they left but I was also very happy for them. I knew they were going to a nice home and I was confident they would be happy.
I left the Hermitage of my own choice. I knew something was wrong and I could not continue working with (Hermitage Executive Director) Mary Jo Spring. One week before I resigned, she came in with her assistant Rosalie Torske and fired two people. The next day they fired two more and then another on the day after that. Five people in three days, no specific reason given.
It was suspicious however, that it all began after the majority of the employees signed a letter stating their concern over the direction the shelter was going and handed it over to the Hermitage’s board.
I knew many of the cats at the Hermitage and the fact that over 40 of them have been euthanized so far is frightening and depressing. I loved those cats like they were my own. There is no way that that many cats there were sick beyond treatment. And there is no way any of the former staff or volunteers would have ever abused any of the cats, or stopped an adoption. We love the cats and only want what is best for them.
JESSICA EHLER
Insulting guest column, like war, an ugly thing
Thank you, Col. Glenn Perry for your service to our country and for your response to the guest opinion by Gretchen Nielsen (“Pride, parenthood and an unjust war,” June 30.)
Had it not been for Col. Perry’s letter, I would have not read Ms. Nielsen’s insult to our troops and their families. Ms. Nielsen and those like her fall into the species of creature best described by the English economist and philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).
Here is his fitting testimonial:
War is an ugly thing,
but not the ugliest of things.
The decayed and degraded
state of moral and patriotic
feeling which thinks that
nothing is worth war is much worse.
The person who has nothing
for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important
than his own personal safety,
is a miserable creature and has
no chance of being free unless
made and kept so by the exertions
of better men than himself.
MIKE FASCETTA
Short but Frank letter on Rosemont says it all
Please don’t build the Rosemont Mine. The noise, poisoned water and air pollution created by the mine would devastate a particularly beautiful piece of southern Arizona.
FRANK WALTER
Hatred isn’t of people, but for foreign policies
Re: “Naturalized citizens belie hatred of U.S.,” a July 7 letter to the editor by Darlene Neilson.
The writer needs to educate herself about the impact of U.S. policies abroad and look up the dictionary definition of “liberal.” Citizens from other countries hate U.S. policies, not Americans.
The best example is the illegal war in Iraq and the unmitigated disaster it has caused. A study published in the British Medical Journal estimated that 650,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in this war since 2003. An additional 2 million have had to flee their country, and 2 million had to leave their homes for safer areas within Iraq – that is, they are victims of ethnic cleansing.
That would be the numerical equivalent in the U.S. of 6.5 million killed, 20 million leaving the country, and 20 million internally displaced.
Ms. Neilson needs put herself in these peoples’ shoes and try to understand how citizens of other countries feel toward our U.S. foreign policy.
If we were all created by the same god, then God bless and help the people of the whole world – no exceptions.
SEHRIBAN GRAAP
Cost of Mars mission is out of this world
I would like to ask a question about the Mars mission. What do you think is more important – to spend $437 million to discover subsurface water and maybe microbial life on a barren, uninhabitable planet, or to save thousands of starving, suffering and dying little children here on Earth?
BILL LUCE
