Last week, it chose the former. Was it the correct choice? Probably not.

Councilman Steve Leal said at Tuesday’s meeting that the community should be “proud” of the council’s decision.

What’s to be proud of? They raised regressive taxes on electricity and water, essential services that will hit the poorest the hardest. They made using the phone, which these days is an essential service, more expensive. Shouting 911 when you’re being robbed is unlikely to bring a cop. And they made public transportation more costly, which also is a brutal blow to the poor who are the biggest users of public transportation, some because they have no choice.

The council avoided a renter’s tax, but ironically, that would have been a more stable income source than taxes on utilities. Power, water, phone and bus users have the power to make the tax increases moot by using less power, water, phone and bus services.

The city got into this mess by recklessly adding staff, services and programs during the 2002-2007 economic boom that filled the city’s coffers with sales taxes.

Sales taxes rise and fall with the economic tide. Now that the tide has ebbed considerably, the city is stuck with perennial programs that rely on that fickle income.

The council should have adjusted the cost of next year’s city government to meet the expected amount of tax income next year without a tax increase.

The pain of layoffs would have been acute and limited to a few hundred people. Instead, they made the pain chronic and spread it among hundreds of thousands, disproportionately affecting those with the least ability to pay.

Chances of changing the council’s collective mind are slim. The council is expected to set its budget spending limit at Tuesday’s meeting and pass the budget June 9.

So the key now is for voters in the November election and beyond to insist on fiscal sanity when the sales-tax tide comes back in with an improved economy. If the economy returns to somewhere near 2006 levels, the city will again be flush with sales taxes, but it also will have the extra income from the increased utility and excise taxes it intends to impose July 1.

What will the city do with all that money? Give it back to taxpayers by repealing the tax increases? Sock it away for the next recession? Spend it?

The smart choice is a combination of the first two. The third? Well, what’s the opposite of smart.

Goddard filed the suit May 15, claiming Gannett Co. Inc., owner of the Tucson Citizen, and Lee Enterprises, publisher of the Arizona Daily Star, were attempting to silence a news voice in a community in violation of the Newspaper Preservation Act.

Gannett announced that day that it would no longer publish a print version of the Tucson Citizen but would continue a modified Web site of daily commentary and opinion with a weekly insert of editorial content appearing in the Arizona Daily Star.

Goddard had sought a temporary restraining order to keep the Citizen printing and force Gannett to sell it but U.S. District Judge Raner Collins denied the request May 19, saying it was unlikely the AG’s case could succeed.

Collins left the door open for Goddard to refile the case but Tuesday’s action closes it.

“At this point, it was highly unlikely that any outcome of the litigation could lead to the reopening of the Tucson Citizen, elimination of anti-competitive activity or a reestablishment of competitive voices in the Tucson newspaper market,” Goddard spokeswoman Anne Hilby said in a news release Wednesday.

On May 15, an unelected state commission overruled them and ordered Quelland out of the House for violating rules governing publicly financed campaigns.

Quelland is appealing and can remain in the House until that’s resolved but judging from the evidence gathered by the commission, it’s likely he’ll be forced out.

It’s the second time in two years the state’s Clean Elections Commission has overturned voters’ wishes because a candidate agreed to take public money for his campaign then broke the incredibly complex rules governing that money’s use.

Clean Elections and its cousin, term limits, were supposed to put the citizen back in citizen government. Neither has happened.

The Democrats elected to the Legislature are more liberal and the Republicans more conservative than ever before. The gulf that lies between them has prevented compromise and progress on a whole host of issues.

Candidates who had to put their hand out to numerous constituencies to raise money pre-Clean Elections need now only put their hands out to their parties’ true believers. Because of another good idea gone bad – the state’s redistricting commission, which botched the gerrymandering of state legislative districts – there are few competitive districts in the state. Most candidates need only win their party’s primary to get elected and primary voters tend to be the most strident of party faithful.

Meanwhile, party operatives have figured out how to game the system, turning Clean Elections into more of an oxymoron than a supposed field leveler.

While public financing was supposed to take the corruption out of politics by making candidates beholden more to voters than donors, term limits was supposed to refresh the state house every few years with new candidates bringing fresh ideas to state government.

Instead, candidates have likewise made term limits an oxymoron. Candidates termed out of the House after eight years simply run for the Senate, or vice versa, and almost always get elected.

Quelland’s seatmate from District 10, Jim Weiers, has been in the Legislature for 15 years. He did his eight in the House, including a term as Speaker, got termed out, got elected to the Senate for one term, then jumped back to the House where he was Speaker for two terms. He’s in the middle of his eighth two-year term in the Legislature.

It was this kind of career politician that term limits was supposed to limit.

The great irony is that term limits was unnecessary, there already were term limits every two years.

Voters should be able to give money to whomever they want and elect whomever they want however many times they want.

It’s time for voters to jettison both these laws and re-take responsibility for whom they elect.

Today begins a new chapter in the history of the Tucson Citizen and tucsoncitizen.com. Call it www.tucsoncitizen.com, version 2.0, if you will.

We’re moving from a newspaper-based online site to one that is opinion-based, and it’s a work in progress. Bottom line: We want to engage you in this daily community discussion.

The tucsoncitizen.com team will create a “town hall’ site for the community to explore and debate the hottest topics each day. Journalists Mark Evans and Ryn Gargulinski will host what we anticipate will be a rousing debate. They will offer opinion and commentary about a wide range of topics and invite everyone to join in a discussion.

Think of it as talk radio for a newspaper-loving audience.

We encourage you to post your comments on version 2.0 at the end of this story.

Mark and Ryn are veteran journalists who have a passion for news and information and who aren’t afraid to offer an opinion or two, or three, about anything. Just ask them.

Mark joined the Citizen in January 2007 as an assistant city editor, leading a team of government and criminal justice reporters. He also teaches reporting public affairs at the University of Arizona School of Journalism. He’s lived in Tucson since 1992 and was the editor of a weekly paper for 10 years before joining the Citizen.

Mark is an expert on the state’s public records laws and perversely spends his free time watching CSPAN, reading political blogs and worrying about the chances of next year’s Wildcats’ teams (pick a sport, doesn’t matter, he’ll worry about its chances).

He’s eager to engage the Tucson community in debate on anything — government and politics, the Wildcats, why the Raiders will rise again, the nature of the universe or why Tucson will never run out of water.

Mark believes opinions based on knowledge, accurate data and benevolence are invaluable. They provide perspective, meaning, explanation and understanding. If the community comes together and helps the new Citizen Web site provide perspective and understanding, no matter the topic, the public benefits.

Ryn took her seat at the Citizen in January 2007, after newspaper gigs in southern Oregon, northern California, New Mexico and New York City. Journalism is just one of her many passions, as she is also an avid artist, poet, performer and animal lover.

Her work has been called wacky, whimsical and downright weird and she promises to bring readers those same types of views.

Mark and Ryn want to know what you think – about the issues of the day and about how we can make this Web site work for you. We’re listening.

P.S.: For those of you out there who still crave reading the newspaper, too, you can read a Tucson Citizen editorial weekly in the Arizona Daily Star.

The fence on the U.S.-Mexico border was the topic of several recent editorials.

Jan. 21: In an inaugural address reminiscent of JFK’s, President Obama gives Americans hope and a dose of reality.

Jan. 22: Legislators should stop trying to ban photo radar cameras. They save lives.

Jan. 23: In her inaugural address, Gov. Jan Brewer offers no specifics. But there are hopeful signs for schools.

Jan. 24: Good for U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva in fighting to prevent mining on about 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon.

Jan. 26: Don’t call it No Child Left Behind. Nearly Every Child Left Behind is a more accurate title for this flawed federal program.

Jan. 27: A needed expansion and unified of the transit system will improve regional service.

Jan. 28: When the Citizen reported on hazing at some local fire stations, fire officials banned tape recorders in training sessions – the wrong way to address the situation.

Jan. 29: Tax credits have helped give schools needed programs, but if necessary, they should be cut to save basics.

Jan. 30: State secrecy on deficit-fix ideas is hurting TUSD’s ability to plan its next budget.

Jan. 31: The state must come up with guidelines to spend federal stimulus money as the feds intended.

Feb. 2: The state of the city is grim, but cheerleading Mayor Bob Walkup says, “We have what it takes.”

Feb. 3: A fix for the fiscal 2009 budget is shameful, unimaginative and harmful to education.

Feb. 4: Three TUSD officials are on leave for bid rigging and conflict-of-interest laws – the latest scandal to hit the district.

Feb. 5: UA cuts to the science center, museums and cooperative extension will hurt the community.

Feb. 6: The Tucson-based Morris K. Udall Foundation may be tripling its workload under the Obama administration.

Feb. 7: One partner in a three-way downtown development plan leaves. But the work must go on.

Feb. 9: The state must do more to inform people about food stamps. Qualified people are not being helped.

Feb. 10: Limitations on child care subsidies will hurt low-income families and keep them from working.

Feb. 11: Legislative Republicans are wrong to cut revenue, then blame the larger deficit on former Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Feb. 12: A City Council move to stimulate the economy turns into a finger-pointing farce and no answers.

Feb. 13: State schools chief Tom Horne says English Language Learning will cost substantially less. How? Show us the numbers.

Feb. 14: Legislative threats to yank millions of dollars in funding from Tucson’s downtown redevelopment are unfair and shortsighted.

Feb. 16: Proposals in the Legislature could reduce reproductive health choices for women – especially in rural areas.

Feb. 17: We support higher taxes, as considered by Gov. Jan Brewer – but only if they are temporary and targeted.

Feb. 18: The city again shoots itself in the foot on Rio Nuevo funding – paying UA invoices without the necessary scrutiny.

Feb. 19: In a misguided budget-butting move, Child Protective Services workers are ordered to take time off.

Feb. 20: A wide variety in state school standards undermines the goals of No Child Left Behind.

Feb. 21: Arizona, which has a sky-high teen pregnancy rate, needs more comprehensive sex education.

Feb. 23: Forget the naysayers. There are things happening downtown and delaying museum construction makes more money available.

Feb. 24: Kudos to Bishop Gerald Kicanas for leading a campaign for more affordable housing.

Feb. 25: Attorney General Terry Goddard should end doubts about the 206 RTA election and recount the ballots.

Feb. 26: The City Council is right to delay layoffs and consider every other possibility to cut expenses.

Feb. 27: The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. declines – possibly because of increased border violence.

Feb. 28: Gov. Jan Brewer is right to accept federal stimulus money for roads and other projects.

March 2: A legislator is flat wrong when he says education does not create jobs.

March 3: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio turns law enforcement into a media circus.

March 4: The Legislature’s move to grab open-space funds violates the state Constitution.

March 5: Arizona must step up and join the climate-change fight.

March 6: Gov. Jan Brewer has bold ideas but few specifics in her budget-fix proposals.

March 7: We put walls on the border, but turn a blind eye to guns smuggled into Mexico.

March 9: Compared with other states, Arizona pays too little in unemployment insurance.

March 10: Gov. Jan Brewer should take federal stimulus funds for unemployment compensation.

March 11: The next Tucson police chief should not spend time chasing illegal immigrants.

March 12: The Child Protective Services caseworker staff has been slashed beyond recognition – as a child murder trial is underway in Tucson.

March 13: The botched hunt for the next police chief is costly and embarrassing.

March 14: There isn’t much money, but it’s good that TUSD schools get to set their own spending priorities.

March 16: Arizona teens have big plans for the future, but adults don’t give them the necessary tools.

March 17: Arizona has lots of public information online, but there are continuing fights for access to public documents.

March 18: It’s about time that the feds decide to look for guns and money being smuggled from the U.S. into Mexico.

March 19: It shouldn’t have taken Tucson officials so long to realize that city savings are almost depleted.

March 20: The Legislature should not force school districts to join in their budget-writing procrastination.

March 21: Battered by an unforgiving world economic crisis the likes of which hasn’t been seen for eight decades, Rio Nuevo goes back to its basics.

March 23: Legislators should outlaw “hog dogging” – a vicious and bloody “sport” in which a pit bull is sicced on a wild boar in an arena with no escape.

March 24: The United States has wrongly banned Mexican trucks from U.S. highways, leading to consumer-harming retaliatory tariffs imposed by Mexico.

March 25: Arizona and other states must eliminate the financial incentives for nursing homes to house the mentally ill. The populations must be separated.

March 26: Help for our violence-wracked border with Mexico finally is on the way, thanks to President Obama and, especially, Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano.

March 27: Gov. Jan Brewer should not engage in a battle with the feds that could cost Arizona $1.6 billion in stimulus money.

March 28: A threat to cut federal stimulus money should persuade the Legislature to restore funding for community colleges and universities.

March 30: We long felt that voucher programs violate the Arizona Constitution – and the state Supreme Court agreed.

March 31: The city of Tucson is drifting toward its worst budget crisis ever, but all the City Council can do is to point fingers.

April 1: A hand count of votes from the 2006 RTA election will erase all doubts about whether the vote was flipped.

April 2: Local taxpayers – who already are enduring cuts in basic government services – should not shell out $125 million to build a third pro stadium for spring training.

April 3: With Christopher Payne sentenced to death for murdering his two young children, it is appropriate to recall the short lives of Ariana and Tyler Payne and remember lessons learned from their tragic deaths.

April 4: It’s the one-year anniversary of the free pass issued to ignore U.S. environmental laws to build a border fence.

April 6: U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva is to be commended for requesting a federal probe into the death of the last jaguar known to have lived within the United States.

April 7: School districts must write their budgets without knowing from Gov. Jan Brewer how federal money might be used.

April 8: Not content with botching the hiring of a police chief, the Tucson City Council made a far more grievous error by firing City Manager Mike Hein.

April 9: Republicans, who hold majorities in both houses of the Arizona Legislature, should invite Democrats into the budget-writing process.

April 10: With their unexpected and ill-conceived firing of City Manager Mike Hein, City Council members face a litany of critical issues.

April 11: The controversial work required for immigration reform has been foiled and put on the back burner again and again.

April 13: You’d think Arizona’s working-poor families had just scored big time, with the arrival of millions of federal child care dollars. You’d think wrong.

April 14: As Tucson leaders debate the future of downtown – and whether it has much of a future at all – a new study on job sprawl provides direction.

April 15: The city’s desperate attempts to fend off legislative tampering with Rio Nuevo are making the operation look even more haphazard.

April 16: The time has come for the Board of Regents to say “no” to another cost increase at the state’s universities.

April 17: One year ago, we were happy to see National Guard members leaving our border with Mexico. With new border violence breaking out, they are needed back.

April 18: Despite promises of an open process that would encourage public input, the state budget is being drawn up in secrecy.

April 20: With the Bush administration gone, the upcoming Earth Day is the first in eight years that engenders hope instead of despair.

April 21: State prison costs can be cut, but it will take time. It is unrealistic to expect quick savings.

April 22: It is embarrassing that the U.S. Supreme Court has been forced to intervene in an English-learning case that Arizonans should have resolved eons ago.

April 23: Pima County voters can breathe easier now that a hand recount has validated the outcome of the 2006 election on the Regional Transportation Plan.

April 24: Give me a campaign donation, and I’ll give you an earmark. That’s the kind of quid pro quo that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords seeks to block.

April 25: An automated external defibrillator saved the life of a high school student. Every campus must have aty least one AED.

April 27: In adopting a budget, the City Council should look to cut costs, not just generate new revenue.

April 28: Life has become a little better for unemployed Arizonans, but the state still is not doing all it should to help those without a job

April 29: The swine flu outbreak is a serious matter. Caution and concern are merited, full-bore hysteria is not.

April 30: Sheriff Clarence Dupnik’s idea that schools should be able to check citizenship status when students enroll is poppycock.

May 1: As the city examines new revenue sources to balance its budget, Pima County is on much more sound financial footing.

May 2: Gov. Jan Brewer eased a hit on the pocketbooks of university students – but her demand for an overhaul of the higher education system leaves a lot to be desired.

May 4: Where is Gov. Jan Brewer as the Legislature works on a budget that slashes education and other critical state services?

May 5: Pima County’s response to six confirmed cases of swine flu has been sensible, compared with reactions elsewhere.

May 6: In its rush to cut spending, the Legislature is ignoring a voter mandate requiring that funding for education be increased annually.

May 7: The Legislature must let Rio Nuevo live long enough to prove that it can be viable when the economy recovers.

May 8: Good for the the Board of Supervisors for voting to undo an earlier decisions to impose fees on after-school and summer programs and to close some community centers and parks.

May 9: A state budget that can only be described as disastrous is taking shape as Gov. Jan Brewer stands on the sidelines.

May 11: President Obama halts construction of the medieval fence on the Mexican border, bringing to an end a chapter of pointless environmental devastation.

May 12: A legislator threw unsubstantiated and inaccurate allegations at school officials, accusing them of “illegally and secretly stockpiling millions of dollars.”

May 13: Proposed state budget cuts would will deeply affect the lives of developmentally and mentally disabled people.

May 14: TUSD has found that when you ask for ideas on how to save money, people can be creative.

May 15: Several members of the Tucson City Council violated the spirit – and possibly the letter – of the state’s Open Meetings Law.

May 16: Goodbye.

I am very sad because I am losing a good friend, the Citizen. I have enjoyed your excellent paper since we came to Tucson in 1951.

Special thanks to my journalism hero Tony Tselentis, editorial page editor, who shared his valuable insights about community issues, printed our letters and sent our questions and concerns to the news side to cover.

Thanks also to the wonderful investigative reporters (Jon Kaman, etc.), who dug out the facts about many critical issues like the fraudulent Butterfield freeway public opinion survey and the GAC plan to convert Empire Ranch to a huge bedroom community.

The Citizen gave us plain old people a voice so we could be effective.

Time has moved on. Thanks to the new crew who continue quality news and editorial coverage – Mark (Kimble), Billie (Stanton) and the other good folk who carry on.

Soon we citizens will lose an important voice. I will miss you greatly.

Ruth Holzinger Stokes

Kudos to former Citizen journalists

The only way I have to express how much I’ll miss the paper is to tell my story. Most of all I’ll miss Billie Stanton. She is irreplaceable.

The summer of 1967 was the happiest time of my life. The Tucson Citizen gave me the chance to continue my newspaper career in a new town, in a new job.

The job was as city desk assistant, working with Tom Duddleston and Keith Carew.

The staff was great – so warm and friendly, like a big family, pre-computer with more time for each other.

I was able to continue my journalism career, which began in Columbus, Ohio, in 1942 as one of five war-time staff photographers on the Columbus Citizen newspaper.

In 1956, I had gone to New York and married Bruce Hopkins, a New York Mirror photographer. The paper folded.

John Hemmer, a former staffer there, offered Bruce a job here. So here we were.

I retired when I was 62.

At the Tucson Citizen, we made longtime personal friends, such as my 30-year-friend Allison Hock-Rose, who started as a teen intern.

She recently was in town, and we discussed old times.

From the old building, these staffers deserve to be remembered – and bosses, too:

William Small Jr., Paul McKalip, George Rosenberg, Clyde Lowery, Tony Tselentis, Mary Brown, Mary Moody, Micheline “Mike” Keating, Nicki Donahue, Ellen Crosby, Anne Ross, Corky Simpson, Bill Hopkins, John Winters, Dan Pavillard, Sue Giles, Mary Gerdan Hunt, Judy Terlizzi, Regis McAuly, Paul Allen and Jeannie Jett.

WILMA S. HOPKINS

Fine work of staff won’t be forgotten

How do you say “thank you” to so many people who have made a difference in your life, professionally and personally?

After being in the military more than 21 years, you would think I would know how to say goodbye to friends and comrades on the newspaper side of the house.

News that the Tucson Citizen will close came as a surprise to me, and soon it will be a reality.

I want to thank all those reporters, photographers, editors and the weekly Calendar magazine for working with me for the past seven years.

Working together to get the news to and about our nation’s heroes, veterans and their families has truly been the fruit of our combined labor.

What a joy it has been to have worked personally with Anne Denogean, Heidi Rowley, Sheryl Kornman, Billie Stanton, Val Cañez, Norman Jean Gargasz, Larry Copenhaver and so many others who made our news a focus of interest and personal reflection.

As the book is slowly closed on this historical newspaper, let us wish all those who shared our cheers and sometimes our tears the best of future hopes and dreams, as they will not be forgotten in my heart.

Let us remember not how the newspaper died, but how it lived! Thanks for the memories, Tucson Citizen!

PEPE MENDOZA

fellow journalist

Gaslight indebted to Chuck Graham

We at The Gaslight Theatre will be forever indebted to Mr. Chuck Graham.

Over the years, Chuck has faithfully reviewed all of our shows. A large part of our growth and success can be credited to the dedication and professionalism of Chuck Graham. He has been fair, honest and always helpful with his reviews.

As a small business, we rely on every type of public relations opportunity available. Losing the Tucson Citizen and Chuck’s reviews will leave a gap that will be hard to fill.

All of us in The Gaslight Family would like to thank you, Chuck, for all of your hard work and support of The Gaslight Theatre over the years. We wish you all the best and lots of continued success as you set out on the next phase of your career.

Tony Terry & The Gaslight Family

owner, The Gaslight Theatre

Bryan Lee was advocate for athletes

It is a shame that the Citizen is closing; good people will lose their jobs, and the community will lose your expertise.

A free press is the cornerstone of a healthy citizenry, and we will miss your varied voices.

Thanks to the entire staff for working so diligently to provide our community with news of the city.

I want to acknowledge one writer in particular: Bryan Lee. Bryan has written countless articles about the health and fitness community over the years, whether in the Sports pages, Outdoors, Body Plus or elsewhere.

He has been an advocate for local competitive athletes and a champion of healthy living.

Thank you, Bryan, for all that you’ve done for Tucson.

Randy Accetta

Southern Arizona Roadrunners

Stay in Tucson, employees; we need you

My family and I will miss the Tucson Citizen. We’ve especially appreciated the thoughtful editorial page in recent years.

Arizona media will be poorer with the Citizen gone.

Hopefully, Citizen journalists and employees will stay in Tucson and be involved in the community in other positive ways.

Daniel Patterson

state representative, LD 29

Tucson as viewed through the eyes of Tucson Citizen Staff Artist Arnie Bermudez and his alter ego, Carlos the Coyote.

To learn more about Carlos, go to his Myspace page:http://www.myspace.com/carloscoyote

(abermudez@tucsoncitizen.com)

E-mail Arnie Bermudez at: abermudez@tucsoncitizen.com

There have been many labels to describe those who are seen to be disloyal to their own kind.

When one betrays his own country, he is said to be a traitor. Traitors have been dealt with harshly during times past.

Lately, in the guise of being “diverse” or “tolerant,” many seem to have forgotten old labels such as “faithful” or loyal” or any other label identifying those traditionally valued virtues.

And so, there exist within organizations such as our country those who think nothing of betraying the entity that has given them so much.

To compound their felonies, so to speak, they are not content to sell their own souls cheaply; they feel the need to take others with them to their final dubious rewards.

Such it is with the modern liberal who denounces all that is holy, traditional and decent about his country.

He ignores history and he, like the lemming, does not see the cliffs beyond his limited view.

Eugene Cole

retired

Newspaper demise means city’s less Safier

The Tucson Citizen’s demise will at last give us relief from the disparate rantings of ultraliberal Joan Safier, retired teacher.

For years, Ms. Safier has been published at the frequency allowed by the liberal Citizen, always deprecating capitalism and freedom as though our constitutional government were our enemy rather than our salvation.

Ms. Safier’s viewpoint on banking shows a misunderstanding of our financial industry’s structure and functions. The recent collapse of these markets proves that capitalism works, for when people secure loans too large for their capacity or budget, the market punishes them.

The problem was compounded by the government bailouts, which did not allow the market to work until much greater damage had been done.

Foreclosures in Arizona are difficult for those who experienced them, but personal responsibility is necessary in all financial transactions. One must own his mistakes.

Ms. Safier did get it right when she said closing tax loopholes is like raising taxes on corporations for those corporations that have gone offshore.

Corporations are formed to provide goods and services and to make profit. When government intrudes, such as with “green” rules and regulations, the corporations sometimes must go offshore in order to stay in business.

So now the government wants to again penalize the corporation by confiscating those offshore profits through taxes.

Worse is her cry for “universal health care.” This plea for total “nanny care” will be the sandbag that breaks the nation’s back.

Universal health care will be used to justify any restraint on freedom. For if the state has to cure one, it will want to restrict or prevent the need for treatment in the first place.

When treatment must be provided, it will want to ration that treatment and so on.

Needs testing will follow for older people, and who is to say your need is high enough to warrant treatment? Hello Canada and Great Britain. No service available!

I am thankful Ms. Safier is now retired and can no longer indoctrinate her pupils with her liberal diatribes.

Garland D. Cox

Health of America depends on single-pay

It is critical that a single-pay health care system be implemented.

We have done the other way for years. Why are we the only First World country without a health care system for all of its citizens?

We can’t continue to support the CEOs and the top 1 percent of our country with money, or just insurance for our senators and members of Congress but not for the regular citizens.

Karyl Williams

Sahuarita

Reform is medicine to cure national care

With the United States at the top of every list of nations on health care delivery and cost, but way down the list on rate of mortality and morbidity, it is time for to put single-payer health care on the table.

Our present health care system must be reformed.

Dorothy McKenna

Green Valley

Privacy of minors online a major issue

Minors don’t have the legal capacity to sign away “privacy” on sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

That is an important thing to consider when all these sites claim the defenses of “privacy agreements.”

Minors do not have capacity to enter into contracts, and they can be disaffirmed at any time by minors.

Steve Brandon

So it comes as no surprise that President Obama reportedly is considering Napolitano among his potential nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fellow Arizonan Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice. She was appointed by President Reagan in 1981 and retired in 2005.

O’Connor gained renown for her diligence, integrity and penchant for constructive compromise. She did Arizona proud.

Napolitano would make us proud, too.

While we’re pleased that she now is heading Homeland Security, we believe her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court would provide an even greater service to our nation.

As the National Rifle Association was en route to Phoenix, the state House showed its support by passing a bill to let Arizonans stash concealed guns in their parked cars.

But while HB 2474 may please some gun owners, it’s an outrage for property owners, employers and businesses, which no longer could prohibit gun storage in vehicles parked in their lots and garages.

In addition to infringing on private property rights, this legislation raises serious safety concerns.

Supporters say the bill, sponsored by Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, would provide convenience for people who may be planning to hunt or shoot before or after work.

Alas, it also would make workplace shootings far more convenient by allowing workers to keep loaded guns stashed just outside in the parking lot – whether the employer likes it or not.

Workplace violence already affects more than 2 million workers in the U.S. each year, accounting for about 20 percent of violent crime, according to a 2008 study commissioned by the ASIS Foundation.

About 500 workplace homicides occur each year, the report found.

The legislation, which has yet to be heard by the Senate, also could imperil homeland security because power plants and military contractors no longer could ban guns in their parking lots.

The bill does provide exemptions for nuclear-generating stations, businesses that run a gated and controlled parking lot, and facilities that search vehicles and passengers as they enter a secure parking facility.

But legislators cannot possibly predetermine what institutions have a legitimate need to bar guns from their parking areas.

We also find little solace in another argument by the bill supporters, that security would be enhanced for people who drive through dangerous neighborhoods.

Those who cannot avoid such dangerous areas and tote guns as a result still shouldn’t have the right to store their loaded gun in a private parking lot if the owner doesn’t want it there.

We agree with Rep. Chad Campbell, a Phoenix Democrat, that property owners should have the right to determine whether to allow guns in their parking lots.

Six other Democrats joined with House Republicans to pass this bill Thursday, just days before the NRA’s 50,000 members descend on Phoenix.

We would like to remind those Democrats, and the Republicans they joined, that in today’s world, national security and personal safety are paramount.

While HB 2474 purports to enhance personal safety, it in fact does just the opposite.

These are factors the Senate would be well-advised to consider before voting on this ill-conceived gun bill.