Freelance

Citizen Teen Columnist

Recently, I served lunch at the state Capitol. I know some may be thinking, “My goodness, I didn’t know Bryanna Botham, teen columnist extraordinaire, was a waitress in Phoenix.” Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’m not.

I participated in the 2006 Arizona Youth Policy Seminar early this month.

This event was sold to me as an opportunity for students to visit the Arizona Senate, have appointments with legislators and be heard.

We would be able to talk about the changes we want to see in the education system.

I do not speak for the other student attendants, but my experience left something to be desired.

That something was respect. It was missing in nearly every aspect of the program.

The lack of respect was perpetrated not by the senators nor by the Capitol staff overall.

It came from those on “our side,” from the Tucson Unified School District chaperones to the program coordinators.

I don’t know who’s who, and I don’t care. They were adults, meant to empower us students. They failed. Well, I know my place now anyway.

Along with a classmate, I had stepped onto the bus with every hope of making a difference.

I had intentions of demanding that the English language learning bill be settled, more funding be given to the arts, etc.

However, our TUSD chaperones began on the bus to inform us that this was not to be so.

Ever so subtly, they made it clear that there were issues we were supposed to discuss.

The foremost of these was a Joint Technology Education District for Tucson. This would mean schools joining together to equalize technology and career resources for students.

While I am a fan and advocate of such a program, I was shocked and speechless at being told what to talk about.

The rest of the day was uneventful, that is until lunchtime rolled around. Then the student representatives were asked to become “student ambassadors.”

A student ambassador, for those of you who don’t know (and I didn’t), had a simple task. They were to help the legislators to their seats and then serve them their lunch.

My mistake. I thought the students were there as guests. If so, if we were meant to be treated as adults with ideas and opinions, why were we asked to be waiters and waitresses, serving those above us before enjoying our own lunch?

The reason is this: We were not meant to be treated as adults.

Students were there to serve, pun intended, a purpose. We were there to embody an ideal, so teachers and administrators, not students, could request more funding and backing for their pet programs.

We were to unknowingly sing the praises of our own education.

I do take a lesson from the experience. Smile politely and speak only when spoken to, dear student. Do not speak your mind unless it serves another’s purpose.

Teen columnist Bryanna R. Botham (b_botham@hotmail.com) is a senior at Palo Verde High Magnet School. Teen columns are published each Tuesday.

Citizen Assistant Editorial Page Editor

Some baby boomers – me for instance – most assuredly aren’t going gentle into that good night.

But as we queens o’ denial try to buck the inexorable creeping of age, ageism shouldn’t be our defense mechanism.

Face it. Today’s youth are prettier than we are – even if they do succumb to piercings and tattoos. They’re younger, too. Get over it.

If you find solace in focusing on the exposed belly buttons, butt cracks and cleavage, peek back at the hippies in 1960s Life magazines.

I mean, really. At their most extreme, today’s kids have nothing on us when it comes to flouting convention.

Granted, they lack our years of life experience. Yet many of them already have had deeper experiences in some respects, with richer academic lives, broader travel and the honing of much more worldly perspectives.

They’ve been privileged, and we should rejoice.

Solid evidence appears on this page every Tuesday during the school year, as Tucson Citizen teen columnists reveal their wit and wisdom.

I have the privilege of editing their prose, and trust me: It isn’t heavy lifting.

This year’s teen columnists think like wizards and write like angels.

I can’t wait to see what next year brings.

So all you parents, teachers, church and synagogue leaders and other plugged-in adults, alert the smart teenagers you know.

The Citizen again is accepting applications for this great venue. They get published. They get paid. And they get to work with me! Hey, what could be more fun?

My appreciation for youthful intelligence was bolstered further this month during an eight-day excursion into Sonora, Mexico, with some University of Arizona students, ages 20 to 29.

Man, they’re smart.

Some are graduate students in Latin American studies. Others are studying public administration, journalism or filmmaking. And one is an anthropologist soon to enter law school.

They all speak fluent Spanish. And each demonstrated a strong work ethic, healthy curiosity and excellent attitude.

You’ll be hearing more about these UA students’ work in later editions of the Citizen.

In the meantime, you’ll keep hearing from our current teen columnists till the school year ends.

But don’t be surprised if we hear about these writers long after their stint here comes to an end. I believe they’re destined for great things.

The promise inherent in these high school and UA youth brings an infusion of fresh hope for our future.

Just knowing them makes it easier to edge on into geezerhood. For that, I’m grateful.

Billie Stanton can be reached at 573-4664 or bstanton@tucsoncitizen.com.

Readers

Taxation without representation?

I don’t have the information to argue the merit or the lack of merit of the special courses for Mexican-American children championed by your March 20 editorial (“Hispanic youths are key to state’s future”).

The fact that no such courses are deemed necessary for immigrant children from other lands is as clear to your editors as it is to me.

But any fine imposed on the state by a federal judge ultimately must come from state taxes.

Exactly when were federal judges, or any judges, given the right to tax Arizona citizens or to allocate Arizona tax money once collected?

The Commerce Clause gives no such power to the federal government, let alone to an autocratic federal judge.

I’m confident that the gentleman in the black robe can think of a great many programs that, in his august opinion, should be supported by our state taxes, but is that among his allotted powers?

If the judge believes a majority of our legislators are allocating state monies in a politically incorrect manner, perhaps he should charge each culprit in the Legislature who voted in a way he finds reprehensible with contempt of court, and fine or jail each of them.

That would teach them to ignore his edicts.

Bruce Weaver

Ensure U.S. drivers protected, too

It has always seemed a little unfair that Mexican citizens can drive in the U.S. without insurance from an American insurer.

When we go to Mexico, we must buy Mexican insurance before crossing the border.

It seems the Mexican government has created this requirement to protect its citizens who get in an accident with an American driving there, and our government makes us buy uninsured motorist coverage.

When a Mexican gets in an accident here, do we check for insurance? Impound their car or jail them? If they go back across the border, are we just out of luck and must pay the bills ourselves? If this is true, I want to know why and what can be done about it.

Thomas Fletcher

CO2′s greenhouse effect negligible

Re: “Study: Rising seas may be threat to Az, U.S. coasts by 2100″ (Friday article):

This is just another scary scenario based on a computer model, a model that assumes a 1 percent annual increase in CO2, which is about 2 1/2 times the actual rise. Garbage in, garbage out.

Readers should know that CO2 makes up less than 2 percent of greenhouse gases; the major greenhouse gas is water vapor.

Also, all human CO2 emissions add up to less than 0.16 percent of total greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere each year.

Finally, as the story admits, natural temperature variation in the past produced conditions similar to those predicted in the model, but the ice caps are still here.

While to some this scary scenario might “serve as a wake-up call to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide into the air,” this “call” is totally unwarranted by sound science and by the fact that humans produce an insignificant amount of CO2.

And, by the way, the Citizen’s headline sounds just a little ridiculous: “Rising seas may be threat to Az.”

Jonathan DuHamel

Take down sign on Statue of Liberty

The anti-immigrant people have started sounding like the prelude to the Holocaust: Don’t let them come here. Don’t let them stay here. Don’t let them work. Don’t let them go to our school. Don’t let them rent housing. Don’t let them get driver licenses. They have diseases. They’ll lower our country’s intellectual and cultural standards. Don’t allow their language to be spoken here.

What next, yellow stars for all Mexicans and Chicanos to wear?

The first wave of Anglos to North America were illegal immigrants: They did not have the permission of Native Americans or indigenous Mexicans to settle in their lands.

The Anglo immigrants who came through Ellis Island did not have any moral superiority over the current immigrants.

They just couldn’t swim the length of the Atlantic Ocean, so they had no choice but to go through Ellis Island and its paperwork. Had they been super swimmers, the same percentage of them would have avoided the red-tape of immigration as today’s desperate job-seeking immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

The U.S. put a sign on the Statue of Liberty that reads “give me your tired, your poor,” “send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.” We should either take down the sign or deal with today’s immigrants in a humane, patient way.

It’s morally the right thing to do, plus a major labor shortage is coming. What we don’t need is simple-minded xenophobia and racism.

FRANK DE LA CRUZ

Water, water everywhere

Re: the Feb. 11 article “Scarce water could get scarcer here”:

The article noted, “Drought and recent agreement over Colorado River water are bringing a sense of urgency to Tucson. Tucson Water Director David Modeer will brief the City Council at a study session today on how the drought and recent agreement affect southern Arizona and what the water department can do to keep the impact at a minimum.”

Most everyone knows or knew that southern Arizona must find ways to conserve water for the inevitable drought seasons. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this should take priority for the health and welfare of not only our citizens in Tucson, but also in the county and surrounding areas.

My wife and I moved here in 1986, and there has been continuous building of malls, minimalls, office buildings and hundreds upon hundreds of homes in just about every beautiful vacant area.

All of these use a tremendous amount of water. We continue to build and use more water; why?

It has nothing to do with the concern of conserving water, or the powers that be would have slowed the extended building long ago. All this building brings in a great deal of revenue, and that seems to be more important than having a great deal of water.

We are slowly but surely destroying our wonderful Earth and ourselves with it. I won’t live long enough to see it happen, and I hope and pray that my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren won’t either, but it will happen.

KEN DelMASTRO

Preaching to the choir

There is a national movement to impeach President Bush. No one I come in contact with is surprised at that. Everyone I know wonders what took so long to get to this. Why? Because everyone I know voted for the other candidate.

Most have signed the petition to call for impeachment. The majority of Pima County residents are too smart to be fooled by this demagogue who thinks that, as president, he is above the law.

Letters to the editor in Tucson about the need to at least censure this president don’t fall on deaf ears, but it is much like preaching to the choir.

Those who need to wake up don’t live next door; they live in Phoenix and Ohio. I urge my friends here to call their friends there and get this done before it is too late.

David Zinke

Let nontraditional homes take kids

As for the controversy over nontraditional adoptions: We live in nontraditional times!

The best placement would be with a mother and father, but those homes are few and far between.

If this were not the case, more couples would step up to the plate and welcome these children home.

Many of these children have special needs, or are older, maybe with siblings or of varied ethnic backgrounds, and often are rejected for traditional placements. This leaves thousands of precious children with no place to call home.

Would it not be better that these children be given a chance to be welcomed in a home that doesn’t fit the traditional mold but where unconditional love and security can be provided?

Or perhaps those who only see the world through rose-colored glasses would be willing to step up and provide these children with what they feel others can’t possibly contribute?

Each case should be decided on its own merits, as no two are alike. What’s best for the children? Perhaps a nontraditional placement is better than spending their childhoods shuffled from foster homes to group homes and at 18 “‘on their own.”

These children are “on their own” from the beginning unless given a chance, perhaps from the “whole village” it takes to nurture and raise a child – a village of varied individuals working through differences to rally around every child who needs us.

CAROLYN GILBERT

Citizen Staff Writer

May 16, voters in Pima County will go to the polls to vote on a transportation plan for the next 20 years.

The plan is a project of the new Regional Transportation Authority, which includes the governments of Pima County, Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley, South Tucson, Sahuarita, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and the Tohono O’odham Nation.

Voters will be asked two questions:

• Should the transportation plan be approved?

• Should the sales tax in Pima County be increased by one-half cent per dollar for 20 years to pay for projects in the plan?

The sales tax increase is expected to raise about $2.1 billion over its 20-year life.

Unless both questions are approved, the plan will not be adopted, and the additional sales tax will not be collected.

To vote in the election, voters must be registered by April 17. Early voting begins April 13. For information on where to vote, call the Pima County Division of Elections at

740-4260.

In this election – for the first time – voters will be required to show proof of identity before receiving a ballot.

Acceptable forms of ID include a valid Arizona drivers license, tribal enrollment card, government card, as well as a utility bill or bank statement dated within the previous 90 days, vehicle registration, Indian Census card, property tax statement or vehicle insurance card.

Today and the next three Mondays, the Tucson Citizen will examine different aspects of the RTA plan, giving supporters and opponents their say:

• Today: Roads are the major part of the plan, accounting for about 58 percent of the $2.1 billion. There are 35 major road improvement projects that include more than 200 new lane miles. Many of the new or wider roads will include landscaped medians, bus pullouts, bike lanes in both directions and sidewalks.

• April 3: The widening of East Grant Road is the single most expensive and controversial road project in the plan. It would turn Grant between North Oracle and North Swan roads into a six-lane street, requiring demolition of businesses and homes. The cost is estimated to be about $161 million.

• April 10: Transit improvements would account for about 27 percent of the plan’s total cost. There would be expanded weekday and evening service on Sun Tran routes, new neighborhood bus circulators and a new high-capacity streetcar system between the University of Arizona and downtown.

• April 17: About 15 percent of the money in the plan would be for other transportation projects such as safety improvements at intersections, bus pullouts, crosswalks, improved railroad crossings and “smart” traffic signals that sense traffic conditions. There also would be money for more bike lanes, sidewalks, wildlife linkages and small-business assistance.

For links to the RTA Web site and those of the plan’s supporters and opponents, go to this article online at www.tucsoncitizen.com/opinion.

GUEST OPINION

Make growth pay for fair share of road work; vote no on new taxes

Bonnie Poulos

Bill Heuisler

The Regional Transportation Authority says its plan is well-balanced. It proposes to spend 58 percent on road building, compared with 48 percent in the “road heavy” plan overwhelming rejected by voters in 2002.

Including other road funding, the RTA plan would spend 65 percent on roads. That hardly seems balanced.

It means there is much less funding for other critical needs to improve our community’s quality of life.

For example, in an RTA survey, citizens said they wanted 25 percent for pedestrian, bicycle and trail projects. But the plan includes only 3 percent. Apparently, the RTA does not care what the public wants.

We also need funding for road maintenance, but the RTA plan includes none.

When our existing roads are in poor condition and we can’t afford to fix them, building more roads is irresponsible. It’s like putting a big addition on the house when the roof is falling down.

The RTA says it cannot spend money on maintenance because the legislation will not allow it, but it wrote the legislation.

Local voters already have rejected a transportation sales tax four times. Yet once again, they propose the same old failed idea. How many times do we have to say “no” before they finally adopt better alternatives to pay for roads?

Growth and sprawl are the cause of our region’s transportation problems.

More homes on the fringes of Tucson will mean more cars, longer commutes, more congestion and the need for more roads.

The solution is to make new growth pay a fair share for building these roads – through construction sales taxes, impact fees, improvement districts and gasoline taxes.

Impact fees are too low throughout the region, and our leaders have never made a serious effort to raise the gas tax. The proposed sales tax would unfairly make the average taxpayer subsidize future growth, when our property taxes are increasing substantially.

Too many road projects in the RTA plan serve to benefit only special interests.

For example, $10 million to pave Wilmot Road south of Interstate 10, a dirt road where few people live, serves no regional transportation purpose.

Projects such as this are nothing but pork barrel for developers that will just make our transportation problems worse. It’s no wonder the special interests have contributed huge sums to the campaign.

Nine of 35 RTA projects were part of the 1997 Pima County transportation bond plan. Due to poor cost estimates, among other problems, voters did not get what they were promised.

Now they want us to pay a sales tax to complete these projects. Underestimated project costs in the RTA plan mean many may be delayed or never built. Once again taxpayers have no assurance we will actually get what we are promised.

We do need to do something. We need a plan that addresses our many critical transportation needs, that is fairly funded by a variety of user fees, that includes real planning to reduce congestion, and that assures projects will be completed.

This plan does none of those things. For more information: www.no1and2.org

Bonnie Poulos is active in community issues and has served on the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee. Bill Heuisler is the Arizona chairman of Citizens for Tax Relief.

GUEST OPINION

It takes all of us to pave the way to a better future for Tucson

Frank Alvarez

Much like Tucson Medical Center – the world’s largest one-story hospital – Tucson has grown by expanding out into the space available.

While a feasible strategy to a point, sprawl creates transportation and infrastructure challenges.

Just as TMC staff work harder to navigate patients through our miles of hallways, so do Tucsonans navigate congested roadways and intersections every day. Neither situation is ideal.

More than two years ago, TMC began an effort to redevelop its main campus. We have worked hand in hand with our neighbors to develop a vision for the hospital campus that would provide state-of-the-art medical care and be well integrated into the community.

One question asked repeatedly by our neighbors is: “What about traffic?”

And we have part of the answer: TMC HealthCare will invest more than $200 million into the development of Tucson’s community hospital, including many improvements to our roadways, parking, trail system and more, to provide a well-coordinated approach to traffic at TMC.

What we can’t answer is the question about traffic along Grant Road, at the Craycroft intersection and beyond.

This is where you can be a part of the solution – by voting “yes” May 16 to approve a comprehensive regional transportation plan and half-cent sales tax.

Congestion is a real problem on the roads that lead to TMC, where more people go for 24-hour emergency care than any other place in southern Arizona. And as ambulance drivers can attest, it’s not just Grant Road that needs attention.

That’s why the Regional Transportation Authority plan includes 35 important road improvement projects throughout the county. The plan would improve roads from Tangerine Road in the north to the Interstate 19 frontage road near Green Valley and key intersections and corridors in-between.

Five of the most heavily traveled sections of town – Oracle Road, Grant Road, Speedway Boulevard, Broadway and 22nd Street – will receive significant improvements to ease the flow of traffic.

Up to 283,900 vehicles total drive on these sections of roads each day. The improvements will include adding turn lanes and bus pullouts, widening roads, adding lanes in key areas of congestion, and installing “smart” signal lights that sense the flow of traffic and react accordingly.

Arizona roads are some of the most dangerous in the nation, according to a 2004 report by the Arizona Society of Civil Engineers.

Pima County and Tucson got a D+ on safety from the society.

Fatality rates on roads in Tucson are worse than in many cities of similar and larger size. While alcohol use and speeding are a factor in accident rates, transportation infrastructure plays an important part. Many studies show improving intersections and widening roads reduce traffic fatalities and injuries.

About 58 percent of the plan, or a little more than $1.1 billion, is dedicated to adding more than 200 miles of new lanes to reduce congestion, ease the flow at busy intersections and make roads safer for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. It can’t happen soon enough.

And it’s not just about convenience. Congestion puts lives in danger. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, for every extra minute it takes to transport someone with a life-threatening condition to the emergency room, the chance of survival diminishes by 10 percent.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We’ve waited long enough to deal with our growing transportation problems. Now is the time.

May 16, let’s vote “yes” on Questions 1 and 2. It won’t just make it easier to get across town; the improvements are vital to the safety and health of our community.

Frank Alvarez is president and CEO of Tucson Medical Center.

PROJECT COST* WHEN**

1 Tangerine, I-10 to La Cañada:

Widen to four lanes, divided $43.3 2, 3, 4

2 Camino de Mañana, Tangerine

to Linda Vista: New two-,

four-lane road $6.1 1

3 Twin Peaks, Silverbell to I-10:

Bridge over Santa Cruz, new

four-lane road $30.8 1

4 La Cholla, Tangerine to Magee:

Widen to four lanes, bridge over

Cañada del Oro $42.2 2, 4

5 Silverbell, Ina to Grant: Widen to

four lanes $42.7 2, 4

6 Railroad crossing at Ina:

Eliminate at-grade crossing $34.2 2

7 Magee/Cortaro Farms, La Cañada

to Thornydale: Widen to four-lane

divided $29.6 1

8 Sunset, Silverbell to I-10 to River:

New three-lane road $12.8 3

9 Railroad crossing at Ruthrauff:

Eliminate at-grade crossing $59.4 3

10 La Cholla, River to Ruthrauff:

Widen to six lanes divided $14.8 1

11 La Cañada, Calle Concordia to

River: Widen to four lanes with

equestrian trail $27.7 1

12 Magee, La Cañada to Oracle:

Widen to four lanes $5.9 2

13 First, Orange Grove to Ina:

Widen to four lanes $6.6 4

14 First, River to Grant: Widen to

six lanes $71.4 3

15 Railroad underpass at Grant:

Widen to six lanes $37.4 3

16 Downtown, I-10 to Broadway:

New four-lane road $76.1 2, 3

17 Broadway, Euclid to Country Club:

widen to six lanes plus two

dedicated bus lanes $42.1 2

18 Grant, Oracle to Swan: Widen to

six lanes $160.9 2, 3, 4

19 22nd Street, I-10 to Tucson

Blvd./Barraza: Widen to six lanes,

six-lane bridge over railroad tracks $105 2, 3

20 Barraza/Aviation, Palo Verde to I-10:

Right of way for future connection

with I-10 $19.6 –

21 Valencia, Ajo to Mark: Widen to

four lanes $15.1 2

22 Irvington, Santa Cruz River to east

of I-19: Improve intersections $9.8 4

23 Valencia, I-19 to Alvernon: Access

management improvement $9.8 4

24 Valencia, Alvernon to Kolb: Widen

to six lanes $43.3 2

25 Valencia, Kolb to Houghton: Widen

to six lanes $25.9 3

26 Kolb Road connection with Sabino

Canyon: New four-lane road $9.1 1

27 Tanque Verde, Catalina Highway to

Houghton: Widen to four lanes $12.8 1

28 Speedway, Camino Seco to

Houghton: Widen to four lanes $14.1 1

29 Broadway, Camino Seco to

Houghton: Widen to four lanes $6.6 3

30 22nd, Camino Seco to Houghton:

Widen to four lanes $6.1 4

31 Harrison, Golf Links to Irvington:

New bridge over Pantano $6.2 4

32 Houghton, I-10 to Tanque Verde:

Widen to four and six lanes with

new bridges $95.3 1, 3

33 Wilmot north of Sahuarita Road:

New two-lane road $9.8 2

34 Sahuarita Road to Country Club:

Widen to four lanes divided $30.8 1

35 I-19 frontage road, Continental

to Canoa: New two-lane road $3.9 1

TOTAL $1.17 billion

*Costs are in millions of dollars.

** Construction is broken down into four periods:

Period 1: FY 2007-11

Period 2: FY 2012-16

Period 3: 2017-21

Period 4: 2022-26

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Are there parts of the plan you like? Do you feel some projects are unneeded? Is the spending breakdown between roads and transit appropriate or off-base? Let us know and we’ll print your thoughts before the election.

• Mail: Letters to the editor, Tucson Citizen, P.O. Box 26767, Tucson, AZ 85726-6767

• E-mail: letters@tucsoncitizen.com

Freelance

It’s a hot-button issue, and the Tucson sector is the worst in the country.

Illegal immigration is burdening local hospitals, straining their services and finances.

The human traffic in the area south of Tucson is seriously damaging our Sonoran Desert, producing mountains of trash, a trampled environment and areas reeking of human waste.

Most are coming to build better lives, but some are ruthless criminals.

Those we’re lucky enough to apprehend cost us for their incarceration. Those we don’t catch are a greater concern: We’ve even found Arabic materials near the border and smugglers in a shooting war with our Border Patrol.

Proposed solutions range from deporting all those here illegally and using the military to seal our borders to granting amnesty to everyone who has already sneaked in.

I believe the best proposals lie between these extremes.

The root of the problem is the porous border. Illegal entry must be prevented, and multilayer fencing and barriers are effective solutions, as has been proved south of San Diego.

An unexpected benefit there has been a decrease in crime and an increase in property values on both sides of the border.

Those who compare a border fence with the Berlin Wall conveniently forget that the communists were imprisoning their people. We’re protecting ours. (And I bet they have doors and locks on their own homes.)

A flurry of legislation is emerging – including bills from Arizona Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain.

Attempting to oust all those here illegally would produce not only social chaos, but also economic upheaval.

Kyl’s plan requires that, within five years, otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants return home for a year before applying for legal entry.

This would produce a relatively orderly transition without giving advantage to those breaking our laws over those playing by the rules.

Even Sen. Edward Kennedy, who co-sponsored McCain’s bill, recognizes the merits of this provision. It’s essentially an undoing of trespass, rather than a granting of amnesty.

For those who call this requirement harsh, try entering Mexico illegally and see what happens.

Other provisions are being debated, but certain approaches are vital if we’re to solve this problem long term:

Teach English, civics and American history to immigrant children. These kids must understand why this is the best country on Earth (that’s why their parents work so hard to get here), and they must become proficient in the international language of commerce.

Generations of immigrants with little or no English were conversant in months when their focus was solely to learn the language.

Well-intentioned but fatally flawed bilingual education has allowed too many to get through school without ever becoming proficient in English.

Establish an easy-to-use temporary worker program, and penalize employers who circumvent the requirements. Both Kyl’s and McCain’s bills address this issue.

Introduce or expand arrangements for illegal immigrants convicted of felonies to be transferred to foreign prisons. We shouldn’t accept all the costs of their incarceration.

The current situation has been years in the making and won’t be solved quickly, but we shouldn’t delay the attempt. Failing to do it – right – would be a disservice to our citizens and our rule of law.

Barney Brenner (barneybrenner@cox.net) is the former owner of Barney’s Auto Parts and past president of the Pima County Republican Club.

Guest Writer

As tax time approaches, I am grateful to the good people of the Catalina Foothills School District for the notice they sent me regarding Arizona’s school tax credit.

Their Christmas-red postcard arrived during the holiday season, a time when we stress the values of charity and giving. It was titled “Credit for Caring,” and it asked me to give.

It explained that if I gave $300 to the school district, I could get a $300 credit at tax time. It did not explain that I could get the same credit if I gave money to a much needier district. Nor did it encourage me to do so.

Since I knew these good folks would not want my donation to go to the children of the wealthy when so many needy children are in the state, I thought possibly the demographics of the Catalina Foothills might have changed.

As an indicator of need, I searched the most recent Arizona Department of Education National School Lunch Program Report.

This told me what percentage of the students in any given Arizona school qualified for free or reduced-price lunches. While there were hundreds of schools whose students qualified for assistance (all the students in many schools), not a single school in the Catalina Foothills School District was listed in the report.

Still believing the folks at the Catalina Foothills School District would not have requested a donation to the affluent at the expense of the poor, I thought maybe they did not fully understand the intent of the law.

But maybe they did. I found that this little bit of tax code legerdemain was crafted to ensure that schools with children of the affluent would receive more funds for their extracurricular activities and character education programs than their poorer neighbors, a selfless example by our legislators of character education at its finest.

While the Legislature could have specified that all donated monies go to a central fund and be evenly distributed to schools throughout the state (or heaven forbid, targeted to schools with the greatest need), it instead required that the money be given to the individual school or schools specified by the donor.

This virtually guarantees that affluent parents will give to their affluent children’s schools, while schools with parents who cannot afford to donate or do not understand Arizona’s convoluted tax laws will receive little or nothing.

So I must assume it was just an oversight that the mailing I received failed to point out that there are many schools and school children in Arizona far more in need of these funds than those in the Catalina Foothills School District.

I am sure it is also an oversight that the district’s Web site fails to mention this. So in response to their message, I sent my donation to a school with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged children.

I hope that next Christmas, when the folks at the school district use my tax override money to send out their message of caring, they will remind the affluent parents that there are children in this state who could benefit far more from their donations than those in their own district.

Fred Leonard is a freelance writer in Tucson.

Readers

Nods to Smith stance

Thank you for the Jeff Smith column Wednesday (“Feds waste money prosecuting kind-hearted kids”).

I have been a No More Deaths volunteer for 2 1/2 years. I provide services to a migrant shelter in Nogales, Son.

Veronica Villaverde

Inaction would spur more acts

“Jeffie” – aka Jeff Smith – would like us to look the other way, when kindhearted kids Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss transported illegal immigrants not to the nearest hospital, Border Patrol officer or first aid station, but to No More Deaths.

If the U.S. Attorney’s Office drops this case and walks away, all bets are off. Any and every do-gooder and not-so-do-gooder has been given a green light.

Gas up the old station wagon, and let’s go south to pick up a load of “sick” illegal immigrants to help them on their way to the land of milk and honey.

The U.S. government must look the other way, and we can all feel soooooo good about ourselves, or maybe that is the problem.

Bill Mattausch

Get the lead out

Thank you for your report on lead poisoning (“Lead poisoning: Is your child at risk?” Wednesday front-page article).

This topic is too often ignored and can be crucial in children’s development.

My report on the role of lead poisoning in failing schools (http://azsba.org/lead.htm) is considered one of the more comprehensive summaries of lead poisoning ills.

Although you correctly noted the federal level of blood lead considered poisoning, the medical profession generally agrees that blood lead levels below that create brain damage and may lower IQs by up to 7 points.

Recently I became involved in a newly forming organization – American Lead Poisoning Help Association – created by mothers of lead-poisoned children. ALPHA will have its inaugural meeting in Charleston later this month.

You can view its Yahoo Groups page at: http://tinyurl.com/qcx6s.

Perhaps you could inform the mothers you interviewed of this organization, as I believe it will provide a March of Dimes-type organization for mothers to influence the federal “End Childhood Lead Poisoning by 2010″ program.

Chapters are planned in all the states, but the main focus is to provide parents of children who have been lead poisoned with resources for what to look for in behavioral consequences and how to manage problems if they arise.

Michael T. Martin

research analyst

Arizona School Boards Association

Phoenix

Anti-war protests nonviolent

The Tuesday article by David Teibel (“Protest: 6 arrested”) gives readers a poor report on the protest at Raytheon.

Anti-war protesters preach and practice nonviolence. When six were cited, the only legal charge was blocking traffic. None was aggressive, rowdy or uncooperative.

All of the other charges were made up by police as they listened to the war supporters. The reporter listed the war supporters as peaceful.

Every month at Raytheon, we protest with signs and banners asking for an end to war and killing.

Monday, with police notified, we came with the intention of blocking the trucks leaving Raytheon, carrying missiles.

It is horrible that we keep bombing and killing innocent people all over the world for money (this is Raytheon).

A few war supporters stood on Raytheon property with their flags and signs. We have never been allowed onto Raytheon property and found it puzzling that police allowed them to stay.

The police were in full force, riot squads and all. They fully understood our nonviolent action, but evidently the war supporters told them we intended to come onto the property.

They were ready for a big confrontation. Wrong. We have been demonstrating for more than six years at Raytheon, never violently, and the police know this.

We risk arrest to end war and killing and to bring our troops home. The war supporters preach victory rather than an end to killing.

The media could play an important role by printing the alternative to war: peace.

Betty Schroeder

Pat on the back for ‘soft touch’

Kudos is due Anne-Marie Russell for her endorsement of Tucson’s Birth & Women’s Health Center as an alternative to standard, prescriptive prenatal care (Wednesday “My Tucson” column, “Center’s staff gives most sacred event a soft touch”).

I am a fellow “Centering” mom-to-be and have enjoyed the tremendous support and caring that is apparent at the birthing center.

During Centering classes, expectant parents are allowed the chance to share our pregnancy experiences, excitement and fears.

Husbands, partners, family members and friends are encouraged to participate in the mother’s prenatal care, taking blood pressure, measuring weight gain and being actively involved in the prenatal checkup.

My husband and I have benefited greatly from such a hands-on, holistic environment. It is reassuring that Tucson’s expectant mothers do have another choice – we are very lucky!

Marissa Amoni-Jansons

Burning Bush

Now $96 billion more has been approved for the U.S. president, and how much has he already made off this war we should not even be in?

Yet he asks Americans to look past the bloodshed and killings of our people and to look at the progress he thinks has taken place in Iraq.

He and some of his administration should be charged with war crimes, impeached and run out of this country.

This is a president who will not take care of his own country yet wants to go to war to try to run other countries.

Send his little skinny butt to Iraq. I, for one, have no respect for him and look at him as a complete control freak and a traitor to our country.

John Foust

Sahuarita

Elephants’ needs no small concern

Amy Lynn Glor’s March 17 “My Tucson” column (“Thanks to zoo’s signs, my visit was guilt- free”) shows that other animals at Reid Park Zoo desperately need more space.

If the city gives $8.5 million to the zoo, it should be used to expand enclosures of other animals rather than on another inadequate exhibit for elephants that will not address their needs.

Elephants in the wild travel miles every day. This constant motion keeps them psychologically and physically healthy.

Zoo elephants develop captivity-induced problems that cause them to die at an average of about half their 70-year life span. Our zoo cannot provide the hundreds of acres elephants need.

Glor’s column also shows that the zoo misleads the public. The sign at the elephant enclosure compares Connie’s compulsive swaying with twirling one’s hair. This illness, stereotypic behavior, is caused by the stress resulting from severe confinement. It is not natural or healthy, and the zoo should not misinform people.

Glor jokes that if Shaba gets pregnant, she and Connie will be the “hottest celebrity couple in Tucson.” The zoo plans to impregnate Shaba using artificial insemination, an invasive procedure with a low probability of resulting in a live birth but a high risk of complication for Shaba.

The Elephant Sanctuary has generously offered to take and transport Connie and Shaba. This is an opportunity to improve conditions of our other zoo animals that desperately need it.

Nikia Fico

director

Save Tucson Elephants

Readers

Why life sentence isn’t enough

In Punch Woods’ Tuesday letter, he stated, “a life sentence without parole is enough to keep us safe from one who is dangerous.”

Really? I wonder if the families of serial killer Ted Bundy’s last three victims would agree, since he murdered them after escaping not once, but twice.

BRUCE SMALL

Kudos to columnist

Teen Columnist James Rappaport confirmed my confidence in youth’s ability to confront perils to our liberty (“Web scrutiny in name of security hindering liberty,” Tuesday).

The Web is a soapbox. Since anyone can access information, how it is used must find political, social and practical balance.

Unfortunately, the more powerful the institution, the more susceptible it is to warping, or ignoring, the principles that enhance freedom.

That the current administration can use warrantless searches of private property and justify them shows how our freedom is imperiled.

Rappaport is rightly alarmed by the apathy of many Americans. It’s perplexing how well-educated, informed people say that as long as someone has nothing to hide, they shouldn’t worry.

It’s our freedom we’re talking about.

As long as our executive branch is guided by people who love power more than freedom, all we can hope is that lesser institutions soon will be accessible to young people like Rappaport.

One has only to be 25 years old and a citizen for seven years to serve in Congress, or age 30 with nine years’ citizenship for the Senate.

Youth should get involved before their idealism is twisted like that of the baby boomers, whose “make love, not war” became “make money, use war.”

An entire generation now has grown up with technology. It will be their responsibility to use this power to spread freedom.

Rappaport’s column was impressive on many levels – style, substance, language, relevance and logic, to name a few. Keep up the good work!

BRAD ROLLINGS

Reproaching Rappaport

Re: “Web security in name of security hindering liberty”:

It is a tremendous relief to finally get a definitive ruling on the legality of the administration’s wiretapping and electronic surveillance program from a constitutional authority with the unquestionable credentials of Mr. Rappaport.

This said, however, I would suggest the columnist’s “rights to privacy” in a totally public forum (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) is something of a pipe dream. (For those of you in high school: Ain’t gonna happen.)

Possibly in a few years Mr. Rappaport will gain some measure of maturity and realize that making assertions, even ones that may be popular at the time, without facts to support them will not result in the influence of thinking individuals.

T.W. WOODROW

Children need secure, loving homes

Re: “Parent often settled by law, not love,” Billie Stanton’s March 13 column:

I thank Ms. Stanton for her column and her common sense. The points she made are very valid.

There is one she didn’t mention that is a fact of life. Every day, thousand of girls are sexually molested by their married, heterosexual father or stepfather, and far too often the mother knows and chooses to turn a blind eye.

Catholic bishops across the country are backing any type of law that bans same-sex marriage or adoption. This is the same set of bishops that knew about the sexual abuse that was going on in their church yet chose to turn a blind eye.

All children need to know they are loved in order to feel secure.

Maybe if adults learn not to indulge in name-calling and blind intolerance, they will realize that children need to be adopted by someone who will love and care for them, and that is all that matters.

PATRICIA MURCHEK

Lawbreaking priests, immigrants

One is hardly surprised at Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas and other Catholic officials’ stance supportive of illegal immigrants.

After all, given the immense pedopriest scandals, one fact remains: Reassignment of pedopriests to dense populations of illegal immigrant congregations best protects pedopriests and the church from scandals.

Illegal immigrants don’t trust the police, don’t wish to compromise their illegal status and are doggedly co-dependent on the feudalism of the Catholic Church’s demands of “obedience.” Hence they put up with the terrorism of pervert priests attacking their little boys.

Supporting illegal immigrants, despite the bishop’s polemics of compassion, serves the self-interest of perhaps the longest term, best organized organization for pedophilia – the Roman Catholic Church.

Given the huge lawsuits facing the diocese in Tucson, it only makes sense for the bishop to find populations of persons addicted to a medieval feudalistic church demanding total obedience in order that pervert priests can have their way and the church remain immune from lawsuits.

Historic studies demonstrate that pedophilia and Catholicism are synonyms.

That’s a “religious tradition” about as robust as heroin addiction is for junkies. Pardon me while I puke.

Otherwise, Homeland Security better start investigating pedopriestly covert terrorism against American kids – and advocating imprisonment in Cuba for such priests.

KEN O’NEILL

Readers

When I began teaching more than 30 years ago, we didn’t fully appreciate or understand the profound impact a child’s earliest learning has on his long-term success.

Today, we know that most of a child’s brain structure is formed before age 3.

Science has shown that in the years leading up to kindergarten, children develop most of their language skills, thought processes, self-confidence, discipline and values.

This science coupled with 40 years of research demonstrates the long-term benefits of high-quality early childhood programs.

Scientists and leading economists, such as Art Rolnick of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, stress that investing in the earliest years produces an unmatched economic and social return.

Now a diverse coalition of Arizonans has joined to support a statewide initiative.

First Things First is designed to support voluntary programs that focus on early development and health of children from infancy to age 5.

The initiative serves three primary purposes:

• It will establish a dedicated revenue stream of $150 million derived from an increase on the sale of tobacco products.

• It will create a statewide governance board of nine members selected by the governor and confirmed by the Arizona Senate.

• It will establish a delivery system rooted in communities to distribute these critical dollars.

Most Arizona children are cared for outside of the home sometime during the day.

Add to this more stringent academic standards and accountability, ever-emerging technology and a more competitive global market.

We expect much more from families and children, but we have done very little to equip them with the skills and support they need.

Rather than endorsing a one-size-fits-all approach, First Things First promotes local control.

Programs effective in Phoenix may not work in rural Arizona. Those who best know the needs of their children must be able to respond.

Thus regional partnerships composed of parents, clergy, educators and other community representatives will not only have the ability to determine what their youngest children need, but also will have the financial support to get it done.

This includes access to high-quality child care, preventive health services and parent support classes.

All Arizonans benefit. Children get a healthy start and a chance to succeed. For parents, the availability and affordability of good early childhood programs helps them retain jobs and earn higher incomes. For taxpayers, these programs save money by lowering dropout rates, reducing crime and cutting the cost of social services.

Again and again, we hear that Arizona ranks 41st worst in indicators of overall child well-being, and that we have the worst high school dropout rates in the country.

These statistics do not define us and our commitment to children, nor do they prove that our children are any less capable than kids who live elsewhere.

We now have proof: Children under age 5 who have early health and education programs are more likely to graduate, attend college, earn more money and steer clear of crime.

We also know that among children who start school behind fellow students, an estimated 80 percent never fully catch up.

How can we give every family and child the opportunity to start school on equal footing? What can we do to encourage health and school preparedness so all Arizona children have the opportunity to grow and thrive?

The next natural step is to support First Things First, which will build each family’s opportunity for academic success.

By providing our youngest children with a strong foundation, we will be securing Arizona’s future.

Join us as we work with community, elected and religious leaders to offer children and families the support and education they need.

Nadine Mathis Basha is a former educator and chairwoman of the First Things First initiative.

Citizen Associate Editor

When I check out the displays at the annual science fair downtown, I find it best to start with the kindergarten experiments.

To be honest, those seem to be about the only experiments I can understand. And even some of them are a little over my head.

This week I wandered around the Tucson Convention Center as students toted in their experiments and set them up for the judges to evaluate in the 51st annual Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

My own experience in science fairs was fairly dismal, so this stuff always amazes me.

Emma Witham, a 7-year-old in second grade, did something I actually could comprehend. She punched holes out of different colors of construction paper, scattered them around and figured out which were best camouflaged with the ground. Brown was the best color, being difficult to see on desert sand and dead grass.

Robert Gauthier, 7, and his 9-year-old sister, Andrea, were into water conservation. Robert concluded that shutting off the faucet while brushing his teeth saves a lot of water. Andrea found that a low-flow showerhead cuts water use by 46 percent.

She also found out that in her home, adults take more showers than children, girls take more showers than boys and girls take longer showers. She attributed that to the longer hair girls have. Makes sense to me.

But among the younger crowd, playing with food is the most popular science experiment.

What’s the best bubblegum or sugar cookies or bread? Does cold popcorn still pop? What is the iron content of different cereals? What is the color breakdown in a package of M&Ms or Skittles? Is lard a good insulator when wrapped around the hands? (I didn’t get that one.)

One student wondered: “Will a steak dissolve in a pan of Diet Coke within a two-week time frame?” The answer was no; the photos were disgusting.

Emily McGhie, 8, found an interesting use for food. She tried to make a battery out of lemons and grapefruit. Another student tried to make a battery from rocks. Neither was successful.

Amber Heldreth, 8, found that tennis balls with holes don’t bounce as high. And Hanna Trommer, 7, grew crystals from salt and sugar – something I can remember actually trying.

The experiments posed a number of questions I hadn’t considered: Does steel wool get warm when you use it with vinegar? Can 100 drops of water fit on a penny? Catnip: Dangerous drug or harmless toy?

And that eternal question, Why does it seem that when you drop your toast in the morning (pancake, waffle or bagel), it always lands sticky-side down? The answer had something to do with bouncing bread and wind.

Once I ventured into the upper grades – like sixth – things got over my head.

Twelve-year-old Vaishnavi Vaidyanathan wanted to learn if oil will protect hair if heat treatment is applied. She apparently had an optical photo microscope and a tensile testing machine lying around the house and reached a conclusion about the brittleness of hair that was way over my head.

Experiments by high school students have become so complicated that displays are divided into 11 areas, including biology, biochemistry, zoology, chemistry and computer science.

Some of the titles alone were incomprehensible: “Mangosteen, the Queen of Fruits: Quantification of Alpha-Mangostin Contents in Garcinia Mangostana Products.” And “Insulin Resistance Part II: What is the role of p38 MAPK in Insulin Signaling?” I’m impressed I could even type all that.

Katie Dreeland and Nicole Bryant, juniors at Cienega High School, both did their best to explain to me their experiment: “What temperature of catalase will have the fastest enzyme-substrate reaction with peroxide?”

“An enzyme is the lock, and substrate is the key,” Katie explained. “We had to extract catalase from the potatoes,” Nicole added. “Huh?” I replied.

Two other high school girls did something I found more understandable: “Does Beano minimize gas production better than Tums?” The display had a bunch of cartoons, none of which are suitable for reproducing here, and photos of the girls with wrinkled-up noses.

The experiment was actually less salacious than it sounds. All the gas was produced inside jars.

I’m a little concerned about one girl in the first grade who conducted an experiment called “When Dolls Fly.” She shot five different dolls from a huge homemade slingshot to see which would go farthest. A McDonald’s toy flew more than 20 feet, while poor Barbie was barely able to clear 19 feet.

She might want to meet the student who made a potato gun powered by exploding hair spray. I bet that thing could really launch Barbie.

Mark Kimble appears at 6:30 p.m. and midnight Fridays on the Roundtable segment of “Arizona Illustrated” on KUAT-TV, Channel 6. He may be reached at 573-4662 or mkimble@tucsoncitizen.com

Science fair schedule

Exhibits in the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair will be on display at the Tucson Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow. Admission is free, although there may be a charge for parking.

For additional information about the fair, go to this article online at www.tucsoncitizen.com/opinion.

Freelance

Citizen Columnist

Ask me what a coyote looks like, and I’ll give you one of two answers, or both, depending on how much caffeine I’ve got in me:

It looks like my dog, Mona, minus about 20 pounds of cookies and cheeseburgers and given a henna rinse.

Or, a coyote looks like the one I saw last Friday on my way home from Nogales with a truckload of cookies and cheeseburgers.

I was slowing as I passed the air strip north of Nogales, about 12 miles south of Patagonia, and a mid-’90s Cadillac Sedan de Something, about a quarter-mile ahead of me, eased off the side of the road and stopped in a cloud of dust. Which hadn’t cleared – the dust I mean – before five or six guys came boiling out of the weeds and piled into the Caddy using every door but the driver’s.

I was closing fast, but the Cadillac was back on the gas and back on the blacktop before I was within license plate-reading distance.

I paced them at a law-abiding 55 until they ducked into a pullout near the Johnny Ward’s Ranch historic marker a couple of miles below Patagonia.

I passed and watched for them in my rear-view, and the Caddy reappeared by the time I turned off toward home, five miles south of Sonoita, by which time they were convinced of my disinterest.

That’s what the other kind of coyote looks like, at least one variation on that theme. Some of them drive big ol’ delivery trucks capacious enough to leave a couple of dozen Mexicans and Salvadorans in. To die of heat and thirst.

What that kind of coyote doesn’t look like is two young hippies in a hammered econo-mobile, with three sick-as-a-pig mojados in the back and signs announcing that they were hauling these illegals to get first aid.

Clearly Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss were making a point of offering legal aid to fellow humans in dire straits. That is the entire point that the group No More Deaths, which Sellz and Strauss were representing that day, is trying to make plain to the government of the United States.

And the government of Mexico and every country south of the border. Or east, west and even north.

I was in the emergency room in Nogales a couple of Christmastimes ago, when the Border Patrol brought in a girl with a broken leg from South Korea. The leg, the girl, both of them from South Korea. I suppose if she’d been ambulanced by Shanti and Daniel, she might never have gotten her broken leg set, but she’d have enjoyed a long sojourn and lesson in law, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.

Clearly U.S. prosecutors have a point to make, too, but beyond being stupid and mean-spirited, I am at a loss as to what it may be.

No More Deaths wants to stop border crossers from dying in the desert. That involves a direct, short-term approach: giving them water and taking them to the doc. The long-term approach is changing national and international immigration policies.

Regardless of how one feels about the latter, the life-saving mission of the former is legal and ought to be approved by us all.

Evidently the U.S. attorney for Arizona is not quite that enlightened and humane. The feds saw to it that Shanti and Daniel were arrested and jailed, and now they will go on trial in U.S. District Court. It’s been on TV and in all the papers, and recently the former Big Kahuna in Arizona jurisprudence, Stanley Feldman, chief justice of the state Supreme Court from 1992 to 1997, joined the defense team.

Evidently (I like to use that instead of apparently when I’m writing about lawyerly matters,) Feldman agrees with me on the essentials of the case.

As would the 19-year-old South Korean girl who occupied the bed just the other side of the white curtain from me in the emergency room of Mariposa Hospital the night of Dec. 23, 2003.

She and Feldman and I, and the three parched and puking illegal immigrants in the back of Daniel and Shanti’s car, all agree that spending the kind of time, money and political good will the U.S. Attorney’s office is blowing on the trial of two kind-hearted kids, when greedy corporate farmers and construction maggots/magnates ought to be arrested but aren’t, is . . .

. . . DAMNED WRONG.

It’s your tax money these idiots are wasting. Let them know how you feel about their approach to the law. The prosecutor’s number is in the phone book, in the blue pages under “United States Government, Attorney, U.S.” Give them a jingle.

And tell them Jeffie sent you.

Citizen columnist Jeff Smith has given water, food and a change of chonies to persons of dark complexion, without asking to see their birth certificates. So sue him. His column appears on Wednesdays. Contact him by phone at (520) 455-5667 or by e-mail: jsmith@tucsoncitizen.com

Freelance

We’ve come a long way since Pope Innocent the VIII condemned midwifery for “sacrificing children to the devil,” but we’re still in the Dark Ages when it comes to women’s reproductive health.

In the early 20th century, the ancient practice of women assisting women through labor and delivery gave way to the medicalization of childbearing, which deemed birth a pathological condition best treated with drugs and surgery.

We still deal with this legacy and challenges for women who want a “natural childbirth.”

Since turning 35, I have been bombarded with speeches about the dangers of giving birth at my “advanced” age.

I realize 20 is “mature” if you’re a supermodel, and that if you are over 30 in Hollywood, you can expect to play the role of grandmother, but we’re talking motherhood here.

Surely life experience counts for something. And at 35, was I really considered over the hill healthwise?

I know the actuarial tables that rule our market-based lives indicate an increased risk of certain genetic disorders for “older” moms, but the attitude I encountered in the medical profession was off-putting, to say the least.

Happily discovering I was pregnant last summer, I scheduled a prenatal visit with my insurer-appointed OB-GYN.

The office shares space with a plastic surgery clinic, and as I waited for my appointment, I was bombarded with large images of buffed, waxed, bleached, suctioned, Botoxed, peeled and spit-shined “women.”

Embarking on a nine-month vanity-challenging journey that would disallow most beauty products and instead involve hirsutism, gastric challenges, back pain, dermatological hyperpigmentation and, ahem, serious weight gain, the presence of these images was at turns intimidating and offensive.

During my visit, a well-meaning but dour aide proceeded to tell me about all the horrible things that could happen to my baby due to my age.

She advised me not to become short of breath, implying I should cease all physical activity and sequester myself, in shame, in a dark room for nine months.

Surely there was a better way.

Fortunately for us Tucsonans, there is – the Birth and Women’s Health Center.

The nonprofit center treats pregnancy as a natural and beautiful family – indeed community – event. Women have the choice of delivering at the hospital or in the center and a choice of individual visits or a group visit called Centering.

Centering is a partner and family welcome group organized by common due dates. This has allowed my husband, whose excitement is mitigated by bouts of primal fear toward the daunting task of parenthood, to feel more engaged in the transformation of our family.

I place a good deal of trust in technology and the medical community. But I also trust in the health care intelligence I possess as the recipient of millions of years of human evolution.

Women know how to give birth. And the center supports and cultivates women’s knowledge.

My hopes for a natural childbirth may be dashed, and I may end up at the hospital with an epidural and a C-section.

If so, I will be grateful for insurance, modern medicine and the excellent relationship the center’s certified nurse midwives maintain with the staff at Tucson Medical Center.

In any event, I am grateful for my prenatal care at the center, surrounded by supportive, happy people who know better than to pathologize life’s most sacred event.

Anne-Marie Russell (info@moca-tucson.org) is executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Readers

Mission accomplished nothing

On the third anniversary of the U.S. Iraqi invasion, President Bush said “a victory in Iraq will make this country more secure.”

Mr. President, Iraq was never a threat to this country and was never connected to al-Qaida.

The president and our “leadership” have opened the genie’s bottle to chaos and the spread of terrorism.

We’ve lost the ability to strengthen relationships with moderate Arab countries because of Iraq, Abu Ghraib and 100,000 innocent dead Iraqi civilians.

Speeches from the White House about Iraq are an insult, as they are given to carefully selected audiences.

The president and his staff made up their mind to invade Iraq and did not want to be confused with the facts.

What a difference three years has made since Bush’s aircraft carrier Rambo show saying “mission accomplished” or since his “bring ‘em on” speech to Iraqi insurgents killing our kids.

Kathy Krucker

Anti-war march deserved coverage

With several relevant articles in your Monday edition, including “One of the oppressed sees oppression” (C.T. Revere column), I was surprised by your complete lack of coverage of the large anti-war rally and demonstration in Tucson on Saturday.

Hundreds of anti-war activists from many local groups rallied in Catalina Park at 10 a.m. and then marched to the Army recruiting office on Speedway. More protesters joined the march en route, carrying American flags, placards and black coffins draped with banners to represent the thousands of American servicemen and Iraqi civilians killed during the conflict.

Police escorted the peaceful march but had to close off Speedway at one point, to avoid a confrontation with a small band of pro-war demonstrators who had gathered in front of the recruiting office.

Contrary to your headline “Anti-war rallies shrinking” (Associated Press report in Nation/World section Monday), Saturday’s event was the largest of numerous anti-war events I have attended in Tucson.

I believe opposition to the Iraq occupation is growing, not diminishing, and that a show of public opinion of this magnitude deserves local media coverage.

I am puzzled by the fact that you were able to allocate plenty of space for sports articles in the A section, yet make no mention of a significant political statement by hundreds of concerned Tucson citizens.

Geoffrey Notkin

Don’t pigeonhole people

Gerry Garrison’s Thursday letter against gay parents (“Importance of balanced relationships”) is really a lesson in sexism, assumptions and hypocrisy.

Garrison says boys need fathers to go “hunting” while daughters need their “skills” consisting of “shopping.” With those skills, it is no wonder parents fear for the safety of their daughters when they marry sons raised in Garrison’s method.

He also does the classic conservative move by stating that daughters will tell you the importance of fathers in their lives, as if it’s a fact he read somewhere rather than his anecdotal assumption.

He says science has shown that men and women have different brains. Is that the same “science” of evolution and ozone depletion, or is he free to pick and choose which science to believe?

Religious conservatives once stopped marriages between different races, and now they have their eyes set on gay relationships. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now. One day, this won’t even be news – and neither will they.

Andy Morales

A bridge too many

I am really concerned about the bridge to the island at Roy Drachman Agua Caliente Park. The bridge has been there since at least the 1930s.

Pima County has blocked the bridge with wrought-iron gates so no one has access to the island. They say the bridge is unsafe and does not meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As far as not being safe, that is due to neglect by the county over the years. As the bridge was built nearly 75 years ago, it does not meet ADA standards.

The county proposes to build a modern bridge at another location to the island. They would leave the current bridge, which is becoming an eyesore, because it is “historic.”

The new bridge would cost $40,000 to $70,000. The county has asked that Friends of Agua Caliente raise the money.

Over the past four years, the Friends raised nearly $5,000, and the county has collected about $3,000. It will take many years to raise enough money to build the bridge at today’s cost. By then, the cost probably will have doubled.

I suggest the county take out the present bridge and replace it with one similar but wider, with ramps to make it ADA-compatible.

This would be much cheaper than what is now proposed. The lake will not look good with two bridges, one of which can’t be used. If you agree with me, write or e-mail Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll.

Peter Filiatrault

Fuming over smokers

The easiest way to spot somebody smoking is in their car. I travel nearly 100 miles a day for business, and I’ve been noticing how many people are out there smoking in this city.

I can’t imagine how ignorant some of these people are to not only smoke, but also to throw their ashes and cigarette butts out their car windows. Don’t they realize that while they’re complaining about the drought, they’re contributing to this city’s pollution?

I mean, don’t people use ashtrays anymore? Isn’t there a law against littering cigarette butts? Why don’t police enforce it?

This may sound petty, but unless you look at how much garbage is on the ground, you are missing a huge problem. And let’s not forget the fires started from burning cigarettes thrown out.

Please give nonsmokers some consideration.

Kelly Rodgers

English comes in handy here

Re: the Wednesday story, “Interpreters needed; UA expands studies”:

Have I missed something, or is this not the United States and our language English? The solution is that those who choose to live here and take advantage of our schools, medical facilities, etc., need to learn English.

Rosemary Capin

“London Calling” – in Tucson

The Tucson Symphony Orchestra with music director and conductor George Hanson pulled off a brilliant performance of “London Calling” Saturday and Sunday at Catalina Foothills High School.

With the “English Folk Song Suite” by Vaughan Williams, the orchestra conveyed a bright and cheerful feeling of spring. Guided by Hanson and first violinist Steven Moeckel, the orchestra played brilliantly. The performance of Folk Songs from Somerset let the heart dance in sync with the music.

Richard Strauss’ “Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 11″ was pure ear candy. Jacquelyn Sellers’ performance on horn captivated the audience. Her encore, written for Dante for his 25th wedding anniversary, communicated joy.

It was a phenomenal concert: The acoustics were great, and the performance was brilliant.

The Tucson Symphony Orchestra, indeed, enjoys popularity. It performed for more than 7,500 people during the past week. Listening to last weekend’s concert made it obvious why the orchestra has one of the highest subscription rates in the United States.

Karoline Crawshaw

Migrant at fault

Re: the March 15 story, “Migrant won’t be prosecuted after daughter is run over, dies”:

Juan Cruz-Torralva doesn’t understand what is happening? Oh, yes, he does.

He brought his family into this country illegally and broke our laws, and now he is suffering the consequences.

It is not the Border Patrol agent’s fault, nor is it America’s fault.

Barbara Williams

Freelance

Citizen Teen Columnist

In these trying times of illegal wiretapping and electronic surveillance, one cannot help but grow accustomed to the watchful, omnipresent eye of Big Brother.

From telephone conversations to electronic correspondence and even Internet forums, our words are carefully and painstakingly scrutinized by government agencies in the hopes of curbing terrorism and ensuring our safety at home and abroad.

However, it is not simply our government that has a penchant for violating privacy. For in our electronic age, virtually any Internet-savvy peeping Tom may peruse even the most private information.

Colleges, universities and high schools have, in recent months, meticulously examined Web sites such as the increasingly popular MySpace, Facebook and various blogging sites in efforts to ensure the safety and protection of their students by presumably obtaining advance knowledge of threats or violence.

Whilst well-intentioned and ostensibly operating in the students’ best interests, educational institutions serve little purpose by observing these sites other than to infringe upon and quell students’ right to free speech and expression.

Despite claims to the contrary, few if any potential crimes or violent acts have been prevented by such observation, and even fewer students have been protected by it.

Yet this flagrant violation of privacy continues.

Far from being protected, students from across the United States have faced stern repercussions from this recent wave of Internet spying and have suffered dearly for expressing their beliefs and thoughts openly.

One student was expelled from a Christian college in Arkansas after administrators examined his personal Facebook page and discovered he is homosexual.

In another case, two Louisiana State University swimmers were removed from their team for criticizing their coaches on Facebook.

Despite operating within their constitutional rights and the confines of the law, these students were punished and silenced for their words.

The aforementioned sites are public forums and hence open to unrestricted scrutiny by anyone.

However, it is hardly scrutiny alone that concerns me as an American.

It is the fallacious, dangerous notion that our words and ideas may incriminate us when those words pose no legitimate threat to ourselves or others, let alone national security or that of our schools.

I am most alarmed by our society’s stunning apathy with respect to its personal privacy – its blind acceptance of the idea that any and all surveillance by institutions is justified by the fact that one has nothing to hide so long as he or she operates solely within the confines of the law.

It is precisely this philosophy that has embodied the rationale for organizations ranging from Himmler’s SS to Soviet Russia’s KGB, and it is hardly one befitting of the supposedly democratic and egalitarian republic in which we live.

It is incumbent upon all of us to question our circumstances and embrace the tenets of liberty we cherish so dearly, yet relinquish so quickly in the name of security.

Teen columnist James Rappaport (a3rodmariners@aol.com) is a senior at Catalina Foothills High School. Teen columns are published each Tuesday.

Guest Writer

Remember Hansel and Gretel? Oblivious, ignorant and abandoned by their parents, if it weren’t for Hansel’s ingenuity, even President Bush’s Child Protection Act couldn’t have saved them from mortal destruction.

Luckily, the Grimm brothers were benevolent, and these two kids escaped their plight and lived long, healthy lives.

Many kids today, though, have no such luck.

Fear and poverty force many families – particularly immigrant Hispanic-Americans – to face critical cutbacks in child care.

As a result, the health of America’s low-income Hispanic children is strongly threatened by unaffordable medical services.

Less-expensive options linked to primary education can lessen these disparities in health care.

Hispanic immigrants make up a substantial part of Tucson’s economic and social infrastructure.

One million Arizonans – 1 in 3 Tucsonans – identify themselves as being of Mexican background.

Far more striking are the statistics on poverty: 58 percent of U.S. Hispanics live at or below the poverty line, compared with 18 percent of all other ethnic groups.

This disparity has led to growing health problems.

James Jaramillo of the U.S. Department of Education finds strong evidence of increased substance abuse, nutritional problems and infectious disease among Hispanics, of whom 25 percent lack health insurance.

Obesity also is rising; low socio-economic status has been linked to increasingly overweight children, and visiting any elementary school in the Tucson Unified School District will dishearteningly affirm this claim.

Addressing this health gap should be a primary concern of responsible Tucsonans.

Ninety percent of immigrants’ children are U.S. citizens without adequate health care.

How is this possible? Many parents hesitate to seek treatment for fear of deportation (think Proposition 200).

As a result, these kids’ health suffers the costs of parental unease. Assauging these fears through more family-friendly services could greatly improve child health.

Opponents of these programs – such as John Duval, chief operating officer of University Medical Center – say immigrant families already cost Tucson millions of dollars in annual health care.

“We wrote off $6 million in uncompensated services to illegal aliens last year,” The New York Times quotes Duval.

This figure may be overstated. In 2004, the U.S. General Accounting Office analyzed the effect of illegal immigrants on hospitals’ uncompensated costs and found no definitive conclusions.

High uncertainty is generated by inaccurate documentation of resident status. Accusing immigrants of draining public coffers, then, is akin to lighting a fire with no wood – merely unsubstantiated finger-pointing ungrounded in reliable data.

The health-care system needs national solutions through grass-roots efforts. Increasing school-based pediatric options is a community investment well worth the savings in expensive emergency room care.

Dr. Brenda Even and the Family Wellness Centers should be commended for providing low-cost, family-friendly services such as Salud Para Todos (Health for All).

If Tucson were to bridge the gap between these health centers and primary education, immigrant families could access more affordable options, easing the fears of hardworking parents and ensuring better health opportunities for Tucson’s little ones.

Investing in our children’s health is an investment in our future.

The “worth” of each child does not fall under racial or ethnic lines.

As Tucsonans, we need to refocus our attention to bolster health programs in local schools, particularly those with a high proportion of students from low-income Hispanic populations.

By exerting our moral conscience and public ingenuity, even the Grimm brothers would applaud the ending of this story.

Deanna Zhang of Tucson is a sophomore at Stanford University.