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Jim Kiser's Feb. 12 column "An enormous dilemma" highlights that Tucson needs to do what is best for the elephants at the Reid Park Zoo. It is disappointing to hear that city officials will not accept the Elephant Sanctuary's offer to take the elephants free of charge, despite knowing more than 4,000 local residents have voiced their support for the move. It seems officials are not representing the will of the people on this issue.

At the zoo, Connie and Shaba suffer from captivity-induced health problems including foot infections and psychological disorders. The zoo's proposed 7-acre expansion will waste money and leave the elephants in another inadequate enclosure, which is not big enough. This ill-conceived elephant expansion will divert resources and space that could be used to help other animals at the zoo.

Nicole Bourgoine

In response to the Feb. 11 editorial "Child-focused initiative deserves vote."

This is a way to progress, setting the tone for rewards to come for some of the least of these in our state. We can raise the level of children completing school and getting higher level opportunities in their vocations.

Warren & Jean Jones

As a concerned citizen, I wish to state my concern for the president's ability to break the laws of the United States. He is not above the law just because he is president. If he will not obey the law as the rest of the citizens of the United States, he should be impeached.

Chris Johnston

In response to the Feb. 11 columns "Will anyone stand up when it's time to say 'no'?" and "Vast gulf between privacy invasion, security in war."

A flower to the Star for publishing side-by-side dueling editorials on the National Security Agency foreign intelligence wiretapping program authored by Molly Ivins and Ross Mackenzie.

I don't remember the last time I saw the Star publish columns on both sides of an issue and allow the readers to draw their own conclusions. The editors must know more readers are turning to the Internet and blogs for their news and editorial opinions. For many, the reason is to avoid the so-called liberal bias of the press.

If the Star continues to publish columns covering both sides of an issue, many readers would leave the computer off in the morning. Who knows, maybe even the folks to the right of center who currently refer to your paper as the "Red" Star might see some purple. Well done.

William Berger, M.D.

Assistant professor of radiology, University of Arizona, Tucson

Every time I read about another pedestrian being killed it makes me mad. Making more laws and putting up more signs and lights will never protect any human from being killed by a 3,000-pound moving vehicle. All it does is give people a false sense of security and take away their natural survival ability

You can see the effects of people thinking they have the right of way by the way they interact with cars. They don't look before stepping out in car areas. They expect the cars to stop and wait.

I spent 10 years in a country that had no rules for pedestrians, no crosswalks, no acknowledgement that people needed to cross roads on foot. So you took your life in your hands every time you crossed a road. But you developed a survival mentality and stayed very alert.

Until society stops telling people they have the right of way as a pedestrian, people will continue to be killed.

Tish Hiestand

The media made quite a fuss about Dick Cheney's recent hunting accident in Texas, but they overlooked the following bumper sticker: "I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than ride in a car with Ted Kennedy."

John Q. Lesher

The chief problem with impeaching George W. Bush is that we would then be left with a vice president, who has actually been making Dubya's criminal decisions for him. Then we would have to impeach Dick Cheney as well.

These two men and their cronies have locked this nation in several impossible situations from which their successors will have the unlovely task of extricating us.

Pity the United States. Pity those who become president and vice president in 2008.

Patricia A. McKnight

It will take a meeting of all the editors to make a decision about the Danish cartoon.

If it were a Christian or Jewish cartoon, the Star would run it in bold colors. These must be the forgiving religions.

The Star has no problem printing the garbage that Tom Toles puts out when it suits your agenda. You can change the width of your paper and the type set, but to quote Mike Royko, "No self-respecting fish would be wrapped in … (your) paper."

Ray Rizzo

Retired military, Tucson