Tucson Weekly July 23, 2020

LOST TREASURES: SECOND ROUND OF BEST OF TUCSON® VOTING NOW UNDERWAY!

JULY 23 - JULY 29, 2020 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

The races for Pima County constable fall far down on the primary ballot. Here’s why you should pay attention this year.

By Kathleen B. Kunz THE SKINNY: McSally’s Unhealthy Record TUCSON SALVAGE: A Mother’s Reward DANEHY: Do The COVID Math

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JULY 23, 2020

Southern Arizona

COVID-19

THE LOCAL NUMBERS. The number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped 148,000 as of Tuesday, July 21, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. That’s up from roughly 128,000 on the previous Tuesday, July 14. Pima County had seen 13,848 of the state’s 148,863 confirmed cases. A total of 2,918 Arizonans had died after contracting COVID-19, according to the July 21 report. Arizona hospitals remain under pressure although the numbers of patients has declined from a peak earlier this month. ADHS reported that as of July 20, 3,041 COVID patients were hospitalized in the state, down from a peak of 3,517 on July 13 and the lowest number hospitalized since July 2, when 3,013 were hospitalized. A total of 1,203 people visited ERs on July 20 with COVID symptoms. The number of ER visits hadn’t hadn’t dipped that low since June 29, when 1,077 people with COVID symptoms visited ERs. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7. A total of 865 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds on July 20. That’s the lowest it’s been since July 8, when 861 COVID-19 patients were in ICU. The number in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13.

NO END IN SIGHT. Gov. Doug Ducey said last week that mask-wearing and steps to reduce the interaction of people in large groups had resulted in some positive signs regarding the spread of the virus, with the state reporting fewer cases on a week-by-week basis. He thanked local authorities for requiring the wearing of masks but did not issue a statewide mask mandate. Ducey warned the state still had a long road ahead in the fight against the deadly virus. “I want people to get their heads around this,” Ducey said. “There’s no end in sight today.” Cases in Pima County may have also peaked on a week-to-week basis in the week ending June 27 with 2,3000 new cases over those seven days. Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry noted that the two subsequent weeks could still be adjusted upwards, but during the week ending July 4, 2,092 cases were reported. However, Huckelberry noted that the week ending July 4, the county saw a peak of 37 deaths, up from 18 the previous week. Arizona Senate Democrats released a joint statement last week urging Ducey to enact a

Roundup

statewide mask mandate, implement more contact tracing and provide more PPE for hospitals and schools. “We are disappointed again that the Governor refuses to take stronger actions to curb the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus,” the lawmakers wrote. “More aggressive action is needed now to safely open schools in the future no matter what date is picked.”

HOLD OFF ON BUYING THOSE BACK-TO-SCHOOL ITEMS. Gov. Ducey said last week he would soon be making more announcements about the school year. While Arizona schools are tentatively scheduled to open on Aug. 17 (with some districts starting online programs sooner), Ducey called that “a date that’s out there” without firmly committing to it. Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, recently warned that while states that have taken more aggressive steps earlier to slow the spread of the virus will be able to reopen schools, he can’t see the same thing happening in Arizona. Humble, who headed up the Arizona Department of Health Services in the administration of former Gov. Jan Brewer, said there are two main factors to consider when opening schools in the fall: mitigation measures and the level of community spread within a school district. “Because we have the level of community spread that we have, I just don’t see that mitigation measures, which help but don’t eliminate transmission, are going to be adequate to make it a safe environment for teachers and schools and families,” Humble said.

Local school districts are planning a mix of “distance learning” online instruction and in-school instruction when school starts next month. Tucson Unified School

District said last week it will launch online classes for all students starting Aug. 10 but in order to avoid losing state funding, schools will open on Aug. 17 for any student who wants to attend class in person. However, students will be in “learning spaces” overseen by monitors where they will do the same distance learning program as students who remain home. All TUSD families will receive laptops. Other local school districts have announced a mix of online and in-person options but say they will be ready to go online-only if Ducey delays the start of the school year once again.

RENTER RELIEF. Gov. Ducey announced a new executive order extending the residential eviction moratorium until Oct. 31. The previous residential eviction moratorium was set to expire on Saturday, July 25. Ducey announced $650,000 would go to various community action agencies to improve staffing and help administer rental assistance programs for Arizonans statewide. Approximately $1.2 million in assistance has been distributed to Arizona renters since late March, according to the Governor’s Office. Additionally, Ducey announced $5 million to establish the Foreclosure Prevention Program to help residential landlords dependent on rental income to survive. “This will provide targeted relief to homeowners who rely on income from tenants to help them avoid foreclosure,” said Ducey, who added that state and local governments have directed more than $80 million on programs to assist renters and prevent homelessness. ■ —By Jim Nintzel with additional reporting from Kathleen B. Kunz, Austin Counts, Jeff Gardner and Tara Foulkrod.

RANDOM SHOTS By Rand Carlson

Cover design by Ryan Dyson

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JULY 23, 2020 | VOL. 35, NO. 30 The Tucson Weekly is available free of charge in Pima County, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies of the current issue of the Tucson Weekly may be purchased for $1, payable at the Tucson Weekly office in advance. To find out where you can pick up a free copy of the Tucson Weekly, please visit TucsonWeekly.com

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Story & photos by Brian Smith

Unboxing a Life A SIGN ON THE GLASS OUT front clearly states all customers must wear a mask. This guy steps in, refuses to wear one, “blah-blah …it’s my constitutional right … blah-blah,” the moronic lingo of the sanctimonious. She asks him to leave.

He growls at her, “You are going to have a war on your hands.”

You are going to have a war. That place where a disenchanted right-wing dude gets bitter by the remedies of his existence, keen to wage war on a petite, brown-skinned woman over the “pro-life” safety of a piece of facial cloth, as if whatever internal benevolence had asphyxiated in the fat of his belly.

Well, a war had already started for Lisa Desiderio. She is not going to tolerate such threats to public safety. Not inside her store, a little shipping center, tucked in a strip mall at Sunrise and Swan where she has run things for 25 years this August. She has already lost a friend, Dan Amaro, a UPS supervisor, to COVID-19.

On a recent early Sunday morning, someone cracked open the steel padlock of the shop’s portable storage unit out back, the smaller one perched between two sheds belonging to other shops in the plaza. They got in. When she opened the door and realized what had happened she collapsed inside that hot storage container and screamed.

Only thing of monetary value stolen was a chipped amethyst stone, a souvenir from the Tucson Gem Show, but it was a particularly cruel heist. A thief or thieves absconded with a few shipping documents and many archaeological relics of Desiderio’s lost lives, profound in their emotional significance and reprieves.

Some items even too painful to store at her home. An Old Testament bible with her father’s hand-scrawled notes inside and letters from her parents. Her son Freddie’s first pillow, his first pair of shoes, bronzed. His clothes. His baby box

filled of keepsakes. Sifted-through boxes, mostly things once belonging to Freddie, gone. Two stored computers stayed put.

See, Freddie died nearly five years ago at age 32, the oldest of Desiderio’s two sons. These were his things, all she had of him, a fortune worthless in another’s hands. She can’t think of a single person in the world who could do such a thing, a direct attack seemingly aimed to hurt her.

A surveillance video captured from the plaza’s backside reveals little, only a section of the back lot. The person or persons must have known this and skirted view, what’s identifiable is some kind of vehicle pulling up at 4 a.m.

Desiderio is sitting in her windowless back office, its workaday flatness cheery with humble ornaments, stay-positive adages and photos of her with her two sons, these mementoes to single motherhood, to love, a subtle war on the monotony of daily tasks. It is Saturday, her day off, and the air around her seems soft; her flowered open-toe wedges, matching sun-yellow nail polish on fingers and toes, jean cut-offs, and pink polka-dot mask create a show of sunshine. She is polite, and conscientious, to strangers and customers, and her presence is obvious. She is organized in that way single mothers can understand, effectual, makes her work invaluable to her company bosses. Her inner losses are compact yet familiar, stored and contained but not in the way you can screw a lid on a jar. The 53-year-old spends parts of her days running or cycling, and it shows in her slender, athletic build. Deep-set eyes transmit hard truths, eye contact inescapable, and she seems to understand this and diffuses otherwise serious life commentary with bursts of laughs and eager hand gestures.

This office has seen some personal stuff go down, stay in one place 25 years, and it adds up. She was here when the

officer informed her years ago that her man says she learned values from her 51-year-old mother had died of a heart church-going grandmother, who raised attack. Here she had conversations with her, grades one through six, in a barrio her friend who died of COVID-19. Here in working-class Madera, California, just she suffered through the death of her northeast of Fresno. Lisa’s parents were father, her son Freddie. Desiderio had a not the most organized, and she agrees boyfriend of 10 years, once married they with the term Mexican hippies. divorced a year later. A murder on the A couple of dutiful masked teenaghusband’s side of the family split the ers work the counter out front, clicking union. “He just changed,” she says, her seamlessly together, packaging, shipping, tone cool yet sad. filling locked boxes Now the robbery. with mail, taking It is a room orders for personal stamped with business cards. industriousness Someone ships inside a store that something every has secured her life, few minutes out of and she is grateful, this place. “Have a “blessed” for the great day,” and “See employ. The comyou soon,” addresspany takes care ing some customof her, she says, a ers by their first good living wage names. They each and autonomy show respect for inside a corporate their work and work structure. She is mother. She runs a general manager tight ship; she hired of a similar store in them, keeps them Show Low, Arizona, and other employhelping a young ees on here, and Lisa Desiderio holds a photo of her late son. safe, when work is woman there run the place. “I was scarce elsewhere. there once. She’ll look back and rememBy the time Desiderio arrived in ber me.”

Tucson in the early 1990s, to visit a brothShe says, “What brings me joy is when er who moved here with his wife, she I interview and hire a new employee. I get had her second son, Aaron. On that visit, to help someone.”

Aaron’s father left the family and bolted She is a self-critical migraine sufferer back to California. She never saw him who becomes animate talking about sons again. No child support, nada.

Freddie and Aaron. And by all accounts “We had an argument over something Freddie was smart, charismatic, and small and he left,” she says, half-laughs, woefully misunderstood. The kind of kid “but it really was a good thing.” who’d attend The Rocky Horror Picture She stayed in Tucson with her brother, Show at midnight dressed to the hilt. He worked at his eastside deli. Found success worked in hair salons and for Mac cosselling burritos door-to-door to nearby metics. “He was the perfect person to go offices. (“I was called the burrito girl.”) shopping with,” she laughs. “He’d help me She saved, landed an apartment, began dress and do my makeup. I miss that.” working two jobs. Others noticed her Desiderio birthed Freddie at 16, a highhard-work ethic. school girl in love with a boy two years “In those days working two miniyounger. That boy grew up in a macho mum-wage jobs was good. I looked back culture and his resentments kept him dis- and I thought I had a lot of money.” The tanced from his gay son Freddie, but his jobs led her to this shipping center. She parents helped. “They were a blessing,” knew how to ship, work with customers. she says. “Freddie never went without.”

Here she learned everything on the fly, Desiderio would bring Freddie to high expense reports, payroll, management. school with her, and her mother volunFreddie was six years older than Aaron, teered in the nursery to help care for the could help get him to school. A friend boy. helped babysit.

This daughter of a lawn-service CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

JULY 23, 2020

DANEHY

LET’S PAY LESS ATTENTION TO THE NUMBERS AND MORE ATTENTION TO THE TRENDS. AND MASK UP!

By Tom Danehy, tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com

THE BIG BANG THEORY HAD A RECURRING

left quite a while ago.)

Sitting through online Mass today, I realized that the gospel about the man who sowed good wheat seed only to have an enemy come along and sow weeds in with the good seed had a modern relevance. The internet can be a valuable source of good information, but it is also a cesspool of ignorance. For every balanced journalistic story about Dr. Fauci, there’s a website that claims that his wife is the sister of Ghislane Maxwell. (Sadly, I’m not making that up.) For every informative Covid-19 website, there are four or five that use racist language to describe a virus that’s definitely a hoax but has killed the same number of people as the flu, except those people aren’t really dead because an out-of-work game-show host knows that the names were made up by the Deep State to hurt Trump’s re-election chances.

Websites like rt.live help us to understand that which we already know in our hearts and minds. It doesn’t take a math genius to know that infections are going to spike a couple weeks after Arizona goes from sheltering in place to opening up bars and gyms. What it does take is someone who is willing to see and acknowledge the truth. The saying that “there are none so blind as those who will not see” has never been more true. The governor of Oklahoma tested positive for COVID-19 a couple weeks after attending the disastrous Trump rally in Tulsa (without a mask) but swears that there is no way he got the virus there.

I take great solace in knowing that almost everybody these days is wearing a mask. None of us enjoys it, but we’re doing it for each other.

I hope that the stores hire gigantic security people to tell the mask-less morons to take their sorry asses on down the road so that the overworked and underappreciated store workers won’t have to. I’d be willing to add a surcharge to help pay for the guards. Wouldn’t you?

These pariahs don’t get the math because they’re too dumb to understand it. And they don’t get America because they’re too selfish to embrace it. ■

character, a likeable dimwit named Zach who was bestknown for saying things like, “That’s one of the great things about science—there’s no one right answer.” That’s cute (and utterly false), but in the Time of the Pandemic, in these life-or-death days, being dimwitted (especially intentionally so) is not likeable or useful or acceptable. It’s criminal.

Not everybody is good at math and science. That’s just a fact of life. However, I’ve never understood why it’s socially acceptable to brag about one’s deficiency in that area. (“Oh, I’m horrible at math…giggle.”) It’s like standing up at a formal dinner party and announcing that you have really bad incontinence. It happens, but keep it to yourself (in both word and deed).

It was obvious from the start of this mess that the media would often take the lazy route and just throw a bunch of numbers at the watchers/listeners/ readers. That way, there is something for everybody and essentially nothing for anybody. You give people a smorgasbord of figures and they can pick and choose what they want to bolster their argument or (as is more often the case) to give themselves an excuse to ignore the reality that’s right in front of their faces.

I could spout real (and important) numbers, but then I would be engaging in the same folly I just criticized. More enlightening are trends. There is a figure known as the Effective Reproduction Rate R (sub-t). If it is above 1.0, the virus is likely to spread quickly. If it’s under 1.0, that will slow the spread. Arizona was well above 1.0 when JEN SORENSEN the shelter-in-place order went out. Within a couple of weeks, it dipped below 1.0 and stayed there for the entire month of April. As soon as Doug Ducey opened up the state, it skyrocketed back over 1.0 and stayed there from the beginning of May until the end of June. Last week, it dipped just below 1.0 but as of this writing, that’s been revised to just about 1.0, which means the virus is, as of the Weekly’s deadline, on the spread.

I highly recommend looking at the website rt.live.

You can see the charts and the curves that illustrate how Ducey has failed us, how local leaders have nudged things in the right direction, and (most importantly) how the vast majority of Arizonans are taking this (and each other’s health) seriously and bending this monster to our will.

Not everybody is on board. There are radio talkshow ass-clowns who, like their Lord and Master, are incapable of admitting that they were wrong about the virus. And there is Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller, who somehow believes that wearing a mask can cause cancer from your own bad breath blowing back into your lungs. (She is on her way out; her mind

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THE SKINNY

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By Jim Nintzel jnintzel@tucsonweekly.com

FACEBOOK.COM/JIMNINTZEL @NINTZEL

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HEALTHY SKEPTICISM

Fact checkers continue to call BS on McSally’s healthcare claims.

SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY’S EFFORTS to rehabilitate her record on healthcare hit another setback last week, when the Arizona Republic revealed that the average voter featured in McSally’s latest healthcare ad was actually Whitney Lawrence, a former campaign staffer for former Sen. Jeff Flake.

Sure, Republican political operatives can certainly have preexisting conditions, as Lawrence does. But Lawrence’s argument— that a government takeover of healthcare is bad because the insurance she purchased under the Affordable Care Act didn’t cover her treatment for a rare blood disorder at the Mayo Clinic—is fundamentally flawed because Democrat Mark Kelly, who is challenging McSally, has said on the campaign trail that he doesn’t support a Medicarefor-All program, although he does support a public option to buy insurance from a government insurer such as Medicare.

McSally has repeatedly voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which is the only law that prevents insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. And at no point has McSally ever voted for legislation that would guarantee everyone treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

The ad also raises the question of why McSally is having such a hard time finding

average people who support her healthcare proposals. An earlier ad featured a testimonial from former McSally aide Kristen Douglas and another featured former Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell in a non-speaking role as supportive senior. It’s almost like ordinary people aren’t around to talk about how McSally has helped them.

The latest fact-checker to call bullshit on McSally’s healthcare claims is the Washington Post, which gave McSally four Pinnochios for her claim in a TV ad that she “will always protect people with preexisting conditions. Always.”

As WaPo points out—and as PolitiFact and the Tucson Weekly, among others, have previously pointed out—McSally has already broken that promise by repeatedly voting to repeal the only law that does protect people with preexisting conditions.

McSally says she’s being smeared with lies from her opponents and the liberal hacks in the media, but just saying you will protect people with preexisting conditions doesn’t make up for voting for legislation that would strip away those protections.

Meanwhile, as the federal $600-a-week boost for unemployment payments is coming to an end, McSally has failed to make any effort to extend them—which shouldn’t be that surprising, since she voted against providing the extra dough in the first place.

All of this explains why poll after poll shows her trailing Democrat Mark Kelly.

The Real Clear Politics polling average in Arizona shows Kelly ahead by 5 percentage points—and that’s only if you throw in a survey by wackadoodle news outlet One

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America News Network, which recently produced a poll showing McSally with a 5 percentage point lead over Kelly. Could be that Team McSally is taking some solace in that one, even though it’s quite a difference from other public polls released this year, which have shown Kelly leading by between 4 percentage points and 13 percentage points.

But McSally can’t take much solace in the fundraising numbers as Kelly once again dominated the latest quarter. McSally did better than she has in the past, bringing in about $9 million. But Kelly also had a record-breaking quarter, bringing in a staggering $12 million. At the end of the quarter, Kelly had nearly $24 million in the bank, compared to McSally’s $11 million. ■

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

deliver orders of protection. They deliver court summons. And they deliver a whole lot of eviction notices—a topic that’s big in the news these days, as Gov. Doug Ducey last week extended through Oct. 31 a moratorium preventing The races for Pima County constable fall far residential evictions for down on the primary ballot. Here’s why you those who can show they have a hardship should pay attention this year. related to COVID-19.

By Kathleen B. Kunz That moratoriKathleen@tucsonlocalmedia.com um—along with a lengthy shutdown IT’S HARD ENOUGH FOR MOST of most cases in voters to keep track of their state lawmakJustice Court—has ers and offices like county recorder or delayed many county assessor. When you get so far down evictions, although the ballot that you hit the county constable, it does little good you might not even know what the job for renters who fail to entails, much less who is running for office. demonstrate to the court But this year, it’s worth paying attention that they have a COVID-relatto three of the constables running for the ed hardship. job in next month’s Democratic primary.

The nature of the constable’s job means Constables Joe Ferguson (who is facing they often find families at their worst George Camacho), Bennett Bernal (who is moments, especially when it comes to facing Roberto Ponti) and Kristin Randall evictions, typically for missed rent due to (who is facing a write-in candidate) have a variety of reasons—losing a job, unexbeen working to address problems in the pected hospital bills, necessary car repairs, eviction process and keep people in their you name it. These days, it could be that homes. you can’t find work because a pandemic is Constables have a tough job. They ravaging huge sectors of the economy.

JULY 23, 2020

The eviction process is linear and quick.

The rent is due on the first of the month, and tenants have a five-day grace period.

By the sixth day, rent is officially late and an eviction notice can be delivered, meaning that a tenant must pay or leave within the following five days.

By the 11th day, a court complaint can be filed, with a hearing scheduled within six days. If the tenant loses that court hearing, they have five days to leave. If they’re not out of the house by then, a constable comes to the residence and gives the tenant just hours to pack up all the belongings they can take with them, before the locks are changed.

While they have a right to fight an eviction, most people don’t attend their court hearing, whether it’s because they don’t have transportation or they can’t find someone to watch their kid or they can’t take a day off from a low-wage job. Many are intimidated by the legal or system or figure they won’t win—and indeed, the majority of

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cases are decided in favor of the landlord.

But when they don’t show up to court, tenants don’t receive vital information about their eviction. There’s no service of the judgement, there’s no notification, and they don’t know they have six days until a constable will show up to evict them.

IN HOPES OF GIVING PEOPLE more than a few hours’ notice to gather their belongings, Randall, Ferguson and Bernal have worked to launch a program where the court gives them the paperwork that tenants missed at their hearings, and they deliver it to the tenants, in order to keep them apprised of the situation.

Both Randall (a former hydrologist who launched herself into political advocacy by forming Indivisible Southern Arizona after Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory) and Ferguson (a former journalist who covered politics and Pima County government for the Arizona Daily Star) were appointed to their jobs in the last year, while Bernal has been on the job for about a decade.

Between the three of them, they serve roughly two-thirds of all evictions in Pima County’s 10 precincts. Their jobs require them to be on the front lines, encountering people who often have nowhere to go and no plans for what to do next.

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Depending on the time of month, they serve anywhere from five to 15 evictions each day.

“I’ve had 26 come in on one day once,” Randall said.

The constables have had to make tough decisions on the job. Each tells stories of being faced with the responsibility to kick vulnerable people out of their homes. Some were in their 80s, some used the assistance of wheelchairs, some had to leave in the summer when temperatures surpassed 105 degrees. Recently, some have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and cannot find a new one.

“This (program) is a Band-Aid,” Bernal said. “It allows us to give them four to five days, possibly six. They’ve got that much time to realize they need to leave. … This basically gives us an opportunity to let them know when the actual eviction is going to occur.”

The constables try to show up at a tenant’s door when they’re likely to be home. If they’re able to make contact, they’ll walk them through the court minutes document and explain the most important information.

All three constables say that before the COVID-19 outbreak hit, they were seeing some positive results from their efforts, with more tenants able to vacate the premises before they arrived to change the locks. While they were still finding tenants dangerously close to homelessness, they also were working with local nonprofits and shelters to find emergency housing, despite limited options in many situations.

By the time constables deliver these court minutes to the tenants, the judgement has already been made against them.

Randall said they can only try their best to connect them with the proper resources, and work with the property managers to become more proactive, rather than reactive.

Their work has been well received by many landlords.

“I have a very large HSL property, they do a bunch of evictions all at once every month,” Randall said. “I would go out at night with my flashlight trying to find these doors to knock on. It was about the second or third month in, when they finally realized what we were doing because at the same time every month, there would be a line waiting for the office to open in the morning with people wanting to pay up or to come up with a payment plan. They loved the program after that.”

Aspen Wolff has been a property manager since 2016. When she worked at Navajo Hills Apartments near Stone Avenue and Fort Lowell Road, she interacted with Bernal during every eviction. She likes his program because it helps tenants become more informed, and they’re no longer caught off guard by the process.

“They can be aware and try to make arrangements because it’s no fun to have the constable showing up at your door that day and giving you five minutes to get your most important documents and things,” Wolff said. “It’s very stressful, especially if you have children, especially if you have pets. I’ve had people leave their pets behind in the apartments and it’s heartbreaking. It really is.”

In order for their program to be successful, Bernal said their efforts need to be supported by the property management companies.

“It’s got to be a partnership of everyone

helping each other, we can only do so much. They can do more,” Bernal said. “The key to this is the private sector, because if they buy in on this, they can do so much good in the community for everybody.”

Besides providing more advance notice ahead of evictions, Randall, Ferguson and Bernal have worked to link up people facing evictions with agencies that help find housing for the homeless. There are numerous agencies with the means to help, but they have various grants, which may or may not have funding at certain times of the month, and they may have certain stipulations, so finding the right fit for a tenant about to be evicted in a matter of days can be nearly impossible.

Earlier this year, the Constable’s Office created a part-time position for a resource coordinator, whose entire job is to figure out how to navigate this maze of resources.

The two largest homeless shelters in the region are Salvation Army and Gospel Rescue. Both of them split the population by gender, and both don’t take people who aren’t considered “self-sufficient,” which may include certain types of disabilities.

If a family is being evicted from their home, both shelters have very limited space where they can keep families together.

And it’s a no-go for some people because shelters don’t allow pets.

When situations such as these arise, the constables see no other solutions for an evicted tenant on the brink of homelessness. Earlier this year, Ferguson asked the City of Tucson to back the constables on another program, to provide 30 Section 8 housing vouchers per month, which are in extremely high demand.

They worked out an agreement, and the

constables have used a handful of these vouchers when all other options have been exhausted.

“We’re hoping that by using some of the city’s emergency vouchers for this purpose, we can avoid homelessness altogether,” Ferguson said.

FERGUSON’S OPPONENT IS George Camacho, who worked in the Constable’s Office for 18 years and also sought the appointment to the Precinct 9 office when Constable Colette Philip retired in January.

Camacho was fired from his job in April based on a harassment complaint that accused him of threatening and degrading behavior towards women in the office.

Ferguson, who posted about the investigation on Facebook, said the initial complaints and HR report were filed months before he became a constable.

“It is our duty to keep men who abuse women out of the constable’s office, and to hold them accountable to their actions,” Ferguson wrote. “Mr. Camacho should not be given a gun and badge. He should not become the boss of the women he harassed.

He should not be in a position of authority while working with vulnerable women in our community.”

Camacho said he is being attacked by his political opponent. On Facebook, he said he never received negative reviews from his employer until he decided to run for the constable position.

Camacho said he was accused of bullying by an employee in the Constable’s Office and Human Resources responded with “informal discipline and mediation CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

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Don’t forget to vote by Mail or on August 4, 2020

JULY 23, 2020

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Supporters of the recreational weed initiative have a lot more money than opponents

By Austin Counts austin@tucsonlocalmedia.com BACKERS OF A BALLOT initiative to ask voters to approve the use of recreational marijuana for adults over 21 have a major cash advantage over opponents of the proposition.

In a report filed last week with the Arizona Secretary of State, Smart and Safe Arizona reported having raised more than $3.4 million as of June 30.

“We’re absolutely on target,” said Stacy Pearson of Strategies 360, the political consulting firm that was behind previously successful legalization efforts for Colorado residents in 2014 and again in Alaska the following year. “Funders, both local dispen-

saries and national names in the business, have committed the resources necessary to get this done.”

After paying for signature gathering, political strategists and other expenses, the group still had more than a half-million left in the bank.

Major donors to the campaign include a variety of medical marijuana dispensaries and growers, including Harvest Enterprises, which has contributed $1.4 million, and the Arizona Dispensaries Association, which has contributed $79,500.

The political committee opposing the proposition, Arizonans for Health and Public Safety, had raised a little over $107,000 by the June filing date. After expenses, only $72,000 remains in the AHPS coffirs to combat legalizing hippie lettuce.

“We feel confident in our ability to respond to their filing,” said chairwoman for Arizonans for Public Safety Lisa James.

“Our plan moving forward is to defeat this in the courts or at the ballot box.”

Pearson said she’s reluctant to give an exact number on what the group plans on spending on the campaign to persuade voters to approve the measure, but did say it would be “within seven figures.”

“We’re going to start our paid media CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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FOLLOW THE MONEY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

programs to communicate with voters that we’re on track to qualify for the ballot,” Pearson said. “We’re going to have a robust and well-funded marketing plan.”

She’s also anticipating court costs if a legal challenge is filed against the proposition, but is also unwilling to disclose how much the group has set aside.

James said while her group is looking at all their legal options to challenge Smart and Safe Arizona, she noted they needed to do something quick because “there’s not a lot of time.”

The opposition leader also declined to elaborate on the financial lengths Arizonans for Public Safety is willing to go to defeat Smart and Safe Arizona, but said she was confident her group would receive the necessary funding.

In 2016, when opponents narrowly defeated a similar proposition, they raised $6.4 million. But Discount Tire Co. owner Bruce Halle, who quietly donated $1 million to the opposition campaign, died in 2018 and Insys Therapeutics owner John Kapoor, who gave $500,000, is now behind bars after being convicted of participating in a scheme to bribe doctors into prescribing

his company’s fentanyl medication, Subsys.

“We feel confident we’ll have enough money to compete and get our message across,” James said. “We feel very confident that we’re going to to be able to rely on having the dollars we need to be successful.”

According to the June 30 state filed campaign finance reports, conservative PAC Center for Arizona Policy is bankrolling James’ group after making two $50,000 donations March and June of this year. The PAC also made two $10,000 contributions to similar anti-legalization efforts in 2016.

So far, polling suggests the public is generally supportive of the proposition. A May poll by political consultants HighGround showed that 65 percent of the public supported legalizing recreational use, while just 25 percent were opposed.

While roughly 70 percent of Democrats and Independents surveyed supported the measure, even 56 percent of Republicans said they were on board with it.

Pearson suggested many who voted no for legalization in 2016 are now willing to lean the other way four years later. She believes issues like the state’s economy and criminal justice reforms are what Arizona voters are most concerned about and Smart and Safe Arizona helps to address those issues. ■

JULY 23, 2020

CONSTABLE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

between me and my co-worker.”

He blames Randall, the presiding constable who signed his termination letter, for firing him because she has a “longstanding personal relationship” with Ferguson.

“I believe this was a political ploy, retaliation, and abuse of power by the presiding constable,” Camacho wrote.

“My opponent and the presiding constable will stop at nothing to keep their power and privilege. They are desperately trying to smear a strong Latino’s name and reputation.”

Bernal is facing Roberto Ponti, an Italian immigrant who works as a process server and private investigator. He hopes to facilitate resolutions between landlords, tenants and courts and improve logistics in tracking papers and communications between these parties.

“As a process server and an officer of the court, I have served thousands of civil and criminal papers in Pima County,” Ponti said. “As a private Investigator licensed by the Department of Public Safety, I have done thousands of hours of civil and criminal investigation while

closing multiple cases in the pretrial releases of defendants in guaranteeing their presence in court hearings. I see myself as the liaison between the courts and the community, and I believe I will be good at it.”

Ponti is multilingual in Italian, English, Spanish and French and said his experience serving papers in the private sector has taught him the importance of working efficiently and being accountable.

If elected, Ponti is interested in identifying existing grants that can be repurposed to help renters most affected

by COVID-19.

“This is a national emergency and should be treated with that level of solemnity,” he said.

Randall will face Republican write-in candidate Ron DeSouza.

She says she brings a personal perspective to the job.

“When I was 18, my parents threw me out of the house,” Randall said. “I lived in a tent. I had nothing but the clothes on my back. I know what it’s like. I know what people are going through. So to be able to be in a position to do something about it is my mission. It’s more than just a job to me.” ■

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

By Rob Brezsny. Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY HOROSCOPE 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 $1.99 per minute. 18 and over. Touchtone phone required.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “The creation of the world did not take place once and for all time, but takes place every day.” Aries playwright Samuel Beckett made that observation, and now I’m passing it on to you as you glide into an extra-creative phase of your astrological cycle. I hope you will regard Beckett’s idea as an open-ended encouragement to improvise and experiment. May it rouse you to brainstorm about novel possibilities. May it inspire you to explore fresh trends you could launch. May it mobilize you to imagine the new worlds you might Big Bang into existence.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Diane Ackerman tells us, “So often loneliness comes from being out of touch with parts of oneself.” That’s the kind of loneliness I worry you may be susceptible to right now, Taurus. You’re a bit out of touch with aspects of your psyche that are crucial for you to include in your total sense of self. You’ve been neglecting to nurture certain soulful qualities that keep you healthy and wise. Please note: It won’t be useful to try to find those parts of you in other people; you will have to locate them in your own depths. Here’s the good news: The coming weeks will be an excellent time to do just that.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Someone ought to do it, but why should I?” Author and activist Annie Besant identified that sentence as the motto of people who are moral cowards: those who know about an injustice but do nothing to address it. Very few of us have completely avoided that behavior. Most of us, including me, have now and then chosen to serve our need for comfort instead of standing up against corruption or unfairness.

But I think it’s more important than usual that you Geminis don’t engage in such moral cowardice now. More depends on your integrity and bravery than you realize.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Born in 1936, Cancerian

author and activist June Jordan was a black feminist bisexual born to Jamaican immigrant parents.

When she was growing up, her father beat her and her mother committed suicide. Later, she raised her child alone as a single mother. Despite the challenges she faced, she published 28 books, won numerous awards, and wielded significant influence. How did she do it? She was a highly evolved Cancerian in the sense that she put a priority on treating herself well. “I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect,” she testified. I’d like to make that your keynote for the rest of 2020. Your task is to achieve June Jordanlevels of self-care.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “How can I communicate to wild bunnies that I am their ally?” asked a Twitter blogger named Ghost Girl. That question is a good place to start my oracle for you. In the coming weeks, I think you’ll be wise to meditate on how to enhance your relationship with all kinds of wild things: animals, people, weather, landscapes, and your own exotic thoughts and fantasies. In my opinion, you will upgrade your intelligence and well-being by increasing your access to influences that don’t necessarily play by conventional rules and that draw their energy from primal sources.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It’s never too late to have a rebellious adolescence—hopefully bigger and better and smarter than any you’ve had before.

And according to my analysis, now would be a favorable time to get started. Is there any stuffy authority you’d be wise to flout? Any dumb and oppressive conventions you would benefit from breaking? Any stale old traditions you’re primed to ignore so you can create some lively new traditions? In my estimation, you will generate good fortune for yourself if you try some benevolent mischief and creative experiments.

SAVAGE LOVE COMMITTED

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net

Is it terrible to believe you can still have a truly monogamous and loving relationship with one partner after twenty years?

Or can we walk into a relationship knowing that within those decades of being together that situations like infidelity or being attracted to another is completely unavoidable? And if we acknowledge that in some cases it’s truly unavoidable, should we mentally prepare ourselves for this possibility during our “monogamous” stage? Early on in dating?

—Hopelessly Optimistic Person Enquires Be prepared.

Knowing what we do about infidelity

and how common it is over the course of long-term relationships, HOPE, it’s a good idea to have a conversation early in a relationship about what you will do if and/or when one and/or the other and/or both of you should cheat years or decades later. It’s best for this convo to happen at the tail end of the infatuation stage but before you’ve made any sort of formal commitment—you know, after you’ve had your first fight but still at that stage when the thought of ever wanting to fuck someone else seems ridiculous.

Committing at that point to at least trying to work through an infidelity doesn’t guarantee the relationship will survive

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Your word of power for the coming weeks is ubuntu, a Zulu term meaning “I am because we are” or “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.” Nobel Prize-winning theologian Archbishop Desmond Tutu writes, “A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished.” I hope that between now and August 25, Libra, you will put ubuntu at the center of everything you do. Make it an intensely practical practice.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them,” says Scorpio-born Liberian politician Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. “If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.” I trust you’ve arrived at this realization on your own in the past few weeks. And I hope you have audaciously expanded and supercharged your dreams so that they do indeed surpass your current ability to accomplish them. If you have not yet done this daring work, please attend to it now. If you have done it, move on to the next step: making definite plans to acquire the power and resources necessary to achieve your new, improved dreams.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “The soul should always stand ajar,” wrote Sagittarian poet Emily Dickinson, “That if the heaven inquire, / He will not be obliged to wait, / Or shy of troubling her.”

I’m confident that this will be a fertile meditation for you in the coming weeks. So what does it mean? By “heaven,” I assume Dickinson meant marvelous interventions, sacred revelations, and lucky accidents—and maybe also soulful invitations, out-of-the-blue opportunities, and supernatural breakthroughs. What do you think, Sagittarius?

What can you do to make your soul ajar for phenomena like those?

not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.” I agree! And therefore, I conclude, you should shed any resentment you might feel for the fact that our world is a crazy tangle of mystifying and interesting stories. Drop any wish that life will stop being so fascinatingly messy and confusingly intriguing. Instead, why not celebrate the deep riddles? And revel in the intriguing complexity?

And give holy thanks for the paradoxical beauty?

Everything I just said should prepare you well for the next four weeks.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You’ll be extra sensitive to stimuli in the coming weeks. Every little event will touch you more intensely than usual.

Every perception will flow into you with an unusually strong potential to move you and influence you. That’s why I think you should be vigilantly self-protective. Erect a psychic shield around yourself. Make sure your boundaries are firm and clear.

Affirm your unshakable commitment to deflecting vibes that aren’t of use to you and welcoming vibes that will enhance your well-being.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Actress Gwyneth Paltrow founded Goop, a company that markets exotic, expensive health treatments. She claims that far-infrared gemstone therapy and crystal-based sound-healing baths will dissolve your negativity. Allowing bees to sting your scars will supposedly cause the scars to fade. Drinking “sex juice,” a blend of watermelon and alkaline water, will enhance your libido. The “collagen martini,” which is a mix of vodka, vermouth, olive juice, and collagen peptides, will smooth your skin’s wrinkles. I’m favorably disposed to you taking strong actions to improve your well-being in the coming weeks, Pisces, but I recommend that you try cheaper, more reliable modalities than those Paltrow recommends. Like what? Ample sleep and good food, for starters, along with fun exercise, time in nature, enjoyable meditation sessions, and tender expressions of love. ■

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Everything is complicated,” wrote poet Wallace Stevens. “If that were

Homework: Are there any ways in which you would benefit from becoming more well-balanced?

Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

and it doesn’t obligate you to remain in the relationship. But it ups the chances the relationship will survive an infidelity that it could and perhaps should survive.

Because remember… when it comes to cheating… some types are worse than others. There are differences in degree.

If you found out your husband fucked your sister on your wedding night, well, that’s probably not something you’ll be able to forgive. But an instantly regretted one-off on a business trip (remember those?) or prolonged affair after 20 years and two kids and both partners long ago started taking their sexual connection for granted and both allowed it to wither? That’s something you can work past and are likelier to work past if you agreed to at least try to work past it before the kids and the taking for granted and the business trips.

Zooming out for a moment…

The culture encourages us to see cheating as a relationship-extinction-level event—an unforgivable betrayal, something no relationship can survive.

Which seems nuts when you pause to consider just how common cheating is.

Defining cheating as always unforgivable sets up for failure otherwise good and loving relationships that might be able to survive an infidelity.

If instead of telling us that no relationship could ever survive an infidelity the culture told us that cheating in monogamous or non-monogamous is always serious betrayal—it’s not at all trivial— but it’s something a relationship can survive, HOPE, then more relationships that should survive infidelities would… I hope you’re sitting down… actually wind up surviving infidelities. The truth

JULY 23, 2020

cult for sex workers to find new regular clients. Sending this woman a generous final tip—perhaps the price of a session, if you can swing it—would soften the blow of losing you as a regular client and would tide her over until she can replace you.

Don’t thank me, IMNY, thank all the nice sex workers and sex workers’ rights advocates who were kind enough to

share their thoughts after I tweeted out your question and asked #SexWorkTwitter to weigh in. The general consensus was for you to send a brief note letting this woman know you won’t be booking her again. A short selection from the responses…

Kalee D. (@GoddessKaleeLA): “I’ve had this happen a few times before and the couple that wrote me a note with honesty were so deeply appreciated.

The others, I always wondered what I did wrong or if they died in some freak accident.”

Maya Midnight (@MsMayaMidnight): “I’d be worried if a longtime regular disappeared during a pandemic! Send a quick text or email saying you’re taking a break but you’ve enjoyed your time together. No need for more detail about why. A parting gift would be a nice gesture.”

SoftSandalwood (@SoftSandalwood): “Pro Domme here. Definitely let her know what’s going on, so she doesn’t wonder if you’re OK, if she did something wrong, etc. It’s the job of a pro to understand and respect boundaries.

Thanks for a thoughtful question.”

Daddy Lance (@LanceNavarro): “Agreed 100%. The majority of us are deeply empathetic and prefer closure over mystery.”

A final thought from me: sex workers value trustworthy regular clients and FOSTA/SESTA and the coronavirus pandemic have made it incredibly diffi-

best friend fatally shot herself in junior high, an accident. His first true love died at 21, a freak heart attack in the shower.

Freddie and his mother were devastated. “I had dinner with them the night before,” she says. “They had just moved into their first apartment together and we were celebrating. I just adored him.”

Debilitating depression (and, later, neuropathy) gorged on Freddie’s emotional well-being and it wasn’t long before prescription-happy doctors propped him up on myriad drugs, including morphine. She has no kind words for the doctors and their prescription pads.

He self-medicated with drink too.

Desiderio’s son expired in his sleep inside his downtown apartment. The autopsy concluded natural causes, not O.D., not suicide. His heart just stopped.

A heart his mother and brother say was big. What does it take to stop a big heart?

Freddie’s death nearly did her in, led her “to the bottle.” Her son Aaron came and “looked at me and said ‘I’m going to move in.’ He said he didn’t want to lose me. He moved in and changed his whole life around.” Her eyes well up. “I stopped drinking.”

The single woman leans toward sunny summations now, anchors meaning of the importance of life to her remaining son, who is doing well in a new job.

“What keeps me going is Aaron is still in this world.” Her voice hushes, she leans forward for emphasis, sinuous, yellow-polished hands flat on her spare desk, and says, “Where was God in all of this? He blesses the bad people but what about those trying to do good? Where is the mercy?”

She stands to reveal a gnarly strawberry scab on her knee, and laughs. “I was on my run yelling at the universe and the universe yelled back. I fell right

down on my face.”

Affixed to The UPS Store’s front window is a child’s crayon sketch, a tender juxtaposition against the utilitarian backdrop. It shows a rainbow flanked by two clouds and a shining sun, depicting a world of inclusion. Near that hangs a COVID-19 mask warning. Near that hangs a different kind of notice: A mother’s plea for the return of mementoes of her dead parents and son.

A reward is offered, no questions asked.

“Freddie lived life,” Desiderio says. “I’m glad he did all the things I told him not to.

He had fun. He danced and he laughed.

Now I go to sleep and I have these dreams … I am asking for mercy. Just give me those personal items back.” ■

is, many relationships don’t just survive infidelities but actually wind up thriving in the wake of the disclosure or exposure of an affair because the healing process brings the couple closer together. (This is not a good reason to have an affair, of course, nor is it the reason why anyone has ever had an affair.) Reinforcing the idea that affairs always destroy relationships: Couples who remain together after an affair usually don’t talk openly about the cheating, while couples who separate or divorce after an affair can hardly bring themselves to talk about anything else.

Now to quickly answer your first questions…

Yes, it is possible for two people to remain monogamous for 20 years. It can be done—of course it can—but there are lots of people out there who think they’ve done it but are mistaken. Some people think they’ve been in successfully monogamous relationships for 20 years have been cheated on—or they themselves have done something their partners might regard as cheating—and the one-off infidelity or the ongoing affair or the happy endings were never exposed or disclosed.

And your partner is going to find other people attractive—and not in 20 years.

Today, right now, your partner is going to lay eyes on someone else they find attractive, HOPE, just as you will probably lay eyes—but only eyes—on someone else you find attractive. Making a mo-

nogamous commitment doesn’t mean you don’t wanna fuck other people, it means you will refrain from fucking other people. If the lie we’re told about love and attraction were true—if being in love with someone left you incapable of finding someone else attractive—we wouldn’t need to make monogamous commitments. We wouldn’t need to promise to not fuck anyone or extract that promise from someone else if being in left rendered us incapable of even noticing how hot your barista is.

SALVAGE, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

In ensuing years, Desiderio began taking care of her parents too. She tells how growing up, dad would vanish for long periods of time on “vacation.” She laughs. Adds, “he persevered.” Her alcoholic father outlived her mother, died of cirrhosis.

“You don’t choose your parents,” she says. “But my mother taught us to love each other.” A testimony to the close relationships she shares with her two brothers.

Cruel bullying of Freddie began in earnest in middle school, so mom moved the family to an apartment in the Catalina Foothills to get into a better school district. But the torment worsened at the supposedly more progressive Catalina Foothills High, so it was back to the eastside schools, in and out. “He was only trying to find himself,” she says.

Tragedy swirled around Freddie. His

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 13

What is the etiquette for breaking up with an escort you’ve been seeing regularly? A little background: I’m married and have been seeing an escort for the past three years about twice a month. The sex is amazing. We’ve developed a friendship and get along very well. The issue is that I’ve gotten emotionally attached. I constantly think of her and she’s always on my mind. It’s negatively affected my marriage and I need to break it off. I don’t want to hurt her as I have genuine affection but I need to stop seeing her. Do I send a note with an explanation? Or do I ghost and stop sending her text messages? I’m the one who initiates contact. She never reaches out to me first. Thanks for your advice.

—It’s Me Not You

That was great advice you gave to “Virgin” in last week’s column. I was a 39-year-old virgin and started seeing sex workers. I found one that had the kind of qualities mentioned by the sex worker you quoted in your column. She was a kind, caring and compassionate person that I saw regularly for a year. Being with her gave me confidence in my sexual abilities and allowed me to experience physical affection. A little while later I met my future wife. I was even able to tell her about my experiences with sex workers and she wasn’t offended and didn’t shame me. She was actually intrigued. I hope VIRGIN takes your advice. If he finds the right sex worker, like I did, it will change his life.

—One Grateful Client Thanks for sharing, OGC! ■ mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage.

Listen to the Savage Lovecast every Tuesday at www.savagelovecast.com: This week with the Kinsey Institute’s Dr. Justin Lehmiller.

If anyone has info on the stolen items, email Lisa Desiderio at The UPS Store: store2362@theupsstore.com.

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JULY 23, 2020

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I bring trailer & cash! (AzCAN)

Service Directory HANDYMAN

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Doors* Drywall* Painting Roof Repair/Coating* Hauling Coolers* Odd Repairs Minor Plumbing/Electrical* BBB Member. Visa & MasterCard accepted.

Not a licensed Contractor.

520-425-0845

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 15

JULY 23, 2020 Arthur John Tesi (Art), age 79, passed away peacefully on July 12, 2020 in Tucson, AZ. He was known for his tough, strong and determined approach to any situation in life, including an 11-year battle against cancer. Art was born on December 13, 1940 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

A graduate of Salpointe Catholic High School, he enjoyed and was recognized for a 40-year career developing land and subdivisions in Tucson where he has lived for 75 years.

Countering his exterior gruff persona, Art was an incredible presence in his family and community. He was a truth speaker with use of colorful language and the guy you would want in your corner! Art was an avid golfer, prolific gardener who enjoyed his, scotch and cigars. His grandchildren held the key to his heart. Art was preceded in death by his mother and father, Antonette and Anselmo Tesi; his brother, Arnold Tesi, and his first wife, Carol Bishop Tesi.

Art is survived by his wife, Cathy Tesi; his children, Jill Tesi, Angela Cherrill, Michael Tesi (wife Kelly); his brother Ralph Ramella (wife Joyce) and his grandchildren, Sean Placey, Connor Placey, Zachary Cherrill, Gianna Tesi and Tyler Tesi.

Due to COVID, there will be a private burial Monday, July 20th at Holy Hope Cemetery. A celebration of life will be held on his 80th birthday, December 13, 2020. More details to follow. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to Gospel Rescue Mission, Tucson, AZ.

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Worship Guide

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520-624-8695

Tucson AZ 85705

342-4042

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