Letter: Nevada Department of Transportation wants too much Lompa Ranch land

I have just become aware of a tragedy the Nevada Department of Transportation is going to commit. There is a little old lady by the name of Eva Lompa who, for 60 years, has owned and operated a farm where Fifth Street now runs through.

She and her late husband, Sam Lompa, bought the property in 1939 and raised a family there. The Lompas have sold quite cheaply land that the high school is built on. They donated the land that the juvenile center sits on. Now the DOT wants to take all that away and condemn her property as swamp land and put the highway through her home. (NDOT only needs 35 acres of her property, but they want to take 140 acres of her 450-plus acres.) Where do they think she will go? This is all she has known for 60 years.

I can't even go into the devastation that Eva Lompa must feel, not to mention the devastation to the valuable wet lands, fields and trees that provide a natural air conditioner in the hot summer and a place for hawks and owls to raise families.

What a shame that NDOT can do this without regard to anyone or anything except in the name of progress. Isn't there a better solution than this? Does anyone care about Eva Lompa and her family farm except for the money grabbers? Something needs to be done or we will lose a valuable piece of Carson City's history. (Puts one in mind of the old V&T roundhouse, doesn't it?)

MICHAEL SKILES

Carson City