Letters to the editor 3-8

Those who need help not getting it

I have lived in Nevada for 16 years and have worked for everything. I found myself pregnant, without health insurance. I applied to get assistance with medical only, nothing more then I needed. I was denied medical but can receive food stamps.

How is it that I can pay into the system, ask for help when I need it, yet be denied? I pay for immigrants and illegals to receive help, but as a true American I cannot receive help? What is our country coming to? We cannot help our own but will bend backward for others?

Things need to change, this is ridiculous. We raise our kids to believe in America, but what America will be there for my kids when they need help? If we pay our taxes, suffer through layoffs and rising prices, yet still support our country, why can they turn on us when we need help?

Someone needs to look into this. Our country should back us the way we are required to back it with our lives, and our money.

TRAYLISHA DEARMAN

Carson City

School programs shouldn't be cut

This letter is regarding the school budget cuts Gov. Jim Gibbons proposed in January. The governor has suggested cutting out art, physical education and music from the elementary schools. In my opinion, I feel it is necessary to keep all of these curriculums.

I feel art education is a fantastic class for the children. Students learn how to use their imagination, be creative and to work in groups. Children use their artistic ability by creating sculptures, drawings and even paintings using their imagination.

Art is another way for students to learn critical thinking and problem solving skills. Physical education is not only healthier for the kids, but gives children a chance to get out of a classroom setting. Students learn social skills that will help them throughout life. I know for me, physical education was a fun time to interact with my friends while exercising. According to the statistics, our country is ranked No. 1 for obesity.

Wouldn't you think our governor would keep physical education in our schools? Music is important for a child at a very young age. Studies have shown music helps stimulate the right brain. Learning music will help students develop mathematical skills. My sons are looking forward to learning how to play a musical instrument. They both want to be like their mother who was in the high school band. It would be beneficial for them to learn at an early age and find their musical ability like their mom.

I feel that Gov. Gibbons needs to keep these programs instead of cutting them from our schools. I feel it is important not only for our children's future, but our grandchildren as well. If the children are our future, we need to say no to the school budget cuts.

DARREN JONES

Minden

Tell 'em what a mess they've made

I was once told by a very wise man, my now deceased father, that if you start something in your life, you better finish it, or you will be known as a quitter your whole life. He went on to say, not only will you know that you are a quitter, but so will everyone around you.

You all may be asking yourselves; what the devil is this person talking about? Well, let me get straight to the point.

We as Americans have elected a man to the office of the president of these United States of America. A man that I feel is so inept to hold the office that I know in my heart and soul he should not have been elected. And we as Americans, us the simple tax payers, the low-income, the middle class, need to stand up and be counted, to open our mouths so we may be heard over the roar of the shouts - "our Savior Obama, save me, please save me."

We all need to be level-headed in doing so. We need a verbal revolution in this country. Yes we are an imperfect country; yes we have made mistakes in our past history but we will survive. That is if we as Americans can stand up together and put back into this country the moral standards we were founded on.

We need to understand that with each dollar Obama or Sen. Reid has promised us we will be put under the total control of those people in power. The left-sided people in this country want to dictate to us what we should read or listen to. This stimulus bill will allow them to say to us: After the money runs out you will have to do as we say or you won't get any more help from us.

I implore all of you, no matter how you voted, to stand up and write or call the people you have elected and tell them how unhappy you are with this whole mess.

LEE ELLIOTT

Carson City

The price of living in a civilized society

Mr. Tram's recent assertion that "our country is supporting inmates by providing them all the comforts they need" is ridiculous. There are minimum U.S. constitutional standards of care and treatment the state must provide inmates. How does Mr. Tram define comfort?

In 2006, a federal judge described the healthcare of inmates in California as depraved. One inmate a week was dying needlessly due to malpractice, incompetence and neglect. This pattern of abuse by prison staff resulted in a conservator being appointed to oversee and ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution. This institutional abuse by prison staff occurs in every state. It is a matter of public record.

In a system in which prosecutorial misconduct is rampant, in which the state has seemingly endless resources and most often the defendant none, does anyone question the outcome? A plea to a lesser charge even if you are innocent. More than 200 inmates on death row have been found innocent through DNA testing over the years. How many innocent inmates have been executed? It is a statistical certainty some have.

Recently, a Texas inmate was found innocent of rape, after he died in prison. An Arizona women's prison ran out of toilet paper for two weeks. The women were told to use newspapers and magazines. Comfort? Hygiene? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Being sent to prison is the punishment, Mr. Tram. Feeding, clothing, hygiene and healthcare are not an option. It is what a Christian society must provide at a minimum. Not to mention that old nemesis of law and order, the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. incarceration rate is comparable to China and Iran. Think about that. There are more Americans in prison today than Russians during the height of Stalin's Gulags days. Two million and counting. Ten percent of the adult population is either in prison, jail or on probation. Reform is needed.

Of course, Americans are paying for it. It is the price of living in a civilized society. If one doesn't like it, quit demanding something for nothing: Lengthy prison sentences, even if unwarranted.

MICHAEL BEAM

Carson City

Not all terriers alike

I read the article, "Once left for dead, Vick's dogs recovering," by Eddie Pells in the Sunday issue of the Nevada Appeal on Feb. 22. The item is interesting. However, there is a fallacy. The author states that "... the dog staring quizzically at the RCA Victor phonograph is an American Pit Bull Terrier." It is not. It is a Jack Russell Terrier and it is staring attentively at a record that is playing his owner's voice on the phonograph.

Accompanying this early RCA Victor logo is the phrase, "His Master's Voice," indicating that the quality of the recorded voice is excellent as compared to the dog owner's actual voice.

NANCY LAIRD

Carson City

Stimulus legislation is pork on steroids

For the first time in my adult life, I'm concerned with the solvency of the U.S. government. The size of the stimulus package is overwhelming and paying it back will condemn our children to a lower standard of living.

Before money can be borrowed someone has to save it, or government printing presses issue fiat money to make up the difference. The long-term result will be high inflation, the cruelest tax of all.

When we ask for our money back Harry Reid accuses our legislators of "crying wolf." The only wolf I hear is the alpha wolf in the White House.

We definitely need some stimulus, but this bill is pork on steroids.

Please call Harry Reid and tell him no thank you.

MARGERY L. SCOTT

Carson City

Private sector funds the public sector

Assembly Bill No. 67 authorizes boards of county commissioners to levy an ad valorem tax to pay the costs of public safety, health and welfare services.

If this bill is passed by our elected state officials, I feel it is an admission on their part that they are unable, or unwilling, to perform the task for which they were elected.

They are unable, or unwilling, to make cuts in salaries, wages, benefits, programs, etc., in order to budget against the reduced revenues of the state. Households throughout Nevada, and the rest of the country, are revising their spending due to the economic downturn, but it seems our legislators are incapable of undertaking this responsibility.

They are taking monies from the counties and, in effect, making the county commissioners the scapegoats for any new taxes.

Due to the economic downturn, it is time they should forget about political differences, re-election concerns, their constituents and start thinking about prioritizing what is really needed for the citizens of Nevada working in the private sector. They are the ones working to provide the financial support for workers in the public sector and for our elected officials.

Without the workers in the private sector we would have no workers in the public sectors.

SANFORD DEYO

Minden

GOP still smarts from November spanking

The Republicans took a pretty good spanking from the electorate in November, and have been acting like petulant and sullen children ever since.

Their spiritual leader, Rush Limbaugh, has spewed out his desire to see Obama fail, and to see the Democrats fail in their attempt to halt the downward slide of our country which began during the Bush administration. The Republicans would prefer to link arms with each other in solidarity and goose step the country into economic oblivion, rather than help the Democrats save the country from impending financial disaster.

Fortunately, three Republican senators had the courage to stand against their party's passive-aggressive intransigence by supporting Obama's stimulus plan. For this act of bipartisan patriotism, they were rewarded with disparaging vitriol from such right- wing gossip columnists as Chuck Muth, who in his recent commentary in the Nevada Appeal suggested that Sens. Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins be sanctioned and punished for doing what they felt was the right thing for the country.

This diatribe against politicians who refuse to be locked into party doctrine, who try instead to support the common good, was intended to be a warning to Bill Raggio, the Senate Minority leader. Although courage to break from doctrinal stupidity is scarce among Nevada's right wing politicians, I am rooting for Bill Raggio to have the strength to ignore the so-called "fiscal conservatives" and promote any economic initiative he considers best for all the people of Nevada.

PHIL STOTTS

Carson City

Mr. Obama, where did all that hope go?

In the last three weeks the president has "changed" his rhetoric from hope to crisis. Leaders should instill confidence and lead, not call "the sky is falling" within the first week of office.

Funny how the Social Security crisis was ignored by both parties during the election. Now with so many folks losing half, if not more of their 401(k)s, the thought of even broaching the subject is more than most can stand. The stock market continues to drop, in spite of the fact that 53 percent of Americans elected Mr. Obama. So, where did that infamous "hope" go?

We keep hearing about Sen. Reid's alternative methods of energy, wind and solar. Currently, there are no large commercial wind farms in the entire state of Nevada because most people find them unsightly. It's time for Sen. Reid to wake up, as he led the fight against thousands of well paying energy jobs in White Pine County. Harry Reid and President Obama's fairy tale dreams are bankrupting our nation. Wake up, America.

REED AND LINDA

HENRICHSEN

Carson City

TV reporters test limits of sensibility

TV football fans, of which I am one, must lack any significant intelligence, according to those who produce the programs. The producers hire four or five ex-jocks who, at pregame, tell us supposedly what we will see. At halftime they return and gleefully explain what we have just witnessed. Compounding this are the two or three game announcers who, action by action, recap what we were just shown. My TV "mute" button gets more action than the players.

Is foolishness more visibly displayed than when TV stations send their personnel to be filmed standing outside and exposed to the rain, snow or hurricane reporting that it is raining, snowing, etc.? Maybe there are too many weather reporters and this is one way to thin the herd.

Years ago, a journalist wrote that news is what you see; background is what you know; opinion is what you feel. On many of the national TV news shows, both during the day and at evening prime time, the news readers' opinion is often encapsulated in what is presented as "news." For accuracy, perhaps they should start the program's beginning with "and opinion and speculation" after "Here's the news."

JOHN D. CAWLEY

Carson City

5 requirements before Yucca can be considered

There's been a bit more chatter in Nevada about accepting a nuclear waste dump in Nevada. Now, I understand the argument about billions of dollars set aside for whoever gets the dubious honor of hosting such substances for the foreseeable future. Let me share my personal requirements needed before I would accept even negotiation about the subject.

1. Not at Yucca Mountain. I don't care that millions have already been spent. That site has already been tainted by bad faith, questionable practices, damning geological science and its proximity to Las Vegas, our largest metropolitan center. That makes Yucca unacceptable.

2. To be placed at a site determined by the state of Nevada. University of Nevada, Reno hosts one of the greatest geology and mining colleges in the world. They are more than equipped to propose sites for Nevadans to consider within our own state that places such a site at the lowest threat to groundwater contamination.

3. Drop the idea that we're going to keep this stuff contained for 10,000 years. The Great Pyramids at Giza aren't 10,000 years old. Build a facility that can keep the waste contained for as long as we are actively keeping it contained. Look at France's disposal techniques. Bury it in 20-ton concrete casks that can be dug up immediately in the event of a major earthquake or some other loss of containment.

4. Establish an on-site reclamation center to recycle and process the waste, extracting whatever fissile material can be used and breaking down as much as possible.

5. Establish a massive insurance fund for if, just if, there is a leak or some other loss of containment within the state.

Give me those five conditions first and I'll entertain the idea of Nevada hosting the most toxic substance in the world for the foreseeable future. Until then, don't waste my time.

DAVID BUSHEY

Minden

Wonderful additions to recreation trails

The two new bridges over the Mexican Ditch trail near River Road and the entrance to Silver Saddle Ranch are a beautiful completion to the trail in this area and a wonderful trail for walking and bicycling in this scenic section.

I was quite pleased and surprised when coming upon it on a recent bike ride, since there had been no notice of the bridges new presence. I hope there will be a dedication or other expression of appreciation for the new recreational opportunity presented.

CHUCK WOESSNER

Carson City

Carson's got a shovel ready for you

I read some time ago that there will be no state money available to finish Phase III of the Carson City Highway 395 bypass in the foreseeable future. I also recently read that funds from the "stimulus package" for Nevada will be spent to construct a new off-ramp in Reno to serve the Meadowood Mall, saving shoppers perhaps three blocks of driving from the off-ramp that already exists at Neil Road.

Here's my question: Why aren't we spending some of our stimulus package transportation dollars on the Carson City bypass? When Phase I of the bypass was completed, I'm sure most people realized that ... it's not quite a bypass. True, it's a real nice section of highway, but half a bypass is just not a bypass. Now Phase II is nearing completion, and I understand it will be open later this year. Get ready for this: Two-thirds of a bypass is not a bypass either.

In order to effectively move traffic away from the downtown corridor, we need a complete bypass. According to your newspaper, the transportation dollars must be spent on "shovel ready" projects. The last time I looked, the shovel was already out there.

JIM HILL

Minden

Health district idea makes no sense

Friday, Feb. 20, paper: City officials endorsed a health district bill that makes no sense to me. If the plan will improve health care and save money, why will a quarter percent sales tax and 15 cents per $100 of assessed property be required?

Therefore the way I see it (since it will save money) why couldn't we reduce the sales and/or property taxes? Also, if the proposal is passed, will the 15-cent property tax be on top of the annual 3 percent increase?

GLENN BUSH

Carson City

Not just doctors should be held liable for malpractice

I have asked people during the last few weeks how many CEOs of banking institutions ought to be in jail. Without fail, they answered from hundreds to thousands. Nobody said we should give them another chance.

The thought occurred to me that doctors, accountants, lawyers and others are subject to malpractice liabilities. Massive amounts have been awarded by the courts when doctors were found at fault. Why not apply the same treatment for top officials in banking, lobbying, politics and in big business?

I suggest that today's white-collar criminals, employed in the fields described above, would think hard before ripping off shareholders, which is the top responsibility for CEOs, who have become experts in creating themselves as the top priorities and letting the rest of us fall by the wayside.

Politicians are more or less the same. As soon as they arrive in Washington, D.C., they declare themselves as some kind of a deity and are above the rest of the people in the republic.

What has been going on lately is despicable, to put it nicely.

TED VANLEEUWEN

Genoa

Legalizing marijuana a terrible idea?

On Feb. 23, California Assemblyman Ammiano introduced a bill in Sacramento to legalize and tax cannabis. This is terrible legislation, as it would force hard-working Mexican drug cartels out of business.

Instead, legalization would cause this money to go to the state, depriving entrepreneurs of their income. Prohibition keeps prices high, and those profits are necessary to buy the guns and personnel needed to maintain market control. Furthermore, taxation of cannabis places an undue burden on dealers, who have historically operated with no regulation or taxation. How will marijuana remain more accessible to children than alcohol if the only place you can buy it is from authorized licensed sellers?

With the economy in dark times, the black market stands as a beacon of light, drawing the young and talented to its ranks. Legalization would not only deprive the black market of a labor pool, but the prison industry would lose untold millions due to plummeting incarceration and recidivism rates.

Police resources would be forced to be spent on actual crimes instead of pursuing Michael Phelps. For the sake of the drug cartels, kingpins, gangsters, dealers and prisons all across America, we mustn't allow this legalization idea to come to Nevada.

ROBERT GONZALEZ

Carson City