Travel agents honest, dedicated
I am writing in response to the article about the owner of a Fallon travel agency being convicted of embezzling over $95,000 from customers. Please do not judge all travel agents by this person's unfortunate actions.
I have been a travel agent in Carson City for over 20 years. I want people to know there are still travel agents, and we are honest and dedicated to our work.
A word to people who want to use a travel agent but are now afraid that they too will be ripped off. Pay with a credit card, and ask your agent how they will process the payment. Most agents will call your payment directly to the cruise line or tour company. There are some agencies that will process the credit card payment through their own credit card system and then pay the travel company for the trip. This does not mean they are dishonest. It just means they get to deduct their commission from the payment and not have to wait until the trip is completed to get paid. You can request that they process your payments directly with the travel company.
Ask your friends for referrals, or ask the travel agency for references.
I want people to know that all though I have been through some very tough times financially in this business it has never entered my mind to steal from my customers. Never.
The nature of the travel business has forced many agents to reduce overhead by working from home, this is what I do and have for several years now, so please do not assume that a home-based agent is a scammer, we have just adjusted our overhead in order to keep doing what we love to do.
So if you are looking for convenience, experience and knowledge don't be afraid to call a travel agent. We are still out here, and we are honest, hardworking people who do our best to save you money, and make your travel experience the best it can possibly be.
JAN MARIE BROWN
Carson City
In a word: Refreshing
Good for us, we have finally put someone into the Oval Office that sincerely has our country's best interest at heart. I realize how hard it is for everyone right now, but we must be patient. The change we so desperately need will take some time to happen.
To expect this change to happen overnight is foolish. I'm tired of hearing that President Obama isn't doing anything. Far from it, in fact. He sure seems, to me at least, to be working diligently to get our economy and country back on track. This was never going to be a quick process and it shouldn't be.
The most impressive change I have seen is in the way President Obama is keeping all of us informed. Web sites, press conferences, you name it. There's even a phone number that they are encouraging us to call that you can leave messages, comments, even suggestions. One word: Refreshing.
MICHELLE SCHALK
Gardnerville
Grown men do not cry
As an old guy in my sweet 80s, I was brought up to believe and practice that grown men do not cry under any circumstances. In Jim Rogers' case, apparently he never comprehended this early childhood wisdom, or lost this attribute as his salary and fortune grossly increased in his advancing years. (I believe he also owns or is a major shareholder in Channel 4 KRNV.)
Jim Rogers has and makes big bucks. (Assuredly in the millions.) I desire to make a suggestion for him to grant a portion to his education system.
Jim Rogers, you should get off the governor's back, reduce your gumbeating and practice what your grandparents and parents taught you. (Helping others. Never overcharge. Never take advantage.)
If you and your senior staff and professors would make a sincere monetary donation to your higher education system, you would not even consider a tuition increase. In addition, the construction and enhancement projects new and ongoing could be delayed in your system until the economy improves, but "do not raise tuition." The students should not be penalized for the system's mismanagement, poor planning and inferior judgment and always looking for the government and students to make up for management's shortfalls.
ED J. TREMPER
Stagecoach
Appeal column missed the mark
A big sour lemon to Carolyn and Maizie for their lame Polish joke (Nobody Asked Us, But ... Feb. 26). You would think these two bright ladies would think twice before deciding to fill out their column with offensive ethnic or racial humor. Evidently not. What does this tell us of the sensitivity of writers and editors at the Appeal?
For the record, my grandfather Jozef came to this country from Poland to build a better life for his family but instead died a tragic death in a steel mill in 1905 in Johnstown, Pa. His death in a horrible accident did not even rate a single line in the local paper. My mom and dad emigrated also from Poland and raised six of us during the Great Depression. We learned to sing the patriotic song "America" with gusto and mom always said the part about "... Land where my fathers died" had special meaning for her.
Carolyn and Maizie I suggest an apology is in order for all of your Appeal readers with Polish roots.
JOE BEBEN
Carson City
Reprinted comment was offensive
I read the recent article "Cities payment to church opposed" in the Appeal.
Supervisor Livermore's choice of an expletive was offensive, to say the least. And the Appeal's decision to quote his remark was inappropriate.
E.C. COWAN
Carson City
Ignorance of the law is not a good excuse
What is up with our elected officials? Since President Obama took office and then started trying to fill his cabinet it seems that every person he appointed to a position either had not paid some back taxes or had other legal problems.
Do we not have any honest elected officials in this country? They state that they did not know that they had to pay the taxes or that whatever the problem was that they had done nothing wrong. The statement: "Oh, I am so sorry for what happened" seems to make it all right. There is a statement that I have heard all my life that has to do with the laws of this country. That is "ignorance of the law is no excuse."
Our elected officials are, should be, and will be held to a higher standard. If it is against the law for me, it is against the law for them. This is a good example of having too many laws on the books.
It is time to stop writing new laws, start enforcing the ones we have and change the ones that aren't working. Maybe then we all will know right from wrong.
WILLIAM SWEETWOOD
Carson City
No more bailouts for the car companies
Regarding the cash-starved General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC " no more bailouts. Now GMC wants $30 billion more of the taxpayers' money. Let them file for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 or 13 if that is the case, so be it.
It is not the taxpayers' responsibility to bail them out.
Charles l. SHELDON
Dayton
Cutting hot breakfast a wasted proposal
What a waste. Assemblyman James Settelmeyer's bill to do away with a hot breakfast for inmates is at best nothing more that a symbolic gesture to demonstrate his hard line on crime or his conservative fiscal nature.
It is symbolic because an examination of the Department of Corrections budget would tell him that the state spends only $2.50 a day to feed an inmate. Reducing breakfasts for inmates will save almost nothing in state money. This state needs more than symbols during these difficult times.
If this is his idea of fixing a major fiscal problem, then his tenure as Assemblyman has been a waste; a waste of legislative time to review his bill; a waste of Legislative Counsel Bureau resources to write and track the bill; and a waste of an opportunity to do something more than the symbolic.
Glen Whorton
Minden
Wild horse advocates misinforming public
For years I've been silent and listened to the "wild" horse advocates and their misplaced emotional intentions. Today I read an opinion by yet another of these misinformed advocates and am compelled to write.
These wild horse people are under the impression that these horses are indigenous to the Americas. Wrong. The only horses in the Americas went extinct thousands of years ago. The Spaniards reintroduced horses when they explored and exploited the American Indians, made slaves of them and pillaged the land of gold and silver. When the Indians revolted and drove them out there were horses and burros left behind. Today's strays are their descendants, including horses that have been released by their owners or escaped and not recaptured.
They really weren't a problem until folks like Wild Horse Annie and her followers came into the picture. Why? Because before her the horses were controlled by the same people that now cannot capture them and use them for their intended purpose. These horses breed and eat, breed and eat. They leave the land bare and barely able to feed deer, antelope, rabbits, etc. Ranchers also use the land to graze cattle. Being able to graze cattle on public lands reaps fees from ranchers and lowers the price we pay for beef.
The wild horse advocates have launched and maintain a campaign misinforming and recruiting people by convincing them the horses belong on the range because they are the "west's heritage." They even convinced school age children that a horse should be on our state quarter! Where does it end? This propaganda and spending of public money to support horses that shouldn't be "managed" in the first place must stop.
Forty-five years ago you couldn't find a "wild horse" and now we have to be careful when driving and we have even spent good money on barriers to keep from hitting them.
Eileen Cohen says the people want the horses. Speak for yourself Eileen. I say get them off the range. I for one would like to see less horse crap and more antelope and deer on the range.
RICHARD DOKE
Carson City
Castro new White House resident?
Where has America gone? The House and Senate have just committed all American people to the largest subprime mortgage in history, called stimulus and later renamed Recovery Package, without a single member even reading it.
I liken it to a patient entering the emergency room in cardiac arrest and, because the physician on duty is actually a community organizer, they decide to amputate both arms and legs. The procedure is done quickly, but the patient remains in cardiac arrest.
Now the House has passed another bill with a $410 billion price tag. This bill contains nearly 9,000 earmarks including studies of foot odor, grape genetics and the fly problem in Nebraska. It will also commit the 92 percent of Americans currently paying their mortgages within terms to assume the debt of those who purchased property that they could not afford.
And what's next? To start, trillions of dollars for bank bailouts. We have seen no benefit from the hundreds of billions already spent. In fact, no one even knows where the money went. Nationalized health care is just around the corner. We already have the best health care system in the world. Of those excluded many are illegal aliens and many are people who are eligible for assistance by accessing currently available programs.
How about tort reform taking trial lawyers out of health care costs? The Employee Free Choice Act will permit unions access to companies without secret ballot. Has anyone noticed how labor unions have affected the global competitiveness of U.S. auto makers? Some version of the Fairness Doctrine is next, which is actually government censorship. President Obama has already signed an executive order mandating that infrastructure projects created by the Recovery Package be performed by union labor. This will create additional waste of taxpayer monies.
We have elected Fidel Castro to the White House who, with the help of liberal members of Congress, is rapidly selling our children, their children and their grandchildren into slavery.
JOHN COLYER
Minden
Setting the record straight on budgets
I wish to set the record straight on the article by Rachelle Gines on the budget testimony for "mental health services" in the Feb. 27 paper.
The Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services includes three major service areas: Mental health services, services for people with developmental disabilities and services for the prevention and treatment of substance abuse. Ms. Gines' article confused the first two services in describing the testimony at the Feb. 26 hearing.
Mental health agency budgets were not included in the hearing and were covered in a previous session. Confusing mental health and developmental disability services is a common occurrence in the press, but needs to be corrected. People with developmental disabilities have a lifelong condition that requires long-term support.
In the past, many of these individuals have been placed in institutions. Families with members who have developmental disabilities are challenged with providing their family members the support, therapies and services that can help the individual learn skills needed to be contributing members of their community. However, the service system, including the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services regional centers and their contracted service providers, must be able to address the needs of all individuals within this population. There is no other resource available to most families. This is why reductions in the budget result in focusing on only those most essential that health and safety supports in order to spread services to address the needs of individuals on waiting lists.
These are individuals with mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy and other developmental disorders that all require assistance to be as capable as they can be. I would hope in the future that the Appeal will be able to better articulate the distinction between services for people with mental illness and people with developmental disabilities so that the specific needs of this most vulnerable group of citizens can be better appreciated by your readers.
Marcia Bennett
Dayton
Go for pocketbook
I am getting more than a little bit disgusted that every time I pick up this paper I am blasted with the most outrageous attacks on Gov. Gibbons by that uncouth JIm Rogers.
His insolent, insidious name-calling is beyond the pale. My only hope is that he be brought up before the regents and they literally boot him out. We don't need his ilk by any shape or form! By the way, who pays his wages? Well, how about cutting his wages? Get him where it hurts, in his pocket book. Yeah.
RHEBA MONTROSE
Carson City
Time to mothball an elementary school
Is keeping Fremont Elementary School open necessary or just comfortable? If it saves $3.5 million to close that building is there a reason to keep it open? Do the children of Carson City get a better education because that building is open? Is it better to ruin all of the programs at the other schools just to keep Fremont open?
The school district is basing its hearings on the premise that the Legislature will be able to provide at least as much revenue as the governor has projected. I seriously doubt that they will get even that lowly amount.
It is time to mothball an elementary school even if there was no budget problem. That school is Fremont. It was created to appease a vocal affluent group of parents. It has no natural walk zone. It was built too close to Seeliger Elementary School. The other elementary schools have capacity to handle Fremont's students efficiently.
Even if the budget problems go away tomorrow, Fremont must be closed in the next two years.
JOHN MCKENNA
Carson City
Responses to several letter writers
This response is to three letters to the editor on March 1. The first, by William Feltner, mistakenly ascribes a Feb. 12 Los Angeles Times editorial as saying Darwin's theory is "the truth."
The Times argument was that evolution is a truth, as did Pope John Paul II, for example. Neither responsible evolution scientists nor highly recognized Intelligent design proponents use the term "truth," but theory for Darwinism and for intelligent design. The problem with intelligent design, as revealed in a landmark Pennsylvania court case several years ago, is that the term attempted to cloak a "Creationism" religious agenda under a sectarian name to legitimize intelligent design teaching in public schools. See the PBS-TV Nova program "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial."
Phillip Beebe apparently is behaviorally committed to a conspiracy theory popular among fringe conservatives making a lot of the Republican Party uncomfortable, by droning on about Barack Obama's birthplace, records and citizenship. Stoking this is the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily. The Supreme Court of the United States settled this issue at about the same time it opined that John McCain, born in a U.S. territory, was eligible to run for president. Incidentally, some contents on birth documents and certificates vary from state-to-state.
Russ Wailes, similar to Republican Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert's statement, alleges that $1.47 billion of $787 billion in federal government stimulus funding cheats Nevada. First, deduct $288 billion that is tax relief. Next, recall that there are seven other categories where funds are to be spent. One category is $147 billion for state and local governments. Nevada's population is less than one percent of the national total. Do the math.
WILLIAM HAMILTON
Minden
Send a buck to guv; support of education
The proposed cuts to education in Gov. Gibbons' budget has created a storm of outrage throughout Nevada. Words of discontent have filled our newspapers, radio and television newscasts with condemnation of the plan.
Well, I have a suggestion: Words are a wonderful outlet, but I think action will make a much larger impact. If we, as Nevadans, all stepped up and took some action, that is, each and every one of us, Carson City couldn't help but hear us! I propose that anyone and everyone who can, send $1 in an envelope to Gov. Gibbons with a note that reads, "for educational purposes only."
Think of the impact we could make with a minimum of effort and cost to the individual. Let's pull together as a state and support our students of all ages and Nevada's future. Send your dollar today with the note to: Gov. Jim Gibbons 101 N. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701.
CINDY PLUMMER
Lovelock
Good Samaritan thanked
My husband and I would like to thank the man who stopped at our home to tell us we had a chimney fire. We believe he called the fire department also as they showed up within seven minutes of his telling us.
This man renewed my faith that there still are people who get involved to help others.
We want to thank the Carson City and East Fork Fire Departments for their quick response.
DON AND NANCY HETTRICK
Carson City