Letters to the editor Feb. 25

Looking for new board

for Piper's

Piper's Opera House in Virginia City is a monument of the past. But it is now decaying. It needs care, some of which can be done with minimal expense, just with volunteers who care.

What Piper's needs is a board that also cares about the Opera House, and has the time to help. There are a few board members that have Piper's future in mind, but they are in the minority.

The front doors need repair to keep dust out and the heat in. This would not be a huge job and not very expensive and could be done by volunteers.

Many lights above the stage and balcony stage lights are burned out. The Web site is not being maintained. Grants could be obtained with proper preparation and submitted in a timely manner. Last year at least one grant for $138,000 was lost due to late submission. There is no reason for the board of directors to let that happen.

Piper's needs new members to help elect a good board of directors at the annual meeting in May. Some of the board members were chosen by the board to fill vacancies, this was to be until the next annual meeting, but there has not been one since May 2008. The bylaws state there is to be an annual meeting every year in May.

Please consider joining and helping in the restoration of Piper's Opera House.

Jan Parsons

Dayton

A few ideas for saving Nevada some money

I am not convinced that the only (budget cut) options we have are narrow ones in the box leadership drew. We are taxpayers and voters. We have other valid ideas:

• A state lottery: The only reason that hasn't happened yet is because of big gaming lobbyists.

• A 10-cents per gallon gasoline tax: Furloughs for 16,000 or a gasoline tax on 2.6 million-plus people in Nevada, which makes more sense?

• A prostitution tax: Legislators do not wish to legitimize prostitution. They have business licenses and operate legally in their counties - they are already legitimate. Tax them.

• Contract employees: Contract workers hired from staffing agencies for three times the wages of a full-time state employee? Hire qualified full-time workers for the jobs that pay within job specifications.

Lost are our cost-of-living and merit increases. Insurance costs have risen, and we've taken furlough days.

The survey questions were offensive and not pertinent to saving state revenue within employee's payroll. We have valid ideas which are not within a survey asking questions regarding age, sex and salary range.

April Patterson

Dayton

Here's an idea: Let's microchip U.S. citizens

After reading the commentary of Pat Hickey Feb. 18, I was pondering the possible solutions. We have to bite the bullet on an important issue - identification of each citizen in the U.S. I'm suggesting our Legislature, along with federal regulation, and eventually the world, enact laws to mandate all citizens to enhance computerized identification, i.e. add a (computer) chip into everyone's neck as we do animals.

Other intermediate steps could be a tattoo or an identification with biometrics that must be carried. The advantages would first be realized in the health care business where the question of emergency care availability would not be as costly if no insurance coverage was available, especially an illegal immigrant. Also, less chance of overdosing or allergic reactions to medications could be controlled by the physicians.

It may see extreme at first glance, but the ever-spiraling deficit needs a fix. There is a way to a solution if we persevere.

Dean Borges

Carson City

Don't throw city's money down black hole

I think that the Monorail Loop project is a splendid idea. A high-speed monorail connecting the bustling business centers in the area is just what we need. With stations at Stewart Center, Kmart, Arrowhead Drive Manufacturing Center, Mound House state adult recreational area, the Ormsby House and the V&T Roundhouse it's sure to attract...

That last part shocked me back to reality. What a stupid idea, slightly more so than this downtown black hole that some are screaming for. Unlike real black holes where nothing escapes, the money pumped into this project will empty out the bottom where someone will have their wallets wide open to collect it.

You can't look on any point of the compass in Carson without seeing empty buildings, some that have never been rented. This town and this state are hemorrhaging red ink.

"If you build it they will come" works only in flush times and movie corn fields. It's California-think: Long on theory, very short on real world facts. And the taxpayers get monorailed in the end. In hard times, you cut back and save every penny. I applaud Smolenski's show-me-the-numbers attitude.

Let's face it, for the time being, Carson City is a cold brown egg, and no economic incubator is going to hatch it.

Aaron Highe

Carson City