Letters to editor Jan. 18

Time for shakeup at Board of Agriculture

Our State Board of Agriculture would do well to listen and take notice of our new governor. We elected this governor to make some long overdue changes and clean up state government, and by golly, he's hit the ground running.

At first I was concerned about dismantling the Department of Agriculture and placing it under another department such as Business and Industry, but reading the comments coming from the Board of Agriculture, I'm starting to believe that the governor is right and this body has outlived its usefulness and may also be part of the problem.

Our state is in financial trouble and the good ole boy club is now closed. Folks need to get with the new program and work for the betterment of this state rather than their ego and self-interest, or get out. That's what we voted for and thank goodness we have a governor who looks like he is going to deliver.

I am holding my breath to see if we can pull out of this mess and start moving in a decent and forward direction.

 Shirley Allen

Dayton

Columnist doesn't practice what she preaches

Predictably, liberal left politicians and so-called journalists are in the attack mode seeking political gain as a result of the horrific Tucson shootings. Claims that radio talk show hosts, Republicans and Tea Party figures are responsible for the shootings are reprehensible.

Liberal pundits blame right-wing vitriol for inciting violence. Such blame demonstrates the profound hypocrisy of liberals. Who can ever forget the eight years of 24/7 Bush bashing or the maniacal rant of Al Gore?

Our current president is the most divisive politician in recent history. He continually exhorts unions and ethnic groups to "punish your enemies." His divisive vitriol and constant playing of the race card has more to do with inciting hatred and violence than all of the right-wing rhetoric combined.

A good example of liberal hypocrisy is found by reading Sue Morrow's commentary in the Jan. 11 Appeal. She implies that Sarah Palin and Sharron Angle may have incited the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords. Morrow blatantly labels Angle as a "Republican whack job."

I agree with Morrow when she states that "there's too much vitriol in the rhetoric in today's political climate." However, to be credible, she should practice what she preaches.

Gary Thompson

Gardnerville

Morrow: Find out facts before you write

The Op Ed by Sue Morrow which appeared in your Jan. 11 commentary column was horrifying to read.

First, Ms. Morrow lectures us about too much vitriol in public debate, and then in the next paragraph, uses terms such as "whack-job" to describe a political candidate whom more than 40 percent of the voters strongly support. She also uses innuendo to suggest that candidates from opposing political parties invited the attack on Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tuscon.

If Ms. Morrow, or your paper for that matter, had a modicum of journalistic integrity, she would have saved her vitriol for a later column, hopefully a piece where she is not lecturing us about vitriol. It's frightening to think that this kind of yellow journalism won her "Hall of Fame" status.

Peter Gibbons

Carson City

Don't crowd prisons with drug addicts

Last year, the cost of incarceration in Nevada was more than $23,000 per inmate per year. Here's a crazy idea. Lock up fewer drug addicts. If they commit crimes to support their habit, fine, they deserve the fair penalty they get, but being under the influence or in possession of drugs does not seem to me to be worth the amount of money it costs to lock people up, not to mention the fact that very few people come out of prison better than they were when they went in.

Use our prison space for the robbers, rapists and murderers and there will be plenty of money for the Department of Corrections to do their job and the public will be just as well-protected.

Mike Nettles

Yerington

Writer imagines scenario in BLM back room

Back room of the Bureau of Land Management, the supervisor enters. "Well, boys, it doesn't look good. More cutbacks are on the budget, possible layoffs. Anybody have any ideas?"

Bill lays his cards down on the table. "How about rounding up all the bears? The public would love to be able to put their trash out."

"No, bad idea, where would we keep them? Anybody else?"

Joe looks up from his computer game. "How about rounding up all the wild horses?"

"Great idea. We would get a lot of media attention, here in Nevada and across the country, showing we're on the job. But we will have to take it easy, a few at a time, make the job last at least until we can draw our pensions."

Donald Beachler

Wellington