Exotic animal trading is
a big problem in U.S.
I was outraged and very saddened by the events that took place in Zanesville, Ohio, on Oct. 19. I understand that authorities did what they felt was the only way to keep the public safe, however, this tragedy marks what is an ongoing and increasingly large problem in the United States - exotic animal trade and ownership.
I strongly believe that wild animals should only be allowed to be kept in captivity under very tight regulations. Animal sanctuaries should only be in existence for those animals which, one way or another, are not able to exist on their own in the wild and whose only other option would be euthanasia.
Exotic animals should not be allowed to be kept simply because an individual feels a connection with them or for the sole purpose of human entertainment. Just because someone has enclosures and signs saying "Warning - Exotic Animals" does not make it an animal sanctuary.
I am by no means criticizing all wild animal sanctuaries, but laws need to be made much tighter when it comes to people being able to have lions and tigers essentially living in their backyards. This is a problem unfortunately many states have put on the backburner, so to speak, and now, all these animals let loose in Ohio had to be killed.
This was a tragedy that should not have happened in the first place. Animals belong in the wild, and it is up to us to see that it remains that way.
Tessa Pommer
Carson City
Paslov and friends should look in mirror when placing blame
Eugene Paslov's Oct. 15 column lauding the "Occupy Everything" mobs should have come with a laugh track and rim shots. Paslov thinks too much wealth is being earned by the wealthy. No, not the fat cats who launder tax money through green energy companies and kick back Democrat campaign contributions. He means anyone in the private sector who works hard and earns a buck more than he.
Paslov tells us the street bums - as columnist Chuck Muth calls them - who carry professionally made signs with Democrat party talking points, are peaceful. He must define peaceful as violent, racist, anti-Semitic, anti-military cop-bashers.
As Ann Coulter put it, "These 'Occupy Wall Street' ignoramuses seem to imagine they are blacks living in 1963 Alabama under Democratic governor George Wallace."
Their freedom to peacefully assemble includes the right to trash neighborhoods, vandalize property, harass tourists, defecate where they please, and deny the gainfully employed the right to go to work.
Democrats are openly supporting the "Occupy" movement to cover the fact that the "entire American financial system now operates under the rules they wrote in 2009 and 2010 when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress" as the Wall Street Journal recently put it.
The new economic normal is 9 percent unemployment, 401(k)s in the tank, zero interest on bank savings, upside-down mortgages, and permanent mid $3 per gallon gasoline.
If Paslov and his friends want someone to blame for that, they should look in the mirror.
Lynn Muzzy
Minden
Reid's statement on private sector wrong
Harry Reid has done it again - yet another outrageous statement regarding unemployment facts and figures in his misguided attempt to support Obama's new $40 billion spending plan.
Reid said on the Senate floor that the "private sector is doing just fine," and the priority for new spending should be targeted to the public sector jobs. Now Reid has made some bone-headed statements in the past, but this one takes the cake.
According to Reid, public sector jobs should take priority over the private sector. Not only is Reid revealing the true intent of the Obama spending plan, he is flat out wrong. The latest figures show that the public sector has lost about 600,000 jobs while the private sector has lost millions of jobs, and is definitely not doing just fine.
Now we know why Nevada leads the nation in unemployment and foreclosures. Harry and Barry are more interested in propping up their base of unionized public employees than the private sector who are the real job creators in Nevada.
Liberals like Eugene Paslov and all the so-called prominent Republicans who supported the re-election of Reid and put Obama in office must be proud. Reid needs to be recalled.
Bill Johnston
Carson City
Burglary victim wants
to know when we will take care of each other
Two weeks ago, my house was burglarized. I felt violated, and I took the crime personally, because I knew one of the people who actually did this to me. I still have anger and hate in my heart over this situation.
I went to Walmart and bought poster board and posted 26 signs up my neighborhood and within a day, someone tore them down.
I believe there are issues out there - children playing around with drugs, and parents looking the other way saying they are experimenting until it goes to addiction of crystal meth and heroin. Carson has been number one in Nevada.
Next, when these kids do bad things, we give them hugs and love and we don't put them in jail where they deserve to be.
Third, coin shops can melt your jewelry down in less than a day, and you will never get your property back. Laws are not hard enough for these kinds of shops, and antique shops don't even have to log who they buy from.
Lastly, as neighbors, we look the other way. We need to get to know each other again and protect each other when we see people moving in and out of our homes and it just doesn't look right.
I believe in America, I have fought for America, it's time we start taking care of each other for once.
Laura Boldry
Carson City