Letters to the Editor for Thursday, March 21

Spring is near; take action to keep dogs and children safe

Finally spring is just around the corner. Everyone wants to get out and play, enjoy the weather and just have fun. I would like to offer a reminder to parents as well as dog owners that we all share our neighborhoods. Each year, time after time I find myself facing the same dilemma: children who don’t understand or respect others’ space and property and dog owners who are just as inconsiderate or uneducated.

So to the parents out there, please teach your children that it is never OK or a good idea to harass or run at any dog, be they within a fenced yard or running loose. Learn and teach your children the “pack” mentality that dogs possess. It is their job to protect their pack’s territory and they have the right to run the entirety of their property and do their job.

To the dog owners out there, yes our dogs have the right to run our property, but the children of our neighborhood should also be able to play freely. If you have problem children in your neighborhood, talk to their parents and educate them about pack mentality if you have to. Please be kind and bring your dogs in when all the kids are out.

If we are all educated and do our part, the warm months can be happy ones. Everyone gets their time to play and no one gets hurt.

Nita Smith

Carson City

It’s easy to advocate cuts that only affect other people

Regarding Guy Farmer’s recent editorial about trimming waste in government, I find his comments, “Congress should slash federal spending, including so called entitlement programs,” somewhat confusing. I seem to recall a previous column where he states, “Don’t touch my retirement and don’t touch my health insurance.”

As a former federal government employee, his federal retirement is not Social Security and his health insurance is not Medicare. While Mr. Farmer abhors hypocrites, he better stay away from the mirror. It doesn’t take a lot of political guts to advocate cuts to the other guy’s benefits.

Now I’m not dumb enough to think we can solve the nation’s long-term debt and not deal with reform of the entitlements, and I’m a recipient of both Social Security and Medicare. We all have to sacrifice, I just don’t think Mr. Farmer should be pontificating about how my benefits should be cut but his should be exempted.

Oh, and by the way, bloated government started after Mr. Farmer retired from a lifetime of government service.

Steve Shaw

Carson City