Letters to the editor for Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013

Follow steps to make sure youths can’t access weapons

“Whether talking about Carson City or the surrounding communities, weapons falling into the wrong hands have devastated families. They are never intended to be but, bad things happen at the hand of guns.” — Sheriff Ken Furlong

With the very current concerns about firearm violence, now more than ever it is important that our weapons at home are kept secure. We all should store firearms unloaded and locked; use a firearm safe, locked box, trigger or chamber lock to store firearms; store and lock ammunition in a separate place; remove firearms from your home if you have a depressed or suicidal family member; ask family and friends to use these safe storage steps; before you send your child to someone’s house, ask if firearms in the home are stored unloaded and locked, ask if the ammunition is stored separately, and ask about shotguns and rifles too, not just handguns; if you have doubts about the safety of someone else’s home, invite the children to play at your home instead; present your concerns with respect; talk with your children about the risk of firearm injury in places they may visit or play; teach your child if he/she finds a firearm to leave it alone and let an adult know right away; firearms for home defense must be kept in a location under control of a responsible adult.

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office provides free gun lock cables that you can use to render your weapons safe. Our front counter is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at 911 Musser St.

Sgt. Scott McDaniel

Carson City Sheriff’s Office

heg heg

“What difference does it make?” If Hillary Clinton has the guts to run for the presidency in 2016, I hope the Republicans have the guts to use this statement she made, haunt her to death. Also any Democrat who is “pro choice” should definitely be anxious to get behind the effort to repeal Obamacare. We find out now that since people have been signing up for it, they have “no choice” when it comes to health care.

The free market or Capitalism, whatever you want to call it, are canceling policies all over the place. Obama said he wanted to get the 20 or 30 million people who were not insured due to pre-existing conditions enrolled in a policy, and instead we are having 80-90 million people who will not have any insurance due to these cancellations. And, guess what? This was Obama’s plan in the first place.

If you want insurance, the only way you’ll get it is Obama’s way: national socialist health care. You call that “pro choice?” At least it’s not killing poor little defenceless babies.

Neil Powers

Carson City

heg heg

I attended the joint City Supervisors and School Board meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 15, and was very excited by the important and meaningful work and partnerships being demonstrated among our schools, city, and library. With leaders like Ben Contine and Tammy Westergard, how can you go wrong? Kudos to all who were on stage that night and moreover to all who are engaging in this long term effort to provide students motivating, quality education and experiences.

In reflection, though, I feel compelled to share that the most important ingredient in education did not get quite enough recognition or appreciation Wednesday night, and that is the teachers themselves. Teachers have to educate and engage 25-100 students a day (depending on grade level), while they adopt the Common Core curriculum, while they adapt to Race to the Top teaching techniques and reporting, while they seek to involve parents (who are too often the missing ingredient). Add to that preparing lessons and assessments, correcting homework and tests, and providing feedback to students and reporting grades online.

Here’s the good news: teachers are talented, committed professionals and they are rising to this monumental challenge, but we all ought to be saying “Thank you. You are amazing, and I appreciate it,” every day. The other thing we ought to be doing is advocating to improve their compensation. They have the hardest jobs in our community, and we need the very best and brightest to be willing to engage in it.

Sarah Mersereau-Adler

Carson City