Letters to the editor for Friday, Sept. 6, 2013

Shelter visit revealed why it’s having the problems it has

This observation is not written with malice or anger but with sincere concern for our Carson City animal shelter and its unfortunate misplaced animals. A week before Jeraldine’s tragic letter to the editor, my neighbor suggested visiting the shelter to hopefully find a buddy for my dog Cooper. I work, and Cooper, still young, gets lonely, and my neighbor suggested finding him a buddy. We visited the shelter; only two kennels were occupied and unfortunately did not find a pal for Cooper.

However, I did find, upon entering, unprofessional acknowledgment, complete lack of interest and zero people skills. Still looking for a buddy but will wait until management makes a change.

Susan Maki

Carson City

Obama blocks more effective method of fighting wildfires

Time to put out the wildfires. That’s my humble opinion which differs from those of the Obama administration. For the past several years they have set the bidding process for the U.S. Forest Service to exclude Evergreen Aviation in McMinnville, Ore. Evergreen designed and built three firefighting planes, the biggest and best machines in the air to fight fires. One of them has been sitting unused for the past several years at the Marana Arizona air base.

The planes we see on the news flying fighting fires hold 5,000 gallons and the cost of delivery/operation is just under $4 per gallon. The alternative is a 747 that holds 25,000 gallons of water or retardant at a cost of $1.80 per gallon. This plane lays down a path 5 miles long and 200 yards wide.

Every year the Forest Service issues a request for proposal for firefighting aircraft. This proposal limits the size of the aircraft’s capacity to a maximum of 5,000 gallons. This specifically excludes the VLATs, very large aerial tankers. Evergreen is a non-union company, which puts it at odds with the administration. Evergreen owns the largest private fleet of 747 aircraft in the world. They have numerous government contracts under other administrations for the past 40 years for its 747 fleet and its vast array of helicopters. Suffice it to say their missions have not always been politically correct to those on the left.

Other countries have used these planes, and it’s time for us to use them in our own country.

Bill Fullilove

Carson City