Letters to the editor for Friday, Sept. 20, 2013

Carson needs more for younger people to do

The Nevada Appeal poll on whether or not the city should spend money on a disc golf course got me thinking. Carson City really has come a long way since I grew up there just 12 short years ago. There have been many new additions to restaurants, movie theatres, and even a freeway! But one area that has actually diminished is the entertainment available for the youth of Carson City, the 18 and under, those most susceptible to boredom. And we all know what boredom leads to.

Has anyone considered lobbying for funds or recruiting businesses to fill up the old Kmart building or other vacant, central, empty buildings to serve the younger crowd? When I grew up in Carson, we at least had a skating rink. That now serves as a Goodwill store. What about something like Reno’s Coconut Bowl? How about mini golf, indoor ice rink, a large arcade, laser tag, or maybe even an under 18 concert venue?

Come on, Carson. I know you are a great place to retire, but the youth in your growing town is being forgotten. They still exist!

Autumn DeTar

Reno

Sexual preference is a myth; it isn’t a choice

Give me a break! First, Karl Jaeger needs to educate himself. There is no sexual preference. He should ask himself when he decided his sexual preference. Your sexuality is determined by your genetic makeup — simple as that. Has he not been following the articles on bullying in our schools? How do you expect our city’s children to learn about the differences between them if they are not talked about?

They were taught to hate and learned to be bullies from their parents and families — not from their fellow students. They are not going to learn to accept the differences in each other from these same people. Student groups like the Carson High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance do just that; they teach our children to learn to get along with each other and accept the differences in each of us. Knowing a fellow student’s sexual orientation will help both the fellow student — and more importantly their teachers who allow bullying to continue — to understand these differences.

In the workplace, bullying and sexual harassment are also a problem that is much harder to deal with because of close-minded individuals like Karl. Get your head out of the sand, live in this century instead of the last one, and don’t forget we still have a separation of church and state.

George J. Gosselin

Carson City