Voice of the Community

READERS SUPPORT THEATER

Editor:

We were excited to read the article entitled “City Approves Grant Process to Restore Theater” when it appeared in the Dec. 24, 2014, issue of the Lahontan Valley News.

We strongly support keeping the downtown Fallon Theater in operation and, when affordable, making necessary improvements to ensure its continuance for generations to come. We were not aware of the existence of the Fallon Community Theater, Inc., and are grateful that it has led the charge to protect this historic building and its importance to the local community.

While others may sit back and simply complain about the Fallon Theater’s age and disrepair, here we have a group of local citizens dedicated to preserving the past and impacting the future of the Fallon Theater in a positive way. Now is the time for those of us who live within the city of Fallon and/or Churchill County and enjoy “going to the movies” to do what we can to follow the lead of the Fallon Community Theater, Inc., and, along with the Churchill Economic Development Authority and the Downtown Merchant Association, encourage support of the Fallon Theater and any fundraising activities to help sustain it.

We extend our thanks to these groups for their efforts!

Mike and Ginny Dugan

Fallon

RESIDENT LIKES COMMISSIONERS’ SUPPORT

An open letter of gratitude to the County Commissioners:

Wednesday afternoon (1/21) I attended the regular commissioners meeting. A primary topic of discussion was a summary report from a BLM representative out of the Carson office.

The subject(s) included all of the various management schemes the BLM is considering for over 4 million acres of Nevada public land. Virtually all of it involved various amounts of increased control or restrictions on public lands — much of it in Northern Nevada.

Our commissioners made it clear to the BLM agent that we are tired of the government having public hearings and virtually ignoring the citizens desires. They will then go behind closed doors and make decisions based heavily on special interest groups — such as environmentalist and animal advocates. In fact it was suggested to the BLM agent that they just “leave us alone!”

There is no doubt in my mind that the BLM is just another bloated government agency with too much power, too much time on their hands, and too many people trying to justify their existence — all at our expense.

My thanks again to our Commissioners for speaking up on our behalf.

Mike Curry

Fallon

THE SHIP OF STATE FLOUNDERS

Editor:

Unsure, Governor Sandoval? This majestic Ship of State is floundering in heavy seas, about to capsize. And you are unsure whether to fill the bilges with more billions for education?

Government-mandated education? Education that degrades the principles and even the history of our past, our costly struggles for freedom, our dependence upon Almighty God?

Common Core? So now the Feds are laying out core values for our kids? What happened to family values, to parents shouldering the responsibility for instilling values in our young? We sent our kids to school with a mandate, all right — Don’t let anyone else do your thinking for you! Adolf Hitler left us a quote for this whole scam — What luck for rulers, that men do not think!

Mary Glaesman

Fallon

NDE DROPS BALL ON SYMPOSIUM

Editor:

We had our Common Core symposium Jan. 14, despite efforts by the state superintendent of Public Instruction to abort it. Some of you were among the 85 who attended. Several of you have told me how much you gained from hearing the visiting professors describe the flaws of the program.

Dale Erquiaga was peeved that his minions failed to dominate the symposium in Carson City the night before by violating the ground rules and employing Delphi techniques. An estimated 300 people attended that event.

The people in the Nevada Department of Education may think they have won.

They haven’t. And if they had it would have to be considered a Pyrrhic victory because the loss they are suffering in lack of credibility, student achievement and the growing expense of furthering the objectives of Common Core far surpasses any gain they could possibly have realized.

The school district had rented space at the Convention Center for the symposium, and it had made robo calls the night before to parents telling about it. Around mid-day on Jan.14, Superintendent Erquiaga released a statement telling of his displeasure over the event in Carson City and declaring that NDE would not be represented at the Fallon symposium. Two diligent local school board trustees and at least two teachers did attend, however.

The fight against Common Core is far from over. Evidence of its shortcomings and reports of opposition across the country grow daily, as can be verified on the internet.

We will continue our efforts in Churchill County, as are other groups throughout America, to show that Common Core was ill-conceived, poorly written and unconstitutionally passed on to the states.

Jim Falk

Churchill County

PRAISE FOR LCB, NOT NDE

Editor:

We, Citizens for Sound Academic Standards, appreciated the excellent job the staff at the Legislative Counsel Bureau did to help us plan a quality symposium on Common Core. They were efficient, timely, informative and interested in doing a first class job.

Hats off to Jen, Becky, Susan and to Jackie, legislative police and the production crew at the event. Everyone did a stellar job to keep things going. Thank you!

Conversely, and what a dichotomy! The Department of Education did everything possible to disrupt, divert, and distract from the purpose of this event. Appointed public servants must think they are immune from common courtesy and civility.

Ann Bednarski

Citizens For Sound Academic Standards

TRUSTEES SHOULD BE ELECTED

Editor:

Electing school board members is the way to go.

The proposed suggestion given by Gov. Sandoval on Thursday’s speech with regards to appointing members of school boards across the state instead of electing like we currently is not a good idea.

For starters, appointing school board members instead of electing them like we have been in Nevada forever means less accountability to the public in which they are supposed to serve and only answering to elected officials. If they only serve elected officials rather than the public, answers don’t have to be given with regards to policy making and overall matters. There is no recourse for citizens when things go astray. The other issue with the proposed suggestion is that even though not a perfect option, why change now after all of these years of electing school board members? Changing formats after all this time doesn’t seem to make much sense.

The format we have currently is not perfect, but it gives the public accountability that all school districts need and changing into an appointed one would not be advantageous to citizens that board members need to serve.

Bill Miller

Las Vegas