Letters

APPRECIATES COLUMNIST’S FACTS

Editor:

I would like to voice my vote of appreciation for Jeanette Strong’s column “Republicans and Amateur Hour.”

As always she provides us with a sane voice with facts and history, in the midst of those loud, boisterous voices shouting with ignorance, inexperience, and both racial and ethnic bias!

I would also add some further comments provoked by those same Republican voices fanning the flames of senseless fear since the terrorist events in Paris.

Are we to repeat our refusal to act as we did during the holocaust when we denied the fleeing Jews of Europe admission to our country as refugees.

Are we to repeat the round-up an ethnic group living in our country and their incarceration in concentration camps as we did to our Japanese citizens during WWII?

Both were fear driven racist acts by our country that we now look back on with shame and guilt!

This is not what our country stands for. We are a strong, secure, welcoming, and moral country. We should not be led by politicians who fan the flames of senseless fear; by politicians attacking Syrian refugees and creating an environment where racist attacks are more prevalent and hate only creates the breeding ground for more hate and more terrorist groups!

Sharon Hedges-Hiller

Churchill County

Still time to save WNC athletics

My son attended Western Nevada College from 2012 to 2014. He was drawn by the nationally recognized baseball program. We are sorry to see WNC athletics being abandoned. Nevada was hard hit in the recession. But it doesn’t add up.

The baseball and fast-pitch programs cost the college less than $400,000 per year. If the two programs attract 50 players, including 30 from out of state, that’s $735,000 per year pumped into the state and local economy, according to WNC cost of attendance figures. Those numbers are conservative.

What is the value of lost tuition and attendance? For Carson City, parent visitors come from inside and outside the state, and visiting teams and fans will spend a dozen weekends in Carson City next year. What is the value of several hundred visitors days? This ignores patronage from past players, and there are persons loyal to the program who want to provide support. And what is the value of introducing people to your state?

All of my son’s peers graduated with him. The team grade point was above 3.0. I am sure the college does not do that well on average. So WNC is not only abandoning a nationally recognized program, it is telling 50 of its better students they and their dollars aren’t wanted.

My son has great memories of your state, city, college and baseball program. We can only wonder what is wrong in Carson City that you would abandon a program that is winning on all fronts. I urge you to correct a poor decision while there is still time.

Kyle Dorsey

Olympia, Wash.