Letters to the editor for Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017

Don’t touch McCarran statue

The McCarran statue in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Room in Washington, D.C. has been a subject in the news lately. Three of our House of Representatives members from Southern Nevada would like it removed. McCarran was a family friend and I, with my mother attended a Democratic Rally in Hawthorne in September 1954, I was 14 and bored. McCarran made his speech and came off stage and when he got to the bottom of the stairs, he dropped dead. These three who are probably not native Nevadans should not even be involved in this. They sent letters to the governor and members of the state Legislature requesting the statue be removed. If that happens it should be replaced with Mark Twain, John Mackay, or Kit Carson, someone who provided something to the State during its formation.

I think — this is coming from Harry Reid who made a reference in 2012 in a speech in Las Vegas. He indicated that the senator was a racist. I have researched the statues from each state and I find that people like George Washington, Robert E. Lee and at least 18 to 20 others were slave owners. Do we trash their statues, or contact the various states and protest? I’m not opposed to a statue of Harry Reid; provided it is outside and pigeons can enjoy it. The U.S. Capitol, Statuary Room is an honored exhibit and only people who made this country better belong there.

Bill Pyatt

Dayton

Clean air: What, me worry?

I was born in 1947 and diagnosed with asthmatic bronchitis while still a child. In the mid-20th Century, asthma was not common and the doctors recommended my parents move our family to Florida for my health. Over the past 15-20 years, I have noticed an increase in persons with asthma and the subsequent development of new treatments.

On Oct. 31, 2016, a Washington Post article from UNICEF stated that 2 billion children in the world are breathing toxic air. This unclean air puts these children at serious risk of damage to their lungs, brains and other organs. UNICEF’s report states that 600,000 children younger than 5 die each year from air pollution diseases. Particulate matter from cooking fires and forest fires are a major source of this toxic air. Particulates are often so small, they easily pass through the lungs and into the bloodstream.

Toxic air also kills older adults who die from diseases such as pneumonia. In my case, I have been a lifelong runner/hiker, but recently had shortness of breath. My doctor prescribed an inhaler to help alleviate my early Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD often results from lung damage due to toxic air.

On the same issue but a different perspective, several years ago I saw a national news report on a new business in Southern California extracting carbon from air to make plastic chairs. Exclusive of the metal frame, the entire chair was manufactured from “stuff” directly out of the same air Californians breathe. What, me worry? Better believe it!

Bill Prowse

Carson City

Be vigilant in fact checking media

In response to Elizabeth Kappler’s letter, your letter reminds me of a line Ned Beatty said in the movie “The Shooter” with Mark Wahlberg and Danny Glover. The premise of the movie was there was this corrupt sitting United States Senator (played by Ned Beatty) who was killing people in oil-rich regions so he could profit from getting to the oil without having to pay these folks he killed to move them or for their land. When Mark Wahlberg’s character says something about the “people” deserve to know the truth, Ned Beatty’s character says, “The truth is what I say it is!”

That’s pretty much Fox News in a nutshell.

Just because they say it or report it doesn’t make it true! Unfortunately, we are all victims of or subject to whatever slant the news groups we listen to put on their stories.

How do we find out what is fact and what is fiction? We are hopelessly at the mercy of the media. We can only hope that someone somewhere is actually practicing honest journalistic reporting.

Before you go around preaching that listening to Fox News will set you free, I would hope that somehow, someway, you are actually trying to verify their facts from fiction.

Hope A. Tingle

Carson City

On bringing jobs back to U.S.: Trump should lead by example

Since so much verbiage was used by Trump about bringing jobs back to the USA, when will he be bringing all of his manufacturing companies back to the USA for job creation here at home? I have yet to hear his plan for that.

Marjorie Newman

Carson City

Open letter to Congress

As a citizen of this wonderful United States of America, I am appalled at the behavior of members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.

Those of you who did not attend the inauguration of our newly elected President Trump remind me of children in a sandbox. If you don’t get your way you go “crying home to mommy” or you “pick up sticks and stones” to toss at your opponent. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I know I am ashamed of all of you.

If you were in my state and district, I would work hard to see that you were never elected to another term.

You are not representing your constituents. You are only thinking of yourself and what you can do to create chaos that does nothing for the good of this great country. You are an embarrassment to yourself, constituents, state, and the United States of America.

Your behavior is creating a divide within this country that will take years to heal. How do you hope to provide guidance for this great country so that it stays a leader in this world when you create such chaos and danger? The age-old saying is one that needs remembering: “United we stand. Divided we fall.” Right now all I see is that our government is dividing this great nation.

Grow up, get out of the sandbox, and quit “crying.” Use your God-given talents to work together to earn the respect of our citizenry and the world by keeping America united and strong.

Anne C. Keast

Carson City

Nevada’s World War II veterans deserve tribute

We truly honor Phyllis Bendure for her service and want to give her all the honor she is due. My mother, 99 years, is also a World War II veteran, former Lieutenant Marine, living in Sterling Ridge Memory Care, Las Vegas.

My family, servicemen, and Rep. Dina Titus honored her on her birthday, Sept. 16, 2015. There was a beautiful article about her in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in honor of her life and service dated same day.

No disrespect for Gov. Sandoval’s office or their research team. Nevada is a vast state and there are many vets nearing 100 that need to be honored for their service during World War II.

Nancy Edwards

Las Vegas