Letters to the Editor for Dec. 5, 2018

Washington student asking for community’s help

Ladies and Gentlemen: I am a student at Cascade Christian Schools, and I am writing a report on the state of Nevada. We are responsible for gathering as much information as we can about our state. If any of your readers would like to help me by sending any pictures, postcards, used license plates, facts, products, etc., from your state, it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you very much.

Yours truly, Micah, fifth grader

Cascade Christian School

601 Ninth Ave. S.E.

Puyallup, Wash. 98372

Be prepared, Scouts

Our planet has warmed between .72 and 1.44 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years and already incredible changes have occurred. Twenty-thousand scientists predict even more drastic changes if the temperature of our atmosphere rises even more. Do we want to scratch our heads on the sand like ostriches or do we want to plan ahead?

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have the same motto: “Be Prepared.” Do we want to be prepared in the event of the worst-case scenario and give a sigh of relief if it doesn’t happen? Or do we want to wait and see if it happens and, as a result, it will be too late to stem or reverse the effects?

Tell Senator-elect Rosen and Congressman Amodei that we want them to get Congress to “Be Prepared.”

Nancy Scott

Carson City

Resident praises sheriff’s office for traffic enforcement

I applaud the sheriff’s office for its initiative in re-establishing enforcement of traffic regulations in Carson City. It’s a sad commentary on our community and society, though, that we now have to turn to our law enforcement agency to remind us of the importance of awareness, safety, consideration and respect (i.e. the “Golden Rule”) in our daily lives.

Tom Strekal

Carson City

Management dictates success in local business

Recently, I was subjected to poor management at a new local restaurant in Carson City. We have all experienced poor management within our work careers and thought a friendly reminder should be sent out this holiday season.

The manager and the serving employees are the face of the business to their clients that patronize the food establishment. Management can make or break a business. A manager should show respect to all employees regardless of their age. Strong leadership is vital and customers pick up on a well-run business. A manager in the service industry should demonstrate patience, strong interpersonal skills, be a leader that can be approached by all employees and have above-average communication skills. Successful members of the hospitality industry should work well with all staff and demonstrate a team member mentality.

No matter how tasty your menu is portrayed, customers will not return if they have a bad experience with your service or they overhear you berating your employees. Carson City is still a small town and residents here know one another and listen when they hear of a business treating its employees poorly. One bad experience is repeated to friends, family and coworkers 10 times compared to a good experience that may only be repeated to others twice.

Happy holidays, and I wish success to all the new restaurants in town.

Erin Fitzgerald

Carson City

Let’s use memorial vandalism as teaching opportunity for all

Many of you know me and know that I am a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force. I, too, was upset by the damage done to the new memorial dedicated to those from Nevada who made the ultimate sacrifice.

That being said, can we all just take a breath and realize there was not a bit of maliciousness by these young people who did the damage? I want to say that again — there was not a bit of maliciousness by these young people who did the damage. They were simply kids looking for some fun. The only things they are guilty of are exercising poor judgment by not paying attention to what they were doing as well as not paying attention to the signs that said, “No skateboards, bicycles, scooters, etc.”

I have no doubt that they did not look at the new memorial and had the conscious thought of, “Oh, that’s the new memorial dedicated to those from Nevada who made the ultimate sacrifice — let’s deface and damage it.” To everyone who wants to vilify and crucify them, for being kids — please, take a breath and truly think about it — they’re kids and because of that, they don’t have the capacity for certain thought processes.

Now that they realize what they have done, I’m quite certain they feel remorse — can we use this as an opportunity for everyone to learn a lesson? I believe one of the lessons that needs to be learned here is that Carson City does not have enough opportunities for our young people — I imagine the skate park was closed at the time they were at the new memorial. That brings to mind another set of issues, issues I do not wish to take on here.

For now, let’s all take a breath and remember, kids will be kids — this is a huge lesson for everyone: the kids involved, their families and the community.

Tod B. Jennings, MSgt (Ret), USAF

Carson City

Bush 41: A president worthy of the presidency

George Herbert Walker Bush was without a doubt one of our country’s greatest-ever statesmen and patriots. After serving with distinction as a naval aviator in the second World War, he graduated from Yale, became a self-made millionaire, served two terms in the House of Representatives, as ambassador to the United Nations, chair of the Republican National Committee, ambassador to China, director of the CIA, two terms as vice president and one term as president of the United States.

The senior President Bush set the standard of excellence in everything he set his mind to doing, from serving as captain of his high school and college baseball teams to joining with fellow former President Bill Clinton to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to aid the victims of natural disasters. His legacy of service with honor will remain an inspiration to all Americans who aspire to serve their country at any level in any capacity. Our 41st president was a truly great man and a great president. He will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.

Rich Dunn

Carson City

Feed America first

Many of us have our personal charities/organizations that we donate to like clockwork. Give the receipts to our accountants and let the chips fall in April. And then there are those that go beyond. An endless list of good deed doing.

My go-to cause has always been hunger. Going back decades to the annual food drives of our postal carriers, I would do what I could. After retiring in Carson City in 2004, I met Charlie and Karen Abowd who urged me to help feed the homeless in Reno for a few years. I then settled on our great local humanitarian service organization ... FISH. And I seem to remember local columnist Guy Farmer praising the endeavors of FISH in the past. We seldom see eye to eye on issues, but I’ll raise a toast to him on this one.

I met Jimbo, the head chef at the FISH kitchen a few years ago and asked him, “What do you need?” He replied, “Anything and everything you can afford to help with.” With my kids doing fine on their own, it was just the two of us. I could afford $25 to $30 a month in my food budget. Steals and deals at the local supermarkets, a few extra bucks and your time can make a world of difference. 250 pounds of spuds, 115 pounds of chickens, 60 pounds of rice, 50 dozen eggs was so easy this year. Jimbo always says thanks, “Tater Man,” and goes about his passionate work of feeding those in need. No receipts on this deal. If I can’t feed another human being sans monetary benefit, I don’t deserve to be on this planet.

For years, I have been appalled that tens of millions of Americans, especially children, go hungry every single day in this incredible land of plenty. I can’t fathom the waste that is routinely tossed in the garbage everyday. I hear the shouts of “Put America First” by those bent on nationalism and xenophobia. For a change, let us tone down the rhetoric this holiday season, shift gears a bit and let’s “Feed America First.”

The best of health to all.

Rick Van Alfen

Carson City