The Californication of Nevada
I am responding to a letter submitted by Vince Agamenone.
In his letter, Agameneone suggests that we get rid of U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei and make Nevada entirely blue. What a fantastic suggestion! In doing so we could complete the Californication of Nevada. We could then enjoy advantages that California presently has as compared to us here in Nevada.
Extremely high prices for gasoline, natural gas and electricity come to mind. Rolling power blackouts during the summer, sometimes for days, could be the norm. Massive homeless encampments in our cities with streets and sidewalks adorned with human feces, syringes and trash. Folks, look at what we are missing.
Other advantages California has over Nevada include closed schools, high crime rates and criminals released in droves from prisons and jails for the enjoyment of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. Speaking of taxpayers, do not forget, California has the highest income tax in the nation coupled with exceedingly high property taxes. It’s also worth mentioning that California citizens are second class when compared to illegal aliens. Afterall, those massive tax collections have to go somewhere.
I don’t know how we manage to exist here in Nevada without all these advantages. Let’s get behind Agamenone’s idea so we can begin to benefit from all the things that we have been missing out on.
Ray Trexler
Wellington
Farmer on wrong side, again
So now the Appeal’s Guy Farmer wants to use his sports fandom to justify his bigotry. Guy says that “when you mix politics and sports it is toxic for the fans and the country.”
I too am a lifelong sports fan and have no problem with MLB pulling the All-Star game out of Georgia in response to their obviously racist new voter legislation. Guy suggests that athletes like Colin Kaepernick don’t have the same rights to express their opinions on racial issues as he does. I say tell that to the likes of Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Arthur Ashe, Jim Brown and on and on.
Farmer went so far as to suggest that Kaepernick and ex-President Obama weren’t black enough to express their opinions on racial injustice. And in response to Guy’s supposition, he is not a bigot for supporting Georgia’s voting law and opposing Kaepernick, he is a bigot for many other reasons.
Any regular reader should know that whenever there are issues of race you can bet that Farmer will come down on the wrong side and he will find some obscure sources to back him up.
Vincent Barnes
Carson City
Carson’s uniqueness is being lost
I am a native Carsonsite and I am writing to you with grave concern as to the direction Carson City is moving in. I understand that Carson City is now the up-and-coming spot for people to move, but as I watch all the ranch lands in Carson City and the surrounding areas being paved over and houses erected, at a record pace, I wonder if anyone on the Planning Commission is concerned about how allowing so much instant growth is hurting our town?
Everyone who lives here wants to know where is the water going to come from? Look at how Los Angeles and Las Vegas already struggle to supply water to its communities.
As ranch land and grassy yards are being bulldozed and replaced with rock yards and houses with black roof tops, does anyone worry about how that contributes to global warming? Grass and water going back into the ground cools the earth while rock and hardscapes absorb the heat.
What about the traffic that is being pumped into our town not only as it expands but as surrounding areas like Douglas County and Dayton also expand? It seems Carson City narrows its roads while traffic continues to get more and more congested.
We had such an opportunity to develop this area the right way, with lots of open space for everyone to enjoy, but because money and big business rule everything, all that was unique and wonderful about Northern Nevada has now become lost. It is a so sad to see.
I wonder if and when anyone will realize that paving paradise to put up a parking lot is what is destroying our world. When the water runs out, and all that is left are pretty houses, crowded cities and only money to drink, how great will it be then?
Casey Baldwin
Carson City
