Thank you for kind generosity My wife and I live in Detroit and have spent the last 17 days driving the Lincoln Highway from New Your City and on to San Francisco. Our route took us through Carson City on March 18, where we stopped for the night. We went downtown for dinner and ended up at a restaurant. The restaurant was busy and we had to wait for a table. Also waiting was a local woman and her son. We began talking to her about the town, our trip and the route we were taking. She offered a few suggestions, for which we were appreciative. After talking for five or 10 minutes, my wife and I were seated. The woman and her son were seated a few minutes later. Our tables were close, but we did not interact during. When the woman was finished, she paid her bill and looked over and wished us a safe and enjoyable trip. We wished her a good evening. A few minutes after she left, our waitress came to our table and informed us that the woman had paid our bill. We got up and went outside in hopes of finding this woman so that we could at least thank her, but she was gone. What a kind and wonderful gesture this woman did. Carson City should be proud to have a resident who is this caring and generous. I certainly hope this wonderful lady reads this letter and knows how thankful we are. This is actually one of the highlights of our trip. Dennis and Mary Lou Corrigan Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan Planning commissioner gives update for absence I have received messages from many of the members of the community concerning my absences from the Planning Commission and Growth Management Commission meetings. Though the reason for my absences was personal, I'd like to reassure everyone that I remain sincerely dedicated to our community and my responsibilities as a commissioner. I greatly appreciate the outpouring of emails, calls, and messages of concern from the Carson City community. I am looking forward to the coming year and the challenges posed by the pandemic and the economy. Our community deserves the best representation possible as we work through this together. As my record of service reflects, I take both my responsibilities and my oath seriously. In every vote I cast, I try to balance the best interests of our community with the desires of the applicants. Sometimes, the commissioners are in accord. Sometimes, as in the recent slaughterhouse applications, we are not. It is this capacity to give voice to different perspectives and values that makes our community and its government stronger. I will not "go along to get along" when it comes to respecting the voice of our citizens. I return focused and vigilant on my task of serving the best interests of our community. Of course, I welcome input from our residents and will continue to make myself available whenever possible. Nathaniel Killgore Carson City planning commissioner Support NDOW’s mule deer plan Reflecting back on last fall’s deer season and following NDOW’s Mule Deer Enhancement Committee meetings, it’s obvious that some of our deer herds are at very low population levels. Many factors—including drought, wildfire, invasive species, feral horses, loss of crucial winter ranges — are negatively impacting those herds. In August 2021, Gov. Sisolak signed an executive order directing NDOW to create a Nevada Wildlife Connectivity Plan to identify and conserve migratory corridors used by big game and other key species. Seasonal ranges, especially winter range, are often considered the most important habitat to species like mule deer. For example, deer herds in northeastern Nevada have some of the most productive summer ranges in the state, but where these herds winter is often the limiting factor on populations. The migration corridors and transition habitats these herds use to travel from summer to winter range also play a vital role in the overall health of these animals. Deer using these corridors often cover more than 100 miles in each direction on their way to and from winter range. Manmade obstructions such as roads, highways, subdivisions, fences, energy development, large mining operations can all impede that journey. One goal of this Connectivity Plan is to identify and prioritize these corridors so they are not ignored or overlooked in land use planning. Degraded winter range and fractured migration corridors are just part of the puzzle of why our deer herds are not thriving as they once did. Let NDOW and your local leaders know you support this plan. Carl Erquiaga Fallon Thank you for Senator Square Every week my spirit and hopes for the future are lifted when I read the Nevada Appeal, thanks to one faithful and terrific contributor, Phil Brady, English teacher and individual extraordinaire at Carson High School. Brady takes the time to collect reams of information about striving students, caring teachers and administrators, and other positive events centered at Carson High. He makes it plain that goal setting, talent development, and plain old hard work are alive and well in our educational community, and the rest of us can be inspired by it to greater kindness and contributions too. Thank you Phil Brady, and thank you, too, Nevada Appeal for publishing his column, Senator Square, every week. P.S. this is one of my #kindnessforChris actions, in honor of Chris Coulam, CHS student fighting a brave battle with cancer; thank you for publishing that article too! Sarah Mersereau-Adler Carson City Caution over nuclear war In his March 19 op ed, Jim Hartman complains about the Biden administration’s decision not to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine. What Hartman sees as “timid” I see as strategic and measured — a very skillful response by the leader of a nuclear power in an extremely hazardous geopolitical moment. Here’s what the president said: “We will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine. A direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III.” I think the president is dead right in his caution, and I am not alone. Foreign Policy reports that 866 international policy experts, polled by researchers at William and Mary College, are nearly unanimous in opposing the no-fly zone. “Respondents reject a U.S.-enforced no-fly zone because they fear it raises the risk of escalation, including the likelihood of a Russian nuclear attack against Ukraine or NATO countries.” To emphasize the true horror we face if things go wrong, in a March 18 op ed in the New York Times, Tom Z. Collina, an expert on nuclear weapons and nonproliferation writes, “Mr. Biden understands that direct U.S.-Russian conflict could escalate to nuclear war. The Soviet Union may have disappeared 30 years ago, but its nuclear weapons did not, and neither did ours. If they are used, the consequences would be horrific — instant death for people in the immediate blast area followed by environmental destruction, possible famine and more death as the radiation spread. It could mean the end of civilization as we know it.” I would rather our president err on the side of caution than stumble into a nuclear war. Anne Macquarie Carson City Understanding gas prices While Trump's buddy, Putin, is killing thousands in his Ukraine invasion, Republican commentators from the Wall Street Journal to the Nevada Appeal are falsely blaming the Biden administration for the increases in oil prices. As these political hacks know, oil prices are set by international supply and demand in response to recovery from the global COVID pandemic, exacerbated by the current Russian war on Ukraine. Factual explanations of the current oil prices are readily available, even from conservative media such as Forbes: Major factors for the oil price increases: “Russia’s War on Ukraine and the Price of Oil,” “The Demand Component of Higher Oil Prices,” “OPEC Production Cuts Mean Higher Oil Prices” and “U.S. Oil Production Slow to Respond.” www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/high-oil-prices/: www.politifact.com: "Oil production in the U.S. in President Joe Biden’s first year was on par with 2020 and higher than in two of the four years Trump was president." "Biden has surpassed Trump in issuing drilling permits on public land." Regarding the infamous Keystone XL Pipeline to import low-quality Canadian tar-sands oil in competition with U.S. producers, the Trump EIS in 2017 concluded: "Any impact on prices for refined petroleum products resulting from the approval and construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would be minimal.” After cancellation of the pipeline permits in 2021, production problems with the Canadian tar-sand mines had not produced enough oil to make the pipeline feasible and the builder, TC Energy, stated they would not restart the pipeline even if the permits were granted. Jon Nowlin Carson City
