Editor:
Connie Wennhold, who as the president of the school board, passed away last year.
She did an excellent job and recently I had an opportunity to witness her legacy first hand.
I was talking to a recent graduate of Douglas High School. Knowing that she was a very bright young lady, I asked her if she had taken any of the advanced placement exams. She audibly sighed in response and groaned, "Yes I did, but it was sooo hard."
I laughed and asked her how many she took.
She said, "Four, but I didn't want to take the exams because it's just too much work. But I did, because that's the rule, you have to take the exams."
She said she had passed all the exams and she had received college credit for them as well so she was essentially starting college one semester ahead of the other kids. So naturally I asked her if it had been worth it " if she would have chosen to skip those exams if she had to do it all over again.
She groaned again and said, "No, I'm glad I did it. I meant it was a lot of hard work, but it was really worth it."
Connie Wennhold is the one who muscled that advanced placement rule into place. She wanted all AP exams to be mandatory.
And I can tell you that the teachers at DHS and all the parent groups opposed this change. She had to battle to get this change through.
But she knew that the AP exams would prepare the kids for college like nothing else can, and she knew that the college credit would make it all worthwhile. Connie was only focused on what was best for our kids. Thanks, Connie.
Autum Resney
Gardnerville
Editor:
I would like to share my support for the Nevada Horse Park, which was explained in great detail in Denise Beronio's article on Friday.
I think this would be a wonderful asset to the community. It is well-planned and precisely thought out better then any other idea that has been presented to the county thus far.
It stays true to the integrity of the county, while providing tourism dollars, jobs and promotes the culture for future generations.
What a win-win situation. I will put my full support behind this project and am so pleased to see this wonderful opportunity presented to our county.
Jennifer Joost
Stateline
Editor:
Recently, Denise Beronio provided a lengthy article of why Carson Valley needs the Nevada Horse Park. I'd like to throw out a few items for thought.
Several years ago, an organization called Horse Shows in the Sun, had grand plans for an annual gathering of people from all over the country coming to Carson Valley to take part in various jumping and riding events. They also touted the grandeur of the Valley and the ability of Lake Tahoe to attract people to the area. The event lasted two, maybe three, years before being canceled. And that was with the Bently organization providing land and electricity for the RVs. If that couldn't be sustained, why would the horse park be any different?
Recently, several local newspapers have had articles about horse owners finding it increasingly expensive to keep their animals and many are having to sell them. I believe The R-C also had an article about the declining numbers of wild horses being adopted in the area due to increasing costs. If this is the beginning of a trend, why do we require so many barns and arenas for future growth?
I regularly meet up with equestrians while running in the Pine Nuts. During brief "hello's" they invariably mention how much they enjoy riding in the hills and trees of this wonderful part of the Valley. How would having the horse park improve on the ability to ride the 400,000-plus acres of open land in the Pinenut Mountains?
It is mentioned that the project would include 1,634 acres of which 1,000 would remain open for grazing. This still means there would be 634 acres of barns, arenas, event center, RV Park, Office Park, commercial businesses, etc. How often are existing Inns, Hotels/Motels, and RV Parks full so that a new one is required?
While the Board of Directors of the park would seem to be quite capable of handling equestrian issues, I wonder where the funding for this project will come from. How much will the Park Cattle Co. be involved?
Readers may want to take a look at the Web site www.nevadahorsepark.com to see the scope of the project. While I understand it is an asset to be positive in life, much of the verbiage makes this seem like a done deal. What's going on behind the scenes that we don't know?
B. Beamer
Stephanie Way
Editor:
I find it ironic that this domesticated horse park is being proposed while the several legal wild horse herd areas in Western Nevada are all but forgotten. This is because the cowboy culture of arrogant ranchers has conspired to all but eliminate the wild horses from the wild in order to monopolize the public lands. How tragic that we forget the lessons of nature and the age old place of the horse, a returned native species, in the West.
Craig Downer
Minden
Editor:
Robert L. Blakely of Genoa wrote in a relatively lengthy letter (published Aug. 27) that "John McCain is my man." Well, I will cancel out Mr. Blakely's vote because "Barack Obama is my man." Mr. Blakely, who attended McCain's recent "town hall" gathering in Sparks, offered absolutely no policy reasons in support of McCain. Instead, he simply mentions McCain asking "the former military people in the audience to raise their hands." Well, Mr. Blakely, I and my wife, as well as numerous others I know, are also military veterans supporting Obama, not that aged, lying warmonger. McCain's record of support for veterans is abysmal (check it out).
Mr. Blakely also praises McCain's "attractive wife, Cindy," as if a credible candidate for president needs an attractive wife, not, apparently an ordinary-looking spouse. While I agree that McCain's captivity in North Vietnam qualifies him as a true hero, he has done nothing heroic since his release 35 years ago. Perhaps you didn't know this, Mr. Blakely, but shortly after returning to the U.S., McCain dumped his first wife (who had been caring for their children during his years as a POW) after she was injured in an automobile accident. Then, following an affair, he married the younger, more attractive Cindy, who happened to be from a very wealthy family and could, therefore, fund his initial run for Congress (check that out, too, Mr. Blakely).
A third Bush term via McCain would be an unmitigated disaster for our country, its military and the entire world.
Jeffrey L. Russell
Minden
Editor:
Hurrah for McCain,
I think he did an excellent job of selecting his running mate. This will finally make for an interesting election. Mr. Obama not only started out pretty stupid, he got more so as time went on. All he has left now are stupid slogans. By the way have you heard any dumb slogans coming out of John McCain's mouth? Now go out and vote intelligently and maybe send Obama back to where he came from.
Dieter Hoffman
Coleville
Editor:
Obama's record is the most liberal in the Senate. The only bill that he has sponsored is very recent and mandates that we give additional billions of dollars to the United Nations (we already provide more than 23 percent of their subsistence in return for being trashed) which they have historically distributed to tyrants ruling third-world nations (not the poor). By his own words in "Audacity" he hung with very liberal groups at Harvard. He transplanted himself to South Chicago where he was a "community organizer" advocating and implementing the Saul Alinsky "Rules for Radicals." Please look up Alinsky, an avowed communist, and his strategy for destroying our country as we know it. Alinsky was Hillary's mentor at Wellesley and she dedicated her senior paper to him. He viewed her as a potentially great organizer. She had other plans. They almost came to fruition.
In my view, Obama is a creation of a segment of the Democrat Party (the Kennedy coalition) that were determined not to be subject to eight more years of the Clintons. They knew all along about the Clintons but defended them with gritted teeth. Cowed but creative they started by giving Obama a key speech at the convention. He was great. The aforementioned powers knew that they could not take Hillary out with the white male turkeys available. They gambled on the black card and won big because Obama is charismatic and hard to attack, no matter the facts, without being accused of prejudice. The Clintons, who are consumate pros but presumptuous, were blindsided and unprepared.
Obama does not like to wear the flag pin or salute the flag, he hangs out with Ayers (who is still sorry he failed to accomplish bombing the Pentagon), is a member of a Church for 22 years that advocates "God damn America," and obtained his home through Tony Rezko a Chicago hood.
He has two sides, and sometimes more, on major issues. He opposed the "surge" and has never supported the troops. The reality is that the top 1 percent of our citizens pay 40 percent of our taxes and the top 10 percent pay 70 percent. The bottom 50 percent pay 2.9 percent. Yet he has openly advocated massive tax increases which historically diminish revenue to the government. Is he stupid? Kennedy and Reagan both decreased taxes and increased revenue. Knowing that to be true why would you promulgate increasing taxes? Redistribution of wealth?
Now who advocated that? Amplification of government power? Our framers anticipated the problem of political parties (Adams and Washington in particular) and warned us that allegiance to a party might well be greater too and contrary to the best interest of the country. Presently our nation gives our Congress a 9 percent approval rating. They're representing us?
If you have not recognized Obama, with far left tendencies, as an empty suit run by powerful people in the Democrat Party (financed by moveon.org and George Soros) we are in trouble. He has never worked in the private sector. Government is his answer to all problems. Like almost all liberals he is an appeaser with the common sense of a turnip.
He has not supported our troops. He propounds publicly that he can dissuade the Iranians from continuing the development of nuclear weapons. He's dangerous.
The kindest assessment is that he's agendized, otherwise he's an idiot. His father was a Muslim so by their definition he is a Muslim. If he converted to Christianity he is by their definition an apostate and toast under Sharia Law (the Koran does not look kindly on infidels, especially apostates).
President? I doubt he could get a security clearance.
Dick Witzig
Gardnerville
Editor:
Thanks to the generosity of the Pinon Hills Elementary School PTO the school now has a new climbing wall. In addition to building muscle strength climbing walls also serve a variety of other purposes.
Character building, problem solving, cross-curricular integration, and teamwork are just a few of the themes that can be emphasized by using the wall. We are lucky indeed to have such a helpful and supportive PTO who realizes the value of providing financial assistance to help students meet a variety of needs. On behalf of the students and staff of Pinon Hills Elementary School I would like to say a huge thanks and kudos for their help.
Doug Odell
P.E. instructor
Pinon Hills Elementary School
Editor:
We wanted to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. T. Michael Brown for his decisive efforts to resolve the issues surrounding 911 Communications and the recent release of the Grand Jury Report.
We recognize that Mr. Brown was placed in a difficult situation in addressing this matter and applaud his leadership in providing solutions. We look forward to working in support of his efforts to complete the tasks ahead in this and other related matters.
On behalf of our membership comprising the deputies, investigators and sergeants of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, we commend the leadership of the Board of County Commissioners and County Manager T. Michael Brown.
Douglas County Sheriff's Protective
Association Board of Directors
Minden
