Letters to the Editor Aug. 5

It is heartbreaking to see so many animals that have been affected by lost jobs and housing. Wylie Animal Rescue Foundation (WARF) is one of several non-profit groups that assists people and pets.

Right now there is a huge need for volunteers to assist with the cats that are in our care. Please consider giving a few hours of your time each week, or whatever you can spare, to help by doing some feeding, cleaning and socializing at our foster home in Carson.

We, and the cats, will be extremely grateful. Please call WARF and leave a message at 775-833-2319.

Connie Nowlin

Carson City

This is Part Two. Now, after 32 formal requests and four formal invitations to meet with Gov. Brian Sandoval regarding the stories and lies told to me and my wife by the Nevada Office of Veterans Services, the only response by the governor has been, "It is not beneficial."

It is not beneficial to whom, me? I'm just trying to get to the truth. Is the governor not accountable to the people who elected him to office? Is his stand as a veterans' governor just another political ploy? Is that why he condones the lies told by state employees?

As a lifelong Nevada resident and disabled veteran who is accountable for my actions by the laws and statutes of the state, why is Gov. Sandoval and the Nevada Office of Veterans Services above those same laws and statutes? Or is it now legal and moral for elected state officials and state employees to lie to and use stall tactics on the people they are being paid by?

With a 7,500-case backlog of requests for assistance on claims, maybe it is time to put the lies and stall tactics aside so some real work can get done.

So, Gov. Sandoval, may we please meet face-to-face with you and the staff of NOVS to get these lies resolved and get some straight, honest answers?

Chuck Lundberg

Mound House

During this crisis, we must not blame Republicans or Democrats.

We argue over budgets, but to what end? The U.S. can't determine what to do fiscally because we have no long-range plan. We have no long-range plan, because we are led by incompatible parties. Any plan made by one will be thrown out by the other when it returns to power. We are led by incompatible parties because our election system mandates it.

We vote competitively. How we rate or select one candidate affects the others - you can pick only one candidate for president. If candidates start off in the political center, they will move away from their opponent toward the political fringe to gather more votes. They must, for those in the center can choose only one candidate. But what if voters could choose more than one?

Approval voting allows this. In approval voting, you approve all candidates you find acceptable. Candidates gain more by courting the center instead of the fringe. Consensus becomes easier.

Changing to approval voting is simple: Each state (not D.C.) establishes its own system for candidate selection. It's cheap; approval voting can use the same ballots and machines currently in use. Later, approval voting can be upgraded to have two levels of approval, permitting differentiation between candidates a voter may only approve of and ones they prefer.

Changing our voting system ends gridlock and allows us to build a plan for the future. We can do it today - without Washington.

Ted Getschman

Carson City