IHOP doing the right thing
OK, it's time to respond to the serial tear-down-the-IHOP letter writers. To this end, I have reviewed and discused them with a significant number of reasonably intelligent individuals, and received a unanimous response. Most found the comments somewhere between ridiculous and silly.
One particularly excitable lady was especially incensed. Others, while less disturbed, agreed that writers were a bit presumptuous in assuming the right to speak for everyone in the area. The most objectionable phrase was, "I believe I speak for everyone in Carson City."
More troubling is the failure to recognize the law of unintended consequences. Do we really want to provide an incentive to every lunatic with a grudge against some business, person or association, to go in and spray some bullets with the expectation that this act will inevitalby result in shutting down the facility?
Enough, already.
Larry Taylor
Carson City
Where will the money come from?
Finish the sentence. After reading Janice Ayers' column last week, I am again struck by left-leaning citizens' inability to finish the sentence. The sentence begins complaining about funding cuts of essential services, such as seniors, the arts, education, green energy, homelessness, unemployment benefits, public sector pensions, high-speed rail, etc., by heartless, backward-thinking Republicans.
The thinking stops there. Few thoughts are given to how these services or projects are to be funded. Taxing the rich, many definitions, who already pay more than half of all taxes collected, can only be a partial answer.
Does the left feel that all those services and projects should be paid for by raising taxes on the reeling construction and real estate industries, the declining gaming industry, bankrupt banks, struggling small businesses, large corporations, further driving their expansions and operations overseas?
Why not look at cutbacks of subsidies to Amtrak, the post office, the $200 billion in duplicate programs exposed by the Congressional Budget Office, then ignored, the failed energy and education departments, exorbitant federal salaries and unfunded pensions?
If the Defense Department can't cut 10 percent from their bloated budget without hurting our security, we need new generals. We need to prioritize our spending, live within our means and start over with the tax code.
So when we complain about budget cuts to our special interests, please detail where the money will come from - finish the sentence.
Larry Messina
Carson City
Bicycle riders need to remember to follow laws
In a recent letter, Dennis Stark of Yerington, who is a member of the State Bicycle and Pedestrian Board, educated Nevadans about the new law requiring motorists to be extra careful and pass bicycles by no less than three feet. I thank Mr. Stark for this timely reminder about the new safety law.
However, I am sure that, as an avid bicyclist, Mr. Stark sees blatant violation of existing laws by fellow bicyclists. If he does not, then he is not paying attention either to the road or to the traffic while riding his bike.
Not a day goes by when I do not see bicyclists breezing right through a red light at a traffic intersection, or running right through a stop sign without even looking, or riding across a pedestrian crossing when they are supposed to walk their bike. If I were to partake in any of these stunts with my car, I would get a citation for failure to obey traffic signs.
As a parent and an occasional bicyclist, I take pride in teaching my young children safety first and to learn and obey our traffic laws.
It would have been refreshing to have a member of the State Bicycle and Pedestrian Board to take the opportunity to publicly remind fellow bicyclists to learn, respect, and follow existing traffic laws for the sake of everyone's safety.
Road safety and obeying our traffic laws, is the responsibility of all who use our roads - this does not exclude bicyclists.
Rajat Jain
Gardnerville
Keep supporting the V&T Railway
After nearly 20 years of efforts by various groups, the long-awaited reconstructed V&T Railway is now in our midst, and operating at that.
Yet, in spite of the Herculean and gallant efforts to contribute this legacy attraction to the regional portfolio, apparently, a few people used to the easy money of the pre-recession economy have become impatient with it. With the benefit of the experience of long-term direct involvement in this project, I offer the following thoughts:
Most successful projects of this type have had a hand up in that they didn't have to start from scratch and have had decades to develop their business. The most successful railroads have been running for more than 30 years. It must be well understood that the time involved in development is directly proportional to the benefits reaped.
This operation has to be managed in a manner unlike any other railroad because of the agendas of the different entities involved. To Carson City's great credit, Candace Duncan, executive director of the Carson City Convention & Visitors Bureau, has been entrusted to sew a silk purse from a sow's ear to make this work, and in the process, protect Carson City's sizable investment in the project. She treads where others have found it impossible, and diligently does what she can with what she's been given.
Whatever your opinion, it's here now, it must work, and Candace needs all the support she can get to make it happen.
Kim Fegert
Gold Hill
