Letters to the editor for Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Ordinance needed to stop noise pollution

Regarding Rhonda Glisson’s letter on Feb. 3, the loud karaoke music coming from downtown on Thursdays comes from the cigar bar across from City Hall, next to the Business Resource Innovation Center.

I called dispatch several times and filed one complaint in 2011. I called dispatch at least 12 times in 2012 and filed two complaints at the BRIC building. After the second complaint, the code enforcement left a message that the patio area was private property and couldn’t be cited, as the Supervisors hadn’t passed a noise ordinance. Sheriff Furlong stopped by and stated without the noise ordinance, all they could do was ask them to turn it down.

I called dispatch seven or eight times this year and met with Susan, the owner, on June 10. They now have karaoke and other music on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Susan said to call the bar and ask for the music be turned down. This worked until June 29. At 10:30 p.m., the music, especially the bass (the loud “boom booms”), was loud enough to rattle the windows and hurt my wife’s eardrums. I called twice, and both times the music and bass was turned down. The bass was turned up again around 1 a.m. Sunday, June 30. I called again and they wouldn’t turn it down. Called dispatch and they sent deputies out. Finally turned off at 2:20 a.m. We live five blocks east of the cigar bar. Perhaps the Supervisors would pass a noise ordinance.

Don Armstrong

Carson City

Ethanol offers less bang for the buck

Regarding “Boost for cars or bust? Ethanol debate heats up” by Matthew Daly of the Associate Press, refiners do not wish to blend more than 10 percent ethanol with gasoline (the “blend wall”) mainly because auto manufacturers say most vehicles can’t handle a 15 percent blend. If we don’t buy more gasoline this year than last, the “blend wall” creates a conflict with the government’s position.

“According to the EPA, E15 may be more corrosive than other fuels and emits a hotter exhaust, which could cause leaks or increased wear in vehicles that weren’t designed to handle it.”

“A 2010 study by researches at Rice University found no reason to believe that the process of planting, tending, harvesting and processing corn into ethanol emits less carbon dioxide than does gasoline,” (“Keep Your Corn,” Forbes Magazine). “Pumping energy intensive row crops into gas tanks leads to land-use changes in world agriculture markets that increase greenhouse gases.” The liberal revelation has been the growing evidence that biofuels increase net carbon emissions (“Ethanol in Winter,” Wall Street Journal). Ethanol subsidy lobby has pushed the cost of corn from a base of $2.40 per bushel to roughly $7.40 plus per bushel, this additional cost hits practically everything we consume.

“A gallon of ethanol has only two-thirds as much chemical energy as a gallon of gas. You have to burn 1.5 gallons of ethanol to go as far as the gasoline will take you,” (“Temperance,” Forbes Magazine).

You pay more for less. This is not a “victory for U.S. consumers.”

George Tidd

Genoa