Letters to the editor for Saturday, June 1, 2013

Unless lawmakers act, state workers will pay

A story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal headlined “Sandoval Keeps Tax Promises” could not be more dishonest or misleading.

Despite what you’ve heard, the cuts to salaries and benefits of state workers will increase by another 2 percent for the next 2 years, unless the legislature does its job and develops an equitable system of revenue to fund services and restores compensation to state employees. These cuts are on top of salaries for some experienced professionals that are already 40 percent less than salaries for comparable private-sector jobs (retention and recruiting problems for state jobs? Yep!). Over the past 4 years, each state employee has already paid $20,000 (personal income tax) to help balance the budget.

The following percentages are based on a $50,000 annual salary for ease of calculation, but some percentage cuts are even higher for lower-salaried employees. Here’s how the damage is being done: 2.6 percent pay cut disguised as greatly increased deductibles (greater than 3 times) and premiums (greater than 480 percent) for health care; 5.7825 percent pay cut due to an outright salary cut (2.5 percent), resulting pension loss (0.975 percent), and furlough (2.3075 percent); 2.75 percent pay cut due to increases in mandatory pension contributions over the past few years (state employees pay half the cost of their pension and do not receive Social Security); 1.2 percent pay cut due to elimination of health wellness benefit. Total: 12.3325 percent pay cut (or 12.3 percent personal income tax on 1 percent of Nevadans).

Mary Siders

Carson City

Entire counties should vote on every candidate

There is a bill that cleared the State Senate and Assembly and headed to the governor’s desk. Hopefully he will veto this bill too.

There should be no reason all Nevada counties elect any official from the prescient or district they are in. A county-wide election for any position should be just that. A representative to represent a county district should not be getting votes from every corner of any county. This does, or in my opinion, could prevent voters from electing “true representatives for a district.” Washoe, Carson and Clark counties need not be the only counties electing from wards.

Cullen Watts

Silver Springs

Evidence proves those against God incorrect

The Bible has no errors or contradictions. Therefore it’s a perfect book written by God. Next up: Democrats are anti-God. God calls homosexuality an “abomination” and He considers life precious before birth. Killing babies is a bad thing. Democrats support both. The Constitution provides for the freedom “of” religion. Democrats would prefer freedom “from” religion. I’m a Bostonian.

Ken, so we have caves in France that are supposedly 25,000 years old. That dating procedure has been accomplished by one of six Carbon-14 dating methods. All six are seriously flawed and not one agrees with the other. Half-life wrong.

Al, people have been on the earth for 200,000 years you say. Well that means that there should be 8 billion skeletons buried. Odd we never seem to find that many! Also, DNA cannot live past 10,000 years. I have numerous references on that subject. Farming is 4,000 years old. Why would it take 196,000 years for people to figure out how to put seeds in the ground? In 1969 NASA estimated that with a universe that’s 24 billion years old there should be 54 feet of moon dust. Neil stepped into 6 inches, which equals less than 10,000 years. Also, not enough salt or sediments in the sea, comets go away too quickly, etc.

I have a preponderance of evidence to support each of my statements. If you would care to debate these issues at greater length, I’m on Facebook. I’ve learned lots, Al. You’re buying the beer.

Bill Fullilove

Carson City