Letters to the editor

Pets, service animals benefit people’s healthI would like to bring attention to the benefits service animals and pets bring to their owners and others. Service animals like dogs, cats and rabbits visit convalescent homes relieving loneliness and boredom in the elderly. Organization like the Animal Health Foundation evaluate dogs, cats and rabbits to be service animals. The animals and their owners are evaluated and trained to go into convalescent homes, hospitals, libraries and schools.Service dogs are used for programs such as Reading, Education, Assistance Dogs. Reading, Education, Assistance Dogs bring children a calming effect. Students reading aloud to dog learn to read better because the dog is nonjudgmental. Students reading scores have gone up by 20 percent in one year.Some soldiers coming back from war have post-traumatic stress disorder. Service dogs give returning soldiers the benefit of companionship, lower stress levels and with time the post-traumatic stress disorder gets better.People with disabilities such as spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, arthritis, and stroke receive a dog trained to their particular disability. Cost to train a dog is $20,000. Organizations raise funds by holding events like the Black Tie and Tails, Paws Abilities and individual donations.Service animals contribute to people’s overall health. Studies have shown that people who own pets have lower blood pressure, less anxiety and are less likely to be lonely. The action of petting a dog or cat can lower blood pressure in minutes. Pets are a great benefit to people in so many ways.Linda AllumCarson CityLicense drinkers, test their mental well-beingThe massacre of 20 children in Newtown is a tragedy of the highest order. Irrational thinking on the part of government and the public has based the blame on guns. Alcohol is a thousand time worse than guns on children. Abuse, neglect, runaways and death occur daily due to alcoholic parents or drunk drivers. Alcohol is an addictive drug. What can be more tragic than an alcoholic mother that brings into the world a disfigured and mentally deficient child? There is a conflict of rights in this case. I think that the public has the right to expect a mother to produce a healthy child to the best of her ability. If it is known early on that the baby could be a freak, it should be aborted by law. We are aware from the prohibition that the government could not control alcohol. It has also been proved that they cannot control immigration, drugs and prostitution. What can we expect from government on the control of guns? People can be controlled! What is needed is a license card to be used to buy alcoholic drinks in a bar, store or restaurant. Besides being 21 or older, the applicant for a card would have to have a psychiatric evaluation. Not enough space to provide more details. I am a realist. What I suggest will not come to pass. Many in Congress like their alcohol and would not want to give up the reelection donations from the alcohol industry lobbyists. Donald W. CunninghamCarson City