Letters to the editor for Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014

Item was not on board’s agenda

Regarding Carol Grows of Stagecoach letter of Oct. 18 about the Stagecoach Board’s failure to address Stagecoach speed limits:

If Grows and the gentleman who also wanted to provide his opinion had bothered to read the subjected schedule for the meeting, they would have been aware that only what was stated in that current schedule would be addressed. On public participation no action will be taken on any item until properly agendized.

The commissioners did not address this issue because it was not on the agenda, which is their duty to adhere to the proper protocol, which was established by the governing body law. If Grows and the other gentleman or anyone else wants to discuss speed limits for Stagecoach or anything else, contact the Chairwoman, Penny Slattery at 775-629-0301 or via email penny19@macc.com, and ask to have this item addressed, or contact the Lyon County Board of Commissioners at 27 S. Main Street, Yerington 89447 or their website, www.lyon-county.org

Cordially,

Mary Santomauro

Stagecoach

ECO preaches fear, intolerance

I can only shake my head in disbelief at the hypocritical reasons given by Rev. Bruce Kochsmeier for leaving Presbyterian Church USA and joining ECO.

In one breath he clearly says the decision to leave PCUSA has to do with their including gays fully and completely in the church. And in the other breath he has the audacity to imply joining ECO will lead to more inclusivity in the church. Such thinking borders on delusional.

A recent church sermon warned of the dangers of pluralism (pluralism accepts all religious paths as equally valid, promoting peace and understanding among people). One parishioner proclaimed how they are now in a spiritual war against Satan. The clear implication being ECO preaches God’s truth and other beliefs are in league with Satan, especially if you support gays. Rev. Kochsmeier believes this is inclusivity?

ECO can prattle on all they want about how this is not fundamentally a gay issue, but if one honestly looks at the matter, that’s exactly what it is about. Rev. Kochsmeier has led his congregation away from the original tenets of the Presbyterian church which made a point of embracing social justice issues of its day. It’s disingenuous for Rev. Kochsmeier to say this is not about taking direction from culture, but from Biblical authority. Biblical authority itself came from the culture of its time. His church now joins the ranks of those that preach fear and intolerance. And all the twisted and sweet words to the contrary cannot erase that truth.

Alan Banfield

Carson City

Candidates stop with the robo calls

In 2003, Nevada joined the national movement prohibiting calls from annoying telemarketers to a person who placed their number in the do-not-call registry. Sadly, our elected legislators didn’t have the courage to include the prohibition of political calls in that law as well. But there is a voluntary “do-not-call” registry maintained by the Secretary of State that allows registered voters to ask candidates not to call them with political requests. Despite having my number placed on that do-not-call list, I still receive calls from candidates who want my vote.

Clearly, my dear robo-candidate, if you are calling me, you could care less about the wishes of your constituents. Please take notice, you won’t get my vote.

David Smith

Carson City

Action for CHCs needed

With all the news lately about health risks, it is critically important that anyone should be able to access healthcare. Access to a primary care provider is just as important as an insurance card. People should have both ­but that is not always the case.

Community Health Centers (CHCs) greatly help to improve access to primary care. In 2013, CHCs served 70,014 Nevadans and almost half of those served were uninsured. CHCs provide good, effective care that keeps people healthy and out of the hospital. Community Health Centers save Nevada’s health care system $80 million a year. Yet even as demand for these services grow, a critical source of funding that helps them meet that demand is set to expire if Congress doesn’t act.

The approximate amount of federal 330 funding that Nevada’s Community Health Centers could lose would be upwards of $10 million with well over 13,000 patients losing their access to care if Congress does not take action to fix this funding cliff. The impact would be disastrous. Clinics across Nevada would be forced to cut back services and staff. Programs focused on growing the supply of primary care providers would also be hurt.

We are grateful that there are bipartisan leaders on Capitol Hill that are calling attention to the problem. We hope their call does not come too late for the people that are still waiting for care. Please visit Nevada Primary Care Association’s website at nvpca.org to learn more.

Nancy Hook

Carson City

Questions remain about downtown

As with so many, we have read, heard and seen the proposed changes to downtown Carson City. On the whole, thoughtful change would be good, but questions still remain. What if a small business such as a sweets shop, ice cream parlor or bakery wanted to open? Where could they be located? (Each has its own needs and demands pertaining to health department requirements.) As such, we do not see any place(s) where they could fit in.

Downtown has some fine dine-in eating establishments with one yet unknown to be opened. Still, these, along with some fine gift shops and more than 21 establishments, are not enough to entice families and travelers to stop and spend time and or money.

When you have passed through another town, what has made you stop? The appeal, clean streets, variety of numerous small businesses, ease of walking and convenient parking? That has always worked for my wife and me.

We read an idea of making Curry Street a pedestrian only area for several blocks. In itself a fine idea, but where do all the vehicles that currently park there go? Downtown parking has always been a sore spot and as yet not been resolved. A few more parking spaces on Carson Street will not correct the lack of available parking.

Giving downtown a fresh new look is a start. But some new, small-to-medium-sized businesses are also needed to bring the families, tourists and customers downtown.

Byron and Valorie Morgan

Carson City

Rest In Peace, my friend Pete

An oft-forgotten part of Pete Livermore’s life is that when he left the Marines in 1962, he worked as a letter carrier for about 10 years in Carson City. That’s where I met and worked with him.

His mail route was the south end of Carson Street where the A&W was located, and it is how he met the Staub family who owned it. Pete was the letter carrier’s union president during his years at the Post Office.

Heck, even back then, ol’ Pete was politicking. RIP, friend.

John Davis

Carson City

Downtown needs more parking

Thank you for this opportunity to express my views. I was not able to view the conceptual designs for “streetscape” for Carson Street. Starting at Fifth and going north to William, we checked the distance. One mile? No, more like .7 miles at a cost of $6.8 million! Think about that!

There was a headline for an article about business’ willingness to form a downtown business improvement district. I do not believe we need to change the street and/or its traffic flow. What is needed, in my opinion, is better parking, but not at risk of street changes. Doreen Mack has spearheaded ideas and thoughts of a pedestrian-friendly shopping experience that I think could be developed in and around Curry Street.

It is not easy to compact ideas and thoughts into coherent, correct sentences. On my way to a doctor, I rode up Carson Street, once again checking out how it is now and last week had traveled north of downtown on Carson. I noticed there has been quite a bit of clean-up. Neat and tidy is always a positive selling point.

How about the Nevada Day parade? I don’t believe it could be accommodated with the changes. Do we, citizens of the state’s capital, want to lose this and all the Nevada Day activities to that big city in the south? I don’t think so; let us all make our voices heard. Board of Supervisors meets Nov. 6 at the Community Center in the Sierra Room. Thank you, Carson citizens, for reading my letter.

Kelen Baker

Carson City