Letters to the editor for Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015

On stopping violence and abortion

This is a response to a letter about stopping violence. Wow, what a scary thought that a deranged person could pass a background check in order to receive a gun. It goes to show that background checks are a big joke. They don’t work because innocent people are still dying.

As far as the NAACP, ACLU, NRA and the Rainbow Coalition, shame on them for sticking up for a deranged sicko. How can he claim himself as a perpetual victim? What about the two people he murdered? Aren’t they victims? What will it take to end this senseless act? Why hasn’t the president done anything about it? He’s seen it many times, and still nothing. Stop the violence.

Regarding abortion, I have written numerous letters about this subject. So far, it hasn’t done any good. The killing goes on. How do they justify that it’s just a fetus? It might start out that way, but by nine months it’s a baby. That’s just a lame excuse so you don’t feel guilty if you murdered a human life.

In the news I heard Planned Parenthood is doing something with the aborted fetus. Do they not see it’s human, even if it’s not totally developed? They’re either blind or totally ignorant.

I know you say it’s your body, but if you are gong to have sex, at least protect yourself. Be responsible, not an idiot.

I can’t understand why women would rather spend more money on an abortion. Stop killing human life. Stop violence and the killing of animals.

Ruth Berg

Carson City

Army soldier reprimanded unfairly

Need to bring this to light — the Army is going to release a soldier because he received a letter of reprimand while serving in Afghanistan. He was reprimanded for getting into an altercation with an Afghan police official who was molesting a young boy. Part of the reprimand was because he interfered with the Afghan culture. It is an excepted practice in Afghanistan to molest boys.

So I have a question. Is it just a thing in Afghanistan to molest boys or is it a Muslim thing in general, kind of like the priests in the Catholic Church?

Rob Cobb

Carson City

Barrette’s column was right on

The Sept. 20 Commentary by John Barrette in the Nevada Appeal was right on. We need to quit thinking short term on what can be done about our snowpack and water worries. It is past time to be finding long term solutions to our rapidly changing climate.

A hopeful sign is the resolution co-sponsored by Representative Chris Gibson and 10 fellow Republicans. The resolution states that, “If left unaddressed, the consequences of a changing climate have potential to adversely impact all Americans.” It calls for the House to work constructively to create economic viable solutions, including mitigation efforts, and ways to balance human activities that have been found to have an impact on the climate.

Will our Representative Mark Amodei sign on to the Gibson Resolution? I certainly hope so, because my reading of people in Carson City is that the majority of us want some action on the climate sooner rather than later.

Linda Zahrt

Carson City

Medical marijuana users want to work

I’ve heard a lot of business owners in my life talk about cannabis use. The recurring themes that spew forth are usually rather ignorant. “These potheads are lazy and freeloaders,” “I’ve never seen a productive weed smoker,” “These people just don’t want to work and will never amount to anything.” Plus many more derogatory terms and uneducated statements.

I’ve been a medical marijuana patient for about 8 years. After many years of attempting to manage pain in my knees and back, I found that opiates were an addictive substance to me. So, in an attempt to find alternative options, I came across the information and studies into cannabis and its therapeutic value. Since becoming a patient, I’ve held positions with multiple companies. Over the last few years I’ve been turned away from employment simply for using my medicine in a state where it’s been legal for patients since 2001.

Employers in our area need to rethink their poor perceptions on cannabis patients. We aren’t stupid, lazy, and unable to perform day-to-day tasks. The facts of the matter are, many of us are well educated, hard working, and willing to learn and advance ourselves.

I really want to find employment to advance my skills, and hopefully advance my position in long term employment. Unfortunately, with the archaic drug policies, I am left waiting for our state to catch up with the reality of cannabis and its ability to change lives. We want to work, employers should let us.

Jesse Alexander

Stagecoach

City should fight water rate increases

It seems that no matter how much we conserve our water use, Carson City Utilities (CCU) and our Board of Supervisors raise our rates.

According to CCU, in the past year my household has lowered our water consumption dramatically, yet our bills keep going up. CCU asks each of us to lower our water consumption by 10 percent, but when we do, it makes absolutely no difference because they just keep raising our rates.

People should be given a percentage off as a discount for their efforts to save water. Instead, rates increase. How are we supposed to get ahead in savings? I have noticed throughout Carson City, families tearing up their lawns to replace them with rock and cement and yet I wouldn’t be surprised if their bills have continued to climb as well. Why does the city allow price gouging? When I called CCU about this, all I get is a staff member telling me what a great job we have done in conserving water and that it’s all due to water rates going up.

So stop the rate increases of our residents. It’s not helping our beautiful city. Take a look around you. People can’t afford to water their lawns so properties are looking worn down and abandoned. This is happening in many towns and being allowed. Carson City local government is allowing the price hikes when it should be fighting it! And we still have two more rate increases coming!

Robert and Kathy Rhea

Carson City

No help for wildlife in Carson City

On Sept. 29 my neighbor came over to tell me he could not get anyone to come help him with a raccoon that had been hurt and was in his yard. We live on Division Street, so you can pretty well figure out why its back legs had been hurt. No one would help unless he wanted to pay $300. What? That can’t be right, and I make a couple of calls. Get the same story from each agency in Carson City that I could think of.

The only help I could get was from Margie at Lone Mountain Veterinary with some more people and numbers to call. No one could help us, or, for that matter, help this raccoon that had been under a milk crate since the night before. It kept trying to get back in his yard. The poor guy was missing an eye. So, I got more neighbors involved, got a cage, helped to put the raccoon in the cage; now all I needed to do was take it out of city limits and shoot it.

I have to tell you, I really didn’t want to do that, and just in time another neighbor comes home and he takes over the situation. He will take it out of city limits and take care of it. Thank you, God, and I hope I still have the freedom to say that in Carson City there is no help for wildlife.

Rhonda Glisson

Carson City