Letters to the editor for Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015

Robert Maw, wonderful dad, coach

The other day I was walking around the mall here in Utah and a woman approached me and told me I looked familiar. She asked if I was related to Robert Maw. I told her he was my father. She said: “We love your father, he coached my daughter years ago; he was the best coach she ever had. You’re very lucky to have him as your dad.“

I just wanted to take a little time to write about my wonderful dad.

It says a lot to be recognized, even out of Nevada. I don’t know one person who is as hard working and giving as he is. He is the best coach I know of. He has shaped me into the person I am today.

He has sacrificed so much of his time as a father and a husband to help make a difference in others’ lives especially coaching. I remember several times growing up my dad would have to miss important events of mine or my family because he was coaching or helping someone. The community, players, team, school, etc., don’t see what goes behind the scenes.

I personally don’t know of a coach who would put so much effort into helping athletes become better players and people.

He has coached more than 2,000 athletes and has spent more than 30,000 hours coaching in Carson City. He has helped better this community, and so many people.

I am so fortunate to have been one of the 2,000 athletes and so lucky to be his daughter. I love you, Dad.

Brooklyn Maw

Carson City

Guns have not changed, people have

First I would like to comment on the letter to the editor by Ms. Tatum Boehnke. Her letter is well written and her heart is obviously in the right place. Very good, Ms. Boehnke. Second, I would like to add the following from my perspective on mass murders.

1. Murders en masse have been around since the human race began; way before guns were even a thought.

2. Guns have been around for centuries. So what has changed since 1982 as you suggested — guns or people? Back in the 1950s when I went to high school on Chicago’s south side, many kids carried zip guns, switch blade stilettos and what have you. Kids in rural schools carried rifles/shotguns in their truck gun racks. Yet there were no mass shootings (that I know of). So what has changed, guns or people?

3. According to the Liberal mind-set, there is no such thing as “normal.” Everything goes. There are no mentally sick people. They are normal because there is no “normal.” So mentally insane people walk the streets or hide in their basements or bedrooms as potential mass murderers. There is no morality. Do away with the Ten Commandments. “Thou shalt not kill” is just an affront to the Liberal mind-set and must be eradicated from their psyche.

Therefore I posit that the mentally ill be given psychological help and the Ten Commandments be encouraged as the only way mass killings will be averted. Guns have not changed, people have!

Robert M. Hellen

Carson City

Drive in someone else’s shoes

I used to be just like you. I’d get behind Granny or some snail driving a car and wonder what was the matter with them. Why do they allow these people on the roads? I have places to go. I keep a tight schedule. I get your urgency. At times, I could feel the steam coming out of my ears as it no doubt was with yours.

So when you tailgated my 15-and-a-half-year-old student driver angrily down Curry Street and then shoved an obscene gesture out the window for a block as you passed her, I remembered what you felt like. I also realized it was wrong. You don’t know who the person in that car in front of you is or what they are going through. You’ve probably never taught a child to drive. You don’t know the fear, the imaginary brake you push that wears a spot in the carpet, or the elation when they learn to control their speed or start to get competent enough so that you’re not a nervous wreck every time you get in the car. You also probably don’t realize how you hurt her with your rudeness and shattered her confidence.

When did we get so hurried as a society that we put compassion and just plain decency aside? Every day I see more angry people on the road than happy ones. Slow down. Sing a song. Try to be decent. We all deserve better.

Bonnie Benson

Carson City

Makes sense to defund Planned Parenthood

Dennis Castner’s letter made a valid point on Planned Parenthood defunding. Here are some facts from Planned Parenthood’s own records.

The CEO make $400,000. Planned Parenthood has $239 million in assets, $229 million in income. Planned Parenthood spends $12 million on lobbying and $31 million on political campaigns. It claims to have helped 3 million and only 3 percent are abortion related, that is approximately 342,000 lives taken that may have contributed to this world, how we will never know.

Planned Parenthood has 850 facilities. There are approximately 13,000 other clinics that service women’s issues. I do not deny that there are crisis reasons for aborting a baby. However, you can not convince me that 342,00 lives taken were all due to a crisis.

Based on Planned Parenthood’s figures, it shows that they can break out the funds used for abortion, especially since they can break out all the other figures. Defunding Planned Parenthood does not appear to really hurt them. They can use some of the other millions they use for other purpose, lobbying, campaign contributions and reduce CEO’s salary. They do not need to sell baby parts/tissue, which someone once told me that those fetus (babies) were nothing more than a clump of cells. Well, guess what? Some of the world’s greatest geniuses/innovators started out as a clump of cells. I once volunteered with a group of women who had abortions and they were going through lifelong regret and trauma because of their decision.

Carlynann V. Johnson

Dayton

Farmer’s misplaced marijuana outrage

Oh boy, yet another insipid column from the Appeal’s resident anti-marijuana crusader, Guy Farmer. OK, Guy, we get you hate marijuana with a level that seems bottomless. What I don’t get is, where’s your outrage when it comes to tobacco and alcohol? Two drugs that are legal, yet far more detrimental than marijuana. Why don’t you oppose them with such vehemence as you do marijuana?

It’s more than a bit ironic, Mr. Farmer, that you are free to drink cocktails all day long (if you choose) to bring a little pleasure and/or stress relief into your life. But God forbid if anyone might want to choose to use marijuana in the same fashion as alcohol. Or using it for medicinal purposes, even if it is based on anecdotal evidence. Seriously, what is your intolerance towards marijuana truly about? And don’t give me your nonsense about crime and so forth. Alcohol can be linked to crimes far more than marijuana. Legalizing marijuana would take most all of crime (possession) out of it.

Another irony is that Mr. Farmer’s byline frequently reminds us how he was a diplomat on behalf of the USA, sharing the freedom we supposedly possess to the rest of the world. But when it comes to marijuana, no one should be allowed that freedom because it is such a “horrible substance.”

Alan Banfield

Carson City