Letters to the editor for Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015

Chromebooks at Pioneer High

Our world is changing into a more technological based society. The need for a better understanding and awareness of technology could not be more critical as our students enter the college or work world. On Sept. 29, Pioneer High School was the first high school to gain a better understanding of this new expectation by receiving its brand-new Chromebooks, made possible through a grant.

The students are required to bring their laptops back and forth to school, as most teachers use them in class and assign homework that is to be completed on their Chromebooks.

There is also a variety of resources that students and teachers have access to. One of these is Edmodo, similar to Facebook, but educationally based. We can share thoughts, concerns or give praise and feel like a community.

Another resource that students and teachers can use is Google Drive. This program has the ability to save work and come back to it later. Here teachers can share information with their students. This not only prevents the need to remember a flash drive to save their work, but it can also reduce how much paper the students are given.

These are just a few of the benefits of being given the opportunity to use the Chromebooks. As a school, we are very excited for the new tool and can’t wait to see what else we can utilize to enhance our students’ education and ensure that they are ready for the world after PHS.

Shannon Archer and Pioneer High School online staff

Carson City

We have a cultural problem

A reader writes in response to the crimes posted in the sheriff’s log. Lock ‘em up, and throw away the key. Like every time we have one of those incidents like we just had in Roseburg, we talk about gun control, but it’s the wrong answer. It’s the wrong conversation. We must ask, what is happening to our young men?

We have a cultural problem, and no amount of laws, law enforcement, judges, jails or prisons are going to solve it.

Kelly Jones

Carson City

On Jane’s ex-husband

In her story, “Leaving,” which you printed Oct. 16, Jane’s ex husband’s attempt to immolate himself strikes me as an act of fear and desolation, not one of power and control.

He — the ex-husband — is telling the world that he cannot live without his wife. Although power and control are part of the mix, I think the driving force is abject and utter dependence. It seems to me that this man, however grown-up he may appear, was still tied tightly to a mother’s apron strings.

Michael Goldeen

Carson City

Election, an orchestrated facade

I am surprised that the idea hasn’t been posited that Hillary Clinton was responsible for getting her old friend, Donald Trump, to run as a Republican to feed the intra-party squabbles and create the sensational media distraction so she doesn’t need to worry about fighting them off until the end game. She can practically coast into the presidency. Look at the difference between the last GOP debate — a reality TV show spectacle where the moderator pitted candidates against each other (fueled with Trump’s inflammatory statements) — and the Democratic debate which was much more focused on real issues and not the type of fodder that no modern journalist could possibly pass up provided by Republicans.

We all know there is absolutely no way Trump or any of the GOP frontrunners are capable of winning a general election, nor is any candidate of the GOP while they continue their war mongering and asinine agenda against minorities/immigration, women and civil rights. That’s not even saying anything about their inability to maintain control within their own ranks and the sustained assault to moderate thinking from the extremists who are growing within.

The Dems are silently watching the carnage, circling like buzzards around a dying animal. The media is eating up the entertainment value of the whole thing and feeding us the illusion that there is actually a contest happening between the two parties.

I am no Democrat, but color me cynical for this election because I think the whole thing is an orchestrated facade.

Joseph McKoy

Dayton

Pay attention pedestrians

To the woman dressed in black, running on Research Way in Carson City with her back to traffic on Research Way on Monday, Oct. 19, at 5 p.m., you were almost another statistic of another pedestrian hit by a car when you darted out behind a parked car in front of me.

Pedestrians have a responsibility to walk or run facing traffic, to look both ways before crossing the street and not texting, talking on the phone or any other distracting activity.

Pay attention, pedestrians, and save lives.

Walt Ratchford

Carson City

Seniors getting raw deal

In early October I received my supplement insurance contract showing that everything went up — co-pays, doctor visits, and premiums. I assumed they anticipated Social Security was getting a raise!

About a week later, Channel 2 reported Social Security was not getting a raise because of the oil prices being so low. I wonder if that includes raises for Congress and our elected officials, or if it’s just the seniors being targeted.

Dixie L. Horsmon

Carson City