Letters to the editor for Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016

Congratulations to new U.S. citizens

Granting citizenship to immigrants builds a sense of belonging. When ESL students succeed, our nation succeeds.

Congratulations to 220 Carson ESL citizenship study students, who have gone through the ESL In-Home Program of Northern Nevada, who are now U.S. citizens (51 more are studying).

Florence G. Phillips

Executive director of ESL In-Home Program of Northern Nevada

Facts marginalized in antigun letter

I always enjoy an over-the-top, finger-pointing, anti-gun letter to the editor, like the one that appeared in the Appeal recently.

It effortlessly and seamlessly went from “The Shooting Fire” to “automatic lethal weapons,” “armor piercing ammunition,” mysterious secret NRA directives to shoot folks, The U.N., and, of course, “Second Amendment extremists.” Ooh, I almost forgot! And “Reasonable regulations.”

All this without having a single, solitary clue of the people involved, or what they did after the fire started. Suffice to say that it doesn’t take too much to get some folks started on an amazing rant.

I would advise the furious writer to take a deep breath, now that the smoke has cleared, and understand that while the shooters in this case exercised poor judgement in choosing that time and place to shoot, the NRA had nothing to do with it, it’s not a Second Amendment issue, and no armor was pierced. You can stand down.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Nevadans and millions of Americans will continue to own, buy, sell, trade, and use their regulated “automatic lethal weapons,” and you’ll never hear about it.

Robert Frenchu

Carson City

Take a stand with Trump

The upcoming election, more than any before, will determine the fate of this country. Do you support the constitution and the concept of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, or do you support what has transpired over the last eight years?

Do you like the idea of tens of thousands of immigrants coming and going unchecked, or do you think we should have some control over who is coming into the country like we had in the past?

Do you view terrorism as a threat to our way of life and something that must be stopped, or just someone else’s problem? Do you favor having your health issues kept private or be a matter of government record?

There are many more issues that you can sit down and ask yourself to determine where we are as a country and where we would prefer to be. The fun and games are over and it is time to get serious as the fate of this country hangs in the balance. We can continue to deteriorate under what Obama has laid out for Hillary or we can take a stand and get back to what this country was with Trump.

All the biased media and establishment politicians are against Trump, which tells me that he must be on the right track. He is not afraid to tell it like it is and it is about time someone has the guts to do so. Trump is not a politician, that’s a plus.

Kelly Madigan

Carson City

Country again falling under thumb of tyranny

A reader recently uses the Boston Tea Party as a springboard for his argument against our tax happy leaders. While he does have a legitimate beef, these are the facts of the revolution.

King George, by his own decree, granted the East India Tea Company exclusive rights to sell to the colonies, a company in which he held stock. This was the tea on the harbor that night. It represented the latest in a long list of overreaches on his part, intended to concentrate wealth and power unto himself at the expense of the masses. It was time for it to end, and this is why the tea ended up in the drink.

Fifty-five brave men then signed the Declaration of Independence, and it was only by sheer fortitude and good fortune that they prevailed. The tide may have turned in either direction. It was not a sign that God favored us and that thereafter we could go forward in impudence.

It is ironic that because we forget this, we’ve allowed ourselves to fall under the same thumb. Today, there is a concentration of wealth and power at the top that is unprecedented in the history of the world. They own everything we need, invent that which we don’t, and we must pay for it all out of what scraps they’ve left us.

It is the irony of ironies that we can still convince ourselves that we are free, when in fact we are sold into servitude.

Kelly Jones

Carson City

Republicans lack respectful discourse

In the Nevada Appeal on Aug. 17 was a report from the Republican Women’s club meeting held on Aug. 16 where their guest was Sen. Dean Heller. It is in typical fashion by Republicans to attack and make derogatory, hateful remarks about Democratic candidates and now they are attacking their own. Almost every Republican I know cannot talk intelligently about the issues in this presidential race. It is evident that many do not know the facts. I do not know all the facts but I am willing to listen to intelligent discourse with people who are intelligent and respectful of others.

It is too bad that the Republican Party was not smart enough to support other candidates such as John Kasich who would make an excellent president and I would vote for him. But the Republican Party is only interested in winning and not in the welfare of this county. In this article someone at the meeting even stated they didn’t care if Trump is “loony.” Good grief! What more can be said about Republican women? Shame on you!

And now the Republican Party is in disarray. Maybe it is time to break up the two party systems and get intelligent people running the parties.

I applaud Sen. Heller for his demeanor and not lowering himself to the level of the Republican women.

I would consider voting for him when he is up for reelection.

Margaret Konieczny

Carson City

Columnist’s character attacked in letter

Mr. Phil Hanna in his letter of Aug. 23 (“Opinion Contributor Lacks Facts”) has cited, “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” This is a statement considered to have been made by Thomas Jefferson but has never been found in any of his vast amount of writings. Mr. Jefferson was a strong believer in republicanism (limited federal government) and individual rights.

Mr. Hanna, rather than refuting any well documented comments in my commentary, seems to want to attack my character. This does little in trying to educate or inform the general public.

Mr. Hanna also seems to believe the Appeal is biased in their printing of comments. I feel the simple fact of the Appeal’s printing of his letter tends to repudiate this thinking.

Sanford E. Deyo

Minden