Letters to the Editor for Sept. 29, 2021

Opening a dialogue on suicide

Editor:

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, which aims to open the conversation and remove the stigma from a challenging topic. With knowledge and awareness, we can work together to shift the focus from suicide to suicide prevention, and move toward actions that promote healing, help, and give hope.

Suicide Prevention Network extends our gratitude to the Kiwanis Club of Carson Valley and Guild Mortgage for their recent contributions to our agency. These donations will go far in helping us promote and implement our mission to provide suicide prevention and awareness through intervention, education, and support services for all.

Debbie Posnien

Suicide Prevention Network

Headline on letter misleading

Editor:

On Sept. 23 you published a letter in your opinion section from David and Kathi Hussman with the headline, “Vaccination doesn’t Immunize.”

The CDC defines vaccination as the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease. They also define immunization as a process by which a person becomes protected against disease through vaccination. The vast majority of people who have been vaccinated for COVID in this country enjoy immunity and are protected from illness. Even the breakthrough cases are symptomless or mild, hospitalizations are rare – unlike the unvaccinated who are filling up our hospitals to overflow and crowding out others who have other medical emergencies. I’ve read of people dying from treatable illnesses because they couldn’t access healthcare because of all the COVID patients filling up the ICUs. This is what rationed healthcare looks like folks, and it’s deeply disappointing that The Record-Courier would use such a misleading headline in their opinion section, especially one concerning vaccine efficacy.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died unnecessarily because they’ve refused to get vaccinated. Can you imagine the victims of the Titanic swimming away from a life boat because they didn’t want the “government” telling them they had to get in, seriously? If you identify as pro-life, get the vaccine and actually be pro-life. Vaccines save lives.

Alice Meyer

Gardnerville

Opposes mask mandate

Editor:

Mask mandates have returned to our schools and vaccine mandates will soon take effect for students in Nevada colleges and universities. They should be opposed by parents and students. 

A study published on June 30, 2021, in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics section, found that:

“The wearing of nose and mouth coverings by children leads to an increase in carbon dioxide levels in both inhaled and exhaled air. The authors, physicians from Germany, Poland, and Austria, concluded that the findings ‘suggest that children should not be forced to wear face masks.’”

“The results found an average of 13,120 and 13,910 ppm of carbon dioxide in the air inhaled by children wearing surgical and filtering masks. 

This is over six times the acceptable classroom level in Germany of 2000 ppm. – Children Should Not Be Forced to Wear Masks due to CO2 Levels, New Study Suggests – The DC, Dylan Housman, July 1, 2021.

Masks also hinder the social and emotional development of children who depend on face-to-face contact and communication to socially develop. 

There are physicians that question the efficacy of face masks. 

Dr. Paul E. Alexander, a Canadian epidemiologist, wrote: “Surgical and cloth masks, used as they currently are, have absolutely no impact on controlling the transmission of Covid-19 virus, and current evidence implies that face masks can be actually harmful.” (American Institute for Economic Research, February 11, 2021.) – Mask-Wearing Represents Fear and Blind Obedience, Not Science – Dennis Prager – April 6, 2021.

This coincides with the Denmark Study, conducted in 2020 (April through June), that found no significant difference in the Covid-19 infection rate between the group that wore masks and those that did not. – Townhall – Matt Vespa – November 19, 2020

Young people are at a minimal risk of serious illness and fatality from Covid-19. According to the CDC, the survival rate from Covid-19 is 99.99% for those under 20 years of age and 99.98% for those 20 to 49. 

There is still much we do not know about the long-term health consequences from the Covid-19 vaccines. 

Of particular concern is the effect the vaccines may have on the fertility status of young women. It is unclear whether the vaccines affect the outermost layer of the placenta, which could compromise the passing of vital nutrients to the fetus of an unborn child. There are genuine concerns among certain doctors that young women who take the vaccines could become infertile. And there have been reports of myocarditis among young men following vaccinations.

It is time for our governor and other government officials to stop playing doctor with the health of our youth and return medical care to physicians who best know how to treat them.  

Bob Russo

Gardnerville Rancos

Texas confirms reverence for life

Editor:

The beautiful belief in the reverence of life has been honorably confirmed rather than “soiled” by the Republican Texas legislators who passed the anti-abortion law. (RC letter to Editor 9/9/21, “Not the Path of Love”). And in doing so they have chosen to become the best they can be. They got it...the right to life is the most basic of human rights.

The path of love is under no “guise of Christianity” when obedient to Jesus Who came to conquer death. If anyone is trying to “control God,” it is they who are trying to justify ending life.

When life begins is not a question of “spiritual belief.” Something is there that wasn’t before. Plain and simple. Created. Existing. The “mystery unfolds” by the Author’s design, no one else’s. “Chaos” does not ensue, only inexplicable creation. Whether becoming “severely under-developed” or whole and complete, it’s still His mysterious gift and decision.

Being poisoned dismembered or burned to death in an abortion procedure is no less “excruciating agony” for a child before birth than it might be after — the only difference is place of residence. Yes, “Out of sorrow compassion is born.” But it is far better “witnessed” by the countless beautiful souls born through the suffering.

Joy Uhart

Minden

Lives built on choices

Editor:

All of our lives are built on the choices we make. The same is true of our government. Some politicians question if we can afford the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Build Back Better Act. Of course we can. It’s just a matter of the choices we make.

The Infrastructure Act has been approved by the Senate and includes construction, repair, and upgrades to roads, railroads, the power grid, broadband expansion, cybersecurity protection and more (the $1.2 trillion budget includes only $550 billion in new spending). The Build Back Better Act builds on that, creating an economy for the future, proposing development of clean energy, investment in small business and working families, upgrades to veterans facilities, lowering drug prices, and among other things, making sure the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.

While questioning the cost of this, congress apparently made the choice to add $25 billion more to the National Defense Authorization Act than President Biden proposed. There is an existing tax giveaway bill that sends jobs and profits overseas. A group of Democrats recently introduced the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act (S.714). This would level the playing field for American workers and small businesses by making sure multinational corporations pay the same tax rate on profits earned abroad as they do in the United States.

Whatever you think of these choices, the point is there are many, and we need to let our representatives know what we would choose. The Federal Government has a great website, Congress.gov. It has many tools and tutorials that everyone can use to follow legislation and give feedback.

Elizabeth Valdes

Minden