Aug. 28, 2024, R-C Letters to the Editor

Better choice than Tarkanian

Editor:

We must elect a different representative to serve as DC Commissioner in November.

According to an Aug. 28, 2012, Las Vegas Review-Journal article, Danny Tarkanian’s involvement in a failed California real estate deal, which led to a $17 million judgment against him, raises serious concerns about his judgment and business acumen. Details of this case reveal a troubling lack of oversight and understanding of complex financial dealings, attributes that are crucial for anyone in charge of managing public resources. As Douglas County Commissioner, Tarkanian is responsible for overseeing significant financial and land-use decisions that impact all residents. This financial misstep is indicative of how he manages fiscal responsibilities and suggests a potential risk to our community’s economic health. 

In addition to the failed deal mentioned here, he “borrowed” $220,000 from his parents’ life insurance policies (without their knowledge) to make mortgage payments on his underwater house, according to a Feb. 25, 2018, Nevada Independent article. He then filed for bankruptcy. Anyone who disrespects his parents in this way should not be trusted to handle taxpayer money. Anyone who can’t manage his finances well enough to avoid bankruptcy should not be trusted with taxpayer money.

Our county deserves a leader with a proven record of sound financial decisions, especially when handling taxpayers’ money. We must consider if a person with such a problematic financial history should be entrusted with the fiscal responsibility of our county. 

The nonpartisan candidate, Brian Dempsey, is an upstanding member of the community.

We do have a viable option to avoid Tarkanian from mishandling county funds.

Gwen Blanc

Gardnerville

We share a vision

Editor:

We share a vision for Douglas County children: an education free of leftist ideology. Douglas County School District should focus on academics, not indoctrination. There is no room in our schools for CRT or left-wing propaganda disguised as DEI or SEL.

We would also agree that government entities should be transparent and accountable to the people. Transparency is mandated through the Open Meeting and Public Records Laws. We would agree that elected officials and their attorneys should comply with those laws.

In January 2023, Trustees complied with public records requests by submitting documents from their personal and district devices. They knew how the law works. In July, four trustees (Englekirk, Burns, Jansen, and Dickerson) voted to hire Joey Gilbert as attorney for the district. He had no relevant experience. Shortly thereafter, Gilbert received a public records request. He advised the four not to submit the requested documents. No one informed Superintendent Lewis, as required by policy.

The Public Records Law is enforced by people who request documents and have to sue to get them. When the documents requested in July were not submitted, the requestors filed suit. The four trustees falsely claimed the documents “did not exist.” (Finally, last month, they submitted numerous documents.)

Although Gilbert and the four trustees had no defense, they fought that lawsuit for months, from August until a hearing in March. After just two hours of a two-day hearing, they completely caved. Gilbert created an awful mess and, in doing so, bilked the school district out of about $50,000 instead of complying with the law. Still, Gilbert’s fees for this lawsuit are a fraction of the stunningly exorbitant fees paid to him this past year (over $400,000).

Finally coming face-to-face with his mess, Gilbert “negotiated” a deal: the requested records would be provided, and the district would pay the requestors’ attorney’s fees. So, on top of Gilbert’s fees defending a defenseless lawsuit, he advised the three remaining trustees to pay the opposing counsel’s fees of roughly $70,000, with no accountability for himself or the four trustees.

Gilbert and the four attempted to dodge transparency laws for months, then tried to dodge accountability by having the district foot the bill without them accepting responsibility or pledging future compliance.

At the April 2024 school board meeting, Gilbert begged, pleaded, and bullied the three remaining trustees to approve the deal, which would have hidden his terrible legal work. Troubled by the lack of transparency and accountability, the three would not approve the deal without preventative measures to avoid future problems. Those three trustees engaged me to help with their concerns, which are ongoing. As a private attorney practicing school law, I can do so. There is no conflict with my commissioner position. As a person who loves our children and our school district, I am compelled to do so (pro bono) to help get past the current challenges with the least damage and the best hope for better in the future.

Sharla Hales

Minden

Take a screen break

Editor:

Currently, politics and big new stories are constantly dominating every part of our lives, occupying our screens and conversations. It’s easy to get embroiled in the anger, controversy, and the “Us versus Them” of it all. This takes a toll on our well-being, mental or otherwise; therefore, it is necessary to take a step away at times to clear our minds and reset our mental state.

One way that I have been doing this is to take a break from the screens and to immerse myself in nature. This could mean any number of activities, such as a walk in the park, a day at the lake, or a hike to get away from it all and enjoy the sounds and smell of the forest. These also come with the added benefit of promoting exercise, which, by itself, can enhance our moods and alleviate stress. 

I encourage everyone to take a break from their screens and immerse themselves in the peacefulness of the natural world. Whether it’s a short stroll, a quiet moment in the garden, or a picnic with loved ones, these activities may offer a sense of calm and perspective, away from the pressures of constant connectivity.

Maybe we can all enjoy the present after getting away from the digital noise surrounding us and hopefully end up with a more balanced view of the world and an appreciation for the others around us.

Jake Mitchell

Gardnerville

Heritage Foundation nothing to fear

Editor:

It troubles me that Project 2025 is being promoted by our liberal media and liberal candidates for public office as something to be feared. Project 2025 is a paper which was published by the Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. and was founded in 1973 in part due to the discontent over Nixon’s embracing of some liberal opinions. It has published a “project opinion” every four years prior

to a presidential election since that time.

Some of President Reagans policies included its “Mandate for Leadership”. Although President Clinton was not an advocate of the Heritage Foundation, he did incorporate some of their findings in his “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act” in an effort to reform welfare policies. In 2010 President Obama introduced “Obamacare,” an idea the Heritage Foundation initially developed and supported in their study “Assuring Affordable Healthcare for all Americans”. They did not, however, support the “Affordable Care Act.”

In December of 2015, the Heritage Foundation criticized Trump for not being a conservative. In 2022 the Foundation publicly embraced national conservatism as its guiding ideology.

Liberals have spent millions of dollars spreading fear about “Project 2025”. Project 2025 offers possible solutions to the border crisis, inflation, the economy, rampant crime, voting standards, rising energy costs, etc.

And they are of a conservative nature. People should not be in fear of this organization but should educate themselves on what it stands for. 

I support some of their findings and am opposed to other points. I am first and foremost an American. My father immigrated from Poland as a teenager, and my mother was a daughter of North Dakota homesteaders. 

The nonpartisan creators of our Constitution would be horrified to see how it can now be used to create such chaos and division in our country.

It’s time for our politicians to state and support their positions and visions on the issues with which we are faced instead of bashing their opponents. 

It is sad for me to think that will vote for the person who I think will do the least amount of damage for our future.

Whether it is conservative or liberal, I want what is best for our country. It is my hope that all legal registered voters cast their votes with knowledge and not fear or blind faith, whether it is liberal, conservative, or somewhere in between.

Marian E. Vassar

Genoa

Familiarize yourself with Project 2025

Editor:

In preparation for voting this November, all Americans need to familiarize themselves with Project 2025. Why? Because it is the blueprint of exactly how Trump and MAGA will destroy democracy in our country.

Despite being mentioned by name over 300 times in the plan, whose authors included over 1,440 former Trump appointees, Trump is attempting to distance himself from the work of the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation. Not only is it ridiculous to assume that he knows nothing about it, as he recently stated, his own words contradict that. At a dinner sponsored by the Heritage Foundation in April 2022, Trump said, “This is a great group, and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.”

Project 2025 is a blueprint for installing an authoritarian, imperial Executive Branch in the U.S. in direct contradiction to the balance of power design of the Founding Fathers. Just about everything in the plan is horrific: a national ban on abortion, rescinding the rights of the LGBTQ community, mass deportations dependent on the lie of so-called, “migrant crime,” elimination of the Department of Education and dramatic cuts to education funding, repeal of the Infrastructure Recovery Act, which lowered drug prices for insulin and other life-saving medications. These are but a few of the draconian precepts aimed at harming average Americans and benefitting billionaires and corporations.

One of the most insidious plans is to destroy federal civil service and replace knowledgeable professionals with MAGA loyalists. After all, a knowledgeable, nonpartisan professional might balk at poisoning rivers and waterways in the name of corporate profits, but a MAGA loyalist would not. 

The worst of Trump’s ideas in his first administration were thwarted by civil servants and the courts.

The Supreme Court has already laid the groundwork for the success of Project 2025 by granting overly broad presidential immunity and with ending the Chevron Decision, taking authority and deference to civil service away in favor of the courts which lack expert knowledge of the issues.

None of this is in the best interest of the American people. It’s a plan for a coup intended to benefit ultra-conservatives and white supremacists. In 1944, my father was in the last division of soldiers to reach Omaha Beach (Normandy). Those brave soldiers (the ones Trump calls suckers and losers) were the original “anti-fascists.” They are likely all turning in their graves seeing where we might be headed if we don’t defeat Trump and MAGA.

Patricia Cuocco

Minden

New mothers need time off

Editor:

It’s my first day back to work from maternity leave. My baby is 16 weeks old. Motherhood has, of course, transformed me.  I have so many emotions!  The biggest one is love. I love my baby. I love my husband! I love my job.  I’m so grateful that my company offers a relatively generous parental leave.  I’m sad for other mama’s who have zero federally mandated parental leave. I cannot imagine going back to work 2 weeks after giving birth like some mamas must after they’ve burned through all their PTO. 

Women are amazing. Birth is unreal. Motherhood is transcendent. Birth obliterates a woman’s body. I don’t mean this in a superficial way. I mean that my joints hurt. I mean that I’m peeing my pants a couple times a week to this day, and I know women that deal with this for the rest of their lives. Motherhood transforms a woman’s brain and senses. Stress over my baby’s well-being is all-consuming at time. My hearing is super attuned to all his sounds, focusing on anything else is sometimes difficult.  My vision deteriorated for some reason.

My baby still only eats breast milk, he’s changing every day, childcare in my area are all on waitlists for infants, and they are quite expensive. How on earth are women supposed to navigate all of this? They can’t. But they do.  Women are so powerful.  But it’s unfair to the extreme. 

The USA has no federally mandated maternity leave to be able to care for our babies when they need us the most.  We MUST return to work, but childcare is unavailable or, at best, expensive.  Our Supreme Court just decided it should be up to your state whether women are in control of when or if they have children!  Nearly half of the states in this country are stripping that choice from women in varying degrees.

I personally believe that we should trust women and the care team they choose implicitly with their reproductive freedom. If you don’t agree with me, you’ve just got to support federally mandated maternity leave and free-for-families childcare. 

This November, I’m voting for candidates that are champions for women’s rights. It can be done; there are various examples in Europe and up north that offer federally mandated maternity leave for one full year!  Let’s “make America great” like that. Let’s “make America great again” by restoring federal protection of women’s rights to start a family if and when she wants.

Finally, without naming names, there is only one presidential candidate that is talking about this stuff.  And I’m voting for her.  I hope you vote with me. But if you don’t, it’s ok.  I believe in democracy and that everyone deserves their vote. My last ask, though, is that you not be surprised when politicians that champion women’s rights win up and down the ballot.  We told you this is important to us.  

Don’t be surprised.

Kendra Wilson

Indian Hills

Sad for our country

Editor:

I am sad for our country. As political overlords destroy lives, careers, and businesses with lawfare, integrity loses to electing chosen candidates at the expense of the truth.

In the history of America, nearly 1.4 million troops died after pledging an oath to our Constitution. They are dead; gone forever. They are no longer fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.

Sadly, in the shadow of their priceless gift to America, our Constitution is regularly attacked, distorted, manipulated, and ignored, rather than chased as our beacon of Liberty.

Having carried a few of those dead troops’ caskets home with flags over them on my Air Force cargo aircraft, I get angry and frustrated observing America’s self-interested militant political climate.

We certainly do not conduct our lives or political discourse with reverence for the sacrifice of blood spilled so that we might enjoy self-governance.

We should fight hard to educate, inform, and persuade our fellow Americans regardless of party. Truth and Liberty should be the objective instead of barbarian-like faction-centered pursuits John Adams and Thomas Jefferson warned us about.

I am proud of the policies my Republican Party stands for, codified in our platforms. However, I bristle as to how some of our elected officials “work for” those goals. I do admire and respect those who stand for our Constitution holding to their convictions, sometimes at great personal cost.

As we run for the November election finish line, recall Friedrich Nietzsche’s warning: “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster….”

I do not have children but do love my two nieces very much. I wonder if we are leaving their generation the nation they deserve, and that we can be proud of. RFK Jr. recently said, “…Love Our Kids More Than We Hate Each Other”

We must do better. Will we?

Shawn Meehan

Minden