Letters for April 27, 2006
Don’t dis Tom
Re “The Last Days of Roland & Cid”
OK. We get it. Mike Grimm has a thing for Tom Cruise. You should start paying him with back-issues of Tiger Beat or Bop. There are loads of them on Ebay.
Brian Barney
Reno
Funny, but not a laugh riot
I’ve been amused and annoyed, but mostly surprised, to watch this nice fella hanging out outside the JTSU, collecting signatures for a ballot initiative for the last two weeks. I’m amused at the irony—he’s collecting signatures to put a question on the state ballot in November on limiting state budget growth, right at a state-supported facility. That takes balls. I’m annoyed because, ultimately, if this initiative is successful, it will hurt the University of Nevada, Reno budget, something that will definitely have a strong negative impact on the operations of UNR. Check out what happened recently in Colorado. (And what about my paycheck?) But more than anything, I’m amazed that students are willing to sign this initiative. How is this possible? Do students realize how this will impact UNR? Why would a student help advance an initiative that will, without a shadow of a doubt, cause tuition to increase?
The RN&R should interview some of these students. Maybe they know something I don’t know.
Chuck Coronella,
Reno
Deidre isn’t fair
Re “Bob Beers—Nevada’s own right-wing Jon Stewart,” (View from the Fray, April 13):
Sigh.
Deidre Pike is at it again.
The small number of Nevadans who supported 2003’s one-third increase in state taxing and spending (three times Nevada’s growth rate and the largest hike in state history on a percentage basis) were not able to argue with any of the facts I presented that year, so they had to rely on the only thing available to them: a grammatically incorrect interpretation of the now-famous “casino worker” e-mail message.
My e-mail said that people who do not value education are the problem, not casino workers. Middle-school caliber grammar diagramming is all that’s required to arrive at the only correct interpretation. That’s why Deidre (and others seeking to inflame folks) always report that Bob Beers says casino workers “insert sentence predicate here” rather than Bob Beers says “subject and predicate.”
I appreciate your correction next week. Feel free to publish the entire quote so your readers can diagram the grammar for themselves.
Nevada Sen. Bob Beers
Republican Candidate for Governor
Editor’s note: The following is excerpted from a 2003 e-mail message by gubernatorial candidate Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, from the Las Vegas Review-Journal Web site. It was a reply to a voter who had written to him. After the e-mail became public, Beers apologized in a Feb. 5, 2003, Las Vegas Sun article, saying, “I am sincerely sorry if anyone was offended by it.” Readers can judge his meaning for themselves:
The voter database indicates you have lived here for seven years. Based on where you live, I am going to assume you have never worked in the gaming industry. It would surprise you. It provides some of the best jobs in America for people who do not value education. Here, such people can own a home, and they flock here from all over the country to get such a job and home. For the most part, however, the many children they sire grow up not valuing education either. These youngsters are prone to dropping out of school, reproducing illegitimate children, often while little more than children themselves, abusing drugs and alcohol more frequently, and even killing themselves more often than people who do value education. Their failure to value education is a direct legacy from their parents, and there is little government can do to stop it, at any level of spending. In my mind, we should focus government services on a safety net to capture and lift from the abyss those children who can find value in education. This is why you will find me consistently advocating cuts to programs that offer services to adults, and consistently advocating increased spending on programs that offer services to children, and that provide youngsters who value education (and) a better life.
Thank you, Hook
Re “Send a message to feckless morons,"(Right Hook, April 13):
Last week, I interviewed Candace Eddy at the Halima Academy, and she gave me a copy of your article. Way to go! I so appreciate hearing about the efforts of other people in human services, and Halima really needed a break. Thanks for telling their story.
Laura Marineau
Community Education Coordinator, Children’s Cabinet
Correction
Re “Speaking out,” (News, April 13):
A photograph of a UNR student at a free speech rally was credited to Amy Beck. The photo was actually taken by Kate Chantrill of the Nevada Sagebrush.