Letters for April 8, 2004

Punish the poor
I’m so tired of the homeless and those who push shopping carts around town. It makes the tourists walk away, which means fewer people visiting our city. I wish the state would clean up the homeless and get rid of the shopping carts being pushed around town.

The homeless who live on state money should be made to prove where their money is spent with receipts from rent.

I’m so sick of the homeless because of their begging. Then they threaten you if you tell them to get a job. Stop the homeless from pushing shopping carts and arrest the ones that threaten people. I see it all the time.

Robin Money
Reno

Support gay rights
Re “Recognize gay unions” [RN&R, Guest comment, April 1]:

Paul Cain’s editorial was wonderfully well-written. I know both the author and his partner, Kurt. Both are fine Christian men, loving, kind and law-abiding people who met, fell in love and want to spend their lives together, with legal recognition.

Come on, people. It’s time to stop taking away people’s equal rights. Gay people are not trying to destroy “marriage,” but receive the rights and responsibilities of it.

I haven’t heard or seen a high percentage of committed gay and lesbians who break up regularly or divorce. But I do see and hear of straights doing so. Come on, America; it’s 2004, and we are all around you. It’s time to face real problems and concern ourselves with the real problems in the world.

Question: Would you like it if the government took away your rights as citizens? What if you couldn’t legally marry the one you love? Face it. There are gays and lesbians here, there and everywhere. Grow up.

Michael Wilson
Reno

Rock on
Re “Protecting ancient rock art” [RN&R, Cover story, March 4]:

On behalf of the board of directors of the Nevada Rock Art Foundation, I’d like to offer our heartfelt thanks for your good words in the Reno News & Review article on rock art. You accurately portrayed the concerns and problems faced by those to whom rock art has meaning, as many and varied as those meanings are. As Alanah Woody indicated in her interview, the foundation is attempting to work with all concerned parties to protect and record rock art sites throughout Nevada. The issues are complex and troubling, and the problems of protection are very difficult. But all of us must try.

Don Fowler
Reno

Define your terms
Re “Re “Whoop-ti-do! Let’s tell some lies” [RN&R, Letters, March 25]:

That letter should also be known as “The story of an unused cranium.” As I sit here doing laundry and reading RN&R, a few thoughts come to mind. People like to categorize themselves as liberal or conservative. Then, there are those who are just plain stupid or propagandists at best.

So wake up, boys and girls. Life is not as simplistic as “Left” or “Right,” even though in this country there are enough “kooks” to satisfy both philosophies.

The left in this country looks silly for its insistence on social restructuring. The right in America also looks silly for its corporate mentality.

So where are we to go? What are we to believe? I suggest you think the issues through before you offer un-sage advice to the RN&R readers.

D. Conway
Reno

Bring down gas prices
On April 1, our president noted that he was “disappointed” that OPEC had decided to cut its production. Americans feel their president’s pain. And they feel the OPEC shaft, too. When Bush was a candidate, he chided President Clinton during a spike in gas prices, saying that the elected president should “get on the phone with OPEC” and tell them, “We expect you to open your spigots.”

In 2001, President Bush proposed a cut of about $200 million in renewable energy research and energy efficiency programs. He did, however, favor increasing tax breaks for SUV owners. Has this administration planned sensibly? Are its energy policies coherent? I’d like to think so, but with gas prices spiking, Bush encouraging SUVs, and Cheney dismissing energy conservation as a “personal virtue,” I doubt it.

This president and his family have long-standing personal ties to the Saudis, the very folks who, according to the April 2 USA Today, “were among those that successfully pressed a day earlier for a cut in oil production.” Read the story. It makes Alice in Wonderland look straightforward. So far our energy policy seems simplistic: avoid prosecuting Ken Lay, invade Iraq, get more people to buy big gas users, and go duck hunting with Antonin Scalia.

Joe Calabrese
Truckee, Calif.