Letters for August 23, 2007

Not a mainstream guy
Re “Elections rigged” (Letters to the editor, Aug. 16):

Unless Judith Hansel and other Americans want to be spoon-fed their next candidates by mainstream media/corrupt government, they should Google and/or Wikipedia Ron Paul. Haven’t heard of him? Hmm, probably because he’s not in the pocket of a big corporation. Ron Paul is sweeping GOP debates and is all over the Internet because some Americans haven’t given up hope on this country. Think: personal freedom, national sovereignty, the Constitution. He votes no on taxes. He voted no to the war, the National ID Card and the PATRIOT Act. Need I say more?

Ron Paul has 741 meet-up groups with 29,954 members across the country. The next closest candidate has 70 groups with 4,041 members. It’s a head-scratcher, isn’t it? All those folks who believe in Ron Paul’s message—and without any mainstream influence!

Compare candidates for yourself before someone else (Haliburton/ Exxon) chooses one for you.

Randi Jensen
via e-mail

Sense up in smoke
State law continues to incarcerate individuals who use, possess, cultivate or distribute marijuana, even if the marijuana is for personal use by adults.

The legislature can change this state policy—but this year, again, they failed to do so.

Incarceration of nonviolent individuals not only wastes taxpayer money, it overcrowds prisons so much that violent criminals are often allowed to go free when they are eligible for parole.

Drug-free zones within the state force marijuana offenders into long mandatory sentences. A person who uses marijuana in his or her home should not be subject to a year in prison because that home is near a school or other drug-free zone.

Without a legal, regulated market for marijuana, drug dealers have no reason not to target children or to sell contaminated and dangerous samples. If marijuana were treated more like alcohol, for example, children would have a harder time obtaining it.

Worst of all, cancer and AIDS patients who use medical marijuana with their doctors’ approval are subject to all of these state penalties for marijuana.

Marijuana causes less harm to both individuals and society than alcohol or tobacco—and yet responsible adult drinkers and smokers are not punished by the state in any way.

Our state government should use tax money to prosecute violent crime, not punish marijuana users.

Stephen Shaver
via e-mail

It’s about money
I write to you to express my confusion as to why the city of Reno and the Washoe County Commission are still considering discussions of the annexation of the Winnemucca Ranch/Spring Mountain development.

I moved to Reno from Florida 22 years ago, and it pains me to see the practice of adding areas to the city of Reno, when the Truckee Meadows is where the city of Reno exists. Reno needs to concern itself with the core area of the valley. Lots of infrastructure care and maintenance needs to be done to ensure that Reno takes care of Reno. It is better to build taller than to extend the city limits out into nowhere. Enough is enough.

The area in question is many miles from Reno and seems to repeat the mistakes of extending sprawl that are being conducted near Sacramento, Placerville, and in many larger cities. This kind of extended sprawl ruins the essence of Reno. Please do not make the same mistake that so many other cities have made. I certainly hope that the continued efforts to consider Spring Mountain are not due to friendships, promises, desire for increasing tax bases, or just plain ignorance (which seems to be the case).

I thought the whole topic was put to bed during the 2007 NV legislative session. The legislature did not pass either of the two bills that were presented allowing non-contiguous annexation. Please tell me how the city and or the county have legal authority to even consider Spring Mountain annexation? I feel that my expressions to my representatives this past spring were for nothing.

Beth Brookfield
Reno

Slim Fast economy
In light of recent stock market volatility and the near panic on Wall Street, I hope you’ll forgive me if I take this opportunity to suggest a name for a possible coming Great Depression.

I propose that it be called “The Big Diet.”

Why? Well, because of food supply disruptions due to the collapse of the U.S. dollar, we can be assured three things will most definitely occur:

1. Fat people will become skinny.

2. Skinny people will get skinnier.

3. Many people who had their stomachs stapled will fail to appreciate the irony of their predicament.

So please remember, when it comes time to name the next Great Depression, you heard it here first: The Big Diet.

Dan Argabright
Reno

Corrections
Re: “Summer of discontent,” (News, July 19): It was reported that Lisa Stiller is the mother of two veterans. In fact, her son is still in military service.

Re: “PD backs up original PD,” (News, Aug. 2): This story was incorrectly bylined. It was written by Molly Hofmann.