Letters for December 1, 2011

Police control

The youth of America are treated as second class citizens! The reason the civil authorities are able to get away with the criminal activities as seen on the University of California at Davis campus is because we parents and grandparents allow it. The students at Davis are intelligent, brave and well-meaning people. They rely on us as parents and grandparents to defend them until society at large acknowledges they are adults and accorded the same rights as the rest of us.

I once witnessed a superintendent of a school district announce to parents that the children in his district have no rights. If his opinion is correct, and I believe it is not, then the parents and grandparents must stand up for them. I hear the student outrage, and many public officials condemning the civil authorities, but where are the voices from the parents, grandparents, and especially the alumni of UC Davis? What kind of a country do we have when we allow our children to be treated as if they are common criminals?

Secondarily, what in the world were the civil authorities thinking? Who thought that the pepper spray was a good idea? Not a single police officer stepped forward to suggest that this is a bad idea. emand that the police control themselves and stop thinking about their paychecks!

Anthony A. Matulich
Reno

Waste case

Re “Disunified front” (News, Nov. 17):

With the economy and all, and seeing how Nevada leads the nation in unemployment—as, unfortunately, in most things bad—and since nuclear is the only way currently to even have a chance of making the U.S. energy sufficient, why not a nuclear waste dump in Nevada? Not just a dump but a reprocessing facility. France seems to do fine doing this, and we can’t? It’s jobs that can’t be outsourced, and training would have to be provided. Lord knows we could use some sort of vocational training in this state that again leads the nation—in dropouts.

C.L. Dickinson
Sparks

Deny reality

Re “Gov’t out of my vajayjay” (Letters to the Editor, Nov. 17):

I enjoyed reading Shirley Allen’s well-thought-out letter indeed. Religion has much to answer for. But there was one thing she left out, and that is that many men yearn for the old days when women were barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. They have not accepted the women’s liberation movement. They want the old days back when men were in control of their women. They cannot accept the reality of today.

Dan Jaeger
Reno

Lyre, liar

Re “We told you so” (Feature story, July 14):

Back in July, you guys wrote a nice exposé that detailed how our beloved city officials chose to override democracy in creating the $300 million boondoggle of city bankruptcy known as ReTRAC. More recently our dear city also chose to lay off a few dozen firefighters, due to the empty and moth-chewed city coffers our Dear Leaders created.

As I write this, the past 48 hours have seen several dozen homes either on fire or burned to the ground up on the hill overlooking my place, leaving the owners homeless, and our fire responders stretched way too thin.

Here’s my two-part modest proposal: 1) Confiscate the homes of the City Council members who voted for ReTRAC, so that the newly homeless folks from this fire can have a nice, cushy place to live, and 2) Force those august City Council members to become homeless beggars, groveling for their sustenance down on the concrete slabs above ReTRAC.

I know, I know, that would smack of justice, and in the world of Reno city politics, there shall damned well be no such thing. Rome burns, Nero. Where is your lyre?

C. Rosamond
Reno

Final rest

Re “The bitter end” (Feature story, Nov. 17):

I know how she felt. Our terrier-poodle mix had a lump on her paw. We took her to see her vet. He had a biopsy done and found it to be cancer. At first we could not think of having her put down. We’d had her 10 years; she was part of the family. But after two weeks and having to carry her out to do her business, I told my husband take her to the vet and have her put to sleep. I said, “No argument, she is hurting.” So we wrapped her in her blanket, and when he came home he was crying. We had her cremated, and she holds a place of honor in our home.

Janet De Capua
Reno

Heroine worship

Re “Endless pain” (Western Lit, Nov. 17):

Thank John Freeman for sharing with us a deep appreciation of a truly gifted artist, Joan Didion. She has given us not only insight into American culture but a sense of true “American” history with Slouching Toward Bethlehem, The White Album and Where I Was From. With her iteration of personal tragedy, we suddenly experience on the most intimate level the finality of life. I celebrate that person who, writing for Look magazine, made me run to the unabridged dictionary for the definition of a word or phrase she used with ease of application and interpretation! She is my heroine.

Corrine Cole
Plymouth, Calif.

Blunt force

Re “Calling occupants” (Feature story, Nov. 10):

I see the police around the country are working together in an effort to quash the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The moneyed interests are powerful; I hope your newspaper will give full coverage to this phenomenon.

Don’t give up. The excessive police force shows how fearful the billionaires are.

If they had the moral authority they wouldn’t have to use excessive force.

J.C. Price
via email

Familiar ploy

Re “Disunified front” (News, Nov. 17):

Dennis Myers mentions the Washington Times, and as always, reminds us that it is owned by the Unification Church. As far as I know, that is true, but I have never seen that church mentioned in its pages, nor any evidence that its ownership influences its content. So why does he do that, unless he is trying to use its ownership to discredit the paper?

Isn’t this the same tactic that liberals will denounce as “McCarthyism” or “guilt by association” when conservatives use it?

Bill Hamma
Reno

Editor’s note: If the Reno Gazette-Journal or the New York Times were owned by a well-connected interest group or political organization that seeks to influence government policies, we would certainly reference that ownership. Indeed, when the Gazette-Journal’s publisher, Sue Clark-Johnson, was a member of the board of Harrah’s, we noted that fact for our readers regularly. A number of journalists have resigned from the Washington Times because of their objections to church interference with the newsroom over its issues. Its ownership is as relevant as it would be if it were owned by the American Civil Liberties Union or the National Rifle Association.