Letters for January 9, 2003

Our condolences
Hit and Run Cat Killer: One of two things happened—you saw my cat in your headlight and deliberately hit him, or you felt your vehicle bump something in the night, not knowing you hit a living thing.

You saw him; I know you did. He was not your friend. He was, however, my best friend. I have been inconsolable since I found him lying in the street not two feet from my driveway. You don’t comprehend this feeling of truly caring for another living thing—you don’t even know how to start. However, you are allowed to continue living, unchecked, uncaring, sleeping, eating and making a life for yourself. My cat did not have nine lives, only one, and I deeply will miss that life and the love and deep personal connection we had for each other. Perhaps my cat will always inhabit your waking and sleeping hours and you may someday wonder why you can’t get his face or form out of your mind. [It’s because] you took him—he is forever part of you.

My tears flow like a continuous waterfall. It will be especially difficult to go to work today. The death of this cat has made me feel that my heart has been viciously torn from my chest and both my arms and legs have been ripped off. And yet I continue to breathe, with an open, bleeding heart. You may not understand that feeling, but this cat and I had a special connection. I will miss him for a million years.

Gail Martin
Reno

Light up, everybody!
Re “Show us the stickers” [RN&R, Letters, Dec. 12]:

You recently ran a letter of mine, regarding second-hand smoke, under the headline, “Let’s see the sticker.” Here you go.

Jennifer Nelson
Reno

Teach your children
Re “California carpetbagger” [RN&R, Letters, Dec. 12]:

You chose to heavily edit the letter I submitted a short time ago and that’s your prerogative. However, I think you might have done your readers a disservice. I do tend to wander on, but at least two of your readers didn’t get what I was talking about. Both James. Whatever happened to Jim?

First, any wild talk about declaring open season on someone who disagrees with you is absurd, offensive and only serves to reinforce the opinion that people who own firearms are nuts. What I tried to get across in my letter is that I think everyone should take a firearms safety course to be able to teach his or her children firearm safety.

Edited from my letter was the statement, “If you don’t teach your children about firearms, who will?”

Second, you chose to edit out the section where I encouraged people who might leave the city limits to learn about firearms because they will certainly encounter many shooters if they get off the blacktop.

Fifth, you edited my comment about snowboarding and skiing being more dangerous than shooting sports. How many of the Calkins 300 let their kids ski or snowboard but are ignorant of the shooting sports?

Finally, embrace Nevada! You moved here to get away from the sewer that California is becoming. Get out and find the real Nevada with its ghost towns and deserts and history. Get out of the city, off the blacktop and find out why we love Nevada. Calkins will go on being Calkins, storming around like a rabid Chihuahua, suing everything in sight.

Buddy Morton
Virginia City Highlands

Can’t afford a tax cut
Bush plans to cut taxes again.

Like most people, I have credit cards and carry over the balance from month to month. Before the tax cut, I was able to deduct the interest from the credit cards from my income tax. After the tax cut, the amount of taxes I owe was greater than what I received in my paycheck.In other words, I received a tax increase I wasn’t informed about, allowed to discuss or tell my representatives to vote against. Those who could afford to pay off their credidt cards every month were able to keep their tax cuts. The rest of the population, the working people of America, paid for that tax cut for the wealthy.

Who knows what they will remove from the deduction list or what they will pass on as increases on services to the public with the next tax cut. I can’t afford George W. Bush’s tax cuts.

Dewey Quong

via e-mail