Letters for July 12, 2001

Re “Good Bills, ‘Sensible Session'” (RN&R Guest Comment, June 14):

I know that copy editors are often viewed as an unnecessary expense, but I think you might want to consider hiring one.

Bob Fulkerson wrote about a measure that restored “civil rights to ex-felons.” First, if someone is an “ex-felon,” there is no need to restore voting rights if all other aspects of voting registration have been met. Second, the only way one can become an “ex-felon” is through a pardon, which is rare.

Also, your guest must have been on some other planet while the Legislature was meeting. According to the legislators, it was a terrible session; witness the need for a special session to get vital things done. Of course, I wouldn’t expect a more literate or factual column from someone in Fulkerson’s job.

Sam Bauman
via e-mail

Props, sort of, from basketmakers

Re “Above-water Basket Weaving” (RN&R Art of the State, May 17):

As a member of the board of the Great Basin Basketmakers, I’d like to formally thank you for the kind and insightful review of our basket show at Fourth Ward School.

Nevada has a history of over 10,000 years of basketmaking due to the Paiute, Shoshone and Washoe Native Americans we have in this area. We are proud to have several of them as members of our club, and we learn much from them. We also support their brand new basket club in the Reno area.

Poor Betty Hulse! You had no way of knowing, of course, but Betty is one of our premier willow basket experts. Betty is normally a traditionalist and rarely strays from that to the wild and crazy that many of us, myself included, thrive on in creating baskets. So to have you not particularly like her blue-and-silver, metallic-type basket surely left her crestfallen. She said not a word about it; indeed, she complimented you on the fine review of the show. She has had compliments from basket folk “in the know” on this particular basket, so it was kind of a shocker to us to find you didn’t like it.

By the way, it might be a no-no to touch other kinds of art, but baskets were made to be touched, felt and loved.

Thanks, Jimmy Boegle, for the very fine review. For a utilitarian person, you did just great!

Darlene Pond
board member
Great Basin Basketmakers

Props for satirical plays

Re “Brüka’s Play Ending Was Disappointing” (RN&R Letters, June 21) and “Jolly Good Show” (RN&R Theater, May 10):

OF COURSE Bertolt Brecht gave Mack the Knife a reprieve [in Brüka Theatre’s The Threepenny Opera]. That’s the whole joke! The whole play is a SATIRE of middle-class attempts to educate and improve the lot of the poor and morally muddled, because everyone in the play with middle-class pretensions are themselves impoverished and ethically challenged.

Sad to say it, but the joke’s on you, Beth Miramon.

Ashiata Shiemash
via e-mail

Props from the cops

The Peace Officers Research Association of Nevada (PORAN), representing 26 professional law enforcement associations throughout our state, would like to offer our sincere appreciation to our legislators, the Legislative Counsel Bureau and legislative staff. We commend each of you for all of the long hours and hard work that you gave protecting, serving and representing our professional peace officers, their families and our communities.

Ronald P. Dreher
PORAN president

No props for John Lee Hooker

Recently, I was again reminded how pathetic “The X” has become. After blues legend John Lee Hooker died in his sleep at the age of 83, I was poised to hear a decent tribute to him on the station’s blues show the next Saturday night. I listened for most of the hour-long project, and not one song of his was played. I called the radio station and was informed that the show was written prior to his passing, and we would have to wait until next week.

[Program director] Harry Reynolds, you should be ashamed. John Lee deserved much better than this.

Trace Stiegman
via e-mail