Letters for July 18, 2019

Unstory hour

I was disappointed to see that the Washoe County Library System was caving into religious bullying by the Nevada Family Alliance to not present Drag Queen Story Hour. In fact, they will be presenting a Noah’s Ark program instead. To take an event aimed only at supporting individuality and inclusivity, and watch it dragged by a hate group into non-existence is very distressing.

Reno is a city that takes pride in accepting of all its citizens. We should not cater to the whims of zealots. Their group would like to make conversion “therapy” legal in this state! Letting hate win during Pride Month is a terrible precedent to set for our local libraries. I hope they reverse this decision for the sake of our local community. Contact Director Jeff Scott and make your support for Drag Queen Story Hour heard!

Patrick Fitzgerald

Reno

Presidential electors

Re “Snuffing free choice” (editorial, June 20):

An interesting opinion on our electoral system. I respectfully disagree.

A democracy is when two coyotes and a rabbit decide on lunch. A democracy hung many an innocent. A democracy gave Nevada our current governor, with a slim win from Las Vegas. Thank goodness for term limits. Let’s apply them to lifetime Congress critters, all camps, and be way ahead of the game.

We are a democratic republic. Far as I know, always have been. Since history and civics are no longer taught, many think our system was designed to prevent folks from voting. And in truth some were, in those days!

Thing is, no one is a slave any more! We don’t have young 18-year-olds dying without the right to vote, as in 1972! Yet, many of any age neglect to take the time! If someone can figure out how to get a free phone, they should figure out how to get to the polls.

Some force ID for buying smokes, yet feel none should be required to decide who makes the laws we live by! That is simply irrational!

Imagine a popular vote with three candidates. Perot, Bush and the other joker. Perot wins by 34 percent! Thus a third of the population is happy, and two thirds pissed off.

If you are going to quote the foreign critics on our system, why not De Tocqueville?

Sadly, for the selfie folks, it is not an easy read. But it explains why our system works, and why the country thrives with it.

Why is Trump popular, being so uncouth? Consider it this way, President Obama was always for some other country. As well as believing that the peons would be happy having a beer with him. Trump, on the other hand, is true red white and blue, and makes the peons happy by actually allowing industry to develop new jobs.

Again, it’s that simple.

Ron Ryder

Fallon

Sparks quality of life

Re “Making Sparks fly” (cover story, July 11):

Nice feel-good piece about Sparks. Let’s put a dose of reality in it.

Parking: We used to joke and call Sparks “the city of parking lots” With all of the new residents and limited outdoor space it should no longer be called “the city of festivals” but rather “looking for a place to park.” (The hyperbola about limited parking being a good thing is one of the worst pieces of spin I’ve heard in a long time.)

About those residences: I would proffer a question: “How many of the local businesses actually pay a wage which would allow a small family to rent/buy one of these new apartment/condos?” Will this urban density benefit the Sparkites? Are the developers being held responsible for all of the issues created by this human compression?

John Bogle

Fernley

Teacher requirement

Nevada needs a “Sam’s Law.”

On June 12, the state of Texas and Gov. Abbott signed into law what is known as “Sam’s Law,” named after Samantha Watkins. The Kilgore High School student died in December 2016 after a catastrophic epileptic seizure. Sam’s Law [Texas House Bill 684] aims to bolster care for students with seizure disorders, requiring additional training for public school teachers in seizure recognition and first aid, to handle individuals who are having seizures.

This law should be duplicated for the many students who attend Nevada’s public schools. I believe that it would have overwhelming bi-partisan support. Nevada should follow the example of Texas with a similar law.

John Marchese

Henderson