Letters for June 18, 2015

Government should support church schools

Re “Wealth redistribution” (Letters to the Editor, March 19):

I recently picked up a RN&R, and glanced through it while waiting for a table. I took a moment to read a few of the letters to the editor. The one labeled “Wealth Distribution” by Janice Flanagan of Reno stood out.

Here are her words, but in a different order.

“We have precious few tax dollars and must use them wisely. Public tax money should be used to educate all children. Certainly parents can choose how and where to educate their children.”

OK, so I agree with this so far.

But then the rest of the letter:

“I do not believe we should use public money to support private schools. The Republicans in our Legislature are using the legal fiction of tax credits to businessmen who donate money (so-called Opportunity Scholarships) to students who attend private, even religious schools. This is being done under the guise of school choice. Public tax money should not be used in this manner.”

The first paragraph makes perfect sense. The next paragraph, I see that Janice refers to “The Republicans,” “religious schools” and “Opportunity Scholarships” in a very negative tone.

It appears that what she means is: Public tax money should be used to educate all children as long as they do not go to private religious schools with the aid of an Opportunity Scholarship authored by a Republican.

I pay tax dollars to public schools, by choice I sent all my children to private religious schools. My children have flourished in that environment. I have neither asked for or received financial assistance to do so. I believe every child should have the same opportunity that my children have had regardless of financial ability. The students at these private religious schools work very hard to achieve their goals. Why would anyone shame a politician for trying to include hardworking students of an opportunity that their parents might not otherwise be able to offer?

I am so tired of hate, negativity and narrow-minded thinking. The prejudice needs to end. I hope to see a day when all work towards a common goal of an exceptional educational opportunity, without waste of any resources. By the way, private schools are doing an exceptional job of educating students at a lower cost than the public schools. Perhaps public schools could implement some of the cost savings already used by private schools?

Julie Wientjes

Reno

Editor’s note: For what it’s worth, on Nov. 5, 1878 Nevadans voted to amend the Nevada Constitution to add this language to Article 2, the article covering education: “No public funds of any kind or character whatever, State, County or Municipal, shall be used for sectarian purpose.” The vote was 97 percent to 3 percent. A similar measure was approved in 1938.

Foundation

Re “Pack of liars” (Editorial, April 23):

I just responded to a comment on the on-line Providence Journal that flabbergasted me. I wondered if a person had a “theory of history.” I do know that Karl Marx at least believed that a science of history was possible. The person flatly denied that science—the scientific method—could be applied to human society. I thought it was no coincidence that he was also a political reactionary and a climate change denier. I recalled the famous Henry Ford quote: History is bunk. A Google search took me to your excellent editorial. Could our ruling class now believe that life itself is meaningless? But they intend to live it up at the expense of the rest of humanity?

Ron Ruggieri

Cranston, Rhode Island

You say potatoe

Re “Introduction” (RN&R newsletter, June 11):

Ah, the challenge in the Reno News & Review to tell you something that you didn’t already know. OK, here goes: How do you pronounce “Kuenzli” as in Kuenzli Street, which runs between E. Second St. and the river? If you pronounced it as “Koon-zlee,” as most people do, you get the big gong. If you said “Kinz-lee,” you got it right. So how do I know this? Judy Kuenzli was in my Reno High School class of 1956, and she pronounced it “Kinz-lee.” Her family owned property in that area and sold or gave a portion of it to the city of Reno for construction of the street, as I recall.

I realize that this is of little interest to anyone, besides me and probably my friend, Karl Breckenridge.

John Metzker

Reno

Editor’s note: We’ve been doing a weekly email newsletter for a couple of years now. This letter is referring to the newsletter. The Reno Gazette-Journal has recently started its own newsletter that seems, at the very least, admiring of ours. So, exhibiting our keen sense of irony, last week we wrote our newsletter in a voice that imitated their voice imitating our voice. As intended, it was stupid, but the irony was somehow lost on some readers. (Not ours.) You can sign up for our newsletter here: www.newsreview.com/reno/local/MyNR It’s usually funnier than it is ironic, except when Dennis writes it. And yes, potato was intentionally misspelled in the earlier headline.

Incidentally, during his years at KOLO News, Dennis did a ratings series on the origin of Reno/Sparks street names in which he tried to correct the prounciation of Kuenzli. Ignorance weathered his effort.

It’s not immaterial

This letter is in response to the coverage of the court decision concerning Cleveland Police Officer Michael Brelo.

I listened to Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge John P. O’Donnell read his decision and found his thought process reasonable given the series of events he was required to describe. Whether or not you agree with his decision is immaterial given that the law has spoken. And certainly people can protest peacefully and work to improve the system that produced such a catastrophe. Still, there are no innocent parties here. Certainly Timothy Russell should have obeyed the order of a police officer to stop. What other lives were placed in harm’s way because he chose to continue fleeing? But why does it require so many police cruisers to join in a high-speed chase? Given the length of the travel why couldn’t some sort of blockade have been set up to stop the person fleeing? Russell and Malissa Williams did not have to die because the ultimate cause of their death could have been prevented. And what does this say about a potential diversionary tactic that could be employed by domestic/foreign terrorists on American soil?

For those of you in the African-American community who are tempted to be filled with rage and hatred at every white police officer, I can only say that I had a member of my family, Patrolman Hilary Cudnik, believed to be the distant cousin of my Uncle Boley Cudnik, who was killed in the act of performing his duty. But he was killed by an African-American. Because of the influence handed down to me from my paternal grandfather, Albert Joseph Bialek and my mother, I did not react to Hilary’s murder like most people did. I never believed that looting and burning down businesses would solve anything and would certainly not bring him back. My African-American brothers and sisters please refrain from engaging in violence as it will only exacerbate the situation. But rather let our two communities come together in reconciliation and love to make Cleveland once again the best city in the nation, if for no other reason than to have achieved racial harmony once and for all.

Joe Bialek

Cleveland, Ohio