Letters for March 29, 2018

Only one beer?

Re “What Van Dyke guy?” (letters, March 1):

I was disappointed to read the negative attack on Bruce Van Dyke and Notes from Neon Babylon. I have been following Bruce for over 25 years. I loved him on the X and I love him in print.

Bruce is a great writer, and I can hear his radio voice when I read his Notes from Neon Babylon. I love the RN&R, but sometimes I pick it up only to see what Bruce has to say! It is always the first item I read in the RN&R. Thank you, Bruce, for your years of service to Northern Nevada. If I ever get a chance, I am buying you a beer!

Lots of love, my brother!

Jack Hawkins

Reno

Juror distress

Once in a while I’ll see someone on the street who was on the Washoe County grand jury with me. We’ll just look at each other and not say a word, and then turn around and walk away, like two former concentration camp guards hiding a disgusting secret.

Much of the superficial rhetoric we’re being fed in this election year reminds me of the dark side of our community which very few people know anything about. The child murder rate, the suicides, drug overdoses, gang violence, and political and corporate corruption are conveniently glossed over by the local news sources.

Unless a story has enormous sensational value and doesn’t seriously disturb the status quo, the media seems to feel that the public doesn’t need to know about these unpleasantries.

The last I heard, Nevada was 35th in population but fifth in terms of prison population in the U.S.

It’s time to wake up.

Mike Beesley

Reno

Animal control

Re “Back on the horse” (news, March 15) and “Horse tales” (Upfront, March 15):

Thank you so much for the succinct and informative update on the laws and issues impacting both our local wild horses and horses managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

I want to remind everyone that the group called Friends of Animals is no friend of wild horses. If they were “friends” to the horses, they would not have filed a suit to end the birth control program being used on the horses in the Pine Nut Range. I am happy to hear the program is on again, and I hope we can start a similar program with our beloved Virginia Range horses.

Valerie Williams

Carson City

White knight

Re “White riot” (Let Freedom Ring, March 15):

As an older white male, I would like to point out that every month is “It’s OK to be White Month.”

All of my life I have been in two privileged positions in our society. As a white man, I have always had access to good schools, good jobs with competitive pay, good relations with law enforcement officials, and favorable treatment by banks and loan officers. In my youth, the schools I attended were for whites only. Other students received an education in older, run-down facilities with aged and outdated textbooks.

For most of my life, I have been competitively employed while women and minorities struggled to gain or hold decent jobs. In the not too distant past, my wife, at the time, could not buy a car without my signing on the loan, even though being temporarily disabled, I did not have a job, and she was supporting me.

I can drive my vehicle in any city or state in this country and not worry about being pulled over unless I break the law. Our country, founded by progressive, enlightened individuals, has always had the potential to be the greatest society on Earth but has struggled with fulfilling its promise. Slavery, mass extermination of indigenous populations, and rank male chauvinism have all been stumbling blocks in our progress toward a truly free society. Why do I need a month that tells me “It’s OK to be white”?

Trey O’Brien

Reno