Letters for March 7, 2013

Bring your cart

Re “Dog Days of Winter” (Feature story, Feb. 28):

I read with interest your article on dog sledding in Truckee (Dog Days of Winter), but I find it sad that nobody in charge of these dog sledding events has thought of the obvious solution to the unpredictability of snowfall: Plan for both. Tell the mushers and the audience that the race will happen whether there is snow or not. Each musher will have to bring both a snow sled and a wheeled cart, which is a lot to pack and transport, but isn’t it better than cancelling the event?

Karen Inda

Sparks

Troll dog

Re “Dog Days of Winter” (Feature story, Feb. 28):

I’m so sick of dogs I want to puke. Overrated, butt-sniffing, poop-eating, barking, ugly-ass animals. Did you know dogs are an invasive species? All the common species of pets are. I love it when coyotes grab a coddled little dog and take it back to the den for a meal.

Jennifer Tuttle

Reno

Truth karma

Re “Dog Days of Winter” (Feature story, Feb. 28):

With all the dire predictions for the ecosystem due to climate change—mass extinctions, flooded cities, super-hurricanes, etc—doesn’t the esoteric hobby of mushing seem pretty trivial?

Don Manning

Reno

Ashamed of government

Open letter to both the upper and lower houses of the legislative branch of the American government: As an American-born, Vietnam-era veteran just short of 64 years old, for the very first time in my life, I am both ashamed and embarrassed by the lack of partisanship and cooperation by our elected officials, both Democrat and Republican of my native land. The nerve; the audacity of our politicians to leave “The Hill” on a Thursday afternoon for a long weekend, without even an extended attempt to fix the sequestration issue at hand is mind boggling. We are no longer the greatest nation on Earth, and it’s going to be a long slide downward. I fear for our future and the legacy to follow. If there is a God in heaven, He will punish those who fail the people by their selfishness and inaction by personal self serving design. I can only, and will, pray for those unfortunate uncaring souls.

Jon P. Gaits

Reno

Water hazard

Yosemite National Park managers are the grinch that stole the vacation.

The proposed Merced River Plan, written to “protect and enhance the river,” would have the swimming pools at two hotels in Yosemite valley removed because they are “not necessary.” (Yet the pools are not as near the river as many buildings.) The ice rink and horseback riding would also go, along with rental rafts/bikes, because they are “not necessary.”

Is John Muir their role model? Muir got by with a fire, some tea and bread. With Muir as a NPS role model, tents and hotel rooms are also not necessary. Fun is not necessary.

Please help stop this nonsense before it spreads to other parks. Yosemite park is taking comments on the plan until April 18, 2013.

Go to the Yosemite National Park home page and click on Merced River Plan on the right hand side.

The direct link is http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=18982

The direct link for comments is http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=50778

Mary Donahue

Campbell, Calif.

Dump the dump

Re “Nuclear energy is the bomb” (The Liberty Belle, Feb. 28):

Chanelle Bessette’s opinion piece, “Nuclear energy is the bomb,” is itself an explosion of misinformation. The idea that southern Nevada in general and Yucca Mountain in particular could be used for “the storage of nuclear spent fuels, reprocessing those fuels and generating power” is absurd. Yucca Mountain is an unsafe site for disposing of nuclear waste. The feds have walked away from it as being unworkable. It’s an even worse location for spent fuel storage (earthquakes, the dangers of transporting the stuff thousands of miles and through urban Las Vegas, etc.). And reprocessing, even if it were technically and economically feasible (which it is not) requires copious amounts of water (not available in the arid Great Basin) and produces copious amounts of radioactive and hazardous waste. Where reprocessing has been done (by the Feds for weapons purposes and at a pilot project in upstate New York in the ’70s), it has resulted in massive amounts of contamination. And a nuclear power plant in southern Nevada? Give me a break! Because of the earthquake potential, you couldn’t license one there. Even if you could, there is nowhere near the amount of water required for such a facility. What the Nevadans 4 Carbon Free Energy is selling is not something that’s good for Nevada.

Joe Strolin

Carson City

Good to know

Re “The Game” (Feature story, Feb. 7):

I don’t know if you had a chance to read KOLO’s story, http://tinyurl.com/b7rpcav, but if you didn’t, it talks about a trafficking survivor who is starting a Sex Workers Anonymous chapter in Carson City. Sex Workers Anonymous was first started in 1987, and has grown to be a worldwide program with chapters in the USA, and five other countries now. They are open to anyone of any age, male or female, gay, bi, lesbian, and/or transgender, with no restrictions on the religion, or lack of, absolutely free of charge. Their program has a hotline that’s available anytime at (888) 253-9619 and is answered confidentially by another survivor. SWA is not connected with law enforcement in any way, and it’s highly successful whether they’re working with someone who just wants to quit the sex industry, or a trafficking victim who needs a rescue operation put together. Because so many mothers are dealing with this issue these days—they’ve even put together a program just for their support as well. They have a radio show where you can hear from the survivors at stoptraffictalk.webs.com/apps/podcast/ and have a Recovery Guide. They can be reached at www.sexworkersanonymous.net

Jody Williams

Las Vegas

Pay as you go

Re “Back to the gold mine” (Left Foot Forward, Feb. 14):

Quid pro quo—something for something. Mining needs to pay a fee for every speck of gold, large or small, that they take from our state. Mining needs to pay for every drop of fossil water they drain as they drill—just as we all must do. Mining needs to pay for using our roads, government, schools, airports etc. Mining needs to pay for access and mining claims instead of participating in a land grab and by quickclaim converting public land to private property and private use. Mining needs to pay for the superfund site and other EPA sites that are dirty and need to be cleaned up. I’m only asking for mining to be responsible like I am as an American citizen. I pay when I use or take, and so must they. We need to stop allowing mining to hoard, hide, and stash the gold. There is money in this state, and we are tired of starving our systems so that billionaires can make huge unfair profits.

Angie Sullivan

Las Vegas/Winnemucca