Letters for May 15, 2003

Taxing movies and cigarettes and other consumables that affect lower-income people is a sad state of affairs when you continue to ignore some of the basic reasons that we are in this situation. You allow builders to continue to get off easy without more responsibilities to ensure that projects are funded, like the expansion of roads or the building of an infrastructure to support the effects off growth on systems like traffic and schools.

Those of us living here should not pay the price of those who profit. We have thousands of illegal aliens attending our schools and nothing is done except to pass the buck off. You allow fuel suppliers to increase prices at will, [and] that affects growth and day-to-day spending. Traffic jams are caused when your people are too brain-dead to understand that a simple off-the-shelf PC running [Windows] XP could ensure that we are not stopping for a light when there are no cars to stop for.

You have a money shortage. Increase the price of vehicle registration by $30 to $40 a person per year. Do the math! Most of us consider our private transportation a required expense, and this sort of increase would not be so hard a pill to [swallow]. Ensure that all commercial trucks passing through Nevada are required to pay a trip fee to use our roads. Doing this alone would bring in the $750 million you are trying to raise. Without dealing with the issue again, the money would increase each year to offset [the] cost as the population grows each year as does the interstate commercial traffic [coming] through our state.

Phillip Hurbace
Las Vegas

Appreciate the artist
Re “Art Attack” [RN&R, Letters, May 1]:

How can anyone decide to take it upon himself to decide what art is? Art, almost by definition, means different things to different people. For some, art can be “Velvet Elvis.” For others, it can be a ‘55 T-Bird, [Andres Serrano’s] “Piss Christ,” a John Cage piece or Rembrandt. Although it is trite to say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” it is true, and much the same can be said of art appreciation.

It is not for us to know what is in the mind of an artist. It may or may not be helpful to learn what an artist had in mind while creating a piece; it is not necessary. We will never completely know what William Shakespeare or Leonardo da Vinci were thinking, yet their works have been (mostly) admired and analyzed for centuries. Are their achievements lessened because we can’t psychoanalyze the artist, or are they magnified because of our sense of the mystery that accompanies the artist and the creation?

None of us has to like every single piece produced by every single artist. I appreciate any artist who has the courage to put his work on public display, baring his soul to the world and serving himself up for attack and ridicule or admiration and acclaim. Why not enjoy art at face value? If you are fortunate enough to have additional insight into the composition of something, so much the better.

Daniel T. Earl
Reno

Speak up even if nobody’s listening
Re: “Out of control” [RN&R, Guest comment, May 1]:

Amy Spitzer should keep up the good work by voicing her opinions—even when she feels no one is listening. Age has no bearing. I’m 53, and a long time ago I got discouraged because it seems that no matter what you say, it falls on deaf ears. I’ve come to believe only the rich and/or famous are listened to or receive justice.

Spitzer is one step ahead of everyone else because she cares and is not afraid to speak her mind. I’ll never give up speaking out on the injustices in social and political issues, either.

Most people become apathetic, resigned or just lazy and submit to the brainwashing from Washington and the government. By the time [people] realize the error of their ways, the lobotomy is nearly complete. Big Brother has taken over their lives.

My pet peeve is how we are suffering economically—people out of work, more businesses closing—yet we can send $720-plus billion to Iraq for aid and to rebuild. It’s a disgrace how we make our own citizens beg for food stamps.

We ignore [others], shuffle around, give dirty glances at our homeless and don’t help the sick and elderly.

Something or someone has taken over Washington, D.C. [It’s] a massive ego full of arrogance, and it’s on a rampage. Sometimes I wonder what foreign country is going to come and liberate us. I hope it’s a rich one.

Vickie Vera
Sun Valley