Letters for October 29, 2009

Bank robbers

Re “This toxic house” (Feature story, Oct. 22):

Thank you for your excellent journalism. Far better fact checking and AP style than a lot of the RG-J reports. I really think the information presented here needs to be more visible and brought to the attention of the powers that be, and the government brought in to take a closer look at what these banks are doing. Thank you for bringing this to the light of day. I for one am sick of my tax dollars going to bail-out these mismanaged banks, which are continuing to sink.

Valerie Craven
Reno

Coughthankscough

I’d like to write a letter of congratulations to the Reno News & Review in bringing us Jen Huntley and John Barrette as the choice replacement columnists of Cory Farley and Amanda Williams. The columns they give us are always smart and productive, something that is sadly missing from most media as our culture slowly heads towards the dumb, and the pursuit of knowledge becomes a hard won challenge. Seems most stuff you hear these days is without fact, strictly partisan talking points, or just plain propaganda. It’s their columns I look forward to the most when I pick up the newest issue of RN&R because they fill some of my hunger for smart voices within the media.

As a person who was once registered as Independent, now goes by non-partisan, and voted for President Obama, I especially appreciate John Barrette. I’m at my boiling point with Republicans right now, so I find it refreshing to read a conservative who isn’t only interested in reiterating what has been said on Fox News all week (coughAmandaWilliamscough). I can say the same for Jen Huntley who keeps up with a lot of local debate, but as a person who doesn’t believe there’s just one way to do things, I’ve been desperate for Republican voice besides Ron Paul who has new ideas or can talk to me without constantly refraining to nastiness or the “isms.”

So again, thank you and congratulations on bringing these voices to a public venue.

John Kratky
via email

It’s chronic

Re “Chronic Fatigue breakthrough?” (Upfront, Oct. 15):

I will be watching for Dennis Myers’ next report about the UNR research on Chronic Fatigue and in fact, I’ve emailed the group at UNR asking them to include me if and when a volunteer group begins.

This is a very real illness, and it’s serious. After struggling with it for more than 30 years, often being told it was just stress or being treated like it was “all in my head,” a fine young doctor with a remarkably fresh attitude had the “mono spot” included on my blood work. This was after I’d told her that no matter how many hours of sleep I got, I was still so tired I could barely drag myself from the car to my office desk.

My blood work came back with evidence that I not only had mono raging at the time, but there were lots of previous events told by the old antibodies they found.

Even without a cure, just having my illness validated, made me feel better. In my experience, stress has brought on the symptoms, and the bouts of feeling ill have come and gone many times over the years with months of illness, followed by months, or in some cases years, of no serious symptoms, only to flare up again. This time I’ve dealt with it non-stop for nearly three years.

I think I speak for a lot of others with this illness when I say thanks to Dennis Myers for covering this story and offer my sincere gratitude to the team at UNR.

Martha Liou
Sparks

Thunder roads

Re “Too darn loud” (Editorial, Sept. 24):

Having ridden the streets of the Reno/Sparks area for 44 years now—wet, icy, black-icy, slushy, sandy, pebbly, freshly hot-melted and sealed, not to mention every possible combination of teeth-jittering bumps or stinky water dripping down your back from the Silver Legacy’s overpass on Sierra Street—I should be able to be called an area expert, at least regarding riding conditions in the area. Oh yeah, did I mention that my bike does not get put away in the winter—no battery minder trickle charger has ever been on my bike! In the ’70’s, you would get tickets for running with bikes too loud on area streets; I know I got the tickets! When a rider says that load pipes are safe pipes, he or she is ignoring all modern studies to the contrary. Staying out of the blind spots and about a couple of hundred other “don’t dos” while riding a bike will keep you out of trouble! Street noise is a big problem; the excessive mind-numbing noise at Street Vibrations should be a big problem and would be if stripped away from the rolls of cash propping up the very bikes causing the problem.

Reno and Sparks are turning a blind eye or a deaf ear to the issue as it brings big bucks tainted with whatever oozes from the overblown ears along Virginia Street or the 1,000 other “Vibrated” streets. Even Harley-Davidson has publicly said enough is enough—you can no longer buy a Harley-made set of offending pipes, they have seen the writing on the wall! At least Washoe County is in the process of doing something. At their end-of-October commission meeting they will read into law an ordinance that will drastically reduce the off-road bike noise that resounds through our outlying areas.

Garth Elliott
Sun Valley

Eat the poor

Re “We are the world” (Letters to the Editor, Oct. 22):

While I agree that hunger and obesity are a major problem in America, I had to laugh when I read Bubby Coffey’s letter advocating state control of the food supply and government-run stores to ensure better nutrition. The Soviet Union tried that. They told farmers what to plant, when to plant it and how much they had to produce. Then the food got “redistributed,” which often meant that it sat rotting on the railroad tracks while both the farmers and the urban dwellers starved to death.

I have visited Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and North Korea (among other places), all of which have state-controlled food supplies. The government-run stores in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan had nothing on the shelves when I was there in 1998. The best meal we had in Central Asia was at a privately-owned Turkish hotel, while the government-run places usually had a big, impressive menu, but no food with which to make anything.

On my recent trip to North Korea, we were given the country’s best food. The only vegetables they have are cabbage, carrots and cucumbers. There are no supermarkets and no shops. The government provides everything to the people, yet they have nothing. If private enterprise was allowed there, North Korea would be just as prosperous as South Korea.

Coffey also states, “All Americans should have access to the same quantity, quality and selection of food, regardless of the amount of money they possess.” Sorry, but I am not going to pay for some poor kid from the ghetto to eat foie gras and filet mignon. Whatever happened to working harder to make life better for yourself, instead of expecting a handout?

If you are looking for an answer to the problems of hunger and obesity in America, let’s try educating people, rather than banning private enterprise and setting up government-run stores.

K. Marie
Sparks