Letters

Vote now

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

By the time you read this, voting will have begun on our Best of Northern Nevada readers’ poll. Have a strong opinion about which joint is Northern Nevada’s best Vietnamese restaurant? Or the best music teacher? Or the best plastic surgeon? The best strip club? The best church? Now’s the time to express it.

We take a lot of pride in facilitating this contest. I always smile when I walk into a restaurant or business I’ve never visited before and see an “RN&R Best of Northern Nevada” plaque up on the wall. The Best Of issue is always one of our most popular issues every year, and it’s an important chance to hear from y’all on what you think are the best places, things and, most importantly, people in our community. Other local media outlets have tried to launch contests like this, but they’ve all faded or folded after a few years. We remain the definitive source for the Best of Northern Nevada.

I think part of what we do right is that our contest is all write-in. You, dear readers, pick your favorites. You don’t select from a handful of nominees already whittled down by some snobby editor or, worse yet, an ad seller. You tell us what you think, what you like. The website does have an auto-complete function, based on winners from previous years, to help make things easier, but write in whatever you like.

Only one ballot per email address, and you have to vote in at least 10 categories. (There are hundreds to choose from.) If you own a business or something, campaigning on social media is encouraged, but don’t try to stuff our ballot boxes. We will catch you.

Big thanks to John Bisignano and Brian Breneman for getting the contest up and running online quickly and easily.

Check out the promo on page 12 for all the details. Or just go straight over to vote. newsreview.com/best-ofreno-2016 and get to voting. —Brad Bynum bradb@newsreview.com

Letter to letter

Re “Other people’s money” (letters, May 12):

Regarding the letter about the California lottery, does anyone have any hard numbers on how much money is being spent by Nevadans on lottery tickets in California? Many times when the lottery approaches record numbers people point to the long lines at California lottery stations at the Nevada/California border and say all that money could be helping Nevada schools instead of California schools. Nevada casinos say having a Nevada lottery would decrease revenue and cost casino jobs. I can’t find any studies on how much money is being spent by Nevada on California lotteries. Are you able to to find one? This way we can have numbers to back up the claim instead of looking at the long lines on one side and this will hurt the bottom line on the other side of the argument.

Dewey Quong Reno

Locker talk

So what’s the difference between the federal government and a pimp? Actually, not much. They both sweet talk you into giving them control over what you do, then they take your earnings. Finally, if you don’t do what they say, they won’t give you your money back. And they make your life miserable.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal (May 13, 2016) reports that the Obama Administration will direct public schools across the nation to provide transgender students access to facilities—such as locker rooms—that match their chosen gender identity. What if we say no? According to the R-J, administration officials say we risk losing federal education funds. Will civil rights suits be far behind?

Your daughters and granddaughters can say goodbye to privacy and security in the locker room. unless we finally tell the Federal Government the same thing we tell pimps—stay out of our schools and leave our kids alone. Robert R. Kessler Las Vegas

Iran agreement

Although many of us do not like Trump, perhaps we should nevertheless grit our teeth and vote for him in this election. If it’s a choice between a Trump presidency and an Iranian nuclear strike, the lesser of the two evils is a Trump presidency. If I am correct, the current agreement allows Iran to hide nuclear weapons at unknown but suspected sites. It also gives Iran 24 days’ notice in which to move weapons to a site not being inspected. At first Trump wasn’t going to re-negotiate this agreement, but more recently he has indicated that he would. I don’t believe Clinton or Sanders have said they would. If we elect Trump this time around, and stabilize the situation with Iran, then we can feel free to vote for someone more eNevadaironmentalist and/or presidential in 2020.

Alex Sokolow Santa Monica

Editor’s note: The Pulitzer factchecking site Politifact reports that the International Atomic Energy Commission has authority “to implement continuous monitoring.” Politifact quotes Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia: “Iran’s nuclear program will be under lock, key and camera 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”

Privacy suggestion

The more we fuss around transgender and biological gender, the fuzzier it gets. Where will this segregation end? “Shoe size, please”! It’s hard to be a young teenager having a shower after PE and find yourself on a classmate’s Facebook page. Girls have their periods, in more ways than one, and how embarrassing is that? Boys have weird stuff going on too. They all grow up and hopefully get over it, but in the meantime, some safe place for personal hygiene should be considered. Would it be possible to build private stalls for showers and toilets in one common space for all sorts of people? Would that eliminate the unnecessary sorting of trans and genders? When “them“ and “us” become one we create Peace. Mette Elfving Reno

Man bites dog

Re front page (Family Guide, May 12):

Regarding the photo on the front page of the pet insert, FYI, dog behaviorists say hugging is a bad idea. Dogs don’t see it as being hugged, they see it as a dominance thing. A threat. In fact, the dog in the photo looks uncomfortable. Wary. It’s so stupid how dog owners believe their animals are on the same page as people are. Anthropomorphism sucks.

Clyde Mason Sparks

That’s our Bruce

Re “Campaignettes” (Notes from the Neon Babylon, May 12):

I feel Bruce Van Dyke is full of poo poo. You should sober him up, so we understand what he’s trying to say. Nobody should be that difficult to read. The only thing I understood out of his entire article is that France has elections for two weeks. The writer gives me a headache. You really should tell him to straighten up, and fly right.

Max Provino Hidden Valley

Erik Holland

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