Letters

Mea culpa

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I’ve often said that we here at the RN&R are equal opportunity offenders. It’s not that we go out of our way to irritate people—OK, maybe sometimes with certain members of the elite elected class—but on occasion, the honest expression of opinion is offensive. Like with restaurants, the experience our reviewer has can be unlike the experience someone else has had, and it angers people who’ve had a different experience. Most of our readers know this, and they take our book, movie, album and restaurant reviews with the grain of salt every expression of opinion deserves.

But with the knowledge that journalism can be offensive with intent comes the acknowledgment that sometimes we can be offensive accidentally. And I hate that. It diminishes the effect of when we do it on purpose.

Last week, in the story “Polo express,” we did just that. We ran a photo of the owner of the Polo Lounge Frank Perez posing with a random customer. Due to a whole series of errors on our part, from the photographer failing to put information on the photo file to an editor making an incorrect assumption to me not seeing what was only obvious, in the caption, we identified the woman pictured with Frank as his wife, Gena.

Yes, that kind of thing happens. Upon publication and the discovery of the error, we fixed it immediately online, but still, people’s feelings were hurt through no fault of their own, and this newspaper looked stupid.

I’d like to offer my personal apologies to both the Perezes and also to apologize to anyone else who was confused by our mistake.

Gena and Frank Perez

Don’t glamorize sex

Re “The naked truth” (Feature story, March 29):

Like this woman, I am in my early 20s, a blogger and a poet. I try to give all women deserved respect as I myself, being a younger woman, want that in return. I have many friends in the sex industry, and they’re all great people. However, I do not agree with the way the sex industry is becoming glamorized. I think it’s sad how classy is being replaced with sexy, and self-respect is being replaced with promiscuity. I think all the money and having a party career is blinding more and more girls from the real taboo of being a stripper or working at a brothel. To say she is the most provocative, I think, is a little extreme considering a lot of girls nowadays are trying to move in a more manly direction by outdoing the boys. It’s not only by the way they talk but also by using their bodies to prove how much more they can achieve by themselves. I think it’s sad how far away many girls are being pulled from their true beauty. As many consider this new feminine movement a true stand, I consider it more of a move for disaster in female respect. It’s great to be comfortable in your body but not to take advantage of the one thing no one else but you has. Let’s face it, your body won’t get the respect it deserves from others if it’s being exposed all the time. I’m not going to say she’s a bad person because I don’t know her, but I do think she is taking a walk in a degrading direction.

Ruby Pinkham Reno

Men don’t decide what’s feminist

Re “The naked truth” (Feature story, March 29):

I have to weigh in on this article, “The Naked Truth.” Though I admit I have not read the article, just comments to the editor, I wish to be sexually explicit, too, or rather sexism explicit, particularly in disregard to Brad Summerhill and David Philips whose comments in the April 12 publication are classic and timeless with their sexism.

The politics of sexism and its abuses is perhaps best described by a quote of Ronald Reagan: “It is said that politics is the second oldest profession, but I find it closely resembles the first.” Indeed, and when one is sexually exploited in the primarily male world of politics by simply watching cable or the news, one does not wish to judge too harshly the “exotic dancers” of the world in this economy.

When Hollywood points to an imaginary war between the sexes, which I characterize as, “Son, can your mother have equal pay for equal work?” To which the “Native Son” replies, “Oh, you pacifist bitch, thems fightin’words!” this war is in fact exposed—not the exotic dancer—and it’s obviously a pure male fantasy. The war against women, however, is all too real and is explicit in the entertainment industry when one is forced to view a movie clip on cable where a male character states, “The war between the sexes is won, we have women exercising to stripper poles!” One looks to the Caitlin Thomases of the world and can only applaud the fact that mainstream women must now look to her as to how to get their dignity back and get a degree ... and in this economy ... and that’s the naked truth.

I love women, their minds, their looks, their allure and their empowerment. The “dancers dancing the dance” as fast as they can have allowed me my dignity in the form of their charity, and in a world that needs to learn how vital and vitalizing they are and deserving of compensation and respect while a male agenda wants to reduce them to men—sexually base, bankrupt and without regard. These “exotic” women should not be the only image of feminism, but know they are warrior-women nonetheless. Sherri Blakeley via email

Dead letter office

Re “Closed email policy” (Letters to the Editor, April 12):

Washoe County Library Board Chair Alfred Stoess was kind enough to send me an advance copy of his letter to the editor responding to your March 29 article on library emails and Easter closings. Unfortunately, the misleading email link to the board is still on the library’s website, implying direct access to board members. My larger concern, which Mr. Stoess did not address, is that when my email regarding Easter closings was forwarded to the board, it contained commentary and even speculation about me from Library Director Arnie Maurins. If the real concern is spam, as Mr. Stoess suggests, then email from the public should be unfiltered. I am bemused by Mr. Stoess’comment that “the issue of whether to have libraries with Sunday hours open on Easter in 2013 and future years will be addressed by the library staff and/or the Board.” It’s simple: If a governmental body endorses any religion, it is in violation of the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. Closing branches to honor Easter qualifies. If staff or the board spend any time debating whether to disregard the Constitution, it would be an absurd waste of county resources. Rex Gunderson Sparks

Thanks for the warning

Re “Royale with cheese” (Film, March 29):

I’m glad I read your review before going to see the movie. Not having read the book, I had the feeling that it was a hyped-up movie targeted basically at teenagers who go and watch Harry Potter and Twilight movies. (They at least had better special effects, I imagine.) I decided not to go watch it in spite of the big crowd that was lining to watch it at our local cinema. They probably believed all the hype. Thank you for your review and for saving me from spending my money and time.

Tito Mina Luxembourg

Clean up your act

Slobs. As I walk along the streets of Reno, I see a constant reminder that we have far too many slobs here in Reno. Every street, every vacant lot, every parking lot has litter. Why is it that the slobs of Reno won’t or can’t use the many trash receptacles that are placed along the streets? Is it so much easier to dump trash on the street, rather than maybe carry that same trash a half block to dump it in a receptacle? Is it that the slobs think that it’s attractive to visitors to Reno to see cast-off candy wrappers, empty bottles and such along public streets? If that’s what the slobs think, they’re wrong. Take some pride in your community. Stop the litter!

R. Richard Reno

I’m a wonderer

Am I the only one?

Am I the only one who is curious as to why the number of commercials is steadily increasing on Reno’s Channel 5 PBS station when it is so heavily federally funded? Do they have to beg for money so often?

Am I the only one who wonders where the TVnews journalists have gone? All of them are so slanted left or right that it is difficult to get the objective side of the stories they report.

Am I the only one who is concerned about the water being cut off to Virginia Lake this winter? Even the beautiful swan that used to visit the north end has decided to go elsewhere since the water is becoming so polluted.

Am I the only one who is annoyed that local TVstations are so obsessed with reporting weather every eight minutes each broadcast?

Am I the only one who is dubious about the administrator of the Washoe County School District scoring a national award for his service when the statistics for school dropouts in the area are just awful?

I am curious, concerned, annoyed, and dubious quite a lot these days. Richard G. Pugh Reno

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THIS MODERN WORLD BY TOM TOMORROW

Post-consolidation

It’s pretty clear why the Washoe County Commission resisted a joint meeting on fire consolidation with the Reno City Council for so long. The county commissioners wanted such a meeting delayed until deconsolidation had advanced so far that stopping it would have been almost as difficult as going forward.

By the time the meeting was held, several legal deadlines—including open meeting requirements for any changes—would have been difficult to satisfy in order to halt deconsolidation. The county’s willingness to finally sit down with the city was a charade. The decision to deconsolidate was never up for renegotiation. The meeting would more appropriately have been held a day earlier, on April 1.

That doesn’t mean the city should be proud. The Reno City Council did not need a joint meeting to know the county’s concerns. Nearly a year has passed since the county voted to deconsolidate by July 1, 2012, and the city could have been more aggressive. It obviously should not have joined the county’s anti-union and anti-safety efforts, but it could have gotten serious about amendments to give the county more of a voice in the system. It didn’t need to wait for an invitation.

There are other issues that arose in the dispute over fire services consolidation.

Agroup headed by construction executive Perry DiLoreto told the two governing bodies that the battle was too overheated: “Abrilliant point on any subject can be totally lost or ruined by the way it is presented to your counterparts. … We are sorry to say that what we are witnessing is not sound political leadership but rather open hostility and confidence-shattering behavior.”

First, this argument suggests equivalent responsibility for deconsolidation between the two bodies. Both were at fault, but the principal fault is the county’s.

Second, the DiLoreto group is arguing mainly about style, not substance. Governance is often not very pretty, but one need only look to Sparks for instances where uncooked policies and bad decisions were made because city councilmembers walked cooperatively in lockstep. People with money and power always want public policy battles to take place out of the public eye where they can quietly determine the result. Our officials should thoroughly and publicly explore and scrutinize programs and decisions. If anything, the county did not engage with the city enough.

Granted, they walk a narrow line. Disagreement can spill over into acrimony, but that is not what happened. Both sides discussed issues of cost, safety, working conditions. They did not descend into the kind of thing we see in Congress. We can disagree with the result, but they did their jobs by opposing each other fiercely.

Finally, the Council and Commission were bedeviled by news coverage that trivialized the process and the issues involved in deconsolidation. KRNVNews called it “bickering.” On the very day of the joint meeting the Sparks Tribune called it “political squabbling” and the Reno Gazette-Journal used the term “spat” in a headline over an otherwise excellent article.

The issues over which the commissioners and councilmembers fought with fervor and conviction were legitimate and the public has a stake in safety, taxes, insurance and so on. This was no spat. Ω

Are you doing anything on Earth Day?

Asked at Washoe Democratic Convention

Alice Good

Volunteer We’re going to the Earth Day celebration with another couple. I’m glad that they are doing it this year. You know, there was talk about not having it this year. We’re looking forward to it.

John Stevens

Postal worker I’ll be at the state convention for my [postal workers] organization. During our lunch break we’re supposed to run down to Idlewild Park and join in what they’re doing down there, at the Earth Day stuff there.

Nancy Hart

Policy analyst There’s several events going on and I’m planning to hit one of them or two of them with my kids. Hopefully, the weather will be nice, and I always like being outside on Earth Day. It reminds me of how important it is to be aware of the Earth and take care of the Earth.

Kathleen Eagan

Human resources assistant Absolutely. In fact, Earth Day should be every day. We should be focusing on our commitments to our environment and the mother Earth who supports us. We’re all in this together.

Thelma Matlin

Retiree I’m going to be doing voter registration at a Democratic booth. If we can get more Democrats to vote, we can do good things for the Earth because Democrats are Earth-friendly.