Letters

I’m on break, sort of

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

As I’ve whined for the last several months, I’ve started a master’s degree at the University of Nevada, Reno. I’m only taking two classes, but ... man ... I have not been a college student for a long time. So much has changed. One of the funniest things, for me anyway, is that I no longer know the rules of English grammar. I’ve been writing in newspaper grammar (Associated Press Style) for so long that simple rules no longer occupy a folder in the file cabinet of my mind. And it’s not like I’m a stranger to the college experience since I’ve been teaching journalism up there for a couple of years—in fact, I’m teaching a class now.

I have a job that requires more than 40 hours a week. I have seven hours of classes in which I’m a student on campus. I teach four hours a week. I have homework. I run a singleparent household with a young adult. My Wednesdays start about 5 a.m., and my last class lets out at 10 p.m. There’s just one thing that gets me through the week—the countdown to spring break and then summer.

And the real sad part is I’m right in the middle of my spring burst of creativity. Give me a little vitamin D, and I’m building projects. For example, this weekend, I sanded and refinished some end and coffee tables so that their tone matches my new hardwood floors.

Of course, some things had to give: my time at the gym and my time in the bar. But by the time you read this Editor’s Note, I’ll be on spring break. My last midterm lets out at 11 a.m. on Thursday, and I may just walk out of that class and straight over to the Little Wal. I don’t think anyone would say boo. Fat chance. But if Thursday is productive and my karma is good, I might take Friday off.

That’s all fantasy, probably, fueled by the promise of a 70 degree weekend. But with a little luck, I may get to spend some hours in the garden or on my back deck, hopefully reacquainting myself with a frosty Corona Light. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

Tahoe truth

Re “Size matters” (Editorial, Feb. 28):

Thank you for your recent editorial about how the Tahoe Daily Tribune and the AP “reported” the senators’ letter and the Sierra Club’s lawsuit against TRPA’s Regional Plan Update.

You captured the essence of the issue in your last paragraph. Anyone presenting evidence that questions the initiatives of local jurisdictions, corporate business interests and government agencies, who have benefited from the $1.3 billion of funding over the last 15 years, is quickly ignored. How can there be any validity to claims that put a chink in their armor or threaten to pop the bubble they have spent literally millions of public dollars constructing over several years?

There are plenty of them. Using the label of “smart growth”—for what is a catalyst for very large, Wall Streetfinanced resort developments (Boulder Bay and Homewood)—is nothing short of greenwashing. Selling fractional units is the most lucrative real estate development model, and the RPU lays the groundwork for another “gold rush” in the Tahoe Basin.

I hope your paper remains open to printing the real story from the trenches, as it will be an epic battle, a story in our backyard that is a metaphor for what is happening in the economic and political sectors across our nation. Main Street, and appropriate, personal scale, is fighting for its life in a very small and sensitive Basin. David McClure Reno

Wither the weather?

Re “Dog days of winter” (Feature story, Feb. 28):

I know I’m a little late to the dance on this subject, but I really thought someone else would make this comment. I lived in Truckee through the ’80s into the ’90s, and before that I lived in Reno. My family saw the sled dog races advertised for years and planned to attend many times. I think mostly they were scheduled in the airport area. The races never happened as far as I know, and it was either due to lack of snow or canceled due to “too much snow.” Truckee is in a very unusual place and can be the coldest and the windiest place in North America. We had minus 51 degree windchill one year. I’ve seen as much as 8 feet of snow at my house, and none at the same time in another year. In January 1986, I was digging trenches around my house to prevent flooding due to a Pineapple Express [warm wind], which wiped out four feet of fresh snow, and rained for five straight days. Just a few years ago we had record snowfalls, and now we’re in a bit of a dry spell. Nothing has changed. In some other year, we will have more snow than some people would like and that will be a problem, then too much rain, or a forest fire and maybe a landslide that closes Interstate 80 down for three weeks! What will we do? All these have happened and will again, people.

M.J. Bender via email

No dogs for you

Re “Troll dogs” (Letters to the Editor, March 7):

Aww, you sound jaded. Did you get dumped by a former pet for a more interesting neighbor down the road? It’s OK, sweetie, maybe you’re more of a ferret owner. Or, maybe with your personality you should get a pet rock. Justin Dunaway Reno

Charles in charge

Re “Make your destiny” (15 Minutes, March 7):

Make your destiny! Such a great article on a movement that was created here in the 775. I will fully support any local-owned businesses with a positive brand and message that can relate to people of all ages. We all have goals no matter how large or how small, and the only way we will reach them is fueled by the strength of our desire to take the steps needed to accomplish our goals. Best of luck to Charles with his company. In my opinion, we need more motivated people like him. Joshua Brown Sparks

Preserve freedom

About two weeks ago, several citizens addressed their concerns with the Washoe County Commission about sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act. Those sections gives armed forces power to arrest and indefinitely detain any American. As a “detainee,” you have no rights until the end of the War on Terror. I have to ask, since we are engaged in several wars, how long? I look at Gitmo. Those hooded detainees could be someone you know. San Francisco and 18 other communities have made resolutions to fight the NDAA. San Francisco called theirs “Resolution expressing opposition to the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA.” Support our fight at nvndaa.org and Sen. Don Gustavson’s Nevada Preservation Act. I am a Nevadan, battle reborn. Are you battle born and proud of your freedom? Valerie Tilson Reno

No truth for you

Re “Size matters” (Editorial, Feb. 28):

The truth hurts. Fantastic analysis of the boondoggle at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. No one has dared to verbalize the reality on the ground. Thank goodness for the only watchdog group the lake has left: the Sierra Club. In spite of tremendous pressure from all the politicians, special interests and agencies that feed on the trough of federal and state money, the Sierra Club did the right thing. Now the TRPA spin will try to denigrate and marginalize: after all they have four full-time public relations folks.

Reno News & Review, thanks for being an independent news source. Ann Nichols Crystal Bay

Justice and truth

Re “Born to be Wild” (Green, March 7):

When I read stories about these beautiful creatures [wild horses], I weep. These horses are more intelligent than humans in more ways than one so treating them like brainless animals is not only cruel and inhumane, but it brands those who do these terrible things as monsters. It is a well known fact that there are monsters among us with human masks, so we really are not in a position to know who is human and who is not, except when we witness the actions of Bureau of Land Management. Then we know! We know that these people are not human in the sense that we recognize humans with love and compassion in their hearts. We must keep on fighting for justice for our beautiful horses because they have no one else to fight for them. All we seek is justice and truth. And if we believe in justice and truth, we will win and get our horses back. Do not forget that persistence always wins. Never give up even when the odds are against us. We will get our horses back no matter what!

Niki Nicholas West Palm Beach

Taxes and truth

History has repeatedly demonstrated when a people and their leaders lose their virtue, freedom perishes. It has recently come to light that Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey allegedly sponsored and promoted legislation that would benefit a major donor to his political campaign. The legislation in question would have granted special tax credits and grants to a company in which his donor had invested heavily.

This is how entrenched politicians maintain their hold on power. They manipulate the tax code to reward those contributing to their re-election campaigns. Without the income tax they would not have this “tool” to play “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” game.

There is a bill in Congress that would rectify this anti-virtuous system. It is “The Fair Tax Act.” It takes control of taxation out of the hands of politicians. We must eliminate this corrupt system we have in place before we are completely ruined. As another principle stated long ago says, “Righteousness exalts a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.” Frank C. Kuchar Arlington, Texas

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ThiS Modern World by tom tomorrow

Asked at University of Nevada, Reno

Natalie deWitt

Student I listen to Televisions, Na Na Nonchalant, Bazooka Zoo and Evynn Tyler. I think that’s about it.

Guillermo Billalobos

Graduate Student I don’t really listen to anything local. I usually listen to indie and alternative rock. A little bit of electronica.

End thought crimes in Nevada What local bands do you listen to?

The Nevada Legislature is hell bent on adding another offensive opinion to the list of enhanced penalties prosecutors can seek when a criminal is motivated by what the lawmakers define as “hate.”

Senate Bill 139, sponsored by Sen. Pat Spearman, provides “an additional penalty for certain crimes motivated by the victim’s gender identity or expression,” the additional penalty being 1-to-20 years in prison.

In other words, assaulting someone because he or she was gay could carry a heavier penalty than merely assaulting someone.

Unfortunately, state law already provides extra protection to victims of crime motivated by dislike of those victims’ “race, color, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation.” That raises substantial questions about equal protection under the law. Why are some citizens entitled to greater protection than others? The great civil libertarian Nat Hentoff quoted a woman whose rapist received a lighter sentence than that handed out in a “hate crime” rape case: “Was what happened to me of less importance to the law than what happened to my friend?”

But more important, these thought crime laws serve to punish opinion. And once offensive opinion can be punished, it’s a short hop to punishing unpopular opinion.

In a deplorable incident, Sen. Spearman was once attacked by a group of white men while she served in the military. But that attack was already subject to criminal prosecution. The only thing enhanced penalties would have changed is putting government in charge of establishing what are and are not acceptable thoughts. And acceptable thought has a way of evolving. Fifty-six years ago this week, the federal government indicted Confidential magazine and its distributor on charges of sending obscene material through the mails. The material was information on abortion.

Sen. Spearman quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: “The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice.” So it does, one hopes. But establishment of acceptable opinion and enforcement of state-approved opinion carries us away from justice. In the same speech, Dr. King said, “It’s a dark day in our nation when high-level authorities will seek to use every method to silence dissent.”

Noting that the courts have upheld wide-ranging inquiries into defendants’ opinions years earlier, Hentoff wrote, “Watch what you say, and try to remember what you have said in the past. Other prosecutorial questions also may include magazines or other publications you read, or even which recordings you listen to.”

In addition, once hate crimes are established it becomes easier to suppress other forms of expression. This is not just the “slippery slope” argument. It has happened. In Connecticut and New York, for example, the legislature has moved on from thought crimes to thoughts, by outlawing the display of what they consider hateful symbols— specifically, nooses. These laws move beyond prosecutable violence and instead criminalize pure opinion.

This should be dealt with at the legislative level. Once the laws are on the books, judges are reluctant to hear challenges. Among those not permitted to sue to overturn thought crime laws are the American Family Association, several Michigan ministers, and 16 Ohio Amish residents.

The crimes at issue are already illegal. SB 139 should be defeated and other similar laws repealed. Ω Nicole Wadden

Student I don’t. I’m not from anywhere around here, and I’ve only been here since August. I’m from Novia Scotia, Canada.

Nick Sexton

Musician The Mark Sexton Band, Jelly Bread and Keyser Soze. I’m a local musician, too. I’m a singer/songwriter. I write soul/ rock/alternative music.

Lewis Mandichak

Student Buster Blue. They’re out of Douglas.