Letters

Joke’s on you

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

It’s April Fool’s Day here at the World Headquarters of the Reno News & Review. I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to pull a joke that will work retroactively for readers. So how would that work, anyway? Would it be permissible for me to set up the joke today, but have it spring when you read this Editor’s Note from April 4-10, or to tell you that the joke was set up in the April Fool’s issue that ran last week?

All right. For those who didn’t believe the story we ran last week that suggested the new parking meter stations might be working, and everyone who parks downtown should go ahead and pay for their time using our public streets, it’s possible we were joking. And for those who believed us when we said we believe Marc Johnson when he said the University of Nevada, Reno has no secret plans for developing the university farm over by Wolfpack Meats, well, it was the April Fool’s issue.

And, for the individuals who read last week’s Editor’s Note and interpreted it as saying that the newsprint version of the RN&R is going away, I’d just like to say that I appreciate your kind words thanking me for my years of contributions to Reno culture, and I’d like to emphasize that had I actually written that, it would have been an awesome April Fool’s Day joke for today. What I actually wrote was that for local newsprint newspapers to exist in the future, local newsprint newspapers must accentuate what they do well: stories about local people and events that are paid for by ads that run next to the local content on newsprint, so readers get the information they crave, and advertisers get the results they demand. I also said that newspapers—even free ones—should consider ways to give print newspapers exclusive content. While I personally intend to learn how to make apps for tablets, the whole organization is absolutely committed to the print newspaper. The internet’ll take this newspaper when it can pry it from my cold, dead hands. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

Maw-om!

Re: “No, you!” (Letters to the Editor, March 28):

Nuh-uh!

You get over it! Flombaye Krishnabob Ellison Sacramento

Food for thought

Re “Designer Genes” (Green, March 28):

I believe Sage Leehey did a fine job of journalism, reporting both sides of an important, complicated issue in one short article. Leehey pointed out that the company patenting the new technology, Monsanto, performed adequate testing as required by the USDA who, in turn, reviewed the data and approved the release of these new organisms as “GRAS,” or “Generally Recognized as Safe.”

In another field, this research would be regarded as a conflict of interest and discarded as inappropriate.

Further researches conducted by independent scientific studies have found serious flaws in the Monsanto and USDA data.

Whether you believe that Monsanto has performed their testing with all due diligence and that the USDA would not allow harmful bioorganisms into our food supply and environment or you trust the independent studies and the reports of individuals and their health concerns, the ultimate answer is that you and I should be able to make our decisions freely, and not have this important information hidden from us.

The point is, as AB330 proposes, is to simple label genetically altered packaged foods found in our grocery stores so that we, the consumers, have the information to make our own decision as to what we want to put on our family’s plates. Do you know what’s in your food? You might be surprised! Steve Litsinger Stagecoach

Soil amendment

Re “Isn’t that special?” (Letters to the Editor, March 21):

Elizabeth Zbinden believes that the net proceeds tax on minerals is an additional tax burden on mining operations. It is not an additional tax on mines. In fact, it is a preferential method of appraising and assessing mineral deposits. All other property in the state is taxed on the value of the property and not on the annual net proceeds. Net proceeds are equivalent to annual net income rather than the value of the property. In order to arrive at the value of the property, an appraiser would divide the proceeds by the appropriate capitalization rate. Thus, the value of the ore deposit would be more than the annual proceeds.

Improvements (buildings, etc) at the mine are appraised and assessed just like all other property in the state. Preferential assessment is limited to the mineral deposit.

I recommend an informative book by Romanzo Adams, Taxation in Nevada: A History. The Nevada Historical Society published this book in 1918. Adams provided a thorough discussion of the controversy during the two constitutional conventions. It is clear from that discussion that mining interests were able to secure an exemption of mines from the general property tax for the tax on net proceeds. Two points are clear in that discussion. First, the net proceeds tax is not an additional burden. Instead, the net proceeds tax is in lieu of the general property tax. Second, from the time-consuming and expensive effort mining interests engaged in on the constitutional conventions, they obviously thought that it was a preferential method for assessing their property.

The point of industry-specific taxes raised by Zbinden deserves comment, too. A tax on insurance premiums constitutes a sizable portion of the state’s general fund. Another example is the tax on hotel and motel rooms. These are truly additional taxes on these industries. The net proceeds tax is not.

Glen Atkinson Reno

Future kill

When it comes to Social Security, pay me back just what I’ve paid in now, no interest, we’ll call it even. Social Security has become nothing more than income tax to the government thrown into the general fund. Seems to me that it would make more sense to curb population growth instead of offering poor health care through Obamacare, which will contribute to older people dying early and eases the burden on government by having to pay Social Security benefits longer. Is this Obama’s master plan? Is having people die off early the way Obama plans to pay for Obamacare?

Mike Arp Reno

Dog-owner baiter

Re Cynophobic letters (Letters to the Editor, March 14-28):

To the dog-hater who has been writing in: Dogs make life better for millions of people all over the world, every day, in hundreds of ways. What’s your story?

Barbara Meyer Reno

Sunset in America

Re “Jury is not out on sequester” (The Liberty Belle, March 14):

The story regarding the sequester hit on several key points such as Congress isn’t willing to [cut their own spending], their salaries will go untouched, and fears of the sequester hurting the poor will most likely come true. I agree that the people have become numb to the economic situation unfolding around them. When we the people wake up, it may be to late for us to act on our given rights as a U.S. citizens, since our rights were taken away when Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act. At any given time the government can and will take from us our last and only means for change.

The words of our Founding Fathers as written in the Declaration of Independence: Whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.

Do we need to say more?

Congress and the government is broken, and we the people know it! The government is not going to fix itself. When they gave the power of the vote and the voice to the corporations they took away the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that was given to the people by our forefathers. When they put the power of the vote in the hands of the corporations for their own personal gain they became destructive of these ends.

The Declaration Of Independence further states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by there creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Is the government giving us life and liberty? Or is it sucking the life out of the people for Congressmembers’ own personal gain? Is there pursuit of happiness for the people in the land of the free?

The power has been given to the people by our forefathers to make change and we the people can make that change. If the government no longer serves the purpose for which it was created—to serve the people— then it is broken.

If we do not come together and make that change then our voices at some point will fall silent within the walls of the NDAA.

Rick Carter via email

Correction

In “The next scenes” (Arts & Culture, March 28), we reported that the film Massacre Creek would play the Black Box Film Festival. That film is still in pre-production and will not play the festival this year.

Our Mission To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages people to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live. Editor/Publisher D. Brian Burghart News Editor Dennis Myers Arts Editor Brad Bynum Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Editorial Intern Sage Leehey Contributors Amy Alkon, Chanelle Bessette, Megan Berner, Matthew Craggs, Mark Dunagan, Marvin Gonzalez, Bob Grimm, Michael Grimm, Sheila Leslie, Dave Preston, Jessica Santina, K.J. Sullivan, Kris Vagner, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young Design Manager Kate Murphy Art Director Priscilla Garcia Associate Art Director Hayley Doshay Design Melissa Arendt, Brian Breneman, Vivian Liu, Marianne Mancina, Skyler Smith Advertising Consultants Meg Brown, Gina Odegard, Matt Odegard, Bev Savage Senior Classified Advertising Consultant Olla Ubay Office/Distribution Manager/ Ad Coordinator Karen Brooke Executive Assistant/Operations Coordinator Nanette Harker Assistant Distribution Manager Ron Neill Distribution Drivers Sandra Chhina, Sean Karp, John Miller, Jesse Pike, David Richards, Martin Troye, Warren Tucker, Matthew Veach, Sam White General Manager/Publisher John D. Murphy President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resource Manager Tanja Poley Business Manager Grant Ronsenquist Business Mary Anderson, Tami Sandoval Systems Manager Jonathan Schultz Systems Support Specialist Joe Kakacek Web Developer/Support Specialist John Bisignano 708 North Center Street Reno, NV 89501 Phone (775) 324-4440 Fax (775) 324-4572 Classified Fax (916) 498-7940 Mail Classifieds & Talking Personals to N&R Classifieds, Reno Edition, 1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or e-mail classifieds@ newsreview.com Web site www.newsreview.com Printed by Paradise Post The RN&R is printed using recycled newsprint whenever available. Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in the RN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. The RN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form.

ThIs ModERn WoRld by tom tomorrow

What’s the next big thing?

Asked at the Reno Arch

Pat Thomas

Retiree I think the next big thing is that we’re going to go totally to that object in your hand [iPhone]. No books or anything like that. We’re going to totally rely on those little computers.

Tanya Sisson

Insurance agent I would just say music. Hip hop in general. I think just some groovy beats coming our way will be the next big thing.

Just legalize everything

This sudden spate of liberal legislation feels surreal. This newspaper has been advocating for the gay community, legalization of marijuana, increased taxes on foreign-owned businesses (like corporate casinos and mining), and a path to citizenship for immigrants for as long as we can remember.

Unfortunately, because we’ve also been advocating civil disobedience in the case of marijuana legalization, we can’t really remember when that started, but trust us, we were for common sense reform of fascist laws long before anyone else thought the idea was cool.

However, since none of this stuff—pot legalization, gay marriage legalization, mine tax reform or immigration reform—has actually passed, please allow us to add our voice to the freedom-loving cacophony.

Nevada should join Colorado and Washington in making recreational use of marijuana legal. At the very least, this state should make it easy for sick people to get their medicine. Reno should be prepared for the land planning issues of dispensaries, and we should go these other states one better and create a reciprocal agreement that enables card-carrying individuals to consume their medicine here, and people who are state-recognized medical marijuana producers elsewhere should be able to sell their produce here. It’s good business, good civic planning and good karma to help sick people.

People should be able to marry who they want. That seems obvious. After the Supreme Court enjoyed the oral ... arguments ... on the topic last week, it also seems as though that court is unwilling to make sweeping changes to the laws of the land. We’ll know soon enough, but we were also disappointed that one argument near and dear to our hearts wasn’t made. In the Nevada Constitution the prohibition reads like this: “Only a marriage between a male and female person shall be recognized and given effect in this state.” Shouldn’t this sentence at least be modified to include non-hermaphroditic men and women? Something like “Only a marriage between two people shall be recognized and given effect in this state”? How much more logical can we be, for pity’s sake? If we’re going to restrict definitions, it seems clear we should restrict the meaning of “person” to mean one individual. And that’d also proactively prohibit polygamy (although to be truthful, we’re not altogether sure that polygamy should be forbidden among people older than 18).

As far as a path to citizenship, again, we’re only looking for reason. Why isn’t there a statute of limitations for illegal immigration? In the vast majority of cases, these individuals that the haters among us want to send away have never been formally accused of a crime. All other things aside, aren’t people with a demonstrated ability to be law-abiding citizens the very people we want at the front of the line? If the law was broken when they illegally passed into this country, can’t we accept that after seven years, enough time has passed in a common law definition of statute of limitations? In other words, you may have demonstrably broken the speed limit seven years ago, but nobody would say it is just to cite you now.

Finally, with regard to the mines. No business deserves a constitutionally established exception to being responsible citizens. Nevada has been treated as a colony to railroads, corporations and foreign-owned mining interests long enough. We want corporations who treat our land like a $2 whore to pay their $2. Ω Scott Brooks

Entrepreneur If I knew, I would open a business that does it. But if I had to guess ... I don’t know. New York pizza truck because there’s always Mexican food trucks. That’s going to be my new business.

Greg Goodrich

Engineer Cure for cancer. I think they’ve come a long way with gene mapping. They can target only certain cells and nothing else, so I think they can target just the cancer.

Raj Mainali

Teaching assistant I’m not from here, but I would say it’s going to be a new technology. Something to stop the chlorofluorocarbons and dangerous rays that we have problems with every day. I think it will be a new technology to stop that.