Letters

Best ever

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

This is the last time you’ll see me write about the Biggest Little Best of Northern Nevada until next time. Probably.

I was happy with it and started sleeping again on the Thursday it published. Our experiment publishing in 3-D was overall a success. There were two or three images that didn’t work particularly well, at least not as well as they worked online. For the geeks out there, there were three factors that seemed to contribute: 1) the short distance between the camera, the foreground and the background, 2) the color saturation, and 3) the shift going from RGB to CMYK, which does not perfectly work with the red and blue of the glasses.

But overall, I’m giving us an 8 out of 10. I have some friends who disagree with that assessment.

I know people liked it, though. I was at a popular new coffee shop, and I was told by the barista their entire stack was picked up in just a few hours.

As far as counting, final results for the Best of: 3,132 voters voted in 108,150 categories; our most voted-in section was Goods & Services with 28,388 votes; and our least voted-in section was Innovation with 1,614 votes.

Look, we know there are some weird winners. Every year, somebody gets recognized for work they did a year or even two before or a closed business wins. Sometimes people will campaign to win in areas they don’t necessarily deserve at the expense of people who do deserve them. But it’s not up to us to change the results, and unless we have reason to believe that somebody cheated by gaming the system, the results appear in the paper and online as they are counted. Otherwise, what’s the point of all this fun? I mean, maybe the Moonlite Bunny Ranch is not the Best Local Place to Work, but they didn’t cheat to win the award. I mean, shoot, maybe I’ll send them a resume in a year or two.

Finally, there were a few issues that didn’t get the 3-D glasses inserted. Sorry about that. We still have extras here at the office. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

Win some

Re “Biggest Little Best of Northern Nevada” (Feature story, Aug. 8):

Really?! Hands down Opa Cafe is the best and most popular Greek restaurant in town. Best out there anywhere! This vote must be rigged. Nick’s Deli and Blue Plate don’t even taste Greek. And Niko’s Greek Kitchen is decent enough, but I’d pick Opas any day over Niko’s. Try them all and decide for yourself. Marika Dimitriadis Reno

Gone to the dogs

Re “Biggest Little Best of Northern Nevada” (Feature story, Aug. 8):

On Command is the best shop around and the cleanest for sure. I’m happy the place is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Thanks. Bear Scott Reno

Chains over independents

Re “Biggest Little Best of Northern Nevada” (Feature story, Aug. 8):

I think for future purposes, it would be good to lump restaurants in the same chain into the same entry. Thus, Peg’s Glorified Ham & Eggs on South Sierra Street would be the same entry as Peg’s Glorified Ham & Eggs on Mae Anne and on Prater Way in Sparks. Gives each restaurant in the chain more chances, but also gives more selections for the top 3, as we wouldn’t have two of the three being the same place (for all intents and purposes). Just my 2 cents. Matt Davis Sparks

Fear of impact

It is difficult for citizens to understand why RTC does not want to provide an Environmental Impact Study on the proposed Southeast Connector and have gone to great lengths to avoid it. Now it appears they might even have skirted and ignored some federal requirements. What are they afraid of? Just do the study! Helene Sasser Reno

Give advice to parents

Re “Plan ahead for new breaks” (Editorial, Aug. 1):

Regarding the editorial on the new school calendar: I am a teacher, and I think there are many positives as we head into the new school year such as retention of learning. Overall, you hit the nail on the head about the struggles of working parents finding daycare (but more jobs isn’t a bad thing). However, I am very disappointed in your closing paragraph which portrays teachers as being stuck in a rut. We constantly seem to be fighting a battle with the media and politicians who seem to think teachers are the enemy. Usually, RN&R doesn’t take this stand. Reform is hard, and this is one step, as you stated. But reform can’t take place in just one area. It needs to be a cooperative effort that includes the school district, parents and politicians! How about some advice for parents about how they can help their children and teachers? That would sure be different!

Melissa Sewell Reno

Smarten up

Re “Get smart” (Green, Aug. 1):

OK, enough about all the emotionalism, misinformation, and a lack of understanding about electric utility Smart Meters. As hard as it may be to believe, it’s really a good thing that utilities are adopting this technology.

First, for customers of NV Energy, we avoided almost half of the $300 million thanks to the federal government. That’s money that’s not coming directly out of our pocket. Thank you, DOE.

Second, Smart Meters will save a lot of money for everyone—consumers and the utility. It also will result in other benefits in improving customer service and reduced costs—from improved outage response to better billing accuracy and information for customers. It also provides the foundation for the ‘next step’ in modernizing the distribution of electric power. Further it’s an investment that utilities can earn on. It’s literally a ‘win-win’ for customers and the utility in multiple respects.

So, how does it save money? Well, first it eliminates monthly meter reading for every residential and small commercial customer. This is on-the-order of $10 million per year. And, for most of us that means a meter reader won’t be trudging through our yard every month. I don’t know about you, but I appreciate this.

It also provides the necessary platform to transition to rates based on time-of-day consumption, which is how power is priced on the bulk energy market. For customers who can choose when they run appliances like washers, dryers, etc., they can shift their usage to off-peak periods and save money. I do this with the utility’s current voluntary Time-OfUse (TOU) residential rate structure. It works for me and it’s not ‘rocket science’.

But the real benefit with TOU rates is that they provide an incentive for the utility to improve their overall energy efficiency, being able to eventually reduce their overall powerplant requirements by reducing peak generation requirements. This offers enormous savings for consumers and the company, with facilitating the transition to renewable resources and mitigating the need to build additional fossil-fuel plants in the interim. The future transition to TOU rates will result in a shift to a new level of energy efficiency and reduced utility infrastructure from power plants to distribution resources. All of this eliminates waste, promotes efficiency, and reduces costs. We the consumers directly benefit from all of this with reduced energy costs.

While the fears associated with Smart Meters aren’t necessarily ridiculous, if you use a cell phone or are in the vicinity of virtually any modern technology, you are far more exposed to these concerns than anything coming from a Smart Meter. Think about it, Smart Meters communicate for a few seconds an hour. How long are you on your cell phone a day? How far is the Smart Meter from you compared to the cell phone on your ear? Exposure is a function of time and an inverse of the square-of-the-distance of the source.

For those that choose to opt out and use meters that need to be read every month, $8.72 is a very small price to pay. What other company will come out to your house for that cost? And, that also includes the additional cost of manually reading and processing your meter information. It’s a bargain. You are actually being subsidized by all of the other customers, so be grateful to have the option, let alone the minimal cost.

Rather than taking issue with the cost of opting out, why not opt to use the current optional TOU rates? By managing your consumption you will be able to reduce your monthly cost.

Also, to clear up another issue, a Smart Meter only records a customer’s consumption during 15 minute periods, rather than for the whole month. It can’t tell what the customer is doing. Kilowatts from light bulbs, refrigerators, heaters/air conditioners, etc., are all the same. The claims that the utility knows what you are doing is ridiculous. So much of this misinformation is absurd.

Tim King Reno

Frack your day

Re “Heating up” (Green, July 4):

To allow fracking in Nevada is the biggest mistake the state would make in its history! Fracking will waste our clean water, which is already at low levels due to drought, and replace it with a toxic cocktail of “secret” chemicals. The fracking companies will rape the land and leave farmers and ranchers with sick animals, cancer causing water supply and filthy, toxic pollution. Nevadan’s right to drink clean water and breathe clean air supersedes any fracking company’s right to pollute for profit! JoAnn Torre Las Vegas

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, Mark Dunagan, Bob Grimm, Ashley Hennefer, Sheila Leslie, Dave Preston, Jessica Santina, K.J. Sullivan, Kris Vagner, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Design Brian Breneman, Vivian Liu, Marianne Mancina, Skyler Smith Advertising Consultants Meg Brown, Gina 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, 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 Nicole Jackson, 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

Where do you hide away?

Asked in downtown Sparks

Paul Izzo

Trainer I usually try to go camping, either Stampede or [the] Lake Tahoe area. It’s just peaceful, I can relax there, and there’s not a lot of hustle and bustle.

Tiffany Devries

Student The mountains. It’s peaceful. I can be myself and think clearly. I feel like that’s where I recognize God’s creations the best.

Miles to go

The idea that Reno Pride could come and go with little commentary from the Reno News & Review seems almost awkward. The fact is that the LGBT community has taken major steps forward since last year, mainly nationally, although to a small extent in the Silver State, too.

Still, it’s not as though our community does not have miles to go, it just seems as though we have come so far. So, of course, staff members will be down at Wingfield Park, on the corner of Arlington Avenue and West First Street, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, to celebrate with our friends and family.

But this idea begs certain questions. Why does the least amount of forward momentum mean we the press can sit back and watch what we hope is the inevitability of history? This country has 237 years of hateful discrimination to account for. And just as laws pretending to “protect” marriage swept the country only a few years ago (in Nevada, 2002), the tide can turn with the vagaries of the U.S. Supreme Court. Not to point out the obvious, but despite a vote in the Nevada Legislature, we still don’t have marriage equality in Nevada.

We’re not likely to see protesters outside the park, as we did only a few years ago, but we are likely to hear pejorative names downtown. When does that blight on the American conscience end?

Interestingly, the Reno Pride marches of just a few years ago happened in spite of public ignorance. They were, in no small way, the gay and lesbian community coming together to thumb their collective nose at mainstream society. They required a certain courage on the part of marchers and supporters to participate. We were there. We saw the protesters and heard their hateful slogans. Westboro Baptist Church with its hateful placards can almost be expected to protest somewhere this weekend.

But this weekend will be a celebration. Perhaps that’s the crucial difference between then and now. There are things to celebrate.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The court also overturned 2008 ballot Question 8 in California. Those rulings restarted same-gender marriages in our neighboring state just seven weeks ago. These were baby steps forward, giant only in comparison to the crawl we’ve faced in the years since the Stonewall riots of 1969 and the massacre of 32 gays in New Orleans in 1973. Seems like an eternity, doesn’t it? Since Reno Pride was last celebrated, seven states have made it legal for all couples to wed.

Even looking outside our little section of the planet, gay people are still often treated as second-class citizens. Has our country as a country stood up to fight against new anti-gay laws in Ghana, Nigeria or Senegal? How many other countries with homophobic discriminatory laws does Uncle Sam count as friends? Will Obama stand by during the 2014 Winter Olympics as our gay athletes face prosecution due to a new Russian anti-gay law?

We in Reno have a lot to celebrate this weekend. But there’s a world of hate out there, and we all must maintain vigilance. Ω David Kay

Landscaper I usually head up to Gold Lake or Sardine [Lake], California. Beautiful country up there. It’s quiet and peaceful, good fishing.

Mia Robinson

Medical coder I’d go and ride my horse. I go out in Vinton, California. And I live in Golden Valley, so I spend time with my horses when I want to be alone. It’s peaceful and quiet, you have a big animal underneath you and you’re by yourself.

Pamela Anderson

Store manager Go to my bedroom, because I go to read a book, go to read and relax, and that’s what helps me calm down and chill from the day. Fiction, things that don’t happen normally. A Game of Thrones is what I’m reading right now.