Letters

These three things

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Our entry period for our first poetry contest will end Feb. 28. We’ve had a really large response. While I’ve only read poems when the circumstances warranted it—like when they’ve been incorrectly submitted— it seems as though the poetry I have read hasn’t been horrible. Anyway, for the rules and how to correctly enter, see the ad on page 29.

*** I’m dismayed by people who propose to teach without knowing the subject matter. I’m taking an online social media and journalism class in which an instructor made a restrictive statement about ethics that’s just wrong. Ethics are part of a code, not a synonym for morality. For example, ethical lawyers can do things, like defend rapists and murderers, that I would find immoral. Ethical scientists can do things, like spray perfume in bunnies’ eyes, that I would find immoral. Ethical journalists can do things, like bring hesitant victims into the public eye, that I find immoral but would do in a heartbeat. So don’t tell me a journalist is unethical or a practice is ethically mandated, unless you can point at the tenet on a Code of Ethics to which that particular journalist subscribes. Otherwise, I’m ethically required to tell you you’re ignorant. *** There are communities within communities within communities. I consider my community northwestern Nevada and northeastern California, and I consider everyone in it part of my community. Just stick a compass in my head and inscribe a circle with a 100-mile radius. That includes people I’ve never met. I make almost all my editorial decisions based on this simple premise.

While it’s possible that someone in Calcutta, Sydney or New York City may opt into our virtual community, I don’t care what they think of what we do here in Reno. I don’t care if they read us online; I don’t care if they like us on Facebook. I care about our local artists, businesses, readers and haters. I like having a lot of readers, but I don’t care to struggle to engage big numbers of irrelevant people. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

Poisoned pen

Re “Block that Koch” (Notes from the Neon Babylon, Feb. 13):

Here’s a concrete reason to nix the XL pipeline: their abominable safety record. We all remember the BP debacle; what most people don’t remember is the pipeline break in Kalamazoo, Mich., at the same time. There was so much flap about BP, that the media spotlight never focused on Michigan, just kind waved in that general direction for a broadcast or two, as millions of gallons of oil trashed 30 miles of the river. This is the same pipeline the Keystone PR machine assures has been appropriately patched, and ready for a full load of that tar sands goo. Rick Woods Sparks

Hands off the Kochs

Re “Block that Koch” (Notes from the Neon Babylon, Feb. 13):

Will Bruce Van Dyke ever learn to write in a civil manner? To refer to the Koch brothers as “evil bastards” is simply outrageous, and if they weren’t public figures, he should be sued. No matter what his disagreement is with them, he would be more successful in his criticism of them with facts. What have they done that is either immoral or illegal? Make a profit and employ thousands of people? By the way, where does Van Dyke come up with the $100 billion profit if the pipeline were built? He’s got the pipe part correct, that figure is a pipe dream of his. Van Dyke is certainly entitled to his opinion of whether the Keystone pipeline would be good or bad for the country, but in his own statement regarding the pipeline he offers no facts other than that he obviously hates the Koch brothers and doesn’t even offer any reason for that opinion. I have no ax to grind on behalf of their business, but I do believe that this nation would be better off buying oil from Canada than from Mexico, Venezuela or the Middle East.

Fred Speckmann Reno

The truth heals

Re “Hands off the Kochs” (Letters to the Editor, Feb. 20):

“Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” It’s the opinion page. To state that someone should be sued for voicing the opinion of “evil bastards” is hilarious, stupid, and reflects a certain lack of sophistication on the letter-writer’s part. See Amendment 1, U. S. Constitution. Don Y. Evans Reno Editor’s note: For those confused by how someone is responding to a letter that hasn’t seen print yet, this discussion first took place on our website, where many letters are first published, only a few of which we edit for newsprint.

One-twelth stone

Re “The Organic Food Lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13):

Twelve times less? Really? In a most recent story you quoted a biochemist as saying some process was found to be “12 times less,” and I find that to be quite fanciful. I would hope that his education was better than that and what you printed was merely a misprint. Are you aware that there can never be anything less (not more) than one time. One time of anything is 100 percent! That is all of something. You can increase anything by 100 percent, that is doubling it. When you consume 100 percent of anything, it is completely gone, there is nothing less. Fred Twigge Reno

The Organic Food Cover Lie

Re “The Organic Food Lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13):

I was disappointed to see the cover of your newspaper. It states “The Organic Food Lie” in letters with veggies in them. Then I opened it and found the story was about bio-engineering food and attached it to liberal politics. Organic food has nothing to do with liberal politics. The cover does not match the article. My problem is that your cover creates a picture that organic food is not right. People will walk by and assume this just by looking at the cover and never reading the story. The organic food market is growing everyday for good reason. I shouldn’t have to explain that to you. If you are unaware go visit an organic farm or talk to a grower and find out. Regardless of your article, organic food is here to stay and more people are waking up everyday and deciding they don’t want unnecessary chemicals in their body. Barry Burnham Truckee, Calif.

Sign of the times

Re “The Organic Food Lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13):

It’s all about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. They do not care if you get sick or die from the ingestion of that crap. All they want is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Richard Earley Reno

Save the children

Re “The Organic Food Lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13):

The writer proves in the last few paragraphs that some scientists are doing more harm than good. 500,000 children a year were dying from the Vitamin A deficiency before the modified grain and millions afterward. Come on, do the math. Salisha Odum Fallon Editor’s note: How could millions of children have been killed by golden rice that, because of objections from transgenic critics, has never yet made it into the marketplace?

Vertical integration

Re “The Organic Food Lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13):

I was interested to learn that the Koch brothers control Canadian tar sands deposits. Months ago, Greg Palast reported that the Koch brothers own Gulf Coast refineries configured for processing Venezuelan oil. According to Palast, Canadian tar sands oil has characteristics similar to that of Venezuelan oil. It appears that the Koch brothers are at both ends of the Keystone XL pipeline. Donald Schreiber Incline Village

Walled garden

Re “Don’t fence it in” (Letters to the Editor, Feb. 6):

This is a response to the letter by Samuel Margolies about his meanspirited, erroneous complaints. The fence may make no sense to him, but it does to the people caring for and protecting the Arboretum who have given much time and thought as to how to solve the problems arising there that are a threat to its safety and beauty. To say the fence is aesthetically ugly is his perception, and he would probably find the black wrought iron fences all around New Orleans ugly, also. To say this is an expensive boondoggle is not the case, as that would be a wasteful or impractical activity, and this fence is founded by practicality to save something of great value. For him to say he doesn’t see “hordes of homeless” camping in front doesn’t mean they are “phantom homeless.” They are deeper inside the park under trees and bushes, where their debris is left. This fence will not visually or physically restrict the public. They will simply go in the entrance to enjoy the beauty. Tagging, theft and other vandalism are occurring, and the fence will help in curtailing it. Solitary walkers and joggers do not want to be encountering criminals or homeless on the more remote trails. Homeless people may just be down on their luck, but some have mental instabilities and can frighten people, especially if they’re alone. Why does Margolies have to throw stones at the very people who are trying to protect a wonderful spot of beauty in our community? He should try to help, not hurt. He’s apparently angry because his view is changed, and he can’t do anything about it. What misplaced, hateful negativity.

Sharon Larson Reno

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ThiS Modern World by tom tomorrow

Start your own business?

Asked at U.S. Post Office, 2000 Vassar St.

J. Mecca

Warehouse tech I would have, but money stopped me. Funding. I’ve always worked warehousing, 30 years here in town.

Terry Elder

Salesperson I did. It was a franchise business, so it was real up and down. Mostly down. It’s been satisfying since I closed it.

Olympic sprawl

In a Sunday editorial on Feb. 16, the Reno GazetteJournal called for another Winter Olympics in our area.

Like its news coverage of the prospect of another Olympics (“Stop the journalism boosterism,” RN&R, August 16, 2012), the editorial screens out any disquieting information that might lead readers to question the wisdom of dropping an Olympics into the Sierra.

Go to the editorial on the RG-J website and search in the editorial for the word tax. “No matches found,” it will tell you.

Search for environment. “No matches found.”

Search for traffic congestion. “No matches found.”

Search for quality of life. “No matches found.”

Ah, but you will find this sentence, which somehow found its way into the editorial: “There’s no place in the U.S. that deserves the chance to host the Games again.” How that notion found its way into an editorial that is otherwise rich in chamber-of-commerce verbiage, we’ll never know.

The fact is, our area needs an official body that will honestly assess the notion of another Olympics. It should be created at the state level—if the games go bad, the whole region will end up paying the bill—and it should be filled with clear-eyed members who are not in business to lure another Olympics but to scrutinize the claims of both sides and decide whether it’s a good idea or a bad idea and then report to the public. It would also be good if our elected state officials, too, would start acting more like protectors of the state instead of hand puppets for the business community.

Olympics are a mixed bag. Sometimes they go well, as in the case of the Utah games. Sometimes, they go badly, as in the case of the Montreal games, which took that city three decades to pay off.

What the Gazette-Journal and the Reno Tahoe Winter Games Coalition seem to blithely ignore is that it’s not 1960. In that year, our area hosted the Winter Olympics. But that was then. Today’s Olympics are not 1960-sized. They’re massive. Critics of the idea, who cannot seem to get respectful coverage from the Gazette-Journal or a respectful hearing from government, believe another Winter Olympics would be akin to an atom bomb in the Sierra. What, for example, would the Olympic village alone do to the environment? In Sydney in 2000, an entire town—Newington—was constructed. Supporters of another local Olympics like to point out that this time, the games would not be confined to Squaw Valley. Events would be spread all over a multi-county region. Their point is that many businesses would benefit from the games. Our point is that such sprawl could do enormous damage to the environment.

In 1972, when Denver was selected for the 1976 Winter Olympics, the people of Colorado defied the business community and voted overwhelmingly to prohibit the use of any public funds for the purpose, killing the Denver games. The Squaw Valley Olympics were used as a bad example in that campaign, opponents saying the 1960 games cost 13 times what was originally estimated. In a 1980s effort to bring the games back to our area, the supporters were honest enough to say they would need a sales tax hike. These days, the Gazette-Journal, the Coalition and government aren’t mentioning taxes. Ask yourself why. And then demand better journalism from the Gazette-Journal and better representation from our governments. Ω Susan Belingheri

Court reporter I probably wouldn’t. I’m not that kind of person. My husband started his own business. … He loves it. It works for him. But I don’t want all the hassle.

Linda Strehlow

Business owner We just did. It’s trucking business. It’s interesting, scary. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t. We started it two years ago.

Mary Anderson

Payroll technician We had a business years ago, my husband and I—electrical contractors. It was OK. It was profitable. It was hard work. My husband got a job with another company, and it was just easier.