Letters

Go ask Alice

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Life is so lifey, as a friend used to say. Today, life is lifey for Alice, my dog. I think I mentioned a couple of months ago that she developed idiopathic geriatric vestibular syndrome, which is basically a constant feeling of having bedspins and loss of balance. At the time, I laughed because every time she’d shake her head, she’d fall over.

She never really recovered from the disease, frequently falling up and down the few stairs on the way to the door and back. Turns out that it wasn’t because of the syndrome, but because she has severe arthritis in both her hips. I guess she wore them out over the last 17 years or so.

She was an abused dog when we got her, sweet as the dickens but dumb as a stump, one of those dogs who could learn to stay off the deck but not to fetch. Since she’d go nuts whenever anyone came to the door, I was able to teach her to freak out whenever I said, “It’s George W!” —her one good trick. She never really got over her fear of humans, and even today, I could tell she thought she’d done something wrong because she wouldn’t look me in the eye.

Two days ago, I discovered a tumor on her side. It’s now about the size of a tennis ball. After checking her legs and discovering the muscular atrophy, the vet didn’t even bother to biopsy. The pain can be managed, but there’s a progressive weakness that comes with atrophy and arthritis. Pretty soon she won’t be able to get up, and then it’ll be time for a long nap.

That’s all kinds of Facebook TMI, but I’m trying to get at the big picture, bottom-line stuff that makes a personal column universal. I’m trying to keep perspective on the end of one of the longest day-to-day relationships in my life. I don’t really think there’s much of Alice left in that poor demented head. So what prevented me from agreeing to the shot this morning? Yes, we’re managing the pain, but what kind of life is it she’s got left? Crazy, fearful and drugged.

It’s fall, and I have a grave dislike of things ending. Every change in leaf color, every dying dog, every time I close the back cover on a book, I’m reminded that nothing lasts forever, and I hate the illusion that it might. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

So not tired

Well, myself, I’m not tired of Kentucky’s Kimberly Davis. After all, what’s tiresome about first-degree official misconduct by any public official—a public official who “refrains from performing a duty imposed upon him by law or clearly inherent in the nature of his office” (Kentucky Revised Statute 522.020)? Then there’s the additional matter of, oh, the due process and equal protection clauses in the 14th Amendment to the supreme law of the United States of America—its Constitution. Since 1868, this amendment has provided protection against the arbitrary denial of life, liberty or property by government outside the sanction of law or a state denying to anyone within its jurisdiction the equal protection of law. You know, as in law, not someone’s particular flavor of “God.” Hardly tiresome. Why, even the lizard-brained fatuity of evangelical citizens in general is a fascinating study—the extra-legal audacity of a “my religious sect’s way or the highway” ideology. Right in front of God an’ everybody. Craig Ayres-Sevier Reno

All the hate in one letter

I am a bilingual teacher in Milwaukee Public Schools. If my colleagues and students and their families knew I am writing this, I would be stigmatized. Most of the students who are in bilingual programs in public schools in the U.S. are here illegally. Their families take advantage of every possible thing they can get free. Free schooling, free lunch, free before and after daycare, free medical services, food stamps, sports, music, programs intended for American students—you name it.

During the summer, the city has free lunch and dinner for inner city kids. The Mexicans bring their kids and the whole family—mom, dad, uncles and aunts, grandparents—each come with one or two kids from their big families and eat from government programs for free twice a day. Go to any emergency department in a hospital at any time of the day in Milwaukee, and it is filled with illegal Mexicans who can’t speak English and who must be given medical services since they can’t be refused.

The illegal Mexicans don’t have any insurance, of course, so they use the emergency departments. A few years ago, St. Michael’s Hospital, which served the inner city, had to close because so many Mexicans were flooding it and never paid their bills. MPS has hired many Hispanic educators who speak poor English and who are undereducated.

As a result, many students do poorly in school. But MPS will not get rid of these teachers and administrators for fear of racial profiling. So MPS continues to fail in these schools. Illegal Mexicans take jobs from Americans as they will work underground for a fraction of minimum wage. They are responsible for many traffic deaths, murders and accidents in WI and raise insurance rates because they have no insurance. They steal license plates and put them on their own cars. They are angry that WI no longer gives driver licenses to people who cannot prove they are here legally. Their birthrate is very high, and they put stress on neighborhoods as they are seldom homeowners but noisy renters whose children are unsupervised and half naked playing in the street.

They have 3, 4, 5 cars per household and park their cars on lawns. They are Third World all the way and ghettoize our beautiful neighborhoods. The liberal teachers in MPS who decry any criticism against them all live outside the city in the burbs themselves or in nice, white neighborhoods. Those Mexican teachers and administrators who have made it in this country never live in neighborhoods with Mexicans but will tolerate no criticism of what these third-worlders are doing to our society. The Scripture says: “Remove thy foot from thy neighbor’s house lest he hate thee.”

Jane Peterkin Milwaukee

Your scripture also says, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” But go ahead and be an asshole anyway.

Why must we be sober?

Re “A year of living soberly” (Feature story, July 2):

This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. It is a subject I find I must defend over and over in my good, sensible conscience. What is this fascination, nay, obsession, with the concept of addiction? When viewed in a light slightly more favorable, addiction becomes a corn-fed value I force feed myself in times of insecurity: “Up your focus. Focus on persistence. Persist and go further.” Where is the line between culturally acceptable behavior and a lifestyle, which needs a stigma?

I cannot logically understand why drugs and their traditionally accompanying lifestyle—addiction—are being targeted.

I cannot logically understand our society’s fixation on the marriage of drugs, addiction, and us, the children caught in the crossfire (to use an expression heard in 12-step meetings).

I use the term “illegal” loosely. Ten pharmaceutical drugs available to consumers this morning will most likely be blackballed by five this evening based upon God knows what motives. Lawmakers have a myriad of reasons from which to select, but is any of the reason based in authenticity? Your call.

There are countless mood and mind altering therapies available to consumers in this day and age. All of them are being “abused” to a certain extent. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous states that every individual is to some extent emotionally ill. A person’s ability to be constitutionally capable of total honesty with themselves can be the only means of measuring their own emotional illness. Damage caused to a person and his family by x-therapy or y-therapy may be more dramatic and damaging than any drug addiction could render. Yet it is the concept of “drug” that is persecuted relentlessly. Other soothing remedies are simply accepted and not recognized as dangerous. It all blends together. It is as if we as a society have deigned drugs to be the whipping boy of our problems on a macro-level of perspective. Drugs take the blame for this, and for that ... what about the underlying causes that compel us to need to feel differently?

In the Greyhound waiting room, with such hopelessness in his eyes, he stated simply, “I just need to feel different.”

Why can’t we let the young man feel differently? Why are drugs being pinpointed as a thriving source of negativity?

Brionne Humes via email

Induced labor

Labor Day, yeah, right! I recently read an article in a Boston newspaper explaining how labor unions “Interfere with the natural operations of the economy.” For example, they don’t allow for true laissez faire capitalism. In my opinion, organized labor is a requirement for capitalism to work properly. If business interests can legally lobby together to “price fix” wages and benefits, unions must be allowed to exist to counter this through private contractual law. Interestingly enough, according to the article, a majority of Americans believe that unions are a good thing, yet union membership is a paltry 11 percent. This is due to restrictive laws which were created by the aforementioned lobbies.

Many of our labor ills are due to unfair or lax enforcement of trade laws (also promoted by those same lobbies). If the idea of spreading capitalism around the world was originally advocated as a good thing, it has been usurped by big business concerns to lower their labor costs, not to necessarily raise the world standard to the realization of the (now faded) American Dream. Does anyone remember how the U.S. promoted “Solidarity” in Cold War-era Poland. Stating that organized labor was the essence of individual rights? My how times have changed! If printed, please leave my name as anonymous as my employer doesn’t like unions. Thanks. Name withheld Reno

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 Contributors Amy Alkon, Bob Grimm, Ashley Hennefer, Sheila Leslie, Eric Marks, Jessica Santina, Todd South, Brendan Trainor, Kris Vagner, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Associate Art Director Brian Breneman Ad Design Manager Serene Lusano Production Coordinator Skyler Smith Design Kyle Shine Advertising Consultants Joseph “Joey” Davis, Gina Odegard, Bev Savage Senior Classified Advertising Consultant Olla Ubay Operations Coordinator Kelly Miller Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Manager Anthony Clarke Distribution Drivers Tracy Breeden, Alex Barskyy, Denise Cairns, Steve Finlayson, Debbi Frenzi, Vicky Jewell, Angela Littlefield, Marty Troye, Warren Tucker, Gary White, Joseph White, Margaret Underwood General Manager/Publisher John D. Murphy President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resource Manager Tanja Poley Business Manager Grant Rosenquist Business Nicole Jackson, Kortnee Angel Sweetdeals Coordinator Courtney deShields Nuts & Bolts Ninja Christina Wukmir Lead Technology Synthesist Jonathan Schultz Senior Support Tech Joe Kakacek Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins 405 Marsh Ave., Third Floor Reno, NV 89509 Phone (775) 324-4440 Fax (775) 324-4572 Classified Fax (916) 498-7940 Mail Classifieds to classifieds@newsreview.com Website www.newsreview.com Printed by Sierra Nevada Media 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

The best autumn colors?

Asked at the Nugget Rib Cookoff

Sister Rose Marie

Missionary Probably in Western Washington. We see beautiful coloring of yellow and then it goes into the sunset oranges and the crimson reds. I like the little kind of chartreuse that comes out as it changes.

Linda Salina

Evangelist In Washington. I love the red, orange and bright yellow—the bright colors. Washington is just incredibly beautiful in the summer and winters and especially the fall.

Water woes for all

by Last month, the Nevada Drought Forum asked to hear from agriculture about the impacts of the ongoing drought, what actions farmers and ranchers have taken to deal with those impacts, and what actions we’d like to see from the state. Before this month’s state drought summit, it’s important to correct some misconceptions. Agriculture, especially in California, has been in the media hot seat lately for the amount of

Tom Baker water it uses. Pick your enemy: almonds or alfalfa, milk, meat, or melons. Anything but drip irrigation is considered a waste of water. I was

Tom Baker owns heartened to see that in recent public opinion and operates Baker surveys, residents haven’t bought into these ranches, inc. in snake skewed perspectives, and support conservation to Valley with his two brothers. he is the president of the White Pine County Farm preserve local agriculture and the environment. First off, there are some simple facts we need to face. Everybody needs to eat, and cutting back Bureau. the agricultural industry means people will no longer be able to afford healthy food for their families. The water of the West has already been allocated, and in most cases over-allocated. Water systems are interconnected, and a diversion at one point has ripple effects. There simply is no new water, or easy answer, left. Some folks pit agriculture against the environment, but we depend on the health of the land to stay in business. Any destructive or unsustainable practices hurt not just the environment, but also the livelihoods and homes of family-owned, family-operated farms and ranches. Water cuts for agriculture, or the conservation measures we take, often happen quietly, outside of the public’s or media’s view. Two of our ranches saw the mountain streams that fed them dry up a couple of years back. When a basin is stressed in Nevada, the state can make cutbacks. Lovelock has a zero percent allocation right now. Smith and Mason valleys may see 50 percent cuts, and because of how Nevada’s water rights work, that means the newest operations will get nothing. Try to wrap your head around being told you have no water for a year.

Some have talked about reducing land in production. Grazing is a beneficial use on many Western lands that are too rugged for farming, controlling potential wildfire fuel. When we irrigate and grow feed, we’re sustaining for a couple of months a herd that can forage on nonirrigated land the rest of the year. That’s a smart investment, if you ask me. We’ve already seen cattle numbers drop by 30 percent during the drought, another conservation measure.

When it comes to growing alfalfa for export, more dairy farms and even ranchers need feed now, thanks to the drought. Keeping land in production in good years means that in difficult times, we can keep more of those supplies close to home for those who need them. You’ll never meet a farmer or rancher who thinks their water is more important than the basic needs of all people, urban or rural. But water and food are both necessary for life. We all need to work together and share the difficult choices in order to keep the West a bountiful and beautiful place for our children and grandchildren. Ω Linda Pedigo

Vendor Maroon, red and oranges. I don’t remember exactly where we were in Colorado. But it was absolutely beautiful.

Taylor Carter

Marketer I’d have to say near our home here in Reno. Burnt orange colors, red. It’s been over a year now.

Jeff Wilson

Vendor Red sugar maple in northeast Iowa. The colors are vibrant. Outside a pond that reflected, we saw different colors—the reds, the yellows, to some extent the greens.