Letters

Me and Juko

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

There were a couple things I wanted to do with my pseudo-sabbatical. For one, I wanted to travel. Another thing I wanted to do while my time is mostly my own was to get a puppy that I could train to travel. A year to work with a puppy is about right to have a good dog for its lifetime.

Juko came home on Saturday. I had to drive down to McCloud, California, to get him. Four hours driving in the rain, ice and snow, so even though I said I wasn’t going to take him unless we clicked, it would have been hard to turn around. But we clicked.

He’s a purebred Beauceron, but since only one testicle descended, he’s only “pet quality.” Believe me, he wouldn’t have been affordable for me if it weren’t for the flaw. Since puppies’ personalities are unknowable, you really only get three things from a breeder puppy, as opposed to the local animal shelter: You get likely personality traits. You get likely looks. You likely get a clean slate. I’ve rescued many shelter dogs. Alice, my dog who died a few months ago after 14 or 15 years in my home, was a shelter dog. My girlfriend’s dog is a shelter dog. But those shelter dogs always carry their baggage. I didn’t want a dog with baggage.

So far, the only thing I know about him is he’s thoughtful and mannerly. He wouldn’t go to the bathroom outside until I took him out on the leash and gave him “permission.” He’s already housebroken, so he must have held it for hours even though the dog door was there. He’d even go outside and look at the grass. He sleeps with his eyes open, which is kind of cool for a watchdog. I was just watching his eyes move around in his sleep.

He’s skeptical of everything. I was a little worried that he was going to bolt every time there was a loud noise, but he’s already mostly gotten over that, but if there’s a loud noise—for example, there was somebody cutting down a tree on our walk today—he will stop and take a long look. I can almost see the calculations going on in his head. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

Net metering reaction

Re “Fighting the future” (cover story, Jan. 21):

Thanks for the great coverage of the attack on roof-top solar in Nevada. The observation of bait-andswitch is so true. I made a sizable investment in solar with the assurance we were grandfathered into the NEM1 rateclass. It was a financial decision based on fixing my costs of power over the next 20 years along with the right environmental considerations. Now my electric bill will increase 80 percent over the next 20 years with our combined solar and NV Energy costs.

We are getting screwed. The Public Utilities Commission and Gov. Sandoval are to be blamed. A new rateclass was formed against overwhelming public opinion and now we are considered a wholesale supplier of power. The PUC is appointed by Sandoval and can be removed as well. They are not following their posted duties, which state establishing “just and fair rates.” This is off of their own website.

Sandoval is not taking any responsibility. We need to remove the PUC commissioners. They are acting in the interests of NV Energy and the corporate/monopoly and stealing from the consumer. This is one of the most egregious rulings that has come along. With Tesla, Faraday Motors etc., Nevada has been promoting itself as a green state. No more. SolarCity has left along with 600 jobs. There will be many more to follow.

Robert Field Reno

Re “Fighting the future” (cover story, Jan. 21):

Twenty years ago I read an article about solar plants in California and the environmental hazards to wildlife and the environment. The author advocated using spaces within cities to create solar collectors such as roof tops and parking lots. I was very dubious of these ideas. I have seen the parking structures at various Washoe County schools and think this is an idea whose time has come. Every home, building, parking lot, etc., across the Western states should have these. The issue is not the cost or whether it is viable. The issue is who controls it.

As in marijuana cultivation, it is not the moral issue that legislators oppose, but who owns the production and distribution, hence the failure of the Ohio initiative. Regarding solar production, it is not whether it is economically viable but who controls it. If the utilities were smart and forward-thinking they would come up with a program where they owned the panels that were installed and the energy that was produced and it would be sold to us just like the petroleum and coal generated energy is now. Instead they will fight change until it is they who are legislated out of business. Go Bernie!

Svend Hellested Sun Valley

Re “Fighting the future” (cover story, Jan. 21):

This is an outrage. NV Energy thinks it can monopolize the energy department by charging solar owners more money to use their grid that the solar panels feed excess energy to. Comes down to good old fashioned “who owns the PUC,” which should now be called the FUC.

President Obama urges for cleaner environment and use of natural resource. Last time I checked, nobody owns the sun! I am permanently disabled and wanted to do the right thing, and I am now being charged a fee for using the sun. BS. NV Energy better do the right thing or there will be plenty of backlash. ... I will not pay more for using the sun. Schools, business—do they also pay more or is it the homeowners only? Other states have embraced solar companies, especially SolarCity who did my solar panels. Don’t be fooled. NV Energy isn’t losing millions. They get partial money from me already on top of the paneling. … I have a family of four just moved in our home two years ago and now NV energy is threatening me with higher rates, so basically NV Energy operates like the mob! Why do you think PUC only took 30 minutes to decide to vote no to stop the increase?

Randy Satz Sparks

Unfair

Quit hating immigrants! Immigrants are unfairly blamed for the world’s problems. Labor unions should make more of an effort to reach out to immigrants. Every time immigrants are exploited and exposed to toxic chemicals in the workplace, workplace standards slide downhill because many of the exploited are afraid to raise their voices.

Earl Ammerman IV Reno

Stepping up

Re “Overstepping” (editorial, Jan. 21):

Thank you very much for this much-needed story. The RGJ has been much too critical of the Washoe School Board, and I see the negativism reflected throughout the community. I especially like and agree with your last sentence. If the RGJ editors had read all of the interviews with the boardmembers from the Attorney General’s office, perhaps they would have had a different opinion. After reading all of those interviews, I cannot fathom why Cortez-Masto came up with her decision to fine the Board. Especially, since Richard Bryan had put on the AG’s books that no public board should be held responsible for following their attorney’s advice. And I certainly cannot understand Laxalt’s decision, either.

Glenda Price Reno

Cultural exchange

Re “So long, friends” (Editor’s note, Jan. 21):

Reno was missing some things culturally over Sacramento? OMG! What have things come to, Brian? Garth T. Elliott Sun Valley

Erik Holland

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