Letters to the editor

Let Tahoe fill up rather than flooding Reno

The Lake Tahoe Dam has the ability to hold 73 inches of water to create the Lake Tahoe Reservoir. At noon on Dec. 30, the dam was holding 24 inches of water with a steady discharge of around 50 cubic feet per second into the Truckee River. The dam still had 49 inches of water storage capability.

Saturday morning the serious flooding began to occur downstream in Reno. Instead of closing the Lake Tahoe dam, the water master allowed the discharge rate to elevate to over 160 cfs with no attempt to regulate the water flow out of Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe can certainly use the extra water now and Reno's dependence on Tahoe water is never ending. All of those acre-feet of water that were wasted over the weekend and are not in storage at Lake Tahoe is just a waste of our most precious natural resource.

Back when the Truckee Carson Irrigation District controlled the Tahoe Dam, the lake level was consistently higher throughout the entire year and Reno still received their water "when they needed it," not during flooding conditions.

These numbers may not seem like much now, but think about last winter's record snow fall amounts. Last summer the water master allowed the Lake Tahoe water level to reach only 31 inches above the natural rim. For those of you with non-floating fixed height piers you were left about three feet short of being able to use your piers as designed.

We could certainly use better water management at Lake Tahoe.

Robert Buehler

Zephyr Cove



House was protected while they were away

I would like to thank all the people who helped in sandbagging our home during the recent flood. We were out of town and our neighbors, Mark Regan and the Division of Forestry really made sure to keep our home from getting flooded. They did a great job and we very much appreciated it!

Thanks for taking care of our home, even when we are gone.

Dan and Debi Timmons

Carson City



Don't lose historical architecture we have

I recently moved to Carson City from the historic Saratoga Springs area. (I'm talking about where the deciding battle of the Revolutionary War took place, not the new housing development south of Carson.)

Given the youth of the West there is very little architecture of historic significance, but what there is should be preserved. I am speaking of the First Presbyterian Church, here in Carson, slated for demolition. It is particularly meaningful, as it is one of two buildings that remain in Carson City, with ties to Mark Twain. The church, Twain lectured to raise money for its construction; the other, his brother Orion's house where he stayed.

The church says, even if they could afford to bring it out of disrepair, it still could not accommodate the congregation's needs.

I suggest that the property is very eligible for The National Register of Historic Places and should not be torn down.

With so many historic buildings to save back east, oh we lost some beauties to rash urban renewal, cities now focus on adaptive reuse to make preservation economically viable.

Utilize it for an office suite building. Small businesses with only one or two people can have open plan offices, a shared receptionist, copying, faxing, kitchen, storage space and more. This is one suggestion that has worked very well and been economically viable in many areas of the east.

With significant historical architecture around here as rare as a dinghy floating mid-Atlantic, don't sink the ship.

Holly B. Healy

Carson City



Building can be saved through other uses

In response to your editorial on saving the Presbyterian Church: perhaps a pipedream vision: How about a state/city partnership to buy the property and re-furbish through private funding similar to the V & T project?

Because of its strategic location on the historic blue line, the Chamber of Commerce could relocate there and have a historic store/coffee shop for visitors to borrow or buy historic pamphlets or books to read while enjoying some refreshments and a break from the Blue Line tour. The coffee shop could be leased out to local restaurants similar to the snack bars at the high school.

Now, all it takes is a very enthusiastic, skillful leader with lots of time on his/her hands to head a committee to accomplish all of this before the Presbyterian Church members go bankrupt! Well, it's a thought.

Barbara Caron

Carson City



Need is great for more youth activities here

My pen and paper were sitting on the table awaiting the few spare moments I required to draft this letter to the editor. As I took a few moments to read today's edition of "Your Opinion," I was relieved to read that others were concerned about the welfare of your youth and the lack of entertainment for them. I fully agree with the article on giving our youth a place to go.

The condition of our local movie theater is appalling! Where is the youth center and/or green belts and parks promised by local builders? We have enough casinos and golf courses. It is time to invest in your youth before it is too late!

Barbara Manna

Dayton



This war is different,so stop your bashing

Come on, if you are going to spit your putrid vile out upon your president then at least get your facts straight. Since columnist Kirk Caraway seems to suffer from loss of memory, which I have noticed is a predilection of all mush headed liberals, let me remind you of our presidents first speech after 9/11 he stated that we would not see any victories like we have in other wars, this because of the enemy we are confronting, who by the way are terrorists, not combatants representing another country, who hide behind women and children.

Again I say get real, stop parroting Pelosi, Reid and from what I perused from your column the left wing blog moveon.org. Not one sentence you have written seems to be an original thought of your own. It's the same old liberal bile re-run and re-written.

I was going to question your journalistic credentials but then I don't want to fall into the liberal trap of namecalling.

Just name one American citizen whose rights have been abrogated since the Patriot Act was passed.

As for the economy we are chugging along at a 4.5 percent rate and as the president stated 1.2 million jobs have been created since his tax cuts.

Now let's talk about the coal that's just lying around. Your eco nazi buddies have successfully put the brakes on that idea with their yowling about some so-called endangered species. And as far as the other alternative energy sources, they have proved that they cannot satisfy the increasing demand.

Our president served his time in the Air Guard like everyone else and also turned over all of his records unlike your hero who as of this date still hasn't turned over his records.

So in closing please stick to bashing Osama and stop bashing your president unless of course you can do it better.

Charles Kittredge

Carson City



War on terror? More like war on freedom

To the citizens of America:

Are we out of our (bleep) minds? To think that any one of us Americans could even consider giving any president such a totalitarian dictatorship-like power to absolutely obfuscate our First Amendment rights - after he has had the gall to do so illegally - is beyond me. No, it is not OK for Bush or anyone else to be given the power to authorize spying on Americans, all in the name of the sacrosanct War on Terror. More aptly, this perversion of our laws should come under the heading of the war on freedom. Give Bush the go-ahead on this issue and what else will he steal and then demand permission for?

Anyone who has watched "Law and Order," or gained any education about the law knows that precedents are the keys to unlocking forbidden legal doors. And when it comes to the Constitution, there is a reason why an invasion of privacy is a forbidden door. Open it and the next step will be absolutely no ownership of guns, no freedom of speech, no rights to ownership of anything, no habeas corpus, no rights to fair trials or attorneys and no representation in the government process. Usurpers of the political system and basic inalienable rights like Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin and Mao Tse Tung will have an easy shoo-in. Incidents such as Tianenmen Square and the Holocaust will not be so far removed from our portals and we will not be able to say or do anything against it or - bang!

Rome was one of the most successful empires in the world, yet it "politicked" and taxed itself right out of existence. Germany was not always a historical morass of political chaos and tyranny, but its citizens who did have a voice ignored its regression to genocide and the removal of freedoms we also take for granted (radio, speech, elections). Anybody else remember why WW II happened?

Even Lenin was astute enough to recognize that America's downfall would not be violent or obvious like that of Russia. He summed up his once well-known observation by saying that America would one day drop like a ripe fruit into the hands of her enemies through the inner degradation of her laws and freedoms.

If any of us have even one truly patriotic fiber left in our minds, we will be incenses - no, outraged - at the wool Bush is trying so desperately to pull over everyone's eyes to cover his backside; rebuke him for assuming America is full of nothing but fools and tell him to stick his cute little idea of eradicating our rights - the rights that we deserve, demand, already possess and refuse to rescind - back in the mudhole where he found it.

And let him pray really hard that we don't impeach his Texas drawl right out of the cushy, mindless and anti-American state he is in.

M. MCNITT

Carson City



Abramoff scandal is tainting both sides

The Nevada Appeal's left-wing propaganda is, once again, proudly on display in the Jan. 4 edition. This time they are attempting, through dishonest journalism, that the Abramoff political corruption scandal is a Republican-only affair.

They did this by running an article from The Washington Post that only mentions Republicans Robert Ney and Tom DeLay as having received any money from Abramoff. There is not a single mention of any Democrats in the article. Likewise the cartoon appearing on the Opinion page shows a bird labeled "ABRAMOFF" sitting on a tree branch sheepishly grinning after dumping a load on the shoulder of an elephant labeled "GOP." Again not a Democrat in sight.

If the Nevada Appeal were an HONEST provider of the news, and not just a mouth piece for the Democratic extreme left, they would have listed the names of some of the Democrats that, according to other news outlets, have also taken money from Abramoff On the Democrat list we would have found Patrick Kennedy who got close to 150 grand and, of yes, good old Harry Reid who got close to 50 grand.

But once again the Nevada Appeal has shown that, in their view of the world, honest journalism must always take a back seat to political propaganda is news reporting.

Paul Vechil

Gardnerville



Thanks for printing Reagan's column

Thank you! Thank you for Michael Reagan's column Jan. 1. It seems to me that until a few months ago you ran two or three noted conservatives' columns a week. I guess opinions that disagree with Democrat politicians and tree huggers became too much for you to bear. Regardless, please print more conservative opinions and at least try and be fair.

Steve Coleson

Minden



Harry Reid, it takesone to know one

Harry Reid says "I've done nothing wrong." Harry Reid is keeping the tainted money. Harry Reid says "This is the most corrupt Congress in history." I've been taught that the whole equals the sum of it's parts.

Look in the mirror, Harry. You are a big part of this mess!

Larry Dobson

Carson City



Thanks for support for Hand in Hand event

On behalf of everyone in the Reds Old 395 Grill organization, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the people of our community and to the 30 non-profit organizations that participated in the 2005 Hand in Hand community support campaign.

Throughout the month of November, Reds asked diners to pick a single non-profit organization from a list of 30 participating organizations to which Reds would donate a percentage of that table's total food bill. At the end of the campaign, Hand in Hand donations totaled in excess of $15,000.

I want to thank each and every one of the non-profits that participated in this campaign. These organizations work tirelessly on their cause, improving the quality of life for our entire community. Most of these organizations are partly or entirely run by volunteers, and they deserve to be recognized. We hope that their efforts during the coming year continue to raise awareness of their group's hard work and to engender a well-deserved, growing wave of support from the community.

We would also like to thank our media partners who helped spread the word of our event, ensuring its success. The superb broadcast promotion by Reno Tahoe Radio Group and local stations 100.1 The X, Smooth Jazz 92.1, 100.9 KRZQ and 92.9 the Bandit, the far-reaching efforts by our hometown newspaper, the Nevada Appeal, and the behind-the-scenes work of the professionals at MacWest Marketing have all made the 2005 Hand in Hand community support campaign a great success.

On behalf of all of us at Reds Old 395 Grill, I want to thank everyone for their efforts and the work that these fine organizations put in to make the 2005 Hand in Hand campaign such a great success. You have truly made our community a better place to live.

Reds Old 395 Grill is delighted to call America's greatest community, our home!

Jack Sterling

Carson City