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Preservationists don't see the whole picture
I am a member of First Presbyterian and attended the meeting on Jan. 12 with the Historic Resources Commission.
Much was said at that meeting, pro and con, as to our request for demolition of our 142-year-old church.
First, I would like to point out that everything of historical value or sentiment will be saved before demolition. This includes our lovely stained glass windows.
Second, it has been a heart-wrenching decision to ask for a demolition permit, but our church elders find it monetarily impossible for our membership to consider a restoration project that could possibly cost double the amount of building a new church from the ground up.
Third, and I think this is a very important point, we plan to have the new building look as much as possible like the building as it now exists.
The opposition to our demolition request has some "interesting" aspects.
1. Everyone from the audience that spoke against the demolition was not a member of our church or has any current affiliation with the church.
2. The board member that brought up a number of grants or web sites that we could use to possibly procure funds for restoration instead of demolition, quoted a couple of Presbyterian Churches that had applied for and were granted money. Unfortunately, the moneys she quoted were in the $100,000 area - not the couple of million extra that will possibly be needed to do the project as the Historic Commission would like. Quite frankly, our membership cannot support or finance more than the approximate $2 million our church has committed to take on as a debt.
3. It seemed to me that it mattered not, for some on the Historic Commission Board, that the church remains a church. I had the impression that they could care less if it was kept as the first church built in Carson. If we cannot raise the money to restore the church to suit them, then the church should be sold to anyone - whether it is used as an office building, a bed and breakfast or a pizza eatery! Where is the historic "value" in it being anything other than the first church built in Carson City? Their logic escapes me. I can understand an historic home being used for office space, an Italian restaurant or a physician's office, but not a church.
In all fairness, I do appreciate suggestions the commissioners gave as to options or venues we should/could explore. The church desperately needs to at least double our seating capacity. This cannot be done by building on the existing, crumbling, rubble base.
I want to thank Walter Sullivan, who helped keep everyone on an even keel while trying to find common ground for all sides, if there is one.
Kaye Keeton
Carson City
Carson City's history continues to disappear
The Destruction of Carson City - An Incomplete List:
Virginia and Truckee Roundhouse - empty lot and fast food dives
Arlington Hotel - parking lot for the Nugget
Warren Engine No.1 Firehouse - parking lot
Old Gray School (high school, elementary) - soulless modern building immodest in scale and location
Ship's Bar - bland commercial frontage
Orphan's Home - lawn
The Chicken House - soulless modern building incompatible in scale and location
Various vacant lots and dilapidated period houses -apartment houses and other modalities inappropriate to the historical character of the neighborhood.
The entire old town section of Carson City is at permanent risk of destruction from both developmental pressure and natural disaster; the willful removal of an historic building such as the Presbyterian Church without a united community effort in search of a solution would be a stain upon the ongoing preservation efforts already in place.
The area in which the church is located, one of the most historically significant sections of old town, is a district replete with historic homes and public buildings; the First Presbyterian Church is an integral part of that District and its removal would lessen the whole.
It is to be hoped that a coalition of stakeholders could come together and resolve the issues in a manner that preserves the building and assuages the pressures faced by the congregation.
Sam Broyles
San Francisco
Dog rescuer deserves support of residents
This letter concerns the recent citation of Kathy Givens for having too many dogs (there were six). What is wrong with society when a person who spends all of their time and money rescuing, fostering and placing dogs who would have otherwise been killed, is fined $500 and told to shut down?
I would understand if Mrs. Givens was running a dirty facility with dogs barking all hours of the day and creating a nuisance, but this is not the case. Anyone can visit her home any time and find a clean, quiet environment. I challenge anyone to drive on Clapham Lane and figure out which home is hers because of the numbers of dogs, or the sound of barking.
On Monday, I encourage everyone who believes in the rights of an individual to try to make the world a better place for abandoned dogs, to come to the Minden Justice Court at 8:30 am. The building is located on Highway 395 just past the Carson Valley Inn on the left. I am ashamed that a person like Kathy Givens is being prosecuted for being a friend to dogs.
Please come support her.
Cynthia Kennedy
Virginia City
Solution exists for Presbyterian Church
There is a simple solution to the dilemma facing the Presbyterian Church. Sell their property in the Historic District to a smaller church and the sanctuary to a group who can renovate it.
With the money from the sales, they can buy a few acres and build a new church. That is what the Catholic church did when faced with the same problem.
Patricia Moran Barrett
Carson City
Don't let wild horses become a memory
Having the wild horse on our nation's quarters is really neat! How many people realize that this wonderful "Spirit of the West," this animal that helped settle the West, this highly developed social animal that tourists and locals alike want to see roaming in Nevada, is on the way to extinction.
The wild horse roundups on our federal lands continue, last week in the Monte Cristo area, next in the Delamar, Applewhite and Clover mountains. This program costs the U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars each year to round up and hold and feed the horses in government holding pens such as the one in Palomino Valley. Some get adopted, most are brought by people that keep them for a while and then sell them to the three Belgium/France-owned slaughter houses, one in DeKalb, Ill., and the other two in Texas where they are killed and the meat sold in expensive European and Asian restaurants.
Huge roundups in Nevada are being conducted now. Some mares are released but are injected with PZP to inhibit their reproduction. We have seen the wholesale elimination of the wild horses and burros from their rightful legal herd areas in most of the legal herd areas throughout the West. States like Utah and Idaho, California and Montana that used to have modest viable herds now have practically none at all.
As the power that lobbyists in Congress is realized, maybe the excuses given for rounding up the horses will be questioned more by citizens, excuses such as: the horses are overpopulated, the horses ruin the range, the areas that have had fires need time to reportage, the horses are starving, etc. However, the real truth is that cattle are replacing the horses in the herd-management areas. Most libraries have an excellent book called "Welfare Ranching," that can further explain how our federal lands are being used.
Protection for the horses was taken away in the fall of 2004 when Conrad Burns from Montana slipped verbiage into the budget bill that President Bush signed into law. Recently Congress voted to end horse slaughter for part of the fiscal year starting Feb. 1, however, the USDA recently informed members of Congress that it is seriously considering creating a new horse inspection scheme to circumvent the new federal law, which prohibits USDA from paying employees to inspect horses destined for slaughter for human food. This announcement comes as a result of a petition for emergency rulemaking filed by three European-owned slaughterhouses that would allow the companies to continue butchering tens of thousands of horses for foreign menus.
While Congress has voted to end horse slaughter for a short time, passage of H.R. 503 and S. 1915, would give a permanent ban on horse slaughter for food. But the bottom line is that the horse roundups should stop because if they don't then all we will have left of the wild horses will be pictures, statues and horse quarters.
Eileen Cohen
Minden
Evaluation by school board was insufficient
I was at the contentious December Carson City School Board meeting. I enjoy seeing democracy in action as much as anyone. Messy as it is. It was unfortunate all the initial speakers supporting the teacher/Rhodes scholar who confronted the district on their failure to teach history in accordance with the standards were so vitriolic. I actually felt defensive for Superintendent Mary Pierczynski. Personal attacks are never acceptable.
Having said that, democracy was in short supply from all members of the board that night, except Sheila Ward. I came to the meeting learn about, and observe, a public evaluation of a school superintendent. The board provided no copies of the evaluation for the public. They had not followed district policy regarding the conduct of the evaluation, which was at least weakly acknowledged by Ms. Ward.
Finally, there was far too much inordinate praise for anyone to comment on the fact that NOT one single public school in Carson City has provided the educational services necessary to assure that the students in the district made adequate yearly progress. That's documented fact.
The board went on at length about how wonderful the relationship is between the superintendent and the teachers union. What about the students? As a parent, I am far too familiar with this practice. Its about workplace environments, not about kids. It is not so hard to believe in the face of the test scores that the teacher was simply speaking truth to power.
Hey everyone! Education: Its about the kids! Shouldn't the superintendent do something about that?
Deidre Hammon
Reno
Barriers do create highway safety hazard
I read the letter from April Patterson about the dangerous situation existing on Highway 50 east of Dayton. I could not agree with her more. My husband and I had been using Segale Road daily to go back and forth before the construction project began.
Then the highway crew put up the cement barriers and the rubber barrels. They are so high and so close to the highway as to prevent seeing oncoming traffic in either direction. My husband called NDOT to state his concern about this dangerous situation. He was told to stay well back, where presumably one does have a view, and then pull out. Of course, with vehicles coming at you from both directions at 65 mph., staying back and then attempting to race across is a recipe for disaster.
So now we turn from the highway onto Segale, but use either Cardelli or River roads to get back onto the highway. We would rather take the extra minutes than risk life and limb of everybody using that highway.
Terry Aldridge
Dayton
History is made by people, not buildings
In 1864, Carson City's Presbyterians were in need of a suitable place to worship. Since one of those people was his brother, Mark Twain kicked in $200 toward the cost of a church building. 141 years later, the Presbyterians are still meeting on the same site, but are again in need of a suitable place to worship (they've been meeting in a gymnasium for the past four years). Yet, the Historical Commission's response to this current need has been very different than Mark Twain's. They have told the church to go somewhere else.
It seems the Historical Commission has lost sight of what history really is. History is not made by buildings, but by the things that go on inside those buildings. For almost six generations, Presbyterians have been making history at the corner of Nevada and Musser streets. Yet, the historians have no hesitation in asking the history-makers to move on.
I can't help but feel like we are about a hundred years late in this discussion about saving the old church. In the 1890s they demolished more than half of one of the building's walls for an expansion. In the 1940s, they did the same with another wall. This means that about half of the original building was demolished more than 50 years ago.
If someone tells you they are either for or against saving the crumbling walls of the First Presbyterian Church, I encourage you to ask them two questions. First, have you used that building regularly in the recent past? Second, are you willing to write a check, equal to half your monthly earnings, in order for the building to be saved or taken down, as you prefer? A person who answers "no" to either question lacks credibility.
Rebecca Ossa and other historical preservationists have known for at least five years of the building's precarious situation, yet they have done nothing to preserve the precious two walls that remain. Saying that something is worth saving is one thing. Doing something about it is quite another.
Todd Butterworth
Carson City
Many reasons not to build on Buzzy's Ranch
We wish to voice our opposition to any master plan amendment that allows the wetlands and floodplains described in the Master Plan Amendments relating to Buzzy's Ranch to reflect anything other than Conservation Reserve.
We certainly understand the desire of the Jimmie Pete Jarrard Children's Trust and the Robert Lorin Anderson Trust to seek changes that would allow them to sell this property. The developers that can afford to buy it would ultimately seek zoning changes to turn this wetland into a housing development. We've seen this over, and over. Buy it and build. Allowing any developer to build on this land is simply ludicrous. In light of our knowledge of the propensity for flooding on these lands, this is unethical, if not somewhat criminal.
This property may be one of the last relatively undisturbed reserves left in the Carson City valley. It is a tremendous resource for wildlife and biodiversity that should rightfully be protected. Wild horses, deer, birds of both local and migratory type rely on those lands and its water. Helicopters have been known to draw from these waters to help fight fires. And, as we have seen two times in the last 10 years, this land suffers from serious flooding issues.
Would we levee the Carson River to prevent flooding, and risk a breech causing more catastrophic damage than a slow, gradual flooding? Or do we raise the land, significantly altering its character, all for the sake of tax revenue and know that every 100 years, even that won't be enough?
It was readily shown with the acquisition of the Prison Hill property that something can be done to protect natural lands. This property has the potential to be a regional facility equal to or surpassing Rancho San Rafael in Reno. This facility would remain in its natural state and is designed to absorb the ravages of nature and thrive. It will not become a local headline and insurance headache. It will not become a health and safety hazard threatening citizens and taxing resources when the inevitable flooding occurs.
We as a citizenry are not opposed to planned, responsible growth. While the cry "Not in my back yard" is loud in this community, such is not the case here. It is simply about common sense and jurisprudence. To allow any type of designation other than as a public reserve, to even grant a chance of a residential development in these lands is not responsible.
Let the people of Carson City purchase these lands and preserve this space. The family will benefit, as they hold prime property that must be slowly draining their resources through tax payments. The future of Carson City benefits too.
Steve Zuelke and Donna Downs
Carson City
Douglas needs to change animal laws
Reading about the plight of noted rescuer Kathy Givens, I can only see that Douglas County will need to change their archaic laws to fit this century. Either they issue a no fee special use permit or adapt the dog limit and licensing requirements to adapt to the needs of citizens who are in rescue.
The citation to Givens affects more than would appear. I had just talked to her about help in rehoming our old-Yeller-looking shepherd mix whose young owner passed from cancer as her home screening process and placement procedures reach more good homes than we can out in Lyon County.
I hope Douglas County realizes the mistake they are close to making and fixes the problem.
Tom Blomquist
Silver Springs
Thanks for returning forgotten handbag
I want to thank the gentleman who turned in my bag at Wal-Mart on New Year's Eve. After I unloaded my purchases, I carelessly left my handbag in the shopping cart. It was about 15 minutes later when I made my next stop that I realized I didn't have my bag.
I hurried back to Wal-Mart, checked the cart stand where I had left the cart, but my bag wasn't there. With a sinking feeling, I went into the store to the Customer Service desk and was told a man had seen the bag and brought it in. I am still overwhelmed with gratitude to this stranger.
Like so many women, I carry a lot of my life in my handbag. I hope the man who turned in my bag reads this and will know what his action meant to me.
Joan C. Eisner
Carson City
Givens does a service
Too bad one crabby neighbor has to create such a terrible scenario. Kathy Givens has done such good things for dogs which would have otherwise been destroyed.
Some dogs in heartbreaking situations have had a second chance because of Kathy. They are brought back to health, then found loving homes by her. The criminal here is the complaining neighbor.
Gwen Marsh
Gardnerville
Without new program, some would go without
What your article on the debacle of Medicare Part D overlooked are the large number of elderly and needy who will be receiving otherwise unaffordable medicine. Without this new program those individuals would have to suffer without their medicine. That's real pain and suffering, not the "I feel your pain" kind.
And yes, there are startup problems going into this but that really is to be expected. Consider the magnitude of the undertaking ... organizing every state government in the United States and the territories (especially their Medicaid divisions), hundreds of thousands of pharmacies and secondary insurance companies, and the Medicare recipients themselves who are often at a place in their lives when communicating with them is very difficult. Of course this is a rough start, but consider the wonder of it all when the sick are able to have the medicine they need.
You mention the cost to the taxpayers, and it is true that there will be huge costs involved, but consider this an investment in your own future. The day will come when you'll be the one needing this medication and it's cost will be supplemented by that era's working population for you.
John Whaley
Carson City
I am a member of First Presbyterian and attended the meeting on Jan. 12 with the Historic Resources Commission.
Much was said at that meeting, pro and con, as to our request for demolition of our 142-year-old church.
First, I would like to point out that everything of historical value or sentiment will be saved before demolition. This includes our lovely stained glass windows.
Second, it has been a heart-wrenching decision to ask for a demolition permit, but our church elders find it monetarily impossible for our membership to consider a restoration project that could possibly cost double the amount of building a new church from the ground up.
Third, and I think this is a very important point, we plan to have the new building look as much as possible like the building as it now exists.
The opposition to our demolition request has some "interesting" aspects.
1. Everyone from the audience that spoke against the demolition was not a member of our church or has any current affiliation with the church.
2. The board member that brought up a number of grants or web sites that we could use to possibly procure funds for restoration instead of demolition, quoted a couple of Presbyterian Churches that had applied for and were granted money. Unfortunately, the moneys she quoted were in the $100,000 area - not the couple of million extra that will possibly be needed to do the project as the Historic Commission would like. Quite frankly, our membership cannot support or finance more than the approximate $2 million our church has committed to take on as a debt.
3. It seemed to me that it mattered not, for some on the Historic Commission Board, that the church remains a church. I had the impression that they could care less if it was kept as the first church built in Carson. If we cannot raise the money to restore the church to suit them, then the church should be sold to anyone - whether it is used as an office building, a bed and breakfast or a pizza eatery! Where is the historic "value" in it being anything other than the first church built in Carson City? Their logic escapes me. I can understand an historic home being used for office space, an Italian restaurant or a physician's office, but not a church.
In all fairness, I do appreciate suggestions the commissioners gave as to options or venues we should/could explore. The church desperately needs to at least double our seating capacity. This cannot be done by building on the existing, crumbling, rubble base.
I want to thank Walter Sullivan, who helped keep everyone on an even keel while trying to find common ground for all sides, if there is one.
Kaye Keeton
Carson City
Carson City's history continues to disappear
The Destruction of Carson City - An Incomplete List:
Virginia and Truckee Roundhouse - empty lot and fast food dives
Arlington Hotel - parking lot for the Nugget
Warren Engine No.1 Firehouse - parking lot
Old Gray School (high school, elementary) - soulless modern building immodest in scale and location
Ship's Bar - bland commercial frontage
Orphan's Home - lawn
The Chicken House - soulless modern building incompatible in scale and location
Various vacant lots and dilapidated period houses -apartment houses and other modalities inappropriate to the historical character of the neighborhood.
The entire old town section of Carson City is at permanent risk of destruction from both developmental pressure and natural disaster; the willful removal of an historic building such as the Presbyterian Church without a united community effort in search of a solution would be a stain upon the ongoing preservation efforts already in place.
The area in which the church is located, one of the most historically significant sections of old town, is a district replete with historic homes and public buildings; the First Presbyterian Church is an integral part of that District and its removal would lessen the whole.
It is to be hoped that a coalition of stakeholders could come together and resolve the issues in a manner that preserves the building and assuages the pressures faced by the congregation.
Sam Broyles
San Francisco
Dog rescuer deserves support of residents
This letter concerns the recent citation of Kathy Givens for having too many dogs (there were six). What is wrong with society when a person who spends all of their time and money rescuing, fostering and placing dogs who would have otherwise been killed, is fined $500 and told to shut down?
I would understand if Mrs. Givens was running a dirty facility with dogs barking all hours of the day and creating a nuisance, but this is not the case. Anyone can visit her home any time and find a clean, quiet environment. I challenge anyone to drive on Clapham Lane and figure out which home is hers because of the numbers of dogs, or the sound of barking.
On Monday, I encourage everyone who believes in the rights of an individual to try to make the world a better place for abandoned dogs, to come to the Minden Justice Court at 8:30 am. The building is located on Highway 395 just past the Carson Valley Inn on the left. I am ashamed that a person like Kathy Givens is being prosecuted for being a friend to dogs.
Please come support her.
Cynthia Kennedy
Virginia City
Solution exists for Presbyterian Church
There is a simple solution to the dilemma facing the Presbyterian Church. Sell their property in the Historic District to a smaller church and the sanctuary to a group who can renovate it.
With the money from the sales, they can buy a few acres and build a new church. That is what the Catholic church did when faced with the same problem.
Patricia Moran Barrett
Carson City
Don't let wild horses become a memory
Having the wild horse on our nation's quarters is really neat! How many people realize that this wonderful "Spirit of the West," this animal that helped settle the West, this highly developed social animal that tourists and locals alike want to see roaming in Nevada, is on the way to extinction.
The wild horse roundups on our federal lands continue, last week in the Monte Cristo area, next in the Delamar, Applewhite and Clover mountains. This program costs the U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars each year to round up and hold and feed the horses in government holding pens such as the one in Palomino Valley. Some get adopted, most are brought by people that keep them for a while and then sell them to the three Belgium/France-owned slaughter houses, one in DeKalb, Ill., and the other two in Texas where they are killed and the meat sold in expensive European and Asian restaurants.
Huge roundups in Nevada are being conducted now. Some mares are released but are injected with PZP to inhibit their reproduction. We have seen the wholesale elimination of the wild horses and burros from their rightful legal herd areas in most of the legal herd areas throughout the West. States like Utah and Idaho, California and Montana that used to have modest viable herds now have practically none at all.
As the power that lobbyists in Congress is realized, maybe the excuses given for rounding up the horses will be questioned more by citizens, excuses such as: the horses are overpopulated, the horses ruin the range, the areas that have had fires need time to reportage, the horses are starving, etc. However, the real truth is that cattle are replacing the horses in the herd-management areas. Most libraries have an excellent book called "Welfare Ranching," that can further explain how our federal lands are being used.
Protection for the horses was taken away in the fall of 2004 when Conrad Burns from Montana slipped verbiage into the budget bill that President Bush signed into law. Recently Congress voted to end horse slaughter for part of the fiscal year starting Feb. 1, however, the USDA recently informed members of Congress that it is seriously considering creating a new horse inspection scheme to circumvent the new federal law, which prohibits USDA from paying employees to inspect horses destined for slaughter for human food. This announcement comes as a result of a petition for emergency rulemaking filed by three European-owned slaughterhouses that would allow the companies to continue butchering tens of thousands of horses for foreign menus.
While Congress has voted to end horse slaughter for a short time, passage of H.R. 503 and S. 1915, would give a permanent ban on horse slaughter for food. But the bottom line is that the horse roundups should stop because if they don't then all we will have left of the wild horses will be pictures, statues and horse quarters.
Eileen Cohen
Minden
Evaluation by school board was insufficient
I was at the contentious December Carson City School Board meeting. I enjoy seeing democracy in action as much as anyone. Messy as it is. It was unfortunate all the initial speakers supporting the teacher/Rhodes scholar who confronted the district on their failure to teach history in accordance with the standards were so vitriolic. I actually felt defensive for Superintendent Mary Pierczynski. Personal attacks are never acceptable.
Having said that, democracy was in short supply from all members of the board that night, except Sheila Ward. I came to the meeting learn about, and observe, a public evaluation of a school superintendent. The board provided no copies of the evaluation for the public. They had not followed district policy regarding the conduct of the evaluation, which was at least weakly acknowledged by Ms. Ward.
Finally, there was far too much inordinate praise for anyone to comment on the fact that NOT one single public school in Carson City has provided the educational services necessary to assure that the students in the district made adequate yearly progress. That's documented fact.
The board went on at length about how wonderful the relationship is between the superintendent and the teachers union. What about the students? As a parent, I am far too familiar with this practice. Its about workplace environments, not about kids. It is not so hard to believe in the face of the test scores that the teacher was simply speaking truth to power.
Hey everyone! Education: Its about the kids! Shouldn't the superintendent do something about that?
Deidre Hammon
Reno
Barriers do create highway safety hazard
I read the letter from April Patterson about the dangerous situation existing on Highway 50 east of Dayton. I could not agree with her more. My husband and I had been using Segale Road daily to go back and forth before the construction project began.
Then the highway crew put up the cement barriers and the rubber barrels. They are so high and so close to the highway as to prevent seeing oncoming traffic in either direction. My husband called NDOT to state his concern about this dangerous situation. He was told to stay well back, where presumably one does have a view, and then pull out. Of course, with vehicles coming at you from both directions at 65 mph., staying back and then attempting to race across is a recipe for disaster.
So now we turn from the highway onto Segale, but use either Cardelli or River roads to get back onto the highway. We would rather take the extra minutes than risk life and limb of everybody using that highway.
Terry Aldridge
Dayton
History is made by people, not buildings
In 1864, Carson City's Presbyterians were in need of a suitable place to worship. Since one of those people was his brother, Mark Twain kicked in $200 toward the cost of a church building. 141 years later, the Presbyterians are still meeting on the same site, but are again in need of a suitable place to worship (they've been meeting in a gymnasium for the past four years). Yet, the Historical Commission's response to this current need has been very different than Mark Twain's. They have told the church to go somewhere else.
It seems the Historical Commission has lost sight of what history really is. History is not made by buildings, but by the things that go on inside those buildings. For almost six generations, Presbyterians have been making history at the corner of Nevada and Musser streets. Yet, the historians have no hesitation in asking the history-makers to move on.
I can't help but feel like we are about a hundred years late in this discussion about saving the old church. In the 1890s they demolished more than half of one of the building's walls for an expansion. In the 1940s, they did the same with another wall. This means that about half of the original building was demolished more than 50 years ago.
If someone tells you they are either for or against saving the crumbling walls of the First Presbyterian Church, I encourage you to ask them two questions. First, have you used that building regularly in the recent past? Second, are you willing to write a check, equal to half your monthly earnings, in order for the building to be saved or taken down, as you prefer? A person who answers "no" to either question lacks credibility.
Rebecca Ossa and other historical preservationists have known for at least five years of the building's precarious situation, yet they have done nothing to preserve the precious two walls that remain. Saying that something is worth saving is one thing. Doing something about it is quite another.
Todd Butterworth
Carson City
Many reasons not to build on Buzzy's Ranch
We wish to voice our opposition to any master plan amendment that allows the wetlands and floodplains described in the Master Plan Amendments relating to Buzzy's Ranch to reflect anything other than Conservation Reserve.
We certainly understand the desire of the Jimmie Pete Jarrard Children's Trust and the Robert Lorin Anderson Trust to seek changes that would allow them to sell this property. The developers that can afford to buy it would ultimately seek zoning changes to turn this wetland into a housing development. We've seen this over, and over. Buy it and build. Allowing any developer to build on this land is simply ludicrous. In light of our knowledge of the propensity for flooding on these lands, this is unethical, if not somewhat criminal.
This property may be one of the last relatively undisturbed reserves left in the Carson City valley. It is a tremendous resource for wildlife and biodiversity that should rightfully be protected. Wild horses, deer, birds of both local and migratory type rely on those lands and its water. Helicopters have been known to draw from these waters to help fight fires. And, as we have seen two times in the last 10 years, this land suffers from serious flooding issues.
Would we levee the Carson River to prevent flooding, and risk a breech causing more catastrophic damage than a slow, gradual flooding? Or do we raise the land, significantly altering its character, all for the sake of tax revenue and know that every 100 years, even that won't be enough?
It was readily shown with the acquisition of the Prison Hill property that something can be done to protect natural lands. This property has the potential to be a regional facility equal to or surpassing Rancho San Rafael in Reno. This facility would remain in its natural state and is designed to absorb the ravages of nature and thrive. It will not become a local headline and insurance headache. It will not become a health and safety hazard threatening citizens and taxing resources when the inevitable flooding occurs.
We as a citizenry are not opposed to planned, responsible growth. While the cry "Not in my back yard" is loud in this community, such is not the case here. It is simply about common sense and jurisprudence. To allow any type of designation other than as a public reserve, to even grant a chance of a residential development in these lands is not responsible.
Let the people of Carson City purchase these lands and preserve this space. The family will benefit, as they hold prime property that must be slowly draining their resources through tax payments. The future of Carson City benefits too.
Steve Zuelke and Donna Downs
Carson City
Douglas needs to change animal laws
Reading about the plight of noted rescuer Kathy Givens, I can only see that Douglas County will need to change their archaic laws to fit this century. Either they issue a no fee special use permit or adapt the dog limit and licensing requirements to adapt to the needs of citizens who are in rescue.
The citation to Givens affects more than would appear. I had just talked to her about help in rehoming our old-Yeller-looking shepherd mix whose young owner passed from cancer as her home screening process and placement procedures reach more good homes than we can out in Lyon County.
I hope Douglas County realizes the mistake they are close to making and fixes the problem.
Tom Blomquist
Silver Springs
Thanks for returning forgotten handbag
I want to thank the gentleman who turned in my bag at Wal-Mart on New Year's Eve. After I unloaded my purchases, I carelessly left my handbag in the shopping cart. It was about 15 minutes later when I made my next stop that I realized I didn't have my bag.
I hurried back to Wal-Mart, checked the cart stand where I had left the cart, but my bag wasn't there. With a sinking feeling, I went into the store to the Customer Service desk and was told a man had seen the bag and brought it in. I am still overwhelmed with gratitude to this stranger.
Like so many women, I carry a lot of my life in my handbag. I hope the man who turned in my bag reads this and will know what his action meant to me.
Joan C. Eisner
Carson City
Givens does a service
Too bad one crabby neighbor has to create such a terrible scenario. Kathy Givens has done such good things for dogs which would have otherwise been destroyed.
Some dogs in heartbreaking situations have had a second chance because of Kathy. They are brought back to health, then found loving homes by her. The criminal here is the complaining neighbor.
Gwen Marsh
Gardnerville
Without new program, some would go without
What your article on the debacle of Medicare Part D overlooked are the large number of elderly and needy who will be receiving otherwise unaffordable medicine. Without this new program those individuals would have to suffer without their medicine. That's real pain and suffering, not the "I feel your pain" kind.
And yes, there are startup problems going into this but that really is to be expected. Consider the magnitude of the undertaking ... organizing every state government in the United States and the territories (especially their Medicaid divisions), hundreds of thousands of pharmacies and secondary insurance companies, and the Medicare recipients themselves who are often at a place in their lives when communicating with them is very difficult. Of course this is a rough start, but consider the wonder of it all when the sick are able to have the medicine they need.
You mention the cost to the taxpayers, and it is true that there will be huge costs involved, but consider this an investment in your own future. The day will come when you'll be the one needing this medication and it's cost will be supplemented by that era's working population for you.
John Whaley
Carson City
