Letters to the editor

Day care is supposed to be safe for children

Are we going to let day care workers take it upon themselves to decide how to medically treat our children?

As it is now, if they cannot give her Tylenol without a letter of consent from the parent, or keep a child with a 100 degree temperature, then how can you feel that it is OK to burn a 22-month-old child. If the child were to have moved, she may be blinded, and not to mention the arteries behind the ear, in fact, could have burst and she could have died!

It took a large woman and a large doctor to hold this child down to remove the tick, and to see how she suffered, and screamed with pain, is a complete sign of the restraint that had to be used to attempt such an act as the day care workers did. Not to mention, where did the tic come from to begin with? I know for a fact she did not have it when she was dropped off in the a.m. So there is another thing to look at, the cleanliness of their yards and the staff's neglect to even notify other parents of a possible danger to their children.

If this was your child, or grandchild, I do believe you would be livid at their actions! Yet somehow this just seems to mean nothing to anyone but the mother and small child.

Are you, or are you not, to set the standards on law governing how children are to supervised. Day care is the place our children are to be left in, a safe environment, so we, the people, may retain the right to work and be self sufficient, not on welfare and living off of others' labor. If this is the case, then why are they excused from the same laws that have been set in place for the child's safety?

Is it not a crime to physically hold down a child and burn him? Or even an adult for whatever reason it may be?

This is what I am attempting to get across to you. An adult would have fought them off, a bigger child would be able to say to you this was wrong, and I want justice.

Above it all remains only one thing, a child was restrained without her permission or the permission of the legal parent and she was subjected to the burning of her flesh.

If the doctor's office needed my permission, why not the people who started all this in the first place?

I am hoping to get you to see my point from the parent's side.

DENISE LA CLARE CONOUR

Carson City

Ormsby House has kept streets closed too long

Being a Native Nevadan, I moved away in 1988 thanks to the U.S. Marine Corps. I moved back in 1999. The Ormsby House was open for 3 months after I moved back but has been closed since.

It is ridiculous that construction on one building is blocking several city streets for so long. Traffic is a mess and yes, there are alternative routes I can take when picking my kids up from school, but it's very inconvenient. I have never heard of any city authorizing the street closures for so long a period of time for just one building.

I love the Ormsby House and always have. It's a major part of Nevada history, but this construction is taking so long and is such an eyesore in the streets it's ridiculous. Come on, Ormsby House owners, building permit/city workers, and Ormsby House contractors, get a move on.

Kristy Garcia

Carson City

Sympathy for mother, victims - not killer

Forgive me, but I could no longer listen to the pleas of one Robert McConnell. It's not as though McConnell is claiming he is innocent. He freely admits that he plotted for a year to kill his ex-girlfriend.

What does he do next? He attempts to carry out his plan. But instead of killing her, he kills her boyfriend, Mr. Brian Pierce, then kidnaps the woman on rapes her. Oh, let's see, then he regrets not killing the ex-girlfriend and if he could do it all over again, he would make sure to kill the ex-girlfriend.

Then he goes into his childhood and how bad he had it as a kid. Big deal! There are a lot of us out there who have had it much worse than you ever had it. We didn't go out and kill someone. You are just one cold blooded individual who deserves to die!

So, suck it up, buddy. Be a man and do the families of the murdered victim a favor, give them the justice they long for and come off your poor pity me attitude and do the right thing and take the needle.

I feel sorry for your mother. You are her son and she doesn't want to see you die. As a mother, I could understand that, but on the other hand, if I were the mother of the victims, your death could not come fast enough for me.

On a personal note, McConnell, I truly feel for the loss your mother will feel the day you die. No parent should ever have to feel that loss.

TONJA BROWN

Carson City

Landfill employees friendly and helpful

I am a 50-plus woman and wanted to thank the employees of Carson City Landfill. I don't normally go to the "dump" and therefore do not know the policies and procedures. Recently I went with a load of trash and recycle oil. The men were very kind, friendly and helpful. It was a pleasure to go to the dump because of their excellent customer service. Thank you.

MARLA BURDETT

Carson City

Wagon train will be on its way up Highway 50

Here comes the train.

OK, locals, get out the Palmpals and the calendars and mark these dates Saturday and Sunday, June 18 and 19, and the reason - Wagon Train. The Highway 50 Association will be bringing the 56th, yes we're doing it again, up Spooner Summit to Lake Tahoe. We will rendezvous at Fuji Park on June 17.

This granddaddy of all wagon trains was established in 1949 by businessmen along the Highway 50 corridor. It was to promote tourism and commemorate the 100th year of the Marshall gold discovery in Coloma, Calif.

These modern-day preservationists will leave Carson City June 18 and arrive in Placerville, Calif. June 25. This nonprofit organization has worked hard all year to put this annual event down the road. Sure there are going to be a traffic jam and some road apples - this is a live reenactment of history, folks. Our forefathers didn't get to the Old West on a plane - they came in a wagon. Please give them the respect and courtesy they deserve if you're headed west on 50.

CAROLANN and RANDY EVANS

Members Highway 50

Carson City

Taxpayers fund military educations as well

In a letter on June 8, the writer stated that taxpayers shouldn't be paying for money for college. But then he turns around and states how he joined the Navy and they helped pay off his student loans. I ask you this: Where do you think the Navy got the money from?

I too joined the Navy, and also know that the Navy will pay for classes while you are in as well as the Montgomery GI Bill for when you separate. All this is from the taxpayers pockets. So why is it OK for federal taxpayers to pay for education and not Nevada tax payers?

CHRISTOPHER MacMAHON

Carson City

Markleeville school facing loss of principal

We are here to ask people to help the parents and children save two or more key positions at our little Diamond Valley School.

This letter is about two very special people God has placed in our lives. First is Mrs. Hadley, our principal. This lady is one in a million. She is not only a fine principal but is also a great mentor for all people to use as a role model. She hugs all the children and she knows them all by name, as well as their parents and teachers. She is also there for them if they have any kind of problems regardless of whether it is school, home or socially. She also teaches morals in the school and each month they have a special theme to work; on honesty, respect, citizenship and trustworthiness. They are then rewarded in front of the whole school on Tuesdays in the month the theme has been given.She tries to meet the needs of everyone. You can look into her eyes and see the depth of her soul and that she truly loves the children and their parents at this school. What an asset she truly is to all of America. So please help us keep her position that is being dissolved and donate whatever you can. It would be great if everyone could come and see us at Diamond Valley School on June 18 for a special event to raise the funds we need.

I would also like to tell you about another key person, our librarian Rita Lovell. Her position is being dissolved too. She is great. You can feel her presence in any room she enters. It fills the room with a beautiful gentleness. Her smile is so genuine and welcoming and she greets all of the kids by name. She knows all of the kids well enough to even recommend books that she knows will interest that particular child.

Rita also produces an all-student news program every morning. She films three students live on a set like television newscasters and broadcasts it throughout the classrooms. They tell about upcoming events (such as the Alpine Summer Sizzler). They also include the lunch menu, the next day's breakfast menu and Words of Wisdom that pertain to character building. For fun they ask trivia questions and if the kids turn the answer in, they get a Diamond Dollar, which they can save or spend. This teaches them about properly handling their money. It also teaches them to pay attention to the news and encourages those who are interested in becoming a newscaster.

Rita wears many other hats at Diamond Valley School. They include teaching computer technology and Spanish. She is truly a great asset for our children and community.

United we stand!

ROBIN BUTLER

Markleeville

Sex offender not same as sexual predator

I just can't stay silent any longer. You people have gotten entirely out of line.

A political cartoonist in today's paper employed his craft in attempting to bring into focus a recent issue of registered sex offenders receiving medication for erectile dysfunction while on Medicaid. Doubtless it is a legitimate issue, as much as for the fact that Medicaid recipients are qualified to receive these drugs, let alone to people of questionable sexual discipline, especially unknowing if they are under the care of a qualified sex therapist.

The nefarious part of this affair was so subtle as to almost go unnoticed, however. The satirist made the all-too-common and entirely unreasonable assumption when he substituted the phrase "sexual predator" in his cartoon for the correct classification "sex offender" from the original report. Now this is just wrong.

You just can't paint everybody with the same brush. It's unfair, irresponsible and counter-productive to do so.

Now I understand that people like to be frightened by the bogeyman and there are some people who justify their pathetic lives by lambasting those whom they deem lower than themselves, and I hate to rain on your lynching party, but there are some things you should know.

Not to negate or diminish the truly dark aspects of some crimes that fall into this realm, "sex offense" covers a very broad spectrum, some as benign as public exhibition. Many are Internet related.

The point is that only a small percent of offenders are ever classified as sexual predators, and many of them are never again going to be free men and rightly so. Know this also, that at last study, the national rate for recidivism for sex offenders in a sex crime was 5.3 percent compared to 1.3 percent for other felons who had not committed a sex crime. Nevada was not included in the justice department study and our rate of relapse is documented as low as 1.7 percent.

Read it this way: 95 out of every 100 sex crimes nationally and 98 out of every 100 in Nevada are committed by someone who has never been convicted of a sex crime. Being aware of these facts, consider that we are spending an unconscionable amount of time, resources and energy on a group of individuals who are statistically unlikely to be a problem. Shouldn't we be asking what can we do to reach these men before they become offenders?

By beating the drums and braiding the rope, we are doing more to add to the problem than help, stigmatizing and handicapping men who are by and large trying to recover their lives and creating an environment where some who may be weak can become discouraged leading to relapse. After all, successful, happy men seldom commit sex crimes, do they?

BILL JONES

Carson City