Letters

I could not sleep because of what I saw on Carson Street on Monday, and yes it was truly a miracle.

At 5:22 p.m., I am going home after a long day's work like lots of other people in Carson City, wanting to get home as soon as possible to dinner, the wife, and kids. I am now in front of Michael Hohl Chevrolet going south in the slow lane. About 100 yards in front of me a young mother with her two kids ages 6 and 4 years old are waiting on the westside curb to cross the street at the crosswalk. In the fast lane a young man has already stopped his car in front of the crosswalk to let them cross the street, an elderly lady in the slow lane in front of me has also stopped. The young mother and two kids waved and thanked the people for stopping to let them cross.

At that time I was 80 yards away starting to slow down, when out of my driver's window I see a silver Blazer pass me at about 45-55 mph. He was in the fast lane. Oh my GOD he does not see everyone stopped for the mother and her children. It is about three seconds to impact, there is no time for the silver Blazer to stop. A car in the fast lane stopped, a car in the slow lane stopped, and at this time the mother with her children are in front of the car in the slow lane walking to the east side of Carson Street.

Two seconds before impact everything goes into slow motion, for sure at least three people will be killed, maybe as many as five. One second to impact, the mother and two children are at the left front of the car in the slow lane. At this time the driver of the silver Blazer evidently sees the car stopped in the fast lane, he makes a hard right-hand turn, then left, and goes between the two cars at the crosswalk, miraculously missing the woman and her children in the crosswalk. (I don't know how). Then he makes a right- hand turn into the parking lot of Preferred Auto Body and comes to a complete stop. The mother and the two children were frozen in their steps, just missing death by about two feet. Everything was still in slow motion, nobody moved, we all just sat there in our cars and could not believe what we just saw.

Within a few seconds the only people moving were the mother and her children. She took the children and backed up to stand again on the curb on the west side of Carson Street. All eyes then focused on the driver of the silver blazer. A young man around 20-24 years old, slowly opens the driver's door and gets out, looking back at the mother and her children, and the parked cars at the crosswalk and probably wondering what just happened.

The mother and the children turned around and went back to where they came from. They will not be crossing Carson Street at this time. The people in the two cars in front of me at the crosswalk, just sat there stunned, trying to figure out how a tragic accident did not happen.

At my vantage point I could see everything unfold and knew that no one could react that fast. But with God's help miracles do happen. I hope that the young man driving that Blazer knows how blessed he is and I hope that this was a lesson learned. And to the mother with the two children, know you do have a Guardian Angel watching over you. The gift of life is a miracle, a gift that only God can give. I'm sure that Almighty God gave all of us a gift this day. I will remember it for all my life. I thank God for giving all of us this miracle and not a horrible tragedy to remember.

LARRY BREWER

Carson City

Everyone is on a fixed income

I'm baffled by the many letters of readers who state they are on fixed income. We all are on fixed incomes! Do you think when prices rise we march into the bosses' office and get a pay increase? My experience with these people is they are recent California transplants who want to make sure their wealth is passed to their heirs, with minimal fuss.

Please wake up or leave my state. I know your confused that we ask for money for schools and such. Please remember this is a state that is NOT California. If you are committed to Nevada I welcome you; if your purpose for living here is avoid taxes, please leave.

ANTHONY CARLQUIST

Carson City

Carson men could use a good shave

As a new resident to Carson City, I thought I was in the middle of a citywide contest to learn who could grow the most luxurious facial hair as numerous men seem to have the current, unstylish habit of unshaven faces. Apparently the contest isn't relegated to wannabe cowboys. Most political employees and TV personalities sport this ugly hirsute appearance. When did it begin? Not since the jurists who sat at the trial of Wilkes Booth have so many men suddenly rediscovered the temporary allure of walrus faces. Incidentally, President Lincoln was the first president to grow a beard.

Personally, I hope this is a fad to be dismissed when men discover razors and shaving cream and eliminate the al-Qaida-reject appearances and return to the sanity of civilized, clean shaven faces.

E. ZIMBELMAN

Carson City

Wanted: Strong candidate for Congress

We need a strong candidate to step up to the plate, a Democrat or Republican, to run against Rep. Dean Heller, R-Second District. Jill Derby is not that candidate. Rep. Dean Heller's stand on the Iraq war is unacceptable. We spend almost a trillion dollars! $12 million a month. There is no military solution to the war in Iraq. Rep. Heller is just a yes-man to the Bush administration policies. He needs to be replaced.

CHARLES L. SHELDON

Dayton

Replacing light bulbs a good idea

I applaud Baroque Maintenance for installing the energy-saving light bulbs in as many residences as possible. As a landlord of five single-family homes, I have also installed these "funny-looking" light bulbs in all my properties.

Not only do they save my tenants money on electricity and replacement bulbs, it is a good move toward a healthy environment and independence from the oil market. If every one of us does just a little, great things will be accomplished.

JOYCE POWELL

Carson City

School board failing on improvements

I appreciate your printing the letter by Ray Oxoby in the March 14 edition of the Appeal. This simple-minded attack on Joe Enge, merely illustrates that none of the other school board members care enough about the community to raise important issues. Regarding reelection, I would think other members of the board have more cause for concern than the only one that I see doing any homework and proposing any reasonable procedural improvements. That is unless we are satisfied with so-so performance within an educationally bottom-of-the-barrel state.

JOHN VETTEL

Carson City

Lottery could be answer to shortfalls

The most important function and responsibility any government entity (federal, state, county or city) has is to ensure public safety. I've heard and read both sides of the public discussion regarding the needs for additional funding for the fire and sheriff's departments. I would like to go on record as a retired resident in Carson City as supporting the need for the continuing and enhanced services, for fire, police and ambulance, as presented at the Board of Supervisors meeting March 20. In the short term, I sincerely believe we as residents need to bite the bullet on this issue and provide the funding to ensure uninterrupted, timely public safety services until a new revenue source is found. Due to the current state of our national economy, residents in Nevada are finding it very difficult making ends meet. Adding new taxes as the final solution may not be the answer. In the long term, to generate new revenues, perhaps it's time to reopen the public discussion regarding a Nevada State Lottery. The money raised by a lottery could be revenue shared with the cities and counties proportionate to their populations. That money then could be directed toward public safety and education as it is done in some other states that have established lotteries. A lottery in no way is punitive to the taxpayer and has been proven in other venues, i.e. Atlantic City, N.J., and some of the Gulf Coast states not to adversely impact other gaming industries. I've lived in Carson City for eight years and I do go over the California border to buy California lottery tickets. There are many people like me that buy California lottery tickets and unfortunately that is a big loss of revenue to our state and our communities. I see benefits for our casinos as well, by having the sales of lottery tickets regulated so that they can only be sold in the casinos. This would get more people into the casinos, and, the casinos would get a percentage of the sale of the tickets. Another benefit for the casinos is the revenues generated by the sales of the lotto tickets might quiet the voices and take the pressure off for raising casino taxes. I hope that the "powers that be" can think outside box and see this as a new, untapped revenue source. I believe the time for a Nevada State Lottery has come.

GARY F. NIGRO

Carson City

Tighten belt rather than raise taxes

Observing the actions of the Board of Supervisors meeting on March 20, it's clear that our less-than-distinguished mayor was ready to throw a tantrum over his proposed taxpayer gift of $10 million to the V&T. As disturbing as the show of lack of restraint appeared to be, the willingness of the board to drink the Kool-Aid for the mayor made it worse. When all was said and done, they all came across as "I know better than the taxpayers and I want it done my way!"

Not one of the negative impressions of the board in the day's actions was helped by the language used by the mayor. Nor was the mayor's refusal to hear details on certain issues.

The V&T studies that hizzoner - duh mayor - kept referring to had better be more reliable than those which supported the unsecured and unprotected hand-out of so much redevelopment money for the empty boxes and car dealers on Carson Street. All of which is in now serious trouble for ability to produce the delusional benefit presented to the board and therefore to its citizens in past meetings.

The agenda, being loaded with tax-increase related issues, caused an ongoing and nagging question: Why must an individual, family or business tighten its belt and cut back when times are tough but a governmental agency can just say "Let's raise taxes!"? Why is it impossible for this board to tighten its belt and stop the largesse for small groups in tough times?

One can only hope that the citizens vote ALL the tax increase measures down in November when these items actually make it to the ballot!

DENNIS JOHNSON

Carson City

Animal adoption needn't be expensive

May I offer my heartfelt sympathy to Ruby Gavigan on the extra costs she incurred when adopting that cat? I'm glad she didn't take it out on the cat but continued to make the pet welcome in her home.

I do wish, however, she had known of Wylie Animal Rescue Foundation, which holds cat and kitten adoptions every weekend at PETCO in the Topsy Lane shopping plaza; Friday nights from 6-9; and on Saturdays from 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. In addition, WARF is available to help with low cost spay/neuter if they call 833-2319.

We also take in cats and kittens from everywhere Ð found in a dumpster, turned loose on a street, abandoned in a rental or from death row at a shelter. Volunteers take them home to be loved and cared for until they learn to once again trust humans. They are kept in our homes with room to run and play until they feel secure once again. When we are sure they are ready, we take them to PETCO and offer them for adoption. Our rescued cats get spayed or neutered, are given shots and microchips. Our adoption fees are reasonable and we are fortunate to work with a few veterinarians in Reno who provide our cats with the best care at a reasonable price so there are no hidden costs to come back and haunt the adoptive family.

Please come by and see us on Friday evening or on Saturday to meet the WARF volunteers and talk about the cats you see. They run the gamut from the American Shorthair Domestic (aka: Alley Cat) to Manx, Siamese and Persians. You might even find your own new best friend!

And if you are interested in being a volunteer, ask about that, too.

JO BAILEY

Carson City