Letters to the editor for Sunday, June 26, 2016

What lies in a heartbeat?

What lies in a heartbeat, far greater than a pulse,

As our master body pump, the heart, circulates nutrients and oxygen to the cells

And helps eliminate waste from within us.

What lies in a heartbeat, a cultivation of life’s emotions;

Some happy and pleasant, some traumatic, some strong in memory.

The rhythm of life reflected through the rhythm of the heartbeat.

Some memories bringing forth joy and laughter, and others carrying sadness and pain

Through dreams shot down in midair or great disappointment scarring us from within.

What lies in a heartbeat, many neurological circuits conducting this powerful muscle, the heart,

To keep the gold rush flowing efficiently while our breath of life depends on it.

What lies in a heartbeat are the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual,

Working alongside one another to promote the constancy of a life-force river,

Moving within our very soul to keep us in this realm we call life.

And I am so grateful to Dr. Challapalli and his team at St. Mary’s and my sister Barbara for allowing me a healthier heart rhythm so life can be more enjoyable for my allowed time. Thank you from the bottom of my heartbeat!

Ann Burke

Carson City

Problem with Epic Rides: It closed access to downtown

Well, congratulations to the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau. It certainly filled a bunch of hotel rooms last weekend. It also almost completely shut downtown. That’s right, it shut it down.

I have been a redevelopment advocate of downtown for almost 30 years and was instrumental in starting up downtown events back in the 80s and 90s. But when we held them we made sure people could come downtown as part of the event. Not CCCVB. It shut it down. Six whole blocks (maybe seven) of Curry Street access and parking closed down. Whole sections of the downtown area including several parking lots shut down.

That’s right, the problem with the event was, you couldn’t get there from here (unless you were on a bike). My business was off by over half. We practically lost a whole weekend of business and that makes it real hard to make a payroll. And I am one of only several businesses I spoke with. When I ran Cactus Jack’s a good head count on Saturday afternoon was in the 70s or 80s, even more than 100 with a street event. Last Saturday at around 2 p.m. I counted maybe 20 people. Other than the area in front of the capital it looked like the town had been evacuated.

So thank you, CCCVB and Carson City, for holding an event that nobody could get to, or around, or through. If you do this again, let me know so we can close up, leave town, and go camping. It reminds me of the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”

Steve Browne

Carson City

Father’s advice lands son in Carson Valley

I was born and raised in Ohio. The best advice my dad ever gave me was, “Get out of here.”

I packed up and moved to Southern California, it was about as far away as I could get without leaving the country.

After working for the city of Pomona for 26 years, I moved to the beautiful Carson Valley. Best move I ever made. No regrets.

Lester J. Harris

Minden

Semiautomatic weapons call for more regulation

An issue regarding the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution with respect to firearms regulation appears to be ignored in the debate over semiautomatic weapons.

When the Constitution was written, firearms were muzzle loading, mostly single-shot, flintlock muskets, rifles and pistols. There were multi-barreled firearms produced, but certainly, they were not common.

Even with a multiple barreled firearm, once it is discharged, there is the need to reload, which is a relatively lengthy process.

In the hands of a person familiar with firearms, it may have been possible with a muzzle-loading firearm to fire one round every 30 seconds. Now in the hands of a novice it is possible to fire 30 rounds in 30 seconds, reload in a few seconds, and fire 30 more, with the only limitation being the number of magazines one can carry.

Surely, those who wrote and approved the Second Amendment had no way of foreseeing rapid-fire semiautomatic weapons with high capacity magazines. Nor had they any inkling of the possible havoc wreaked with these sorts of weapons in the hands of a person bent on creating the highest possible body count.

If there had been the knowledge of these military style weapons and their capacity to create unbelievable damage in 1791, the date of the adoption of the Second Amendment, might not the writers have added more regulation to the amendment?

How can reasonable people possibly conclude that anyone possessing the wherewithal to purchase such a weapon should be allowed to have one?

James Sadilek

Carson City

Trump and Hillary are poor choices for presidency

It’s sad to see two candidates that are poor choices for the presidency. One, a crook who can’t be trusted and a follower of Obama. That’s a scary thought. She is going to follow in the president’s footsteps and do nothing, like Obama. There would be such corruption and sheer chaos. Nothing would change. Is that what we want from a president? I think not.

And on the other side we have a loudmouth know-it-all who knows nothing. His ideas are almost laughable. And he mocked disabled people. Really, Trump? It’s bad enough from kids, but a grown-up? What a moron. That goes to show you his mentality. He criticizes his opponents and digs up dirt and causes trouble with foreign countries. Really, you want a moron to run the country?

It would be a disaster for either candidate to win. Put someone in who is honest and willing to change things. And the candidate is Bernie Sanders. Wake up and see what a big, big mistake it would be.

Ruth Berg

Carson City