Letters to the Editor for March 25, 2023

Cage-free is the future

Jim Hartman’s “The chickens come home to roost” conflates the effects of California’s cage-free egg law with economic factors, like the massive outbreak of avian flu that has killed tens of millions of birds and the fact that California grocery prices across the board have long been higher than in other states.

An independent report showed that California’s egg prices went up by less than a penny per egg when the state’s cage-free law was fully implemented. Nevada was right to pass its own cage-free law, as were our neighbors in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Washington and Oregon. The practice of confining hens in cages so small they can’t even extend their wings is needlessly cruel.

In addition, more than a dozen studies have found that salmonella is more prevalent in cage facilities compared to cage-free. This dangerous bacteria sickens thousands of Americans every year and can be deadly in children and the elderly. The future of the egg industry in Nevada and nationwide is cage-free, which is good news for people and animals.

Source for the less-than-a-penny-per-egg stat: https://www.wattagnet.com/articles/45305-us-californias-egg-market-settles-after-housing-mandate “According to Rubio, after the outliers were removed from the data, which includes the spike in California’s egg prices in January 2022 as well as the variable prices during the cage-free transitional period from August 2021 – November 2021, the actual price increase per carton of eggs is $0.08 per dozen wholesale in California since 2020.”
Rebecca Goff
Nevada State Director for the Humane Society of the United States

Hartman wrong on chickens

While I generally agree with Jim Hartman’s columns, the one on chickens is disappointing and just plain wrong.

First, if consumers were ever exposed to how the commercial chicken farms house these animals, they would eat neither chickens nor eggs. Often four hens are stuffed into cages so constricted that they can’t turn around so that their feathers are rubbed off to bear skin as they huddle against metal cage bars unable to stretch or move for their entire lives. Plain and simple, the move to cage-free is that it is inhumane to raise chickens this way.

Second, he taunts California (a good target for most everything but this) for forcing consumers to pay “$7.50/dozen” for eggs. That may be due to all the other expenses that California lays on businesses trying to survive there, but in Nevada we routinely find cage-free eggs for $3.95-$4.25/dozen, so the argument doesn’t hold.

In reality, let’s make our society more attentive to being humane in raising farm animals, and not let them suffer for a small increase in price.

Nick Chickering

Genoa

The true meaning behind the Forgotten Man

During President Biden's campaign in 2020 and in his recent SOTU address, he invoked the term “the Forgotten Man.” The quote has been used by the Democrats since FDR and the New Deal. But it has a different meaning than what the Democrats insist it must be.

It was first used by Professor William Sumner in an 1883 series of essays in the Atlantic. They (A and B) propose passing a law to remedy what X is suffering from. "C" then must help "X." As Sumner writes, “…. He is the man who never is thought of ... I call him the forgotten man... He works, votes, generally prays — but he always pays..."

The release of the 2024 budget is an example of this overlying premise of the Democrats. There is a proposed tax on the unrealized capital gains in your 401(k) portfolio. If you had invested $1 in stock and a year later was worth $8, you would be taxed on the $7 you made, even if you had not sold it. This proposal would require all households (not only the rich) to remit taxes on unrealized capital gains from assets such as stocks, bonds, or privately held companies.

This ongoing mantra of the left of “pay your fair share” will create such economic turmoil, crippling this country forever. The left's insistence on pushing this social engineering program, whether for environmental justice or other incarnations of helicopter government, increases our national debt beyond sustainability. Hopefully, this budget proposal is DOA.

Drew Runde

Carson City

Where are the consequences?

I teach my children there are consequences for our actions. Just this morning my 6-year-old missed out on green pancakes and eggs for St. Patrick's Day because she didn't follow through on something I asked her to do, and that was the consequence. Thieves, however, get an unlimited number of chances and very few consequences, especially when they know how to play the system by robbing across jurisdictions (five counties in Northern Nevada) and state lines (California, Nevada, South Carolina, Arizona, Wyoming that I know of).

We were robbed at our open house in July. This thief was recently caught at another open house, standing over an open dresser drawer, with stolen items on his person. During questioning, the deputies found stolen items in his car, along with a list of open houses he planned to “attend.” I have been following this case, and the number of chances he has had over the years of his stealing career is infuriating. Bail was set at $5,000, which is less than the amount he stole from us. It was made bondable, so he was able to pay it and avoid jail.

Thank you legislators for saving our criminals from “debtor’s prison,” and in the process allowing them to continue to break the law. He did not show up for his latest court date because he tampered with his GPS anklet and fled to California. I would really love to see justice served and consequences given for this career criminal. He stole from my children, and I want them to see there are consequences for our actions, especially for those who break the law.

Barb Mathers

Carson City