Letters to the Editor

Animal shelter volunteer encourages participation

I’m 72 but I’m volunteering for my own heart and time to help [the Nye County Animal Shelter] in any way possible.

I thought I’d walk the dogs or something like that. I got trained for that, but currently I’m caring for two three-week-old kittens that were dropped off without a mother at the shelter.

At the current time, the night animal shelter cannot do as good job as I’m doing because I can really be intimate with these two little kittens. They would have a hard time caring for them as well as they could.

The group of people who work at the Animal Shelter for Nye County do a great job and they get “volunteers”, but they are working for time to take off of penalties, they received through the county.

They still train these people and the work is done so well that the cats and dogs are kept in clean areas to rest in. And that’s important — to have a clean area. I don’t know if many of the other privately owned animal care centers are doing that. I hope they are.

It is astounding how much heart caring work is completed by trained volunteers to keep the kennels and cages clean and pets to be healthy, every day.

For kittens and cats who are feral and turned in by owners, I have cared for them, cage after cage from one to four hours and I learned that kittens really need to drink water a lot. They are not scratching or mean to me, although feral cats are scared and will protect themselves.

Dog kennels are cleaned every day by employees and are walked by volunteers, who are trained to know how to get the variety of dogs out safely.

If you need to “work off a violation”, consider helping at the shelter.

I hope the other animal kennels are as clean as the Nye County Animal Shelter.

DC Shuey

Utah Republicans should stop stealing Nevada water

I live in St. George Utah. I think that people in Southern Nevada should know that Utah’s Republican officials continue to steal some Nevada water. They do this by diverting Lower Basin water under the Colorado River Compact before it reaches the Colorado River and Lake Mead. And it is done without Compact approval. Nevada is a Lower Basin state that is entitled to its share of this Colorado River water.

The latest Utah scheme is called the Cove Reservoir project. It would divert some Virgin River water that would otherwise flow through Southern Nevada into Lake Mead. The river water would be stored behind a new dam and reservoir.

This water would then be used for new incredibly wasteful summer alfalfa growing and to enable additional desert sprawl development. Agriculture is the Trojan horse for this project as it would primarily help developers. I think that this is an example of Trump Republican “socialism” - take from the public to benefit the influential wealthy. It is a 1950’s era boondoggle that does not respect climate change, fiscal responsibility, equitable Compact compliance, and the need for much more efficient use of water.

This project is currently subject to the required environmental analysis process. But previous public comments were largely ignored. I think that Utah Republicans have project approval “wired” during this obviously corrupt Trump administration. The only public recourse may be to challenge the project’s federal funding in Congress early next year. And this challenge may only succeed if the House and/or Senate gain Democratic majority control.

If you share my opposition, please vote blue and let your Congressional representatives know of your opposition. Thank you for your consideration.

Richard Spotts