Letters to editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Pahrump needs to work on its Christmas spirit

Question: Why can we drive the length of Pahrump on both Highway 160 and Highway 372 without seeing any holiday spirit? Outside the community Christmas tree that sits forlornly in the parking lot of the Pahrump Nugget casino, you wouldn’t know it was the holiday season.

The town of Pahrump has a tourism committee headed up by an employee, the Pahrump Chamber of Commerce works hard promoting the town, yet in the season when many vacationers are traveling throughout community they are greeted by, well, bah humbug. Why would they stop in such an unwelcoming and cheerless town, one that is devoid of the season and reason many are on vacation?

This is the only town I have lived in that did not spread the good news and spirit at Christmastime with holiday displays, lighting and the works. Each of my former places of residence had entire neighborhoods and business districts where the residents and business owners tried outdoing each other in erecting displays and decorations. Hayrides were offered in the evenings so residents and visitors could ride past all the beautiful and imaginative displays.

In my opinion this community is really missing the boat, a lot of travelers are passing right through, yes, passing right through with no displays or holiday spirit to give them pause or a reason to stop, shop and take some videos and photos of the holiday scenes. Isn’t that a goal of the tourism and chamber? If not then it should be.

In my opinion, this town needs to form a holiday committee with the goal of showing off to the visitors and residents that Pahrump celebrates the holidays and is welcoming and cheerful. Let’s not spend another Christmas season as a town of scrooges.

Dwight Lilly

Pahrump Resident

Visitor to Pahrump applauds grief share program

I felt I had to write to express my sincere admiration for the organization GriefShare, which was highlighted by your excellent newspaper.

I am writing this from Great Britain but have happy memories of the Pahrump Valley area, which I visited in July 2017, especially as it was my final holiday with my wife of 48 years, Susan, who sadly died in February of this year. We had a fantastic time with our sons and grandsons, meeting many fantastic people who were so welcoming and friendly to us, especially my wife, who was struggling with her health and disability.

The idea of a seminar to help recently bereaved people like myself to survive the Christmas and New Year period is brilliant and I am sure it will be of great help for those struggling with their grief, especially so as my wife absolutely loved this time of the year and everything it represented.

I have further trips planned to your area despite the fact that it will bring back painful memories of our last visit together but also happy ones of a fantastic last vacation together. I wish the seminar every success.

Kenneth Farrington

It all starts with a bed and a good night’s sleep

Someone once said the secret to happiness in life was comfortable shoes. Well, I will go one step further and say the secret to a good life is a safe and comfortable bed. You see, if a kid has a safe and comfortable bed, they will probably get better night’s sleep. And if they get better sleep, they will probably get better grades. And if they get better grades, they will probably get a better job. And they get a better job, they will probably have a better and happier life.

So the secret starts with a bed. Did you know that right here in Pahrump we have approximately 500 to 600 kids that are not in their own beds. Could be on a mattress on the floor or a couch or with siblings or parents but not in their own bed. Some of these kids have never had a bed, heck, some of them have never had a pillow!

Well, we, (you and me), can change that starting right now. SHPbeds.org is a new nonprofit here in Pahrump and every dollar goes directly to our kids. That’s why our motto is “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town.” Gotta love it.

We need volunteers and donations and sponsors so don’t hold back. If that little voice in your head is talking to you, listen to it. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 702-539-9685. Thank you! Merry Christmas and God bless!

Gary Bennett

Your Hof votes stolen by Nye County commissioners

Dennis Hof stood for less government, less taxes (Republican.)

Nye County commissioners voted to send Greg Hafen to Carson City in his stead. Greg’s resume reads right out of a Democrat playbook. He proudly claims he is the chair of one regulatory agency after another (more government). He said he WILL raise taxes (Congratulations commissioners!) The seat you replaced is pure Democrat (I don’t care what his voter registration card says).

Good job commissioners! You just replaced the original James Oscarson seat with a James Oscarson on steroids! To quote one campaign slogan: “I will work for you!” Riiiiiiiight! You missed the REAL REPUBLICAN WITH NO BAGGAGE-JOE BURDZINSKI.

Debby Dwelle

Commission meeting turned into personal attack

I was one of the community members that attended the special meeting to nominate Nye County’s pick to fill the Assembly District 36 seat left vacant by the death of Mr. Dennis Hof.

The meeting soon turned into a sometimes personal attack on Greg Hafen II. Rather than highlight what Mr. Burdzinski was going to do for the district, and for Nye County, in many cases it just was a relentless parade of people, many of whom admitted they did not know Mr. Hafen, saying he was not qualified to even be considered. Everyone should speak out in support of the candidate they want, but not at the expense of questioning the character of another.

I am sure that when Mr. Hof received the Republican nomination for the Assembly seat, he did not sit down and say, “If I die, here is the person I want to take my seat.” Many of the people who spoke professed to be Republicans, but in the end, they acted like Democrats, with statements like, “You stole my vote,” “You are all corrupt,” “I am going to seek a recall.” This is what a Democrat would do.

A true Republican would accept that his/her person did not win, but for the sake of the party and the ideology of Republicans support the nominee, and if he does not fulfill his promises, vote him out during the next election.

Ken Neitz

Reader in community stays inside in order to combat neighborhood pot smell

In regards to the smells that emanate from the legal growth of marijuana or hemp, Marianne Gray is more misinformed than the writer, Ms. Jorgensen, she rebuts.

To answer the initial questions asked by Ms. Jorgensen, “Has anyone else smelled the plants growing at the corner of Homestead/Thousandaire and Vicki Ann/Manse and further down Homestead?” I can emphatically answer, YES! to the latter.

I live at the corner of Vicki Ann and Silver Street and on some days, the smell is absolutely horrendous. It causes coughing fits and eyes to water. It is especially hard on my two kittens, so much that we all just stay inside until the stench passes. So much for Ms. Gray’s “flowering bud” theory.

So, Ms. Gray, please record your very first complaint about the wretched smells wafting from your beloved drug farms.

David Perlman

Parents need to take time to educate themselves

We often see that many professionals spend daily or weekly time to improve themselves in their profession, reading specialized magazines or books about their work.

Parents can neglect their professional task of educating their children too, which has a great importance because it exists to educate people.

If we want to be good parents, it is essential to love our children. Of course this happens, but we must want that they are better, that they develop as individuals. As well as the improvement of the children never ends, the help of parents is forever. Even when the children are older and independent, they tend to ask advice of the parents and they are more receptive than in previous years.

It is not easy to be good parents for several reasons: because children are different from each other, and also change depending on the ages; because they are free and can reject the good that parents propose to them, since it costs to harmonize the authority of parents with the freedom and autonomy of children; because the influence of the world is opposed to the type of education that parents give and clash with the standards of the family.

Parents need to have three important supports to overcome these difficulties: the common sense, the experience of being parents and the grace of state (Christian parents have it). But moreover, parents need additional support to practice their parenting profession: the family guidance courses, schools of parents that are organized in most of the colleges and institutes. Currently there can be found on the Internet a lot of articles on family education.

In order to improve the parenting profession, it is necessary to spend time for education and family. With some frequency it is not achieved because the professional work becomes an addiction, devoting much time to this aspect of the life and seriously neglecting other aspects, such as the dedication to the family and their own education.

A part of the time of self-education can be found in the free time. It is about time to stop doing unnecessary occupations, as for example, the television.

Arturo Ramo

Inconsiderate driver throws garbage out window

After my letter about the trash on Highway 160, this happened yesterday as I was driving home. I was behind a white Dodge minivan and an object came flying out the window and hit the ground from the Dodge. It was about the size of a softball. It hit the ground and bounced up into the radiator of a passing semi tractor-trailer. The object had shattered and went flying into my vehicle, hitting the grill, hood and windshield. It was as though he was trying to hit the semi but forgot I was behind him.

At first I thought he threw out a big chunk of ice. I didn’t stop but followed him to the Dollar

General, where he turned in. I pulled in behind him and went to confront him about what he did. I asked him what the hell he threw out the window and he said a cup of coffee from the bank, (bull s—-). I never said a thing and he started making excuses about how he has

Parkinson’s and he is doing the best he can. I looked over and saw his window was rolled up. You have to roll it down to throw something out. What does that have to do with Parkinson’s? He lied about the coffee cup. I believe he did indeed have Parkinson’s, but what does that have to do with throwing a projectile out the window in front of a semi? He did this on purpose but didn’t figure on me behind him.

He also said he lived here in Pahrump but he had Arizona license plates. Someone here knows this man so be careful of him. He does have a mean, hateful streak in him.

Larry Allen

We can be part of the solution in garbage issue

This letter is in response to Larry Massing’s letter published in the Dec. 7 PVT asking for suggestions on dealing with litter on the highway. The simplest solution is to get involved and clean a section of the road that bothers you. A mile walk picking up the bottles once a week would keep that mile pretty litter-free.

You could also sponsor a section of road through Keeping America Beautiful or Adopt a Highway programs. Many youth activity groups also need to raise funds and this could be an ongoing way to help the youth while keeping the road cleaner.

Taxes and fees are generally not well received in Pahrump as the people here enjoy their freedoms and in general would not enjoy a bottle deposit or such. I find it fairly easy to take a small grocery bag with me on my daily walks with my beautiful golden retrievers and pick up any litter on our walking routes.

I invite you to be part of the solution, and not simply a finger-pointer. Together we can make the community a better place.

Tim Kelly

Why can’t we just learn from history?

George W. Bush should be very thankful to our hopefully soon to be ex-president Trump because Bush will no longer go down in history as being the worst president we ever had.

Speaking as a Vietnam combat veteran, when Bush announced that he was going to invade Iraq for no legitimate reason, I literally screamed “Don’t do it – it’s going to be Vietnam all over again”.

And guess what – it not only was, but we’re still there and in Afghanistan with no clear objective or exit strategy anywhere in sight. The mindless destruction, pain and suffering that Bush and his cohort Dick Cheney caused to literally millions of people can never be forgiven.

Now Trump is not only throwing a pre-teen hissy-fit because Congress won’t give him the money to build a wall on American soil between our country and Mexico, but is threatening to shut down the government if he doesn’t get his way.

He wants $5 billion to build the wall. He previously asked for $20 billion. A group of engineering professors at MIT estimated $40 billion. Congress is now offering him $1.5 billion (it should be zero).

That’s just for construction costs, and a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of the private land that would have to be purchased and the lawsuits if Trump uses eminent domain to try to force resistant landowners to sell.

The Great Wall of China took almost 300 years to build at enormous cost and the lives of an estimated 400,000 workers. In the 13th century, Kublai Khan blew through it like it wasn’t even there, conquered all of China, and ruled it under Mongol domination for almost a century.

There is no comparison between the unarmed, pathetic refugees fleeing death squads and poverty in Central America and Kahn’s highly trained, heavily armed and ruthless warriors. All but a tiny number of the refugees pose no actual threat to public safety in America, unless doing jobs that Americans don’t want to do could be considered a threat.

If Trump somehow does get his wall, refugees whose desire for a better life in our country is strong enough will find a way to get over, around or through it, especially during the many years it will take to construct.

Although the circumstances of China’s wall and Trump’s wall are completely different, they are comparable in that huge walls are enormously expensive and ultimately fail to fulfill their intended purpose.

Learn from history! The Great Wall of China didn’t work, and a U.S./Mexico border wall won’t work either. Could Congress amaze us and actually get something right this time by just saying “NO” to Trump?

David G. Alexander

Information on global warming, emission reduction

On December 10, Yale professor William Nordhaus accepted the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on climate change. In his book, The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty and Economics for a Warming World, Nordhaus writes that to attain the level of emissions reductions needed to slow climate change, “the incentives must be for everyone, millions of firms and billions of people spending trillions of dollars” in a low-carbon economy. Nordhaus states that “the most effective incentive is a high price for carbon.”

These are among the principles embodied in the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, which was recently introduced in the House of Representatives, the first bipartisan climate bill in nearly a decade.

This legislation will put a steadily rising fee on oil, coal and natural gas and return the money equally to people, helping low and middle income Americans. A border carbon adjustment on imports from countries that don’t price carbon similarly would protect American businesses and encourage other nations to adopt their own carbon pricing systems to gain access to valuable U.S. markets.

The latest National Climate Assessment provides a stark warning of the threats that global warming poses to the United States, including sea level rise, increasing wildfires and extreme weather. Let’s thank Representatives Ted Deutch (D-FL), Francis Rooney (R-FL), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and their colleagues for sponsoring this bill and urge our own members of Congress to support their courageous action.

References

William Nordhaus accepts Nobel Prize diploma on Dec. 10

https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/1072169865824350208

William Nordhaus awarded Nobel Prize in Economics

https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/10/press-economicsciences2018.pdf

William Nordhaus quote (par. 18)

https://www.npr.org/books/titles/272030616/the-climate-casino-risk-uncertainty-and-economics-for-a-warming-world#excerpt

Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (par. 12 and 13)

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/house-lawmakers-introduce-first-bipartisan-carbon-tax-bill-in-a-decade

First bipartisan climate legislation in nearly a decade (par. 1)

https://www.bna.com/bipartisan-climate-fee-n57982094127/

Terry Hansen