Letters to editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Readers see some positives in state Assembly Bill 95

In regard to Tim’s Take of 5/31/19 and Assembly Bill 95:

My wife and I are Pahrump property owners with a 208-foot private well, so naturally, Assembly Bill 95 is of direct interest to us. I was alarmed after reading Tim’s column but slightly less so after I actually read the entirety of Assembly Bill 95 which is easily found online:

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/80th2019/Bill/6082/Text

Although written in obtuse legalese, it’s only three pages long. My reading of the bill seems to show at least one major issue. To wit:

Mr. Burke stated that Assembly Bill 95 gives the state engineer the ability to install water meters (on presumably residential wells). From Page 1:

This bill provides that if a court of competent jurisdiction orders the state engineer to restrict withdrawals to conform to priority rights or if the state engineer orders that withdrawals be restricted to conform to priority rights in any of these groundwater basins, the state engineer must limit the restriction on withdrawals from domestic wells to allow a domestic well to continue to withdraw 0.5 acre-feet of water per year if the owner of the domestic well installs or has installed a water meter to record the withdrawal.

From Page 3:

If a court of competent jurisdiction orders the state engineer to restrict withdrawals to conform to priority rights or if pursuant to subsection 6 or 7, the state engineer orders that withdrawals be restricted to conform to priority rights, the state engineer must limit the restriction of withdrawals from a domestic well to allow a domestic well to continue to withdraw 0.5 acre-feet of water per year, which must be recorded by a water meter.

So page 1 says IF there is a water meter but page 3 pretty much implies there MUST be one. I may be missing something or this seems to be a sloppily-written bill. Which one is it? And the bill seems to leave much discretion to “a court of competent jurisdiction.”

That said, I see good things in this bill:

From Page 3:

The state engineer shall include as a condition of the permit that pumping water pursuant to the permit may be limited or prohibited to prevent any unreasonable adverse effects on an existing domestic well located within 2,500 feet of the well, unless the holder of the permit and the owner of the domestic well have agreed to alternative measures that mitigate those adverse effects.

It seems to me this portion of the bill protects current well owners against future wells within 2,500 feet of theirs, something I see as a positive move. The bill would be far better with non-contradictory wording and also clear differentiation between private wells used for residential versus wells used for farming and commercial applications, both of which have higher usage patterns.

Alexsander “Sasha” Jevtich

Laura Jevtich

Yucca Mountain is not the best choice for site

I believe in the ‘law’ of common sense and how to get the biggest bang for my tax dollar, and Yucca Mountain as a repository site doesn’t make common sense nor is it a good investment of tax dollars.

The nation already has a site for the long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste and it’s been in use for decades. It is the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. The site is superior in stable natural material (salt) as opposed to the permeable material (volcanic rock) at Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain is located in a Level 4 earthquake and volcanic zone, the highest zone there is.

What you want is the best rock choice at the best location, with the best natural systems as a long-term storage site. You pick a site that has been naturally stable for a long, long time and where it’s likely to remain like that for a long, long time into the future. Not a site that requires an engineered approach that attempts to subdue nature. That ‘best’ site describes the existing New Mexico site.

Politics has driven the selection process of storage sites, which is precisely why Yucca Mountain was chosen. Not the ‘best’ site, but rather the site in a state with the least political muscle. Nevada in the early 1980s had far fewer people when the site selection process took place. Nevada had far fewer members of Congress and therefore the perfect state to be bullied when a choice was made. And Las Vegas, the nearest large city, was not the growing metropolis it is today, with an enormous economy that needs protected from any potential threats from nuclear transportation accidents or a breach of the storage site.

Turning to cost, which is important to folks like me, those who believe we should receive the best storage site at the least cost, the New Mexico site wins hands down.

Recent reports from the (GAO) Government Accounting Office, pegs the cost to complete the Yucca Mountain site at a whopping $400 billion, up from the original estimate of $80 billion. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act established a 0.1 cent per kilowatt-hour users’ fee on nuclear-generated electricity, to fund long-term storage of high-level waste from nuclear power plants. Through 2014 this fund had accumulated $100 billion, an amount that is $300 billion shy of the estimate to complete Yucca Mountain. To prepare the New Mexico site, the superior geologic storage option, is estimated by the GAO to cost $30 billion. If getting the biggest bang for your tax dollar is important, then it is a ‘no-brainer’, and where the government and nuclear power industry needs to focus.

I suggest we follow the best available science, at the best cost, and reject licensing the Yucca Mountain site, in favor of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.

Dwight Lilly

Educating today’s youth different from past

Have you ever wondered why young adults graduating from high schools are unable to express themselves verbally or in written composition, ignorant about how their body works and without a clue about the working of various levels of government?

Before I offer an answer to those issues, I suggest considering a few questions contained in an eighth grade final examination given in Salina, Kansas circa 1895, and as an addendum, when this test was in use, anyone writing a passing grade on this exam was eligible to become a teacher. (The following questions were selected from a Google search… Final Exam, 8th grade. Salina, Kansas. 1895)

Grammar

2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.

4. What are the Principal parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.

Arithmetic

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare?

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent?

U.S. History

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War?

Orthography

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

Geography

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

I doubt very few readers, regardless of their education, can answer each of the example questions correctly. (Incidentally, neither can I). It is obvious a complete answer to my above question could require a very large and lengthy history book; but due to space limitations of this column I can only offer a very brief overview.

Approximately two hundred years ago a small group of men in Bavaria concluded individual nation-based laws and religious doctrines were stifling their potential. They decided to create a One World Order having only one government, one religion and one currency. This New World Order would be ruled by a few progressive elites and supported by a working caste having been intellectually reduced to a minimum functional level. The world’s population would also be reduced and kept at a calculated sustainable level.

These men, (hereafter referred to as globalists) recognized several generations were required before their goal reached fruition; in the meantime a motivated “Enlightened Elite” must be created. The effectiveness of this Enlightened Elite depended upon a complete reversal of individual thinking and thusly their minds required reprogramming. Their religion would become belief in the fallen angel Lucifer, the “Light Giver” or the “Enlightened One”; via a new culture - the Illuminati… The Illuminati religion has no desire-defeating doctrine. It encourages self-determination and pleasures of the flesh; just do whatever feels good and mete out wrath to those deserving of such treatment.

The globalists’ goal for reaching their utopia has four objectives. One of those objectives requires gaining control of education curriculum. This objective is on track as evidenced by elementary and secondary schools curriculum being gutted of basic physiology, civics, geography, history, arts and P.E.; but retains competitive centered sports.

The U.S. Department of Education was created in 1867 to collect information on schools and teachings. Since its formation, the Dept. of Education has consistently been modified with the ulterior motive of ‘dumbing down’ the populace. The latest Common Core standards are part of that original objective and uses government funding as a carrot to encourage Common Core acceptance.

If one has the nerve and rational thinking to evaluate the quality, of education’s progress from early country schools to this year’s elementary and high school graduates, such an evaluation should call to mind the basic meaning of an often-mentioned quote about war. “War is too important to be left to generals.” “Perhaps criteria for educating our children are too important to be overseen by PhD educators.”

Dwight W. Hunter

Benefits of former county employees questioned

I read your article, Nye County approves its final budget, in the Times dated Friday, June 7, 2019. I do not understand this financial liability, that of the county’s other post-employment benefits program. Why does the county budget for medical insurance for former Nye County employees, including health, dental and vision once one has retired?

As a retiree from the City of Las Vegas, I have coverage through Medicare, which offers various programs. Why are we paying for former Nye County employees to have post-employment benefits?

Thank you for your time.

Linda H. Brady

Letter writer tired of inconsiderate drivers

Why is it that some drivers believe that when they make a turn that they have the right to any lane they choose as opposed to the rule (law) of the road that you turn from lane to lane? …. that means if you turn right onto a multiple lane roadway you are required by law to turn into the first lane closest to you, not turn and wander across several lanes to the center lane!

Why is it that some drivers assume that other drivers are psychic and automatically know what you plan to do and that you need not use a signal to indicate you are turning or changing lanes???

Why is it that owners of ATVs, UTV’s, or whatever they are called, feel that they can drive on our public roadways without any license, registration, or insurance? Should I do so with my vehicle, I would get stopped, get a huge ticket (at the least) and most likely have my vehicle impounded.

Walter Dennis

Opioid epidemic spinning into worse problem

The opiate crisis is continuing to get worse in the United States and is now being considered a “syndemic,” after graduating from being an epidemic. A syndemic is when two or three other epidemics start playing off of each other.

Right now, besides the opiate epidemic, we also have the benzodiazepine epidemic and the methamphetamine epidemic as well. What’s happening is that all three epidemics are fueling each other.

The opioid crisis has been around for quite some time, as well has the benzodiazepine problem, and the methamphetamine problem has recently reappeared in the last few years. The opioid epidemic came first and can be said to have spun the other problems alongside it.

What we have happening now is that these three problems have created major increases in new HIV infections, Hepatitis C infections, sexually transmitted diseases and infectious endocarditis. I knew that if we didn’t really step up and get a handle on this problem, it was going to get worse, and it has. The opioid epidemic that has claimed thousands upon thousands of lives has now grown into a different, scarier monster.

For more information on the opiate syndemic, visit http://www.narconon-suncoast.org/blog/opioid-crisis-now-considered-a-syndemic.html

If you are in need of a referral to a treatment center, call us at 877-841-5509

Jason Good