Letters to the Editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Reader thanks newspaper carriers, postal workers

I would like to commend all postal workers, mail and package deliverers, and newspaper carriers who have been working so diligently during this crisis. Thank you for your wonderful efforts to keep us informed. Newspapers are delivered every morning and mail is delivered six times per week.

Too often we are the ones who take all this for granted. I want to tell you how much I appreciate all you do.

Pahrump is a much better community due to your efforts. So again from all of us, I want to offer a big “Thank you” for a job well done.

Betty Cotner

Lies of omission about the coronavirus pandemic

The media may attempt to report some “facts” most of the time, but they often omit other pertinent facts to shape a story to fit their agenda. That’s just as dishonest as telling a straight-out lie.

For example, the coronavirus statistics we hear about. Saying on Monday that there are “25 confirmed cases” in Nevada, then on Wednesday there are “50 confirmed cases” may be factually correct. The reporter leads you to believe that the virus is doubling every two days. Scary!

But is that the real truth? Probably not. They are omitting other facts. Let’s say in actual truth 100 people in Nevada really have the coronavirus, but as we all have heard, test kits are limited. If 250 sick people were tested by Monday and 10% of them were shown to have the virus, that does equal 25. By Wednesday, an additional 250 were tested and 25 more were confirmed so now the total is 50. The “facts” do say the number of “confirmed cases” doubled.

But the real truth is that only the number of tests given doubled. The amount of people who actually have the virus could be unchanged from the original 100! Why would the media hide the “rest of the story”? Maybe they have an agenda in this important election year? Be smart. Think about the whole story and ask your favorite news source to report all the facts, i.e. the truth.

Mike Burgan