Speaking at the fifth annual 9/11 remembrance ceremony in the Calvada Eye on Wednesday morning in Pahrump, Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly told attendees that America is now being attacked from within.
“I think what people don’t realize is that we are being attacked every day,” she said during her impromptu remarks exactly 18 years after the worst terrorist attack in American history.
“We are being attacked in the news media, we are hearing a whole bunch of propaganda about our country and our government, and what we are not doing. But we are not taking the time to see what we are doing. We need to look into what people are being taught, what people are seeing, what our kids are doing on their video games and the type of games that they are looking at.”
Additionally, Wehrly provided her thoughts on illegal immigration.
She said: “People who come into this country illegally don’t have our values. They want to take jobs, and they want to send the money back to where they came from, but we need people who are dedicated to being Americans and living their lives under our responsibility to uphold our flag and our country and our ideals, and that has to be taught.”
Earlier during her remarks, Wehrly spoke about the importance of teaching history to America’s youth, by prefacing that the country is only as strong as its weakest link.
“We have to teach what freedom means to our younger generation,” she said. “History lessons can only teach you so much, but we are not teaching American history in school. This country was always built on what the population believed and what the population needed to do. And now, how many of you actually have a voice in what your children and grandchildren are being taught? Almost nothing.”
The issue of immigration was also broached by Wehrly during her remarks, by noting that America is a nation comprised of immigrants.
“But we are a country of immigrants that wanted to be Americans, that fight to be Americans, and hold together during a time of anguish,” she said.
Wehrly also spoke about how the country has changed over the decades.
“Every day we hear the news, every day we hear the rebuttals back and forth between so many people who have so many different ideas,” she said. “But there is one common idea and that is taking your freedoms away from you. I don’t know, but there seems to be a lot of people here in this audience that are my age, maybe a little younger, and each one of you remembers the freedoms that we had when we were kids. You go outside and you’d play until dark. Your parents didn’t know where you were, they really didn’t know what you were doing, but they knew you were safe. You can’t do that today. You can’t leave your back door open.”
The 9/11 remembrance event, organized by members and leadership of the Pahrump Valley Rotary Club, was held at the First Responders Reflection Area, which was also created by local Rotarians and is at 2100 E. Walt Williams Drive.
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com, on Twitter: @pvtimes