Letters to editor of Pahrump Valley Times

A humane answer to the feral cat problem in Pahrump

Have you heard of Tails of Nye County? It is a 501 (c) 3 federal nonprofit organization dedicated to helping this community with its growing feral cat population. Feral cats are the “wild” offspring of domestic cats and are primarily the result of pet owners’ abandonment or failure to spay and neuter their animals, which allows them to breed uncontrolled. An unaltered female, her mate, and their offspring can result in over 10,000 cats in just a few years!

Feral cat colonies can be found throughout Pahrump where they live behind shopping areas, businesses, parks, abandoned buildings, and even under your porch. Tails of Nye County provides this community the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program which is the only humane, effective approach to care for our feral cat population. Cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, ear-tipped and then returned to their outdoor home. They are returned to the place they are trapped because cats live in family groups and are bonded to their environments and colonies. An ear tip identifies a cat that is neutered and vaccinated and is a painless procedure that is done while the cat is under anesthesia.

Studies have proven that TNR is the only humane approach for caring for our feral cats. Taking these cats to crowded shelters and hoping they will be adopted does not often work because feral cats are not socialized and, thus, they are unadoptable resulting in euthanasia for many of them—even at no-kill shelters.

Without human intervention, there is no end to the cycle of reproduction and misery of homeless cats. Tails of Nye County is dedicated to ending this suffering through their TNR program which traps and sterilizes over 1,000 stray cats annually. Although they offer this service to Pahrump at no charge, financial support is desperately needed for this work to continue. If you wish to support this organization with a donation or by volunteering, you can contact us at 702-306-3245. To learn more about Tails of Nye County, please like us on Facebook and visit our website at www.tailsofnyecounty.com

Our mailing address is P.O. Box 9045, Pahrump, NV 89060.

Sabre Sabatino

volunteer for Tails of Nye County

Relay for Life bowling fundraiser a success

Our bowling fundraiser held on May 7, 2017 was a big success. We raised $1,264 for the American Cancer Society.

Thank you to all the businesses that donated prizes to be raffled off. We had a great array of prizes.

Thank you also to the Pahrump Nugget for sponsoring the fundraiser and thank you to all of the people who came out to support our cause, have fun, and maybe even win a prize or two.

Hope to see you next year!

Trish Wampler

Our bilingual US society isn’t helping many

Regarding the article on page A19 of the June 2, Pahrump Valley Times:

“Why do I have to push 1?” made one comment that I would expand on.

He states “Those same immigrants speak their native language in their homes, with their families and their friends but they speak English when they step out into their daily American lives.” I would add: “But they don’t speak it well.”

This dual language causes the immigrant to think and speak primarily in the native language and they never learn to speak English fluently.

I am amazed at the number of people that talk on the phone that are impossible to understand due to the accent and poorly spoken English.

He mentioned the waiter that learned to speak English well from video games. There is another way. I spoke to a man from an oriental country a few years ago that I could hardly communicate with. I asked him how long he had been in the U.S. He said five years. I then spoke to a young lady from the same country who spoke perfect English. I asked her how long she had been here. She said five years. I compared her English to the previous person and asked her why the difference. She stated that she moved in with an American roommate and only speaks English with friends and family unless absolutely necessary to revert to her native language.

So Mr. Burke’s statement needs to be revised to “Those same immigrants will never learn proper English as long as they spend a large amount of their time speaking in the native language.”

I worked for a couple of immigrants who had been in the U.S. for over 20 years. The husband spoke fairly well. The wife was barely understandable and she was allowed to answer the phone for the business.

In our business, we get numerous sales calls weekly obviously from other countries or immigrants hired here. Most of them have such a heavy accent that I tell them “I don’t accept calls from persons that I can’t understand!” You may think that rude but I am fed up with a “bilingual” country and trying to understand bad accents.

Finally, most Americans are also tired of calling for help and getting an outsourced “customer service” person that has a terrible accent. When that happens I ask they to transfer me to someone who speaks better English.

Loren Barrett

Reader rebuts Hof letter on brothel fee increases

I read Mr. Dennis Hof’s letter and was sad to see we have yet another antagonistic, bitter person looming over our public life, right here in Nye County. Mr. Hof is convinced that political enemies of his have targeted his businesses, potentially costing him profits, as the Nye County Commission plans a different fee structure, which he has deemed is unfair to him. He laments the fact that his employees, the women of the brothels, will now have to pay $100 more a year for work permits.

He is even outraged, and clearly wants the reader to be, that this money is being newly designated for the general fund, which he does not deem a worthy repository. Gee! There’s more on his list of complaints. There’s more whining about the cost of doing business, and then he compares his plight as a reluctant taxpayer and brothel owner to the apocalyptic horror of Pearl Harbor. He declares himself “a sleeping giant” who has been awakened to a terrible injustice. Whew! No need to look afield for a petulant strongman - we grow ‘em locally.

Time, costs and public opinion all do march on. What once seemed like a glittery and edgy enterprise can become distasteful, even repugnant to the majority of voters as our rural communities mature and cohere. Mr. Hof seems surprised that his wishes may not always be met by the citizens of Nye County, but voters can’t count on a bellicose conspiracy theorist to spread prosperity.

Mary Beth Aragon