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Letters to editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Silver Tappers thank performers and community

On behalf of B.J. Hetrick-Irwin, we would like to thank the community for supporting us once again at our recent Christmas Benefit Show, which was a great success.

We also want to thank our guest performers: Donna’s Dance Studio, Nevada Dance Center, Lisa Chamlee, Bill Watson, Johnny V, and Linda Groover.

They each assisted us in raising funds to donate to the VFW food bank in the amount od $2,200; and the Meals on Wheels Program who also received $2,200.

Without the support of our community and our many volunteers, none of this would be possible. B.J. and the Nevada Silver Tappers wish each one of you in our community a blessed Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Mitzi Sears

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

Valor Quilters thank supporters, veterans

As we come to the close of another successful year for the Nye County Valor Quilters, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks for all the support we have received this past year, which enabled us to award 102 quilts to local veterans, bringing our total to 420 since January 2016.

We especially want to thank Valley Electric, Spring Mountain Motor Sports, Mountain Falls Golf Course, the Chamber of Commerce, Tarantino’s Pizza, and the GI Store for their generous gifts for the Chance of a Lifetime raffle.

Others who donated their time and talents were Pahrump Valley High School JROTC and Key Club, the Jazz Group, Dan Marks, United Methodist Church Vocal Group, Robin Hebrock, Ralph Goff, Jerry Dumont, Deanna O’Donnell, Chaplain Drake Austin, Kittra Warren and the Marine Corps Color Guard.

Winners of the Annual Chance of a Lifetime were: first prize – two hot laps at Spring Mountain Motor Sports, Curt B.; second prize – hot air balloon ride for two, Cathy B.; third prize – two rounds of golf at Mountain Falls, Donny; Fourth prize – two dinners at Grill Room, Kittra W.; fifth prize - $100 gift card, Nancy; sixth prize - $100 gift card, Amber C.; seventh prize - $100 gift card, Kathleen C.; eighth prize – one pizza a month for a year at Tarantino’s Pizza, Rita R.; and ninth prize - one pizza a month for a year at Tarantino’s Pizza, Tim M.

In closing, all members of the Nye County Valor Quilters wish to extend our best wishes for a prosperous, healthy and happy 2019 to the entire community, but most especially, to our veterans.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Marilyn Swango,

Communications director

Charging veteran with murder makes no sense

The former Green Beret who is charged with murder in the death of a suspected Taliban bomb maker in Afghanistan is a joke. When you are serving in the combat theater your job is to kill the enemy as you find it.

Accusing a soldier of murder in the combat theater makes about as much sense as sending traffic cops to the Indy 500 to write speeding tickets.

Dave Cole

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

Some 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

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