Letters to editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Opinions can be changed by knowledge

I opine, you opine, he opines, everybody opines… I opine but I am aware that my opinion is not a final judgment. Because I know that my opinion depends on the knowledge that I have about the discussed topic. And that knowledge can vary.

I opine, but I do not persist in my opinion, as if it was immovable. I do not change as a fickle person either. However, if the opinion (dynamic by nature) becomes something static, then, instead of opinion, it will be something else: obsession, prejudice, stubbornness, or whatever.

Life is multifaceted. There are almost always several options in each situation and dilemma. Normally, each problem can have different solutions.

That is why we need to exchange opinions in order to weigh up the pros and cons of the different possibilities, according to various viewpoints, but on the recognition that our opinion is not necessarily neither the best, nor much less the only possible option. Since I receive new information, I can reaffirm my opinion; or it may be reasonable to modify it in some aspect.

José Murillo

Independent Forum of Opinion

We should be aware of laws affecting our county

Tom Waters wants to re-establish “city officials” thus bringing our property taxes higher to pay for them … Seems Tom forgot we voted them out because of unsatisfactory performances and self-gratification of wages.

Since most of our county commissioners are from this area, we are being well represented – with no need for extra public-funded personnel.

Every layer of public government means more money is required. Required from whom? We, the taxpayers of property taxes, and then higher sales tax, etc. That includes “fees” and any other type of increases that don’t say “taxes.” So my take is someone wants on the government type job for the money and retirement benefits.

Also, we all should look carefully at new ideas that affect Nye County, such as outlawing legal brothels – you know, the ones keeping the spread of STDs down to zero and bring in revenue to our county. It seems as if some would rather have Vegas-type prostitution with pimps trafficking young women forced into prostitution, not voluntary ladies of age to decide their choice of a profession. Women who are seen weekly or so by a licensed doctor for checkups to assure STDs are not passed on, unlike in las Vegas where street prostitutes often go without realizing they are infected thus passing their disease on to others. Let’s keep Nye County conservative and STD free.

Henry Hurlbut

Movement wants respect from state government

The answer to Tim Burke’s editorial, “Are rural counties breaking the law …?” is, “No.” Movements like the New Nevada State Movement want two things: The constitutionally guaranteed “Republican Form of Government” [U.S. Constitution, Article 4, Section 4], and that state governments respect and not usurp the individual rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

Our Founding Fathers feared tyranny in any form, including mob rule of a democracy. In 1967, the state of Nevada was changed from a Republican form of government to a tyrannical democracy. The proof of the tyranny are the last two elections: Rural Nevada voted one way, and the majority in Clark County voted the opposite. The Clark County view won.

Consider what our Founding Fathers knew: Laws enacted that usurp God-given individual rights are not “lawful laws” and are not to be obeyed. Consider the U.S. Constitution, Article 6, which states in part: “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; … shall be the supreme law of the land; “Since the Constitution (includes the Bill of Rights) is the supreme law of the land, laws which purport to restrict those constitutional rights are not “made in pursuance thereof,” and therefore not valid laws.

Robert E. Thomas III

chairman, New Nevada State Movement

Member of Valley Electric angry at deception

I am beyond angry at the fraud and deceit from our “member owned” Valley Electric company. Here are the many reasons why I’m upset.

When I moved to Pahrump over three years ago, I was promised fiber-optic cable connection for our internet. Instead, we got more of the WiFi and cell tower transmissions. These are proven detrimental to our health and well-being.

The lack of honesty to our members is inexcusable regarding the sexual misconduct allegations and purported “hush monies” paid to the guilty parties. While a vigorous petition will most likely force the board of directors to be replaced, their approvals of spending our money for such spurious and dastardly reasons cannot be forgiven.

What would have been so horrific to simply, quietly announce the departure of the offending CEO? Millions of our members’ monies would be saved, and it would have all been forgotten rather quickly. Shakespeare’s “oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” is more than apropos here.

Finally, a tar-and-feather treatment with a parade down Highway 160 would be the proper reaction to the replacement CEO for her attempt to use our monies for her own property enhancement. But no one seems very upset.

Insult to injury, they are going to raise our rates and service fee this month? I think a better solution is to keep rates as they are for quite a while until public anger is abated. It’s hard enough to bear the shenanigans going on in our country’s government. Now we have a mini-debacle in Pahrump. We want our grossly-misspent money back.

Patty Vinikow

VEA Member since Dec 2015

Opinion from the Nevada Republican Assembly

Last month, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford decided he could represent all of Nevada when he joined a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency to fund a border wall he has promised to build dating back to his presidential campaign. According to Ford, “President Trump cannot side-step our Constitution for a political ploy,”

According to the Washington Post, there have been 30 national emergencies declared in recent years. There are 28 currently active. During their presidencies, Obama declared 12 and Bush declared 13 of these emergencies. Some of them have had to do with the Sudanese government, the Western Balkans, Albanians in Macedonia and Zimbabwe. All protections for people of these countries. To our knowledge, there has never been a suit to stop a president’s declaration of a national emergency.

In all actuality, Trump’s declaration of emergency isn’t for a wall; the emergency is that we have a dysfunctional Congress, whose House refuses to work with the president. Democrat members of Congress and even past Democrat presidents including Obama, have all wanted to secure our southern border with a wall. But now that Trump finally wants to protect the American people, rather than spending most of our defense dollars overseas for other countries’ protection, the hypocrites in Congress come out in force against him.

It’s particularly unconscionable for Ford to have signed on with this suit, considering the recent murders by an illegal alien, of Jerry and Sherri David, and Connie Coontz and Sophia Renken. If a stronger, more secure border wall had been in place, the murder of these four innocent people, in three separate incidents, may very well not have happened. The Angel Families in this country would agree.

For those who say there’s not an emergency, Border Patrol agents and property owners along the border would disagree. Just one sector is getting 1,000 illegal entries a day. That’s 7,000 a week! How is this NOT an emergency? In just 2018, there were 266,000 criminal record arrests at the border, 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, 25,000 burglaries, 4,000 kidnappings, and 4,000 violent murders, committed by illegals who were trying to sneak into our country.

The incarceration rates for illegals is THREE TIMES as that for American citizens. Do we really want our tax dollars spent on putting these illegals in prison here? Wouldn’t it be better if they just NEVER got over the border to commit crimes here? EVERY crime committed by an illegal, is one that should have NEVER happened.

Who gave Aaron Ford the right to speak for Nevadans? He does NOT speak for us! His action tells Nevadans and the rest of America, that he cares more for illegal aliens than U.S. citizens.

Sincerely,

Juanita Cox,

President, Nevada Republican Assembly

Dr. William Tarbell,

President, Washoe County Chapter of the Nevada Republican Assembly

The Constitution is supreme law, should be obeyed

About the law regarding gun purchases and our sheriff refusing to enforce it - saying that she must uphold the Constitution are all wrong.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. The supremacy clause in Article 6 says the Constitution and laws in pursuance thereof shall be the supreme law of the land.

The second amendment states NO INFRINGEMENT on people’s keeping and bearing arms. The proposed law does just that. When the sheriff denies enforcement of the law and our county commissioners pass a resolution of the same stance, and enough citizens stand against this law, it should be nullified.

We all should obey the Constitution.

Katreen Romanoff

Anarchy would reign without the Bill of Rights

Nationwide, the critics of sheriffs who refuse to enforce unconstitutional laws are totally backwards and lack constitutional understanding.

The Bill of Rights supersedes state’s attempts to subvert the Constitution. It is the supreme law of the land, and state governments attempting to weaken or eliminate those rights are in violation of federal law. Without the Bill of Rights, the Constitution would not have been ratified by the states. That is history.

When state law is found to not conflict with federal law, it may stand. When confronted with a choice between conflicted state and federal law, the federal law is the law. Otherwise, there would be anarchy. Chew on that one.

Thomas Thompson

Should VEA replace the board of directors?

There is a group of VEA customers that seem to be intent on replacing the board of directors. The question is, should that board be replaced. I believe that the present and past boards have done a good job in managing our electric company. So why try to create an entirely new one?

If you look at the operational success of VEA and the rate structure for residential electricity, you will find that our rates are entirely within industry standards. After a little research I have found that electric rates vary greatly from state to state. Some states are paying as little as 9 cents per KWH while others are paying as much as 32 cents per KWH. The average throughout the country is right at 13 cents per KWH. So the new VEA rate of 11.956 cents per KWH looks pretty good.

Take into consideration that the area served by VEA is physically large, ie, it requires a lot of infrastructure (service lines and equipment) to serve a physical area that is very large and a population that is relatively small. This would increase operating expenses over a company that serves a densely populated area.

While our board of directors has not always made the perfect decision, they have generally made good decisions. If you think you can find a “perfect” board of directors you don’t have a grasp on reality.

Perhaps the board’s decisions not to incrementally increase rates very little and very slowly over the past years has been a mistake. By putting off that “dreaded” rate increase they have placed themselves in a position of having to put in an approximately 8 percent increase all at once. Perhaps incremental increases of 1 percent over the past years (when called for) would have been easier to take for those customers who are excessively sensitive to rate increases.

Charles Kostelaz

CASA thanks community for successful Crab Fest

On behalf of the board of directors and the foster care children of Nye and Esmeralda counties that we serve, I would like to thank everyone who attended the 8th Annual Pioneer Territory CASA Crab Fest. It was another sellout year with almost 200 people in attendance.

I would also like to thank the generous outpouring of support from all the businesses in the community for donating auction, silent auction and raffle items. A special thanks to our crab sponsors: Desert View Hospital, Gunny’s Air Conditioning &Heating, Marty Greenfield Jewelers, onezerOne, Saitta Trudeau Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge, and the Honorable Judges Wanker, Lane, Jasperson, and Chamlee; our wings sponsor: Joe’s Sanitation; and beans sponsors: Valley Electric Association and Sharon Wehrly, Nye County Sheriff. And thank all of you for coming out and bidding on our pick-a-prize, raffle, live and silent auction items!

Once again, Ski Censki and Ron Gipson donated their time and talents during the live auction portion of the program. Providing plenty of laughs and good fun, these gentlemen are to be commended not only for their continuous support of CASA, but for all the other community events for which they lend their voices. A big crab claw salute to Ski and Ron!

As Crab Fest chairperson, as well as a board member, Brian Kunzi has served over two tons of Dungeness crab over the past eight years. We presented Brian with the 2019 Crabby Award in recognition of his support and dedication to the mission of Pioneer Territory for ensuring every child has a voice.

I would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Laura Oslund. Laura has been instrumental to the success of Crab Fest and has cooked over a half-ton of chicken, baked beans, and coleslaw for Crab Fest over the past eight years!

Thank you to all the volunteers who helped collect donations and prepare, set up and take down this year’s Crab Fest!

I am very pleased to report that this year Crab Fest raised over $25,000! The net proceeds from this event goes directly towards recruiting, training, and supporting new Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA’s). Twelve (yes, 12!) new CASA recruits started training on March 9th. Upon successful completion of training, these CASA’s will advocate for children in the foster care system in our community, and will be the voice for those children in any court proceedings.

Unfortunately, our work is never-ending. There are presently 33 children in our community awaiting a CASA. We encourage anyone who is interested in volunteering to become a CASA to contact us. Fall training will begin in October. Please consider becoming a CASA today, and make a life-long lasting impact in a child’s life.

The Pioneer Territory CASA telethon will be held this summer, and the ever-popular luau will be held in September. Please visit our website at www.PTCASANV.org to keep up to date with all the latest news and events and for further information on becoming a CASA, or find out about other ways you can help. You can also find and follow us on Facebook.

Our sincerest thank you to this community for your continued support of CASA!

Kathie McKenna, Executive Director

Pioneer Territory CASA, Inc.

Disregard for human life is crime against God

Vice President Pence’s recent visit to honor Jewish Holocaust victims at Auschwitz reminded me about America’s still ongoing inhumanity and disrespect for human life.

We are shocked about how Nazi Germany, under Hitler, became so inhumane that they murdered millions of God’s elect-Jewish people, trying to exterminate them. They displayed total disregard for human life in this horrific crime against God and humanity.

And we should also be alarmed that Iranian leaders want to “kill all Jews and annihilate Israel.” They have been fed hate toward God’s chosen nation for so long that they say it is “legal and acceptable” to exterminate them.

They sure do not know that God said He would bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse Israel. With such hate they only curse themselves.

A society which believes in killing innocent human beings is a morally sick society. God’s just Commandments were edged in stone by God’s fiery finger, and given to Moses, to create a just and orderly nation/world, and so that Israel would be a blessing to the world.

After more than 400 years in captivity in Egypt, God kept His promise to Abraham, and gave the land of Canaan as inheritance to Jacob/Israel, one of Abraham descendants.

The people in that land had become morally corrupt and God passed judgment upon them to cleanse the land. Parents were spilling their children’s blood by throwing them into the fire in worship of idols.

In the last several decades America has gone so far away from God that it is now even more corrupt, than Nazi Germany and Canaan. Respect for God, and for His God-given human life, is sorely missing. Individual and national judgment is coming. Time to repent!

Manuel Ybarra, Jr. Coalgate, OK