Letters to editor of the Pahrump Valley Times
Raised taxes are not going toward education of kids
I am concerned about the “raising gaming tax not discussed for boosting education funding” in your paper dated May 22, 2019. I have seen that we keep pouring money into education but most of the students leave not able to read above the eighth-grade level. It seems to me that all education funds do not go toward the education of the kids but to the teacher for their pensions, health care, etc.
Why aren’t the kids coming out of school ready for the world? Instead of giving the fund to the teachers, please bring back the workshops, for example, woodworking, automotive, welding, etc., so they can pick a career. College is not for everyone.
Thank you,
Linda Oliver
Medical helicopter story inspires reader to write a letter
In response to the May 24 PV Times article well penned by Selwyn Harris regarding Amy Nelson.
Let this be said to each and every citizen of Pahrump, Nevada:
We don’t have to tolerate the evil buzzards of this world who came to roost and live off of our misfortunes of life.
Opportunists thrive on this type of thing and if we only open our minds, we’d see how Mercy Air, Great Basin Utilities, Valley Electric, and Healthcare Partners, to name just a few, have made a tidy living off our misfortunes, and are laughing all the way to their banks, only to come back and do it again tomorrow.
But wait, citizens of Pahrump. We do have a few options, but first, open your minds to instill change here, and very soon, please!
Consider this: Approach Nye County government to enact a new line item in our property taxes to pay for, and own, a World Class Hospital, staffed with talented medical specialists who would love to live in our town, not commute from Vegas on their own schedules.
Medical people need a reason to live in Pahrump and a superior world class hospital is a starting point.
The other point is to have our fire department/EMTs and staff enhanced with more personnel and another ambulance or two. Our fire chief, Scott Lewis would appreciate this upgrade.
These are tax dollars well spent. Our aging population, and young people, too, use their services often. Just listen to the sirens when transporting people to our hospital, racing up Highway 372.
By doing just these two positive things would create an imbalanced financial reason for Mercy Air to exist, and they’ll pack their scam operation and move on. Good riddance!
The Great Basin, VEA and HealthCare Partners people are an equally nagging concern but with great minds and a determined citizenry, we can unseat them from among us.
There is no reason not to try this plan and as our president has said, let’s make America great again by those initiatives.
Wake up, Pahrump, please wake up! Let’s make a positive change in our near future.
Charles Billings
Resident sees some positives in Assembly Bill 95
In regard to Tim’s Take of 5/31/19 and Assembly Bill 95:
My wife and I are Pahrump property owners with a 208-foot private well, so naturally, Assembly Bill 95 is of direct interest to us. I was alarmed after reading Tim’s column but slightly less so after I actually read the entirety of Assembly Bill 95 which is easily found online:
https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/80th2019/Bill/6082/Text
Although written in obtuse legalese, it’s only three pages long. My reading of the bill seems to show at least one major issue. To wit:
Mr. Burke stated that Assembly Bill 95 gives the state engineer the ability to install water meters (on presumably residential wells). From Page 1:
This bill provides that if a court of competent jurisdiction orders the state engineer to restrict withdrawals to conform to priority rights or if the state engineer orders that withdrawals be restricted to conform to priority rights in any of these groundwater basins, the state engineer must limit the restriction on withdrawals from domestic wells to allow a domestic well to continue to withdraw 0.5 acre-feet of water per year if the owner of the domestic well installs or has installed a water meter to record the withdrawal.
From Page 3:
If a court of competent jurisdiction orders the state engineer to restrict withdrawals to conform to priority rights or if pursuant to subsection 6 or 7, the state engineer orders that withdrawals be restricted to conform to priority rights, the state engineer must limit the restriction of withdrawals from a domestic well to allow a domestic well to continue to withdraw 0.5 acre-feet of water per year, which must be recorded by a water meter.
So page 1 says IF there is a water meter but page 3 pretty much implies there MUST be one. I may be missing something or this seems to be a sloppily-written bill. Which one is it? And the bill seems to leave much discretion to “a court of competent jurisdiction.”
That said, I see good things in this bill:
From Page 3:
The state engineer shall include as a condition of the permit that pumping water pursuant to the permit may be limited or prohibited to prevent any unreasonable adverse effects on an existing domestic well located within 2,500 feet of the well, unless the holder of the permit and the owner of the domestic well have agreed to alternative measures that mitigate those adverse effects.
It seems to me this portion of the bill protects current well owners against future wells within 2,500 feet of theirs, something I see as a positive move. The bill would be far better with non-contradictory wording and also clear differentiation between private wells used for residential versus wells used for farming and commercial applications, both of which have higher usage patterns.
Alexsander “Sasha” Jevtich
Laura Jevtich
Educating today’s youth different from past
Have you ever wondered why young adults graduating from high schools are unable to express themselves verbally or in written composition, ignorant about how their body works and without a clue about the working of various levels of government?
Before I offer an answer to those issues, I suggest considering a few questions contained in an eighth-grade final examination given in Salina, Kansas circa 1895, and as an addendum, when this test was in use, anyone writing a passing grade on this exam was eligible to become a teacher. (The following questions were selected from a Google search… Final Exam, Eighth grade. Salina, Kansas, 1895).
Grammar
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
4. What are the Principal parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
Arithmetic
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare?
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent?
U.S. History
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War?
Orthography
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
Geography
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
I doubt very few readers, regardless of their education, can answer each of the example questions correctly. (Incidentally, neither can I). It is obvious a complete answer to my above question could require a very large and lengthy history book; but due to space limitations of this column I can only offer a very brief overview.
Approximately two hundred years ago a small group of men in Bavaria concluded individual nation-based laws and religious doctrines were stifling their potential. They decided to create a One World Order having only one government, one religion and one currency. This New World Order would be ruled by a few progressive elites and supported by a working caste having been intellectually reduced to a minimum functional level. The world’s population would also be reduced and kept at a calculated sustainable level.
These men, (hereafter referred to as globalists) recognized several generations were required before their goal reached fruition; in the meantime, a motivated “Enlightened Elite” must be created. The effectiveness of this Enlightened Elite depended upon a complete reversal of individual thinking and thusly their minds required reprogramming. Their religion would become belief in the fallen angel Lucifer, the “Light Giver” or the “Enlightened One”; via a new culture - the Illuminati… The Illuminati religion has no desire-defeating doctrine. It encourages self-determination and pleasures of the flesh; just do whatever feels good and mete out wrath to those deserving of such treatment.
The globalists’ goal for reaching their utopia has four objectives. One of those objectives requires gaining control of education curriculum. This objective is on track as evidenced by elementary and secondary schools curriculum being gutted of basic physiology, civics, geography, history, arts and P.E.; but retains competitive centered sports.
The U.S. Department of Education was created in 1867 to collect information on schools and teachings. Since its formation, the Dept. of Education has consistently been modified with the ulterior motive of ‘dumbing down’ the populace. The latest Common Core standards are part of that original objective and uses government funding as a carrot to encourage Common Core acceptance.
If one has the nerve and rational thinking to evaluate the quality, of education’s progress from early country schools to this year’s elementary and high school graduates, such an evaluation should call to mind the basic meaning of an often-mentioned quote about war. “War is too important to be left to generals.” “Perhaps criteria for educating our children are too important to be overseen by PhD educators.”
Dwight W. Hunter
