Letters to editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Can any of us afford an air ambulance trip to Vegas?

No doubt many of us share the anguish of the lady faced with bankruptcy because she is confronted with an exorbitant charge for a helicopter transfer from Desert View Hospital to a medical facility in Las Vegas. A follow-up story was in the PV Times on June 14, 2019.

When questioned by a PV Times reporter, the air service representative responded with various whys and wherefores. Meanwhile, the patient - and I dare say - the victim, is left with few options. It’s possible that a lawyer could intercede on her behalf, although that step may be limited. As for DVH, the cost of air ambulance service appears to be of minimal concern…. It’s not our problem. Take it up with the transporter.

We must face the reality that even for those who maintain essential medical insurance, the cost of transport by air ambulance from Pahrump can be ruinous.

Yes. I well understand that there is no free lunch. Yet I find this situation not merely troubling, it is intolerable. Surely air evacuation of patients from any location within Nye County can be accomplished without stripping them of their basic wherewithal.

The thought occurs that a helicopter ride from Las Vegas for an aerial view of the Grand Canyon can run you what, two, three hundred bucks? And you’ll cover a distance of around 500 miles round-trip. By comparison, the charge for emergency airlift to a medical facility only 60 miles away is nothing less than outrageous.

What alternatives are there? One that comes to mind is informed choice. Whenever medical attention is required beyond the capacity of our local hospital and transfer by air is the best option, the patient or the patient’s representative must decide how to go. And before that decision is made, the patient or representative ought to be made aware of the cost.

Would it be unreasonable for the state to provide oversight and require that the fees charged by the air transporter’s parent corporation be modified, based on a patient’s financial circumstances? Then again, like any other business, regulation the air ambulance could be done by Nye County through its licensing process.

There may be other possibilities worth consideration. In any case, I must believe that the medical needs of rural Nevadans can be met short of impoverishing us.

Ralph Bazan

American citizens need to vote for change

It appears our socialist politicians are slowly winning the battle of the uninformed and illiterate, brainwashing our kids and the socialist higher educated students.

I have lived up and down the West Coast for much of my life and have seen the transformation of Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Long beach and the worst – San Francisco – into basically “slum cities” from good, clean, well-kept cities. It’s sad.

You would think taxpaying citizens of all political parties would want change and not vote for the same old speeches and no change for the better, and vote their wants for a better living environment for themselves and their young. But I guess anyone who allows organizations like unions, cliques, companies, and especially rich socialites, famous actors and such to tell them who to vote for deserve the slum cities to live in.

When we as citizens don’t vote for change for the betterment, per our very relevant Constitution and written rights of our republic, we get exactly what the elite want, a ruling class and the rest of us pay for it. It’s time to actually vote for ourselves.

Henry Hurlbut

Most people fear the word ‘radioactivity’

Living in Beatty, Nevada, for over 50 years, I have learned a lot regarding various subjects.

One of the most interesting things I have learned is how people deal within themselves regarding the word “radioactivity.”

The word radioactivity speaks for itself, and in more ways in which people are afraid to admit within themselves, much less to each other. Please let me explain.

Radioactivity is “here” basically for all eternity as it has been since long before mankind, namely, the Sun. It isn’t something we can get rid of, so now we, as a people, have to deal with it. Now the question is: How do we deal with it? That is a good question.

Basically, and simply put, radioactivity is nothing else but a flow of particles, neutrons, etc., which is controlled by radioactive absorbing rods to maintain the desired level of energy contained within radioactive reactors. Yes, sometimes things go wrong and we have emergency situations develop such as Three Mile Island, for example. There has been reactor problems within Russia and Japan as well. Now the question is: How many people died from these reactor failures?

We, including people worldwide, went through the same thing about 130 years ago. It was called electricity. People were afraid of electricity because they didn’t fully understand it. All they “knew” were the hazards of which they heard from other people. Since then electricity is very widely accepted and virtually used in every way of today’s life.

Electricity is nothing else than a controlled flow of electrons that goes house to house, and all businesses throughout the world. Without it, where would we be? What would our world have been like without electricity? The list of questions go on forever, but, at the beginning of the development of electricity, people were equally as scared then about electricity and the problems resulting from it just as we are now presently afraid of radioactivity.

The only problem with radioactivity vs. electricity means we have used radioactive rock to deal with. And now this brings issues to bear in mind. What do we do with the used sources of nuclear fuel? Presently we have numerous used fuel sources scattered all over the world. And what about the present monitoring of these used fuel sources? Are they as adequate as our technology within the United States? What will be done in time when the containers become corroded to such an extent they are no longer able to safely contain the radioactive fuel sources within? There are ways to deal with this I would like to address.

1) Right now we have a site in Nye County, Nevada, known as Yucca Mountain Repository Site, which is also attached to the Mercury Test Site, which is known to be a testing center for above ground and below ground nuclear weapons. Because of these nuclear tests, scientists developed ways to monitor radioactivity.

2) Because of the nuclear weapon testing mentioned in part 1, the grounds surrounding the actual test sites are basically known to be condemned for hundreds of thousands of years. Why can’t the land in the same proximity for testing be used for Yucca Mountain? We have the scientific know-how to monitor the storage and the best way to address situations as they become apparent. Why contaminate other lands basically being used for the same purpose as Yucca Mountain?

3) Instead of using Yucca Mountain as a high-yielding nuclear burial site, I would like to propose Yucca Mountain be used as a radioactive incinerator, in other words, burn the used fuel source to such an extent there are only ashes to deal with, and then store those remaining ashes within Yucca Mountain. It would greatly minimize the ever-pressing need to build more storage containers and would make people realize there is not really anything to be so greatly concerned about.

Right now the main thing Yucca Mountain Repository Site is being used for is nothing else but a political football. It is an item being used by political hopefuls to gain votes. The game is over, now, let’s deal with the issues. I am led to believe the repository site has already been finished and awaiting a train bed to be built to access Yucca Mountain.

In closing, I would like to ask a very simple question: How many people have died worldwide because of nuclear issues such as Three Mile Island, Russia, and Japan’s nuclear reactor problems and how many people died last year in the wildfire in Paradise, California, and not counting so many other people who died due to wildfires in California and throughout the entire world?

What was the cause of the Paradise fire? A faulty electrical wire falling to the ground sparking the fire. Interesting? Are we going to outlaw electricity now?

I, as a private citizen, would welcome any and all future development of Yucca Mountain and to explore the incineration concept I presented, and in hopes this email will generate favorable support from all political representatives regarding Yucca Mountain, including and not limited to, public support, Nye County commissioners, Nevada state legislators, United States legislators, and the president of the United States of America.

Sincerely,

Perry A. Forsyth