Letters to the Editor

Book burning example of extremism

Reading the article about the local Pahrump pastor who is planning to burn some books this weekend. Why? Purity, of course. It’s always about purity. This is one of the most numbskull ideas. Burning books?! Only religious troglodytes and narrow-minded political extremists do things like this. Nazi’s did stuff like this. The Spanish Inquisition did stuff like this. ISIS does stuff like this today. Oh, and apparently, so does Pahrump’s Christian community. That’s sad.

Please, if you have books you don’t like and don’t want anymore, then donate them to the Pahrump’s community library, and let them handle it.

Thomas Rasmussen

Nye County needs revenue from marijuana

The banner headline on the April 1, 2015 edition of the PVT jumped out at me: “LV pot company wants Nye water.” Was this an April fool’s joke? No, it wasn’t. After months of concerns in Nye County about the water use exceeding the replacement, a special committee was appointed to look at ways to lessen this problem. One of the proposals was to limit the amount of water that private wells could draw. I’m sure they had/have many more ideas that I am not aware of.

Now we find out that the Nye County Board of Nye County Commissioners signed off on a special use permit on July 16, 2014 that gave use of the water rights for a 37 -1/2 acre parcel of land for growing marijuana to a Las Vegas business. The marijuana industry is a highly profitable venture which is why so many applications were submitted for a very limited number of permits for growing and distributing in Nevada. The use of Nye County water and the growing of the marijuana needs to be in Nye County.

Amargosa Valley Town Board member John Bosta indicted the original application of Acres Cultivation was fraudulent. He also indicated the owner of the land had the right to use a specified amount of water as he wanted. However, this does not have to be a “done deal.” Our legal system works slowly and litigation can go on for years. If all else fails, legal avenues need to be used to prevent this “rape” of the residents of Nye County.

This county is the largest and the poorest in Nevada. A huge percentage of Nye County residents live near or below the poverty level. Limited county resources are available to meet the needs of residents living at this level. If any county in Nevada needs the revenue that would come into its coffers from the huge profits of the marijuana industry, it is Nye County.

The possibility that Nye County water is going to Las Vegas to grow marijuana enrages me. Every citizen of Nye County should be enraged as well.

Hundreds of Nye County residents need to attend the April 23rd meeting of the town board to voice their anger at the plan to use Nye County water for the Las Vegas marijuana industry.

THIS LETTER IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS MY ENDORSEMENT OF THE USE OF MARIJUANA. It is simply my statement regarding water rights and this county sharing much-needed revenue which will come from the marijuana industry. The growing and use of marijuana in Nevada is going to happen whether you or I think it should or shouldn’t.

Corbitte Henry