Letters to the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Reader seconds opinion of DMV treatment

Thank you, Mr. John L. Knapp for putting my thoughts into words concerning the inhumane treatment we receive at the DMV.

Why should we have to stand when we could be sitting? Too bad we are too old and infirm to organize a boycott of the place!!!

Nona Hamblin

Reader thinks Nevada DMV is unnecessary office

Decades ago, I relished (OK, a stretch) visiting the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, located on the southwest corner of Sahara at Mojave. I didn’t walk through the front door, with the hairs up on the back of my neck. They were very pleasant, in their manner of business. After 15 minutes of business, we would get around to swapping tales. I learned a lot about the history of Nevada, and Las Vegas. I enjoyed those visits.

All of that would change, in 1973, when NDMV would move into the new ‘whiz bang, super computer’ office building, located at the northeast corner of Sahara and McLeod. The instant that building was opened, a level of arrogance and contempt that I had not expected, surfaced and was directed toward the ‘ignorant, unwashed, lackey louts’ that paid for the new building to be graced by the elitist public servants. No longer would they respect those that provide the cushy, slow-paced, soft, easy jobs. Paper cuts would become their prime concern.

After all of the disrespectful antics demonstrated by the NDMV, my wife got a notice of her driver’s license renewal. The notification stated, “If you will be 71 years of age or older at the time your license expires, you need to have your physician complete the Physical Evaluation form on page 3 of this notice (missing punctuation by NDMV). You must submit the form within 90 days of your physical examination.” I sat down and calculated this latest idea from our NDMV.

There would be 230 miles traveled, to our physician, to conduct the examination. There would be 230 miles traveled to retrieve the examination, plus a $35 fee for the examination paperwork, plus the doctor’s fee for the visit. Then, there would be 130 miles traveled to get to the NDMV, or 40 miles traveled to the United States Post Office to mail (return receipt required) the paperwork. Then there are the many taxes levied against her to pay for the license. As you all may have noticed, the number of and the costs of all of those taxes have increased as fast as their imaginations can create them. All monies paid to the government, regardless of level, regardless of name/description, are taxes that fund the operation of our government. We would have 500 miles, or 590 miles traveled, in addition to the $150-plus costs in cash.

I noticed, some time back, the addition of the ‘technology fee - vr $1.00’. They are paid quite handsomely, to do that which they have added another tax, to perform that required task. After giving careful thought, and reviewing the history of the NDMV, I feel quite comfortable in stating, “We Nevadans, could get along just fine without the NDMV.” The tax collection could be accomplished by the Nevada Tax Commission, and all of the unnecessary, fanciful, imaginary, expensive rules and regulations could be eliminated. There is nothing that NDMV does that we could not survive without. NDMV provides no increase to the economic wealth of our nation. To the contrary, NDMV is an expensive, frivolous government office that wastes our tax dollars.

Wayne P. Brotherton, Sr.

Family is still the foundation of our society

I know a young couple. It seems to me that they are a domestic partnership or married under civil law (having a daughter), and I like them. I usually greeted them with affection whenever we met by chance, even though in my heart I did not agree with their way of living. They lived in a beautiful house with large plot and a swimming pool, two pets, a cat and a dog, wandering sometimes on their own, and servants.

They own small and medium-size companies that expanded before the economic crisis arrived, and so they were able to enjoy a high living standard, but at the expense of getting out of home early in the morning and returning after dark. They were able to resist recession, though if you look at the symptoms it made a significant dent in them.

Their working endlessly seemed to me to be absurd. Watching their hustle and bustle I just wondered what they worked so much for if their lifestyle prevented from staying calm to enjoy more familiar values and their fortune. They could barely see their daughter, absorbed as they were in business. A maid was in charge of her about domestic habits and took her to a close private school and picked her up from there. Grandparents cooperated for celebrations and vacations, although they were living far away.

In the end they showed a strange behavior. They gave the impression to have no affinity between them. And indeed, finally it was known they had broken up “amicably”. Yellow press speaks about these friendly breaks as if they know how to separate “keeping their friendship”, without allowing their old love to become hatred, while they find another person to fill their affection vacuum.

However progressive and democratic these kind of breaks may be, I appreciate less than those families that in spite of their problems, keep united “till death do them part”, giving their children an example of overcoming problems, of their love and union in a common purpose. Pope Francis said that married life “is something lovely. We must always take care of it, watch over children”, reminding “his three magic words: permission, thanks, forgiveness”.

Permission not to encroach upon partner’s life. Thanks for what the other did to me, the beauty of saying thank you. And the last one, forgive me please, what sometimes is more difficult, but necessary to say”.

At the same time the Supreme Pontiff added: “When a family prays, when the husband prays for his wife, and the wife for her husband, the bond becomes stronger”.

Family is the foundation of the society, but Spain is one of the countries with a higher divorce rate. Throughout the year 2014 there had been 105,983 sentences for annulment, separation or divorce, 5.4 percent more than last year. INE reported the average length of marriages in 2014 was 15.8 years, similar to 2013. These percentages tell us that the foundation of our society goes wrong.

Ricardo Gutiérrez Ballarín

Elks Lodge thanks community for fundraiser

Pahrump Elks Lodge #2796 wishes to thank the following businesses and individuals for their donations of raffle prizes for our USO benefit fundraiser on June 24th. Thanks to your donations, the lodge raised over $3,200 for the USO unit at McCarran International Airport.

Albertsons Bakery; Amber Murphy; Carmelo’s Bistro; Carol Burton, Inspiration Salon; Do It Best Hardware; Dtech Onsite Services; Fitness for $10 ;Front Sight; Greenspan Brokerage; Harvey’s Barber Shop; Holiday Inn Express; Jane Schmidt; Liberty Tax Preparation; Lisa Bond Real Estate; Mark’s Grill; Mastertech Computers; Michael Foley; Mom’s Diner; Mona Lisa Dickerson; Mountain Falls Golf Course; Nevada Treasure RV Resort; Pahrump Nugget Hotel Casino; Pahrump Valley Auto Plaza; Pahrump Valley Winery; Pete’s Auto Clinic; Purcell Tires; Romero’s Restaurant; Scotty Winegar, Ms. Senior Nye County; Sherry Brady; Stockman’s Steakhouse; Subway Restaurants; Sue Ann Vasquez; Taco Bell; Terrible’s Roadhouse; and Valley Electric Association.

Dennis London

Transgender soldier story gets reaction

The Pahrump Valley Times story by Emerson Marcus on July 28, was a human interest story, tugging of “heartstrings” for the deserved sympathy of the struggles of a transgender individual. Trying to live by the “live and let live” philosophy, the real world problems arise.

Whether or not politically correct people want to admit it, there really are physical differences between the male and female species, which presents some different health care needs. Adding the transgender element, there’s now hormone, drugs and other medical procedures. Who pays? Adding also more time off, also again, who pays?

Being a Vietnam vet, I do know the military capabilities and readiness is not the place for social experiments, no matter how noble one may think, is the place for 0.3 percent of the U.S. transgender population experiment.

David Jaronik

Un-American Republicans inflict death and damage on us

For the past seven years the Republicans have complained about how awful ObamaCare is, yet when trying to replace it they offered a solution which would cause thousands of our fellow Americans to die and leave many more in a state of hopeless sickness. All this so that they could give tax breaks to the richest among us. Mr. Liar, woman abuser, thieving Trump, I pay for the Obama tax and do not want to discontinue paying it, especially if it means making my fellow Americans suffer and die. As we often say in America, “either put up or shut up.” You and your anti-American Republicans apparently can’t do either. Thank you to Senator McCain for again standing up to the enemy of America, this time being the Republican Party.

Contrary to what the lying Republicans have been telling us, ObamaCare, while not perfect and needs fixing, has been the single biggest job creator of the 21st century. Over five million jobs were established because of ObamaCare. These health care workers are buying homes, new cars, and sending their children to colleges and universities. If the repeal without replacement bill had passed, millions of these health care workers would be without jobs and again we would be pushed into another Republican recession, which is so typical when they govern. Many businesses would suffer and go under without the health care workers who are consumers.

Moreover, this phony supply side economic theory, the belief that if we lower taxes, especially for the rich, that this in turn will more than offset itself with increased spending, thus creating more government revenue, is a hoax, designed to give fat cats more tax breaks. For example, I have enough to get anything I want, and lower taxes won’t make any difference.

We should all remember that Reagan tripled the national debt from one trillion to three trillion with supply side economics. If the republicans really wanted to balance the budget they should duplicate the tax structure that Bill Clinton had. He not only balanced the budget, but was paying down our debt until Slime Ball G.W. Bush came in and drastically lowered the taxes for the very rich, and brought about the greatest recession since the Great Depression. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. Thank God for Obama and ObamaCare which restored us to a good economy.

Finally, what makes the whole Republican governance so deplorable is that many of us are being led astray by agencies for the very rich such as Fox News and the Koch brothers, which in turn program many of the less informed, like the rednecks and crackers. For example, probably the reddest state, Mississippi, takes in much more tax revenue than it pays to the federal government. Welfare runs rampant in Mississippi, yet it overwhelmingly votes Republican in every national election. The Republicans want to end welfare, yet welfare voters in Mississippi keep it a red state. Go figure.

Jim Ferrell