Letters to the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Writer says thank you from Tails of Nye County

Thank you so much for publicizing Tails of Nye County’s various fundraising events.

We appreciate all you do to help make our mission of spay and neutering Pahrump’s dogs and cats a success.

Nancy Guin, volunteer

Tails of Nye County

Senator Heller unresponsive to letter

I wrote a letter to Senator Dean Heller. His office signed for it on September 22, 2017.

Now, forty days later, neither the senator nor his staff has responded.

John Burgess

Model train show information incorrect

Just a comment with wordage used in the item about the model train show in the Beatty Community Center. We very much appreciate being mentioned as participants anytime. However, the lead part of this paragraph implies that one of the railroad rooms is being filled for the first time. Not true. For the last eight years the “Pahrump Model Railroad Club” has set up our modules for Beatty Days in the Community Center and the “LV Garden Railroad Society” has been there for nine years.

Confusion may lay with our club formerly being known as the “PV Module Group”, with a name change three years ago. For several years now we have had the privilege to set up our modules every other month in the Pahrump Library to entertainment locals and visitors.

Just thought you might like to know.

Ray Squyres

PMRRC Set-up Coordinator

Pahrump resident would like to see street lights

Is there a chance of getting more street lights? They put some along some streets off of Highway 160.

It’s not safe to walk anywhere in the dark at night. Maybe they will consider putting them up at least on corners.

Maybe it will be considered, making it safer for everyone.

Ralphel Vaccaro

Beware of any Republican tax gifts, writer advises

I contributed generously to the Reagan campaign, voted twice for him, and got the shaft. He promised to lower my taxes and l ended up paying about 10 percent more while the super-rich made out like bandits, all at the cost of tripling the national debt. Yes, there was a tax break for others, but Reagan eliminated many real estate deductions, causing me to pay more in income tax.

The current tax proposal by Republicans is a scam. They are increasing some deductions but those are being more than offset by eliminating other deductions such as state and local taxes. They also want to allow only partial deduction for mortgage interest. Trickledown economics did not work under Reagan, and he was only able to expand the economy by deep deficit spending. The Republicans won’t tell you that a tax increase by Clinton on the super-rich not only helped spur economic growth, but enabled us to start paying down our debt.

One of the first things Bill Clinton did as president was to increase taxes on the rich. It passed without a vote to spare strictly on party lines. In those days I was still a Republican and listened to Rush Limbaugh who repeatedly said, “This tax hike is going to bring on the biggest recession we have ever seen since the Great Depression.” He repeated this message for several weeks. Rush could not have been more wrong, Clinton, instead of using trickledown economics, used the new revenue to hire 100,000 new law enforcement personnel. Almost immediately, there was more consumption resulting in even more jobs being created. In all Clinton added 21.5 million new jobs, unbelievable! But that was only part of the good news.

About the sixth year, when he gave the state of our union address he told us that we not only had a balanced budget, we also were paying down the national debt. All the Democrats rose to their feet and cheered for a few minutes, but all the Republicans had sour faces. To my dying day will never understand how anyone could not have been pleased with such good news. Clinton and the Democrats had reversed the pattern set by Reagan and the Republicans from deficit spending to creating more jobs and paying down our debt. How could anyone be anti-American on such an issue?

For some reason the Republicans cannot stand balanced budgets. George W. Bush, against the advice of his treasurer, Mr. O’Neal, drastically cut the taxes for the rich while we were still paying down the debt. Republicans said, “Deficits don’t matter,” and re-ignited the downward slope of deficit spending.

Now they want to increase deficit spending while trying to convince us that it is good for our economy. It is good for mostly the corporations and the super-rich and will hurt our economy, primarily because it will take more of consumer dollars and send that revenue to Washington. It’s a lie that corporations will hire more people with the proposed tax bill. In the past they have bought more of their own stocks with increased earnings.

If enough Republican voters carefully think the new tax proposal through and not listen to the liars on Fox News, they will correctly conclude that this new tax plan is a gift to the corporations and the rich, while ripping off the middle-class taxpayers and increasing deficit spending, and in the end hurting our economy.

Can Republican voters think this one through for their own best interests or will they be parrots for Fox News?

Jim Ferrell

Our society is not prepared to live without electricity

Thank you Mr. Alex Sokolow, for your Nov. 1 letter in the PVT, bringing attention to EMPs (electromagnetic pulses). I certainly am not an expert, but with some research and inquiries with some electrical engineers, it was easily understood.

First, we must think about how long we could live without electricity. Unlike our grandparents or great-grandparents, most of us would be gone in the first 60 days easily. No electricity means no clean water, no food distribution, no fuel, even if you happen to have one of the few vehicles that run, no communications, no emergency responders, entire societal breakdown, “survival of the fittest”, with many criminal gangs being on top of the food chain, at least for a short while, before succumbing to lack of basic necessities like food and water.

How could all this possibly happen? It’s not as difficult as it may seem, with the help of having a nuclear capability and a delivery system.

Detonating a nuclear device, at strategic geographical points, would fry most of our nation’s main power grids. Not only devices and wiring but the gigantic transformers, which are not made here and are not built until ordered, with a usual six to 12-month wait for delivery.

I’m sure many of the powerful, both public and private, have a level of plans and safeties for themselves and their families, at least for a limited time, but I don’t doubt 90 percent of the people would perish within six months.

The sad part is, to my understanding, this threat could be easily neutralized fairly inexpensively, ($20 to $30 billion, which today is a rounding error in D.C.) with proper Faraday cages and breakers. A Faraday cage is like a lightning rod, which would direct the EMP harmlessly to ground.

Maybe this would be a waste of more money but then again so is fire insurance if you never have a fire.

David Jaronik