Letters to the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Moose Lodge replacement needed for event

A great, big thank you to Todd and Sue Bales, coming from Tennessee and helping with the Baker to Las Vegas run. Also Barb, Daisy, Tim, Wanda, Larry, Rick Sr., Rick Jr., Bill, Barry, and our great announcer, Alberto. A great job by all. As usual, it was a great success. The first runner came in at 4 p.m. and the last at 12:20 a.m.

This was my 27th year being a part of this, and my last. Since the ending of last year’s race I’ve asked if anyone would like to take this over and have gotten no response. I spoke to Chris at the Chamber of Commerce and he said he would try and find a replacement for the Moose Lodge. He is working on this as we would like to see this continue. It is a great source of income for our town.

The Los Angeles Elite team won in record time. The Los Angeles Women’s team won in record time as well.

If anyone would like to take over this great event, please contact Chris at the Chamber of Commerce at 775-727-5800.

Thank you Pahrump for supporting this, and all our law enforcement personnel who worked so diligently over this past year to make this happen.

A special thank you to John and Chuck for their never-ending advice and support.

Jim Cornell

community service chairman

Moose Lodge #808

Is ‘See something, say something’ useless?

From what I read in the Pahrump Valley Times, a homeless man prone to outbursts of anger and violent threats had taken up residency on the Bell Vista gun range. A complaint was lodged (“See something, say something”). The department responsible for the safety of its citizens responded that they could not do anything about it.

Really? With the amount of violence going on across this country, isn’t it imperative to try to prevent crimes of violence by following up on reported threats?

Have we not learned anything from:

■ Las Vegas shooting, 59 dead

■ Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, 50 dead

■ Virginia Tech shooting, 33 dead

■ Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, 28 dead

■ Sutherland Springs, Texas church shooting, 27 dead

■ San Bernardino shooting, 16 dead

■ Columbine High School shooting, 15 dead

■ Fort Hood, Texas shooting, 13 dead

■ Washington Navy yard shooting, 13 dead

■ Aurora, Colorado theater shooting, 12 dead

The list goes on and on, but the point has been made.

This man has been threatening people. He should be questioned by police. Does he have a history of mental illness? Is he acting rationally by threatening violence over spent gun casings? Is he under the influence of a mind-altering substance?

Nationwide, citizens have been urged if you “see something, say something” in order to help police departments prevent violent crimes. Doesn’t the sheriff’s office here in Pahrump want the same type of help from its citizens to promote their own safety? If a citizen’s report nets a response that nothing can be done, (until a crime is actually committed,) should we question federal, state and local governments across our country on the value of this mantra?

Stephen and Kathleen Sanzari

Recent gun violence caused by societal changes

After reading Mr. Bazan’s PV Times letter on March 23, 2018, it seems the nation’s “gun” problem would be solved, or at least drastically reduced.

I can readily see all the nation’s gang members complying with all these “reasonable” gun control measures, after all, it’s for their safety too. Or am I wrong that the largest percentages of gun violence is due to gang affiliations and suicides?

For some reason we keep looking at the wrong end of the horse, looking to its end results, instead of the things the horse is eating. Children the average age of 10 get “smart” phones in America today, which opens the entire world to them, both the good and the bad, which in many cases ostracizes and isolates the vulnerable. This all happens, while much of the music, entertainment and gaming industry actually glorify violence, while unlike years ago interchange the “good guy with the bad guy”.

As a 10 year old, I well remember a friend whose dad was a World War II vet and had a German Luger, which he showed me and we were both curious and fascinated with, but somehow both of us had some reasonable idea this was potentially a serious thing and had to take a degree of responsibility of handling it. His dad never discovered my friend had found it and shown it, as well as handled it with many friends. Again, we all knew there would be consequences to those actions that we took.

The things we’ve lost as a society over the years are immeasurable, but the greatest may be the sense of responsibility, which has been steadily chipped away for many years. It’s so much easier to blame someone else or something else, as the Broward sheriff did in the school shooting, while ignoring the line of massive failures of those in power, with the responsibility to serve and protect.

Lastly, forget all the hype. The reason our founding fathers established the Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment, was as a last defense of an out-of-control or tyrannical government. Again those rights are slowly being chipped away.

David Jaronik

Reader questioning the history of the Civil War

I came upon the article on Pahrump’s ‘version’ of the Civil War. Question, how is a war conducted when there is only one combatant army? According to the latest ‘politically correct’ reporting, there is only the Union Army, for we are prohibited to mention the Confederacy. The Confederacy is outlawed, no longer to be mentioned. Anyone uttering ‘Confederacy’ faces execution by the ‘politically correct’ college students at taxpayer-funded halls of learning. You remember their practice of beating up on anyone that might not toe the line with their line of thought. It is their constitutional right to drub opponents into submission. The Civil War is not alone from attack by the ‘progressive students’ at advanced houses of instruction. Our nation’s Constitution has been under constant attack since Obama went into the White House.

I looked at that article and the first thought that came to mind was The Grand Duchy of Fenwicke, when Peter Sellers attacked New York City, with the full expectation of losing the war. Problem: the United States of America failed to respond, so Peter Sellers won the war, by default, for the Duchy of Fenwicke. Everyone knew that the only way a country could survive and prosper, was to go to war against the U.S., lose, then get millions in aid. Simply put, the Grand Duchy of Fenwicke could not afford to win. Look at every war we have fought, and won. Those wars have cost us billions of dollars that we gave to them, so that they wouldn’t suffer from the loss of the war that they started. It is a crazy world.

Wayne P. Brotherton, Sr.