Letters to the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Silver Tappers founder honored at Mardi Gras Ball

I am humbled by all that has happened within the past week, all because of Mike Rowe and the fabulous production crew. The final scene would not have been possible without the support of the Pahrump Valley Winery.

There are no words to describe how fortunate I am for the Nevada Silver Tappers, for without them I would not have been acknowledged by so many.

My heart is full of love and appreciation to this community who support me, all of this would not be possible if not for each and every one of you.

A very special thank you to Jack and Betsie Sanders. And to all of you who came out and spoke with Mike about our wonderful town – thank you!

Finally, it was a truly special moment being honored by the Soroptimist organization.

BJ Hetrick-Irwin,

director and founder

Nevada Silver Tappers/

Ms. Senior Golden Years USA

Does Democratic Party support abortion rights?

During the week leading up to the Nevada caucuses, all the Democratic candidates for president indicated they support abortion. Pete Buttigieg said “anyone who does not believe in abortion rights should not be members of the Democratic party.”

Joe Biden and all the other Democratic presidential candidates want to take guns away.

In 2017, the last year figures are available for deaths by abortions and firearms in the U.S., 862,320 abortions were performed and 39,773 people died by firearms.

Abortionists justify murder by abortion by saying a fetus is not a living human based on whether there is a heartbeat and/or number of weeks old the fetus is. A fetus is alive until an abortionist kills it.

In reality, a soul (person) is created at the time sperm and ovum combine to make a human. A fetus is absolutely as much a living human being as everyone reading this editorial. It is murder to abort a human life.

I encourage anyone who believes in life and is currently a Democrat to leave the party of murders. No matter the reason for unwanted pregnancy, there is someone who will love, nurture and support all babies allowed to be born. Thank you.

Jean William Frenette

Reader disappointed by unmerited praise of President Trump

In reference to your front page article on Wednesday, Feb. 26 about the Nye County Commission’s resolution praising President Trump and his “tax cut”, among other things.

I should like to point out some facts about the Republican “tax cut.” If I may cite an article in Wikipedia titled “Economic Policy of Donald Trump.” This is a large article, covering many topics but well indexed, referenced, and supported by the Tax Policy Center. I would like to draw your attention to section 6.3, lines 14, 15 under “distribution of benefits and costs.”

In that section it states that the top 1% of U.S. taxpayers will receive 25% of the benefits in 2025 and 83% of the benefits in 2027. Also that the top 5% of taxpayers will receive 99% of the benefits by 2027! How many of us are in the top 5% of the taxpayer in Nye County? (I doubt I am in the top 50% of taxpayers.)

May I suggest that the top 5% should be praising this “tax cut,” not the large majority of residents in Nye County who will receive no benefit.

You may have noticed I emphasized “tax cut.” I do that because this tax cut is in the nature of a loan. All it does is increase the federal deficit, which is now around a trillion dollars a year. I hesitate to say that the federal deficit will have to be repaid, like a loan, since it has increased continually from the last time the federal books were balanced, I believe in President Clinton’s time. However there must be costs in servicing this colossal deficit.

We also have a president who is a chronic stater of terminological inexactitudes, and then had his attorney pay his “lady friends”, possibly with campaign contributions.

In foreign policy, he has withdrawn us from the Paris climate accords, has insured that Iran will enrich uranium and produce nuclear weapons, and given a lot of publicity to an odious dictator in North Korea who is certainly not going to give up his nuclear weapons. Nothing creditable here.

So, I am disappointed that three of my county commissioners seem to be unable to see or recognize facts about our current president, and instead put out something praising him!

George Tucker

Reader dos not think extra security is warranted

Should we as citizens be worried when our officials start increasing their security yet try to implement stricter gun control on us?

Remember our governor’s request for more money for his security? Yet he is for the Red Flag law, which is in itself unconstitutional.

Why so much concern for his safety when it has been all right for the governors before him? Is he about to do something a governor’s not authorized to do? It seems most all the candidates running for the presidency have a large security group with them. Why?

America, stay alert to what’s going on as it seems the anti-Trump removal of our elected president is not over and is backed by big money people.

The Newsmax December issue has a list of eight multibillionaires who are using their fortunes to get rid of Trump. It is an interesting read.

Henry Hurlbut

Would democratic socialism work in our country?

WOW! What a huge error in information and thus spreading more fake news. Dano Savino stated that our deficit is $22 trillion!!! In fact, it is just over ONE trillion dollars. Our deficit is the amount of money the government is spending over and above the budgeted amount. That’s why it’s called a “budget deficit.” I’m not saying the fact that it’s over $1 trillion dollars is OK, but am clarifying that it’s NOT $22 trillion.

During Trump’s campaign for president he promised he would eliminate the deficit in eight years but, in fact, it is now almost 70% higher since he became president. Trump inherited a deficit of $585 billion and Obama inherited a deficit of $1.4 trillion from Bush. As you can see it was down to $585 by the time Obama left – significantly lower than what he inherited. But Trump’s has risen from $585 to over $1 trillion. Clearly, Trump is increasing the deficit, where Obama lowered it. Trump’s tax cut for the rich was one of the things he’s done to increase the deficit. Corporations are now contributing much less in taxes than they did before the Trump’s tax cut.

So many people are complaining about how little big corporations are paying in taxes. But, note that since Trump’s tax cut Apple’s tax bill dropped from $6.2 billion to $4.1 billion, a 34% decrease of $2.1 billion and a tax cut rate from 24% to 14% and Intel’s tax bill dropped from $4 billion to $1.8 billion, a decrease of 55% and a tax cut rate from 28% to 10%. Don’t forget that it was the Republican Congress that passed this stupid and unnecessary bill.

As for the “socialists” running for office, the total is zero. Dano is confusing socialism with democratic socialism. Democratic socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically to meet public needs, not to make profits for a few. They believe in capitalism. But they also believe that the rich should not get rich or richer off the backs of others. They believe that the rich should pay higher taxes to fund programs that benefit the vast majority, to build a more equal society where classes are not so extreme and income differences are kept within very modest bounds. Democratic socialists condemn socialism. Norway is a perfect example of democratic socialism.

Other countries that have democratic socialist policies are Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand. Norway is actually more wealthy than the U.S., with a GDP of over $70,000 per person (U.S. = $63,000), consistently ranked as one of the happiest countries, life expectancy of 81.7 years (79 in U.S.), infant mortality rate of two per 1,000 live births (U.S. is almost six), a murder rate of 0.51 per 100,000 (U.S. is 10 times that). These countries have all succeeded and improved their countries via democratic socialism. Sounds good to me.

CJ Stevens

Some real stats on COVID 19 or Coronavirus dangers

Most of us are inundated with politicians and newscasters reporting the effects and dangers of the coronavirus. We have seen many countries taking precautions to prevent it from landing on their shores, but trying to keep panic to a minimum. Why are such massive efforts underway to protect people worldwide? News reports have cited many more deaths globally from the flu than from the new coronavirus, as though that should somehow make us calmer. Yes, the actual number of deaths so far are less than the flu. But to get a real idea of why this new virus is so terrifying you have to look at real numbers. According to CNBC the CDC has an estimated death rate from the flu for 2019-2020 season of 0.095%, round that up and you have 0.1% the number most often reported. According to the last actual numbers reported for 2017-2018 by the CDC, the death rate number is .002% so the death rate is much lower from the actual numbers recorded in 2017 than the estimated deaths this year. The estimated death rate for the coronavirus in China as of 2/20/20 is 3.8%. That 3.8% is nearly 2,000 times higher than the actual death rate of the flu recorded in 2017-2018! Source for 3.8% mortality rate (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-rate/#who-report-02-20)

Let that sink in; 3.8% of infected people die. Making a comparison between coronavirus and the flu shows it is an astounding disease that is nearly 2,000 times more deadly than the flu! No wonder the world is reacting to it as they are. It is highly contagious and has the potential to kill many, many people. Globally, the CDC estimates that 291,000 to 646,000 people die each year from the flu. If the 3.8% death rate holds for coronavirus and we use 2,000 times more deadly than the flu numbers, then perhaps as many as 582 million people to 1.29 billion could die. That number of deaths would overwhelm all systems. It is always possible that the death rate may recede with the addition of milder cases to the statistics and new treatments, but there will be an initial wave of deaths because we have no antibodies to this new virus. It is also likely that the cases will recede with warmer weather. Many people think that the hype is overdone, but I think we should be considering the statistics the Chinese are releasing. They are telling us we are in trouble. We need to pay attention. Just this morning, Italy informed the world that it had closed all schools, including universities for at least two weeks: how would we here in Nevada deal with closures like that? The implications are enormous.

So we are staying home and not traveling or congregating. When it hits Las Vegas or any other entertainment or convention center where people from around the world visit, then it may bloom into a pandemic very quickly. So far we have been lucky, but we need to be prepared.

Lawrence E. Mayfield

New resident hopes Pahrump retains its charm as it grows

Having worked and traveled throughout the United States, I now find myself a resident of Pahrump. It seems many are looking into rural life. Is it that big cities have become overcrowded and impersonal? Perhaps. I’m sure everyone has their reasons for relocating.

I know per capita, I’ve met more individuals from my home state that have moved into Nye County than anywhere else I’ve lived. And this includes Las Vegas, dubbed the ninth Hawaiian island! Absent the beaches, most ex-islanders comment on how the pace and lifestyle here brings memories of growing up. That’s saying a lot coming from people raised in the land where palm trees sway.

I shared with my wife the idea of taking video clips of the area. I asked what she thought of going public and posting them online. It would be a minute or so taking in the local sights and sounds on any given day. Perhaps some viewers would be able to identify the location, while others would be reminded or enlightened of what we enjoy. The idea was to visually highlight something around us.

With Wal-Mart, Home Depot and the variety of both local and franchise businesses to patronize, it’s not necessary to travel far to meet basic needs. The “Entertainment Capital of the World” and its expansive commerce is less than 70 miles away for anything we might otherwise want or occasionally need.

The Spring Mountains separate each city’s lifestyle and culture. The road map in between prepares you for both. On one side of “the hump” is a peaceful stretch greeting you as you are entering or exiting Pahrump. While the other provides a mental transition with its winding, curving roads into or out from the hustle of the Vegas metropolis.

It’s been said that the days of being neighborly and showing respect for property, authority or toward our seniors are gone. Too many are no longer thankful to God, for family or country. Yet somehow, for the time being at least, those attributes are still experienced here. The values of a rural community with easy access to modern amenities is perhaps another reason some have chosen to relocate here.

I remember a response I received when mentioning moving to Pahrump. A woman in her fifties said flatly, “Why?!” She had lived in Las Vegas for over two decades and had only recently made the drive out. “It makes no sense how that city is built,” she said. “The main road is on one side and the whole town is built and stretched out for miles on the other.” That may hold some truth, however there are only three traffic lights in the town and all of them are on that main road, Highway 160. It makes commuting throughout smooth and fast, without the road rage or congestion. Compared to big city traffic, this too may be a reason some decided to settle here.

I’m sure there are other reasons why some have moved. The real estate market, the people, or the weather might be a few. Yet perhaps my wife’s response to posting video clips sums up what many ponder. She was straightforward in her reply when asked for input. “I wouldn’t,” she said. “But if you do, at the very least DO NOT MENTION PAHRUMP or have recognizable landmarks.” Quite a response I thought, especially if the intention is to highlight our community.

“You don’t understand,” she continued. “More people will want to move here. It will change. This place is a diamond not widely discovered!” I chuckled thinking, why would my posting a video online influence anyone into uprooting? With nearly a 20% growth rate being reported, it appears the discovery of Pahrump, Nevada has been made. The hope now is to retain its diamond’s value and appreciation.

Jeff Soriano Sr.