Letters to the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

The real answer to the Pahrump trash issue

In response to Faith Muello’s letter on “if you want change then be the change” letter – what needs to change is the mentality that the town roads, desert, (and properties) are dumping grounds.

We have picked up bags of trash we see on roadsides as we know these will break apart and end up littering our desert (plus the plastic is hazardous to animals). Do township employees just drive by these?

Volunteering to help clean up is noble; however it doesn’t fix the problem. We’re sure once the mapped-out locations are cleaned up they have to be revisited for yet another cleanup.

There have been letters about citizens being given tickets for minor traffic violations, yet these code violations are ignored by law enforcement and our elected officials. How many properties do you see in town that violate the following? (Copied directly from the Nye County website.)

• Litter on private property: Dumpsters overflowing with garbage; illegal dumping of garbage; no trash pickup, etc.

• Construction codes: Construction, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and clearing and grading work without permits; abandoned and dangerous buildings.

• Home businesses: Businesses conducted in a residential property without a Home Occupation Permit. (Exemptions are home business without outside employees and no exterior indications of business being conducted).

• Junk vehicles: vehicles on public or private property that are inoperable (i.e. flat tires, extensive damage, missing major parts). Classic or collectable vehicles are exempt.

• Land use violations: Violations of zoning and development regulations (i.e. business located in a non-permitted zone, intrusions into required setbacks, keeping of non-permitted animals on property).

• Nuisances: Abandoned appliances, garbage, debris and junk, abandoned buildings, junk and abandoned vehicles, etc. on public or private property.

• Signs: all signs must be approved by the planning department. Temporary and a-board signs are permitted only in special circumstances for a limited period of time. No signs are permitted in county or state road rights of way and will be removed and destroyed without notice. Other sign violations are subject to removal at the owner’s expense.

There needs to be enforcement of existing codes. While the sheriff’s office is giving out many tickets to senior citizens for going over a few miles over the speed limit and for minor traffic violations (such as going through a yellow blinking arrow (personal experience!) and after this letter there’s a potential that we will receive another ridiculous ticket!! Dumps continue to exist all over our town, which is not only an embarrassment but a health hazard to the community, and possibly the children who reside in these “dumps”.

No concern from elected officials and lawmakers? The people who can actually MAKE A CHANGE??!!

Stephen and Kathleen Sanzari

Keeping busy is good for everybody

It is a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining and the weather is nice.

Yesterday it was raining and a little chilly. It was still a beautiful day.

This is a great spring and summer is coming on fast.

We have a very serious problem in the United States with opioids and drugs in general.

The children will be out of school soon and they are vulnerable. Everyone is vulnerable. From childhood all the way to folks in senior living facilities.

The problem shows no real signs of abating. Deaths, physical harm and mental debilitation are still occurring at a horrendous rate.

What to do?

Keep the kids busy this summer. Playing ball, going for walks, going to the library, going to the market, doing chores, playing Frisbee, going swimming, hiking, visiting museums, go back to the library and repeat all summer long.

It’s hard, I know. We all have different levels of income and it’s not easy all the time. It can be done, however, and it can be done well. Walking, talking, visiting, keeping an eye out. These things are good for the children, adults and seniors as well. They’re good for everybody.

We need each other. So many people have been hurt and we need to stop it.

We can do it and we will do it. All together. I wish you a happy week and weekend, a wonderful summertime and a bright fall and winter this year. All good things to you and yours.

Alfred Brock

Wayne, Michigan

A public request for enlightenment

Some time ago I was disgusted to see a nice “soccer mom” driving an SUV get pulled over in front of my house by one of our hero motorcycle cops.

I don’t know if she was actually “awarded” a citation, or the nature of the heinous (or should that read “tiny and victimless”) crime of which she was being accused, but if the “crime” was driving between 36 and 45 mph, the stop was unlawful.

The paved roads of Pahrump are replete with signs posting a speed limit of 35 mph. As everyone now knows, these signs are bogus and should be unenforceable. With certain exceptions, the legal speed limit on paved roads in Pahrump is 45 mph (Pahrump Town Ordinance Sec. 24-20 (3)).

But who knows? Maybe the soccer mom was driving 46 mph, in which case the stop and ticket were “justified”.

These signs were cited at various times in the past to illegally extort money in the form of fines from motorists who in fact committed no crime. We have seen announcements in the newspapers to the effect that the bogus signs are going to be taken down. This would be all well and good, but I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

There was an article in the May 12, 2016 issue of the Mirror entitled “The Long History of Bogus Speed Limits”. As interesting and informative as the article was, it is silent as to the origin of the bogus 35 mph signs in Pahrump.

I don’t think I am alone in being curious as to who put up these signs, when they were put up, and under what authority (if any). For this reason I am putting out a request to the public for information. If anyone knows anything about the origin of these signs, please come forward and enlighten myself and all the other inquiring Pahrumpian minds that want to know.

David G. Alexander

Reader disagrees with columnist on Trump

When I was a growing up, used car salesmen were often the butt of jokes my dad would often tell, probably because as a group they were considered, well, liars. If my dad were alive today, I’m sure he would consider awarding that distinction to journalists such as the “award-winning journalist” Dennis Myers. His latest blatant lie is that Mr. Trump lost the popular vote by 6 million, when in fact it was slightly less than 2.9 million.

Sure, sure, I get it – Mr. Trump lost the popular vote, but facts be facts and those who can’t get them right are, well, liars.

Which brings me to Myers’ biggest lie, that Mr. Trump’s “appointment” to the presidency was due to an “anomaly.” As this purported anomaly is spelled out in the 12th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, maybe Myers’ First Amendment right to lie outright is also an anomaly. Funny how when Obama was “elected”, no one declared it an “appointment”.

I wish newspapers, and particularly the Pahrump Valley Times, would consider fact checking opinion writing and maybe even finding some real journalists who can argue with facts.

David Perlman