John E. Dicks, Republican Assembly District 39

Hometown: Fish Springs

Contact information:

783-9631

Incumbency: None

Education: Four degrees. An A.B. from Wabash College (liberal arts), a M.A. from The University of Toledo (industrial psychology), a J.D. from San Joaquin College of Law (law), and an A.A. from Delta College (welding technology).

Platform: I want to be a citizen legislator who has no obligations except to the voters. I have no campaign signs, am spending no money on advertizing, an am accepting no contributions to my campaign. I believe the public's business should be conducted in public; if elected all will be welcome to discuss matters with me, but I will let the voters know who approached me and what they wanted.

Taxes are burdensome and government is inefficient in spending money. I am opposed to increased taxes and believe some should be eliminated, I.e., residential real estate tax. Any excess revenue should be returned proportionally to those who paid them by tax holidays. Surpluses should not be used to bailout a public employee retirement program, nor other programs, which are excessive to begin with.

t is time we stopped throwing money to remedy problems in education. Neither teachers nor administrators are to blame. Mostly what I see is a weakness in family values to achieve in school. We should focus on strengthening the local school boards (let them decide how best to spend their budget) and bolstering the family.

No water should be exported out of natural, existing basins. More accurate and reliable information about Nevada's water resources must be generated. Too many authorities are independently involved; better decisions would result from mandatory coordination of agencies.

We, the citizens of Nevada, are missing an opportunity right before our eyes: Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel. Here is why: at this time there is 55,000 tons stored around the United States, mostly at nuclear power plants. This storage is not safe nor is it secure. It must be somewhere in the world. It can be transported and stored safely and securely. The US Government wants to store it in southern Nevada (but recently it was announced that the government was considering a deal with Russia, that is bad). Instead of totally opposing the Feds, and totally losing in the end, we should shift our focus and play a major role in how spent nuclear fuel gets transported and stored. Then, we can specify safety and security measures, insist upon design safeguards, require health monitoring programs coupled with medical plans for citizens and require customers (the utilities) to pay every Nevada citizen a yearly stipend for the privilege of putting their spent fuel in a safe place.

them, but rather shall appear at all community functions I can and will write further letters to the editor expressing my principles and values.

I trust then the voters will be able to decide who best can represent all the citizens of District 39.