Letters to the Editor

Water victory will be shortlived

Editor:

It appears the state engineer's decision is an invitation for the federal government to come forward and manage water in Nevada.

The victory referred to in the recent editorial probably marks the end of an era for Nevada water policy.

While the basis of the tribe's claims appear to be a reach, the fundamental relationship between groundwater and surface water is not.

The water in Alpine and Douglas counties is a precious resource to bring health and safety to our region as well as prosperity. While subject to certain private property provisions, it is a public resource. Collectively, our use of this resource to enhance our community objectives is a strategic policy, which our officials have been unwilling to lead.

The state engineer is a political appointee, and is subject to the pressures of politics. While his decision, may suit us well today, the long-term implications are significant. The lack of a cohesive water plan to support the community's goals is a dozen years overdue. It is the best way to keep the federal government from making these local decisions.

We need leaders willing to set priorities.

Mitch Dion

Gardnerville

Muller and 395 needs a traffic light

Editor:

The new intersection at Highway 395 and Muller Lane in Minden has claimed its first victim, with more fatal accidents certain to come.

Do we have to wait for more such accidents before the Nevada Department of Transportation is willing to install traffic lights?

Who will volunteer to satisfy the statistics to prove the need?

Will it take the death of a young female driver, as at the Stephanie and Highway 395 intersection, or will anyone qualify to give the necessary impetus to state officials to authorize a signal that obviously needs to be at that location?

Pete Harding

Gardnerville

Horses harmed

by transport

Editor:

In reference to your Oct. 21 article, "Feds Round Up Six Horses in East Valley," I would like to rebut two statements, specifically:

No. 1 - "Axtell said, 'I want to assure everyone that they are not going to be slaughtered or harmed in any way.'" - Rebuttal: Putting a horse, especially a young wild horse, in a trailer, and separating it from its family members is very traumatic to the horse (and feeling humans). Axtell should put his kids or grandkids in a horse trailer, then truck them away many miles without food or water, and see how they react. Also, the Horse Rescue of America's video www.horserescueofamerica.com/horserescue/index.php?mercurysid=c81e15dfdab917c132ffae2254f5262b of a wild horse roundup in Winnemucca says 90 percent of the wild horses rounded up wind up in slaughter houses after one year when the title to the horse transfers to the adopter. Watch this video, it's very educational, but not brutal.

No. 2 - Struble "stressed the need for public awareness." Rebuttal: Public Law 92-195 (the Wild Free-roaming Horses & Burros Act of 1971), Sec 9, says "The use of motor vehicles for transporting captured animals shall be undertaken only after a public hearing." There was no public hearing preceding the Oct. 15 and 17&17/07 Wildflower Ridge Wild Horse roundup.

Concerned residents of Wildflower Ridge have established a Yahoo Newsgroup devoted to the protection of Wildflower Ridge Wild Horses. Visit http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Wildflower_Wildhorses and join the group (you get a free Yahoo email address).

Lee Johnson

Gardnerville

Horses aren't

nuisances

Editor:

I was saddened to read the article regarding the residents who complained the wild mustangs are a "nuisance."

I invite the complaining residents to know horses so they can learn to appreciate their grace and beauty.

You see, horses teach us lessons. Horses teach us friendship and compassion.

They teach us patience and the art of listening.

Horses teach us that spirit is something you can't take away, and that a whinny says more than a person can say.

They teach us passion and forgiveness, and that your dreams are possible to live. Horses are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticism.

I miss the mustang foals and their mothers, as I enjoyed their presence on my property just days after being born this spring.

I laughed when the foals frolicked on a pile of sand while their mothers seemed to relish a break from watching them.

I am honored when they choose my property to wander through, never staying long because they constantly travel, never lingering at any destination for fear their predators will find them.

If only they stayed longer on my property, they might have avoided their miserable fate. I wish the complaining residents would visit the "Wild Horse sanctuary."

Hundreds of wild horses stand shoulder to shoulder without shelter or shade, unable to roam free as they once did.

I feel sad for people who want the horses gone because they have not found peace in being free to love a horse as a friend.

Note: Nevada law requires in NRS 113.065 that before signing a sales agreement purchasing property adjacent to open range you are required to sign a range land disclosure form.

This form states that unless you construct a fence that will prevent livestock from entering the property, livestock may enter the property.

It is the purchaser's responsibility to fence out livestock.

"The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the sense we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear." (Henry Beston)

Megan Gebhardt

Carson Valley Arabian Horse

Association president

Fish Springs

Living on

open range

Editor:

Why do people move in and put up the wrong kind of fence? A BLM fence is a fence to keep animals meant to be free in captivity (or even worse) when they should put up an asthetically pleasing fence to protect their treasured, materialist landscaping, and in so doing, enable the continuation of the majestic herds innate and destined to roam.

After all, when we're dead and buried, we won't be remembered for our perfectly manicured lawn, but by our integrity and our inner strength to do the right thing for God's creatures, trying to find nourishment for their young in an ever shrinking land that was theirs.

Everyone needs to remember this is open range. We moved here for the way that it was and some move here and want to change it to the way they want it to be. In so doing, if you allow BLM to imprison our beautiful wild horse herds in tiny corrals, you need to look in their eyes, feel what they feel, and then see if you can sleep at night (and if you can, you should consider moving back to where you came from).

Irene and Kirk Muller

Gardnerville

Kudos to Valley

arts council

Editor:

As a participant in Leadership Douglas County, I recently attended the annual meeting of the Carson Valley Arts Council. I was particularly interested in hearing about the progress made on the proposed Copeland Theater Project and was so greatly impressed by the hard work, strides and accomplishments made by just a small few.

These are people whose ongoing vision will create and provide much needed opportunities to expand, encourage, and promote cultural activities in the Valley. I encourage anyone who is interested not only in the performing arts of all kinds, but in improving the quality of the community to get involved by attending their meetings, supporting their ongoing events, or donating funds.

Thank you Carson Valley Arts Council for your hard work, perseverance and dedication to this project.

Carolyn Emr

Minden

Protecting

and serving

Editor:

God bless our Douglas County Sheriff's Office. On the night of Oct. 27, someone came into my driveway and threw eggs on the trunk of my car.

I reported it on Sunday morning and about one hour later, Sheriff's Deputy Bret Hicks came out to investigate the situation. After talking to me, he offered to wash the egg splatter off my car. He did just that.

My thanks to the deputy. He was very nice to me and understanding. Thank you Deputy Bret Hicks.

Florence Anderson

Topaz Ranch Estates