Letters to the Editor

Where'd garbage come from?

Editor:

In the past 12 years I have lived in Topaz (the California side) and traveled to and from work five days a week. This is the first year that I am disgusted. The garbage on the sides of the road is out of control. I counted the other day over 75 giant bottles of beer. Whoever is the one doing it I wish they would stop. I am looking into forming a group if anyone is interested to get out there and help to clean it up. Even though I think it should be taken care of by the Nevada Department of Transportation. Or the people doing it. Shame on you. I care. I hope Nevadans care too.

Alisen Heinen

Topaz

Airport is publicly owned facility

Editor:

Recent comments by your publisher about our airport warrant a response. While the market for aviation services strongly influences demand at the airport, the airport itself is publicly owned and operated, as is almost the entire aviation system in the U.S. This is akin to the road transport system. Private users operate almost entirely on public infrastructure.

Aviation has both benefits and costs. The costs are both direct (aircraft operating costs and the construction and operating costs of our airport, for example) and indirect (such as air pollution, noise and accident risk).

The market addresses direct costs and benefits of human activity well. If the direct costs of flying outweigh the direct benefits we generally won't fly. But the market does a poor job of addressing indirect costs. There is generally no cost to an aircraft operator for the disturbance he may cause a community so he may tend to ignore it.

It is thus left to government to devise ways of addressing the indirect costs to the public of private activity. In the case of our airport, our primary means of doing so is by controlling the nature, location and design of the aviation infrastructure we own and operate.

While funding comes largely from the FAA, the decisions about what to build lie almost entirely with Douglas County. What residents concerned about the airport are asking is that the county give full consideration to the possible future negative impacts of the airport on the community before approving the master plan or authorizing additional infrastructure.

Regarding your Chicken Little and "sky is falling" comments, those are unfair. No one is claiming big problems now or in the immediate future. They're simply pointing out that seemingly harmless decisions made today can have serious ramifications long into the future. And because of FAA funding rules it is very difficult to reverse infrastructure decisions if they later prove unwise.

Almost every airport in the U.S. began as an inconsequential airstrip of little concern to anyone. Many stayed that way, but many have grown into considerable nuisances to the communities that own them and have proven difficult to control once a certain threshold of infrastructure is reached.

There is considerable evidence emerging that the airport master plan process has been seriously flawed. The exclusion of information about Piñon Aero's plans is especially troubling. And the projection of only two additional jets based here over 20 years is absurd. And we still lack definitive information about the airport's weight capacity.

The county needs to back up and redo this process in an open and transparent manner that includes a full assessment of the potential long term impacts of the master plan on the larger community and effective ways of controlling those.

Terry Burnes

Gardnerville

Opinion not

a surprise

Editor:

Is it any wonder that Don Rogers would fall into line with the advocates for growth when it comes to the airport issues? After all, he's the publisher of the Record-Courier, not the editor. His job is to manage the bottom-line, and growth has a direct impact on circulation and advertising revenues, i.e. more people, more subscribers, more businesses, more revenue, more profit for Reno based Swift Communications.

Perhaps it's because he's new to our area and hasn't seen what our Valley was like before the rapid growth that took place between 1996 and 2006. Those were the same years that county management was telling long-time residents that it knew better than they what was good for us. Is it possible that Mr. Rogers is the new voice of county management?

It's interesting, too, that a new newspaper has cropped up in the area over the past few months. There's nothing like a little advertising competition to put a publisher on the hot seat with his boss. Especially if that newspaper should start to reflect the views of the majority of the voters - the voters that passed an initiative to slow growth, and another to limit the weight of aircraft using our rural airport. Of course, the county management spent our tax dollars to fight sustainable growth, and surreptitiously asked the FAA throw out the weight limit for our airport.

It's ridiculous to compare the Eagle/Vail airport with the Minden-Tahoe airport. The former has no glider operations, and since Eagle/Vail is situated in a narrow valley, night flights are neither recommended nor are they common. It may be worth noting also that there is very little residential development under the flight path at Eagle/Vail. Not so at our airport. We, the residents of Douglas County should get to define our future, not have it forced upon us by developers like Piñon Aero.

Then there's the question of whether we really want the Vail celebrity types and the behavior they're known for in our peaceful Valley - can you say Britney Spears or Paris Hilton? Wouldn't it be wiser to do a better job of attracting more people who want what we have to offer instead of publicity? With so many Baby Boomers retiring in the next ten years, why not focus on making them feel comfortable here?

Mr. Rogers needs to know that when Nevadans can, we vote with our dollars and we make our voices heard one way or the other. There's a thing on the balance sheet of most corporations called "good will." It's an asset that's hard to put a dollar figure on, but if you don't have it, the dollars on the bottom line show the affect. If you don't understand that, ask the former county manager how a lack of "good will" affects government. Your publisher should know that talking down to and insulting your readers is not a good way to improve his bottom line.

Bob Ballou

Minden

Thanks for

the body bag

Editor:

Dear Sgt. Ron Michitarian:

The Alpine County Tobacco Education Program thanks you and your department for your continued support of the Tobacco Education Program. Recently, your department donated a body bag, to our youth coalition for their use on "Kick Butts Day."

"Kick Butts Day," scheduled for today is a nationally recognized as the day that celebrates the opportunity to quit smoking and is organized by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. It centers on youth advocacy, leadership and activism. It gives youth a day to come together against big tobacco, work together as a whole, and promote our joint fight against big tobacco.

The Alpine County tobacco youth coalition, called Students Taking on Prevention against Tobacco at Douglas High School and Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School are holding their events on site at each of their respective schools. Pau-Wa-Lu students are holding their event on Tuesday, and Douglas students are doing their's on Thursday.

Their intent is to display the body bag, filled with fake money, a mannequin (representing a dead body), along with the items that are actually in a cigarette, such as pesticides, nail polish remover, etc.

Alongside the bag, will be a "Graffiti/Pledge Wall," where youth will present tobacco media literacy education, such a commercials/printed magazine ads that target them. They will also utilize anti-smoking messaging, such as the "Thank you for smoking, sorry you're dying," as well as taking the "Marlboro" man, and tweaking the advertising Marlboro does, by using anti-smoking messages such as "Hey Bob, I miss my lung."

We hope the pledge wall/graffiti wall will give the youth at the high school and middle school a chance to get their thoughts out on paper and end up with anti-tobacco graffiti as well as provide youth the opportunity to show support to someone who is trying to quit, or to encourage them to add their own signature as a first step in their own effort to quit if they smoke.

This event will be seen by approximately 1,500 youth at the high school and approximately 600 youth at the middle school

Thank you again for your continued support. We really appreciate all the help you provide.

Elizabeth McGeein

Alpine County Tobacco Education

Thanks for

great Easter

Editor:

I wanted to thank the Jacks Valley Volunteer Fire Department for hosting such a wonderful Easter egg hunt on March 23 at Jacks Valley Elementary School. They provided wonderful handouts on fire safety and there were lots of colorful eggs for all the different age groups to hunt.

It obviously took some major coordination. Care Flight landed with the Easter Bunny on board for all the kids to see. Smokey Bear from Nevada Division of Forestry was there to greet all of the kids young and old. East Fork Fire & Paramedic Districts graciously allowed kids and parents to explore their front line fire engine and ambulance.

It was a wonderful event and a great opportunity for all of us to see various service entities in our community all in one place.

Margie Elder

Carson City

Girl Scouts leader

appreciation day

Editor:

April 22 is Girl Scout Leader Appreciation Day. I want to thank my girl scout leaders, Caroline and Adda for all their hard work. They go above and beyond to make sure that we have fun and learn at the same time. They spend a lot of time preparing meetings and activities which teach us to care for our community.

Breanna Ross-Dee

Troop No. 287

Gardnerville