March 23, 2022, R-C Letters to the Editor

Compelling case for funding deputies

Editor:

Regarding “The case for funding deputies” [RC March 16 guest editorial], Justin Fricke, President of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Protective Association, lays out a compelling case to increase law enforcement compensation in Douglas County. Our department must become competitive with neighboring jurisdictions for deputy applicants. DCSO is currently not fully staffed, creating a public safety issue. 

In the last few years anti-policing trends such as “defund the police” and soft-on-crime District Attorneys and Attorneys General have been damaging to police morale. These “woke” officials refuse to prosecute dangerous felons and are releasing violent felons from jail. In larger, more liberal, jurisdictions law enforcement officers are being treated with contempt, making highly effective community policing difficult or impossible. 

The Nevada legislature added to the burden on law enforcement in 2019 with the passage of AB236. We had the honor of accompanying Douglas County District Attorney Mark Jackson to the legislative session to testify against AB236.   This bill redefined certain types of larceny, violent sex offenses, and narcotics dealing from felonies to misdemeanors, facilitate early release for undeserving prisoners, and in some instances allow issuing citations instead of taking offenders into custody. No one argued more persuasively than Mr. Jackson against AB236, but the majority Democrat legislature passed it into law despite concerns.

Civic minded men and women are still stepping up to serve as law enforcement officers. But they naturally want to serve communities that would respect their efforts to enforce the law and allow them to earn a living wage. For all the reasons we’ve cited, we urge the Douglas County Board of County Commissioners to increase compensation for our Sheriff’s Department.

Lynn and Jan Muzzy

Minden

Thanks for the great help

Editor: 

On March 17, I was in an accident while driving south on 395 and on the Cradlebaugh Bridge near Stephanie Lane. My yellow Model A blew a tire and skidded on its side before righting itself and catching on fire. I was able to get out on the passenger side and am basically unhurt except for a lot of aches and bruises. Within moments of the accident several people stopped to assist. Two gentlemen pulled me further away from my burning car and used their fire extinguishers to put out the fire. A gracious lady gave me water then had me sit in her car until the emergency vehicles arrived. And someone called 911. Of course at the time I did not get any of their names but I wanted to personally thank them and all the others who took the time to stop and help a stranger in need. I also want to thank the Sheriffs and NHP deputies who pulled up and efficiently handled the situation with professionalism and empathy. Additionally, I’d like to thank Donnie Ciriello a friend from the Douglas Dukes who heard about the accident from another Dukes member, Rich Morec, who was driving by and recognized my car but could not stop. Donnie drove to the accident site and took pictures as well as talked to the NHP deputy to get the report number and all the information I needed to notify my insurance company. I am so grateful for all the help and support from both my friends as well as perfect strangers who stopped to help someone in need. We truly live in a wonderful community.

Tom Stuve 

Minden

No Simple Answers

Editor:

Recently (Thursday, March 10), while I was switching TV channels, I caught a provocative headline on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show that made me stop to listen. The headline was “Things Have Gotten So Bad, World Leaders Ignore Biden’s Calls.”

No world leaders are ignoring President Biden’s calls, but what’s troubling is, if this show is someone’s only source of information they will be misinformed and probably unaware of how they are being manipulated.

First, since being in office President Biden has done a remarkable job of repairing relationships with our allies, and has shown decisive leadership on Ukraine, skillfully leading a coordinated and cohesive strategy bringing together nations worldwide in response to Russia’s invasion. (The “world leader” Ingraham mentioned was Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Press Secretary Jen Psaki described this as inaccurate).

But the point is, it is the responsibility of all of us lucky to live in a democracy to use our critical thinking skills, to not abandon them when we hear what we want to believe but look for verifiable reality and facts. That could be reading printed news media or websites that fact check. A good website is www.allsides.com. It evaluates the political bias of media outlets and presents news stories from various perspectives to give a more complete picture allowing us to think for ourselves. 

There’s a lot to consider these days, world relationships are changing, and there are no simple answers. We need to do our part to stay informed.

Elizabeth Valdes

Minden

A Mindful Ukraine Aid Option

Editor:

The daily news coverage of Vladimir Putin’s Hitleresque invasion of Ukraine has been gut-wrenching to watch, particularly his military’s indiscriminate bombing and cold-blooded murder of the country’s civilian residents.  

My heart aches for the Ukrainian people and the plight of both the millions of refugees that have fled Putin’s terrorism, as well as family members who have remained in the country to fight alongside Ukraine’s military.  Like me, I wonder if you have taken a moment to consider how horrific your life would be if you and your family were living in Ukraine facing the same harsh reality of life in this crisis.  Just thinking about all the needless death, destruction and shattered lives engenders immense disgust and anger toward Russia’s fascist leader and global bully.  

My wife and I researched options as to the best way to donate aid in support of the Ukrainian people.  We decided to donate to an organization formed by Ukrainian-born Andrey Liscovich, the former CEO of Uber Works and Silicon Valley entrepreneur, who recently moved back to Ukraine to coordinate the procurement and distribution of critical aid to those remaining in Ukraine. 

The organization is called the Ukraine Defense Fund (https://ukrainedefensefund.org).  Their aid is targeted to sustaining human life (food, water, cold-weather clothing) and equipping volunteers joining Ukraine’s struggle to overcome Putin’s forces.

I strongly urge you to donate to this worthy aid organization. You’ll be glad you did as perhaps it will allow you, like it has for us, to sleep just a little bit easier at night knowing that you have contributed meaningfully to the fight to preserve freedom and democracy in the world, through countering the evil injustice of Putin’s attack on the Ukrainian people and their sovereign nation.

Dave McNeil

Gardnerville

Supporting Ukraine

Editor:

I recently purchased a Ukrainian flag to display on my house, along with my American flag of course.  I urge other people to do the same.  Let’s show our support for those unfortunate people who are under attack.   Ukrainian flags are available online from The Flag Store in Sparks.

David Thomas

Gardnerville

Biden responsible for war

Editor:

During the four years of Trump administration things were relatively prosperous and peaceful in the U.S. He ended the Isis Caliphate, enabled peace treaties between Arab’s and Israel, Diffused the volatile North Korea, kept U.S. from conflicts with Russia, despite the 4years of the phony Russia Collusion claims by Democrat’s of which they were guilty of themselves. Ended the Iran nuclear deal and got us out of the Paris accords, a wealth transfer projected cost over $50 trillion from U.S. citizens. Biden has already reversed it to favored globalists and China interests in name of global warming. Some history of Ukraine.   After the collapse of USSR in 1994 Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal at that time being the third largest in the world, behind Russia and U.S.  In return, President Clinton, President Yeltsin Russia and Great Britain guaranteed their independence. Moving forward March 2014, Russia took over control of Crimean Peninsula and parts of Donetsk and Lukansk oblasts of Ukraine with minimal response from Obama-Biden administration. Aid that was mainly given was in form of blankets and pillows and in 2015, Vice President Biden threatened to hold back $1 billion in aid to Ukraine unless a prosecutor investigating corruption within Burisma Oil Co. was fired.  With President Trump the aid consisted of defensive weapons such as anti-tank weapons Javelins and anti-aircraft stinger missiles.   The two main areas that emboldened Putin to take action against Ukraine were the Botched withdrawal of US from Afghanistan, leading to collapse of the Afghan government, its replacement by Taliban and leaving Thousands of Americans and their supporters behind along with $85 billion in most modern equipment, lacking consultation with allies, thus losing their respect and reliance on the US leaving Putin having no fear of Bidens reprisal.  The second reason being the way Biden destroyed the fossil energy abundance in US, reversing President Trump’s Policies, turning US from an exporting nation to one to having to beg OPEC and Russia to increase their fossil fuel output.  This idiotic action has caused the US oil production to drop over 2 million barrels per day and on lessening the further intent of oil exploration with actions like cancellation of Key -stone pipeline, while approving one from Russia to Germany leaving our allies at Russian dependence for their needs.  This has increased the cost of oil from $45 a barrel with Trump in office to $110 a barrel currently.  This of course has doubled our energy costs and increased the money Russia receives from five million barrels of oil exports plus 3 million barrels in refined oil products at $65 a barrel increase adds over $180 billion a year to Putin’s coffers to conduct his war.   

Mark Tarvainen 

Gardnerville