Letters to the editor Nov. 5

Time will heal emotions

of IHOP accident

I live not too far from where the massive North Hollywood Bank of America shootout took place.

Now, 14 years later, the BofA bank is still there. No evidence remains of what took place, and it is all but forgotten. The shootout is basically relegated to the history books.

If IHOP is fixed up and reopened, time will heal emotions over the sordid incident, and it will be forgotten except for those who were there, and that will fade eventually. I don't believe it will have any effect on future tourism.

Bob Peppermuller

North Hollywood, Calif.

Safe Grad back on,

thanks to community

I find myself a little emotional as I write this letter to you. Two weeks ago, it seemed apparent that there was nothing to be done to save the Safe Grad celebration, which has been a Carson High School tradition for 23 years.

However, I am very pleased to tell you that the community of Carson City rose up to the challenge and made an amazing statement to our city, and to the future generations of graduates from Carson High School, that it matters, and it won't be this year that this valuable event fails to happen.

Thank you with all my heart. You all care, and that is a wonderful thing to realize. Thank you for all the encouraging words and for those who have worked tirelessly on the event year after year.

You have confirmed what we thought all along. We've still got a few hurdles to overcome in the coming months, but it seems like we were victorious over this one.

Jane Brinson

Safe Grad 2012

spokesperson

Carson City

Someone tell Bob Thomas that $500,000 is rich

I had to chuckle a bit over the commentary by Bob Thomas on Sept. 28 regarding fair taxes. He said, "An annual income of $500,000 is not rich - well to do, but far from rich."

I wondered at the time what kind of bubble he lived in that could be so detached from the reality of everyday Americans. He laid out a pretty solid argument for a progressive income tax structure which harkened back to previous times when the income tax was, indeed, far more fair and progressive.

Generally, I found myself in agreement with him on several points, exceptions being eliminating the corporate income tax and his lamenting the fact that 47 percent of Americans pay no income tax. The latter point owed to the fact that those people do not earn enough to owe any.

That is more testament to the skewed distribution of wealth in this country that more resembles a plutocratic Third World banana republic than a First World democracy.

What prompted this letter, however, was his statement of what constitutes being rich and some statistics recently published in the Washington Post. Accordingly, 99 percent of Americans earn less than $199,000 a year, 75 percent earn less than $50,000 a year and 50 percent earn less than $26,000 a year.

For some reason, I think that about 75 percent of the country would consider the statement "An annual income of $500,000 is not rich" to be totally laughable.

Vince Coyle

Carson CityƬ