Letters to the editor Sept. 21

Car auction was

good for community

There's one in every bar, and apparently, every town.

Why is it that when someone in this town does something that benefits the community, the state and local charities, at least one person has to start squawking like a chicken laying a duck egg?

Garth Richards sponsored a superb event from Aug. 25-28 here in Carson City at the Silver Oak Golf Course. The event brought people to town from all over the country and from 11 different countries. It was a high-class auction with high-class vehicles.

That, and the fact that Mr. Richards sold most of his own personal collection, with no reserves on them, brought buyers here from all over the world.

Most out-of-town people were here for a week, benefiting our local hotels, motels, restaurants and casinos - money much needed. Sales tax generated from the sales of these high-dollar vehicles was astronomical.

If fireworks woke up someone's kids and interrupted their TV watching, tough. There were a great number of other kids who were thoroughly awed and delighted with Mr. Richards' grand display.

Others who were thankful for the four-day event were kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs, who were the recipients of a car that was donated and auctioned at the event - the same for F.I.S.H., another charity which received money from a donated, auctioned car.

To you complainers, get off your selfish high horses and be thankful for men like Garth Richards.

Dick Cosgrove

Carson City

More gun control

is not needed

The Sept. 6 shootings at IHOP were indeed tragic, and my heart goes out to the victims and their families.

However, it is unfortunate that the gun-control nut jobs have come out from under their rocks to advocate more gun-control laws. Most, if not all of these types of weapons would still be available from criminals or President Barack Obama's (Bureau of) Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. So how are more laws going to prevent these types of tragic circumstances?

What needs to occur is better monitoring of someone who had been detained by law enforcement because he was suspected of being mentally dangerous to himself and others. That should have set off some red flares.

Mark Gregory

Carson City

Close tax loophole to hedge fund managers

Hedge fund managers make billions of dollars annually; that's right, billions. One manager made $4 billion himself in one year. Yet hedge fund managers continue to receive a substantial tax break known as the carried-interest loophole.

This loophole allows them to treat the income they receive from managing investors' money as capital gains subject to only a 15 percent tax rate. It's their paycheck for services rendered and there is no legitimate reason to tax it at the capital gains rate. Closing the loophole would raise $4 billion per year from just the top 25 and could raise as much as $20 billion a year from all of them.

I don't begrudge hedge fund managers their job of managing other people's money and getting paid for it. But I am furious that you and I are subsidizing their $20 billion-a-year tax break. You should be too. They should be paying the same rate that anyone else pays with that same level of income. Why do they get this giveaway at the expense of the rest of us?

If the Republicans in Congress were serious about reducing the national debt, why did they refuse to consider closing this loophole that President Obama put on the table? Instead, we see major cuts to our public schools, college grants to working families, community police, food safety inspections, and the critical safety nets lifting up the hardest hit among our neighbors. This loophole is more than unfair - it's obscene.

Melanie Meehan-Crossley

Genoa

Carson City Animal Services helps kitten return home

A black-and-white kitten showed up in my yard last weekend. The next day, the kitten darted into my house when I got home from work. I love animals, but I can't have a cat. The kitten willingly came into my arms, snuggled against my neck. That's when I gave it the name Purr Machine.

I took it door-to-door in my neighborhood. I called my friends: "You want an adorable pet?"

The next day, the kitten was there when I came home for lunch; I reluctantly called Carson City Animal Services. I felt like that was my only option. I mistakenly envisioned a horrible place with hundreds of terrified animals awaiting euthanasia.

I was so wrong. The facility is newly remodeled, friendly and clean. A kind woman confidently took the kitten from my arms and disappeared around the corner. Moments later she reappeared with a genuine smile. "This cat is a neutered male and it has a microchip." A few taps on the keyboard and the woman announced, "His name is Sylvester." She immediately called the owner.

Now I know. If you find a lost pet, call Carson City Animal Services first.

If you lose a pet, call Carson City Animal Services first.

Also, license your dog. It protects your pet and helps fund animal services.

Thank you, Carson City Animal Services, for Sylvester the Purr Machine's happy ending.

Jude Greytak

Carson City