Letters to the editor, May 20

People, not horses, are the problem

A second Stagecoach wild horse was killed by reckless individuals using vehicles to chase them. While trying to escape, a mare tried to jump the fence and ripped open her stomach on a t-post. Amazingly she managed to walk back to where she and approximately 40 wild horses are being fed.

It is time everyone gets realistic about the wild horses. Why are these horses in our neighborhood and why are they crossing back and forth on Highway 50? The problem is the people, not the horses. The horses need to be back in the hills in their natural habitat and not being fed by local residents.

The worst of the offenders is feeding about 40 horses with financial help from neighbors. Between feedings, the horses forage in the surrounding open vehicle accessible areas, putting them in harm's way. These horses have always been in the surrounding hills where they have thrived for years, and most importantly, have been safe. The horses are being fed on both sides of Highway 50 enticing them to cross in search of the next meal. People need to ask themselves how many of the horses involved in vehicular accidents were the direct result of illegal feeding.

If you are going to feed them, go as far away from the neighborhoods and up in the hills. Remember this: A fed wild horse is a dead wild horse.

John TriBold

Stagecoach

What is happening to Carson City?

Have you seen any of these conditions and practices around our city?

1. Our public servants have become self-servers paid by the taxpaying public? Does the salary of Larry Werner, city manager, for example, reflect what the people of Carson City can afford?

2. Is the Board of Supervisors spending taxpayer money on frivolous, non-essential projects?

3. Do you sense a general lack of integrity in the Board of Supervisors? Are they creating a culture of corruption?

4. Can you name some very clear CONFLICTS OF INTEREST in our city leaders?

5. Have the city leaders memorized, and put into practice, how to lie with statistics?

6. A Service Employees International Union member says, "Once they take our money, we have no say in how it is spent." Does that resemble the politics of Carson City leaders?

7. Has anyone in the City Hall noticed the plethora of empty buildings, absence of former businesses, the foreclosed homes, the unemployment rate?

If the people of Carson City voice opposition to a City Center Project, why force it on a depressed community in a serious recession? We, the people of Carson City, did not want the V&T Railroad or the Pony Express Pavilion. These are all delusions of people who are dreamers, not the people who are forced to pay for them.

Any supervisor who approves a property tax increase or a sales tax increase does not deserve his or her position.

Ann Bednarski

Carson City

Remove government from marriage

In many European countries, couples go to City Hall and sign a register. They now have a civil union. They next go to the church of their choice and get the sacrament of marriage.

We should get the government completely out of marriage in the U.S. We should allow any two consenting able adults to enter a civil union by signing a register and taking a legal oath. If they want to get married in a church, they can go to any church that will marry them. That is a religious community event. No more justices of the peace or mayors marrying people.

The only role of government is the civil union. It should be noted that this civil union will carry the same rights as the old traditional marriage, as well as the same responsibilities. Dissolution of the civil union could result in one member paying the other support, as an example.

Ronald Adams

Dayton

Same-sex couples show courage challenging suit

On behalf of the Carson Region chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), congratulations and support to Beverly Sevcik and Mary Baranovich and the seven other same-sex couples who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging Nevada's constitutional ban on marriage equality, which relegates them to second-class status. Your courage is laudable.

The word "marriage" carries a lot of significance in our society. When couples have a domestic partnership, it is distinctly different from having a marriage. Sevcik and Baranovich and other same-sex couples in our state who wish to marry should be able to do so.

Domestic partnerships were granted to Nevadans in 2009. As we learned from Brown v. Board of Education, there is no such thing as separate but equal.

Providing most of the rights and responsibilities but not allowing the use of the word marriage clearly promotes separate and unequal status for LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender citizens. This is unworkable, unacceptable and almost certainly unconstitutional, based on Supreme Court precedent.

PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends through support to cope with an adverse society, education, to enlighten an ill-informed public and advocacy to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights.

Pam Graber

PFLAG Carson Region