Letters to the editor for Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016

Help those in need this holiday season

Now that the election is over and the holidays are coming, have you thought about the many children who have nothing? There is so much you can do to bring happiness on Christmas Day to a child.

Missionaries are overseas that work with families who have nothing. Not only do the missionaries help them, but they bring them the good news of Jesus and what Christmas is all about.

Check with your church and ask them about Operation Christmas Child. What you can do with your children is, have them fill a shoebox with new toys, school supplies, children’s books, etc. Just one shoebox from someone far away in America will bring so much happiness.

To send your box around the world, you may contact www.samaritanspurse.org for details, or call 1-800-353-5949. Operation Christmas Child is Samaritan’s Purse international Relief project of Franklin Graham.

You may find a donation site at a church in the area to drop off your shoebox. Call today, and God bless you.

Betty Hundrieser

Carson City

More pedestrian deaths expected

Every driver’s fear is a child running out from behind a parked car chasing a ball. But this is exactly what pedestrians now do — they mindlessly step into traffic because there’s a law saying it’s OK to do so.

Gulliver’s Travels comes to mind. The solution will require traffic controls.

Thomas Hoosac

Carson City

Tell elected officials to protect Medicare

If you are or have a parent who is on Medicare, you know what a good system it is. Despite what Paul Ryan says about it being broken, that’s just another lie in this post-truth world.

Seniors and their families need to contact their representatives immediately and continually and mount a strong campaign against the privatization of Medicare. Privatization means huge increase in costs and inferior service.

Remember that a Trump campaign promise was to leave Medicare alone. That was a con. Pay attention. Make your calls. (Don’t send email, you need to call).

Mark Amodei — 775-686-5760, 775-777-7705, 202-225-6155; Dean Heller — 702-388-6605, 775-686-5770, 202-224-6244; Joe Heck — 202-225-3252; Dina Titus — 202-225-5965, 702-220-9823.

Robin Cobbey

Gold Hill

Thank you, P.K. O’Neill, for serving Nevada

Following a very contentious election, I wanted to express my appreciation to a truly dedicated local public servant, P.K. O’Neill.

P.K. was not victorious in his reelection, but he will always be a winner to me. After weathering personal and often inaccurate criticism, mostly from our own party, he lost a close primary. Even after defeat, he continued to attend events and carry out his duties.

Unfortunately, there has been a distortion of the reasons behind P.K.’s support for Governor Sandoval’s tax package. As someone involved in his first election, he took great care in not foreclosing the possibility of some type of tax increase. He pointedly refused to sign the robotic “Tax Pledge.” He was, and is, a low tax advocate. When faced with the Sandoval package and its very direct impact on Carson City, he reluctantly, but clearly, signed on. Contrary to warnings from the opposition, the dire warnings of economic collapse failed to occur. In fact, Sandoval’s package seems to have succeeded beyond expectations.

Most importantly, the funding formula for Western Nevada College would not have been restored without O’Neill’s actions with the Governor and Republican leadership. It was his determination that brought the plight of our rural community colleges to the forefront of decision makers. That action will continue to pay dividends in Carson City for decades.

So, thanks to my friend, P.K., for your service to Carson City. I have no doubt you will be serving Nevada in the future.

Steve Robinson

Carson City

Letter writer ignores facts to excuse Trump’s behavior

Regarding Mr. Curt Lyons letter of Nov. 18, Mr. Lyon:

You are entitled to drink all the Kool-Aid you want, but you are not entitled to your own facts. Serge Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a disease that severely limits the functioning of his joints. Mr. Trump knew this and had been interviewed in person by Mr. Kovaleski several times. He is indeed disabled, and Mr. Trump’s mockery of his inability to use his joints is disgusting and grossly irresponsible.

If the Nevada Appeal engaged in the type of fact checking you advocate, your letter would never have been published. Fact check yourself, sir.

Linda Deacy

Carson City

Trump protestors are being foolish

I do not understand the protests, machinations, wringing of hands currently going on in the United States right now.

We live in a Democracy; we elect a president every four years. There isn’t any sour grapes — you can’t change the election after the fact. We also can’t change the system — our democracy has a set of laws and we abide by them. It doesn’t matter who you voted for; these apply to all. And these laws have worked for more than 200 years.

Whether you voted for Donald Trump or not, he is your/our elected president. And what exactly are you protesting? He hasn’t done anything yet, nor can he until after he is inaugurated. The only difference right now between Donald Trump and you or I is that he has considerably more money than we can ever imagine and he has a Secret Service detail. Period.

A hundred days from the inauguration, if you don’t like what has happened, then protests might be in order. But not now. Don’t complain about our democratic system just because you don’t like the outcome — it might work, it might not.

And this is the way it works.

Joel Kirk

Carson City