Letters to the editor Sept. 17

Democratic Central Committee was just

trying to help out

As chair of the Carson City Democratic Central Committee and as president of the Carson City Democratic Women's Club, we wish to respond to Ronald Feldstein's letter of Aug. 26, concerning our serving coffee at the Carson City Senior Center.

When the Women's Club heard in December that the cost of coffee at the Senior Center was increasing, we decided to help. We budgeted to buy the coffee and signed up members to help serve it. We responded immediately because the Democratic Women's Club is, above all else, a service club and performs many tasks to help out in the community. Yes, we wore our blue shirts. But we have made it very clear to our members that we are not to engage in promoting any particular political point of view; we are just there to assist.

According to the manager of the Senior Center, employees and volunteers who have worked with the Democratic Women serving food and busing tables, etc., did not discuss partisan politics. Yes, we do laugh and talk with the people we are serving, and in our experience, everybody seems happy to see us and appreciates our services. Since Mr. Feldstein's letter, we have again served coffee and there have been no complaints at the Senior Center. In fact, many have thanked us.

Therefore, we will continue to assist in serving at the Senior Center and wherever we can elsewhere in our community, and we are sorry if Mr. Feldstein takes offense to this.

Donna J. Curtis

President, Carson City Democratic Women's Club

Marty McGarry

Chair, Carson City Democratic Central Committee

Stimulus No. 2 will help the president himself

Labor unions, including teachers' unions, will greatly benefit from President Barack Obama's jobs proposal - per the president's speech before the Joint Session of Congress on Sept. 8. Millions of dollars in new union dues will flow into union coffers and, in turn, be donated as political contributions to the 2012 Obama re-election campaign.

Democratic congressional candidates will also enjoy millions of dollars in new union political donations in 2012. In effect, the president handed out a hanging noose to the Republicans.

Moreover, due to restrictive and unproductive union work rules, fewer bridges and roads will be built or repaired under the new Obama jobs initiative - stimulus No. 2?

Edward Hamilton

Henderson

Mound House resident

still waiting for governor

After 60 formal requests and seven formal invites to speak to Gov. Brian Sandoval, the only response from the chief of staff was, "I don't think so," in response to my question of ever getting an audience with the governor.

The case manager of Nevada Office of Veterans Services called and plainly stated that he was told by the executive director of NOVS to stall my claim for three months.

Because of my persistence in asking for the meeting with Gov. Sandoval, is my claim being re-evaluated for the same issues that I have been discussing for 19 months? For this and other reasons, I am requesting an audience with Gov. Sandoval to clarify this statement and other stories offered to me by the staff of NOVS.

It appears either a political ploy or hypocritical of Gov. Sandoval to shake hands with veterans at the VA hospital and to go overseas to shake hands with veterans when a disabled veteran in his own back yard gets ignored when asking for his assistance.

Chuck Lundberg

Mound House

Jobs bill is Obama

trying to salvage his job

As usual, President Barack Obama is making another mistake that will cost millions of wasted dollars at the expense of hard-working Americans - his proposal of spending a small fortune on continuing unemployment benefits to thousands of Americans who have been receiving these benefits without even seeking work. Why should they?

These thieves are cashing those benefits in casinos and bars and spending it in those same places. The answer to this waste is for the state government to require these people to show proof of job search before receiving benefits, as I have been informed this isn't happening in most states.

Also, if a person is a laborer, applying for a bank president's position shouldn't be accepted.

The president is simply trying to gather votes at the expense of hard-working people.

I understand that there are many people who are trying to find work constantly, but there are many more of those not even attempting to search for employment. This is costing all of us in many ways, and is just a last-ditch effort by a lame-duck president to salvage his job, and it's embarrassing.

Lee Smith

Carson City

Minden resident

warns of phone scam

I received a phone call this afternoon in which a male subject said, "Hi, Grandpa, how are you doing?" The subject was hacking and coughing and stated that he had a terrible cold. I did not recognize the voice, so he stated that he was my oldest and most favorite grandson. I still did not recognize the voice nor the manner in which he was speaking.

I let him ramble on about how he got a free ticket to the Canada side of Niagara Falls with a friend. After a few minutes, it got to the point that he was in jail and had a lawyer who could get him out in time for his flight home to California tonight. He asked permission to give my number to his lawyer so he could call with how I could help get him out of jail. I'm sure that involved sending money.

Anyway, I asked him the middle name of his son, and he said "Jonathan." I then asked how old his son is, and he hung up. My eldest grandson has no children.

This is a scam that's propagated on older adults, and many people fall for it because they can't recognize their grandkid's voice over the phone.

Just thought I would pass this along as a concerned citizen.

Gene Leitz

Minden