Letters to the editor for Friday, Sept. 13, 2013

Thomas news sparks memories of Appeal

I didn’t know Bob Thomas personally, but after reading his touching farewell commentary, I was moved to share some of my own experiences working at the Appeal about the same time he did.

In September of 1985, Editor Don Ham offered me the chance to write a weekly column, “Around Douglas.” It grew to include interviews with interesting people of Douglas County, Dayton and Carson City. I brought my column in to Don, double spaced each week. In September of 1995 my assignment was to write features and gather senior information for a monthly insert averaging 20 pages, “Senior Life.” I brought in a floppy disk each month to Rhonda Costa who became a good friend and contact.

In 1998, the name was changed to “Sierra Magazine.” In 2002 it became “Silver and Sage.” Vera Gesselman joined my team with her popular column, “Click with Vera,” and another friend, Alora Knight, began writing her poems about seniors to include in the paper. Sue Morrow was always there to help me when I ran into some problem with my writing and to give support. Barry Smith was my editor about that time, a true gentleman and very supportive and pleasant.

Publishers and editors changed several times and the insert got smaller and content changed until one day in 2008 it went away. Rhonda called to tell me I was no longer needed.

I appreciate and enjoyed those years writing for the Appeal and made many friends and gained experience through my interviews.

Jane Lehrman

Carson City

Legally wedded and married aren’t same

A same-sex wedding does not a marriage make. Marriage remains the union of a man and a woman. As Jesus said, “ ... He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’”

The state can “wed” as many varieties of people as they wish and give them benefits of “wed” people as long as they wish, but that’s all they are — people who have been “legally wedded.” Unless they are a man and a woman, they are not “married.”

Famed atheist Richard Dawkins tweeted March 13, “With respect to those meanings of ‘human’ that are relevant to the morality of abortion, any fetus is less human than an adult pig.” David Bushey (letter of Sept. 3) must agree with that. According to him, “ ... people who never loved, laughed, cried, dreamed, longed, or hoped for a better tomorrow” can be killed like pigs. What a cruel comment about the most helpless of people, the human fetus! Hitler would have agreed with both gentlemen.

Don R. Drake

Carson City