Letters to the editor for Sunday, July 16, 2017

Pot or not ain’t the issue

Carson City residents and voters:

My conviction is that legal marijuana sales to adults from dispensaries here won’t prove anywhere near as problematic as alcohol sales from package liquor stores and taverns.

My conviction, however, was and is irrelevant. My reading of the voting majority sentiment in Carson City prevailed, so I voted against my personal conviction.

I also hold a conviction that society’s banning of pot sales while condoning booze sales has been hypocritical at best, ludicrous in the main and I was glad it ended in Nevada with medical marijuana. Our federal government botched this issue in the 20th century and continues to do so. Those matters, however, also are personal views and wholly irrelevant.

What is relevant now is what happens next. A Board of Supervisors majority has signaled we likely will have two recreational pot dispensaries. Though I was against recreational sales until much more time passed, Nevadans and the state Legislature have spoken, as has the local board of which I am a member.

We now must write the best ordinance possible to make certain that pot sales don’t cause a host of problems, as booze sales have. I worry as much about booze and pot impaired drivers on our roads, both here and throughout Northern Nevada, so I am now likely to support a smart and tough ordinance governing recreational sales here.

To both my constituents and board colleagues, allow me to voice this opinion, which may actually be relevant: We are all trying to do the best we can in this poker game over pot, given the cards we’ve been dealt.

John Barrette

Ward 4 Supervisor

Addition to local roadway puzzling

I would like to know why a cement berm has been installed on the street jutting out into the roadway on Oak Ridge Drive, just south of Mankins Park. It is across the street from the entrance to the new housing development that is being worked on right now. A pole has been put into the berm, for some sort of sign I imagine. But why put the berm there, jutting out into the street?

I see the reasoning behind the two that were installed directly in front of the park, slowing traffic and allowing for safer parking at the park. But this new one is puzzling.

Patricia Hamilton

Carson City

Days of voter privacy are (and have been) long gone

You have got to be kidding that with all the ways your personal lives and information are invaded through your use of a cell phone, computer, credit card, social media, etc. that you are concerned that your voting registration data may be compromised.

How do you think pollsters and petition users know how you are registered? The information is made public all the time.

The question to be addressed is the possible voting by people who do not meet the qualifications to vote, i.e. undocumented citizens, under aged, etc. That is a concern that should be addressed.

Those days when your personal information was kept private are no more. Your voter registration information is not an exception. Even if it is not sent in by the state, you can bet that if the federal government, or anybody with technical knowledge and a computer for that matter, wants it bad enough, they can get it. This is the price we pay for all of the technical advances we enjoy. There is good and bad in all of it.

Kelly Madigan

Carson City

Scrapping Obamacare is bad for business owners

The Congressional Budget Office recently released its evaluation of the Senate health care bill, and confirmed that millions of people would lose coverage if it becomes law.

I’m worried I’d be expected to lose coverage if the ACA is repealed and what that would mean for my small business.

Before the passage of the ACA, I had trouble finding health insurance because I was continuously denied due to my preexisting conditions. But the ACA has been a Godsend. My consistent and reliable coverage has relieved the worry of whether or not a doctor will see me, which has allowed me to remain healthy and completely focused on my small business ventures.

However, this plan will make it more difficult for small businesses owners, like me, and their employees to receive coverage.

Worrying about affordable health coverage puts undue stress on me as a business owner. And that’s why I hope that the Senate will listen to its constituency and work to improve the existing law instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.

Michelle Mauricci

Reno

Russia probe is a political red herring

What a big fuss over nothing, Donald Trump Jr. talking to a reporter about campaign information.

When I ran for office, if anyone offered information of my opponent, I would listen to it. I may or may not use it. I do not see what wrong has been done.

I think that all this talk about Russia and Trump is to keep the FBI from investigating Hillary and the Clinton Foundation.

John Wagner

Carson City