Enter/Exit

I am finally writing this letter.

I am a frequent shopper at Wal-Mart and am getting tired of getting run over or bumped into by people who can't read or pay attention to signs. The doors are clearly marked "Enter" or "Exit." For those of you who might not understand, Enter means "go into" and Exit means "go out."

Come on people -- are you inconsiderate or just plain stupid?

Jill Murphy

An angel among us

Most people don't care and don't share, but there is one angel among us. I met her when I joined the Arts Council recently. I had known her 24 hours when she came over to help me with my computer.

I showed her the little den. Blood was running out from the freezer there. It had been off since the Fourth of July due to lightning and was not connected to the house electricity.

The odor was too much for me and my neighbors, but she put Vicks in her nose, put on rubber gloves and cleaned up the entire filthy mess in three hours. She is my very special angel - Jackie, formerly of Texas.

I am over 80 and need angels. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and my walker.

Maureen Sherwood

P. S., My husband of 14 years, of his own free will, left in February and took all his clothes and $1,750 of our monthly income, leaving me with $630 and all the bills.

I have been depleting our savings to pay bills of approximately $1,500 per month. Too bad I, once again, married a loser-user. Will I ever learn? I hope.

Ruined? Don't think so

Mr. Taylor, as a full-time volunteer with the Pahrump Fire Department, I view your letter of Aug. 4 as a real disservice to the people of Pahrump by providing poor facts about the Pahrump Fire Department.

Yes, once we did have over 100 volunteers on the roll call list. I don't believe I ever saw more than six personnel show for a fire. Many were not properly trained, and some individuals had medical conditions and were driving fire engines unlawfully and were not fired by Chief Lewis or the town.

All but a handful left prior to Chief Lewis' assumption of command of the fire department, the reason being the town stopped paying us $15 for each fire call we were on.

Mr. Taylor, now let us address the Mountain View Casino fire. Again, you didn't give correct information. It was not lack of volunteers that caused the loss of the casino. There were many factors that caused the fire to move so rapidly. Building construction was a factor for sure.

What needs to be addressed here is that there were nine personnel from the career force and two volunteers responding to the first alarm. If you were there that night, you must have closed your eyes to Engine 5 on the north side of the building, manned by myself and two others.

The problems with fire protection in Pahrump do not lie internally within the fire department, but with people not getting correct facts and the town not willing to spend the money to hire the much-needed additional full-time career personnel.

Mr. Taylor, if you really want to get the correct facts, come down to the fire house, ride a 24-hour shift with me, and I am sure you will see some very hard-working, professional career and volunteers working side by side to make Pahrump safe.

Ron Feldshaw

FF/EMT Volunteer Program Coordinator

Congratulations on victory

I thought I would be the first to congratulate Mr. Jones on winning the Public Administrator Republican Primary.

I hope he continues with good luck in November and moves the job toward the 21st Century.

Thanks to all the nice people who helped me straighten out the P.A.'s office over the last three and a half years.

Good luck to all and may God Bless America.

Murray M. bLoomis

Thanks for your kindness

We were involved in the car accident at Bell Vista and 160 on Sunday, Aug. 13. Two very kind people stopped and stayed with us until help arrived to transport us to the hospital. We never got their names, but wanted to thank them for staying with us.

Also, the fire and rescue personnel were great with us. We were the ones in the white van. Thanks to all who helped us that day. We are sure there were more than we will ever know about.

Jim and Kathy Clayton

Fire-rescue should be lauded

The recent letter by Charles Taylor regarding the Pahrump Valley Fire-Rescue Services (Aug. 8 PVT) contains issues and misconceptions that need clarification.

Taylor has berated the PVFRS and a number of individuals, past and present, associated with the service and the town. As a past town board member, I was acquainted with Mr. Taylor and had met with him a few times at his request.

Although Mr. Taylor had contributed positively to the service over the years, neither the town manager nor the fire chief and other PVFRS personnel always agreed with him, particularly with regard to surplus equipment. Disagreements sometimes led to his calling town board members directly to convince them that this or that surplus item should be purchased.

I was called one day by Taylor from Oregon (where he used to work) and was told we should acuire a particular substantial piece of surplus equipment. He explained that we had little time to act, and I needed to give approval quickly. I was neither authorized nor inclined to approve any such action; I referred the matter to the fire chief who, along with the town manager, discussed the issue with him and decided not to make the acquisition. We have obtained useful surplus equipment, and we have also purchased some "white elephants," which have been expensive to maintain or have been unusable. Surplus equipment must be examined carefully, and it must fit into the overall inventory requirements.

Taylor's efforts, although done in good faith, I'm sure, were typically sporadic, random and not coordinated with management or the PVFRS.

Taylor also mentioned the issue of volunteers vs. regulars. The transition from a mostly volunteer department to a larger core of regulars with volunteer augmentation was a difficult one.

At some point, this transition was probably inevitable as Pahrump grew from a small to a large town. We had excellent and dedicated volunteers, including a volunteer assistant fire chief.

There were two issues that had to be addressed. First, because some volunteers were booking too many hours, the town was in danger of violating provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Second, we needed to train volunteers to the level that we trained regulars. These issues of safety and liability had to be worked, along with the funding, and this certainly affected the volunteer force.

A "consultant" like Taylor does not need to lecture Chief Lewis or town management on the requirements of the PVFRS. They are well aware of what is needed and how best to work with their current assets. Inadequate funding is the real issue, and has been for many years. At some point Pahrump must step up to the plate.

The Pahrump Valley Fire-Rescue Services should be congratulated for the excellent work they have done and continue to do through difficult transition periods and with the assets and budgets they have.

Jim Mutton