Beatty accident

Recently, a commercial truck in the parking lot behind the Rebel station on Main Street in Beatty rolled down the slope and struck an automobile parked by the owners place of residence. The call on the emergency frequency went like this: "Attention emergency personnel, report to the area behind the Rebel station for a truck which has gone through a house." The truck did not go through the house but it certainly pushed the automobile halfway into the living room, allegedly striking one inhabitant who was sleeping on the couch.

Yesterday, Oct. 29, I was walking in that area and noted that the automobile is still embedded in the house and nothing seems to be happening to make the house habitable again. The folks renting the house informed me that they had only a temporary place to live and the company who owned the truck had indicated that it would be an extended time before they could expect any assistance. They stated that the trucking company expects them to arrange for their vehicle to be transported to Pahrump to be evaluated for a repair estimate.

I asked if they had gotten any assistance from those who claim to be somebody here in Beatty and they indicated the only assistance they had received was from the church.

Shame on you, Beatty Town Advisory Board; shame on you Nye County for allowing something like this to happen. Especially, shame on the trucking company which will allow something like this and not make immediate assistance available. I can only hope that, through some miracle, the next truck pushes a vehicle through the judge's house or the house of a lieutenant of the sheriff department. Then, maybe Beatty will react.

JERRY HARVEY

Beatty

Now for the lighting

I would like to publicly thank the Kiwanis Club, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Matt Luis (buildings and grounds superintendent) and the town board for their support for the additional concrete work at the skate park. I would also like to thank Canyon Concrete and PB Concrete and for their time and effort working with me to lower their bids and make this project work.

I noticed when I was at the skate park one day when I had taken the kids down there, that some of the grinding rails and boxes had gravel on one side. These were on the outside edge of the skate park. The kids were sometimes falling into the gravel when they came off the rails or boxes and hurting themselves.

There were still large areas inside the skate park where there was a lot of gravel and I felt that it would be safer for the kids and it would give the kids more skate area if we could cover it all with concrete.

So I first asked the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board members if I could get contractors to give me bids on getting additional flatwork done on the skate park. After their approval, I met with one contractor just to get a starting idea of how much it would cost to cover the rest of the skate park with concrete.

The first bid was over $20,000. I knew the Kiwanis had only about $10,000 in the Skate Park Fund, so I had my work cut out for me. And I was also hoping Kiwanis would support my idea of using the Skate Park Funds for the additional flatwork because I hadn't asked them yet.

Then I met with Matt Luis to discuss my idea and the cost. We wanted to leave some areas open for conduit for future lighting; that way we wouldn't have to tear up concrete to do the wiring.

So because of that I scaled back my project and met with two contractors to discuss what I wanted to do and I told them I had only about $10,000 to work with. Matt Luis said the Buildings and Grounds Department would contribute the dirt work, and thanks to the two contractors hard work I was able to get the bids around $10,000.

After I got the bids, I submitted my ideas and the bids to Kiwanis and requested them to authorize me to use up to $10,000 of the Skate Park Funds to do the improvements to the skate park. And thanks to them, they said yes.

So my next task was to get the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to approve my idea and one of the two bids. They approved the idea and approved the bid from Canyon Concrete, even though it was higher than the other bid and was $600 over my grant from the Kiwanis. I called Canyon Concrete and told them they were approved by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and I asked them if they would be willing to donate $600 to the skate park and lower their bid to $10,000 because that was all I had to spend. They said yes and amended their bid to $10,000.

The last thing I needed to do to get my project completed was to get the Town Board to approve the project and one of the bids. After some motions and some discussions the project was approved and a bid was accepted. Again I would like to thank everyone involved for their help and support. I know the kids will.

Now we need to get additional power and lighting to the skate park so the kids can have lighting. So if there is anyone willing to help please get involved with the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.

RICK EWIN

The Rush Limbaugh line

In the Oct. 19 issue Gary Marchinke gave the Rush Limbaugh line of taxes and class envy. He claims that the Bush tax cuts have benefited everyone.

Because of the Bush tax cuts:

1. Although you must have a passport to go to Canada and Mexico, the State department does not have sufficient personnel to issue passports in less than four to six months.

2. Despite the fact that now the baby boomers are retiring and there are more retirees than ever in the history of the U.S., Social Security has only 70 percent of the employees it had 30 years ago. 40 percent of those will retire in the next two years.

3. The air traffic control system will lose more than half its controllers in the next two years. However, the FAA has no money to hire and train replacements.

4. More than 40 percent of people have no health care. When they get sick, they go to the nearest public emergency room. The only one in Southwest Utah, Northwest Arizona, Eastern San Bernardino County, California, and southern Nevada is UMC in Las Vegas.

Despite its name it really is Clark County's public hospital. The cost of operating this hospital falls on middle-class homeowners. It's $60 million in debt because the county commission can't raise taxes fast enough.

5. Shrub is the only Commander-in-Chief in the history of the United States to cut taxes during time of war.

As Lou Dobbs of CNN has pointed out, the Bush administration is hell bent on destroying the middle class. To the benefit of the Bill Gates' class of conservatives, like Gary and Rush, have no interest in this country. After they destroy it they can move on to whatever tax haven they have their money stored.

KEVIN J. DOYLE

Mural

Cheers for Jessica and her talent. Finally, something positive is happening in Pahrump. What a wonderful use of her artistic abilities and a blank wall. Would be nice if this would be the first of many murals in Pahrump. Thank you, Jessica!

JANET DOUGLAS

PRINCETON, IND.