Trumped up

Commissioner Liakopoulos told the fire department and the sheriff's department "no" on Tuesday to a tax increase.

Then town board member Murray, married to a fire fighter, accused him of trying to bribe her. The sheriff's department arrested Liakopoulos without a complete investigation.

Apparently, in Nye County, if you tell the fire department and the sheriff's department "no," they conspire to have you arrested to help a failing recall.

MATTHEW BATES

Bleeding hearts

It seems the corrupt political system and bleeding-hearts liberals are in the process of giving our great republic willingly to our enemies, and we are supposed to lay down and submit to them.

People, in my opinion, we are very near the point of being enslaved by such corrupt politicians as Harry Reid, John Kerry, Edward Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Hussein Obama and do not forget the Hillary do-gooders with great plans to sell us out to the highest bidder.

Folks, Obama is one of the leading candidates for the responsibility of being commander-in-chief of our great country.

This is an insult to all the great patriots who gave their lives to defend us against such disregard of our destruction.

It is a recorded fact that almost, if not every politicians mentioned above, voted against English being declared the national language of the United States of America. It was reported that Harry Reid was the moving force who defeated it. Please make note of this, reelections come soon.

BILL DAWSON

Infinite wisdom

Our country and town are in the midst of a terrible economic recession which is causing many citizens to default on their bills and mortgages.

Many people can't feed their families and bankruptcy and home foreclosure are in the near future for them.

The Pahrump Town Board in its infinite wisdom has decided this is a great time to levy a new tax on the citizens. The money raised from the new tax would be given to the fire department and the sheriff's department, which at the present time, have some of the highest salaries in Pahrump with health care and retirement benefits.

The town board is supposed to make decisions for the good of the entire town, but instead they act as lobbyists for the county employees, and in some cases there is definitely a conflict of interest, because sometimes their friends and family members greatly benefit by their decisions and the taxpayers get the bill.

The town board also agreed to give the town manager a 2 percent wage increase because they evaluated his performance and deemed his work satisfactory, because I guess they felt our town manager was doing such a fine job.

When I look back on his performance, I cannot see any improvement in our town.

All I see is a town with a decrease in jobs, unpaved roads, new businesses being turned away due to bureaucracy and impact fees, higher utility bills and higher property tax.

Maybe the town board took into consideration the fight our town manager got into at the local bowling alley, but I think he lost that fight on a split decision, so he should have only gotten a 1 percent pay raise.

If any of our local departments feel they need more tax dollars to operate their department efficiently, then I have a solution to save our citizens the awful pain of another tax increase. I will offer my services free of charge and use my business skills and knowledge to streamline any department and cut out a lot of waste and unnecessary costs.

Funding these budgets with higher taxes has a negative impact on the entire economy of our town. New business and livable wage jobs are the answer to create a cycle of money so county budgets can be properly funded.

I hope the citizens of Pahrump remember all the people who want to raise their taxes when it comes time to vote, because the path we are on now is a collision course with disaster.

LOUIS J. DECANIO

End of life in Pahrump

We in Pahrump and Las Vegas need to know the real importance of Hillary's being against the use of Nevada for the nuclear waste dump of the nation.

The rail route to Yucca Mountain dump has yet to be nailed down.

One route proposed is on the west side of Spring Mountain or east of Pahrump.

What you don't know, is our water comes from this mountain to the tune of 19,000 acre feet of water per year. This is the main source of Pahrump's ground water.

The proposed train route to Yucca Mountain will trasverse Spring Mountain, parallel to Pahrump, and hence contaminate our water supply with cancer causing emissions. This spells the end of life in Pahrump.

And don't forget Las Vegas, Red Rock Canyon is the other side of Spring Mountain. Do you get your water from this mountain?

And Vegas, take notice. You can't live or cook without water.

RUTH E. WEIDENHEIMER

Returned card to soldier

I am an 84-year-old lady and I saw this clipping (referring to a PVT brief "Christmas cards for veterans) in the paper before Christmas and I thought it was a good thing to do.

So I wrote a card and letter and sent it according to the name in the paper.

But here it came back -- we have to have a person's name.

How do I do that? Why don't they send us some names?

Reminds me of when I first came to Las Vegas in 1944. The town was small and not many jobs, so I thought I could get a job washing dishes in a casino.

Well, I couldn't get a job because I didn't belong to the union.

Couldn't join the union because I didn't have a job.

Stop the world and let me off.

DOROTHY HENLEY

Editor's note: In the Dec. 19, 2007 PVT issue a correction was made to the brief referred to in the above letter.

The corrected brief states:

Address the envelope in this manner:

We Support You During Your Recovery

"c/o The American Red Cross

PO Box 419

Savage, MD 20307-0419. The address rules must be followed to the letter.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Unfair assessment

When I received the assessment notice for fiscal year 2008-09, I was shocked to see the assessor raised the value of my home by 3 percent.

Property values have decreased significantly this past year. I realize the county needs money to function. I don't appreciate paying more than my share.

I called the assessor's office and was told I would not see a reduction for at least two years, if ever, and the assessed value is made by what it would cost to build my home today - not resale value.

This is not true as manufactured homes are depreciated out after 10 years. That means, if I have a manufactured home, after 10 years I can have a new one made for free.

I know I was told a lie. It is more honest to say, "We need the money and this is the only way to get it."

Bobbi Macias

Watching Clinton

Eyes around the world are on Nevada and Nye County with the upcoming caucus.

A few months back Sen. Clinton, along with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., introduced a piece of legislation crucial to America's rural schools and communities.

Called the Rural Students College Career and Community Readiness Act of 2007, the legislation will establish partnerships between nonprofit entities and rural school districts to improve the educational and career outcomes of rural, low-income students.

In July 2007, I proudly endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton in her bid for the White House. With the introduction of this important piece of legislation, I am more confident than ever that Sen. Clinton is the candidate with the most understanding of the issues that affect America's rural communities.

Hillary has pioneered many programs for rural school districts that are now actively benefiting students in counties like Nevada's Nye.

Schools in rural areas and small towns face unique and difficult challenges in serving the needs of children and public education. Some of these include low salaries and benefits, lack of access to professional development opportunities and a juggling of multiple tasks such as teaching several subjects or at different grade levels while providing extracurricular opportunities.

Over the course of her career, Sen. Clinton has actively supported programs that recognize those challenges and deal directly with the particular needs of students, educators, school employees and communities in the nation's vast rural areas.

Essentially, rural schools are forced to do more for their students with increasingly limited resources.

In fact, many of the functions of rural school districts extend beyond their mission of educating children. Sen. Clinton clearly understands this, as evidenced by this bill. A rural school is often the largest single employer in its area, serving as the social, recreational and cultural foundation of the community.

The bottom line is that Sen. Clinton not only has a demonstrated understanding of one of the most important issues that affects Nevada's and the nation's rural communities, but she has experience working with the issue and is now taking specific steps through her role as a United States senator.

I expect that when you caucus for Sen. Clinton on Saturday and she is elected president, she will apply the same careful study, analysis, and action to the numerous serious issues confronting both our rural communities and our nation as a whole.

DENNIS W KEATING

Chairman, Nye County School District Board

Check out your congressmen

This year's prolonged, record-setting campaign for president may very well burn out otherwise concerned taxpayers/voters to the point that come election day, many will become stay at homes in frustration. And that is a very sad possibility that the penalty we pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

Thus, it may be prudent for Americans to take the time to re-acquaint themselves with basic civic and the proper role of government in our society.

For example, it is a myth that we are a democracy. Benjamin Franklin quoted from the Constitution that the United States are a constitutional Republic.

Another forgotten fact is that as serious as the office of president is, the most important government official to each American is our representatives in congress: Does he rely on the Constitution, as a guide? Is he careful in how he spends our money? Has he the courage to vote for a declaration of war in a crisis, such as occurred in World War II and which has been ignored in all of the undeclared wars on the U.S. has been involved ever since?

Moreover, congressmen, once in office, have to go before the voters every two years to maintain their jobs. And they are very cognizant that we taxpayers are watching how they vote -- whether making mistakes in our favor or not.

The media's repetitive focus on candidates has become quite laughable, giving unlimited material for comedians to use in their repertoire. "How come you don't run for office -- hell, I've been running for the nearest exit for over 30 years."

Likewise, voters can use a bit of levity in questioning various candidates: "Sir/madam -- would you be willing to submit to a lie detector test before beginning a speech?"

"Before voting to spend hard earned taxpayers money, would you ask yourself three questions: Is it absolutely necessary? Can we afford it? And, is it Constitutional?

Additionally, voters could seek the signature of wannabes on a simple liberty compact: "I pledge to the American people that as their elected president/representative I will work to: promote liberty, not restrict it; shrink government, not expand it; reduce taxes, not raise them; abolish programs, not create them; promote freedom and independence of citizens, not the interference of government in their lives; and observe the limited enumerated powers of the Constitution, not ignore them.

Such truth in labeling might very well eliminate most change promoters and un-confuse a majority of voters -- like mosquitoes in a nudist camp, many folks have become lackadaisical and have lost interest in being involved in the political process -- it is mind-bungling, searching for the truth and deciphering right from wrong.

It is time for a tea party, such as occurred in Boston at the beginning of the revolutionary war against the British Empire, because of the outrageous taxes imposed upon the colonies? Death and taxes may be inevitable, but being taxed to death is not.

We have an opportunity to have a legal revolution during this silly season, but it takes courageous people to stand up to the insider-controlled mob of "poverty pimps," who have promised everything to all comers -- with their vote-buying fraud and promises of "change."

Do these candidates have secret agendas to overturn our precious sovereignty through appealing statements and happy smiles, under the guise of change?

It is entirely up to the voters to become as well informed as possible so that we, as responsible citizens, can exercise our precious right to select the most honorable statesmen to public office. But it takes a lot of "pullers of oars."

VINCE BOGDAN

Too many problems

Tell Dr. Brainard that if he gets any more bird-brained ideas to keep them to himself as there have been enough problems in this county.

Also, he should keep watch on his side-kick to keep him away from any tail pipes as he has been sniffing too much exhaust fumes.

ARTHUR C. JOHNSTON