Response to Mr. Bohannon

I am writing in response to Mr. Bohannon's commentary on the caucus. He has some of his "facts" wrong.

There were no precinct captains elected or in charge for any caucus site. The precinct captains are selected by the campaigns to get voters out for their candidate. They can assist the precinct chairman if they want to, but it is not required.

The caucus chairman is generally selected by the county Democratic Party chairman. They are referred to as temporary chairmen until caucus day, when participants elect them or someone else.

I was the temporary chairman for Precinct 32 and was elected to be permanent chairman by the caucus attendees. I opened the position to all because that is what is required.

I attended all of the training and participated in a conference call the night before the caucus with the state Democratic Party chairman, Jill Derby, and the DNC chairman, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, to answer any last minute questions.

The fact that we ran out of material did not negate what the caucus was about. Mr. Bohannon was upset that his registration sticker was placed on a torn piece of paper. His vote did not count any less because of that. His vote was not counted because he opted not to cast it.

There were five precincts crammed into the cafeteria at the middle school. We were the largest so we took our meeting outside after registration to conduct our business.

I put up signs for each of the candidates around the picnic tables and instructed the participants to gather near their preferred candidate's sign.

No one stood at Mr. Gravel's sign. There were two women in Congressman Kucinich's area. I was one of them. There were no men there. Senator Edwards had seven supporters in his group. Senators Clinton and Obama had numerous supporters in their groups.

There was a formula that the state provided us to determine whether or not a particular group was viable. In the case of Precinct 32, we needed to have 20 supporters of a candidate in the group to be viable.

We were told that we needed to elect 10 delegates to the county convention that is coming up Feb. 23.

There was another formula to determine how many delegates each viable group would receive. All of this information and the caucus day agenda was posted by me in our caucus area.

The two Kucinich supporters opted to join Clinton's group.

The non-viable Edwards group was told that they could join a viable group or remain where they were. If they chose to remain in support of Edwards, that was all right, but they would not receive any delegates to the county convention.

One woman in the group tore up her ballot and tossed it at me, saying the process wasn't fair. One man kept insisting that he wasn't being treated fairly and called us all simple-minded. I tried to explain to him what the process was, but he refused to listen and continued to disrupt the proceedings. That is when I asked him to leave. As the chair I had that obligation and right.

He refused to leave his ballot when I asked him for it.

I have no idea what happened to Mr. Bohannon but the rest of Edwards' group moved to either Clinton's or Obama's group.

Delegates were elected from the only two viable groups. Based on the formula I was given in the caucus material, Clinton received six delegates and Obama received four delegates. A list of alternates was also generated in the event one of the elected delegates is unable to attend the convention. These are the only 10 people that will be permitted to cast a vote for their candidates at the county convention.

The caucus went as smoothly as possible, given the circumstances. I am sorry that Mr. Bohannon felt as though he was cheated out of a voice. Perhaps if he had taken the time to discuss his concerns with me or read the information posted all around the area, he would have been more patient with the process and less judgmental with his assessment of how the caucus was handled.

KATHLEEN L. BIENENSTEIN

Caucus Chairman, Precinct 32

Touched our hearts

The holiday season of 2007 is rapidly becoming a beautiful memory.

For the staff, volunteers, patients and their family members of Nathan Adelson Hospice, the memories are heartfelt and treasured. Through the generosity of so many people, our patients and their family members were given special treats again this year.

The fifth-grade students from Mt. Charleston Elementary School, the Cougar Cub Club, again this year put gift packages together for each of our patients.

The lovely baskets were made by very talented Johanna Viggiano, who makes the baskets using gently used Christmas cards.

The students added the gifts to the baskets and the nursing/field staff at Nathan Adelson Hospice, Pahrump delivered them to each home during their regular rounds. The gifts were accepted with deep appreciation.

Pets are also very important to our patients and their families, and again this year, Eileen Hart-Crawford of K-9 Kastle played Santa to many of our patients with dogs.

Eileen and her teenage assistant stopped by the homes of patients with dogs and delivered gifts of food, beds, toys and treats enough for all the dogs in the home.

Every recipient was touched to tears at Eileen's generosity and her deep spirit of giving and sharing. Eileen was equally touched by how these families loved their dogs and how appreciative they were to be able to share the holidays with their beloved pets.

At Nathan Adelson Hospice, we are so thankful for a kind, generous community. Each year individuals and groups take the time and resources to provide our patients and their families with special holiday memories. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank all of you.

TONYA BRUM

Event/Community Relations

Nathan Adelson Hospice, Pahrump

Water concerns

I read with an open mind, an article written by Mark Waite (Jan. 25, page A12). This is very interesting.

Our county fathers and mothers, along with the Public Works Department, are worried about septic material being dumped at the county landfill on Mesquite leaking to the groundwater.

Have any commissioners given any thought (and I mean any) to the tons and tons of the same type (animal waste) being dumped daily at the site between Basin and Irene, Blagg and Lola -- known as the dairy?

We can't have any sewage dumped at the landfill but have unlimited at the dairy.

Can any one, two or three people explain why this goes on?

When the Planning Department planned the land use of the valley, they knew the cows were leaving in 2005.

My question is: In Pahrump, do "cows leaving" and "coming soon" have anything in common.

GLENN HEESACKER