Thanks for your support

Thank you very much for your response to the food drive conducted at the Albertson's Supermarket June 16 through 25 by Catholic Charities of Nevada.

To the parishioners of Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church, thank you very much for your continued support of the food bank.

You all have a true understanding of sharing with the less fortunate of Pahrump, even more so now, with the economic situation as it is.

May God bless you all.

ROBERT F. GAVAN

Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church Food Bank Coordinator

Thanks for gateway

I would like to commend the employees of Valley Electric, those that partner with them and any others who may have helped on the wonderful job they did cleaning up and beautifying the gateway to Calvada from 160.

It looks absolutely beautiful. You have turned a blight on our landscape into a crown jewel and I thank you.

In this day and age, when most of us have come to rely on government to take care of just about everything that affects our lives and then bemoan when it doesn't happen, it is refreshing to see our friends and neighbors take it upon themselves to take action.

Hopefully, this will be an inspiration to all of us and perhaps a motivation to step out of our comfort zones and take some semblance of responsibility for our environment, whether it be big or small.

And perhaps the next time you see a Valley Electric employee, you can thank him or her for a job well done to this oasis in the desert we love to call Pahrump.

KEVIN T. SMITH

Beckett: Remove signs, withdraw from campaign

Gee -- our now infamous DA Bob Beckett, has announced "he has taken full responsibility for his actions" after wrecking a county vehicle and his private vehicle on the same day, hours apart and was written up for a DUI. How existential.

Further, our DA praised California law enforcement officials who performed their duties exactly as they were trained to do.

Does this mean Mr. Beckett will perform his duties as a DA exactly as he was trained to do in the future, because in the past it appears he has plea-bargained most of his cases.

Now he has huge signs everywhere as far as the eye can see, campaigning to replace an incumbent judge.

Pray tell, how is he going to pass judgement on any drug addict or alcoholic that would come before him, or any felon for that matter, in good conscience? Does he not realize that either addiction is a serious illness?

I was district court clerk in Utah for two judges serving five counties.

One judge started work every morning at 4 a.m. and studied in his law library for hours before he appeared in court on any case.

When a lawyer for the defense began citing court cases, he was prepared to answer the lawyers and could prove they were right or wrong.

If a lawyer was unprepared, the judge would literally make a fool of him.

My purpose in bringing this issue up is my concern that Bob Beckett, in his present mental and physical condition, would not be able to handle this type of situation, and believe me, it happens in small-town courtrooms as well as big-city courtrooms.

There should be other concerns here, such as leaving for a conference on Sunday that does not actually begin until Wednesday. He would then submit per diem bills for rooms and meals, together with a totally wrecked vehicle, that we, as taxpayers, will have to pay in addition to his regular salary.

When one is employed by the state, all employees are informed that any charge such as a DUI, theft, assault or felony constitutes immediate dismissal including loss of benefits.

Now I ask you, in light of his past indiscretions, are we as voters and taxpayers ready to give Mr. Beckett a judgeship virtually for the rest of his working years under present conditions?

I for one, will not.

Until Bob Beckett can guarantee that he can keep his condition under control, manage his private life and perform the duties of an attorney and judge, my feeling is he should take down all his signs, withdraw from the campaign and take care of his health and family first, and his political life at a later date.

JOYCE CALL

Freedom Festival a hit

As a visitor to Pahrump over the Fourth of July weekend, I'd like to thank everyone involved with Freedom Festival.

It was great to see so much community spirit. And the fireworks show -- all I can say is "Awesome."

My children and I greatly enjoyed ourselves.

Thank you.

DONNA MORAN

San Diego, Calif.