Thank you

This letter is a very special thanks to everyone at Mountain Falls Golf Club and Terrible's Lakeside.

This includes employees, customers and all of our friends who knew me and Robin and especially my son, Bruce A. Kraemer.

I cannot even express enough thanks to everyone for the cards, money, plants, flowers and their condolences.

MARGARET KRAEMER AND ROBIN

Just another rip-off at the gas pump

The article on page A14 of the July 18 edition was fairly comprehensive, but might lead a lot of Pahrumpians to believe that this new fuel is a bargain and that it is "greener" than gasoline. This could not be farther from the truth.

The article suggested that "if" there is a differential of $2.51 for E85 versus $3.94 per gallon for gasoline there would be a large savings. This is just a dream. This would suggest that the cost ratio would put E85 at an advantage 64 percent of the cost of gasoline.

There are three problems with this assumption.

First, E85 is much more costly (currently $3.79 per gallon); second, there is a whole lot less energy in E85 than in gasoline (various publications suggest that, depending on your engine, the amount of energy in E85 is about two-thirds of the energy in gasoline); third, there is an unbelievable rat's nest of subsidies and support costs paid to farmers and refiners for this product.

Then there is the myth that E85 is "cleaner than gasoline," another error. While emissions are lower for E85, it does not count the emissions and costs to produce it, leaving a carbon footprint much larger than you would believe.

Fact, it takes 1,500 gallons of water to grow one bushel of corn, which can make about 4 gallons of ethanol. Fact; by the time the E85 is delivered to the gas station, significant amounts of diesel have been burned to plant and reap the crop, pump the water to the crop, and deliver the final product from field to refinery to gas station. Fact, farmers are paid huge subsidies, in the billions of taxpayer dollars, to plant the corn. Fact, a subsidy of 55 cents a gallon is paid to the refiners to blend ethanol with gasoline.

That is called "free money" courtesy of those fine aristocrats on Capitol Hill.

My own experiences may yield a better picture for your readers. I own a 10-year-old pickup from GMC with a four-cylinder 2,400cc engine. This truck was designed to burn E85. This vehicle gives me a solid 20-21 miles per gallon on 87 octane gasoline.

After several tanks of E85, I calculated that I got less than 14 miles per gallon. The actual calculation was that I was paying about 20 cents a mile for gasoline and 27 cents a mile for E85. When I returned to gasoline, the truck resumed the better mileage.

Various industry publications show figures similar to my own experience. Believe me, E85 is no bargain, just another rip-off at the gas pump at the prevailing prices.

TOM WARD

No final decision made

In response to Priscilla Lane's letter of July 18, the BLM has not made any final decision on what it plans to do with the wild horse herds.

I am very angry at the thought of killing these beautiful creatures, they are the very symbol of Nevada.

I realize the BLM has a serious problem with the expanding herds. The Adopt-a-Horse is a wonderful program, they have many horses waiting for adoption but few takers. Transporting them to other areas is just moving the problem some place else, yet we can't just let them starve to death.

I can't imagine the cost of rounding them up, slaughtering them and rendering the remains. If I truly wanted to manage my herd, I would castrate most of the stallions and return them to the herd, leaving one stallion per herd.

It's certainly more humane -- to the horses and we, the taxpayers.

JANE SCHMIDT

Saving fuel on pickup

Last week I spoke to John Shey at Pahrump Valley Disposal concerning fuel savings.

I suggested to John that PVD redo its pick-up route structure to save as much as 40-50 percent of the fuel.

The restructure of the routes would change the pattern to allow the trucks to make only a single pass on each street. Currently they go up one side of most streets and return on the same street on the other side.

John agreed that the fuel savings would be worthwhile. However, he said he had proposed this several times in the past to the Pahrump Town Board. He also told me he had tried this on his own in the past and the citizens complained to the town board, and the board told him to continue with the double side of the street pick-up.

I think the Pahrump Town Board should revisit this issue and allow John to save some fuel. The local post office informed me that there are less than 10 percent of postal deliveries that are made where a carrier makes more than one pass on each street.

The requirement to make the change would be simple.

Have Pahrump Valley Disposal inform all of their customers to put their trash receptacles on the same side of the street that their U.S. mail box is now installed.

If the Pahrump Town Board allows the route changes, they may be able to rescind the "rate adjustment to offset these uncontrollable costs." That could all be worked out with John Shey.

Thank you for your attention to this matter that concerns most of the citizens of Pahrump.

TED EDWARDS