Business owners beware

We applied to the State of Nevada for a collection agency license. We filled out all the required paperwork and sent in checks totalling $680 on Sept. 11, 2007.

Listed below is what happened with our application and our $680.

After several conversations with the financial division in Carson City before we submitted the applications, we were never informed about any state law that would prevent us from ever submitting an application in the first place.

After I called, I was told by the Carson City office my wife did not qualify to become a manager and I said, "Okay, just return our $680."

The lady said they didn't refund application fees.

I then called Steven W. Kondrup, the commissioner at the Nevada Financial Institutions Office and spoke personally with him. He quoted the law and said they do not refund application fees.

I said, you have done nothing to justify keeping our $680.

We believe the law is unconstitutional in that it requires a person to have worked two years for an outside collection agency and the experience must be within 18 months of your application date in order to qualify to take the test for collection agency management.

The way the law is written, if you owned a Nevada licensed collection agency and sold it 19 months later and then decided to open another collection agency, you would be prevented and prohibited by the state law to even apply according to the Nevada Statues:

"NRS 649.196 Applicant for certificate: qualifications; requirements; notice of refusal to issue certificate; request for hearing; withdrawal of application.

1. (g) Has not less than two years full-time experience with a collection agency in the collection of accounts assigned by creditors who were not affiliated with the collection agency except as assignors of accounts. At least 1 year of the 2 years of experience must have been within the 18-month period preceding the date of filing the application.

4. If the commissioner refuses to issue a manager's certificate pursuant to this section, he shall notify the applicant in writing by certified mail stating the reason for the refusal. The applicant may submit a written request for a hearing within 20 days after he receives the notice. If the applicant fails to submit a written request within the prescribed period, the commissioner shall enter a final order."

The question we ask, and only you, Mr. Kondrup, can answer, is what are you going to do about this travesty and outright stealing of our money?

CHARLES A. PATTERSON

VIRGINIA L. PATTERSON

Insult to the patriots

It seems the corrupt political system and bleeding-heart 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.

Barack Hussein Obama has been allowed to disgrace our great Stars and Stripes by turning his back on it and the complete disregard for our country he refused to be sworn into office by placing his hand on the Holy Bible and reportedly was allowed to take his oath of office as senator in the state of Illinois by placing his hand on the Koran.

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

This is an insult to all of the great patriots who have given their lives to defend us against such disregard and destruction. It is a recorded fact that almost all, if not every politician 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 a note of this, re-elections come soon.

BILL DAWSON

Global warming?

Are the world's ice caps melting because of climate change, or are the reports just a lot of baloney?

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that ice levels that had shrunk around five million square miles in January 2007, are almost back to original levels.

London Daily showed that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than usual, challenging the global warming crusaders.

The Daily Express recalls the photograph of polar bears clinging on a melting iceberg had been used by former Vice President Al Gore during his "Inconvenient Truth" lectures about mankind's alleged impact on the global climate.

Gore fails to mention that the photograph was taken in the month of August when melting is normal, or that the polar bear population has soared in recent years.

Scientists are saying the northern hemisphere has endured its coldest winter in decades, adding that snow cover across the area is the greatest since 1966.

China, the United States and Canada were hit hard by snowstorms and China had over 100,000 houses collapse under heavy snow.

Jerusalem, Amman and northern Saudi Arabia report the heaviest falls in years, which killed 120 people, and even Baghdad had a snowstorm, the first in the memory of most residents.

A record long cold spell in Vietnam's northern region has killed nearly 60,000 cattle. Britain experts say that February could end up as one of the coldest in the past 10 years.

More than 100 villages were snowed in on the island of Crete and temperatures in Athens dropped to -6 C. before dawn, as ships remain in ports, public services remain closed and schools and courthouses were also closed. Grevena, Kastoria and Florida plunged to -12 C.

If global warming gets any worse we'll freeze to death.

VERNE ZEIGLER