MARIE WUJEK MORE COLUMNS Advertisement

Remember the movie "Field of Dreams," starring Kevin Costner and a host of other top notch actors?

Costner kept hearing, "If you build it, they will come."

He was an Iowa corn farmer on the brink of losing everything he had worked so hard for. The cornfields that surrounded his farmhouse weren't covering the bills. To make a long story short, one thing led to another, and then another.

He decided to risk it all and build a baseball field in the middle of his Iowa cornfield. Baseball is as American as apple pie and he knew in his heart of hearts he had to do this, and do it then.

Many family and friends questioned his drive and sanity, but each unbeliever became a believer upon witnessing nothing short of a miracle when long-gone ballplayers would emerge from the cornfields to play a good old-fashioned game of baseball.

The end of the movie showed a long line of cars coming to his farm to watch the games, thus, saving the farm from foreclosure.

This movie, though just a story, portrayed that through the power of believing and the relentless pursuit of a dream, great things can be achieved. Families and friends come together and bond, people regain their American pride.

If you haven't seen this movie, or saw it years ago, I highly recommend watching it.

I have a similar thing going through my mind, "If you build it, they will come," followed by an even more important, "If you build it, they will stay."

I am not talking about building a ball field. Pahrump has seen to it that baseball is as American as apple pie and has several ball fields.

What I am referring to is Great Basin College.

I feel very strongly that our town of 40,000 really needs a college -- not just for higher education opportunities for our kids and further education for our residents, but also for the jobs it will bring to our town.

When our kids graduate and head north to UNR or east to UNLV or some other direction to further their education, we run a 75 percent chance of losing them for good. Two or four years in another city or town is plenty of time to set down roots and virtually start a new life.

Most students don't get a full boat scholarship to go to college, requiring them to work. Then they establish relationships with others or may even marry a local resident, making it difficult to leave after they graduate.

Come on, Pahrump, where is your drive and spirit when it comes to the future of Pahrump? Our young people are our next group of leaders -- we need to focus on keeping them here.

We need to pressure the governor and state legislators to get their head out of their back pocket and make this a priority -- our future depends on it.

The state is in a full-blown budget crisis. You see and hear this in the news everyday. Yet officials fail to look at many of the obvious, excessive expenditures.

My inquiring mind wants to know how much of our tax dollars go toward longevity pay to state, city, town and county personnel. I don't know anyone in the private sector that receives longevity pay for being loyal and working in the same place for 10 years. Prior to being entitled to longevity pay they receive step increases and cost of living raises, usually more than private businesses can afford to give.

I believe, as many others do, that government has gotten way too big.

For years I have heard this comment thrown around about government employees: "Promote them to their highest level of incompetence and leave them there for 20 years."

Of course, this doesn't apply to all government employees but ask yourself, why would they leave? They have it pretty darn good. The chance of them losing their job is fairly slim because they would have to do something really bad to be terminated.

Upper level management positions, from what I have been told, receive thousands of dollars a year in longevity pay. They also can receive some major bonuses.

All government employees pay a small pittance for health insurance, the government (i.e., the taxpayers) picks up the majority of the tab. They get an additional five paid holidays a year plus more sick and annual leave than private sector employees.

Kind of gives validity to the saying, "Waste starts at the top level." Federal, state, county and city employees come under attack frequently over the above-mentioned perks.

You can research payroll records for state and county positions through printed disbursement lists and on the Web. I have no idea how to find this information on the federal level.

But from what I see, the chieftains are bringing home some really great paychecks while the folks that actually do the work are paid less than someone doing the same job in the private sector. Check it out -- the secretaries, gardeners, plumbers, teachers, etc., are paid less than if they worked for private companies or corporations.

This is probably a wash as far as benefits and additional holidays when employed by the government or at a higher rate of pay, less time off with pay and paying more for health insurance.

So I ask you, Gov. Gibbons, why don't you take a good hard look at the tax dollars doled out for the high number of upper management and supervisory jobs in every department of state government? Then ask the cities, counties and towns to do the same.

Figure out a way to run the state like a private business that has to watch every penny to cover their tax liabilities. Get rid of the excessive spending, unnecessary positions and projects, and above all learn to live within your budget.

Find the money to provide for the needs of other counties. Stop keying in on Clark and Washoe counties.

Make Great Basin College in Pahrump a priority. Local believers in higher education have already done much of the legwork and studies needed to make this a reality. Do the job you were elected to do, prove your worth to the hard-working taxpayers in Nevada.

Who knows, maybe you'll start hearing, "If I fix Nevada's financial crisis, work to provide what the people of my state need, and exhibit fiscal responsibility, they will elect me to a second term."

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Our First Amendment right as Americans is freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assembly.

My understanding is that many residents of Pahrump appeared at the Ruud Center Tuesday to exercise that right on the proposed correction facility to be built in Pahrump.

Although I received a brief synopsis of what took place at this gathering from people who attended, I must say many of you are spending far too much time in the sun without your hat.

First, you act as though the wool was pulled over your eyes and everything on the correction center was misrepresented.

This was a notable topic at many open meetings. If you had attended these meetings and read the articles written on this subject, you would have had this knowledge first hand.

Second, have you paid any attention at all to the amount of tax money and revenue the correction facility will bring to Pahrump? We are talking about some major dollars here. This revenue will provide Pahrump with some much needed and desired services and improvements and may even lower the tax burden on the working stiff.

Third, please tell me about the last correctional facility in which the inmates broke out, took the town hostage and wiped it off the face of the map? If this ever happened, I didn't hear about it.

Lastly, a comment was made as to how many correction guards are divorced due to the stress of the job.

Let's set the record straight: All law enforcement agencies have a higher than average divorce rate. Add to them EMTs, firefighters and medical professionals, who also have a higher than average divorce rate. Please tell me exactly why this is an issue?