Readers’ epistles defend gun ownership, praise columnists and tout a Gerlach geothermal proposal

Praise for our July issue

I’m thrilled to have RN&R back on the racks! Kudos to Casey Cummings and Kimball Shinkoskey for their well-written and thoughtful letters (RN&R, July 2023). Our state is so wrong-thinking and wasteful of our tax money. We are doomed if we can’t vote these folks out of office. And a tip of my hat to other pieces in the issue: Frank X. Mullen’s Editor’s Note was spot on, as was Sheila Leslie’s column. A question: why does the federal government look to skim money from Social Security to fund agendas when we are supporting NASA? Why spend billions to fly around the moon? Besides being a huge waste of money, the damage to the environment during launches has to be tremendous. Abort NASA and put those rocket scientists to work on preserving our planet.  —C.R. Ferris, Reno

Guns are forever 

Gun violence cannot be stopped by “getting rid of guns” (RN&R, July 2023). There are oodles of guns already owned legally in this country; what’s the plan, go door to door and force people to turn over their firearms? Or ask politely to relinquish the guns and trust the honor system? As the saying goes, if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. The logic behind bringing back payphones (RN&R, June 2023) makes sense, however. —April Pedersen, Reno

GOP wallows in ignorance

Republicans have reached the peak of absurdity. Children are regularly mowed down in classrooms by crazies with AR-15s and “conservatives” stand mute or say mass murder is the small price we pay for the (misinterpreted by them) Second Amendment. But let a drag queen read a book to kids at a library (RN&R, July 2023) and those “conservatives” are driven into frenzy. The only things they are “conserving” are ignorance, greed and hatred. —Barry DeSena, Fernley

Drag Queens aren’t the problem

The television program To Catch a Predator never caught a drag queen. They DID catch preachers, fathers and other “normal” men. —Laura Barmettler, Reno

Gerlach should get geothermal

It’s starting to sound a bit NIMBY to me.

While the population of Gerlach (54) is vehemently opposed to the proposed Ormat geothermal power plant (RN&R, April 2023), the rest of us are stuck in the cities, more concerned with how to pay our rising energy bills than not being able to see the stars clearly.

Ormat has been installing safe, clean energy plants for over 50 years here, and appears willing to bend over backwards to meet Gerlachian demands. My proposal: In return for allowing the plant, Ormat could budget in a “fee” of X amount of donated free electricity to the Gerlach community. A deal might be made with Elon to acquire one or two of his electric semi’s both to use as a free transport of goods, and as a test bed for his vehicles. Maybe even kick in a couple of Teslas and a charging station or two? I bet Ormat would even help fund all this?

Nah, my writings tend to piss people off, I get hate mail, and nobody invites me for dinner anymore. If it weren’t for trying to help give my grandkids a sustainable future, I’d keep silent. But I can’t. —Craig Bergland, Reno