Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 11

Reno Gazette-Journal Friday, October 9, 1998 11A Sue Clark-Johnson, publisher, 788-6202 Ward Bushee, editor, 788-6299 Tonia Cunning, managing editor, 788-6357 Bruce Bledsoe, editorial page editor, 788-6312 Steve Falcone, editorial page co-editor, 788-6383 Letters editor Besides traditional mailed letters, the Reno Gazette-Journal accepts letters by fax and E-mail. Limit letters to 1 80 words and include your name, address and daytime phone on all letters. Writers are limited to one letter everv two months. Fax: (702) 788-6458. Letter: P.O.

Box 22000, Reno, NV 89520 E-mail: rgjmailnevadanet.com News e-mail: newsroomnevadanet.com -JUICED SMALL PARKS! FLIPPETY-WRtSTEP PITCHERS! MEY. you can't, because it requires a I mY.IGDULPHIITDHOMEPUNS! U.S. must end human rights abuses as cited two-thirds vote in the Senate, and you won't get that two-thirds bipartisan vote in the Senate to find him guilty of impeachment. They won't do that until the American people move, and they have to move from where they apparentlv are if the polls are true. Rep.

Henry Hyde, House Judiciary Committee chairman, when asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if the Senate will vote to remove President Clinton from office. 1 When it comes to human rights abuses, Bren-da Smith can tell you some awful stories. She can knot-up your throat with accounts of male guards who sexually he military planning is going forward DeWAYNE WICKHAM on a serious, intense and sustained basis as we talk. U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke as he delivered an 1 lth-hour warning to Yugoslavia's president to halt his crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo or face NATO airstrikes.

Re regardless of what I mav be going through, I know their prayers and their hearts are with me, but at the same time, my heart is with them while they're down in Texas trying to win. Darryl Strawberry, about his New York Yankees teammates and his battle with colon cancer. Empty mud nests Where have they gone, swallows we used to see? 1996: The swallows were thick and built their mud nests under the eves of our home in Carson City. 1 997: The swallows did not appear. 1998: The swallows did not appear.

On a walk along the Carson River, if searching, I saw up to five swallows. They are almost extinct. I just returned from Southern Idaho; where there have been thousands, there were none. Their mud nests plaster the side of the cliffs on the upper Snake River, but no swallows. What has happened? Have we done such a good job destroying the insects that there is not enough food? Maybe a hurricane in South America killed most of them where they migrated for the winter.

Has anyone else missed the swallows? Does anyone know what happened? Allen Putnam, Carson City Designer embryos It's better to adopt a child Recently it has come to my attention that parents, for the right price, can purchase a lab-created embryo. And similar to buying a car, where the buyer chooses the features he so desires, the parents choose the race, sex and abilities of their children. They are able to do this through the aid of doctors who only accept egg and sperm donations from those whose qualities are physically and mentally desirable to the parents. As a child, I knew my parents loved me no matter who or what I was. Suppose a child was created to be a beautiful, blond-haired, blue-eyed basketball player, but turned out to be rather homely looking and had two left feet.

How would that child feel knowing she wasn't exactly what her parents wanted? May I offer an alternative? Instead of creating a new child to match our wants, adopt an infant all ready created by God? Love them for who they are and what God created them to be. Who gave us the authority to play God with human lives? Lori Callender, Reno Monica Lewinsky When will she apologize? JZvery country has a role to play. President Clinton as U.S. officials worked behind the scenes on a multibillion-dollar bailout package for Brazil. Yo ou know what's becoming a delicacy in parts of the country? Deep-fried Oreos.

You take an Oreo, you deep fry it and then you eat it. Wouldn't it be easier just to have a doctor surgically remove your heart, pitch it to Mark McGwire and have him smack it? Jay Leno, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Dean Heller deserves to be re-elected Secretary of state: Innovative leadership has made the office more efficient, user-friendly I personally have heard enough of President Clinton kean Heller has done an excellent Ijob as Nevada secretary of state and his affair with Monica I i i i i I decision and deserves re-election. LCWlllSNy. i lie picsiuciu made a very bad personal decision by getting involved with Miss Lewinsky. Hu An internet system connecting the elections division with three Nevada counties the other counties fax election results in so that all results now are available on the Website.

Campaign disclosure reports now also are available on the Website or on a fax-on-demand system. Heller has been an innovative leader for the multi-faceted office. His best-known innovation was a money-back guarantee man beings are forced to a make decisions and choices every day, some good and some bad. Let's not forget he is a human being. Now, let's take a look at the role abused female inmates.

And she can make your gut churn with tales of women prisoners some of them impregnated by guards who were forced to give birth with shackles on their legs. The most disturbing thing you'll hear from Smith, a Washington attorney, is that these senseless brutalities happened not is some banana republic but right here in the United States. Four years ago, Smith convinced a federal judge in the District of Columbia that such practices constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Unfortunately, the judge's ruling against the shackling of pregnant inmates and the cross-gender supervision of female prisoners only applies in the nation's capital, the judicial district in which it was rendered. In the rest of this country, they are still legal.

It's this cruel reality and a long list of other offenses that caused Amnesty International to declare that "There is a persistent and widespread pattern of human rights violations in the USA." In a 15 1-page report, the watchdog organization says police officers, prison guards and immigration officials in this country regularly subject people most of them minorities to inhuman and degrading treatment. In its bill of particulars, Amnesty International also condemns the U.S. for indefinitely jailing most people who seek asylum here, for its disparate use of the death penalty and for exporting arms and security equipment to governments around the globe with a history of human rights abuse. The list of offenses cited by Amnesty International doesn't rise to the level of Serbia's ethnic cleansing, the horrific tribal massacres in Rwanda, or Myan-mar's brutal suppression of its democracy movement. But it still paints a disturbing picture of human rights abuses in this country one that far too many Americans fail to recognize.

"We are so accustomed to viewing ourselves as above this kind of behavior that we are reluctant to look at things that happen here at home and think of them as human rights abuses," Smith says of the report. In other words, we're in denial. Denial about the extent of our domestic human rights problem. And in denial about the damage our inattention to this issue is doing to its victims. We know what a human rights abuse is when we see it in China, El Salvador or I raq, but we can't fathom its existence in this country.

Hopefully, the report will pry some heads out of the sand. The ultimate test of a nation's greatness is not the might of its army or its influence in world affairs, but the degree to which it protects the basic freedoms and rights of its people. Police brutality tramples upon these freedoms and rights. And when this abusive behavior is targeted largely at members of certain racial and ethnic groups as often seems to be the case in this country it suggests the existence of a systemic problem that has been allowed to fester. Even before Amnesty International turned its attention on this nation's human rights abuses, a lot of us knew that we had a problem.

What distinguishes us from many of other targets of Amnesty International's human rights reports is our ability to make things better. The American democracy has a tremendous capacity to heal itself. We don't need a revolution to fix what ails us, just the willingness to do the things necessary to end the abusive practices cited in Amnes-tv International's report. DeWayne Wickham is a Washington columnist. that Monica played in all of Lewinsky that was unheard of in a government office.

With the eventual blessing of the Legislature, Heller promised businesses filing incorporation papers that they'd get action within 1 0 days or their filing fees would be returned. When he took office, the turnaround time was six to eight weeks; now it's two to three days and no one has gotten their money back yet, says Heller. The success of the money-back guarantee led to its being expanded to applicants for real estate licenses and notary public certificates. Among Heller's other accomplishments: A customer service department to handle He changed the philosophy of the securities division, making restitution a priority, and has returned about $30 million to victims of securities fraud. He also would like to take over regulation of mortgage investment firms, in the wake of a failure in Las Vegas that cost investors millions.

Opponent Lois Avery has neither the experience or the track record of Heller. However, she raises an important issue of ballot security in the computer age that the secretary of state's office, which has the responsibility to certify this. She went to the White House on a mission. She wanted to gain the attention of the president, and with her pattern of behavior it would not have mattered if it were Clinton or Carter, she would have gotten what she wanted. When will she be giving an apology to the first family and our country for her shoddy and indiscreet behavior while employed by our Rebekah A.

Peel Reno Editors note: Rebekah Peel died Sept. 25, shortly after she wrote this letter. Heller voting machines, should take a look at. But that doesn't argue for a vote against Heller. For his strong leadership, he deserves another term.

NOTE: Also running are Libertarian Robert F. Brost and Independent American Mary Ann Dickens, neither of whom came in for interviews. the more than 1 ,500 phone calls coming into the office. Previously, everyone in the office answered phones, cutting into their ability to complete tasks. The office also added a 900 telephone number to take many of the requests and a Web site with answers to questions.

Elect Sanada to state controller's office Expertise: Accounting experience is more valuable than opponent's time in Legislature just administration would add an extra, unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. And Sanada does have experience with the lawmakers, having testified regularly when she worked in the office and as chairman of the legislative committee of the Nevada Society of CPAs. Sanada, who also has served as chairman of the Washoe County Planning Commission, is running as a Democrat against Republican Augustine. But the state controller's office Ti he bottom line in the race for the Nevada state controller's office is this: Should the office be run by an experienced accountant or an experienced legislator? The answer is that for this office expertise should be the most important factor in the decision, which means the election of Mary Sanada over Kathy Augustine. Sanada worked in the office for 13 years, including 1 0 as chief accountant, leaving the office in 1 995 because, she says, she feared becoming a "bureaucrat." She has since been Sanada Leave the children home Vote for adults this time So the liberal Democrats are "outraged" that Chuck Heston shows up in Reno to campaign for John Ensign.

These liberals claim he is exploiting "the children." The liberal Democrats are well known for hiding their socialist agenda behind children and they are outraged by the appearance of Charlton Heston? Ha! Gazette-Journal columnist Emma Selpulveda overlooks Bill Clinton's frequent use of the West lawn and the Rose Garden of the White House to exploit children for his and the Democratic party's purpose. Who is running our great republic soccer moms and their children or adults? Are we adults being pushed back to childhood 101? I say let the adults decide in November and leave the children home where they belong. Gil Lowe, Dayton Tax break for conservation Vote no on Question 6 Question 6 authorizes the Legislature to reduce or eliminate taxes on property developed in a manner that conserves ater. Water conservation is a good thing, but having to pay for the ater already promotes conservation. This measure would take much needed revenue aw ay from cities, counties and school districts.

The beneficiaries of this are likely to be casinos with fountains and golf courses. It is obviously special-interest legislation and deserves to be oted dow n. Joseph Kay III, Reno Veterans' obituaries Put a flag by their names For the last month or so I have been checking the obituary Milestones column. I as amazed by the number of the men in their 70s and 80s that have died ho were also veterans in WWII. Some women also served theircountry.

A lot of these veterans never talked about their service, never joined veteran groups, just came home, ent to school, orked. raised a family and died. I would like to see the Reno Gazette-Journal put a little flag beside their names man or woman, for all former members of the Armed Forces. John P. Bauer, no should not be a partisan one.

As Washoe County voters should have learned from the public administrator's office fiasco, party affiliation has no bearing on how well non-policy, professional offices are run. Only after then-Democrat Don Cavallo was defeated by unknown but Republican Phil Moore did voters learn that Moore wasn't much interested in spending time in the office. It's important that the state controller's office not be chosen on party lines but on ability. As Sanada says, "If this were a rational process and you were hiring someone, vou would hire a CPA and not a legislator." Voters working for a pubic accountant firm. Augustine, who earned a degree in public administration, has spent the past six years in the Nevada Legislature.

The closest she's come to working in a similar office was a stint as flight-pay accountant for Western Airlines. Augustine says that it will help the office to have a controller who has experience with the legislative process, but Sanada argues convincingly that the office which pays the state's bills, keeps the accounting records and issues an annual state financial report is a full-time accounting position. With a staff of just 30, putting someone at the top whose principal function is can make the process rational by electing Sanada. TGITipCr3.tU.rC 3.UC Fever lines: Temp says all good critters go to heaven, too. 1 Warm Chilly Hot Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission: The party pictured here was well-deserved to celebrate its 35th birthday.

In a county that sometimes wishes to forget the poor and the lost, the mission never forests. Blessed animals: It's an interesting ceremony when a priest (Father Robert Bowling, not shown here) blesses some 20 critters on St. Francis of Assisi day. It reminds us of the value of all life. Elko Storytelling Festival: Sure it brought in some tourists (400), as supporters sav, but it also lost History says events that lose money eventually lose their existence.

The special events road is a tough road. i 1 tza I.