Letters to the editor

Family gives thanks for helping find lost dog

We want to give thanks to those who helped us find our dog April 18, especially the lady who was walking her dog that morning and called the Boulder City Animal Control. They called us, and knew we were looking for our dog.

Thanks also to the security men at the power plant, Boulder City Animal Hospital, family, friends and co-workers.

We are very grateful for your loving care and concern.

—Jerry and Ronne Nutter

Independents to gather Saturday, voice concerns

Independent voters are coming together in Nevada to play a role in the midterm elections, but it’s not the role we are usually cast in by the media as “swing voters.” Instead, at the first Western Regional meeting of independents Saturday, representatives from seven states will gather to develop our network and strategies for representing the concerns of independent voters.

We’ll also bring the “Voting Rights Are Primary” campaign to Nevada. Coordinated nationally by IndependentVoting.org, its purpose is to dramatize the ways independents are banned or restricted from voting in the primary phase of elections in nearly every state.

Primaries are a critical juncture in the democratic process. They are often the most competitive, but in Nevada independents (nonpartisans) are not allowed to vote. This is the independent’s plight; we are first-class taxpayers when it comes to funding the administration of elections — but second-class voters.

A recent Gallup poll shows that 42 percent of Americans identify as independent, making the issue all the more urgent as a large and growing segment of the electorate is marginalized in its voting powers by partisan primary systems.

As independents, we support alternative approaches to the current system of private party primaries. In a nonpartisan open primary, sometimes called Top Two, all the candidates, whatever their party affiliation (or nonaffiliation) are on a single ballot and all voters participate in voting. The top two vote-getters go on to the general election. In California such a system has resulted in more competitive elections, less legislative gridlock and candidates being more attentive to their entire constituent base.

Independent voters are getting organized and making ourselves seen and heard in new ways. We will be holding an informational picket at Paradise Road and Harmon Avenue in Las Vegas Saturday afternoon, gathering signatures and bringing attention to this flaw in our elections process. A change is clearly needed — so that the voices of millions of independent voters who do not now have full voting rights can be heard. We hope to lead the way to a government less controlled by partisanship and more able to move ahead with the urgent business of the country.

—Catana Barnes

Being prepared for emergency always good idea

In a recent publication, Sgt. John Chase of the Boulder City Police Department wrote about a disaster preparation kit. Since moving here from California 21 years ago, the small town comfort relaxed my senses about disasters, i.e., earthquakes.

When in California, I did keep a kit in my car. Now, with threats of terrorism or storms, I am preparing a kit including many of the items Sgt. Chase mentioned and other items.

Thank you Sgt. Chase for alerting me back to reality that these things can happen in Boulder City.

—Lola Frazier