What about mental health funding?

To the editor:

Who is talking to candidates for elected office regarding mental health treatment in Nevada? We have been rated one of the worst states for mental health treatment, we have some of the highest rates of depression and suicide nationwide, yet the funding dedicated to mental health treatment is being cut drastically.

I have lived here for more than 30 years and I am in fear that my community is soon going to be so unhealthy that I will not want to continue to stay here. I do my part in speaking up, helping the community, providing treatment and whatever else I can do. Someone needs to get our state and federal government priorities straight.

Can someone tell me what candidates are going to do to stop this crisis?

Donna Wilburn

LAS VEGAS

Bum vs. bum

To the editor:

Election year. That great, year-long bloodless revolution where the electorate throws the bums out and replaces them with a new set of bums.

This year's bums make me use the British definition of the word. I find myself sitting among the group noted as undecided. Neither candidate seems to represent the voter paying the bills. I have many concerns that I hope campaign ads would answer. Instead, I see adult versions of playground insults. Neither party is blameless.

So how can one make a reasonable decision? In the spirit of both parties, I've decided on telemarketing.

No, I have not decided to actually pay attention to this obnoxious invasion of my privacy and interference with my life. Instead, I've placed a logbook next to my phone. I will tally the number of calls each side makes. Whoever calls me the least by Election Day gets my vote.

So far the parties are tied.

Tom Cooper

HENDERSON

Inflation

To the editor:

Review-Journal columnist Vin Suprynowicz has used the price of gold from 2004 ($400 per ounce) to 2008 ($800 per ounce) to demonstrate a terrific rate of inflation ("Inflation running 5.6 percent ... and other nonsense," Sunday).

But if he had used the early 1980 price (about $840 per ounce) to today we would not have had any inflation at all. Probably neither is correct.

I bought a new Toyota Camry in 1986 for $11,000. Today a new Camry would cost more than twice that.

I'll go with the Camry inflation -- which is still very bad.

Raymond J. Zwierzycki

LAS VEGAS

Water solution

To the editor:

California's share of the Colorado River water allotment is the largest of all the seven basin states. Its share is 14 times larger than Nevada's. This lop-sided apportionment can be attributed to California's huge population at a time when the Southwest was still in its infancy.

Fast forward to 2008. While California is still growing, the Southwest is exploding. Water usage methods must change to reflect this phenomenal growth. Telling Nevadans and Arizonans to conserve water will not work by itself. Eventually, there will be water wars, much like animals fighting over a dying African water hole.

Actually, we have had both the solution and the technology to resolve this issue for many years, but because of various political mind-sets, we've never employed its use. It's called desalinization.

Here's how it could work: California is right on the ocean. Build enough plants along its coast to supply its water needs. The plants, and its accompanying pipelines, could be installed in a matter of 10 to 20 years if the wheels of industry, special-interest groups and politicians all worked together. (The deserts of the Middle East have employed the technology for more than 20 years).

If the project started tomorrow, think of the boon to the economy in the form of jobs. It would be similar to the Hoover Dam and TVA projects of the 1930s. As each facility came online, a portion of California water would then be redistributed to the seven states until finally, upon completion of the entire project, California would be fully weaned from the Colorado River and the Southwest could breathe easier. Everyone wins.

Ron Moers

HENDERSON

Among only the elite

To the editor:

That was a great speech given by Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention the other night.

The purpose of the speech was to convince voters that she and her husband, presidential nominee Barack Obama, were just plain old, common, ordinary working stiffs like the rest of us. She sure did convince me.

Then she got into her limousine and went home to her multimillion-dollar mansion while I went ... wait a minute.

G. Christensen

LAS VEGAS