A farm with mice, rodents and flies? Oh my!

To the editor:

The Associated Press article in Monday’s Review-Journal about the contaminated eggs from two Iowa chicken farms was priceless.

The ignorance is breathtaking, to say the least.

The report that these farms were found by FDA bureaucrats to have "live rodents and mice." Is there a farm anywhere without live rodents and mice? With tons of feed being handled by heavy equipment, it is inevitable.

There was "damage to structures"? Yes, it happens, and the mice get in.

"Escaped chickens"? There are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of chickens at these facilities. How many are running around? One, two … a hundred?

"Live flies too numerous to count"? Does the FDA really try to count flies on a farm? I would like to see that.

Maggots on the manure floor "too numerous to count"? Yes, each of those flies can lay thousands of eggs that hatch into maggots. A tip to the FDA: Count the flies and multiply by about 10,000 for a reasonable estimate.

Manure piled up to "eight feet high"? Yes, chickens do produce the stuff, and it has to be piled up somewhere prior to removal. Imagine how much a million chickens will produce in a day.

The entire article is a testament to the stupidity of the FDA. Note that the egg company has recalled a half-billion eggs. There are "up to 1,500" people who reportedly got salmonella from these eggs. That’s one egg in every 350,000 or .00000035 percent.

Eggs have long been known to carry salmonella on their shells. They need to be handled with care and cooked properly. But it’s time to end the hysterical news about this non-issue.

James M. Magnuson

Las Vegas

Smart guy

To the editor:

It certainly doesn’t require a Nostradamus or Jeane Dixon to predict which Nevada senatorial candidate will receive the endorsement of the Review-Journal editorial board. No, the only real mystery left is how the newspaper will justify its choice to the residents of Nevada as being advantageous to them.

Sharron Angle would have an office in the basement of the Senate building, while Harry Reid has the ear of the Oval Office. Sen. Reid has clout; Ms. Angle doesn’t and never will.

It would require a double-digit IQ to truly believe that Ms. Angle would be an "improvement" in representation for Nevada. Then again, that didn’t stop us from electing Jim Gibbons.

Let’s pray that intellectualism wins out this time around.

Joseph Wild

Las Vegas

Job creation

To the editor:

I have seen a couple of new ads from the camps of Harry Reid and Dina Titus telling us that Sharron Angle and Joe Heck feel that it is not the job of a senator or representative to create jobs. Indeed, job creation is definitely not part of their job duties, unless you are interested in seeing a further expansion of the federal government.

Sharron Angle and Joe Heck believe that it is the responsibility of our legislators to create an environment that will allow the private sector to add jobs. If job creation is the responsibility of Sen. Reid and Rep. Titus, they should both be fired for failure to fulfill the requirements of their positions.

Bill Dirkse

Las Vegas

Police shooting

To the editor:

Phillip Mlynek’s Thursday letter correctly describes the only information available to the Metro officers responding to the call from Costco that alleged there was a man with a gun within the store and that he was acting strangely.

However, the tragedy that unfolded outside of the Costco store that took the life of Erik Scott makes no sense to those of us who have undergone the required training classes in order to qualify for a concealed carry weapons (CCW) permit.

Mr. Scott’s CCW training would have prevented him from even touching his concealed weapon unless specifically ordered by Metro to do so, which is contrary to their training and highly unlikely. Mr. Scott, under those confrontational circumstances would have been required to keep both hands "quiet" and clearly visible and to announce to the three officers that he was armed and then await the officers questions and commands to which he would respond to as directed and obey.

Mr. Scott’s CCW permit training, coupled with his West Point military training, would have prevented him from doing anything so foolish as to draw and point his weapon at three Metro officers who had their guns already drawn and at the ready.

The hope should be that some sense can be made of this awful event at this month’s coroner’s inquest.

Michael C. Maze

Las Vegas