Last Thursday’s Humboldt Sun carried a guest commentary, “Harry Care or Harry Cari,” that was riddled with fictitious detritus aimed at Harry Reid. Since I also had a guest commentary printed in the paper on the same day, I was unable to respond. Instead, another one of our members, Valerie Espen, submitted the following Letter to the Editor noting three major errors in Mr. York’s post:
FICTIONS ARE NEVER FACTS
Some comments printed in “Harry Care or Harry Cari” bear a response:
1) Harry Reid was born 12/2/39. Mr. York claims Harry was Attorney General and Chairman of the Gaming Commission the year Bugsy Siegal (not Seal) began operating the Sands. Well, Bugsy Siegal never operated the Sands which opened 12/15/52. Bugsy Siegal did operate the Flamingo from 5/46 to 6/20/47, the day Siegal died. Harry Reid would have been 6 when Bugsy died. He wasn’t Attorney General nor was he Chairman of the Gaming Commission. Thus, there is no way “Harry Reid made it possible for the little gangster to get a license.” And since Bugsy died in 1947, there is no way that “Bugsy and his mother got their gambling license under Sinatra’s name and ran the Sands” starting in 1952. Granted, Harry Reid did become Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, but not until 1977, long after Siegal died, and long after the Flamingo and Sands began operation.
2) Approval for construction of two power plants referenced in your letter are not dependent on some bill that Harry Reid has on his desk. While Harry Reid came out against their construction and in favor of renewable projects instead, the approval of operating permits for those plants ultimately rests with each state’s Public Utilities Commission. As to the claim construction of these two plants would result in “tens of thousands of good paying jobs,” that’s simply not true. The new plant constructed by Newmont mining just east of Battle Mountain, while it may have generated some temporary construction jobs, is operated by about 28 employees. If your scenario were true, Battle Mountain should be booming with new employment opportunities.
3) The vote to impeach Clinton failed. Thus, he wasn’t impeached.