State parks division competing unfairly
To the editor:
The Nevada Division of State Parks is going into competition with private enterprise, opening stores and vending machines (Sunday Review-Journal). They already sell firewood and are in direct competition with local firewood dealers, using taxpayer dollars against them.
They sell the wood cheaper and unsupervised. So people put no money in the can that the state of Nevada has put up to collect firewood monies. Or they put in a couple of dollars and take $30 worth of firewood.
How can private enterprise compete with that type of set-up? Not only does the state not pay sales tax, in addition, they don’t have to pay for a wood permit to get the wood.
The local firewood businesses have had to cut back on the people they contract to cut firewood because of the great deal on wood that the state offers. So why do we let Nevada Division of State Parks take jobs away from the small businesses that are the job-creating engines in the state?
The entire concept is unethical and unfair to the small businessman and especially to the workers who have lost their jobs and their ability to put food on the table for their families.
Dennis Larounis
Pioche
Good news
To the editor:
I have noticed the many times that I have picked up an issue of the Review-Journal that the front-page headlines and articles seem to lean toward excessive coverage of killings, fires and robberies. Who wants to read a newspaper that brings a person down in the morning?
I think you ought to find something cheerful and more newsworthy to report on, like a biography of a very accomplished high school student soon to graduate, or a firefighter saving a baby from a burning building.
Tate Roberts
Henderson
Didn’t work
To the editor:
I constantly read Democrats laud President Obama as they claim, “The stimulus plan worked.” Liberal pundits echo this loudly as they seek to blame the GOP for each and every miscue our government has made. Let the truth be known: Mr. Obama’s economists issued a report, just last Friday, saying, “The stimulus cost $270,000 per job.”
Alan Greenspan, a noted economist said, just days ago, “I am ill aware of anything (in the stimulus) that really worked.”
I think it is about time that those touting the successes of the stimulus plan come to realize that even Mr. Obama knows it was a dud. He laughed as he spoke about “shovel-ready jobs not being so shovel-ready.” He may have laughed, but I fail to see the humor in such drastic waste.
Now the Democrats seek to demonize the GOP for its refusal to vote for “tax increases for the rich.” According to those Democrats, “We are sick and tired of paying for their private jets and outlandish bonuses.”
Stop and think of exactly what is being said. Is a family earning $250,000 using a private jet? Are families or small business owners flying in private jets or paying themselves outlandish bonuses? If all of the rich gave 100 percent of their earnings as taxes, the net take by the IRS would be barely more than $1 trillion.
I do not know of a single Republican who would not vote to have everyone, regardless of his earnings, pay his fair share of taxes. Conversely, I do know of many Democrats who steadfastly refuse to pay the taxes they are proved to owe! Look at the tax deductions of Harry Reid, John Kerry, Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi and similarly rich politicians. Are any of those people paying their “fair share?” I think not.
Lee S. Gliddon Jr.
North Las Vegas
Our expense
To the editor:
Did you see the sad case of Philip Contos, a motorcyclist, who was part of a demonstration in Onondaga, N.Y., protesting New York’s law requiring the wearing of helmets? Not wearing one, he lost control of his motorcycle, hit his head on the pavement and died.
Case closed. Rest in peace, right?
Well, not if Mr. Contos left a destitute wife and/or dependent children. In that case, the state’s taxpayers would have to step in and provide them with housing, food, health care and other forms of assistance.
That’s what people who oppose the laws requiring the wearing of helmets and seat belts don’t tell you. We taxpayers will often be on the hook when a death occurs because someone is not wearing these protective devices. Their freedom comes at our expense.
Richard J. Mundy
Las Vegas
Bring back Raggio
To the editor:
In Glenn Cook’s Sunday column, state Sen. Michael Roberson was quoted as saying, “The Democrats had better eat their Wheaties, because we’re coming after them hard.”
Wow! He’s begun to pick a fight that isn’t scheduled to begin for another two years.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have just one politician in the state Legislature who would say something such as, “I will work with the opposing party when it is necessary for the benefit of the citizens of Nevada and in particular, my district, and my own party will just have to accept it”?
Oh, wait. We did have one of those, but he was put out with the morning trash because he refused to adhere to a strict party line. Where have you gone Bill Raggio? Sounds like an old Simon and Garfunkel tune.
Robert Bencivenga
Henderson
