Businesses fighting the good fight on smoking
To the editor:
Kudos to the few pubs and restaurants that are fighting the smoking ban.
Restaurants and the like are private places. Individuals and companies built these establishments with their own money, not ours. They should be free to set whatever rules they choose within them. The public has no vested interest and has no legal authority beyond voting with their feet.
The law, as written, is illegal.
Where is the ACLU when we need them? Why aren’t they all over this?
R.M. Lottermoser
LAS VEGAS
In the air
To the editor:
In response to the April 30 letter from pilot Jack Jones:
Mr. Jones states that we all should trust the Federal Aviation Administration on the "right turn" issue with no facts, data or basis for this (Mr. Jones apparently thinks well of the FAA). I offer the following comments:
— It was the FAA that rescinded the right turn in 1999 over the objection of Clark County. Why doesn’t Mr. Jones trust the FAA’s 1999 decision? Does Mr. Jones know why the FAA rescinded the right turn in 1999?
— According to an April 27 column by Jon Ralston, (quoting Rep. Jon Porter) it was the county that moved to reinstate the right turn and not the FAA. (Whom are we being asked to trust?)
— Rep. Porter is also quoted as stating that Clark County officials would not have a public hearing on this issue to avoid stirring up a "hornet’s nest." Shouldn’t public officials hold hearings for matters of great concern to the public?
— Mr. Jones suggests that the money spent on "parasite lawyers" by the city of Las Vegas to challenge the right turn is a waste. I seem to recall similar arguments when attorney fees were paid to fight the construction and certification of the Yucca Mountain Project.
— Currently, the right turn causes large aircraft loaded with passengers and fuel intending to travel east to gain elevation heading west while the elevation increases about 1,000 feet. This effort causes virtual non-stop rumbling over the neighborhoods where the right turn from west to east occurs.
The public should applaud the efforts of the City Council — particularly Councilman Steve Wolfson and Mayor Oscar Goodman — for trying to obtain a compromise for those people who live beneath this new route. When will people be allowed to sleep or have peace in their home?
sherman b. mayor
LAS VEGAS
Reid transformation
To the editor:
It’s been interesting to watch our one-time conservative Democrat Sen. Harry Reid from Searchlight transform himself into the ultra-liberal Democrat leader of the Senate and mouthpiece for the likes of Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer, John Edwards, etc.
Sen. Reid has, in recent years, sold his political soul for supreme power — which, by the way, hasn’t translated into huge benefits for Nevada. In the meantime, he is now so far left that he has given comfort to the enemy, and in so doing has jeopardized the morale of our fighting men and women who are trying to prevent the war in the Middle East from spreading to the United States.
Frankly, I don’t know how Sen. Reid and his group sleep at night.
paul e. webb
BOULDER CITY
Rule of law
To the editor:
Every time there is a pro-illegal alien rally, the Review-Journal is there to marginalize the lawful American citizens who protest it. Your Wednesday photo on Page 5A pretends to show the group Americans4America — of which I am a member — but the caption states, "Two men hold a sign" as thousands rally. The men are shown as small figures in the background.
This photo was deliberately chosen to make them look insignificant.
I’m curious as to why you don’t make an effort to present the views of American citizens, but bend over backward to reward an unruly mob with the front page of your newspaper. How about a picture of the huge upside-down American flag they draped over the barricades, or the Mexican flags above ours held by so many of them?
How about a translation of their demands for fully open borders, with not a rational thought about what that would do to our schools, our social services, our nation’s very survival? How about commenting on the irony of standing on the steps of an American government building, demanding "justice"?
We the American people believe in justice, too, much more so than the government of Mexico — and it starts with respect for the rule of law.
MARIE MCBRIDE
LAS VEGAS
Selective enforcement
To the editor:
Here’s something that puzzles me: Why is it OK for health officials to demand that Nevada restaurant owners police their own premises for illegal smokers, yet there are no demands made that these establishments police their own premises for illegal undocumented workers?
Summer West
LAS VEGAS
High cost
To the editor:
In response to the May 2 column by Andres Oppenheimer, "Cracking down on illegals too costly":
All law enforcement efforts could be called "too costly." I have no idea of the combined annual costs of law enforcement — including our city, county, state and federal courts. But whatever the cost, there’s another $35,000 per year cost per person just to keep millions of prison inmates locked up.
Now, the wives and kids of the inmates have to be provided for. What’s the cost of housing, feeding and clothing them?
Why go to all that expense to enforce any of our laws, if all you care about is the cost?
BILL CRAMER
LAS VEGAS
Pure chance
To the editor:
Jeremy Aguero, the paid-for researcher bought from Applied Analysis by Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos, says that lotteries are bad (Review-Journal, Thursday). What a surprise!
Mr. Aguero says that the odds in a lottery are terrible. Hey, what are the odds of MegaBucks again?
I’ve seen it go more than half a year without hitting. How many times does the lottery go that long without a winner?
That, however, isn’t the problem. The Senate Judiciary Committee has shown that Nevadans are being deprived of representation by a committee of senators who dictate what will or won’t be voted on.
Your article states that a poll found 73 percent of Nevadans favor a state lottery. Now mathematics isn’t my strong suit, but I’m almost positive that’s a majority, or pretty darn close.
But this shows that when you have the long and twisted arm of the gaming industry able to hold sway over a few senators, what the people want really doesn’t matter at all.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Mark Amodei’s reasons for why the bill died? No one on the committee made a motion on the bill, no one wanted to vote on the lottery bill and no one asked for a vote.
That is just pathetic, if not criminal. A fourth-grader can see through that foolishness.
I guess by keeping your mouth shut now, you will get those casino donations next time you’re up for re-election.
When does it end? A fourth-grader learns that this government is "of the people, by the people and for the people."
How sad that our politicians forget that fact as soon as they’re elected.
Paul W. Trojan
LAS VEGAS
