Keep twice-a-week garbage pickup

To the editor:

I do not agree with the two new recycling plans that the County Commission considered last week.

We have recycled for years every other week with no problem. A few years ago, when we had more to recycle, I called Silver State and they brought more crates. No cost. Currently, we have the three crates filled each pickup day now.

I believe the primary reason for this “new” exercise is to reduce garbage collection to once weekly. Not a good idea, and this has been beat to death previously.

If Republic Services wants to pick up recycled material every week, why would the commission need to act on this plan? Republic could simply send a truck each week rather than every other week. I would still set my recycle crates out every other week, as I currently do.

Leave the twice-weekly garbage pickup alone. It’s not broke.

CHUCK MCCLAIN

LAS VEGAS

Jury duty

To the editor:

In response to your Aug. 20 story, “Taking jury duty seriously”:

While I agree that jury duty is an important responsibility, I do not think it should wind up being little more than an undeserved penance inflicted upon an often unwilling but captive audience by lawyers (especially civil lawyers) billing clients exorbitant sums of money for representation.

My own recent experience with the Clark County judicial system is a good example of why some people take their court summonses and recycle them. I didn’t do that, and it cost me three days over a two-week period.

The first day of jury duty I was instructed to fill out a long questionnaire and then to call back in two weeks on Friday after 6 p.m. to find out if or when I would need to report for jury duty again. I guess that is some of that obligation and inconvenience cited by the Review-Journal’s Adrienne Packer in her story.

I called back as directed and was scheduled for court at 9 a.m. on Monday. I had to work from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and couldn’t find someone to work for me on such short notice. Some more of that inconvenience.

Questionnaire jurors (as we were called) were finally sent to the courtroom about 10:30 a.m. The judge and the lawyers questioned prospective jurors and badgered some of the jurors until they changed their answers. We had a nearly two-hour lunch and an additional 40-minute break. Shortly after 4 p.m., we were asked to return again on Tuesday. By that time I had been without sleep for more than 27 hours. I was in tears and nobody cared. Nobody.

The next day we sat in court listening while the lawyers questioned jurors who took the place of jurors who had been dismissed the previous days. One juror started snoring very loudly almost immediately. Comic relief. Later, I found out that this potential juror had had no sleep for two days and when he complained, nobody cared.

We had a half-hour break in the morning, a 90-minute lunch and another half-hour break in the afternoon. At about 4:15 p.m., the judge announced that the jury selection was complete. County jury duty pays $40 a day effective the third day of jury duty so I was paid $40.

Jury duty is a financial burden to many of the jurors, disproportionately so to less well-off citizens. For some, it is a day’s pay. For some, it is child care and a day’s pay. Judges and lawyers are nonchalant when it comes to taking up valuable time of the citizens. Jurors who complain for any reason are made to feel like deadbeats.

If the court truly wants to find jurors who are willing and able to serve, then pay them properly. Many people would be happy to spend a day in court for the same pay they get when working. And I think that there would be less time spent in court if the jurors were being well-paid. The lengthy lunch hours and breaks would undoubtedly be trimmed and the court day would start on time and end at 5 p.m.

Or how about this? Give the lawyers the same daily pay as the jurors.

Dusty Burrows

LAS VEGAS

Presidential support

To the editor:

How do you select which candidate to support? Do you consider political ideology, past voting records, stance on the economy, foreign policy, etc.?

Might it be skin color? Oprah has never before endorsed a presidential candidate. However, never before has a black person had such a well-funded candidacy.

And they say whites are racist. Same thing for the Hispanics supporting Bill Richardson.

Robert Raider

HENDERSON

Illegal sanctuary

To the editor:

Some of the “immigration rights” groups are now seeking churches to become sanctuaries for the illegals. In the event any of the local churches succumb to such suggestions, they should immediately be relieved of their tax-exempt status.

They can’t have it both ways.

William Boyd

MESQUITE