LETTERS: Henderson City Council dodges voters

To the editor:

Thank you for the editorial castigating the Henderson City Council (“Toss incumbents,” March 11 Review-Journal). I live in Calico Ridge, and our community has been fighting City Hall over the proposed construction of an industrial operation adjacent to our homes.

After a sham Planning Commission meeting at which residents were incorrectly limited in what they could address, the proposal was approved. Members of the community appealed the decision, and the appeal was granted. The Henderson City Council agreed to reconsider the issue on March 17.

Some neighbors emailed their concerns to the City Council prior to this meeting, suggesting they could be single-issue voters in the municipal election. The Calico Ridge board president and other concerned neighbors met with Mayor Andy Hafen and council members individually on March 17, presenting facts — not emotional appeals — and requesting the council overturn the Planning Commission’s approval. Instead, the City Council suggested the company conduct a noise study, recommended it meet with the community and postponed the hearing until April 21.

Why is that new hearing date significant? Because early voting in the primary for city council members began March 21, with election day coming up on April 7, two weeks before the rescheduled hearing. This insulates council members from facing voters on this issue until after the election. Hopefully our residents will heed the Review-Journal’s recommendations, vote the incumbents out and vote for Eddie Hamilton, Crystal Hendrickson and Derek Uehara.

JENNIFER ANDERSON

HENDERSON

Education funding

To the editor:

Joe Pantozzi’s letter poses some important questions (“Education funding needs give-and-take,” March 19 Review-Journal). For example: How much is enough for teacher salaries? We will know the answer to that when every Clark County School District classroom has a full-time, licensed teacher. In other words, it’s a matter of supply and demand in the labor market.

However, asking for the district to budget “for the next 10, maybe even 20 years” isn’t realistic for any individual or entity, public or private. This is especially true in a place where the economy is so volatile, dependent largely on the tourism industry.

Regarding Mr. Pantozzi’s request for a comprehensive budget, that information is available at ccsd.net. Regarding his request for salaries of individual teachers and administrators, that information is available at transparentnevada.com.

Lastly, regarding Mr. Pantozzi’s request that teachers make concessions on the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System, I ask, with all due respect, why should we? The fact that CCSD starts and ends each school year short hundreds of full-time, licensed teachers is evidence that public school teachers are not being adequately compensated. A concession on salary and benefits would only exacerbate the teacher shortage problem by making Clark County an even less attractive option.

GREGORY GRANT

LAS VEGAS

The writer is a full-time, licensed teacher with CCSD and a member of the Clark County Education Association.

Starving sea lions

To the editor:

You can blame the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for those starving sea lion pups off the California coast (“Starving sea lion pups inundate rescue centers,” March 18 Review-Journal). Like many poorly planned and thoughtless schemes, the Fish and Wildlife Service submitted and Congress passed the Marine Mammal Act of 1972, protecting all marine mammals.

So it was just a matter of time before the protected sea lions and seals would eat themselves out of house and home. The article stated that 1,450 starving pups have been rescued from Southern California beaches that have been abandoned by their nursing mothers, who probably are migrating further away in search of food. It states that rescue centers, which must feed and house the pups, are reaching capacity and soon could be overwhelmed. SeaWorld shut down its sea lion shows so that its staff and facilities could be utilized, with the park taking in 500 pups.

Doesn’t it make you wonder how much we taxpayers are spending to raise these pups to a maturity level that allows them to be put back into the sea? Sea lions are huge. Male stellar sea lions can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, while females are around 800 pounds. And what do they eat? Seafood. They are also known to eat their own young.

You may not have noticed the constant decline in native seafood (think abalone) and the increase in farm-raised seafood, but you probably noticed the accelerating price of “wild” sea products. You can thank some of the worst predators on the face of the earth — those cute, honking seals and sea lions that will take a bite out of every fish they come in contact with, whether hungry or not (as in river mouths, where salmon begin their spawning cycle). You can also thank the out-of-control Fish and Wildlife Service for throwing the balance of nature out of whack.

CHRIS R. KLINEBURGER

LAS VEGAS