LETTERS: State needs money? How about collecting medical marijuana levy?

To the editor:

I read Curtis Williams’ letter regarding our current crop of local elected officials (“Election again protects incumbents,” April 22 Review-Journal). But the problem is nationwide and not likely to change anytime soon. President Barack Obama was an “outsider,” and we see how that’s working out.

Candidates for elected office proudly litter the major media outlets with their views and ask the voters to come along with them. Silly me, thinking that politicians were supposed to follow the will of the people and work toward advancing that will. This can be illustrated by the medical marijuana issue here in Nevada, where despite the will of the people, medical marijuana is still not legally available.

I want to know why Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Legislature are proposing new taxes and increased fees before the first nickel of tax on medical marijuana has been collected. The income from the tax is projected to be millions of dollars, yet those in power continue to ask for more and more from the shrinking middle class of America. When and how will it end? Will medical marijuana card holders who have paid the yearly fee and received nothing in exchange have their own Boston Tea Party? Will lawsuits be filed?

I believe there is a cabal of organizations and well-connected individuals who, despite the Constitution and the will of the people, are going to ram their agendas down our throats.

DONALD CLELAND

LAS VEGAS

NV Energy ad

To the editor:

As someone who has solar panels on my roof, I am responding to NV Energy’s full-page ad on net metering in the April 26 Review-Journal. The ad boldly stated, “Because customers who don’t have rooftop solar systems pay for those who do.” I would like to dispute that ad.

First, any 5-year-old can tell you that solar power is cheaper and cleaner than power from coal-fired plants. NV Energy itself paid for a study last July that proved that very point — that ratepayers who have solar do not impose costs on other ratepayers.

Second, charging solar-owning ratepayers more is discriminatory. I had a solar system on my house in Northern California, and my utilities were cut by 50 percent. The 3 percent net-metering cap is a scam.

Finally, if NV Energy decides to go along with its plan to gouge ratepayers with solar systems, then we can choose to leave the grid and store our power on batteries. If that were to happen, those NV Energy executives would no longer be able to collect those bonus checks.

ALISE BAMFORTH

LAS VEGAS

Teacher salaries

To the editor:

The commentary from Staci Vesneske and Victor Wakefield asks the Nevada Legislature to help fill the upcoming and continual teacher shortage (“Legislature must step up to help fill teacher void,” April 29 Review-Journal). Why is this a constant problem? Because the Clark County School District does not pay its teachers as real professionals. No raises in eight years, a union that hides in the shadows and does nothing for the teachers, then we wonder why the schools rank at the bottom. Good teachers are not cheap, and cheap teachers are not good.

Relying on substitutes who earn $125 per day with no benefits to fill the void is ludicrous. Pay the teachers well, and you will attract and retain teachers, which will result in a more dedicated staff and a minimal turnover rate.

Senate Bill 474, the Great Teaching and Leading Fund, means nothing if you do not create a professional environment, including a major overhaul of the financial picture, which is nonexistent in its present form.

WALTER GOLDSTEIN

HENDERSON

Goodbye, Riviera

To the editor:

In 2009, I produced “Seductive Ladies of Magic,” a show at the Riviera’s Versailles main showroom. It was booked solid for three months. The late Bob Vannucci, president of the property at the time, made all of us feel like family. Every employee of the hotel and casino extended their hands in friendship and were encouraging. Stagehands, bellhops, dealers all wished us success.

The Riviera was more than just a building. It had a wonderful heart of its own. I will miss it.

JOHN LEWIS

LAS VEGAS

Water-saving solution

To the editor

I was appalled after reading the article on Lake Mead’s decline (“Lake Mead water level on verge of record low,” April 24 Review-Journal). It’s obvious that it has become almost too late to fix our water shortage problem. Will someone in Clark County with a backbone step up and call an immediate halt to permits for further building of hotels and housing developments, office buildings and any project that requires the need for huge water consumption? Already, there is a glut of existing empty office space.

Imposing a moratorium on further building and development appears to be a sensible fix for the near-term. Our primary source of water — the Colorado River, which relies on snowmelt from the Rockies — has delivered precious little because of drought. It looks as if Mother Nature has put the West in a serious drought situation for an unforeseeably long period.

It’s time for those in charge to make hard decisions and take affirmative actions, or our children and grandchildren will be left with a ghost town filled with beautiful edifices and empty homes.

Desalinization facilities of ocean water and attendant pipelines at this time are unrealistic and time-consuming to construct, not to mention an enormous financial drain on taxpayers. If Clark County and the Southern Nevada Water Authority want this region to survive, then no more building permits should be issued for the foreseeable future.

WILLIAM BECKER

LAS VEGAS