A part of Las Vegas gone with closing of Sahara
To the editor:
A memorable part of the Sahara hotel’s history is its great lounge shows. One in particular that comes to mind is Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Sam Butera and The Witnesses.
Those of us who remember that era will never forget what great showmanship and talent this group possessed.
Many other talented celebrities performed in Sahara’s Congo Room and Casbah Lounge. To mention a few: Buddy Hackett, Johnny Carson, Totie Fields, Don Rickles and many others.
Saying goodbye to the Sahara hotel is saying goodbye to a part of Las Vegas history.
LORRAINE BUMPANE
LAS VEGAS
Libyan monster
To the editor:
Don’t kill Moammar Gadhafi.
This monster, who caused so much grief and trashed so many lives, should be made to stand trial in the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Just consider the fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, sons and daughters who cried themselves to sleep at night for many months after the Lockerbie murders.
This should not stand in a civilized world.
I knew Capt. Jim McQuarrie. He was chairman of the local New York Kennedy Pilots Union. He was a considerate, affable guy — and nice to associate with. Co-pilot Ray Wagner had been my first officer on a New York-to-Madrid flights just a couple of months earlier. What a shock it was to hear of this unthinkable tragedy.
On Dec. 22, 1988 (Dec. 21, Lockerbie time) I was sitting on the taxiway next to takeoff position at the New Delhi airport about 2:30 a.m. There was heavy, pea-soup fog, so our takeoff was delayed. The Delhi passenger control people wanted to be free of the passengers and to get them out of the terminal, so we agreed to accept them. We had loaded the extra soda pop and snacks, inasmuch as we expected the fog to hold for quite awhile. We were in contact with Pan Am London on high-frequency radio, giving periodic status reports, when we heard of the Lockerbie crash.
How could anyone be so evil, deep into the marrow of his bones, to do such a thing?
One must be careful, however, in harboring anger and vengeance, as it will eat out the softness in your soul. Very counterproductive.
Life serves up such injustices from time to time. My wife, Wanda, and I visited the Lockerbie cairn when we were on vacation at nearby Gretna Green. It is a very sobering site, indeed.
Moammar Gadhafi must be brought to justice.
THOMAS L. WALLACE
HENDERSON
Traffic problems
To the editor:
I read Jane Ann Morrison’s March 17 column, “Tivoli village inspires optimism,” in which she enthused over the entire retail, office and restaurant project at Alta Drive and Rampart Boulevard. It only shows she must not live in the once-quiet, resident-friendly neighborhood now dwarfed by the fantasyland nightmare of Baroque grain silos, high-end, high-rise condos and boutique shopping.
Aesthetics aside, the movers and shakers have never taken into consideration the traffic problems for those trying to get in and out of the houses around Alta and Rampart with the addition of the condo residents and shoppers.
Luckily, the condos mostly remain vacant and price depressed, and the mall appears to be destined to join so many other kitsch-chic edifices around the valley as tenant-challenged.
The best thing that happened to the Queensridge project was when it was halted in 2006. It was an eyesore, but it kept the neighborhood safe and sane.
But the money came from somewhere, and it had to be spent, so the residents must hunker down and hope not to have to dodge too much traffic since there doesn’t seem to be much reason at this point to rush to Tivoli, no matter how much Ms. Morrison says she loves it.
KENT RISCHLING
LAS VEGAS
Selfish rich
To the editor:
The April 1 “Final Word” quote from Keith Olbermann says it all when it comes to defining Republicans — especially Tea Party Republicans. I might go even further and define a Tea Party Republican as one who sincerely believes Republicans were put on Earth by God to guard and defend the rich man from any type of taxation or any sense of responsibility for his fellow man.
I must admit, not all Republicans fit this mold, but they are fast being driven out of the party, probably because they — having shown some compassion for the poor victims of this way of thinking, i.e. the poor, old, sick and disabled — have shown they are not worthy of being a true Republican.
Actually, the rich are only doing what any human would do if he had the chance — get rich and try to stay that way. In fact, a lot of rich people are very generous, so I don’t blame them for the miseries of the poor.
But I do blame those who seek to serve the rich while denying any mercy whatsoever toward the poor and disadvantaged.
The Republican Party’s true motive is really not to serve the rich so much as to punish the poor for being poor. (Being as only about 2 percent of the population ever becomes rich. I don’t like the odds of the other 98 percent, do you?)
DANIEL F. OLIVIER
BULLHEAD CITY, ARIZ.
