Don’t lower DUI limit; stiffen penalties
To the editor:
While I agree with Jerry Ruby’s Friday letter (“Reduce the limit”) about the importance of getting drunks off the road, I don’t agree with the letter’s logic in favor of lowering the blood-alcohol limit from .08 percent to .05 percent.
A legal limit of .08 percent is sufficient. Stiffer penalties must be imposed. Suspend a driver’s license for one year and mandate jail time on a first offense, no deals. On a second offense, loss of license for five years, five years in prison, no deals. If there is a third offense, permanent loss of license and 25 years in prison.
If people knew their actions would result in stiff penalties, there would be a decline in incidents. Enforcement is the key. Until the culture changes and there are stiffer penalties, it won’t matter what the legal limit is.
MARLENE DROZD
LAS VEGAS
Sex trafficking
To the editor:
The people of Nevada have had enough of our children being stolen away from us during their middle and high school years, sometimes never to return.
Sex trafficking of mainly local minors affects Nevadans in every neighborhood across the state. We do not think sex trafficking legislation will wipe out this heinous crime, but we are convinced it will help. We, the people of Nevada, are challenging the Nevada Senate to bring the legislation to the floor and pass it.
The struggle to ensure the passage of sex trafficking legislation (Assembly Bill 67) in Nevada has been lengthy and difficult. Nevertheless, it pales in significance to the daily struggle of sex trafficking victims. There are no words powerful enough to describe the pain, anguish and sheer torture experienced by those who are repeatedly forced into sex acts experience.
Child sex trafficking is the dark, shadowy underbelly of Nevada, a business that makes millions for its perpetrators and generally leaves its victims broken and penniless. Community groups from across the state, including Nevadans for the Common Good, the Religious Alliance in Nevada, Awaken and many others, have joined with businesses to support the bill.
It punishes traffickers more severely while allowing the victims to disengage from them. We are behind the new law on moral grounds, but we are also pragmatic. The state will save money in health care and law enforcement if victims are able to leave the trafficking life. The bill has been carefully debated and amended to ensure it not only provides victims with a chance to escape trafficking, but also protects the legal rights of accused traffickers, which we agree is important.
Survivors, victims, families of victims and their supporters are scrutinizing the senators’ actions. We, the people who support the bill, are not naive. The time has now come to end the debating and amending. Send AB67 to the Senate floor for a vote before the session ends. Pass this bill and take a first step to end this evil in our midst. The clock is ticking, and the people are watching.
Malcolm Cohen
Camille Naaktgeboren
LAS VEGAS
Mr. Cohen is rabbi at Temple Sinai in Las Vegas. Ms. Naaktgeboren is a sex trafficking survivor and a member of Nevadans for the Common Good.
