Fond memories of R-J theater critic

To the editor:

Regarding the death of Review-Journal theater critic Anthony Del Valle (Review-Journal obituary, May 21), Mr. Del Valle and I didn’t always agree, but we certainly respected each other.

I’ll never forget the words he wrote years ago while at Las Vegas CityLife: “If anyone ever wonders if there’s really any artistry in producing, tell them the story of Myron Martin. He gives the profession respect.” That meant a lot to me then and means even more to me today.

I appreciated his candor. He was quick to provide feedback about shows, which we usually agreed on, and even operational issues during the opening of The Smith Center, right down to the placement of drinking fountains. Mr. Del Valle had many helpful ideas and was happy to pass along feedback from his readers along the way.

As a student, Mr. Del Valle was a waiter at Joe Allen restaurant in New York City, the famed Broadway haunt. If there is a Joe Allen in heaven, that’s where Mr. Del Valle will be. Now, he’s talking about Broadway, watching the stars and sharing his opinions with a wonderful new audience. I was in New York when I learned of his passing, seeing shows that Mr. Del Valle and I would have no doubt talked about at some point. I went to Joe Allen and raised a glass in his memory.

I will truly miss Tony Del Valle.

MYRON MARTIN

LAS VEGAS

The writer is president and CEO of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

Cellphones and driving

To the editor:

For a while now, Nevada has been trying a law that makes talking and texting on a cellphone while driving illegal. While this is a good idea and plain common sense, it appears the law has been rendered ineffectual due to arrogance, a lack of enforcement and the out-of-state visitors who are unaware of our law.

The arrogant ones, one of these days karma will catch them. I really hope no one (including them) gets hurt or, worse, dies because of this lack of common sense and due diligence behind the wheel. And the uninformed are coming from out of state, where perhaps they’re not governed as we are.

I wonder, would education have been much more effective than legislation on this point? Which would take the shorter amount of time? Who knows, since this law is still fresh on the books. Maybe only time will tell, but we should hope that this interim learning curve isn’t hazardous, and maybe we should see stepped-up enforcement if everyone was so serious about this in the first place.

MIKE SMITH

LAS VEGAS

Scare tactics

To the editor:

Your ploy to see how many people read your May 30 editorial caught me (“AARP conference: Will opposition to entitlement reform ever stop?”). Was that your intention? Because it’s obvious you only told half the story about Social Security and Medicare.

You state entitlements cost about $1.6 trillion and about 45 percent of the federal budget, but you don’t tell about how much income is paid into the federal budget from these programs, which is about the same amount.

When you talk about misinformation to scare people, you’re talking about yourself. The federal debt is from a tax cut and two unfunded wars. In fact, Social Security overpaid by a trillion or so dollars in the last decade.

More baby boomers will be retiring, but their children will be paying into these programs. Ever since it started, Social Security has made changes to keep it solvent, and there will be more changes in the future. But reducing benefits on people who need them is not the way to do it.

JANICE HERR

LAS VEGAS