Henderson follies starting to wear thin
To the editor:
I hope the City Council and mayor of Henderson enjoy their time on Water Street, because if the voters are intelligent, their stay will be terminated next election.
We have endured the Reid spectacle, and we are now in the middle of the Vermillion show. Not to be outdone, the Police Department had a chief who slammed her door shut and ran off with a good chunk of taxpayer money. In addition, no one told us why a police sergeant trashed a driver and is still out there “defending the public.”
Ah, but does the show stop? No.
Besides welcoming the mayor’s life-long friend Jacob Snow as new city manager, enter Republic Services. Presently, five trucks visit my home every two weeks for trash disposal. Now the mayor and company decide they have to come only twice every two weeks, causing me to use a 35-, 65- or 95-gallon can so I can keep on my property for a week at a time foul-smelling garbage. Hear that, HOA?
Oh, and don’t forget the hard-working people who are going to lose their jobs. Also, where is my bill’s 60 percent deduction? Their answer: The new system will require no additional cost to residents, but if you move out and don’t sell your home, you still have to pay Republic Services for trash removal.
Do you politicians think we just fell on our heads yesterday?
It’s time to clean house.
Richard Simms
Henderson
Hello, kitty
To the editor:
Every time I see a colony of what people are labeling “feral cats,” I cannot help but feel sympathy for these beautiful animals that human beings have domesticated and then thrown out on the street.
Cats are not responsible for deciding that they live out on the streets. Human beings made that decision for them.
Why is it we want to think that it is all right for a cat to live begging and at the mercy of the elements? We do not think that a dog pack is a pack of feral dogs that should be fed on a street corner, spayed and neutered and allowed to just run wild.
For the sake of these sweet and loving cats, we need to do better by them. How about all these people involved in the feral cat movement (Thursday Review-Journal) pool their funds together and provide them a group home? A home environment is what we have bred cats to survive in.
I hope that someone out there who really loves cats will come up with a better solution than feral cat colonies.
Please, there is no such thing as a feral cat. They are throw-away cats, and if they could decide for themselves they certainly would rather be in a nice home on a loving lap, where they can reign.
Terri Robertson
Las Vegas
Boot camp
To the editor:
No one should be surprised that the Nevada Department of Corrections boot camp program does little to nothing to prevent or reduce recidivism (March 7 Review-Journal). Criminological theory and research have shown for years that boot camps are ineffective at this.
The problem? Structure is provided or forced while the individual is in the program, but little or nothing is done to keep the structure going once the individual is released. The inmates need to learn the skills it takes to function in society. One of those is structure: getting up in the morning, going to work daily, paying bills, etc. That is life, not doing pushups and other exercise drills for 12 hours a day.
The department needs to focus on the re-entry of these inmates. Re-entry programs across the country have shown to be highly effective at reducing recidivism. Re-entry starts inside the walls, reconnecting and rebuilding relationships between the families and incarcerated individuals, education, trade skills, time management, mental health and substance abuse treatment. Those same concepts apply once the individual is paroled.
The Department of Corrections should spend its money on things that work. More than 95 percent of inmates will be released back into the community. We must strive to rehabilitate them as much as possible. Whether we agree with it or not, they are coming back.
Erin Cooper
Las Vegas
No debate
To the editor:
Kathleen Miller’s Thursday letter, in about 300 words, accurately and concisely describes the nucleus of the birth control-First Amendment debate. Except it’s not a debate.
From the left, it’s an effort to deviate from the basic point about rights in the First Amendment. From the right it’s a pitiable effort to redirect the conversation to the main point.
And from the media it is, as Ms. Miller summarizes in her final paragraph, obvious propaganda.
D.B. Mitchell
Kingman, Ariz.
Poor priorities
To the editor:
So let me get this straight: Commissioner Steve Sisolak wants the FBI to investigate a few Clark County firefighters and send them to jail if possible for abusing their sick leave. In the meantime he votes to give a local paving company (not the low bidder) a sweetheart deal, which will end up costing the taxpayers an extra $7 million.
Way to go, commissioner. Stick it to those who save lives, but pad the pockets of those who don’t.
Ron Anderson
Las Vegas
