If students have credits, let them graduate

I want to thank Josh Haldeman for his April 28 letter, “High school test sets too high a hurdle.” I am going through the same problem with my great-grandson, who is a senior this year. He has all of his credits to graduate, but because he can’t pass the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam, he can’t graduate and cannot get a diploma.

I doubt very much that any adult, let alone our legislators, will ever try to take this test. It is a sad day when some idiot adult couldn’t sleep and decided, “Let’s mess around with the teenagers’ minds,” and came up with this test.

My grandson is not going to use any of these subjects in what he is going to college for. He was told that if he doesn’t pass these tests, he will have to do 12th grade over again. He did 13 years of education and has the credits to graduate. Why not let him?

GERRY BAXTER

HENDERSON

Happy visitors

To the editor:

Las Vegas, you can be proud. We just spent five weeks in your wonderful city.

Besides the beautiful resorts, awesome shows, the Strip and Fremont Street, we visited Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon, the Valley of Fire and Lake Las Vegas. There is just so much beauty everywhere.

Your roads are in great condition, drivers are courteous, the streets are free of debris, and there was excellent customer service wherever we were. We will miss it all, including your flawless blue sky.

BARBARA S. TAYLOR

SAGINAW, MICH.

Shootout

To the editor:

There was a proposal before the Legislature to allow people to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.

You and I have our concealed carry permits. We have practiced our fast draw in front of the mirror and are prepared to prevent some crazy guy from shooting up our classroom. We’re ready, just in case.

We’re listening to our professor in a crowded lecture hall when a shot and a scream ring out. You pull your gun and so do I, looking for the bad guy. I see him pointing a gun at me and I fire in self-defense, just as you do.

Congratulations. We have just killed each other. The shot and scream came from a classmate who forgot to engage the safety on the pistol in his waistband and had to scratch an itch.

Guns kill people. It is the ubiquity and not the righteousness of these instruments of death that leads to our daily dose of carnage. More guns will only make an appalling situation worse.

JAMES A. GEFFERT

LAS VEGAS