It’s a circus up in North Las Vegas

To the editor:

In the Sept. 7 articles on the North Las Vegas City Council meeting and the recall of Mayor Shari Buck, the mayor stated she was happy the police union was willing to give concessions because “they really did not have to come to the table at all.”

Really? So our Republican mayor supports our policemen-on-the-beat making $92,400 a year plus $50,300 in benefits? And we get our parks facilities back, but through only June 2012? Really?

In this last election, the police unions brought the entire city of North Las Vegas to its knees with its nasty, vile fight to keep its members’ pay raises intact so they could have money to spend outside North Las Vegas — where the vast majority of them reside. And to think that these mighty protectors of our public safety got away with posting billboards all over proclaiming our city to be unsafe unless they got their blood money.

With a mayor like Shari Buck champing at the bit to do her police union’s bidding, is it any wonder that this axis of politics stole the aldermanic election, fair and square (in the best Chicago Machine manner), from Richard Cherchio, a formal postal worker union president, himself?

When I moved to Las Vegas 12 years ago, my friends here said, “Move anywhere here except North Las Vegas.” So my family and I purchased a beautiful home in Summerlin and lived there for six wonderful years. It was a great place to live. Unfortunately for us, we bought two rentals in Aliante and eventually decided to move to Sun City in Aliante ourselves. Sun City Aliante is a great community in which to reside. Unfortunately for my family, out-of-state leeches are running and ruining our city.

How loyal would you be if you knew your greed would be rewarded and encouraged by an unconcerned mayor and her lackeys, and you found you could actually force the city of North Las Vegas to beg from you? We are hard-working people and don’t deserve to have to beg for a great city,

ED MARSHALL

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Jerry’s fans

To the editor:

A case of pure disgust.

Jerry Lewis gave 45-plus years to raise money for muscular dystrophy research despite poor health. And he gets treated so rudely.

Money raised in the recent telethon was from sponsors that Mr. Lewis drew to the cause, certainly not from this year’s so-called audience entertainment.

Those who cannot realize what is happening — with the MDA big shots taking credit for Mr. Lewis’ labor — need to change their glasses to reality.

Bring Jerry back — fast.

RITA POMERANTZ

LAS VEGAS

Not too hot

To the editor:

In reference to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s reference to the summer heat in Las Vegas:

Has Gov. Christie ever been to the Boardwalk in Atlantic City after dark during the off-season months? Most of the stores are closed and hardly anybody walks on the Boardwalk.

I was a resident of New Jersey before I moved to Las Vegas and have been to Atlantic City frequently as a senior on bus trips. As soon as the summer season ends and the time changes, there was hardly anybody on the Boardwalk at night because there was nothing to do.

I see thousands of people here on the Strip walking up and down ignoring the heat and having a good time. Everybody knows the people go where there is action. If they get too hot here, they go inside the air-conditioned casinos or sit outside at restaurants under mist.

URSULA DAVIS

LAS VEGAS

Fair deal?

To the editor:

I was surprised to read the Review-Journal editorial on Tuesday, “District’s offer to teachers fair.” It’s amazing how every time something goes wrong with the school district’s financial plan, the teachers end up getting the shaft.

Superintendent Dwight Jones would have us know that hundreds of teachers will lose their jobs if we teachers don’t accept a pay freeze. First, I believe the school district should have thought about this before hiring all these teachers during the summer.

For years now, the practice for hiring has been to wait until school “count day” had passed, and numbers had been gathered concerning student enrollment. Many a teacher in this district has been hired in the months of October and November, after the numbers were in and decisions could be made.

But Mr. Jones failed to follow this practice — and now it’s our fault for not accepting another year without a raise.

What makes this also hard to swallow is seeing the superintendent fill positions that were to be vacated and not filled. (That is what the Legislature was told.) Yet every support staff worker I know who was laid off was rehired. Many positions have been “appointed” jobs also.

It’s hard seeing money that could be used for teacher pay spent on “pilot programs” ($790,000 spent for 1,150 students to have an iPad).

Many of my colleagues view Mr. Jones as being “anti-teacher.” It seems as though he would rather put money toward “things” than into living, breathing, hard-working educators.

Vicki Van Beveren

Las Vegas

Forget race

To the editor:

I read the Friday article regarding concerns that Hispanic community issues may not be addressed because of redistricting (“Redistricting fight focuses on Hispanics”). I found this to be particularly offensive.

I live in an area where in the past 20 years the demographics have changed dramatically. My concerns and those of my neighbors are not whether or not our race is represented physically in our government. We have found that dolts come in all races. My representative on the County Commission has changed, as well. He had better do his job, or he’ll lose my vote. That is the way the system works.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream of a color-blind society. In the 50-plus years that I have been around, I have seen great strides taken toward that goal. It is disturbing to me to see people still stuck in the past where deciding who represents you would even remotely be based on race. That kind of thinking is just another form of the “separate but equal” policy of racism — same coin, other side. Some people even make a good living off of it.

Instead of looking at what divides us, it is past time to look at what unites us as a people. I have looked around and found that we do have the same goals. You do not have to be of the same race or heritage to agree or work with me to reach those goals.

Darrell Welch

North Las Vegas