Just whose money is it anyway?

North Las Vegas officials say that if there are no concessions there will be layoffs (Tuesday Review-Journal). The last few paragraphs of your story expose the arrogance of public-sector employees and their unions.

Leonard Cardinale, president of the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association, is quoted as saying: "When you threaten people’s jobs in order to get their money, I would call that bullying." Most important is the fact that he considers the money to be "their money." In fact it isn’t – it is the money of taxpaying property owners and private-sector workers.

As far as threatening the money of public-sector employees, these employees themselves hold the threat over taxpayers. Just try to not pay your taxes and see who shows up at your door. Public-sector employees with guns to seize your property.

I truly hope these arrogant public-sector employees experience layoffs so that they will realize what we in the private sector know: Jobs can be fleeting.

Warren Pawliuk

Pahrump

Dog days

To the editor:

I cannot believe the animal lovers who are more concerned for the dog Onion than his owners ("Judge halts execution of dog that killed baby boy," Tuesday Review-Journal). This horrible accident has caused devastation and the loss of two family members – a beautiful child and a beloved pet. Please stay out of their business. Let them put the dog to sleep so they can begin the healing process.

Diane Chinoski

Las Vegas

Gorman cheaters

To the editor:

In response to the recent letter supporting Bishop Gorman in the controversy with the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association:

Learning "life’s realities" should not involve teaching students that cheating is a way to get ahead. That was not a value I was taught nor did I teach that value.

I would place California’s De La Salle and Mater Dei in the same category as Bishop Gorman. Either the Catholic schools play by the same rules, or they should not be allowed to play against the public schools that follow the rules of the NIAA. That is particularly true when it comes to recruiting athletes etc., which is something the public schools are not allowed to do.

David Redding

Las Vegas

Can’t see you

To the editor:

When I cannot make eye contact with the driver of another vehicle because of dark window tint, I am always wondering: Does that driver see me? Is it safe to pull into the intersection? Is it safe to change lanes? Is the driver on a cellphone or text messaging? Is the driver even minimally attentive to the road?

State statutes regulate window tint. The amount of tint is limited on both the driver-side window and the passenger-side window. The windshield and rear window are subject to limitations of a lesser amount of tint. Basically, the law requires that the driver be visible through the windows.

Why are there so many vehicles on our roads with blackened windows? For public safety, the driver needs to be visible. For the safety of our police officers, the driver needs to be visible.

Is the law being enforced? If not, why not?

Galen D. Deckert

Las Vegas

Yucca Flats

To the editor:

In response to your Tuesday editorial on Yucca Mountain:

There may be a window of opportunity here to get something done that has needed doing for about 50 years. There is $10 million of unused money in Yucca Mountain funding, which the government doesn’t want to spend on the project – but which the state of Nevada could surely use in our economy. We could use that money to fund testing by the Army Corps of Engineers to determine if the radioactive waste from Yucca Flats (13 miles east of Yucca Mountain) has, in fact, penetrated our soil on its way to contaminating our groundwater.

The waste from more than 800 nuclear tests conducted in the 1950s and 1960s has been sitting there for more than 50 years. While both sides of the Yucca Mountain debate argue over the danger of nuclear waste that isn’t here yet, maybe someone should take a look at a million tons of it that is already here.

This would allow us to answer some questions. Is there enough moisture in our climate to take radioactivity through the soil and contaminate our groundwater? If the toxic problem is seeping into our soil, how fast is it moving? How deep do they have to go to reach soil that is not contaminated? Do we need a massive clean-up to put all the existing waste into water-proof bunkers? What would that cost? Where would the money come from? How long do we have before it is too late to clean up at all?

The clear and present danger is from Yucca Flats, not Yucca Mountain. It could be another 50 years before an opportunity like this comes again.

Dave Bender

Las Vegas

Land grab

To the editor:

I read your May 4 editorial "Land transfers." I can now understand why the states have become indentured servants to the federal government.

There is no place in the Constitution that allows the federal government to take lands for national parks, public lands or any other such use. There is no place in the Constitution that allows the federal government to take lands even for national defense unless the state legislature gives its permission and the lands are paid for.

You may say that Nevada gave up 85 percent of its lands on a condition of becoming a state. But, again, there is no place in the Constitution that allows this to happen. To require such a condition was unconstitutional. Once Nevada became a state, it became sovereign over all lands that were not already in use as "Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-yards and other needful buildings."

The state has become a welfare queen. Our politicians patiently wait on the couch for the next checks. Nevada’s politicians have become so accustomed to sucking on the federal teat that they cannot even conceive of having the liberty to make their own decisions.

Del Kidd

Boulder City