Strip peddler ordinance panders to casinos

I think Las Vegas just found a new reason to be called Sin City (“Peddlers on Strip will face tougher penalties,” Wednesday Review-Journal). The sin being on county commissioners pandering to the will and corruption of the resort corridor casinos. Oh my, the poor hotels might lose a few dollars selling water with all those criminal peddlers on the street.

The wiser move would have been to issue low-cost licenses and allow peddlers certain hours to operate. This would limit the number of peddlers on the Strip during each shift, allow the county to earn license fees and also limit locations of operation. Why criminalize people trying to earn a living during tough times?

The one thing the county should do is limit the number of smut peddlers forcing families to be accosted with filth and ads for illegal escorts.

Sure, free speech allows filth, but common sense bans water peddlers.

Pity the poor Girl Scout who gets arrested for selling cookies. That could also be a consequence under this law for kids who set up lemonade stands. All it would take is a complaint to be made and police would have to respond.

This town is a joke. When we have company come and visit, we will make sure we go to Mesquite to gamble and use the Strip only for sightseeing.

This law should be repealed immediately. Set boundaries for peddlers, not jail time.

David Meyer

Las Vegas

By the word?

To the editor:

It was so pleasantly refreshing – and, unfortunately, rare – to read on July 4 an editorial with which I could largely agree (“How free are we on this Fourth of July?”).

There were a few things to quibble with. Surely there is a new circle in hell for those who text while attempting to drive. And I count myself among the untold numbers, but probably in the millions, who have been spared injury or death by OSHA and the EPA.

My biggest gripe would be with your misquote of the Second Amendment. You cut it in half. It actually says, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Unless you think the writers of the Constitution were paid by the word, the difference is not trivial.

Tony Barron

Mesquite

Big hit

To the editor:

Your editorial on July 4 (“How free are we on this Fourth of July?”) was a big hit in our whole household. It enumerated almost every issue we have discussed over the years, some of greater importance than others, but each one affects Americans.

And to think that so many of these issues were what caused this country to separate from England.

Thank you so much.

Esmael E. Candelaria

Henderson

Pulled over

To the editor:

In her July 2 letter on Arizona’s immigration law, Michelle Alejandra states that “to allow cops to pull someone over on suspicion of being undocumented is teetering on a fine line.”

For perhaps the 1,000th-plus time, a person cannot be pulled over for “driving while brown.” He would have to be stopped for something else, such as speeding, before he could be pulled over. Only after that, and only after raising the suspicion of the officer involved, could he then be questioned on his resident status.

Even President Barack Obama has been – and perhaps still is – getting this one wrong.

Mark D. Traeger

Las Vegas