The sad story of Clyde and Minnie Pupfish

To the editor:

In regard to the Devil’s Hole pupfish losing its struggle for survival (Saturday Review-Journal):

The pupfish have been investigated almost to death by the well-meaning but totally inept scientists of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and their consultants. They need to declare victory and move on to something more compelling, like doing in the Amargosa toad.

Your article mentioned that a March earthquake near Acapulco, Mexico, may have had an influence on the poor population count in Devil’s Hole. Allow me to provide a scenario:

Clyde and Minnie Pupfish are making amorous motions in Devil’s Hole when a seiche begins to agitate the water. “Holy mackerel!” says Clyde. “Surf’s up! I need to get my board!” Minnie is agitated. “Clyde, I just laid eggs on the shelf and they need to be fertilized. Get with it.” “No way,” says Clyde. “I haven’t seen surf like this since the ’92 quake in Landers. I gotta hit the curl!” Minnie cries, “Too late, they’ve been washed off the shelf and lost in the cavern.” Clyde, exhausted after his world-class run of the waves, commiserates. “Come on Minnie, it’s not like we can’t have kids next year – unless, of course, those giants come in again and scare us eggless.”

Will the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ever let these fish alone and let them live or die in their natural habitat?

I wonder how much it would have cost to save the Columbian Mammoth if the U.S. government had been there at the close of the Pleistocene, 12,000 years ago. No doubt, trillions of dollars.

They would have failed then, too.

John H. Peck

Las Vegas

Pension reform

To the editor:

I love Thom Reilly, and I think he receives a great state pension. His Sunday commentary on Nevada’s public employee retirement benefits, “Reform this system now,” has some good thoughts. Then he passes the buck and goes too far.

He fails to mention that Nevada has one of the lowest number of public employees per 1,000 residents in the country (not counting tourists). And when Mr. Reilly served as Clark County manager, he not only went to binding arbitration to settle contract disputes, but he tweaked a final offer to prevail, God bless him. His article is just another of those joining the national fad of attacking public employees.

Three simple changes to the state’s public employee pension could easily pass the Legislature, improve the system and begin in five years, one month and one day from passage:

1. Move the pension calculation from the worker’s highest-earning 36 months on the job to the best 60 months to determine benefits, similar to responsible private plans.

2. Create a retirement age of at least 60 before a full pension (30 years of service) is awarded. An early retirement should have an actuary penalty of around 3 to 4 percent per year.

3. Remove employees’ ability to purchase five years of service, or adjust the amount to reflect actual costs.

That is it. Simple, acceptable, logical and fair. And something the Legislature can and should pass.

Tom Collins

North Las Vegas

The writer, a Democrat, is a Clark County commissioner who represents District B.

Not far enough

To the editor:

After reading Thom Reilly’s Sunday commentary on reforming the state’s public employee pension system, one wonders why he did not simply recommend putting all public employees on Social Security instead of his complicated seven-point suggestion for reform.

The existing situation is so unfair it could start a revolution. Some public employees are retiring at age 40 with a $100,000-a-year pension while the private-sector citizens who are funding these obscene benefits are struggling to make ends meet. Could it be that Mr. Reilly, who by the way is a public-sector employee, is against giving up his own generous benefits?

The fair way to reform these government programs is to put all government employees on the same system as the workers who fund their salaries and benefits. This should also include all congressmen, senators and anyone drawing a government paycheck.

This, of course, has little chance of ever happening because it would require legislation, and because legislators would be legislating against their financial interests, it would not pass. Most informed people are aware of this situation, but there are a number of people in the public sector as well as the private sector who are not aware of it.

I can tell by the letters that I read in the Review-Journal from public-sector employees that they are not aware of their superior benefits, or if they are, then they have a “let them eat cake” attitude.

Anthony Marinelli

Las Vegas

Gorman dominance

To the editor:

It is time to send Bishop Gorman High School to its own sports league. If the 63-10 debacle of a state football championship game doesn’t convince the naysayers, then what will (Sunday Review-Journal)?

Bishop Gorman is a great football team, but the playing field is not equal. A team that can recruit will beat a team that is restricted by geographical boundaries any day.

The kids from Liberty High School had a fine season. Unfortunately, they ran into a college team. A Liberty-Reed final would have been so much more competitive.

Joe Molinaro

Henderson