Marathon creates a giant local mess

If you want some idea of what it’s like living in a war zone, try living near the route of the Las Vegas Marathon. I live near Decatur and Twain. I needed to go south from my home on the day of the marathon and found that it was totally impossible to find any reasonable route south.

I fail to see why so many Clark County residents must be held prisoner in their own homes so that a bunch of athletes can run around the valley and so that the event organizer can make money. The fact that a portion of the hotel tax that is collected from room receipts is turned over to the event organizers makes this even more outrageous.

Even if Las Vegas got a lot of publicity from the event (which it did not, as the event was not televised and got little or no mainstream national media coverage), this is still no excuse for creating a major hardship for the local residents.

I hope our local government officials who are always so responsive to constituent opinions will actually ask their constituents if they want the marathon back before they turn our roads over to the marathon organizers next year.

DONALD SCHOENGOLD

LAS VEGAS

School spending

To the editor:

In response to the recent story, “Students’ mum on college budgets”:

I find it very hard to sympathize with what university Chancellor Jim Rogers claims is the horrible financial plight of the Nevada university system. I feel that the university professors are far from overworked and could instruct or teach more than four hours a week. Our grammar and high school teachers are in the classroom many more hours and receive far less pay and still have time for their research projects and lesson planning.

To be fair, it may be a good idea to have an unbiased financial adviser with experience in this area look into the university system budget and make a recommendation to the governor. But it appears that Mr. Rogers has not made any concessions or tried to look for other methods of cutting his budget through more efficient methods of running a university.

Eric Snow

LAS VEGAS

Terror links?

To the editor:

So, Yasser Moten, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations Nevada (CAIR), is upset that terrorism expert Steven Emerson has unkind things to say about his group (Review-Journal, Dec. 2). Of course he relies on the kill the messenger tactic his group is famous for (along with threatened lawsuits) to silence any critics of this organization.

Mr. Moten thinks no one should pay Mr. Emerson any attention because he has been supposedly proved wrong in the past about the dangers radical Islam poses to the United States and the world. Well, out of the mouth of the co-founder of CAIR himself, Omar Ahmad, we have statements being made about how Islam is not in America to enjoy religious freedom side by side with other religions, but is here to dominate.

There have been officials with the CAIR organization, such as Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR-Texas, who have been convicted of crimes associated with terrorist activities.

If people don’t want to listen to Steve Emerson, fine. But a quick check of the Web site www.anti-cair-net.org will tell you everything you need to know about this supposed “civil rights organization” and its activities.

ROBERT GLANCY

LAS VEGAS

School bond

To the editor:

I have a few comments in response to Chuck Muth’s simplistic analysis of the Clark County School District construction budget. In the interest of disclosure, though, I am an employee of school district. I am currently a code compliance inspector and I am retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant.

The proposed bond amount of $9.5 billion is a lot of money, but it is not just for building new schools. Mr. Muth’s simple arithmetic does not take into account that there are schools in the district that are 30, 40 and even 50 years old. The kitchens, air conditioning and heating systems, as well as plumbing, all need to be upgraded in these schools. Nothing lasts forever.

I welcome Mr. Muth’s skepticism and demand for accountability as well as similar calls from other people like him. That is what I do for the taxpayers. In my department, Inspection Services, we do our best to ensure the schools are built to the building codes in order to provide a safe environment for the students to learn in.

But when Mr. Muth doesn’t state all of the information, it gives the appearance that he cherry-picked information just for a political point of view or an agenda and not for the interest of the students.

The children of today are our country’s future. I encourage all taxpayers to demand accountability, but please get all of the facts and information, not just rhetoric, before you formulate an opinion.

Would you not agree, Mr. Muth?

Gerald Simmons

HENDERSON