Resources were wasted in prostitution sting

To the editor:

I just finished the latest installment in the saga of the joint federal/Las Vegas police task force named "Operation Doll House."

It appears that the bottom line here is that the task force spent two years conducting an investigation that resulted in a plea bargain by one Taiwanese national to a single count of attempted pandering ("FBI says human trafficking not involved in brothel raids," Thursday Review-Journal). The grandiose mission of stopping "human trafficking" was mostly smoke and mirrors. Metro and the feds spent thousands of man hours and resources that resulted in one potential gross misdemeanor.

Las Vegas police are tasked with the unenviable job of keeping ahead of crime in Las Vegas. The department has limited resources to deploy to accomplish this mission.

We have a significant graffiti problem that is reflective of a growing gang infestation in our community. How much of a dent could have been made in our gang problem by using the resources that we just squandered on a nonexistent "slave trade" investigation? A few thousand hours of police work could have resulted in the confiscation of lots of illegal weapons from the hands of dangerous gang members — and probably more than one arrest.

I’m not as threatened by the hooker on the corner as I am by the carload of gang members.

RONNIE GARNER

HENDERSON

Death toll

To the editor:

No army in the world can defeat American forces when fighting toe to toe. But in Iraq we have an insurgency using suicide bombers, car bombs, roadside bombs and snipers.

Our forces have been killing insurgents every day for four years, and the insurgency today is stronger than ever. Our presence in the Middle East makes it easy for the insurgency to recruit new members — and Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia keep them supplied.

We can stay in Iraq for another four years and nothing will change except the number of American deaths.

anthony tidei

LAS VEGAS

Car wars

To the editor:

I read with great interest the Review-Journal’s Wednesday editorial "New costs for automakers — and consumers." What was most interesting was how utterly alarmist it was.

The editorial missed the mark by deliberately misleading readers through the omission of several bits of key information that would allow them to form a well-founded opinion. The bill that the Review-Journal tells us to fear would require that every U.S. automaker’s fleet of cars and light trucks improve from an average of 25 mpg to 35 mpg by the year 2019. That part is true. It’s also 12 years from now.

What the editorial didn’t tell readers is that the Senate — the Democrat-controlled Senate — added a cost-effectiveness provision that would allow manufacturers off the hook if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration deems the annual goals to be unattainable for a reasonable cost. That’s a loophole you could drive a truck through.

So the Detroit lobby will still have the power to make ever more gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs for those who desire them. However, this bill ensures that others will have more choices when it comes to fuel-efficient transportation.

Japan and the European Union instituted similar changes to auto manufacturing five years ago. Their standards are a stricter average of better than 37 mpg. Europe and Japan are home to some of the finest automakers in the world. If buyers in those regions with their discerning tastes and more expensive gas can handle that, so can Americans. In fact, the Big Three U.S. automakers sell vehicles in those markets and have for years. They already have the technology to comply with this bill.

The Review-Journal goes on to state that, apparently because of the proposed law, "your next car is likely to be smaller, less powerful, more expensive, and more likely to kill you in a crash." Of course your car will be more expensive 12 years from now. Everything will be. This is alarmist fear-mongering at its most basic level. The editorial makes this claim with no statements to back it up.

If we look at the current state of the automotive industry we can see an ever-widening array of choices of increasingly fuel-efficient, safe, lightweight, high-quality vehicles with more features being produced at just about every price point. So consumers of every level have many more vehicles to choose from today than they did, say, 15 years ago.

Jeremiah Allen

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Gas prices

To the editor:

I’m sick of hearing about oil company profits and all the lame-brain scams to roll back prices. Hardly a week goes by when I don’t get an e-mail advocating that we don’t buy gas on some day or not to buy from one company or another in order to lower prices.

How about a radical new concept? Use less gas.

Stop sitting in drive-through windows at fast-food restaurants, coffee shops, banks and other places. Americans must waste millions of gallons of gasoline a day sitting there with their engines running because they are to lazy to get out of the car and walk in. Stop gunning your engine and racing from stop sign to stop sign. Stop driving to the mailbox two doors down from your house and letting your car idle while you check the mail.

There are more than 243 million registered vehicles in the United States. What if we saved one gallon per week per car? Think that might make a difference in prices?

But it will never happen. Americans complain about the price of gas while sitting still in their cars, waiting for a parking space so that they will be 20 feet closer to the door. I’ve actually seen that happen at the gym — someone waiting for a closer parking space so he can go in and walk on the treadmill.

Come on, people. Get out of your cars and take a walk. You may find that you like it — and you’ll also be saving money, gas and making a little effort to reduce pollution.

Dan Carr

LAS VEGAS

DUI tragedy

To the editor:

I was deeply struck by the generously Christian response of Fernando Santacruz, a member of that devastated family who lost five relatives to 19-year-old Ronald Jayne Jr. ("Driver appears in court," Thursday Review-Journal). Mr. Santacruz said, "It’s sad because he’s (Jayne) so young. But he’s old enough to drink and drive, so he needs to be punished for what he did."

I’d want Mr. Jayne dead. Yesterday.

In sharp contrast, the response from Mr. Jayne’s friend, Ryan Seegmiller, was both heartlessly cruel and intensely ignorant: "He’s (Jayne) a great kid, and he doesn’t deserve to be in this situation."

Justice demands at least one year in prison for each dead victim. And that penalty should be doubled for Mr. Jayne’s cowardly and criminal response to police immediately following the wreck that he knew had caused death.

Going 70 mph in a 35 mph zone, Mr. Jayne denied he was speeding and, furthermore, maintained that he didn’t even run the stop sign, thus blaming the poor, dead mother whom he had just slaughtered.

This demonstrates a "depravity of consciousness" worthy of severe punishment.

Ten years and no tears for Mr. Jayne.

William Burrus

LAS VEGAS