OUR READERS RESPOND

     
     
     Mr. Wynn's locomotive
     
     To the editor:
      Re: ITT chief blasts county over Steve Wynn's "naked display of raw power" for a private monorail on the Strip: As ITT chairman Rand Araskog notes, this exemplifies everything wrong with Las Vegas' business leaders and elected officials.
      If Mr. Wynn and his Clark County commissioner buddies cared a bit about the Strip's spiraling pollution and traffic problems, they would approve and create a monorail connecting all Strip properties today. Some commissioners continue to be bought and sold by these bloated, self-absorbed, money-hungry casino operators.
      Chamber of Commerce President Mark Smith didn't have the nerve to comment on Mr. Araskog's letter? I ask, "You don't get it, do you Mark?" This is your business as head of the chamber. Besides blowing your own horn and attracting more people to move here for minimum wage jobs, what has the chamber done in a decade to improve Las Vegas' infrastructure woes?
      Everyone connected to the monorail issue became spineless cowards since Mr. Wynn, his money and influence, are in the picture. Las Vegans, take a close look at your leaders and how they make decisions that affect your quality of life. We need leaders who are not bought and sold, and won't bend over when money and power hit them in the face. Las Vegas is being eaten alive by greed.
     C. VARTAN
     Las Vegas
     
     -- To the editor:
      I'd like to comment on the current flap between Mirage Resorts Inc. and Caesars Palace over the monorail system crossing over Caesars property.
      I don't think the ITT chairman realized that the Clark County Commission has finally found religion.
      When past Commissioner Don Schlesinger warned about the dangers of over-building, the commissioners and their political hacks went to work and discredited him, calling Mr. Schlesinger a political gadfly and a disruptive influence. All kinds of money was spent to ensure he was not re-elected to the board.
      Unfortunately, Don Schlesinger was not "God." Now, when the "Real God" spoke recently about the need to curb the city's monstrous growth, the commissioners genuflected and sprung into immediate action. Closed-door meetings have been and are being conducted ever since in an effort to come up with some sort of plan to solve our severe infrastructure problems. Naturally, one of God's disciples has been invited to sit in and participate in these meetings, to make sure the commissioners don't go astray.
      Now, the ITT chairman should know that "God" owns the air we breathe. If "God" decrees that he needs a particular portion of "air," our pious commissioners will make certain that he receives it.
     NANCY MCKAY
     Las Vegas
     
     
     
     Official lies
     
     To the editor:
      Many of our Nevada senior citizens are victims of a fraud perpetrated by the state of California. New legislation regarding the "source tax" was signed into effect in January 1996. The new law prohibits states from taxing non-residents on retirement income earned while working in that state. For example, if you worked and earned your pension in California, and are now a Nevada resident, your 1996 pension earnings are not subject to California tax. This is the law.
      My question is why the instructions found in California's 1996 Nonresident Personal Income Tax Booklet read as follows:
      "If you were a nonresident of California and received income in 1996 that had its source in California, you must file Form 540NR. California taxes all income you received while you were a resident of California and the income you received from California sources while a nonresident."
      How is it that a government entity in these United States can blatantly ignore the law and sanction the printing and distribution of this official tax booklet, misleading thousands of unsuspecting seniors?
      The Review-Journal should be exposing this injustice. Please, let us see wide coverage to alert Nevada seniors that they do not owe taxes on their pensions earned in California. Many of them, no doubt, are entitled to a refund for taxes unlawfully withheld in 1996.
     SHARON KLEIN
     Henderson
     
     
     
     Sweatshop redux
     
     To the editor:
      The wage earners of Nevada had better be very careful whom they elect to the state Assembly. Right now there is a move on in Carson City to cut your pay by taking away the overtime provision that gives you time-and-a-half after eight hours in any one day.
      The move is backed by the Chamber of Commerce (the bosses' union) and certain conservative legislators who are trying to roll the clock back to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
      Miraculously, that sleeping giant, the AFL-CIO, has finally come to life and is battling these economic cavemen who would put Nevada's working people even farther behind the eight ball than they already are.
      Remember, even if you are a union member, the gains that you negotiate at the bargaining table can be taken away from you by a stroke of the legislative pen.
     HARRY BORANIAN
     Las Vegas
     
     
     
     Morons wanted ...
     
     To the editor:
      Congratulations to Christopher Matthews for his column describing the ideal juror as deaf, dumb and blind.
      However, he does not tell us why this is so.
      The nasty little secret is that the vast majority of criminal defendants are guilty. Defense attorneys, having examined the evidence prior to trial, know that their clients will be convicted if the verdict were to be based on the evidence.
      It is therefore necessary for defense attorneys to appeal to the fears, ignorance, prejudices and emotions of the jurors. This task is much more difficult if the jurors are intelligent and knowledgeable.
     STAN AMES
     Henderson