OUR READERS RESPOND

     
     
     Not a race issue
     
     To the editor:
      Barbara Robinson feels that the drill instructor disgrace at Aberdeen is racist in nature, given the fact that all accused are African-American. As a self-proclaimed historian, she should realize that the accused were in positions of authority due to the Army's color-blind selection and advancement policies, not some racist plot.
      Where is her empathy for the victims or their parents?
      Let's face it, Ms. Robinson: Sgt. Simpson is not Emmett Till. He was found guilty of multiple violations of the Uniform Code of Justice by a racially/sexually mixed jury of his peers. Not exactly a lynching by a redneck mob, is it?
      Every recruit is indoctrinated in the code of justice. Further training at Leadership and Instructor Training schools is a prerequisite to assignment as drill instructor. To blame the Army for Sgt. Simpson's moral turpitude is a bit like blaming an iceberg for picking on the Titanic.
      Sgt. Simpson deliberately and repeatedly used his superior office to bully or coerce subordinates into granting sexual gratification in violation of laws well-known to him. To predicate an apology for the sergeant based on racism or institutional corruption of the individual is specious logic, at best.
     R. FITZGERALD
     Las Vegas
     
     
     
     Liposuction
     
     To the editor:
      Having just returned from a seminar at UCLA on "Ultrasonic Assisted Liposuction" I read your article, "No Sweat," with interest and some misgivings. To your credit, your reporting was less biased than what appeared on a recent national TV program. However, the article glossed over areas that should be of great concern to potential patients.
      At the seminar I attended, several points became evident. Cannulas are large, requiring larger incisions than currently needed. Cannulas do not bend, thus requiring conventional liposuction in addition to the new technique. Fat just beneath the skin cannot be removed with this method.
      Turnescent anesthia, also used for conventional liposuction, is always needed. The equipment is expensive and the technique requires at least 40 percent more time and will result in increased cost to the patient.
      The conclusion of the surgeons attending the seminar was that Ultrasonic Assisted Liposuction represents no greater improvement than conventional liposuction, and conventional liposuction must be used in conjunction with it. While this procedure may have considerable benefit in the future, for now the cost does not justify the means.
     DR. CHARLES A. VINNIK
     Las Vegas
     
     
     
     The intrusive state
     
     To the editor:
      Isn't it amazing? As a nation, we have come from being a people who wished to be self-ruled, to a people who must be "managed," "trained" and "babysat."
      I refer, of course, to the public's choice of state legislators. We have elected into office a brood of "societal parents" who seem to believe that citizens are an unruly rabble who are unable to make decisions for themselves.
      This session, our elected officials have endorsed mandatory kindergarten (because parents are too naive to know when their children are ready for school), mandatory motorcycle helmets, including child discipline in the mandatory bargaining process (no parents allowed, of course), and now, a social worker in every school.
      Esther Langston and Rosalie Clark Montoya, of the National Association of Social Workers, state in a recent Review-Journal commentary, "Currently, the majority of students are penalized for É problems that may be the result of child abuse or neglect. School truancy, for instance, can be a function of parental problems or impairments, such as parental depression, inadequate income, or parental alcohol or drug abuse."
      Since when is having an inadequate income or depression considered "child abuse"? What level of income would be considered "inadequate"? My father was raised in the Depression -- was he abused?
      Ms. Langston and Ms. Montoya continue by stating that "school social workers make home visits, assess family problems. ..." Since when is it the job of the public school system to intrude into my home?
      The Legislature would like to reach into the public school system, an agency that is not adequately addressing its reason for being -- education -- and utilize that system to mandate social intervention into the family. After all, we, the citizens, are incapable of parenting or educating our children without the help of our fine senators and assemblymen, right?
      Perhaps this is why so many of our representatives are opposing the parent's rights in education bill, Senate Bill 168. The legislators believe teachers, custodians and bus drivers have more right to question a child than a parent has to his own child's records. SB168 would also require that students learn about the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers.
      Of course, there is opposition to this, too. If students learn they have rights, and that there is constitutional basis for those rights, they won't be as apt to be "ruled willingly."
     BETTY JOHNSON
     Vice-Chairman
     Nevada Concerned Citizens
     Las Vegas
     
     
     
     Ban the shooters
     
     To the editor:
      As a volunteer for the Bureau of Land Management, I am concerned with the area to the west of Lone Mountain. With the dirt bikes, dune buggies, off-roaders, hikers and horseback riders using the area, why can't something be done about the shooters?
      My wife and I were climbing the mountain one mile to the west of Lone Mountain when shooters started firing below us. When we asked them to stop, they said that they were in a shooting permitted area, and kept on shooting.
      When will Metro stop allowing shooters to continue to discharge firearms in the Las Vegas Valley? Or is it going to wait until another person is killed?
     OSCAR EITLAND
     Las Vegas