Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LETTERS: More failed alternative energy solutions

To the editor:

William Huggins' recent letter proposing less dependence on coal, foreign oil and nuclear energy to produce power is another of the Sierra Club pie-in-the-sky mentality. His advocacy of solar energy and windmills is an already failed solution.

One need only look at the wind farm near Palm Springs and see 80 percent of the windmills not operating. On the oil tank complex near Martinez, Calif., not one of the 2,000 windmills is turning, and they are huge machines. These adventures did, though, bankrupt a lot of people who put their life savings into these projects.

Installation of solar panels on homes increases the cost of the house by about $20,000 and the panels take about 18 years to pay for themselves. France produces 80 percent of its electrical energy from nuclear energy and has for 40 years.

There has never been a person killed by an atomic plant in the United States even at Three Mile Island; nor was there anyone affected by radiation at Three Mile River.

Most of the Sierra Club members live in concrete cities and have never even been in a forest but are willing to put 30,000 loggers out of work because of a bird or worm the likes of which they have never seen.

GERALD P. KELLY

LAS VEGAS

Rampant abuse

To the editor:

Rod Smith is to be congratulated for his excellent and thorough account of casino abuse of advantage players ("Civil Liberties: Disadvantaged," July 6).

All casinos should be forced to post a clearly visible sign at their entrance. It should state the unspoken policies they enforce:

"We reserve the right to:

"1) Prohibit all those from playing who have demonstrated they are able to win consistently.

"2) Share your personal and private financial information and your digital image with other casinos and investigative agencies.

"3) Detain you against your will, without reading you your rights, allowing you to make a phone call, or allowing you to have a lawyer present.

"4) Confiscate your legitimate and legally obtained winnings.

"5) Humiliate and intimidate you in a public place, when you have broken no laws.

"6) Use physical force when necessary to carry out any of the above.

"7) Ensure other casinos will do the same to you when you enter."

I am an advantage player, winning consistently at blackjack for years. I am also a respected scholar, a professor of computer science at a major university, a family man and an honest man. I have been subjected to many of the abuses listed above, multiple times. I have repeatedly written to Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander to complain about these abuses. Like Mr. Smith, I received no response.

It is time for the elected officials of the state of Nevada to take charge, and start doing something about this rampant abuse of our civil rights.

ELIOT JACOBSON

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.

Pay hikes

To the editor:

I would like to know: What world do our county commissioners live in? Based on their recent vote to give themselves raises, certainly not in Clark County, Nevada, USA, planet Earth, third planet from the sun.

Of the hundreds of people I know, not a single one has received a 27 percent raise over the past eight years. I have lived and worked here since 1979 and I have never received such a wage increase, even with an electronics and network technician degree.

I work for a very progressive company that gives regular raises to all its employees, and have received only $1.92 over the past five years. Twenty-seven percent would be a godsend. In fact if I were to be making $52,000 extra a year, as our commissioners are, I might be able to take a vacation, buy a house or even a newer car.

Contrary to the statement one of the commissioners made, this really is a lot of money to most "working people" in Las Vegas -- $17,000 is more than a lot of people make, let alone are given as a raise.

So where do you go to get an average 27 percent increase in the private sector? I want to go there. Oh yes, I forgot: become a politician and give yourself the raise -- and keep your regular source of income going, too. Plus perks and whatever else you can get your hands on.

To "serve" in public office is a privilege and these people should never be paid any more than the average wage of those they represent.

BILL GRAY

HENDERSON

Intense suffering

To the editor:

Thank you for Juliet Casey's informative update on the homeless services forced to re-locate because of the closing of the Crisis Intervention Center ("Agencies remain to help homeless," July 4).

Sincere people may often disagree, but the homeless on the streets of the Las Vegas Valley are suffering more today in our summer heat than anything I have seen since first coming to Las Vegas in 1989. There have been the recent closings of the crisis center, God In Me Ministries, the outreach program to the homeless mentally ill, and the MASH transitional housing facility. There have been policy changes at City Hall withdrawing funding from direct services and at Catholic Charities eliminating 204 free shelter beds. In the past year there has been the harsh, but effective, police actions of Metro and the city marshals to keep hidden the homeless, forced to sleep outside because of shelters being eliminated.

It is sickening to see basic services eliminated and salaried office workers housed so they can tell the homeless that the few remaining shelters are full or that they do not qualify because of restrictive policies.

DAVID BUER

LAS VEGAS

Bush run

To the editor:

President Bush and his re-election campaign will raise record amounts of money in his attempt to win a second term.

But it will not help if a year from now the following conditions exist:

-- Weapons of mass destruction have not been found and more evidence is discovered that the American people were misled in the justification to put more than 200,000 American troops in "harm's way."

-- Americans soldiers are still dying in Iraq at the rate of one a day

-- Saddam and bin Laden are still at large.

-- Evidence indicates that friends of Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney are profiting most from the aftermath of the war.

-- The U.S. economy is still struggling.

The American public has been very supportive of President Bush thus far, but how long will the "honeymoon" last if the above mentioned issues exist in the year ahead?

ROBERT BLANNER

LAS VEGAS