I must agree with Suzie Chenin's recent letter about the questionable purchase of city-owned land by Cox Communications for $1. This is totally unacceptable and a blatant example of how our City Council operates today. Cox can well afford to pay in full for this land. Why make an exception?
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How many extra police officers would $4 million -- the real value of the land -- provide for the Las Vegas area?
Obviously, the "powers that be" have their priorities mixed up -- and Councilman Lawrence Weekly should be brought to account for supporting such a ridiculous move.
G.B. Marsh
LAS VEGAS
Lacked taste
To the editor:
I'd like to express my disappointment with your publishing of Ted Rall's cartoon last week depicting students with disabilities as cross-eyed, drooling imbeciles who don't belong in American classrooms. Not only does the cartoon lack taste or tact, it really doesn't do a very good job of making a point.
Like any other public policy issue, the mainstreaming of kids with disabilities is one open for debate. A wholesale attack on the innocent bystanders in that debate does little to enrich public discourse.
I ask you this: Who is the most intelligent person in the world? A person who would appear on many people's list is Stephen Hawking, British professor of applied mathematics and theoretical physics. Yet Mr. Hawking uses a wheelchair, his speech is unintelligible, and he likely drools on occasion. It is sad that the modern-day Albert Einstein wouldn't be welcome in the classroom Mr. Rall envisions.
What about Helen Keller? Can you imagine how difficult it is to educate a deaf-blind child? In Mr. Rall's view, would it be best for her to just stay home? Or, would you separate her from the other students because she obviously has nothing to offer them?
Mr. Rall's cartoon says that "special needs kids make people feel uncomfortable." Is there now a constitutional right to "freedom from discomfort?" I'd suggest that any discomfort could be overcome with more exposure to kids with disabilities, rather than less.
One final question. If your child had to be in a classroom with just one other student, which would you choose: a kid who has no mental or physical disabilities, but hates school and is disruptive? Or, a kid who uses a wheelchair and is a slow learner, but appreciates the opportunity to get an education? I'd suggest that our students are daily exposed to many more of the former.
Todd Butterworth
CARSON CITY
THE WRITER IS BUREAU CHIEF OF THE NEVADA OFFICE OF DISABILITY SERVICES.
Only chaos
To the editor:
It is fruitless to argue about who the good guys and the bad guys are in the Israel/Hezbollah conflict. Yes, Israel has the right to defend itself, but occupation and outside control always create resistance. Some call Hezbollah "terrorists," but what is the purpose of the Israeli shelling of Lebanon if not to terrorize the civilians into controlling Hezbollah for the purposes of Israel?
If Lebanon, Syria and Iran are justifiable targets because they support Hezbollah, could these countries also justify attacking the U.S. because we support the expansionist policies of Israel?
No military solution is possible in the Middle East, yet the Bush administration fully supports Israel and refuses to push for a cease fire. This is in keeping with our current strategy of Middle East control through pre-emptive wars, but that plan has produced only chaos.
This is a time when some international body needs to step in as a mediator to gain that very stability that Condoleezza Rice has shunned -- and from there to work toward the security of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state. The other option is continued destabilization and the threat of global conflict.
Jerry Bitts
LAS VEGAS
Office search
To the editor:
So House Speaker Dennis Hastert is ready to challenge a judge's order allowing FBI agents to examine documents seized at a congressman's Capitol Hill office in a bribery probe.
He said the House might seek to make clear that the Justice Department cannot randomly search lawmaker offices. Does Speaker Hastert feel lawmakers have something to hide?
This was not a random search, but a focused search that proved a lawmaker was in fact a lawbreaker. There should be no safe haven for lawmakers charged with representing the public interest.
No wonder a once prestigious position is now looked upon with scorn by the public it is supposed to serve.
