Now that UNLV's basketball Rebels are out of the NCAA Tournament, do you think it would be possible to acknowledge that UNLV also has a boxing team? You could also mention that in early April the UNLV boxing team will be defending the national championship it won last year.
Advertisement
UNLV will host the West Coast Regional Boxing Tournament between March 29 and 31 to set the teams for the national championship tournament, which will be held in Reno. Where is the appreciation -- and T-shirts -- for this group of national champion athletes?
Even a token mention would be appreciated at this point. They are, after all, as much a representative of UNLV and Las Vegas as their classmates on the basketball team.
If Las Vegas is so desperate for a national championship, they should be willing to embrace the team that currently holds one. Or is boxing too violent and sinful a sport for Las Vegas to be associated with?
MaryLee Murrell
LAS VEGAS
Kids and safety
To the editor:
Many folks have expressed opinions about the recent ticketing of students for jaywalking. Personally, I can't help but wonder what Timothy Hill would think of these $190 jaywalking tickets. You see, Timothy paid a much higher price for jaywalking on the way to Findlay Middle School. His penalty was death.
He died on Dec. 17, 2005, after succumbing to injuries suffered when he was hit by a car on Oct. 26, 2004. Maybe, just maybe, remembering Timothy's penalty puts those $190 tickets into perspective.
And, I'm sure Timothy Hill's parents are wishing they had only a $190 ticket and a day's lost pay to contend with. Instead, they paid with inconsolable grief and funeral expenses (and I'm sure they missed more than a day of work dealing with such a tragedy).
Perhaps if folks find the $190 fine too steep, they could propose to the judge that their child be required to institute a school zone safety committee at their school as a form of community service to pay off their fine. This might be a much more effective punishment and would actually offer a solution to the dangerous jaywalking problems -- especially at middle and high schools. And, it could serve as a civics lesson for our future leaders on how to solve community issues.
I hope other parents will avoid expensive tickets by starting a dialogue with their children about school zone/pedestrian safety and participating in school zone safety committees. That would be a win-win situation.
Gina Greisen
LAS VEGAS
THE WRITER IS FOUNDER OF KIDS ABOUT -- A SAFETY COALITION, WHICH DEALS WITH SCHOOL ZONE SAFETY ISSUES.
Not registered
To the editor:
While I don't fault the recent police crackdowns on speeding and jaywalking, there is another issue just as deserving of such a concerted effort -- unregistered vehicles.
Vehicles without any registration of any kind are everywhere -- and I'm betting many are uninsured. I propose a monthlong campaign on unplated vehicles. If they are not registered or insured, tow the vehicle and require registration and six months of insurance to reclaim the vehicle. Auction the vehicles not claimed to pay for the enforcement.
The end result: We get vehicles off our roads that don't belong there in the first place, resulting in less traffic.
JOHN DEVINE
LAS VEGAS
Lottery vote
To the editor:
According to Tuesday's Review-Journal, Gov. Jim Gibbons opposes a state lottery despite a more than 2-to-1 majority vote of the state Assembly to initiate one. He claims that running a lottery is not "a proper function of government" and that the state shouldn't be competing with the gambling industry -- even though the Assembly determined that the enormous profits from a state lottery could provide books, computers and other educational materials.
Gov. Gibbons' argument holds no water. He must feel that the majority of states now conducting lotteries are all wrong. The Powerball alone is in 29 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. Other states have lotteries to raise funds for education and other needs. Are they all wrong or "improper"?
I suggest that Gov. Gibbons take a ride down to the California state line when the lottery is up to about $100 million and take a look at the long line of Nevadans waiting to support California's coffers. Or better yet, come up with a better way to improve Nevada's school system without raising our taxes. He might even try something that doesn't suggest he's is in the grasp of the rich and powerful casino industry -- like, say, support raising the gaming tax to improve our schools? Some states tax casinos at more than 20 percent.
