To the editor:

In response to Frank Perna's Monday letter, "Veteran care," in which he says the VA is failing our veterans:

Mr. Perna states he has been here now 15 years and has heard many complaints from veterans. I'll follow his lead but add a tad more.

I've now been here 45 years, and served my 18th, 19th and 20th birthdays in Vietnam resulting in a 90 percent service-connected disability rating with the VA. I, too, have an opinion of the services the VA provides Southern Nevada veterans.

To me, the VA is nothing less than a first-class health care system. The facilities are always clean and staffed by polite, professional people. The medical care is outstanding.

I, too, have heard complaints from vets, but it soon drifts from VA to traffic to weather to whatever.

I make it a point to tell the technicians, nurses and clerks how much I appreciate what they are doing for us during each visit. Try it next time, vets. The response you'll get is priceless.

pat dingle

LAS VEGAS

Come home

To the editor:

I would like to answer Russell Davis, who in his Tuesday letter discussed our troops in Iraq:

I would like to support our troops to the nearest plane and bring them home. We never should have gone to Iraq -- period.

ROBERT BALL

LAS VEGAS

Cooling costs

To the editor:

Another summer is approaching, and what do we get? Another large Nevada Power rate increase. What else is new?

Has the Nevada Public Utilities Commission ever seen a rate increase it didn't like? A normal person would think that with the ridiculous growth in this valley, rate increases would be held to a minimum.

The typical utility procedure is to ask for more than you need and then settle for a little less. Nevada Power needs 4 percent, asks for 8 percent and settles for 6 percent. Having worked for a large East Coast electric utility for 30 years, I understand how they operate.

Tom Wagner

HENDERSON

More jobs

To the editor:

The Review-Journal's Thursday Business section tells me that Circuit City is cutting lots of jobs.

Meanwhile, the new Wal-Mart store on Lake Mead Boulevard has hired 500 people. Yet the unions condemn Wal-Mart and say nary a word about Circuit City. I though the unions were in favor of more jobs for more people.

ROBERT LIEBERMAN

LAS VEGAS

Dumb bird

To the editor:

In response to Erin Neff's Thursday column on Yucca Mountain and Nye County:

Ms. Neff confuses political double-speak with Webster's definition of "oversight," while at the same time explaining perfectly that "oversight" means to oversee the eventuality of Yucca Mountain's dreaded appearance.

Typical of non-host county "leaders," Ms. Neff attempts to insult Nevada's largest county for actually spending oversight money to prepare for the inevitable. While she and others believe the fairy tale that our good Sen. Harry Reid somehow possesses superhuman powers that will allow his powerful voice to overcome the needs of a majority of East Coast states, we in Nye County trust our leaders to understand reality and spend tax dollars a bit more wisely.

We can hope only that the voters of Clark County understand that their leaders' ostrich impersonations will not keep the wolf from calling.

Sandy Harmon

TONOPAH

THE WRITER IS FORMER THREE-TERM TONOPAH TOWN BOARD MEMBER AND FORMER DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOR NYE AND ESMERALDA COUNTIES.

Healthy solution

To the editor:

In response to your Sunday story, "Candidates pitch their cures":

As the 2008 presidential hopefuls consider their course of action to expand health care coverage, the American Medical Association hopes they will take a closer look at our proposal to cover the uninsured. The long-held AMA plan, if adopted on a federal level, has the potential to cover the millions of uninsured Americans currently struggling to get the health care they need.

The AMA advocates for a system of income-based tax credits that would help those who need it most by giving lower-income Americans money to buy health insurance. In addition, market reforms could create more affordable insurance options and allow more choices in health plans to provide the best fit for each patient.

America's uninsured are our families, our friends and our neighbors.

We simply cannot afford to let the ranks of the uninsured grow. It's time we work toward feasible solutions to cover the uninsured and ensure that those who currently have insurance are protected.

William G. Plested, M.D.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

THE WRITER IS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.