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LETTERS: UNLV football program not worth cost

To the editor:

I am a proud UNLV alumnus and an avid sports fan. But I think it is time we have a conversation about dropping the football program. In the last two decades, several smaller schools discontinued their football programs, as have two schools in the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision: University of the Pacific in 1995, and the University of Alabama, Birmingham, last month.

The football program costs UNLV millions of dollars annually. UNLV is raising student tuition to pay for, among other things, a $400,000 buyout of coach Bobby Hauck and the $555,000 annual salary for the incoming president. This comes at a time when regents are espousing their desire for the university to become a Tier 1 research institution.

Instead of continuing to pour money into a mediocre football program, that money could be used to provide scholarships to our best and brightest students. If the regents are serious about UNLV becoming a Tier 1 institution, the money they save by discontinuing the football program can go into research grants and upgrading research facilities. They could also afford to hire more full-time professors, instead of relying on graduate students and part-time instructors.

I don’t expect overwhelming support for my suggestion, but I think this is a conversation worth having.

ROBERT J. MCKEE

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Amnesty questions

To the editor:

I have some questions about executive amnesty. How will the amount of money undocumented immigrants owe in back taxes be computed? How will fines be determined? Will the fines need to be paid in full before immigrants can qualify for work permits and relief from deportation?

How do we know when a person illegally crossed the border? Will we need a new government agency to monitor all the aforementioned questions? And finally, how does someone who admits crossing illegally in 1999 and has three children born here find the funds to pay back taxes, fines and penalties? Do they get amnesty from paying?

RICK EKEY

LAS VEGAS

Water rate hike

To the editor:

I agree that another rate hike is required to ensure that we have continued water available in the Las Vegas Valley. However, I believe that the bulk of the rate hike should be shifted to new water hookups — new houses and businesses.

This would have a negative effect on growth, but if new growth cannot absorb the cost of the new water sources required by such growth, then the growth is not financially viable. A rate of, say, $20,000 to $50,000 to hook up a new house would increase the value of existing homes and help reduce the problem of underwater homes.

ROGER CHRISTENSEN

LAS VEGAS

The last straw

To the editor:

The Review-Journal’s editorial on Lake Mead was right on the money and reinforces our long-standing belief that the residents of Southern Nevada are much too silent on the subject of water (“Without water, it all dries up,” Dec. 9 Review-Journal). The headline about the imminent connection of the third straw of the pipeline for drawing water from Lake Mead emphasizes the importance of this vital resource and acknowledges the genius of this engineering feat (“Will tunneler hit bull’s-eye?” Dec. 10 Review-Journal).

Sadly, none of this effort adds one gallon of water to Lake Mead and presumes that someday, it will snow enough in the Rockies for enough winters to eventually replenish our enormous reservoir and make it all well again. Meanwhile, we continue to build housing in the Las Vegas Valley as if we have a fresh-water ocean nearby from which to draw life-sustaining water.

Perhaps we should seriously consider a realistic and sustainable source of water for Lake Mead, similar to the Arizona Project canal which transports water from Lake Havasu on the Colorado River to Phoenix and on to Tucson, some 315 miles in length. We have nearly completed a pipe 20 feet in diameter through which we plan to withdraw water from Lake Mead; we should concurrently be planning a similar-sized means of replenishing the lake.

Never mind the Rocky Mountains snowfall, which seems to affect the thinking of water industry officials and which may never materialize, especially in the face of the prospect of global warming. Get real!

The Snake River Basin in Idaho appears to have an excess of water, which we should be able to obtain and transport some 500 miles to Lake Mead through pipes or a canal. Imagine the number of jobs such a project would create. Las Vegas consumers would pay for it, of course.

This is a very serious issue. Meantime, we agree with the editorial and commend the Review-Journal for publishing it. Now, let’s start looking for water without adversely affecting the folks in Lincoln and White Pine counties. It’s a desert out there, folks.

KENNETH F. HINES

MARY LINDSAY

LAS VEGAS

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