Don’t knock new trash pickup until you try it
To the editor:
I fail to see what the uproar is about regarding the potential change in trash pickup. Some people complain just to hear themselves talk, I guess.
I live in North Las Vegas. I have been on the new system since May 2012. Trash and recyclables are picked up once a week, and bulk garbage is picked up every two weeks.
The system is working just fine. I have two bins, 35 gallons each, one for trash and one for recyclables. I have plenty of room in them and do not need larger ones, although I could get larger ones if I needed them.
I have to admit that I never recycled before last May. Laziness, probably, but now I do, and it’s not a big deal. What with newspapers, plastic water bottles and soda cans, I seem to have more recyclables than trash — just the opposite of what Marge Brake said in her Saturday letter to the editor.
I have also managed to get through a whole summer with once-a-week pickups without smelling up my garage.
Kudos to Republic Services for the excellent service.
SUSAN CASEY
NORTH LAS VEGAS
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Stop whining
To the editor:
It is amusing to read all the letters to the editor complaining about the new trash and recycling pickup schedule Republic Services is pushing. These complainers have no clue how much easier this system is. My neighborhood been on the weekly pickup pilot program for more than one year, and it has been a huge improvement over the previous system. Recycling is now a piece of cake. The sorting of recyclables into multiple bins is a thing of the past.
Those complainers have never used such a system, and they base their opinions on nonsensical attitudes about recycling and being overburdened with trash. If they would recycle properly, their trash would be cut in half. Besides, one can get as many 95-gallon trash bins as needed. So there is no excuse for them.
I feel that many of these complainers are simply too lazy to separate their recyclables from the trash and have no regard for our environment. Therefore they oppose such common-sense changes because they would rather trash their refuse than sort it out.
PETER HOWE
LAS VEGAS
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Tug of war
To the editor:
Being that the education tug of war is at the forefront of the media, maybe a little insight from a senior citizen with no skin in the game could be helpful.
Regarding plans for merit pay, why should teachers forfeit earnings because of the failure of others? They are the only ones outside of parents who can provide some sanity in the way our children are brought up.
Instead of dropping off and picking up the kids, maybe forcing them to make the short walk to school and back would help educate them on punctuality. Maybe less time on cellphones, computer games, etc., would help them better understand reality. An excuse is a sign of weakness, and excuses made by the School Board trustees shows their weakness.
I realize the need to better educate our children, so I voted last year for the property tax increase for construction. Don’t blame the voters for its failure, blame the lack of management presentation, along with the school district’s inability to curtail and override the anti-tax push back.
It’s time to face reality that most of us adults are miserable failures when it comes to putting forth our best effort to help educate the youth.
DON ELLIS
HENDERSON
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Medal dishonored
To the editor:
President Barack Obama demonstrated his apparent lack of respect and understanding of the U.S. military during the time-honored presentation of the Medal of Honor to retired Army Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha on Monday.
Veterans believe that correct protocol requires the president to place the ribbon and medal around the neck of a living recipient and then, while facing him, render a hand salute to the recipient. This the president didn’t do. Nor did he honor the previous recipient with a salute.
Many of us veterans fault the president for being insensitive to protocol, and we especially hold accountable those senior general officers who are there to advise the president. Has the president changed protocol to suit himself?
VIC SKAAR
NIXA, MO.
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Glass-Steagall
To the editor:
Kudos to Review-Journal columnist Steve Sebelius for his Tuesday column, “Where does Heller stand now on restoring Glass-Steagall?”
May Sen. Dean Heller please take his advice. Sen. Harry Reid probably won’t.
Mr. Sebelius is on the money with his opinion that the deregulation of the financial institutions of our country were the beginning of the downfall of the American dream of home ownership. The Glass-Steagall regulations, instituted after the Great Depression to prevent greed from overtaking our economy, resulted in 50-plus years of American economic growth and should never have been reversed.
But our greedy politicians, worried only about their ability to be re-elected during the Clinton administration, voted to dissolve these rules. Then along came Rep. Barney Frank, Sen. Chris Dodd, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and several other politicians from both sides of the aisle with the Community Reinvestment Act and the Affordable Housing Act. Congress pressured all financial institutions to loan to the masses — whether they were qualified or not — to keep their voters happy.
Wall Street was greedy, but they were being lead by our elected officials in Washington. Thank you, Mr. Sebelius, for telling it like it is.
DAVID LYONS
LAS VEGAS
