Would we need new schools if illegals weren’t here?

To the editor:

If the Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes is correct in his assessment that we will need to construct 73 new schools in the next 10 years, then the following questions must be answered.

Where will they get qualified teachers, and what is the student makeup?

If the student bodies are made up of a significant number of illegal immigrants, or the children of illegal immigrants, then maybe the federal government -- read Harry Reid -- should pay for it?

Our history is filled with cases where Congress passes high-sounding laws with devastating consequences on the citizens. This is one of them, and it is ongoing.

As for one senior citizen, if the school bond passes in November ... adios!

W. Wilderman

LAS VEGAS

Why no layoffs?

To the editor:

Wednesday's Review-Journal reported that state spending must be cut by far more than the additional $60 million to $90 million that Gov. Jim Gibbons estimated last week.

Spending cuts are taking place in the private sector as well, but there's a significant difference. In the private sector, layoffs are a common way of reducing costs. However, in the public sector, Gov. Gibbons is calling a special session of the Legislature "to find a way to continue cutting spending without laying off teachers, state employees and university faculty." I read that to mean that services will be reduced substantially, but there will be no layoffs of government workers.

I submit that this smacks of socialism, in which the workers are retained without exception while the taxpaying public is either stuck with reduced services or have their taxes increased to make up for the shortfall. That is totally unfair and unacceptable.

Walter Morykwas

LAS VEGAS

An easy budget fix

To the editor:

Well, the time for political correctness is over. The governor is calling a special session to try and sort out the mess the idiots started a few years back with the record tax increase that is now choking all the tax and spenders to death.

I have a very simple solution: Ignore what the courts have said and stop educating illegal immigrants, stop treating illegal immigrants at the hospitals, have the police arrest illegal immigrants that are using our roads.

Fine and revoke the business licenses of those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.

That would fix all the problems that are getting the nanny staters' underpants in a wad.

Did anyone see the report in this newspaper about our high school students' inability to find summer jobs?

Nicholas P. Gartner

HENDERSON

Minimum wage

To the editor:

Unfortunately for young people, one of the prime causes of the declining summer job market for teenagers is mandated wage hikes ("Summer job market especially tough for poor kids," Wednesday Review-Journal).

According to economist David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, employment for high school dropouts and young black adults and teenagers falls by 8.5 percent. In just the past few years, Nevada's minimum wage has jumped almost three times that amount.

You don't need a business degree to understand why the wage hikes affect teen employment. The classic summer jobs -- cashier, restaurant waiter and grocery clerk -- can help an employer who has increased business or a need to cover for full-time employees taking vacations or sick leave. But when government mandates add to labor costs by artificially boosting wages, employers are more likely to hold off on hiring people to fill such flexible slots.

Kristen Lopez Eastlick

WASHINGTON, D.C.

THE WRITER IS AN ECONOMIC ANALYST WITH THE EMPLOYMENT POLICIES INSTITUTE.

Extremist agenda

To the editor:

No one has said that drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is going to immediately lower the price of gasoline.

Will the environmentalists finally admit that they have caused this problem for the people of the world? Probably not, but as a nuclear mechanical engineer for many years, I have been subjected to their complaints about despoiling the Earth "for our children and grandchildren."

Never mind that more nuclear plants would have reduced our need for natural gas and oil to fuel our power plants, or that producing more oil within the boundaries of the United States would have meant that we would not be sending American dollars to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other enemies.

The environmentalists preach that polar bears are more important than people and that drilling in ANWR will disturb the herds of caribou and other sub-arctic animals. The TransCanada pipeline proved otherwise; the herds still thrive.

The liberal representatives and senators should get out of their animals-first, Americans-second frame of mind. If they can't, they should be voted out of office.

But first, American should realize that the environmentalists have been the real criminals, and their philosophy should be re-evaluated.

Pete KARNOSKI

LAS VEGAS

Still no transparency

To the editor:

The recent death of 4-year-old Jason Rimer and the lack of information coming from Child Protective Services (Tuesday Review-Journal) reminds me of the plight of another child: Adacelli Snyder in 2005.

The Legislature passed laws to improve case transparency. But we have not gotten any transparency.

Jason's family has been on CPS radar for 20 years. What was done? What services were referred? Where was the follow-up? All we know is, yes, this family had a history with CPS. If this family has been neglecting children for 20 years, maybe this child could have been placed in a safe home long before he was left in a car for 17 hours.

Is this county and state ever going to learn anything from the past? Or are we just going to keep repeating the same mistakes to the detriment of the children?

Donna Coleman

HENDERSON

Soaking tourists

To the editor:

Regarding a possible room tax increase and your poll that says "Nevadans say let tourists pay" (Monday Review-Journal), Lynne Warne, president of the state teachers association, said "I think those figures confirm what we know and have said all along, that education is a top priority of voters in Nevada."

Of course people think someone else should foot the bill.

If education is such a top priority for Nevada voters, and you want more money for schools, then Nevadans should be the ones paying more taxes, not tourists.

I already pay taxes to support schools where I live. If our schools need more money, they put a levy on the ballot, which residents of our school district pay. Not tourists who don't live there.

Why on earth should I, as a tourist, pay more taxes to support schools in Nevada? Quit sticking tourists with taxes that you, as residents, should pay.

Mary Huber

ARCHBOLD, OHIO

Gutless union

To the editor:

Clark County School District teachers who are represented by the Clark County Education Association must feel like passengers on the Titanic right about now.

Their leadership had a good idea, to increase taxes on Nevada's casinos to provide support for education. But then they waffled and fell for some casino groups offering to support an increase in room taxes instead.

This room tax proposal is facing stiff opposition from Gov. Jim Gibbons and Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio. So it looks like the CCEA will be shut out all around.

Meanwhile there's talk about this summer's 4 percent salary increase for teachers being in jeopardy, and that if it is preserved it may necessitate layoffs of some of their colleagues.

I'd like to feel sorry for the teachers, but that's what they get for staying with the tea and crumpets CCEA.

Their future will be no better with this toothless group.

Richard J. Mundy

LAS VEGAS