A new tortoise plan will save reptiles from usFROM OUR READERS
To the editor:
Your Wednesday editorial, "A tortoise tale," at least got the facts partially correct. The military's plan to capture and move nearly 800 desert tortoises is required by law for the expansion of Fort Irwin's tank-training facility. The relocation has resulted in the deaths of dozens of animals already teetering close to extinction.
Sadly, the tragedy was totally predictable. The relocated tortoises were placed into an area of poor habitat suffering from two years of drought, which has illegal off-road vehicle use, trash dumping and residential developments. Coyotes, also suffering from drought, have proved to date to be the deadliest threat to tortoises who are still trying to make their way back to their home territories and were left above ground with no burrows to hide from the predators.
It is for these reasons that the Center for Biological Diversity is likely to pursue a lawsuit against the Army, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management for their truly ill-conceived and harmful plan. The plan needs to be improved before the next relocation is implemented, where even more tortoises will be moved. The tortoises desperately need it.
The body of your editorial missed the mark regarding the issue of cattle grazing and its impacts on tortoise habitat and survival. All leading tortoise scientists agree that cattle grazing and tortoises don't mix -- and Clark County and Fort Irwin have actually bought out local cattle grazers and gotten rid of the cows to protect desert tortoise habitat as an additional way to offset the impacts of development.
You mention the hypothesis espoused by Vernon Bostic in 1990 that it was the lack of cow pies for tortoises to feed upon that was causing their decline in the Mojave Desert. At the time, it was an interesting theory, but subsequent research by H.W. Avery and Todd Esque involving tortoise feeding patterns found very little use of any kind of dung, and even less of cow pies specifically. M.B. Allen researched the nutritional value of cow dung and found it to be deficient for the survival of tortoises. So, yes, in a drought year, a tortoise may now and again take a bite of a cow pie, but like you and I, it does not prefer such a diet and will not long survive on it.
Loss of quality habitat from urbanization, wildfires and grazing, motorized recreation, illegal dumping, disease, and predation from ravens whose populations have been bolstered by human impacts remain the greatest threats to the desert tortoise.
But first and foremost, the continued existence of the desert tortoise comes down to conserving adequate and secure quality habitats to allow for the flow of genetic material among individual populations.
Rob Mrowka
NORTH LAS VEGAS
THE WRITER IS NEVADA CONSERVATION ADVOCATE FOR THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY.
Leave 'em alone
To the editor:
Your Wednesday editorial, "A tortoise tale," was right on.
A law that says leave 'em alone and require grazing in all tortoise habitat would be best for the tortoise and the environment -- and save millions of tax dollars.
Tom Collins
LOGANDALE
Shakedown
To the editor:
Howard Stutz's Thursday report, "Economic woes hurt U.S. casinos," tells how the economic slowdown has caused a loss of revenue in the casinos of Nevada.
While I'm sure the economic atmosphere has something to do with it, I also think $38 buffets and nightclub employees strong-arming patrons out of all their money may also be playing a part.
Where is my old Vegas?
Kyle Otto
LAS VEGAS
The sound of music
To the editor:
What happened to live music on the Strip? It seems as if all the hotels are gutting their live performance lounges and piano bars to install more nightclubs with no musicians.
I just returned from New Orleans, and there is live music everywhere. Blues, jazz, rock, R&B, country and Zydeco are performed by talented musicians in all the clubs, and even in the streets.
Where in Las Vegas can I hear real American music? Last week, I stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel, whose entire theme is based on rock music, and no employee knew where I could hear a live band on a Wednesday night.
In the 1980s you could hear live music in every hotel almost 24/7, with no cover or minimum. Now my entertainment choices are paying $150 to see a Cirque du Soleil show or $400 a bottle to watch a guy spin records and see celebrities embarrass themselves.
Come on, Las Vegas, are Muzak and DJs the best we can do? You can't call yourself the entertainment capital of the world unless you have live music.
Keith Hubbell
LAS VEGAS
Sucker bets
To the editor:
George Puccini's letter ("Poor payouts," Tuesday Review-Journal) certainly echoes most locals' current gambling experiences.
Just seven years ago, blackjack was $2 a hand. There was no such thing as a penny slot. The slot machines took coin and paper. The casino floors were staffed with help, and workers carried bags of coins to keep the slot machines ready for players.
At various strategic points around the floor were manned casino cages, ready to convert your little cups of coin for real money.
Today, everything is ticket in, ticket out. Cages and personnel have been replaced by ticket-redemption machines. I have often wondered how much money the casino operators have saved in reduced personnel costs. They surely have not used those monies to improve the gaming experience (other than upgrading the decor).
Those cute penny slots are up to 100 lines of play. Nowhere can you find the so-called state-regulated payouts for these slot machines. Is anyone watching out for the players? Are these penny slots even regulated?
Remember those banks of machines that said 98 percent payouts, 99 percent payouts? We sure don't see that on these rows of penny slots.
Bottom line, $100 on a Saturday night will give you and your date about one hour of fun -- if you get on a good machine.
Susan Polyak
NORTH LAS VEGAS
We're being had
To the editor:
It is truly sad that Americans cannot come together over our energy needs.
The truth is that we should be doing what the Democrats and Republicans promote separately.
The Democrats want to promote and foster alternative and cleaner energy sources. The Republicans want to develop the already proven resources we have within America. We should be doing both.
Our economy and our security could be vastly improved if only we could agree to compromise and follow a path that would allow us to reach energy independence in the least amount of time. That approach would involve developing wind, solar, nuclear, cleaner coal, drilling for oil and natural gas in Alaska and off our shores as well as many other things.
Are there drawbacks to this approach? Yes. More greenhouse gases, possible oil spills, etc., from any attempt to develop our own resources, plus possible problems with nuclear plants and the storage of nuclear waste. With solar and wind, we have to deal with the costs and time to develop them as well as higher energy costs and the issue of developing an infrastructure to transport and deliver the energy.
Even so, it's worth the risks and the effort. I never hear such an approach from a politician. What a shame. That's because what we have today are politicians, not statesmen or stateswomen. It's all tied to party and power.
Wake up Americans! You're being had!
Michael K. Casler
LAS VEGAS
