Cry me a river for ‘struggling’ state workers

To the editor:

I was horrified by your Saturday editorial, "Struggling just to get by." How insulting it is to hear that a state employee and her husband, another state employee, cannot make ends meet on a family income of almost $164,000.

I looked at the TransparentNevada website, referenced in the editorial, and was shocked at the incredibly high salaries of our public employees. There are so many public employees making more than $100,000 annually that it seemed the six-figure salary list would never end.

We've read stories about the families living below the poverty level. How about a feature story on a family crying poor and earning almost $164,000 annually? That's a story I would love to read.

What are they doing with their money? This foolish woman should have kept her mouth shut. She opened Pandora's box.

Maragaret M. Mueller

Las Vegas

Museum plan

To the editor:

In response to William Dwyer's Thursday letter to the editor, titled "Mob museum a callous display of insensitivity":

As chair of the nonprofit board overseeing development and operations of the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement -- The Mob Museum -- I believe it's important to clarify a few points.

The Mob Experience, about which Mr. Dwyer writes, is a casino-based exhibit and attraction located inside the Tropicana. It is not affiliated with the Mob Museum or with Mayor Oscar Goodman. The Mob Museum is located in the former federal courthouse and post office -- the very building where, in 1950, congressional hearings on organized crime were held.

The Mob Museum is being developed as the foremost museum on organized crime under the direction of a world-class team known for other highly successful museum projects, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. These projects are not only financially viable; they serve to educate the public on interesting aspects of our country's history. They also reinvigorate the communities and neighborhoods in which they are located.

Based on global interest in organized crime, as well as the e-mails and phone calls we receive from around the world on an almost daily basis, we anticipate the same success for The Mob Museum. Studies have estimated an annual attendance of more than 500,000.

It will be highly experiential and interactive to make learning about organized crime fun, interesting and relevant. We are partnering with many of the best interactive media firms in the country to ensure The Mob Museum will be a must-see and do for tourists and locals alike.

The Mob Museum in no way glamorizes or glorifies organized crime. The goal of The Mob Museum is to tell the history of organized crime and law enforcement -- as it happened in America and here in Las Vegas -- warts and all. As a part of our city's unique history, the impact of organized crime on Las Vegas should not be lost or forgotten.

Ellen B. Knowlton

Las Vegas

The writer is chair of the 300 Stewart Avenue Corp.

Flawed argument

To the editor:

In Sunday's Viewpoints section, writer Patrick R. Gibbons made the following statement: "An examination of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis shows no relationship between college attainment rates and unemployment." That statement is false.

I have run the numbers myself -- and I'm qualified to do so, as a full-time math teacher at the College of Southern Nevada for 13 years. The relationship between college degree holders and unemployment rates is clear and unarguable, although it's not as strong as some of higher education's partisans would like it to be. Quite a bit stronger is the relationship between the unemployment rate and the percentage of high school graduates in the adult population.

Conveniently unmentioned in Mr. Gibbons' commentary, however, is the absolute absence of any relationship between unemployment rates and tax burdens, or between unemployment rates and overall business climates, as ranked by the Tax Foundation. Those relationships are completely random -- in other words, there is no relationship.

So whenever you hear a politician (or editorialist) claiming that higher taxes drive away businesses and investment, or that lower taxes will attract employers, you can confidently dismiss the arguments as factually -- not ideologically -- incorrect.

A person's statements on that issue don't reflect a personal ideology -- they reflect personal character.

Stan VerNooy

Henderson

School police

To the editor:

I'm getting really tired of the Review-Journal's bashing of the Clark County School District Police Department (Sunday editorial).

Certainly, there are places that the department can cut back to save money, but school and patrol officers are not the place to do it, especially with replacement private security.

The school district has already taken some money-saving steps, such as replacing officers at some sporting events with lower-paid but highly trained campus security monitors, such as myself. Eliminating officer positions would only make our schools less safe for students and staff alike.

Mary Dungan

Las Vegas