Don’t cut teacher pay — hit up parents

To the editor:

The latest idea being floated for balancing the school budget is to clip all of the school district employees' salaries by 1.5 percent, thereby closing the last $30 million of the gap. Let's remember that when Gov. Jim Gibbons finished his work earlier this year, it resulted in literally hundreds of teachers being laid off.

The net effect of this is that the remaining teachers get substantially larger class sizes to work with. He, of course, "left the building" without providing a solution for the last $30 million.

Why are we going after the educators? How about this: Every parent kicks in 1.5 percent of their pay or unemployment -- for each child -- to the school budget. The class size average is around 32, and about 80 percent of the school district staff are teachers. Conservatively, this would kick in more than $600 million to education.

Go ahead, check the math if you can.

I am writing this to every parent of every child in Clark County. Think about how your children's educators are feeling in light of all this.

We the people of Clark County have allowed the educational system we ship our children into every day to reach this point.

Thirty million dollars is spit in the ocean when compared to the money that flows through this state -- and yet we do this to our children's educators. Beware -- the teachers are getting older, and no college-bound child in his or her right mind will give a moment's thought to replacing them.

Jim Cassidy

Henderson

Gym class

To the editor:

The Navy is complaining that almost 25 percent of young adults in America are overweight and do not qualify to join the armed forces. The answer to this problem is really a no-brainer. We don't need salad bars in school cafeterias. We don't need vending machines filled with multigrain bars and nutritional foods. What we need is to return to the past.

We need physical education and recess times in our schools. We need sports and athleticism. We need to work off the calories that we eat, not sit in front of computers, not sit in front of televisions, and not use our thumbs and fingers to send text messages.

Really, how hard is this to figure out?

Bob Dubin

Las Vegas

Rhodes litter

To the editor:

Clark County Commissioner Susan Brager's motion and deciding vote (against the wishes of her constituents) to accept the settlement with home builder Jim Rhodes, allowing him to continue to litter the last bastion of natural beauty in Southern Nevada with his unwanted development, did not surprise me (Thursday Review-Journal). As a part-time real estate agent, she will be looking for work in a few years. What a sellout.

Joseph Cook

Las Vegas

Equal justice

To the editor:

I don't get it. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Amber Candelaria ineligible to stand for election to the office of Justice of the Peace because she didn't meet all the requirements. In other words, she didn't meet all the rules.

But Carson City District Judge James Todd ruled Scott Ashjian could have his name on the ballot to run for the U.S. Senate even though he didn't follow all the rules.

I just don't get the fairness of it. Why one judge decides who doesn't have to follow all the rules, yet another says all rules must be followed. What does that say for equal justice before the law?

Patricia Robertson

Henderson

Illegal amnesty

To the editor:

After reading Sen. Harry Reid's April 18 letter defending amnesty for the illegal aliens in our country, I have the following comments:

He says "nobody who thinks seriously about this issue believes it is fiscally or physically possible to deport the estimated 12 million people in this country who are undocumented."

First, quit calling them undocumented. They are illegal. Second, if the United States can transport hundreds of thousands of troops to fight on foreign soil we can deport millions of illegal aliens back to their home countries -- it will just take longer.

Third, if we can continue to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then the United States can afford to deport these illegal aliens. Bring our troops home and use them to round up these illegal aliens and deport them, then we can consider it taxpayer money well spent.

This push by the Democrats to grant amnesty is just another ploy to add these illegal aliens to the voter list.

It boggles my mind that legislators have trouble funding extended umemployment benefits for Americans but have no problems considering allowing millions of these illegal aliens to stay within our borders and be eligible for all the above mentioned programs that taxpaying Americans fund.

The solution to the problem of all these millions of illegal aliens in our country is simple: Deport them.

The solution to the problem of our elected representatives not representing us is also simple: Deport them -- right out of office in November.

Kathleen Stone

Pahrump

Animal farm

To the editor:

The article on April 19 about Harry Reid backers bringing barnyard animals to Sue Lowden's campaign headquarters was great. I mean that Phoebe Sweet, communications director for the state Democratic Party, must have a great sense of humor.

It was even on YouTube, and Jay Leno picked it up.

I wonder how much Ms. Sweet's sense of humor would be tickled if Sue Lowden sent people to Harry Reid's headquarters.

One would have a white flag (Harry Reid: "The war is lost"); one would have his hand out asking for his money back (Harry Reid: "Taxes are voluntary"); and one would show up in a bathtub (Harry Reid: Smelly people roaming the corridors of Washington).

I bet Phoebe Sweet would be rolling on the floor.

Forrest A. Henry

North Las Vegas