First lady deserves thanks, not scorn

To the editor:

In Norm Clarke's Monday column, he alleged that Nevada first lady Dawn Gibbons "had the fashion police buzzing" at the Miss USA pageant preliminaries on Saturday night at Planet Hollywood, and that she made a few gaffes during her proclamation speech.

In case it has escaped Mr. Clarke and any of his readers' attention, Mrs. Gibbons is going through a horrific time in her life at the moment ("Gibbons, wife Dawn are 'going through difficult times,' Feb. 29 Review-Journal) and instead of being criticized in the press, she should be championed for having the courage to even appear in public.

That particular day, Mrs. Gibbons had been gracious enough to co-host an event sponsored by the Republican Women of Henderson, and she spent a good part of her day with us mixing and mingling and trying to put her best face forward.

It's no wonder that a suitable evening gown was very far down on her list of priorities for that evening. She endeared herself to all of us as being a soft-spoken, gracious first lady who deserves our support as she tries to get through her day-to-day responsibilities.

Instead of kicking her when she is down, we should be singing her praises for doing as well as she is under extremely difficult circumstances.

Pat Feivish

HENDERSON

THE WRITER IS SECRETARY OF REPUBLICAN WOMEN OF HENDERSON.

Socialists in disguise

To the editor:

Here is a news flash that Review-Journal columnist Vin Suprynowicz and the rest of the newspaper's editorial board would appreciate: Global warming is a fact. As is the new ice age we were taught about when I was going to school. Cyclical weather patterns are also facts, but who pays attention to that anyway ("It's getting warmer? Oops," Tuesday editorial)?

The United Nations is a largely socialist organization where the vast majority of members are socialist in political ideology. The ideal behind the United Nations was to provide a way of keeping peace in the world to prevent another (and probably catastrophic) world war. Instead, what we have is a seemingly powerless waste of space and money.

Therein lies the rub. Any politician worth his salt knows that unless you control the economy, you have no power. Without money, you cannot pay the military, nor can you control the huddled masses with food and promises.

A few years ago, there was a huge push for the developed countries to subsidize the economies of the undeveloped countries so that they might enjoy a lifestyle similar to the one that we enjoy.

Those plans were pretty much scrapped as first proposed, although some die-hards still propose throwing money at corrupt regimes in hopes of a trickle down to those who really need help. Time for a new plan.

The next step -- and probably best -- was the development of the Kyoto Accord, which promised the impending extinction of mankind unless something drastic was done. Kyoto does nothing to help the environment at all. What it does do is redistribute wealth from developed countries to underdeveloped countries -- appeasement in true Chamberlainesque fashion, with so-called carbon offsets and credits geared entirely toward building economies in one place at the expense of economies elsewhere. I wonder who would be in charge of that economy?

If we want to do something to help the environment, we can start by cleaning up after ourselves. We can economize in many ways to reduce our carbon "footprint," as it were.

Global warming? Ice age? What will it be in 30 years?

Darrell Welch

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Cheap shots

To the editor:

In your Monday editorial about police seizure of a large amount of cash at a traffic stop in Beatty, you once again couldn't resist taking a shot at rural Nevada.

To you people, rural Nevada is anything outside of Clark County and a 702 area code. You describe Beatty as a "speed trap" because vehicles must slow down to 25 mph in town.

Imagine that!

You are also critical that the warning signs to reduce speed are too abrupt. Because the majority of us don't have a problem doing it, what's your problem? If you were driving into Fallon on U.S. Highway 50 from the east, you'd probably complain that the decreased speed limits begin too far out of town.

If the Review-Journal editorial board had its way, White Pine and Lincoln counties would be turned into another Owens Valley to provide water for Las Vegas, and statutes would be changed so that not a single cent of highway funds was spent outside of Clark County.

For those of us fortunate enough not to live in Clark County, we are tired of your cheap shots.

Michael Stone

ROUND MOUNTAIN