Free market doesn’t protect nonsmokers

To the editor:

In response to Saturday's Review-Journal editorial against the 2006 initiative to ban smoking in restaurants, convenience stores and bars that serve food:

The subhead of the editorial read "Who needs heavy-handed laws? Let the market work." That summarizes well what businesses have been saying since 2006.

To answer the question posed, the ban was needed because the market was and is not working. Even the editorial concedes that there are only two casinos in the entire state that have banned smoking. Does that sound like the market working? If there were any fairness, the vast majority of casinos would be nonsmoking. Before the ban, almost every restaurant permitted smoking, too. The segregated sections fool nobody, especially at the tables next to the smoking section.

I support smokers' every right to slowly kill themselves, as long as they are not taking me to the grave with them. Oliver Wendell Holmes summed it up well: "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins."

For the same reason the health department ensures restaurants are clean and safe to the public, the state should ensure that public places are free of cancer-causing secondhand smoke. Maybe I could support the choice argument if more than 1 percent of businesses in question chose to go nonsmoking.

There is one point we do agree on: It wasn't fair that the 2006 ban did not apply to casino floors. Indeed, it should. I'm sure the other side will bemoan the loss of business. Not that I concede that would happen, but even if I did, the safety of the nonsmoking public should supersede the right of businesses to profit from the lives of nonsmokers.

I hope that a future initiative will propose prohibiting smoking in casinos, which I would happily support.

Michael Shapiro

LAS VEGAS

Experience matters?

To the editor:

I just finished reading Vin Suprynowicz's Sunday column about university system Chancellor Jim Rogers and contributions to Democratic candidates ("A case of irony or poetic justice?").

Mr. Rogers says that ousted Republican state Sen. Bob Beers, who might now be appointed to the Board of Regents to oversee Mr. Rogers, is unqualified because he "has never run an operation."

Would Mr. Rogers also apply that standard to President-elect Barack Obama? Makes you wonder who he actually voted for.

Robert Raider

HENDERSON

Costly changes

To the editor:

I write as a concerned parent and Clark County taxpayer regarding what appear to be the misuse of funds by the Clark County School District and the unnecessary disruption of the lives and education of thousands of students.

The Clark County School District has engaged in countless rezoning efforts over the years and continues to do so as I write this letter. Multiple zoning actions are presently pending that make no sense financially or geographically.

Through its Attendance Zoning Advisory Commission, the district is recommending that students be moved specifically to fill under-populated schools with no apparent regard for cost or the disruption they will cause children.

A good example is the proposed rezoning of Coronado and Liberty high schools. AZAC is recommending splitting up neighborhoods and busing (at a significantly increased cost) students who presently walk to Coronado High School to Liberty High School just to fill seats.

In a time of significant budgets cuts and with more on the way, why in the world would the district continue to pursue zoning actions that increase costs and are not necessary?

Scott Rone

HENDERSON

Devastating cuts

To the editor:

My best friend is probably going to die. She has been undergoing chemotherapy at University Medical Center. UMC is closing its oncology program at the end of December, due to lack of funding ("UMC cancer care in flux," Nov. 7 Review-Journal).

My friend may be one of the "lucky ones" -- she will finish her chemotherapy before this closure. However, at this point, her cancer is not gone.

I am really angry. Many good people are going to die because of this closure.

Where is the outrage from the citizens of Nevada? These are not just indigent people who are being treated for cancer. These are your mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters and friends. Many of these people have little or no insurance through no fault of their own.

My friend used to work and pay taxes. She was a homeowner. But now that she is sick and can't work, she can't get the help she needs.

Please help us save UMC's oncology program. Call your local, state and federal elected officials and demand that they not cut funding to UMC.

In the meantime, I want to give a huge thank you to all the nurses and staff at UMC's oncology department. They are the best, most loving, caring and compassionate medical staff we have ever seen.

Colleen Anna

HENDERSON