It’s the economy, not the smoking law, stupid
To the editor:
Once again, the editors from the smoke-filled halls of the Review-Journal show their bias when it comes to smoking ("Economic consequences," Tuesday editorial) -- this time in the form of fuzzy math and an apparent inability to truly look inside the numbers.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that our economy is in a pretty tough crunch right now.
The price of gasoline is up, housing prices have plummeted, tourism is down and conventions that used to spill out into auxiliary halls now get a fraction of the visitors they had prior.
Yet the Review-Journal editors would have us believe the smoking ban, passed by the majority of voters in the 2006 election, is the root of all evil and the reason for all of Nevada's ills.
Well, let's take a look at the numbers posted by the editor. He cites the woes of slot route operator Herbst Gaming, which reported a 20 percent decline in business in 2007 followed by another 12 percent decline through 2008.
Let's compare that with a true locals casino, where all these grocery and convenience store slot players evidently are flocking in record numbers with cigarettes in hand.
Green Valley Ranch would seem to be a fair comparison. Green Valley Ranch got off to a good start in 2007, but ended the year flat and, depending on which set of figures you look at, is now down either 11 percent or 17 percent.
So while it would appear that Herbst Gaming has managed to pare its losses, Green Valley Ranch is heading the opposite direction.
Smoking has nothing to do with the lack of gamblers. Gamblers are simply being more wary with their money.
One additional note: Green Valley Ranch just added an entire non-smoking section. One would think they did this to build business, not to run it out the doors.
Tony Marovitz
HENDERSON
Take back Nevada
To the editor:
A Southern Nevada unemployment rate above the national average, slot route operator Herbst Gaming on the ropes, tavern closures, tens of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue and profits for the big casinos that benefit from an unfair law.
Maybe now would be the time to realize that the unconstitutional, anti-business smoking law passed by voters in 2006 was a tragic mistake and present it fairly. Let's see this on the November ballot and list a third smoking option, rather than just the two non-smoking choices the electorate was offered two years ago.
Where is Southern Nevada's tavern association? Where is Mothers Against Drunk Driving? People are now forced to leave taverns in order to get something to eat. Where are the pro-business politicians?
Are not the true rebels of Nevada sick of being held hostage by a vocal minority of transplanted socialites who have made a mockery of individual rights in their own state?
And now the answer for this lost tax revenue? Raise hotel room taxes to discourage more people from visiting Las Vegas.
This slippery slope has been tested, its ugly agenda revealed, and now is the time for the majority of sane Nevadans to take our state back before we find ourselves at the bottom of a very large and fetid pile.
Robert Opp
LAS VEGAS
