LETTERS: Undocumented immigrants strain system
To the editor:
I think it’s about time that someone talked about the cost of all the undocumented immigrants in our states. According to reports I have heard, Nevada has one of the largest percentages of undocumented immigrants of any state. The Clark County School District spends millions teaching non-English-speaking students. With the school district always calling for more funds, this money could be spent on children who are citizens.
Clark County also spends millions of our tax dollars propping up UMC, because that hospital is required to provide care for everyone, and undocumented immigrants usually don’t have health insurance to pay the bills. Then we have all the money spent on law enforcement and detainment of those who are here illegally.
If undocumented immigrants are given some kind of legal status, only those who have enough education to get good-paying jobs will make enough money to pay income taxes, helping alleviate some of the costs. I think it is time that our politicians talk about getting some control of this situation, instead of pandering to these people who have broken the law by coming here.
MAREN WAGNER
LAS VEGAS
Stadium in phases
To the editor:
Would you like to build a new stadium? Engineers have taken us to the moon, rovers to Mars and so on. So this idea should be a piece of cake for them to design. I am not an engineer or an architect, but it seems logical that a stadium can be built in phases.
First, secure the land and property for a stadium that seats 90,000 to 100,000 people. Second, plan and build a stadium in such a way that it can be expanded at a future date. Start with a seating capacity of 20,000 seats, with a foundation that could support more seats, which could be added to the back of the stadium. The roof must be portable and limited to covering the seats only, not the whole playing area. The foundation should support the roof in such a way that additional support beams can be added at a later date to raise the roof as necessary.
Finally, if the stadium needs more seats because demand outgrows the supply, add as needed. Raising the roof in stages would cost more money in the long run, but the cost can be spread out over, say, 30 years. I am not an accountant, but stadium proponents might be able to justify the cost of each phase of the project by using the Life Cycle Cost Analysis.
If there is a will, there is a way.
ALBERT YASBICK
LAS VEGAS
Ferguson injustice
To the editor:
A young man lies dead on the ground in Ferguson. Mo. He was shot seven or eight times. He was unarmed. A number of eyewitnesses to the shooting said that the young man had his hands in the air at the moment of the last shots. The shooter was a policeman.
No police report of the shooting was released. The policeman was relieved of duty, but not taken into custody. There was no indictment. Instead, the matter was taken to a local grand jury. All proceedings were conducted in secret over a three-month period. The grand jury found no probable cause to look further into the death of the man. The young man was black. The policeman is white.
The grand jury consisted of nine white citizens and three black citizens. The prosecutor, who had full control over the grand jury proceedings, is white. A grand jury decision to bring an indictment requires the vote of nine of 12 members. There was no legal representation for the deceased black man at the grand jury proceedings. This is justice? Place the rag right up to your face, for now is the time for your tears.
RICHARD L. STRICKLAND
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Stoking the fire
To the editor:
How low can you get in the liberal cesspool, when one of the largest newspapers in the world publishes the name of the street on which policeman Darren Wilson lives? The New York Times did this, after last week’s grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo.
With all the unrest about the officer, you cannot get any lower than that. The journalists who wrote that want all the Al Sharptons of the world to praise them to the point of puking. That’s what happens with a liberal press and a liberal society.
WILLIAM WHITNEY
LAS VEGAS
Sympathy for the rich
To the editor:
Usually, I agree with the Review-Journal editorials, but I am forced to comment on Monday’s piece (“Wealthy’s ‘fair share’ reaching tipping point”). Though it may be true the rich pay most of the money, they possess most of the money.
Let us regress to percentages. The “average” rich person pays up to 17 percent of earnings after countless deductions (Sen. Harry Reid, Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama generally pay percentages in the mid-teens). Not having massive deductions, the middle class pays an average of 19 percent to 25 percent. Senior citizens cannot deduct helping their grandchildren and children struggle along with destructive unrecognized inflation — food, utilities and housing to name a few.
To me, it appears the editorial page’s sympathy lies with the mountain lion’s indigestion, rather than the eaten deer.
RICHARD SIMMS
HENDERSON
