County’s latest ‘concessions’ an affront to taxpayers

To the editor:

Clark County government makes a deal with the county's largest employee union, then keeps a straight face to say concessions have been made. Where's the deal for the taxpayers? There is none. What we have here, folks, is a game of musical chairs -- or an act of moving deck chairs on the Titanic.

Get this, taxpayer: County workers' "base" pay will be dropped by 2 percent. Whoopee! But 70 percent of these county workers will still be allowed to receive 3 to 4 percent merit raises and a 1 percent cost-of-living increase.

What the devil is the matter with our commissioners? All they are doing is fudging numbers to fool the taxpayer. These union workers are among the highest paid in the entire country. There should be an offer of an annual salary, like in the private sector, and that's it. No more, no less.

I say fire and/or lay some of these union workers. Let them know what it is like to be without a job, which many in the private sector have experienced. Once they walk in the shoes of a private-sector worker, I would bet these unions wouldn't be so greedy in demanding guarantees of lavish salary, benefits and retirements.

There should be a do-over dealing with these public employee unions. Start from square one. File for bankruptcy, void all public employee union contracts and offer new salary and retirement benefits that are equivalent to private-sector compensation.

Public employees should not have a pension plan. Public servants should be required to belong to and pay into Social Security like all private-sector workers and given the option of participating in a 401(k) savings plan. I would predict that there would still be people standing in line for the jobs.

Finally, vote these union-pandering politicians out of office for giving away the store to the public employees and breaking the state.

BRAD EVANS

LAS VEGAS

Infuriating arrest

To the editor:

Regarding the article in Sunday's Review-Journal about doctors, pain medication prescriptions and the DEA's new interest in monitoring both of them: Unbelievable!

The FDA has been harassing holistic practitioners for years over supplements and vitamins that help maintain the well-being of patients, and now the DEA is going to go after doctors for dispensing legitimate prescriptions of pain medications? The news of Dr. Richard Teh being arrested and placed in handcuffs in his own office, in front of patients, by a DEA hit squad sounded like the Gestapo revisited.

My reaction to the news that Dr. Teh has been charged with the murder of a patient was way beyond description. The medical examiner didn't even list the cause of death of this person in 2007 as a drug overdose. The article said, "Officials at Valley Hospital and Medical Center initially said the cause of death was from bilateral pneumonia and sepsis." Now it's murder? Not malpractice, not involuntary manslaughter, but murder? Astonishing!

For those who don't know him personally, I would describe Dr. Teh as the most caring, considerate, and knowledgeable primary care physician you would be fortunate enough to have as your doctor. To somehow blame this dedicated, caring doctor for a patient's abuse of legitimately prescribed pain medications is beyond belief. Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

Considering the amount of street drug-dealing that goes on in this city, the DEA's efforts would surely be better focused somewhere other than on the offices of dedicated and professional physicians. Please go catch some real drug dealers!

Jerry Patchman

Las Vegas

Foreclosure vandalism

To the editor:

I was aghast when I read the March 26 article, "Battle on homefront," related to putting the real victims of the housing crisis in prison, as proposed by Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea in his Assembly Bill 373.

Now that families are being thrown out of their homes, often losing their life savings in the process, let's just throw them in prison when they get so frustrated as to damage their own homes after they are unable to solve a dilemma that has most often been caused by others.

The housing crisis has been well-documented in articles, books and even movies. Have the perpetrators gone to prison? No. What about the Wall Street guys who became wealthy bundling toxic mortgage securities? No, they got bailed out. The bankers who made fortunes on mortgage lending? No, they got bailed out.

Our leaders in Washington, who through numerous sessions and administrations have meddled in lending practices? No. The executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who guaranteed subprime mortgages, or those who were pushing them to do it? No, they got bailed out. The brokers and lenders, who unceasingly and often fraudulently marketed time-bomb mortgages? No. And what of the banks that were given federal assistance to modify loans but, like Bank of America, were cited for dragging their feet while continuing to evict families of this crisis, instead of the perpetrators?

While it might not be right, I can certainly empathize with the anger that victims feel in this crisis, like a rape victim accused of seducing her attacker.

So what is our answer? If they don't accept leaving their homes and their investments in them, and getting tossed out on the street with their kids and their furniture, with dignity and grace, let's throw them in prison.

It is frustrating that not one of the perpetrators of the housing crisis went to jail. But out of our blind and badly targeted frustration, let's not throw the victims in prison.

BARRY THALDEN

HENDERSON