Destroy a department car, get a paid vacation?
To the editor:
I just read that the police officer who destroyed the SWAT car and several weapons got a suspension with pay. Granted this was a stupid and lazy act on his part for not changing the tire when it went flat, but being suspended with pay is not teaching him anything.
As he was stupid and needs to learn a lesson, he should have been suspended without pay. That would teach him the lesson that stupidity will cost you and maybe he would learn from it; the suspension with pay only teaches that if you do stupid acts you can take a vacation.
When I worked for a county Sheriff’s office I wrecked a squad car. I had to pay the insurance deductible, was suspended for five days without pay and got a letter of reprimand. Did I learn my lesson? You bet I did.
Should he lose his job over this? Absolutely not — in our lives we will always do something stupid — but learning from our mistakes is the only way to make us better people.
MIKE RAUTH
LAS VEGAS
Careless
To the editor:
This is a double whammy for the taxpayers. Why suspend the officer with pay? Why not keep him on the job and make him pay back every cent it cost for him to neglect the city property? Ask him if it were his property would he have been so careless? This is an outrage. Where does his responsibility rest? How can we put our trust in someone so careless?
CECELIA SCRIBNER
HENDERSON
Cover story
To the editor:
Let’s see, Superintendent Dwight Jones has a $358,000 annual compensation package and a contract that allows him to take a leave of absence in cases of family illness. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, he resigns the job to care for his ailing mother. He doesn’t want to take a leave of absence because “he doesn’t want to keep the district waiting for his return.” He says “no other factors contributed to his departure.”
The story doesn’t make sense. As time goes on, maybe we’ll learn more about why he is walking away from a lucrative position.
ROGER WITCHER
LAS VEGAS
Water czar
To the editor:
Having moved here more than 13 years ago, I’ve learned one of the constants of living in the valley is he never-ending issue of water. Nothing much has changed nor has anything been done or attempted to improve our situation. In Wednesday’s paper I read about Pat Mulroy and her near-appointment as Secretary of the Interior. What has she done or accomplished in all of these years to qualify her for such an important post in the eyes of Harry Reid?
Perhaps someone could enlighten me on Pat Mulroy’s qualifications and accomplishments? So far all I’ve noticed is that we use less water and pay more for it.
RON HIRSCHKIND
LAS VEGAS
Police state
To the editor:
Attorney General Eric Holder has opined that he doesn’t believe it’s unconstitutional to allow drones to attack American citizens on American soil.
President Obama has pushed for a civilian police force. The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 “Mine Resistant Protected” vehicles with gun ports for service on the streets of the United States.
The Administration continues to lobby for gun controls for automatic and semi-automatic guns while Homeland Security has stockpiled 1.6 billion cartridges. The government continues to seek legislation that will allow it to by-pass the judicial branch to monitor phone calls and e-mails.
A senior advisor to the President, Valarie Jarrett, stated prior to his first term they would rule from day one! Why the usage of the word “rule” rather than “govern”? I wonder what dictators did differently when they threw out their country’s constitution?
MICHAEL A. DONNELLY
LAS VEGAS
No eye contact
To the editor:
I enjoyed Heidi Knapp Rinella’s recent story, “Catering to Ladies,” about restaurants focusing more on female customers.
Meanwhile, I was focused on the photos that ran with her piece. Pictures that all too often mirror what I see when I myself am out at dinner: young people at the dinner table not talking to each other, but instead immersed in sending text messages to who knows who.
Why on earth do people go out to dinner, then spend the bulk of their evening texting people who aren’t at the dinner?
ROB POWERS
LAS VEGAS
Beware dependency
To the editor:
Holy (cash) cow! Only 149 years later and someone in the legislature now questions the rationale of having an obscenely low tax on companies that extract non-renewable resources from Nevada’s good earth. Wow, stand by for the next 149-year-old thought.
Apparently some in the legislature want to go mining for tax dollars, so to speak. If taxes are increased on the mining industry what will they do? If taxes are too high they may walk away and if still too low the legislature will leave much needed education money on the table. The only way to find out is to understand what the industry’s operating margins are at present and then project how they respond to any increase or decrease in the price of their commodity. Good luck with that.
There is little doubt that we’re taxing mining, an industry that deals only in non-renewable goods, too little. Yet any long-term dependency upon mining tax revenues is shear folly. Business and property tax revenues may have their ups and downs but unlike mining, they are forever. This is where the legislature needs to look for any permanent additional revenue, not here today, gone tomorrow mining. I wonder what promise keeper Governor Sandoval is thinking right now? If he’s a gambling man, he’s probably all-in on the margins tax since either way it goes he looks good for his 2014 re-election campaign.
RICHARD RYCHTARIK
LAS VEGAS
