Legal pot, Yucca Mountain and risk analysis

On many subjects, the human mind is great at building a case for what it would like reality to be, rather than what the facts clearly state. Case in point is the push to legalize marijuana in Nevada for recreational use.

Bear in mind that the use of marijuana would still be in violation of federal law and that last year the governor of Colorado expressed remorse at the fact that the drug was legalized in his state.

Nevertheless, the press is touting the jobs legalization would create — up to 3,000, possibly — and state Sen. Tick Segerblom estimates up to $1 billion in revenue the first or second year.

Of course, no one is mentioning the adverse effects that have been very well documented by the National Institute of Health, as well as by Bill Bennett, former head of the federal Department of Education. When you factually compare risk vs. benefit, no one in his right mind would consider legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

Compare that to the issue of storing partially spent nuclear fuel rods at Yucca Mountain for later retrieval and recycling. Around $30 billion has been collected from ratepayers who use energy generated by our 104 reactors. This is an industry that has had zero radiation injuries or deaths during its approximately 50-year history.

Yet irrational reactions have killed the federal repository efforts that date back to the 1980s.

As a board-certified physician in occupational and environmental medicine, with additional certifications in medical aspects of nuclear medicine, I would welcome a balanced symposium on risks vs. benefits as it concerns the topics just mentioned. It would be right for Nevada and for our nation.

Leonard Kreisler

Las Vegas

Likes Johnson

Remember when Richard Nixon said “I am not a crook”?

Well Hillary Clinton is a crook. FBI Director James Comey said so. But he won’t bring charges because … take your pick: The fix is in or — as some columns have stated — he didn’t want to screw up the election. Well, maybe the election needs some screwing up.

How can people be so blind to what she really is? No way could I live with myself if I voted for her.

I will vote for the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, an honest man with a good record. Don’t say I’m throwing away my vote. Just maybe a lot of people will end up feeling the same way. There is still a lot of time.

Jerry Gordon

Henderson

Sick pay

In response to your recent story and editorial about teachers and sick leave:

I am a retired Clark County School District teacher. I had saved more than 125 sick days after 10 years. I saved them just in case I needed them for a disability or long-term illness. Thank goodness, I did not need them.

But all my teacher friends told me to use them. They said I would be sorry because the sick days are pro-rated yearly in terms of how much you are paid. I received $6 a day for unused sick time — a day, not an hour. I was so upset because had I taken a sick day, the district would have paid me my full daily pay rate. I saved the district thousands of dollars by not taking my sick days.

I do agree that there are a great many teachers who take days off at a time and this does affect learning for the children. But I now feel they are the smart ones, especially since I was deflated by my end-of-service check for my unused sick days.

The system is broken and needs to be revisited by both the union and administration for the sake of the children.

Joanna Boyd

Henderson