LETTERS: Bring back Kalas’ column
I was looking forward to reading my favorite weekly column, Steven Kalas' "Human Matters" commentary, and, thinking I missed it, searched the Nov. 9 edition of the Review-Journal. Then I read the column by Stephanie Grimes, the Review-Journal's new features editor ("Changes offer more options to readers," Nov. 9 Review-Journal).
Some of us still read the newspaper to be challenged and enlightened, with a desire to actually learn. We plow through pages of ads just to find something worthwhile to read. I beg the R-J to reconsider the decision to cut Mr. Kalas' column. Maybe room could be made for Mr. Kalas if fluff pieces, such as entertainer interviews, were shortened.
Lois Peters
North Las Vegas
Failing in integrity
The news for the past several days has been depressing: terrorist attacks in Paris, mass graves of elderly Yazidi women murdered by ISIS in Iraq, and a paralyzed U.S. government unable to govern because the president and Congress cannot find common ground.
Amid all these somber stories, I got an unanticipated broad smile from two Nov. 15 Review-Journal articles: the editorial noting Nevada received an "F" in public integrity ("Embracing ethics") and the report that former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald was re-elected to a third term as chairman of the state's Republican Party ("McDonald re-elected as Nevada GOP chief"). Thanks for a much needed smile.
Henry Soloway
Las Vegas
Roos-N-More
I was perplexed at the letter Ron Moers wrote ("Support Roos-N-More," Nov. 1 Review-Journal). I believe we are all entitled to our opinions, but his analogy to Caesars Entertainment filing bankruptcy in the same vein as Roos-N-More trying for a zoning permit boggles the mind.
If Mr. Moers had studied the USDA inspection reports for the last five years, listened in on the hearings and paid attention to Roos-N-More's financial problems, which have been mentioned many times in news articles, he may have had a clearer vision of the overall situation. The Clark County Commission is doing what it needs to do by law, and what commissioners were elected to do.
As far as animals for kids to see, we have plenty of places for that, including the Secret Garden, Mandalay Bay Shark Reef, the Flamingo Hotel exhibit, the Springs Preserve, Gilcrease Orchard and traveling petting zoos and circuses. I take my children to the San Diego Zoo from time to time.
It was also mind-boggling that Mr. Moers asked where the Humane Society was during the Cliven Bundy debacle. It seemed to me there were plenty of gun-toting people out there and no need for any group of any kind to interfere. This dispute was between the government and Mr. Bundy. Before making assumptions on Roos-N-More, Mr. Moers needs to check out the facts and situation leading up to the zoning permit decision.
Joanne Brunelle
Las Vegas
Leading by example
President Barack Obama doesn't care if governors are unwilling to accept Syrian refugees to their states ("Plan to accept refugees attacked," Tuesday Review-Journal). The president has a pen and a phone, and he will do what he wants, regardless of what the outcome might be, the same way he forced Obamacare down our throats.
What he should do, however, is lead by example and welcome Syrian refugees to the state of Maryland and all around Washington, D.C.
Jan Mills
Las Vegas
Peace for Syria
As I watched the horror in Paris unfold, I wondered how many of the well-intentioned candle-lighters sharing the "Peace for Paris" icon on social media stopped to ponder the price of that peace. The hunt and retribution for this latest round of terrorism will leave countless people homeless, wounded or dead. What empty symbol will the innocents of Raqqa, Syria, rally around?
Ty Weller
Las Vegas
