LETTERS: Prep basketball blowout rule sets bad example

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association initiated a policy in response to scores becoming too lopsided in basketball games ("Too good for own good," Thursday Review-Journal). If a basketball team beats another team by 50 points, the winning coach faces disciplinary action and has to send a letter to the NIAA, detailing what actions were taken to keep the game from getting further out of hand.

This has to be the dumbest policy I have ever heard in sports. What is a coach to do, tell players to purposely miss a basket or a free throw? Tell the players not to defend the basket, in order to give layups to the opposing team? This is nothing more than telling our children to cheat.

If this is where our society is going, let's do what they do in professional boxing. When a cornerman knows his fighter can't win or is too hurt to continue, he throws in the towel and the ref stops the fight. We should give each coach a white towel, and when the coach knows his team is whipped, the towel should be thrown on the floor to end the game.

We shouldn't tell the team with better athletes to play at half-speed and let the opponent score at will, just to keep the game kind of even. That is not how life is, so that's not how it should be taught to our children.

Michael O. Kreps

Las Vegas

Oregon standoff

No matter what your political stance, condolences should be offered to the family of LaVoy Finicum ("Bundy brothers arrested," Wednesday Review-Journal). No one should have been killed during the standoff at the wildlife refuge in Oregon.

While the Bundy brothers and others were occupying the refuge, they trampled on the rights of the community and the Native Americans who lived there. They were asked to go; they refused. They were on land that did not belong to them. They were not guarding their home or their property. They disobeyed the law.

There are so many ways to peacefully demonstrate, so why the need for all the rifles and guns? Was it just a show of force or intent to kill? Put a bunch of guys with rifles together, get them emotionally engaged and in fear of being attacked, and yes, someone will get killed. And so it happened. A life has been lost and a family is in grief.

I hope this never happens again. I hope others will realize death is not individual; it includes family, friends and so many others. Nonetheless, all firearms should be removed from the possession of those who were involved in the occupation. Furthermore, they should never be able to purchase firearms again. Now watch some politicians, who like sharks will go after the government, even though they were silent before this and had no advice to offer.

Alan Syslo

Henderson

MGM parking fee

My wife and I have been regular visitors to Las Vegas for 25 years. I am dismayed to read in the Review-Journal of MGM's plans to make visitors pay for parking ("MGM to charge for parking," Jan. 16 Review-Journal). I assure your residents and readers that this will only end in a "London" situation, with payment for parking everywhere — supermarkets, hospitals, offices and eventually anywhere on the street. Once one business starts this trend, the rest will follow.

Drivers in London are penalized every time they takes their cars out of the garage, with on-street parking rates as high as $15 an hour. Fortunately, I live in a region of France where parking charges are almost unheard of. On future visits to Las Vegas, I shall spend my money at the off-Strip casinos.

Andy Hawkins

Brie-sous-Mortagne, France