LETTERS: UNLV football coach not worth cheering

UNLV football

Why should it bother UNLV football coach Tony Sanchez for the drubbing he gave to Idaho State on Saturday? ("UNLV shows no mercy," Sunday Review-Journal). It never bothered Mr. Sanchez for years while he was beating up on legitimate Nevada high schools as the football coach at Bishop Gorman.

It never bothered him that his Gorman teams robbed thousands of legitimate Nevada high school athletes of the opportunity to participate in a playoff game or a chance to win a state championship. I suppose it doesn't bother him that Gorman is decorated with banners of tainted high school state championships, in its state-of-the-art athletic facilities. Bishop Gorman claims to be a legitimate high school, but as we well know, what's legitimate in Nevada is not always right.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association looks the other way when it comes to dealing with the Gorman empire. The football team is still family-controlled by Mr. Sanchez's brother, and it appears UNLV will be using Gorman as a farm team, maybe even helping the Rebels recruit more polished athletes. Even former Las Vegas professional athletes are sending their offspring to Gorman, instead of a high school zoned for where they live.

Justice was served when UNLV lost its first three games. Mr. Sanchez got a taste of what it's like to be on the low end of a tilted playing field. I used to be an avid Rebels fan, but now I find myself cheering against them. Go Wolf Pack!

Frank R. DiNicola

Henderson

Selling out Lake Mead

The Southern Nevada Water Authority is selling us down the drain — to California ("Authority approves leasing water to California," Sept. 17 Review-Journal online). I can't believe there's not an uproar over the successful vote to sell our surplus Lake Mead water to California.

Gov. Brian Sandoval and the SNWA board — which consists mainly of local city council members and Clark County commissioners — hailed this ridiculous move during last month's Drought Summit. Gov. Sandoval said the water would be lost to evaporation anyway ("Sandoval kicks off Nevada drought summit," Sept. 22 Review-Journal). Well, when the next layer of water is lost to evaporation, the authority will be coming back to us to beg for more help to dig deeper or make us cut back even more.

How can we let the SNWA pull the wool over our eyes after making us spend nearly a billion dollars to create a third straw and a pumping station to pull the water uphill? The $44 million earned from this water swap is only 5 percent of that construction bill — a drop in the bucket, so to speak, in return for our precious resource. It's criminal. I'm startled that the SNWA board voted for this egregious misuse of our resource, and that we are going to roll over for it.

Susan Houston

Las Vegas

Huntridge Theater

Not one dime of taxpayer dollars should be spent on the Huntridge Theater. Spending more on this building would be malfeasance of office, as Jane Morrison stated in her column ("No more taxpayer funds for Huntridge," Sept. 24 Review-Journal).

Tax dollars are critically needed for the public good in numerous areas. As a 78-year resident of Las Vegas, I can tell you there is little that is historic about the theater, other than the fact that it was historically plagued with problems from the day it opened. Today's situation is typical of speculators purchasing run-down property and avoiding demolition and clean-up cost by defrauding the public. The investors should clean up the property at their expense, not the taxpayer's.

The Palace Theater could have been historic due to its place in time. It was transformed into dust without a whimper as Steve Wynn desired the property for a parking garage. Whatever Mr. Wynn wants, Mr. Wynn gets. Many locals have fond memories of the Palace Theater, particularly for holding events prior to local soldiers shipping out in World War II.

I recall when some 10 years after that war, a complete stranger came to our door. He had a Palace Theater ticket stub, a set of U.S. Marine Corps dog tags and a wallet in a plastic bag. He had revisited Tarawa and found the items in the once blood-soaked sand. It was a truly emotional time for the severely wounded U.S. Marine who lived next door to be greeted by a former comrade in arms who had revisited the scene of battle and traveled well out of his way to return mementos of that event. The El Portal Theater (1928) could have possibly been considered historic, too.

But taxpayers should not be responsible for any cost related to the not-so-historic Huntridge Theater.

Chas Musser

Las Vegas