LETTERS: UNLV football: Where prime parking costs more than the game ticket

UNLV football parking

I'm a die-hard UNLV football fan. It's part of a Southerner's DNA to support local college sports. We arrived in Las Vegas in 1968 and watched the Rebels play under the lights at a downtown high school football field. I've been attending games ever since, most of that time as a scholarship donor sitting midfield, lowest section on the west side of Sam Boyd Stadium.

Having retired a couple of years ago, I had to move to less expensive seats at a higher viewpoint on the west side. I received my west-side tickets for this season, but the parking pass was for the east side. At my age, I do well to walk 50 yards. Nevertheless, I was told I would have to pay $500 to park on the west side.

That means it costs more to park, at $83 per game, than to buy the tickets, which are $35 apiece. If it's fans that UNLV football is trying to attract, I don't think this is a good way to go about it.

I paid the bribe, but I just wish somebody with some brains would step forward and take a look at all of the empty parking spaces in the west-side red lot. Those empty spaces could be used to avoid a conflict of parking on the side opposite your actual seat.

Please somebody, do something. You are ruining what should be a pleasant and affordable experience. It's too bad there isn't a plan in place to respectfully treat longtime, loyal fans.

Robert O'Neill

Las Vegas

War on police

As a contrast to the phony Republican war on women, we do have a very real Democratic, media and criminal war on police, in terms of officers murdered and in restrictions on police procedures designed to keep Americans safe.

If one looks at the cities in which police officers have been murdered in 2015, nearly every city has a Democratic mayor. Is there a connection? I think so, because of the constant cop-bashing of top Democrats, including President Barack Obama and some members of his Cabinet, along with high-level members of Congress.

When the media take a single police incident that has upset a segment of our society, and then generalize that all cops are guilty of the same thing, it creates a dangerous attitude toward all police officers. Waco extremists (and some who are not so crazy) are then more likely to do something radical.

Democratic mayors also have imposed restrictions on certain types of police procedures designed to reduce crime, such as stop-and-frisk, suspicious vehicle stops and use of force, all of which make it more dangerous for the officers to do their jobs. In many cities, police officers have backed off from aggressively doing what needs to be done in confronting criminals, because they feel that their lives and jobs are in greater danger as a result of these restrictions.

A good example comes from Birmingham, Ala. (which also has a Democratic mayor). A police officer was beaten unconscious — the perpetrator wrestled the officer's gun away and pistol-whipped him — because he was reluctant to use deadly force on an unarmed but extremely aggressive man. The officer stated he did not use his weapon because he feared media and public backlash. So why take chances? He took the beating instead.

Republicans and conservatives need to start talking about this war on police and the political party that promotes policies that lead to these horrendous events. It could save lives.

Harry Long

Henderson

Water worker

North Las Vegas gave Jerome M. Breland the job of overseeing the North Las Vegas water supply. In 2001, Mr. Breland was sentenced to six months of house arrest and three years probation after putting vomit-inducing medicine in a drink that was shared by several players on his son's youth football team. Eight children went to the hospital. Mr. Breland said he was doing it for his son, whom he said was getting picked on.

How could anyone want this man to check the water in North Las Vegas? There has to be someone more qualified, someone who doesn't mix drinks in his spare time.

Mr. Breland was an electronics technician at the time of the incident, and his boss wrote a letter to the judge in support of Mr. Breland. Instead of reassigning him, North Las Vegas should have instead gotten rid of Mr. Breland.

Jay Friedman

North Las Vegas