School district needs more magnet campuses
To the editor:
As a retired teacher after 40 years - including more than three in Clark County - I commend the Clark County School District for its concept of magnet schools for excellent and highly motivated students. Unfortunately, there are not enough of these schools to meet the needs of many students.
Eligible students with straight "A" averages are placed in a lottery at the end of the year, and names are "drawn out of a hat" for selection into limited openings. I know of two single moms whose children repeatedly qualify, and they are willing to sacrifice time and energy to drive their children to special schools. Unfortunately, their children are repeated "non-winners" in the lottery despite their involvement in many activities above and beyond their class work. They deserve extra credit and/or entries into the lottery.
More schools should be converted to magnet schools to provide more opportunities for young people. It would also save the district money on transportation costs.
John Cody
Henderson
Volt subsidy
To the editor:
Mark Hinueber, vice president and general counsel of Stephens Media LLC, owner of the Review-Journal, wrote an interesting commentary Sunday on his experiences since he leased his Chevrolet Volt ("It's just a car, damn it"). He discusses the negative feedback he has received from various people on the road and how some media outlets have ridiculed the car.
What he ignores is that the people who are paying the taxes in this country are fed up with subsidies and that the government uses these subsidies to pick winners and losers.
The government approved a $7,500 tax subsidy for the Volt, which should sell for $40,000 and is produced by General Motors, of which the taxpayers own a big chunk. The Volt has not even remotely paid for itself and without the subsidy probably would not survive.
The government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers and does not have a good track record in this process. The person who can afford a $40,000 vehicle doesn't need a subsidy.
I am currently in the market for a new car. I plan on buying an SUV because the vehicle suits my current lifestyle. The SUV is safer, can hold more luggage and provides me with a better scenic view when my wife and I travel around the country in our retirement years.
Using the logic of the federal government, I should be provided with a tax credit on my new SUV because, after all, I am using it to see the country and spread my money around.
Michael O. Kreps
Las Vegas
Tea partier?
To the editor:
The Obama administration announced the death of "Julia," the young woman who represented the president's hopes for the future of America in the 2012 campaign. Julia was run down when she stepped off the curb in front of an SUV while tweeting her friends on a new smartphone that she had gotten for free thanks to a government program that provides the underprivileged with high-end communication devices.
Her last tweet stated, "LOL, just got my free phone from the govt. Now have free car, health care, college, house, solar power, food, etc."
The Obama administration expressed its deep sorrow at the passing of this American icon. The president stated that Julia embodied the hopes and dreams of all Americans and that he hoped his daughters would grow up to "look like Julia." The president stated that he was directing Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the death to determine if the SUV driver was under the influence of tea.
James Magnuson
Las Vegas
Be tolerant
To the editor:
Bravo to the women who are refusing to take this made-up "war" seriously ("Politicians ignite 'Mommy Wars,' but many moms declare cease-fire," Saturday Review-Journal). It takes maturity and wisdom to show tolerance for differences among people. Our world needs a lot more of such tolerance.
It's OK for people to have different viewpoints, and it's OK for people to raise their children in a way that works for them - as long as the children's needs are being met, of course.
It's easy to make a right-or-wrong issue out of something, but this leads to hurtful, destructive discourse or worse. Marriages, families, communities and society as a whole would benefit greatly from increased tolerance of differences among people.
Terri Merz
Boulder City
Congressional blunders
To the editor:
A May 14 Associated Press story reports that, "The White House says a $2 billion trading blunder by JPMorgan Chase shows the continued need for rules that protect the taxpayer when Wall Street makes mistakes."
I have suggested to the Nevada congressional delegation that if they spend additional taxpayer dollars to increase regulation of private financial institutions, they also should consider imposing regulations to control blunders by Congress which have cost taxpayers far more than what was lost by JPMorgan Chase.
On my list of congressional blunders I have included cap and trade, the health care bill and foreign aid.
The latter is a classic example of rampant idiocy. We are borrowing money from China to give to nations such as Egypt. Those nations should be able to borrow the money directly from China.
Continued financial support of Third World nations is a trading blunder far greater than Morgan Chase's.
LAWRENCE R. JEFFERIS
LAS VEGAS
