Seeing red over Las Vegas traffic lights

To the editor:

So I watched the PBS program "America Revealed," which featured a short segment on Las Vegas traffic and the gurus that keep it moving. The show featured an employee on his cell phone as he directed the main office to give him more "green time" as traffic was backing-up on Swenson.

Really? This is how a major metropolis handles traffic? A guy on his phone? No wonder traffic is a nightmare here.

Maybe that works on the Strip where tourists won't notice, but what about the rest of us who live here? Where's our green time? Why can't I drive more than a mile without hitting a red light?

When I drive home at 3 a.m. and I come to an empty intersection, why do the opposing left-turn lights go green first while I sit and idle away fuel? Or why must I wait for all the lights to go through a pattern before I get a green? This is absolutely maddening. This happens all around the West side where left-turn lights are green and there isn't a car anywhere to be seen.

The traffic light patterns here are a joke. Don't any of these gurus drive in this town? What a waste of time and gas.

T. Vanderveldt

Las Vegas

Death sentence

To the editor:

In response to your Saturday story, "DA calls shooting self-defense":

Demarcus Carter was shot and killed by a homeowner during a home burglary. Carter had been arrested on 13 felonies, including burglary just last year. He had a lengthy juvenile record and gang ties, according to the article. He pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 3 years probation. When he broke probation, he was returned to probation.

Wonder what you have to do to go to prison in Nevada?

I believe that the judge who sentenced Carter actually sentenced him to death by not incarcerating him. With his record, it seems unlikely to me that he would change to the straight and narrow path. With the slap on the wrist that he received, why would anyone quit a lucrative "business" such as breaking into people's homes?

Jack Oliver

Las Vegas

DMV fees

To the editor:

So now we must pay a $3 fee to use the ATM machines in the DMV branches (" 'DMV in a box' helps improve customer service," April 4 Road Warrior column). The machine that our tax dollars paid for. The machines that shorten lines, consequently saving employee costs.

I bet if I choose to wait in line and conduct this business face-to-face with a DMV employee, that would cost the DMV more than the ATM fee.

What is next, a fee to enter the office for any reason? It would not surprise me.

Don Dieckmann

Henderson

Nanny State police

To the editor:

Let me get this straight. These Secret Service guys were off-duty in a hotel in a city where prostitution is legal. The president was not there yet and they were unwinding via the services of a few ladies of the night. One hooker had a disagreement with her john over the agreed-upon charges for services rendered.

This has never happened before?

Anyway, it was elevated to the highest levels of the nanny-state-moral-control-politically correct police for immediate attention and rectification. Of course heads have to roll - the press demands it and more, especially during an election year.

The Secret Service agents should have made sure there were a few members of the Capitol Hill ruling class in attendance. Then the damage-control function of the government could have effectively crunched this insidious situation from the start.

Tim Forsberg

Las Vegas