We should all pitch in to pay for our parks
To the editor:
State Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, is to be applauded for his bill that would require a mandatory $3 fee on annual vehicle registrations to directly fund state parks. His bill would then allow a no-fee park entrance policy (Monday Review-Journal).
Our state parks are worthy of salvation. This simple solution in our economic recession is a no-brainer.
The cry that only park users should pay for parks should be hushed by the fact that whether or not we have children utilizing the education system in Nevada, we all fund education.
Voters in 2002 voted overwhelming in support of funding for our parks. Our quality of life can be greatly sustained with the enactment of this new system. We would be setting a precedent for our nation to follow.
Please stand up for our wonderful parks and support Sen. Lee in his efforts.
TERRI ROBERTSON
Las Vegas
Comedy club
To the editor:
Thank you, Sen. Harry Reid, for supporting Elko's cowboy poets. My God, we wouldn't want to cut that federal expense.
Too bad Sen. Reid doesn't have any ideas about how to get our economy shifted into forward, how to keep our gasoline prices below $4 a gallon, how to lower our property taxes, how to get our kids to graduate from high school, how to keep our hospitals from going broke, or how to stop government from spending and wasting every tax dollar.
Nevada is the laughingstock of the nation. Thank you, Sen. Reid, for making Nevada the nation's comedy club.
JOHN MARSDEN
LAS VEGAS
Phony cuts
To the editor:
Clark County management and county commissioners have lost their credibility. Only government management and union bosses could be so stupid to claim county employees are taking a 2 percent pay cut when, in fact, they will still be getting a raise of 4 percent or 5 percent ("SEIU workers, county reach pact," Tuesday Review-Journal).
How dumb do they think the taxpayers are?
This is nothing more than a payback by the county commissioners for past and future campaign contributions -- and let's not forget all the free labor the unions give to help with phone banks and door-to-door campaigning for the elected officials.
If the union and the county managers and commissioners want to know what a real pay cut looks like, they should go to the unemployment office and see how many people are out of work and how much of a pay cut they took before finally getting laid off.
Barry Perea
Las Vegas
Well meaning, but ...
To the editor:
State Sen. Sheila Leslie's well-meaning Senate Bill 203 regarding pseudoephedrine will have unintended consequences ("Panel hears bill to restrict some medications," Tuesday Review-Journal).
If passed, it would not affect the supply of illegal methamphetamine within the state, but rather would further shift production to Mexico, drive up the cost of medical care and inconvenience physicians and large numbers of patients with colds and the flu by requiring them to get prescriptions for common remedies.
Henry Soloway
Las Vegas
Primitive conservatives
To the editor:
President Obama has been called a socialist, a Muslim, a Kenyan, a Nazi and even a rumored listener of National Public Radio. It's said he will ultimately destroy America, our way of life, and even SpongeBob SquarePants. If that's true, then where are all the gallant warriors from right-hood?
This should be easy, right? Any nut job should be able to beat this evil, calculating, destroyer of mom's apple pie in 2012, right?
Methinks they've all rode their happy horses of hate speak into the quicksand of their rabid base. It's going to be difficult to look presidential to the rest of the population when you've sought only to appeal to the most primitive of our nation's culture.
Compromise? We don't need no stinking compromise.
Rick Reynolds
Las Vegas
Tuition, anyone?
To the editor:
In response to the Wednesday article, "Proposed education cuts draw opposition": I think speaker Joe Hardin's comments hit the nail right on the head.
Mr. Hardin says, "I've talked with a lot of parents who don't really mind paying a little extra to keep the school district as it is." So instead of cutting educational programs from the school, charge the parents a yearly per-student "tuition" to help offset the funding shortfall.
This way, the "tuition" money would eliminate the need for raising property taxes and also prevent cuts and layoffs for the school district.
This would be a win-win situation for us all.
James Andrews
Henderson
Everyone chip in
To the editor:
Raise my taxes, for God's sake! Gov. Brian Sandoval's pledge of "no new taxes" is foolish." We all need to share in the support of education, health care and social services. Everyone needs to chip in, from seniors to Bank of America.
Raising taxes will not drive businesses out of Nevada, but decimated schools and scarce social services will.
Corporations pay taxes in every other state, and they don't leave. Even if prices and fees are raised, we must generate an educated and healthy community.
Betty R. Pardo
Las Vegas
March madness
To the editor:
I'm so happy that our president has found time to fill out his NCAA tournament brackets and tape a 30-minute clip for ESPN.
I only wish he could spend as much time giving input on controlling our deficits and our current budget mess.
Richard Lynch
Las Vegas
