Letters to the editor

Rattlesnakes should be preserved
as homes encroach on habitat

While the "Rattled On The Trails" article by Michael Lyle (June 28 View) presented the advice of Michael Burroughs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there was little said with respect to the protection and conservation of Nevada's natural resource: o ur speckled rattlesnake.

The article states that Bill Samuels killed the rattlesnake "to protect his dog." I got the impression that the dog had already been bitten before the snake was killed.

I do not know what control measures, such as leash and collar, Mr. Samuels takes to protect his dog and curb its natural curiosity, but there seems to have been a lack of prudence.

Rattlesnakes are an important part of our environment and should be appreciated. You may verify this assertion yourselves. We are moving into their native territory.

Being more in harmony with our desert community might have prevented the pain Mr. Samuels' dog suffered, the $1,200 veterinarian bill and the life of one of the members of Nevada's wildlife community.

-- Gordon J. Hamilton

Henderson

North Las Vegas political lawsuits
are a strain on strapped budget

Concerning the ongoing political sniping in North Las Vegas, I am appalled!

I have lived in seven states and various communities within those states. Never has a mayor in any of those communities openly campaigned for a candidate. Our mayor is elected to represent all of us, to be as fair and unbiased as humanly possible. Her own personal political convictions should remain private. What she does at the polling place is her business.

If Wade Wagner is actually suing the North Las Vegas (City) Council, he is, in fact, suing the people he wishes to represent. The council people are our representatives. Rather than spreading ill will, perhaps he could move his business into North Las Vegas to be close to the city hall he wishes to be a part of and help our much-strapped tax coffers. Suing the council will only strain our budget further.

I have, as a newcomer to my neighborhood, asked Richard Cherchio for recommendations on what department heads to talk to (to) be able to get some road improvements in my area. He responded promptly to all my concerns. He is a full-time councilperson -- not an after-business-hours councilperson. Having a re-election in the precinct in question is the democratic thing to do, however it turns out. Having previously served on election boards, I am confident this is the right thing to do.

-- Ada McArthur

North Las Vegas

Legislature members betrayed public with changes to Clean Indoor Air Act

Respectfully, but I wish the Democrat and Republican voters in our Paradise area would admit their contradiction. To wit: We the people in 2006 voted into law the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which prohibited the smoking of tobacco products in most public and indoor places of employment to protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke.

However, in the past month, both the state Senate and Assembly passed AB 571, which did away with the smoking ban. Our following Paradise-area representatives: Republican Sen. Michael Roberson, Democrat Sens. David R. Parks and Ruben J. Kihuen and Democrat Assemblyman Joseph M. "Joe" Hogan voted for AB 571. Thereby, these four betrayed and double-crossed we the people who voted for the ban in 2006.

I will not be a contradiction. Therefore, I will not vote for them come election time.

-- Clyde Dinkins

Las Vegas