LETTERS: Casino customers deserve clean air
To the editor:
Regarding smoking in casinos, I thought if a business was open to the public, it was the responsibility of the business to make sure it meets all safety and health requirements to protect the customer. We have government regulations and laws in place requiring a business owner to install and maintain numerous safety and health systems to protect those who enter a business. It is at the business owner’s expense, not the customers’, to pay for these measures.
You can report excessive car exhaust to the Department of Motor Vehicles, dangerous levels of airborne dust to the air quality department, improper food handling to the health district and blocked fire exits to the building and safety department. All these issues are the responsibility of the business owner to correct and maintain. If a casino wants to be open to the public, it should be the casino’s responsibility to maintain clean and safe air for its customers, or it should open as a private club for members only.
Nevada has countless regulations pertaining to air standards, with car exhaust, dust and other airborne contaminants, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has many standards for safe air in the workplace. Cigarette smoke has proven carcinogens and other harmful chemicals that clearly make it a health hazard to the public.
The air is shared by all, and the effect of unhealthy air is a burden to all. I find it ironic that Nevada has such high standards on health and safety regulations for businesses, but the most obvious hazard — cigarette smoke in casinos — goes ignored. It might be only a matter of time before the class action lawsuits begin.
STEVEN GINTHER
MESQUITE
Solving net metering
To the editor:
NV Energy’s lobbying efforts to cap net metering make no long-term strategic sense. Instead of creating expensive plans to acquire land and build its own solar farms, NV Energy should be leading the effort to design win-win legislative solutions to gain free access to customer rooftops.
Consumers would win by significantly lowering their costs, and NV Energy could ultimately be generating excess power to sell to the national grid without significant capital outlays. Additionally, if Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway owned a solar panel manufacturer, NV Energy could be a single-source solution provider.
ERIC YAILLEN
LAS VEGAS
R-J appreciation
To the editor:
One of my favorite parts of the newspaper is its letters to the editor. Every day, I find something I want to write about, but that’s not possible. However, after two letters complaining about the Review-Journal, I have to speak up and defend our local paper.
Don’t these people know that all paper newspapers are under an economic crunch? Fewer people are subscribing, and the newspaper has to save where it can. My husband and I comment on the changes we’ve seen. We joke about searching for the comics, but assume the editor is making changes for a reason. We also pay extra for the TV guide, and I use it each week to program my old-fashioned VCR.
If this extra savings for the R-J allows us to continue enjoying breakfast with our newspaper, then it’s OK with us. We’ve been subscribing to the R-J for about 15 years and knew from the beginning what the editorial page’s political leanings were. We complain about “Mallard Fillmore,” a poor excuse of a comic, but we do enjoy most of the other comics.
However, we aren’t going to cancel our subscription because there are some things we don’t like. I suppose our great-grandchildren will wonder why we had to cut down all those trees when we could get our news electronically. The world is changing, but I hope our paper newspaper stays in business for a long time. Do whatever you can to keep it going.
JANICE HERR
LAS VEGAS
R-J’s hockey coverage
To the editor:
On May 19, an epic NHL playoff game was played between the Anaheim Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks. Not only did the game go to three overtimes, but in the second overtime, Andrew Shaw of the Blackhawks headed — as in soccer — a puck into the net. This had never been done by any player before and was something to see, or at least hear about.
As it turns out, the goal was disallowed. But the Blackhawks went on to win the game. What I find so unforgivable is that none of this was mentioned in the Review-Journal. Yet a lot of people here in Las Vegas say they will support an NHL team. Will the Review-Journal?
PATRICIA FAUTT
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Fast-track legislation
To the editor:
With regard to fast-track legislation, the new Republican majority can’t give away its power fast enough to the Obama administration. This legislation allows the president to negotiate trade deals without Congress.
There are currently two huge treaties being negotiated, both much larger and obtuse than the North American Free Trade Agreement. Congress will not be allowed to read the bills until the last minute, and then a rush vote will be taken with no amendments.
This will be the Republican version of Obamacare, with similar electoral consequences. If trade bills are to be considered, they should be open and fast-track should be shelved.
MATTHEW DAVIS
LAS VEGAS
