Stadium plan a boost to community

To the editor:

Kudos to Geoff Schumacher for his recent column praising and recommending the proposed 40,000-seat domed stadium and accompanying facilities at UNLV, and correctly concluding that none of the other proposed projects offers the range of community benefits that the UNLV project does.

Mr. Schumacher hits the nail squarely on the head when he states that it would give a sorely needed financial boost to UNLV at a time when there are disgraceful and counterproductive efforts to institute further Draconian budget cuts to Nevada higher education.

This is a project that will be good for UNLV, good for higher education in Nevada, good for the economy of Las Vegas and good for new job creation. As former Nevada Gov. Bob List stated, "I think it would be tragic to let this great, historic moment slip away."

Are you listening state lawmakers and the FAA? Just do it.

DONALD R. SILVERMAN

LAS VEGAS

See through

To the editor:

In response to the Feb. 19 story " 'Good teacher' could face prison time":

Apparently school police Sgt. Phil Gervasi must be acutely aware of the rhetoric involving the efficacy of the school police as a necessary presence within the district. Following the latest gun incident at a local high school last week, Sgt. Gervasi said, "Mojave's police officers had a good enough rapport with the students to get valuable information that other police officers or 'less professional' security guards might never get."

Erroneously, Sgt. Gervasi leads us to believe that each school has its own police officers. This is not the case. Furthermore, Sgt. Gervasi assumes that private security would be less professional than the school police. Again, this is a misguided preconception.

Sgt. Gervasi's comments are a thinly veiled attempt to justify the district's police force as a necessary entity in the wake of criticism that a less costly alternative may be as effective. While his motives are understandable, his methods are transparent.

Bruce Schowers

Las Vegas

Choo choo

To the editor:

So now Barack Obama wants to spend $50 billion on high-speed rail? Won't he ever learn? If there was a need for high-speed railways, private industry would have such railways under way or completed and operating.

I think Amtrak would help educate him. This loser does nothing but provide subsidized rides from New York to Washington at taxpayer expense.

Had Mr. Obama been the CEO of a large private company the past two years, where would he be now? Considering his work performance, I believe he would be on the street accompanied by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

I hope the House doesn't give him a dime for this fantasy.

ROSS M. MCDONALD

LAS VEGAS

Out of touch

To the editor:

So, state Controller Kim Wallin says budget cuts could spur poverty among her low-wage workers? Give me a break. Did she graduate from the same school of higher learning as Gray Davis, ex-controller/governor of California?

Due to this recession, my monthly income has decreased by 70 percent. Can she tell me where to apply for public assistance? We all make choices we have to live with.

Then Assemblyman Harvey Munford, D-Las Vegas, wants to tax fast food to save the children. When costs go up in any business, the only way to maintain a profit is to cut labor. This will only put some crew members out of work.

Mr. Munford is a real nice guy, but like most bureaucrats he is totally disconnected from the real world. Government programs are what create poverty.

JAMES WHITE

LAS VEGAS

Treated unfairly

To the editor:

Large corporations, justices of the Supreme Court, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Wall Street, Republican Party, Democratic Party and Fat Cats of this great country:

The uprising of the mass of people that we see in Middle Eastern countries today is small compared to what we're going to see in the United States if the present course is followed as to the working class.

I remember, in a political science class years ago, when a professor said that during the Great Depression in 1929, when soup lines were two blocks long, the United States came close to a revolution by the working class.

Keep in mind that when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor it was said that, "A sleeping giant had been awakened."

The great American family is being treated unfairly in our country today. When will it awaken?

JOHN J. PAGE

LAS VEGAS

Moronic ideas

To the editor:

Having read recently that College of Southern Nevada President Michael Richards is predicting that one of the school's three main campuses may have to close due to funding cuts makes me physically ill. What is the purpose of paying any kind of state taxes if those monies cannot help the people?

What we have heard over the past decade is that our state needs is a better, more stable tax base. Yet our governors and many of our legislators refuse to look into what can be done to stabilize our state tax system and keep the future of our state in a much more secure position.

Closing college campuses and taking away needed social programs is not a solution, but a way to further complicate the problem. With people losing jobs due to a poor economy, there is now a greater need than ever before to re-educate and retrain them for other types of employment so they can once again be productive, taxpaying citizens.

Therefore, taking away facilities that serve that purpose makes absolutely no sense at all.

We need the people running our state to take the blinders off and see what they are doing and either help or get out of the way of those who will. We certainly don't need any government officials who stick to any kind of moronic ideas, such as no new taxes, when we see schools closing due to lack of funding by the state.

Jim Hayes

Las Vegas