Tavern or casino? Let’s keep it simple
To the editor:
Jane Ann Morrison's Monday column about the various Nevada Gaming Commission rulings involving the question of what is a slot parlor, casino, tavern, lounge, etc., reveals that this gets more mixed up as waivers are granted based on the commission's multitude of requirements. Let's make it easy on for the establishment owners.
Years ago, hard-liquor licensing in Washington state was simple - you had to serve food, and food revenue had to be at least 50 percent of your total revenue. The commission could simply say restricted licensees must serve food and drinks, and gaming revenues can't exceed 50 percent of your total. Let the owner decide how many slots to have, square footage, length of bar and other business-related items.
Keep it simple.
Phillip Mlynek
Las Vegas
Do the time
To the editor:
When a person is convicted of a crime in the United States, he may be sent to jail. This is a form of deportation; he is being sent to another world. Do wives, husbands or children suffer? Of course they do. Do we care? No.
Instead, we say, "You should have thought of that before you committed the crime. It is not the responsibility of society to ease the pain you have inflicted upon your family, else we would all be out committing crime to provide a better life for our families than we ourselves may be able to do within the law."
Why is the situation different for illegal immigrants?
Graham H. Tye
Las Vegas
Clean energy
To the editor:
Our state has 12 percent unemployment, which is the highest in the nation. To reduce this high unemployment, every major study recommends that we diversify our economy. Following these studies, many of our leaders talk about action, but few do anything.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is the exception to the rule because he is doing something about our high unemployment, as he works (not talks) to diversify our economy by creating clean energy production that already has generated more than 3,500 jobs and $248 million in state revenue. Meanwhile, powerful old industry interests (think big oil companies) and their lobbyists are attacking Sen. Reid's plans by arguing that things are fine just as they are, while enjoying record profits.
The last time I checked, we have no oil production in Nevada, but we do have an abundance of geothermal, solar and wind energy. So let's follow Sen. Reid's leadership and try to quadruple our state's clean energy production by 2020. This will employ an additional 10,000 Nevadans and generate $744 million more for our state's coffers.
Kudos to Sen. Reid for leading on this important economic issue.
Peter Pall
Henderson
Double standard
To the editor:
Let me get this straight.
Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin of Missouri makes a Neanderthal and highly offensive comment about rape. He is immediately condemned by Mitt Romney, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and several other Republican senators or candidates. Financial support is immediately cut off by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Karl Rove's PAC, American Crossroads.
Vice President Joe Biden makes a Neanderthal and highly offensive comment that, for anyone who has seen the video, can be interpreted only as saying Republicans want to put blacks back in chains. President Barack Obama, senior campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs and many Obama surrogates uniformly tell us over the next week that the remark was not in any way racial and that Mr. Biden was talking only about regulating Wall Street.
Do I have that right?
Richard Vilkin
Henderson
Voting options
To the editor:
There is another attack on our "None of These Candidates" choice on the Nevada ballot. If anyone thinks removing "none" will cause me to vote for their candidate, they are profoundly wrong.
I was faced with that problem during an election a few years back. I refused to vote for the only candidate listed on the ballot. The machine refused to accept my ballot as cast, but I won.
"None of These Candidates" is an option provided to voters. Those who refuse to accept that option and take steps to remove it are interfering with our election process. They should be prosecuted for that interference.
Bottom line: Present a candidate who is worthy of our votes.
Wayne P. Brotherton Sr.
Amargosa Valley
Sipping wine
To the editor:
As an Army war veteran, I am offended by the flippant use of the slang term "dead soldiers" in Heidi Knapp Rinella's "Wine Pairings" story (Aug. 15 Review-Journal).
Although grammatically correct, the term is disrespectful and insensitive to the thousands of military families who have had servicemen and women die in combat. The writer could have simply said, "Put those empties to good use ... "
With thousands of military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, your staff can do better than using offensive slang inappropriately. Ms. Rinella's use of this slang is inexcusable, and only understandable if she and the copy editor were sipping wine at the office.
Jim Frake
Las Vegas
