Letters to the Editor

Missing automatic weapon is a serious matter

This is in reference to the article, “Investigation does not turn up rifle” published in the Oct. 17 edition of the Boulder City Review.

I take exception with the “laissez-faire” attitude depicted in the article by the law enforcement departments regarding a “missing” fully automatic weapon.

How long has the Boulder City Police Department been in existence? I find it extremely hard to accept that just now it has been determined that “policies and procedures (concerning weapons accountability) weren’t in place.”

You have got to be kidding. For years, even decades, accountability for weapons in the from of policies and procedures were not in existence? You learn that in Boy Scouts!

I am retired military (Army) and, outside of a combat zone in a combat situation, there would be no such thing as a “missing” weapon. With basic accountability procedures, it could not and would not happen. If it were, it would have involved an illegal activity.

It is so simple; when a weapon is issued, it is signed for in a weapon’s control log, and when it is returned, the weapons custodian acknowledges receipt by signature in the log and the weapon is secured.

Additionally, weapons should be inventoried on a regular basis at least every six months.

Finally, should a weapon go missing, the person who last signed for that weapon is, and should be accountable. It is his/her responsibility to ensure that accountability is properly transferred. Failure to do so is dereliction of duty and should not be “poohed-poohed.” That is a fully automatic long rifle, not a Nerf gun.

Local businessman explains opinion again

I would like to address Kiernan J. McManus’s rebuttals: for the last time. Apparently I wasn’t perfectly clear on the issues.

Boulder City residents’ tax money is paid to Clark County and then some of it is returned to the Redevelopment Agency. If we don’t apply for it, we lose it. It’s for the redevelopment and beautification of Boulder City.

To qualify, you first must own the property, then submit drawings and bids for the whole renovation program to the City Council, then it will review the information and award (or deny) funding for the project. This process could take as much as 90 days.

I purchased and closed on the property, then commenced the renovation in about seven days. The owner of the business side of the deal had already sold the equipment and had plans on removing it, the furniture and the alleys in only a matter of days. We agreed that he would stay on until we could find a new bowling alley operator for the business after the renovation was finished.

To have Boulder Bowl’s renovations completed in time for the Winter Leagues (a crucial component to profitability for the business owner), I immediately proceeded with the repairs as I didn’t have time to go through the process with the City Council for redevelopment funding. I did not apply for assistance as I was unable to fulfill the requirement.

Later, I was able to get a small portion of the funds from the Redevelopment Agency after the city advised me that more work was required. I purchased the building for nostalgic reasons, not for a business investment: I worked there setting pins in the 1950s and wanted to ensure that Boulder City continued to have a bowling alley, putting the cost of the project aside.

Boulder City residents were employed for all construction, and they all received well over minimum wage. The project was a big success thanks to the contractor, Jack Gaal; and we still have a bowling alley.

The intent of my original letter to the editor was to refute that an increase in minimum wage would allow people to live in dignity, not to justify my business decisions. Perhaps my message got confused, so I’ll try again: If a business cannot afford to pay its employees minimum wage, then either employees get terminated to allow others to receive minimum wage, or the business terminates because of lack of profitability. Neither option allows much “dignity.”

All employees of a business are not deemed minimum-wage employees; some are skilled workers who not only demand higher wages but are willingly paid higher wages. All of my employees make well above minimum wage, but in the beginning, I didn’t hire full-time workers. I hired them for the job and when it was finished they left. Every time I needed them, they came back to work.

Now the business has been successful for 30 years and they have been with me for 25 to 28 years. In the end, everyone is happy and I put a lot of food on a lot of tables, educated a lot of kids; and we’re not done yet.

I still stand by my statement: If a business owner can’t afford to pay the asking rate, minimum or otherwise, it’s best to lower the offer to pay less wages and keep the doors open and the employees employed or shut down the business. I may not be an “astute businessman,” but I’m most certainly a successful one.

Let’s keep Boulder City the way you found it when you came here: clean and green, the Oasis of the Desert.