Letters to the Editor

Mitchells deserve thanks for painting buildings

Sometimes I just can’t seem to get it right and complete. During these last months preparing the boarded up buildings on Nevada Way and the Scratch House on Arizona Street, it was important to give credit where credit was due: to the artists with the paintbrushes.

This time, I got them all but one good man with the paintbrush, paint sprayer and, for sure, cleaning up the job when finished. That painter couple was Charlie and Phoebe Mitchell. They were responsible for painting the building from blue and black to soft tan like the other buildings and sprayed the primer on the areas to be used for the mural. That was quite a job and one well done.

I hope now he is mentioned for his help and look forward to seeing Charlie and his wife at the artists dinner. Sorry, Charlie.

Pepper Coombes

Invitation extended to tour Vegas PBS facility

Vegas PBS is hosting an unprecedented tour of its facility (on East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

I requested a Saturday tour for those who cannot be part of a weekday tour. The response has been very positive and I do have limited room for additional guests.

Therefore, I am inviting any interested adults from Boulder City to join the Saturday tour.

You will be amazed at how Vegas PBS has enveloped Southern Nevada and the rural communities.

As time is short, please call me at 702-294-3125 so I can include you on Saturday.

Sharon Lazar

Secret donations have negative impact

Money used in an attempt to affect elections should at least be identified by source. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision has opened the floodgates of money used for that very purpose.

On June 14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow the donors of such money to 501(c) organizations to remain anonymous. Any person, any group, any corporation, from anywhere in the world will be allowed to spend as much as they care to, and no one will know who they are. A candidate could be swamped with negative, perhaps untrue mailers and TV ads at the last minute before an election, and the entities behind it could not be determined.

I don’t see how secrecy can be a positive influence on elections. I can’t see how a legislator concerned about fair elections could vote for this bill. Our 3rd Congressional District representative, Rep. Joe Heck, voted in favor of it.

The first section of the bill reads “Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 5053) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from requiring that the identity of contributors to 501(c) organizations be included in annual returns. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.”

William Belknap

Fixing street lights should be a priority for city

Early last week I made a call to our utilities department to report that there were several streetlights out (three total), two at the end of Lakeview Drive and one at the end of Ridge Road, which means that it affects not only the residents of these two streets but also those on the connecting Hillcrest Lane, which doesn’t have any streetlights and relies on the two on Lakeview on one on Ridge. I was advised by utilities that “they would have 10 — yes, 10 — working days in which to respond and, as of this date (Monday, June 20, 2016,) have not “fixed the problem.” Maybe they are doing a study on how to remedy this complicated issue. A main reason for having streetlights is public safety. Because there are several children in our neighborhood, this issue should be addressed.

I don’t profess to know the urgent schedule of our utilities department, but I cannot bring myself to believe that it cannot fit replacing a couple of bulbs or sensors into their busy schedule before one of our children gets hurt, or worse.

Ken Carpenter

Limiting parking near hospital not good

This story is about a dentist across from the Boulder City Hospital emergency room, or more specifically about parking spaces mainly used by elderly and disabled people to easily access emergency care and the dentist’s patients, as well. Since at least 2005, this dentist has been blocking all the spaces between his building and the hospital with traffic cones, including during weekends when his office is closed. I don’t believe this is servicing the community, unless you consider making elders and disabled walk farther for their care good service. If a emergency room patient does happen to park there, the dentist will page the hospital, not once, but two or three times, until the car is moved.

The dentist wants the car removed, even if the patient is in the middle of an emergency procedure.

All of his patients park north of his building, on Adams Boulevard or Boulder City Hospital patients parking (area) to access his building.

I hope this action is corrected, so that he can live up to the motto of his business and start servicing the Boulder City community better.

Mario Pierfelice