Letters to the editor

Cemetery groundskeepers, volunteers do ‘stellar’ work

My name is Stanna Musick and my husband, Bob, and I lived in Boulder City for 33 years. In December of 2012, he passed away and I had my first contact with the administration of the Southern Nevada Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery.

As a Marine Corps veteran of World War II and a recipient of the Purple Heart, Bob was eligible to be interred in this facility. With the help of the staff at the cemetery, I arranged for the memorial service.

The efficient, kind and helpful staff made this difficult time easier for me and I deeply appreciated their assistance. The memorial rooms are very nice and the memorial service with the Marine Corps Honor Guard was very special for family and friends.

Even though I have now relocated to Arizona, I often visit the cemetery and am always impressed by the care that is taken to the grounds.

On a recent visit I spoke with one of the gentlemen who were working on trimming the grass and maintaining the grounds. I commented to him about the excellent condition of the area and he told me that all the flowers and flags must be removed each Thursday before the area can be mowed and manicured.

The care of this cemetery is handled by a staff of only seven groundskeepers and their supervisor. I applaud the outstanding job that these individuals do to maintain the stellar condition of this property.

He then told me how grateful they were for all of the volunteer efforts of the clubs, organizations and various individuals who volunteer their time. The busiest time of the year is Memorial Day when flags are placed on all of the graves and on the columbaria. I hope to return and volunteer my time to assist in whatever capacity is needed.

Once again, I wish to commend all of those individuals who make this (a) place of peace and tranquility for those who gave so much to maintain our country’s freedom.

Stanna Musick

Bypass to cost taxpayers plenty by completion

The Interstate 11 bypass is another political boondoggle.

We keep electing the same people, who are doing the same thing to taxpayers. With 40 years to prepare for the existing Boulder City truck route bypass, they created a traffic nightmare. But on the Interstate 11 bypass they didn’t let the ink get dry on the contract before they implemented an $8 million cost override because of the asbestos.

They knew it was there. Why wasn’t this in the contract? This way there’s no limit to what they can spend.

Remember the Hoover Dam renovation project? It was to have cost $45 million. When they got through with cost overruns, it was over $450 million.

Remember the third water line fiasco? It was never supposed to cost existing users a dime. We have had over nine water-rate increases, some annual. They need millions more for another pumping station, way past the completion date. With massive cost overruns, there is no way to know the actual cost of this debacle or how many billions in debt the (Southern Nevada Water Authority) is.

Now the same people are doing the same thing. They keep getting re-elected to rape the taxpayers over and over.

Mr. (Jonathan) Gruber was right. Stupid Americans do not understand that once they get these debacles started, taxpayers have opened up their Pandora’s box to political cost overruns with no say-so on how it gets spent.

Al Wengert