LETTERS

Scott Dickensheets' May 6 story about a burglary at his home, and its aftermath, brought this response:

Since I have seen no comment on "Report on a [Small Incident] in Henderson," I feel compelled to say a few words. I "got" the brackets in the title. The article was poignant, illustrative of personal vs. busy government concerns and, if I ever write a book, I intend to plagiarize the universal truth so aptly expressed: "We carry our experiences with us, sometimes in cripplingly large chunks, more often in subatomic particles ..." The article was excellent and elegant. I'll never refer to the Weekly as a "throwaway paper."

Editor's note:
Many heartfelt thanks and ... hey, does that mean you used to think of the Weekly as a throwaway paper?

Scott Dickensheets, I read your article, and I do feel bad for your situation. I have a situation similar to yours. And as I describe my situation maybe you'll feel a little bit better about yours.

It was April last year, around 10:30 in the morning, when I noticed two teenagers walking along the sidewalk in front of my house.

The teenagers should be in school, I thought to myself.

I decided to look out the window to see what direction the teenagers went. There were no teenagers around, which I couldn't believe; where did they go? I was going back to watching television when I decided to get a drink of water first. As I was getting a glass out of the cupboard, I could see these teenagers in my trailer in my back yard!

I ran out the back door (courage, I don't even know where it came from) and said, "What are you two thieves doing on my property?"

They were already opening drawers in this old run-down trailer. Startled, they said they "were looking for a red-and-white football."

"In my trailer, in my back yard?" I yelled. "I'm calling 911." They dropped the objects in their hands and, get this, they walked to the corner of my yard, where they had a chair pushed against the fence to jump over. They came in one direction and left in another. I called 911; the police responded in 15 minutes. They asked which direction the boys left and I told them. Thirty minutes later, the officer shows back up, and instead of saying the offenders were arrested for trespassing, attempted burglary, conspiracy to attempt burglary, he said, "You gave them a pretty good scare." Twenty minutes later, one of the mothers showed up, asking, "Did my son disrespect you?" She said, "He's sorry, he was only looking for his football."

I said, "Your son is a thief, a prowler." At that moment, she looked like I offended her!

Remember the direction the boys jumped the fence? Well, that's where one of the boys stays at. Now, here's the real bad part. Since I reported the boys to the police, two cats of mine have died, another has serious BB gun wounds. Numerous confrontations where lives were actually threatened! They sit on top of their roof saying derogatory statements. They stand in their back yard (another form of intimidation) staring at me. Oh, yes, any chance they can jump over my fence just to let me know they were there!

Why should these careless morons have a driver's license? How did they even get one? I moved here from Avondale, Arizona, in July of last year, and let me tell you, it's amazing how reckless these people drive around here. These individuals behind the wheel drive like they have absolutely no sense at all. They don't obey the posted speed-limit signs, they cut off other drivers at raging speeds and they don't use the signal when changing lanes. Do you people know what the signal is for? Huh? Do you?

Every morning, when I drive to work going down Cheyenne, I find myself among these irresponsible, no-brained individuals, especially the youngsters with their low-to-the-ground cars, leaning so far back I can't even see their brainless boneheads. How do these "mocosos" ( I don't know the English translation to this word) see the road they're on? Oh, Mann! On Fridays, when everyone gets off work, is when I see the most car accidents, but hey, maybe that's what they need. ... A taste of their own medicine to get some common sense knocked in them! I would think the owners of luxury cars would drive with care, but some of them ... just don't! They, too, drive way, way over the speed limit, cutting you off and staring at you with a repulsive face, looking at you all weird, 'cause you're driving like the normal person that you are and not like an idiot.

I think that these individuals should not have the right, or even the freedom, to drive. Their only transportation should be the bus or the taxicab. They should have their driver's licenses taken away until they become responsible human beings.

Editor's note:
Sal, you pose a question man has been trying to answer for ages, through philosophy, religion, science, literature and French cinema: "Huh? Do you?" It's a mystery to us, too.

April 29. May 6. May 13. Weeks this publication went without parking a cutie on the cover. Intolerable! At least to one reader:

HEY, DUDE! WHERE'S MY BABE? For two weeks in a row, the Weekly has not had a minimally-clad babe on the cover. RA/LUXOR does its share on the back cover, but c'mon. This IS Vegas, and YOU have THE slick magazine!

Editor's note:
Hal, you were undoubtedly happy to see that we babed-up in the last issue. Although if you read the editor's note column on Page 9, you'll see that not everyone agrees with your line of thinking.

Another wonderful essay, "The Gassing" by Kate Silver, in your May 20-26 magazine, which again illustrates the nonsense teachers must tolerate in order to educate the youth of our city. What this article does, in addition to bringing attention to the smelly gas problem at the Advanced Technologies Academy, is bring a bright light on the stink at the administrative offices on Flamingo Road, whose primary concerns deal only with numbers and accountability, not kids, teachers or their health. But, rest assured, if this gas problem were happening at the administration offices on Flamingo Road, we wouldn't be reading about the problem in your magazine, because it would have been resolved immediately. Then again, administrative arrogant noses are so high up in the air, they would probably believe the stink is coming from anywhere but their offices, such as at the Advanced Technologies Academy, which is not a problem for them to be seriously concerned with. They just shut their doors and pretend it's not there. End of problem.