LETTERS : Mash Notes, Hate Mail, Urgent Communiqués, Secret Messages, Thesis Pieces

I thought the story "What Happened to Melissa James" (March 23, by Joshua Longobardy) was great. Very good work. This is exactly what I love seeing with Las Vegas crime stories. Keep it up!

Well done, Mr. Longobardy.

I liked the story because I've been keeping up with this case since it first broke, but this is the first time I've seen it all pieced together. It was very entertaining like a movie, but also very real, like the people in it were real people. I also liked it because I whizzed right through it. I was done before I knew it, and that's a good thing. Hope to see more on the couple, written just like that.

Your fan,

Editor's Note: For an update on this story, see the As We See It section starting on page 14.

My suggestion is that your newspaper stop being such an embarrassing total in-house shill for every last fabulous money-making casino come-on (and that's exactly what our wonderful "nightlife industry" is huh, with all those pages and shiny pages of advertisements that look like full-page hooker ads, -you can be hip too by calling ahead for a $400 bottle setup!). Start encouraging a larger forum by some locals around here who care about the real issues coming down in this godforsaken, fake-glamour-worshiping, 21st- century plastic urban wasteland called Las Vegas, and begin by not ignoring letters to the editor from people who aren't breathlessly going gaga over the latest stop-the-presses groovester DJ.

Editor's Note: Thanks for your suggestion. Our suggestion to you is to move to another city where there is no nightlife.

Enough of the rap crap already. When are we going to get a reality check and start telling things like they are, and quit running to the damn Constitution for our whining excuses.

This is not about freedom of speech, or beliefs. The letter "He Hatin' Me" (March 23) misses the point altogether. Sheriff Young has a certain amount of rationale behind what he's saying, even though he may be talking out both sides of his mouth. And yes, it is a very sad shame that Officer Prendes had to lose his life.

But then again, this individual was involved with gansta rap, and what they don't tell anyone else—there were repeated calls of domestic violence from this address, the 911 call stated he had a gun, and no, the officer had no business going in alone, unprotected and without backup. End of story.

Look at the facts. If you look at the arrests that are in the news, look at the way the statistics, their lyrics, etc., this rap crap sends out an entirely different message. I can't stand techno, rap, skinheads, punk or any of that other pro-violent, antiestablishment music that is out there, but the difference is the gansta rap crap takes it to the nth degree. It promotes sexual abuse against women, criminal activity, profanity to the point you can't even play it on the radio and that is just the beginning.

How often do you read something or hear in the news about punkers or techno or even skinheads being arrested for shootouts in front of, or in clubs? How many do you see being arrested on possession of illegal assault/concealed weapons without permits, shooting charges, domestic violence? Hardly a one.

They're all these so-called gansta-rapper crappers. We've read about mob-style killings, child pornography charges, drive-by shootings, and excessive violent incidents outside the concert/music venue all tied to these so-called recording companies. They can't even write original stuff. They steal from other recording artists and screw it up with their bullshit.

We read about murders between rival record companies that produce this crap. They're not talented enough to do anything original or creative, let alone do something without four-letter expletives and excessive profanity. Look at Death Row Records: One of the founders is in prison. They get their money from drugs and other illegal activity and think they are some kind of wannabe mobsters, but they don't really have a clue.

The morons ... are getting glorified and they love the media attention, and our kids are being victimized by it.

They walk around in knockoff prison garb like it's some kind of fashion statement. They are encouraging the younger people to think that being in prison is ... something to be proud of.

This isn't about the music and taking away anyone's (First) Amendment rights. It's about ... the behavior that it causes. ...

There is no other form of music that generates the mass negative response that this crap does.

And you say, "If you don't like it, don't listen to it"; well that's not easy either. We are forced to listen to this shit while sitting at a traffic light, in our living rooms or elsewhere because some inconsiderate bastard feels the need to blare the bass from this crap so that everyone in the surrounding neighborhood has to listen to it. So, where is my right to not listen to it then?

I've had to go to the extent of filing a police report against my neighbor because I was forced to listen to this shit, even over my own TV! And if you say anything, you risk being shot or beaten. My car was vandalized as a result. Where was my right then?

I think that we should do whatever is necessary to at least put (the music) on a short leash. If people aren't responsible enough to control themselves, then unfortunately it is left up to those who can.