Opinion

Perhaps no mark of punctuation — this one among the smallest in the English language — has caused more grief. It’s misuse appears to be what its best noted for.

Let me explain:

The apostrophe (‘), that little cosa that few people are able to master, more than anything else, has caused English teachers to turn in their chalk prematurely and declare, “never again.”

It is a shame when you walk in to the office at the City of Las Vegas to ask questions about your bill, or call and leave tons of messages because phones don’t get answered nor do they return calls. I walked in and both ladies from customer service and billing couldn’t help me. ...

I received two bills that are due by April 16 and 27 because they forgot to bill me. Whose fault is that? So my question is, whom can we go to at the city offices when we have questions with our bill or need help understanding it? Because, customer service and billing can’t!

At one time, the Luna Community College Board of Trustees spent most of its time behind closed doors. Such secrecy created much suspicion — and rightfully so.

These days, the board doesn’t hold closed meetings. I can’t remember the last time it had one.

That’s probably because of the new president, Pete Campos. I’m glad he convinced the board that nearly all of the college’s public business should be discussed in the open.

With the recently released “torture memos,” we have evidence the U.S. has authorized torture in the past under the Bush administration.  We can’t afford to move on without first holding those responsible accountable.  

I urge you to send a clear message to Congress and the White House by endorsing, in a newspaper editorial, accountability for those who designed and authorized the U.S. torture policies — policies which have endangered our national security and our national soul, and violated international law.

Bernard Schaer

For anyone who hasn’t seen the Oliver Stone film “W,” we recommend it. It’s particularly interesting in the way it portrays George W. Bush and his relationship with his father, George H.W. Bush, and how that strained relationship helped define the son’s presidency.

And of course, the duel Bush legacy is particularly interesting in that, while the son was more successful politically — after all, “W” had two terms in office; his father only one — “Poppy” Bush was by far the better president.

So this is Earth Day, a moment in which most of us give little more than lip service to the world we live on. But in recent years, it seems there’s been a growing national consciousness in recent years. Maybe it was Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” that shifted our focus from feel-good environmentalism to real-world talk about carbon footprints. Or maybe it was the war in Iraq, which has highlighted our need to be less independent on foreign oil, but Americans are clearly “thinking green” as never before.

Las Vegas City Manager Timothy Dodge took the helm more than a month ago after having served several years as the manager in Santa Rosa.

So far, he has been receiving good reviews. He has been credited with getting citizen input in the Lee Drive area about a controversial roundabout and acting on their concerns. And he has also gauged residents’ views on various issues in the area of Robertson High School, especially when it comes to traffic.

Whenever there’s an error in the Optic, some readers likely  think we messed up. And they holler, “Hire a proofreader!”

But isn’t it possible that we merely plant a typo here and there? Why? To give readers something to talk about and us something to write about. Like now.

Congratulations to our City Council! In a rare display of wisdom, they nixed the silly ideas that have been proposed for beautifying Grand Avenue.  These proposals are a fine illustration of a general law: Give a committee enough money and enough time, and it will inevitably come up with the worst possible solution. This law, which I will modestly name after myself, should rank right up there with Murphy’s Law as a guiding principle of the universe.

Bob (Robert K.) Johnston

Las Vegas