Letter: Truckers play vital role in life in LV Valley

Friday, July 25, 1997 | 10:33 a.m.

A few people are complaining nonstop about the "big rigs." Well, I have a few things to say to them.

You want trucks off the streets? OK, how do you plan to get the stores stocked? Gas delivered? Trash picked up? I've heard people say "by train." Well, then how will it get from the train to the stores? And how will the trash get to the train? With your 1-ton pickup?

What about the building of the new casinos? There wouldn't be any. After all, who would haul away the dirt and concrete from the area? Who would haul in the needed sand and gravel to base the buildings on? Who would landscape the areas? And let's face it, without new casinos there will be higher unemployment in this city with all the new people moving in. And new home construction will also come to a stop.

How did most of us get to Las Vegas? Probably by a moving company -- and it uses trucks.

The (gravel) pits in the Las Vegas area were here long before homes were built. The pit at Spring Mountain and Buffalo; the pits on Lone Mountain -- without those pits there would be no landscaping in the valley. There would be no homes built. After all, where would the excess dirt go? And where would the contractors get their dirt for the houses? It upsets me that those people going to the Lone Mountain area to build homes didn't mind the trucks when it was to their advantage and benefited them. They didn't mind the trucks hauling out the dirt excess dirt and bringing in the rocks, etc. to landscape their property.

Do these same people want the streets to fall into disrepair? Without the trucks who will haul away the broken concrete and blacktop? Who will deliver the asphalt to resurface the streets?

If trucks went "off the job" for three days this valley would have no food, no fuel, no trash picked up, etc. Then what would these complainers do? Don't they realize that trucks play a vital part in the life of this valley?

Let the hard-working trucks and truckers earn their living just as you do. If you don't like living near the area the trucks use, nobody is forcing you to stay there. Remember that the pits were there first; they cannot move, but you can.

Sherryl J. Anctil