Letter: Letter writer infested with host of bad ideas

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A few months ago, he claimed that casinos had altered poker machines so as to eliminate the players' expertise. Huh? Bad news. These machines are random number generators that, as anyone who has ever sat next to a one-coin-playing tourist can attest, require virtually no skill.

Next, a couple of weeks later, Cook claimed that CAT bus drivers should be paid $20 per hour. Let's take a reality break. While the drivers do a fine job, there are people with high levels of education and/or skill who do not make $20 per hour.

The straw that broke the camel's back was Cook's most recent letter stating that "Las Vegas needs to make itself less attractive in order to control growth." Get the net! Cook, what color is the sky in your world? I'm not for giving the hotels carte blanche, but let's face it: If the hotels were not here, Las Vegas would resemble Baker. The valley has no natural resources to create an industry that would support a community any larger than the aforementioned "Gateway to Death Valley."

While sustained growth is not the answer to the valley's problems, neither is the selfish, I've-got-mine, to-hell-with-you, mentality displayed by Cook.

Richard Wassmuth