Thursday, April 23, 1998 | 10:52 a.m.
DO I UNDERSTAND THE THINKING behind the suggestion that Clark County high school students should have their first class later in the morning? School Board member Judy Witt told SUN reporter Benjamin Grove that "high school students ... who need more sleep, function better later in the day." Witt, an excellent board member and good thinker, goes on to justify elementary school kids going to class earlier because they are "more alert early in the morning." This could result in high school students having their first class at 9:30 a.m. and elementary children starting up between 8 and 8:45 a.m.
Allow me to reminisce about my days recruiting and training Job Corps youngsters who dropped out of high school and couldn't keep a job. The first thing we had to teach them was the practice of rolling out of bed in morning and going to work. The job market has few places for people not having enough personal discipline to arrive at work on time. Right now, the primary job of high school students is to be in class on time. How late they stayed up the night before won't be the problem of future employers and it shouldn't be the problem of their teachers in the first class of the day. It's the problem of the student and worker.
In the meantime, I'm going to ask Publisher Barbara Greenspun if coming in at 9:30 a.m. will be OK. A guy never knows when he might want to stay up and watch the late, late movie.
Wow! The hiring of Regina Miller to coach the UNLV women's basketball team sure created a small war. She didn't do much to silence the bombardment when she fired the popular interim coach, David Corraro, upon first arriving in town. Bringing to town a record of winning only 60 games and losing 100 didn't endear her to the people dreaming of a winning team. So let's take a one-minute time-out and realize that she, like all other coaches, should be given a chance to produce a representative team in WAC competition. If she doesn't produce, then place the blame where it belongs, on UNLV President Carol Harter and Athletics Director Charles Cavagnaro. Was she a wise choice? I don't know today, but three years from now, I'll know. In the meantime, the young lady should cease being a target and be given support. Coach Miller isn't a problem in the athletic department. The department has plenty of problems, but they were there long before she arrived. ...
Everybody knows about CREW. Well, not everybody. Not even me until last week when I attended CREW's "What's Up Downtown?" at Frogeez on Fourth Street. The Commercial Real Estate Women had talented Mark Fine moderate the program in the somewhat crowded confines of the small establishment. The people presenting what's happening downtown included District Judge Nancy Becker and Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev. Subjects covered were the new federal courthouse, city/county judicial center, Neonopolis, Sun Plaza, Fremont Street Experience and the policing programs of Metro. Also, Theresa O'Donnell gave a good view of downtown public improvement projects. For those of us who have watched downtown Las Vegas bloom and die, the rebirth presented by the CREW-sponsored program was most refreshing. Shauna Brennan and her CREW group should do this again. ...
Carolynn Towbin is my kind of boss. Her class of service excellence has resulted in Towbin Jeep Eagle Superstore receiving a Five Star Award for Excellence from Chrysler Corp. She's known for her hands-on approach when serving customers. Her staff recalls her, as executive vice president, going out and cleaning a windshield to please a customer. ...
Rep. Jane Harman is running for the California Democratic gubernatorial nomination. She has announced she will not offer specifics now or later during the campaign. She told the L.A. Times, "I hope it's about who is this human being who's running for governor ... what kind of leader would they be." According to polls, she is leading in the race. It will be interesting to see how many times she will be able to dodge direct questions before the roof falls in or California elects another GOP governor. The other day, when asked about Indian gaming, she said, "Some people are for gaming, and some are against it." Not one word about her view of the matter. Brilliant strategy, if Californians are dumb enough to buy it. ... Then, there is Texas state Rep. Jim Pitts, a Republican, who has proposed a bill that would allow the execution of murderers as young as 11 years old. Gov. George W. Bush, also a Republican, doesn't buy into this nonsense. The governor believes the current law, allowing executions of 17-year-olds, is satisfactory. I believe that Pitts should rethink his position and quit letting his guts rule his brains. Governors have to make those final and lasting decisions on life and death, not legislators. ...
If you enjoyed watching the movie "Babe," you should be sure to catch "Paulie" while it's in town. A warm and yet exciting movie with good actors to back up the parrot seeking the little girl he fell in love with years before. ...
archive
