Where I Stand—Brian Greenspun: Will R-J ever grow up?

Sunday, April 16, 2000 | 11:06 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

Hail to the chief and to hell with the Review-Journal.

I was not alone in my surprise two Sundays ago when the petty little minds at the other newspaper conjured up an editorial "welcoming" the president of the United States to Las Vegas. Not alone in my surprise and disgust that a group of journalists who call themselves a newspaper and community leader would so dishonor themselves and the people of Las Vegas through their mindless attack on President Bill Clinton.

If you read or tried to read through that piece of editorial garbage, then you don't need me to explain further because all but the most rabid of anti-Clintonites had the same reaction. Get a life, R-J. And, while you are at it, grow up.

But, in case you spent a pleasant Sunday morning only reading the Las Vegas Sun section of the Sunday paper, and then spent time with family and friends, let me add some perspective to the Neanderthal effort published down the street. Apologies please to the Neanderthals.

While President Clinton was sharing his vision with friends, supporters and other Las Vegans who felt honored to meet and talk to the president of their country, the R-J's attempt to dishonor him amongst those who might pay attention to its rantings was an example of a supreme lack of vision, insight and responsibility to the community that a newspaper must undertake to be of any long-term use to the citizenry.

Instead of thanking President Clinton for, among other things, his steadfast commitment to veto a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress, which would send the nation's high-level nuclear waste to Nevada in less than a handful of years, the paper down the street acted like a spoiled child and rehashed what the country has been trying to forget ever since we allowed an inquisition into the private life of the president.

There is certainly a place for such commentary, especially on a weekly basis in the R-J, since it has run out of meaningful subjects to discuss, but no decent person would suggest that it happen on the very day the president honors our city with a visit. If there was an issue of major significance that was timely, then I would agree that we should take the opportunity -- respectfully -- to share our views. But the Lewinsky matter and its progeny have been beaten to death -- as have all Americans -- so this latest piece of overkill was not only unnecessary, but if it was a football game there would have been a personal foul for piling on and very unsportsmanlike and unprofessional conduct.

Earlier this week, on the heels of a Republican effort to bow and scrape before the party's major benefactors in the nuclear waste industry, Nevada's GOP Rep. Jim Gibbons said, "I have asked him (President Clinton) to recommit his opposition to this bill. You're looking at 49 states and their fight against Nevada."

Those, as we say in the Silver State, are very long odds. So much so that Gibbons said after the passage of the bill, "Nevada's fate is now in the president's hands."

And so it is. Thank God we don't have to rest our future on the intelligence and clear thinking of the Review-Journal. Most people weren't here when the other paper was promoting the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. They don't remember that it was the promise of money that lured the R-J to support the other 49 states in their quest to dump the worst poison known to man in our back yard.

Thankfully, they woke up and smelled the dollars their advertisers were spending and realized that an economy devastated by a nuclear waste accident would not be good for their bottom line. What they didn't learn, however, is who their friends are.

Let me rephrase that. Who Nevada's friend is. For without President Clinton, the nuke trucks would be starting their engines now for their trip through the Spaghetti Bowl to Yucca Mountain and one of the most unstable geographic areas in the country. That reminds me of a comment President Clinton made in answering a question at our home. Asked to compare Vice President Al Gore's candidacy with that of Gov. George W. Bush, Clinton said he was thrilled to support Gore because he knew him, his work ethic and his devotion to doing what was right for America.

While declining to characterize Bush, he did say that for those of us concerned about nuclear waste, we would be best to remember that before Nevada was singled out for the dump, there was another state in the running for that dubious honor.

It was Texas. "Draw your own conclusions," said President Clinton.

Clearly, there are many issues for Nevadans and all Americans to consider this election year. But there are none so grave in consequence as is the answer to nuclear waste, because burying it in our back yard will affect Nevadans infinitely more than any other American on the planet. We are permitted to consider this single issue when our lives, health and happiness hang in the balance.

So, in light of all this, what does the R-J do? It does its best to kick sand in the face of the only man who is willing to help us and the only person who actually can. Fortunately, President Clinton has known far worse than that which the paper down the street can throw his way and understands the right-wing intolerance that emanates from its editorial board.

I am not as forgiving. For in its zeal to make President Clinton look bad in the eyes of Nevadans, who see him as their only hope for a good and quality life, it tried to take a shot at me. Can you imagine? Forgetting that I am the guy who edits the quality newspaper up the street, the lamebrains tried to offend me by calling me a "wealthy real estate heir of the late Las Vegas newsman Hank Greenspun."

Yes, I admit it. I am one of the heirs of the late Hank Greenspun. And, far more than his financial resources, I pray I have inherited his sense of fair play, his determination to fight for what is right and his understanding that life is about far, far more than money. That is something the petty people at the other newspaper will never understand and could never comprehend.

But, if I live long enough, I have at least 40 more years of writing in this space to help educate them.

And that's not the real estate heir in me talking!