Letter: Casino owners ignore locals

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000 | 9:45 a.m.

Those who reside here find Las Vegas to be a pretty nice place to live. Meanwhile, "Vegas" is the entertainment center of our city that prefers to keep itself separate from the "locals" as the moguls who run the Strip and Fremont Street prefer to call their fellow Las Vegans. Oh, they occasionally throw a few bucks to some cause, but without any real participation, any real giving of themselves. Their dedication to their own wealth, power and fame is what kept them from joining with our civic leaders to give their fellow Las Vegans, as well as our multitudes of visitors, a wonderful celebration of a new year, century and millennium that we could all remember with pride and joy.

If you watched the celebrations around the world, you would notice that the media did not neglect any major community, or even many minor ones, when those communities celebrated with a pride in their towns and their people. Come on all you moguls, CEOs -- yes, there are other big businesses in our town that could have come together besides just the casinos -- join us out here. We won't hurt you. Become an active part of your community. Participate with us -- your neighbors -- outside your own crystal fortresses. You might find that we're really a nice bunch of people. We'd like to like you. But you've got to give some indication that you like us, too.

DON RAUSCH