Editorial: Our future knows no bounds

Sunday, July 2, 2000 | 10:43 a.m.

Milestones are a time for reflection. The Las Vegas Sun today celebrates its 50th anniversary as a newspaper, and it certainly has been a wild ride. The Sun's fierce independence can be directly attributed to its founding editor and publisher, Hank Greenspun. This newspaper, every day, has worked hard to live up to Hank's vision and to continue to crusade, as he did, against injustice.

Since the Sun's earliest days, when Hank used his front-page column, "Where I Stand," to wage a crusade to expose Sen. Joseph McCarthy's smear tactics and witch hunting, the Sun has fought against injustice, whether committed by government, businesses or individuals. Today the Sun continues to fight, particularly against the federal government's hostile campaign to store 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain. In contrast, the Las Vegas Review-Journal's editorial page has remained indifferent about the prospect of nuclear waste storage in Nevada, which without a doubt is this state's gravest threat. The fact that the two newspapers can have a difference of opinion on this issue that is so crucial to the well-being of Nevadans is a perfect example of why the Sun's voice is needed in this community.

The Sun still is owned by the Greenspun family, Las Vegas residents all. The family views the Sun as much more than a business. As Hank did, they see the Sun as a vital public service whose mission is to be a strong, independent voice for all the people of this exciting, amazingly fast-growing city. This commitment by the Greenspun family has led them to expand into other forms of communication in the valley, including weekly newspapers, magazines, a newsletter, an Internet website and an all-news cable television station.

Every month thousands of new residents make Las Vegas their home and they may not be aware of the Sun's storied past. So for the newcomers, and even for old-timers, there is separately in today's paper a special commemorative section which explains what the Sun has accomplished in the past 50 years and offers the Greenspun family's exciting vision for the future.