Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Hotel owners should care more for city

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, March 29, 2001 | 8:18 a.m.

Ruthe Deskin is assistant to the publisher. Reach her at deskin@ lasvegassun.com.

There's another Las Vegas outside the Strip, and I think state Sen. Joe Neal is thinking about the depressed areas of our city when he continues his quest for an increased tax on the big casinos.

Each time another ornate hotel-casino opens, one can't help a comparison to areas of the city where shabby dwellings and rundown trailer courts are home to many of the men and women who work on the Strip.

Neal believes the gaming industry must take some responsibility for the many problems our city faces.

The answer to any suggestion of increased taxes on the gaming industry is always, "Don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg." Yes, the hotels have brought growth to Las Vegas. And yes, thousands of people have work because of the gaming industry.

But that growth and the increase in population has brought unbelievably complex problems: traffic congestion, lack of schools, need for more police, deteriorating infrastructures, necessity for more facilities such as parks and playgrounds, water shortages and on and on.

The huge hotels are raking in millions. None of their owners and executives are hungry or homeless. Isn't it time they assumed a greater responsibility for the "prosperity" they have brought to our valley? *

When sportswriters bemoan the fact that so many sports franchises fail in Las Vegas, it takes me back to the days when the Las Vegas Wranglers baseball team lasted for several successful seasons.

A great part of that success was due to the expertise of such former big league players as Newt Kimball.

Las Vegas lost one of our true sports pioneers the other day when Kimball succumbed to a long illness.

How sad it is that the exploits of such good men are just memories to those of us who can recall the glory days of the old Las Vegas Wranglers baseball team. *

Basketball is my favorite sport because it is so fast an unpredictable. Without the UNLV Rebels to root on to the championship I have adopted the University of Arizona.

I am not alone in my affection for the Wildcats, as coach Lute Olson has close ties in Las Vegas. And he is one of the real class acts in college basketball.

Who will be the national champions? My head says Duke. My heart hopes Arizona. *

Was there ever a doubt?

City Councilman Michael McDonald is either a cat with nine lives or an Irishman with a lucky shamrock in his pocket. Now that he is home free on ethics charges, our best hope is that the lessons taught have been well learned.

Mark Twain was right when he said, "Life would be happier if we were born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18." *

For the past five decades the Gallup Poll has surveyed teachers about problems in schools. In the 1940s the top two problems were talking in class and chewing gum. Today they are pregnancy and drug use. The problem of running in the hallways has been replaced by the problem of suicide. Cutting in line is no longer a problem, but rape is.

No wonder there's a teacher shortage.