Guest columnist Timothy Williams: 75 brilliant opinions

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2002 | 8:22 a.m.

Editor's note: More than 900 Clark County high school students participated in the 46th annual Sun Youth Forum Nov. 20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The students were divided into groups to discuss seven selected topics. A spokesperson was chosen from each discussion group to write a column about the students' findings. Tim Williams of Cimarron-Memorial High School tells of the students' opinions in the session entitled "Home in Nevada."

IMAGINE YOURSELF in a room with 75 students and 75 opinions. This is no normal forensics meeting after school, or a debate during class, but instead you are in a room listening to the most organized arguments you'll ever hear. The most brilliant and opinionated minds in Southern Nevada gathered together to participate in the 46th annual Sun Youth Forum, and I had the privilege to attend.

For five amazingly intense hours, my group in the "Home in Nevada" session talked about everything from marijuana possession to the depositing of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

The Yucca Mountain discussion lasted about 90 minutes, and every side of an argument you could imagine was presented. About three-fourths of the students were against moving nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, and they had some strong arguments to support their statements: States that make the nuclear waste (e.g., Illinois) should store it themselves; nuclear waste will limit the growth of Las Vegas; the storage will highly affect tourism. The arguments for moving the waste to Yucca Mountain were just as strong. Those supporting storing the waste in Nevada said that "all nuclear waste should be centralized," that we should "care about the welfare of the country, not the states," and that people who come to Las Vegas "go to the Strip, not Yucca Mountain."

Next we discussed the tragic effects of Sept. 11 and the effect on tourism. The group unanimously agreed that the economy would bounce back, as it has done throughout our history. We also unanimously agreed that Hoover Dam and Nellis Air Force Base could be potential targets for terrorism, but that it would take more to bring down Southern Nevada.

On a lighter note, students were in agreement that a pro sports team in Las Vegas would help diversify the economy, but because of gambling it would be almost impossible to achieve.

Bickering, judgment, embarrassment and a lack of community pride are the common variables that exist in most Las Vegans. The rare few who do have community pride, or at least a thirst for their own involvement in making Las Vegas come together, have some ideas on how that may be done. They believe that an improvement in education, school/community interaction, and changing the reputation of Las Vegas from "Sin City" to a thriving competitor putting fear into the economic juggernauts of today, from Silicon Valley to the New York Stock Exchange, would create a better Las Vegas. A lot of those supporters for the unification of Las Vegas sat next to me in that room and they also were united with the rest of the group in objecting to moving the capital from Carson City to Las Vegas. Our reasons ranged from the obvious, that it would highly increase the populati on in Las Vegas, to the less obvious -- the danger of having the state's economic and political centers in the same city.

The question of whether a parent should be criminally prosecuted for leaving his/her child in a car, resulting in the child's death, was a sensitive subject. There was a heated debate in which tensions flared and emotions played a role in decision-making. A number of students believed that the parent should not be prosecuted as a criminal because the guilt and sorrow of the child's death would be punishment enough. On the other hand, the rest of the group believed that the parent should be charged with criminal neglect and given prison time. The thought of parents having their priorities so skewed that they could forget their own child in a car borders on depravity and cannot be ignored by society.

The last subject of the day was the most personal of the day: Should marijuana be legalized for personal or medicinal purposes. Legalizing marijuana turned out to be more of a moral issue than a legal one. The large majority of students believed that legalizing marijuana would not fix the problem and that marijuana is one more vice that America does not need to condone. In the defense of legalizing marijuana, a couple of students presented statistics on a large percentage of males who are in prison because of marijuana felonies, and we pay for their keep with our tax money. The other defense is that marijuana is just as harmful as alcohol but not nearly as dangerous when operating a vehicle. This debate lasted about an hour and most arguments were based on whether the individual thought that smoking marijuana was morally incorrect or not. This was a very g ood discussion to end the day.

After the day was over, and the students left the Convention Center, the tears, smiles, frowns and excitement left with them until next year. I only hope that now you might be able to imagine yourself in a room with 75 brilliantly different students, and 75 brilliantly different opinions, and the absolute privilege it is to listen and to participate.