Columnist Susan Snyder: Our valley needs more coverage

Friday, June 18, 2004 | 8:29 a.m.

Lions that sleep in winter seem to wander the Las Vegas Valley the rest of the time.

Henderson residents on Tuesday reported spotting a small mountain lion at about dusk Tuesday. The cat was sitting atop a block wall behind a shopping center on Eastern Avenue at Pebble Road. It was dusk. Wildlife officers and police believe it may have trotted into the urban area via a nearby wash.

This would be the third report of a mountain lion sighting this year. Summerlin residents reported seeing a cougar in the area of the Summerlin Parkway and Las Vegas Beltway back in April.

And a mountain lion took an early morning walk through the grounds at Kyle Canyon's Lundy Elementary School back in February.

Drought and habitat encroachment by development seems to be bringing wild animals into our midst. So you'd think we'd be more careful about leaving our pets outdoors and our garbage uncovered.

But last weekend up in Lee Canyon, I saw no fewer than three uncovered Dumpsters overloaded and overflowing with garbage.

We might as well send the critters engraved invitations -- ones noting that although humans will relocate them whenever possible, those deemed unhealthy or a threat to us will be handled in other, more permanent ways.

Nothing says you love animals like covering and securing your trash.

The post-adolescent guys racing around town on those miniature crotch-rocket motorcycles are in desperate need of one item, and it's not a helmet.

Each rider needs full-length mirror.

Aside from the fact that these "pocket bikes" are another motorized menace on our sidewalks and in our bike lanes, don't the guys riding them have any idea how ridiculous they look?

Honestly boys, do you think the chicks -- the ones old enough to date, anyway -- actually dig a man riding a minibike?

Earlier this month California public safety officials decided mini-motorcycle riders needed more than self-respect. So they give traffic tickets. Officials there declared the bikes illegal because they lack regular-sized tires, headlights mounted at a certain height and vehicle identification numbers.

Sounds like a plan.

Nothing says "Oops" like a handful of tree experts explaining that oak tree roots pose very little threat to public sidewalks -- after a Henderson homeowners association board decided to ax a line of 10-year-old oak trees along Windmill Parkway.

There is a solution to this sort of problem.

More hobbies. Fewer meetings.

Some clarification is needed to prevent the IRS watchdogs from getting their suspenders in a twist over a Community Lutheran Church outreach program profiled in Valley Views on May 25.

Church volunteer Paul Rognlein does not "charge" for the bicycles he rebuilds and gives to clients in local recovery programs. The programs' directors insist that their clients "earn" the refurbished bicycles by donating $20 to the church's Community Bike Re-Cycle Program. Rognlein uses the money to buy bike parts.

We need more people like him.