Letter: Rowdy minors on messy Strip

Friday, June 3, 2005 | 9:02 a.m.

We have just returned from our 14th annual trip to Las Vegas. Maybe because we see it only yearly the negative changes stand out prominently.

The drunken youngsters on the Strip have increased tenfold and I would bet that half are not even legal age. This is obviously caused by an increase in nightclubs in all the casinos. The downside to this is moral decline and increased violence. Visitors such as myself are subjected to loud, drunken behavior on the Strip, on the gaming floor and even in hotel elevator lobbies. I am surprised that the hotel owners are seeking and targeting this demographic, as the hooligans are not gamblers but merely drinkers and loudmouths.

The other major change I observed was the lack of police and sanitary workers. Rubbish on the Strip -- bottles, paper, brochures -- is growing. Why aren't the police arresting the drunks who smash bottles? Another thing I cannot understand is why no one is cleaning up the mess. Are the city fathers hoping that the wind will blow it into drains and the desert?

Now I'm no marketing guru, but should this continue, the gambling dollar will shrink as the rest of us will say: "Go to Vegas? No way! It's just a haven for loud, drunken hooligans in the middle of a rubbish dump."

We love America and Americans. That's why we return every year, but Las Vegas is now a tossup.

RICHARD GOZDZIK Victoria, Australia