lvt20140716 - Las Vegas Tribune

Transcription

Martines planning to form
a non-profit anti-corruption
organization for Nevada
PAGE 2
Child migrant crisis: at
least 85 percent of
minors released into U.S.
PAGE 5
Hundreds of immigrant
children transported far
north of the border
PAGE 5
July 16-22, 2014
Volume 16, Issue 19
Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce Member
Ignoring the loving bond of families to do it their way:
Another case/different judge
still brokering minority children
By Rolando Larraz
Las Vegas Tribune
Only those who have been unfortunate enough to have had dealings with Family Court, Family
Services and Child Protective Services would be able to relate to the
story that the Las Vegas Tribune is
working on pointing out the coldblooded history of how these courtrelated officials play and abuse their
power.
The Las Vegas Tribune has been
on the side of some of those suffering the consequences of facing —
and in many cases, trusting — the
government employees and elected
judges in Family Court. We have
written about a grandmother,
Melody Nelson, who has been
fighting to see her grandkids to no
avail.
Melody Nelson was denied the
opportunity of visiting and being in
contact with her grandchildren, who
My Point
of View
By Rolando Larraz
For a change this week I don’t
have to start my column with bad
news about the death or hospitalization of someone I know.
This week I have several good
things to write about and I am glad
to share it with all of you, my readers, who always give me the opportunity to share my life experiences
with them.
As you all know by now, every
Wednesday I am doing a radio show
with Miguel Barrientos on the
Spanish radio station KRLV from
4 to 5 in the evening; well, last
Wednesday Miguel surprised me
with the honor of sharing the microphones of KRLV with a distinguished member of the Spanish
media and a well known figure of
our entire community, Chris Roman.
Roman is the President and
Chief Executive Officer of the new
MundoFox television station that in
a very short time has captured the
news audience with a new schedule that no one else has, at 5 p.m.
and 10 p.m. and which is fast becoming a very important part of
television time in many Spanish
homes.
I know that I owe Chris Roman
a lunch; last time we had lunch at
The Palms inside Caesar Palace he
took care of the bill, so next time
would be my turn — if he ever finds
time for lunch within his busy
schedule now that he is the man
behind MundoFox.
One of the things that makes
MundoFox incredibly different is
that its studios are inside the famous
Boulevard Mall at 3680 South
Maryland Parkway, and while they
are on the air one can see the people
walking around, shopping and having a great time.
It is almost like ABC News in
the morning in New York where
people can be seen freezing their
“you know what” off in the winter
time and waiving at the cameras
from the street when it is not cold.
My next good experience of the
week was the opportunity to welcome my new good friend of two
days, Attorney Denise Gentile, who
is running for judge in Family Court
Department F.
During the hour-long radio show
she had everyone in the office glued
to their computers listening to her
speak and they were all very im(See My Point of View, Page 2)
Anita Lumpkin, on Face the Tribune, told of her adoption nightmare.
were under the custody of the maternal grandparents, after she filed
a petition for guardianship.
One of the grandparents passed
away and the other one is in a nursing home; the children were placed
with strangers because Family Protective Services and a sitting judge
are in favor of a “reunited family”
as long as that family is one of
“strangers.”
The Jones’ family story is still
in the minds of many of our readers because child services, in that
case, was determined to take possession of the newborn Jones’ baby
only days after the baby was born.
Brokering of minority children
— another cause of injustice in
Family Court – involved Judge
Frank Sullivan and the same coconspirators that the Las Vegas Tribune has previously exposed in several other cases: Child Protective
Service (CPS), Department of Fam-
ily Services (DFS), CASA, Clark
County Deputy District Attorney
Juvenile Division, Court Appointed
Attorneys, Child Advocacy Project
(CAP) — where the above-mentioned entities and individuals conspired together to steal a minor
child from the legitimate parent,
again rears its ugly head.
Another Las Vegas Tribune exclusive that cost a sitting judge her
judicial position is the Keith Patton
case, where Judge Gayle Nathan
prohibited the young man from visiting his son because he holds a
medical cannabis card that the
judge does not agree with, even if
it is legal.
Now, another grandmother is in
line to suffer from the unscrupulous
behavior of those at Family Services, Child Services and Family
Court with the blessings of a hearing master and a sitting judge.
(See Family Court, Page 4)
By Alexandra Cohen
Las Vegas Tribune
Attorney Christine GuerciNyhus is running for District Court
Judge in Department 8 against an
incumbent that many attorneys and
courthouse personnel are afraid of
because he is vindictive.
Unlike another attorney — running for a different seat in a different jurisdiction in the judicial system — who is accepting the offer
from a well-known law group to
team up in fundraising with incumbent judge Doug Smith because she
is afraid to be singled out, Christine Guerci-Nyhus is doing her own
fundraising event to avoid any conflict of interest.
Judge Smith most recently was
Christine Guerci-Nyhus
in the spotlight when he locked up
a Hispanic man because he thought
the defendant displayed an attitude
while in court, and then raised the
man’s bail from $3,000 to $1 million — but later the Nevada Supreme Court disagreed with Smith’s
order and ordered the defendant’s
bail back to the original $3,000 and
the case transfered to another courtroom.
The issue with that Hispanic defendant is not the only case on
which the Supreme Court had disagreed with the decision of Judge
Smith; Las Vegas Tribune has found
more than thirty cases in which the
Nevada Supreme Court reversed, or
had not agreed with Judge Smith
on, the rulings.
Monti Levy is the attorney running for judge in Family Court and
has placed herself in the dubious
position of listening to other attorneys whom she believes are powerful enough to get her elected —
but as always, with strings attached;
in this case, the string is tied to a
fund-raising with Judge Smith to
help him clean up his image.
That law group that is under the
impression that they are powerful
may not have that much strength;
they supported another candidate,
Amy Chellini, twice, and twice she
lost — so they may not hold as
much power as they want to believe
they have.
The Las Vegas Tribune has been
writing about these judicial races
for years because the newspaper
believes that the public should take
(See Guerci-Nyhus, Page 5)
By Ken Small
Special to the Las Vegas Tribune
During the 1998 election cycle
voters decided to issue bonds to
build new schools and to schedule
elementary school classes in a 5track annual cycle to avoid the cost
of building more additional schools.
Using that vote as a rationalization
the school board later actually borrowed more money and built or remodeled more schools than voters
were actually told about during that
1998 vote.
Intentionally mischaracterized
by the Clark County School District
(CCSD) as a “year-round school”
to make voters think that their kid
would attend school all year, actually the 5-track school schedule
merely utilizes the school building
(See CCSD, Page 4)
The magnificent Las Vegas PBS building at 3050 East Flamingo Road. Completed in 2008 and paid for by
school district bond money, donations and from the leasing of school district-owned broadcast frequencies,
it also houses “Virtual school” facilities.
Christine Guerci-Nyhus runs
for judge in District Court 8
School Board ignoring voters
decision costs about $7.2 million
FROM THE DESK OF GORDON MARTINES
Things are not always what they appear to be
By Gordon Martines
Not counting the lack of accountability and information regarding the 600+ other children that
were supposedly at the Sandy Hook
elementary school slaughter, or why
they were even attending the school
in the first place after the school was
condemned several months earlier
for asbestos; or why Building No.
7, on September 11, also fell down
directly onto its foundation, with-
out being hit by anything, as well
as the lack of airplane debris at the
Pentagon crash site; or even the
determination by the later report by
the Commission on the Assassination of JFK, which directly states
that there was more than one
shooter in the assassination of the
President, which means and translates to “Conspiracy,” even after the
previous Warren Commission
stated there was only one sole
shooter (Lee Harvey Oswald) and
no conspiracy; or the sinking of a
Japanese mini submarine by a U.S.
naval vessel several hours before
the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941, we still wonder about a lot of things here in Las
Vegas.
It is no more apparent anywhere
than in our own community that the
mainstream news media throws out
scripted information that is false
and misleading, at the behest of our
protectors and leaders. It would be
nice to believe that the reason for
this deception and false reporting
is that the powers-that-be don’t
want to panic the community and
that their reasoning is worthwhile
and honorable, for the lies they wish
to lay on us and cause the community to accept their false explanation for safety reasons. This prob(See From the Desk, Page 4)
Page 2 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / July 16-22, 2014
Gordon Martines planning to form a nonprofit anti-corruption organization for Nevada
By Natasha Minsky
Las Vegas Tribune
After catching up with former
Sheriff Candidate Gordon Martines,
the Las Vegas Tribune has recently
learned that he is planning on forming an anti-corruption non-profit
organization for the betterment of
our community, possibly with the
name “ANTI-CORRUPTION
COALITION OF NEVADA.”
Martines said, “As this community, which happens also to be my
home, has repeatedly demonstrated
in the past, it is an ongoing ‘target
rich’ environment for lowlife crimi-
TRIBUNE
VOL. 16, NO. 19
FOUNDER
Rolando Larraz
PUBLISHER
AND
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Rolando Larraz
GENERAL MANAGER
Perly Viasmensky
PRODUCTION
Don Snook
MANAGING EDITOR
Maramis Choufani
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Colleen Lloyd
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
Kenneth A. Wegner
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Quote of the Week:
“Anyone who goes to a
psychiatrist should have his
head examined.”
—Samuel Goldwyn
Please Note:
Although the Las Vegas Tribune
is open to all and sundry opinions about what we publish, we
wish to inform all those who
choose to submit their opinions
in writing to refrain from threatening anyone about whom an article is written or the writer of
the article. In other words, any
opinions containing threats will
not be published. We thank you
for adhering to this policy.
nals to prey, and ply their trade, on
the unsuspecting law-abiding citizens of our community, I feel the
need and calling to fight back, to
inquire, gather information, corroborate information and evidence,
vigorously expose and help seek
legal justice against these lawbreakers, whoever and wherever
they may be in this state.”
“As a 39-year law enforcement
veteran who, for the last 36 years,
has served this particular community loyally and faithfully as a law
enforcement officer, I am going to
continue to fight the good fight; but
this time, it will now be on my
terms, legally of course, without
anyone or anything able to maliciously and unlawfully attempt to
threaten, divert or influence my
inquiries, determinations or conclusions.”
Martines further said, “ I have
a pretty good insight now — especially after the unlawful way my
former police co-workers treated
and injured me — into the how and
who, when it comes to what breeds
GORDON MARTINES
corruption, especially in my beloved
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which desperately needs
a cleansing and an extended perpetual enema, to rid itself of its
present criminal infestation and debauchery, especially in the police
administrative executive staff.
“The police department is not the
only target on my list, as local and
state government leaders that have
demonstrated their complete indif-
My Point of View
(Continued from Page 1)
pressed with her 23-year record as
a family court attorney.
Denise Gentile has been an attorney in Clark County since 1991,
and since then has been part of,
connected to, or associated with,
one of the most prestigious law
firms before becoming owner of
Denise Gentile Charter in 2010.
Before that, Denise Gentile had
primarily practiced law with firms
like Jolley, Urga, Wirth, Woodbury
& Standish; The Dickerson Law
Group, Dickerson Dickerson Consul & Poker, Ltd. Kent J. Dawson
Chtd. and Dennis Sabbath & Associates, making her a truly family court attorney.
How many people do we know
that will attach their name to comment on a political candidate? Only
someone who has the opportunity
to hire an attorney like Denise
Gentile, like Dr. Varoujan
Kostanian, who stated, “After a
total fiasco with an attorney who I
had the misfortune to hire initially,
I was angry, desperate and depressed. Denise Gentile came
highly recommended by a colleague. From the very first interview, I’ve got my hope to get my
life back and hand my worries to a
highly trained, professional, and
amazing human being.
“Patiently and skillfully guiding
[me] though this very stressful time
of divorce, Denise is this unusually warm and cordial professional
woman, for her caliber. She is always available to talk, will get her
job done on time. You are almost
sure to get a great friend for life
after using her services. I imagine
her being a great family court
judge –she has proven to be a very
humane, smart, unbiased, patient,
and fair professional.”
Denise was supposed to be in
the studio for one hour but everyone that was in the office that day
was so impressed with her wonderful personality that she almost
spent an extra two hours talking and
shaking hands with everyone in the
building.
When Denise Gentile left the
building, she left behind a group of
happy constituents ready to vote for
her.
Denise Gentile will be on Face
The Tribune again on August 6 for a
second appearance on the now popular radio show.
And then in the same day that
Denise Gentile visited the office of
the Las Vegas Tribune and
radiotribune.com, a blast from the
past took place when I had a surprise
telephone call from my friend Steve
Rushfield, who is enjoying a retired
life and unfortunately had to take
some time to travel to Florida, where
his father-in-law is having some
medical issues.
Steve and I have not talked for
almost a year, and now, in a retirement mode he sounds healthy,
peaceful and satisfied and I was
happy to hear the voice of my good
old friend and am looking forward
to enjoying lunch with him when-
ference to their constituents, and
have unlawfully committed fraud
and other crimes, will be added to
my list as well. So much corruption,
of all sorts, and so little time.
“There is plenty of work to be
done, and since I plan on applying
for a non-profit status organization,
I will need volunteers to help with
this project. These volunteers and I
will more than likely be subjected
to ridicule and intimidation by “special individuals” that have entrenched themselves in committing
fraud and avarice against this community for decades. The one thing
that these lowlife bottom-feeding
greedy criminals cannot stand or
tolerate is ‘exposure.’
Exposure is the cure-all for all
criminal activity and I have never
been shy about telling the truth
openly and continually. Justice,
however, may not be immediately
forthcoming because of the infiltration of the organized criminal element into our justice system, and
especially in our particular community, which is rather prolific at it;
but nevertheless, justice requires
that such infiltration be properly
dealt with, exposed, and investigated, followed by the prosecution
of these exposed wrongful acts.”
Martines closed the interview by
saying, “This project should be
rather interesting in that the persons
already interested in volunteering
for this project have extensive law
enforcement experience and backgrounds, as do I, and so this project
could be viewed as sort of a hobby,
to keep our hands in the mix, with
the anticipated potential of some
very startling exposures and results,
all for the betterment of our community. I hope to change history for
the better with this project.”
Martines had to add one more
thing. He concluded by saying,
“Remember, Information is power,
especially when it is used strictly
for the betterment of our community and our way of life. As an advocate of studying history of all
sorts, I can attest to the fact that you
are doomed to repeat history if you
don’t recall and consider it first.”
ever he visits me; after all he has
lot of time on his hand as a retired
man; I am the slave that doesn’t
even have time to really go anywhere.
Another week like this and I will
have to pinch myself to make sure
that I am not dreaming because this
has been a very satisfying week.
My name is Rolando Larraz, and
as always, I approved this column.
Rolando Larraz is Editor in
Chief of the Las Vegas Tribune. His
column appears weekly in this
newspaper. To contact Rolando
Larraz,
email
him
at:
[email protected] or
at (702) 699-8111.
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CITY BEAT
July 16-22, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 3
Microchips reunite lost pets with their
owners, says Las Vegas veterinarian
An RFID chip (also known as
PIT tag) next to a grain of rice.
Las Vegas veterinarian Dr.
David Drake is urging pet owners
to microchip their pets if they have
not already done so. Research
shows that without a microchip, 90
percent of lost pets are never reunited with their owners. A microchip is a small device encoded with
a unique serial number that is implanted between a pet’s shoulders.
Should a pet become lost, an animal shelter or veterinarian can scan
the chip and securely access the
owner’s contact information to ensure a happy reunion.
“A staggering nine out of every
10 lost pets will never be reunited
with their owners,” said Dr. Drake.
“Even worse, many of these pets
will end up in animal shelters,
where an estimated 30 to 60 percent of pets are ultimately
euthanized. That’s a fate no beloved
family pet should suffer.
Microchipping is an effective and
permanent form of identification
that helps return lost pets to their
owners.”
A microchip is no bigger than a
grain of rice and contains a unique
serial number. This serial number
corresponds with the pet owner’s
contact information, which is stored
in a secure database. Only approved
veterinary hospitals and animal
shelters have access to this database.
“A pet owner’s private information is completely secure,” said Dr.
Drake. “We must first scan the microchip and then log into the database in order to match the serial
number up with the pet owner. Once
we have done this, we can contact
the pet owner directly and facilitate
a reunion between the pet owner
and the lost pet.”
Dr. Drake stressed that microchips are a safe, more reliable form
of pet identification when compared with collar tags. Replacing
the tag can be a hassle, which means
pets could become lost and not even
have the correct contact information
listed on their tags. In contrast, microchip contact information can be
instantly updated in the secure database.
The staff at St. Francis Animal
Hospital can handle the initial registration for each pet. Call 1-888667-5235.
*****
Hispanics are
underrepresented in
healthcare and nursing
in Nevada
Nevada has few options for LPN
training and they may not be as Hispanic-Friendly as their neighboring
states.
While Nevada has a large percentage of Hispanic and Latino citizens, only a small number of this
population chooses careers in
healthcare.
According
to
PracticalNursing.org, a website
seeking to champion the growth of
nursing professionals, the state of
Nevada doesn’t offer many options
when it comes to LPN programs.
While bordering states, California
and Arizona, offer more as well as
Hispanic-Friendly LVN and LPN
programs, Nevada only has a
couple of options that may not be
as Hispanic-Friendly as their neighboring states. With a growing Hispanic and Latino population across
the country, many schools have retooled their curriculum and marketing strategies to better serve students of Hispanic and Latino ancestry.
Due to the limited number of
state approved LPN schools in Nevada, they are not ranked, so no
additional NCLEX information is
listed
on
http://
www.practicalnursing.org/lpn-programs/nevada. However, with the
growing demand for healthcare and
nursing professionals in cities like
Las Vegas more options may become available in the near future.
States leading the way for Hispanic-Friendly LPN and LVN programs are some with the highest
percentage of Hispanic population
across the US, including California,
Texas, Florida, New Mexico, and
Arizona. For a complete list of
school data for these states or the
top 50 Hispanic-Friendly Practical
Nursing Programs, visit http://
w w w. p r a c t i c a l n u r s i n g . o r g /
hispanic-friendly-lpn-programs.
To make PracticalNursing.org’s
list of Hispanic-Friendly nursing
programs the school must have a
population of Hispanic and Latino
students that makes up at least 25%
of their graduating class. The list
also includes the NCLEX pass-rates
for these schools, allowing the student to consider their options for
their healthcare education before
deciding on a school. The NCLEXPN exam is used by state boards of
nursing around the country for testing proficiency and granting licensure. Boards use the combined
NCLEX-PN exam pass-rates as a
primary way to approve or deny a
school’s ability to provide an adequate nursing education.
PracticalNursing.org believes in
providing students with better transparency in regards to practical nursing programs, giving students the
supplemental tools to help them
find the appropriate training and
guidance to take steps forward in
their healthcare and nursing careers.
*****
RICHARD REITZ
Local cyclist prepares
for 583-mile journey
through Wisconsin to
promote tree health
Richard Reitz of Las Vegas will
participate in America’s largest
fundraiser for tree research, the
STIHL Tour des Trees, July 27August 2, 2014 in Wisconsin. He is
participating in this event to capitalize on an opportunity to support
profound research paired with an
exhilarating adventure. Reitz will
join nearly 100 cyclists who’ve
committed a week of their summer
to ride 583 miles on a bike and raise
a minimum of $3,500 for the Tree
Research & Education Endowment
Fund (TREE Fund). To support
Reitz’s ride, visit http://
www.crowdrise.com/
S T d T Te a m We s t e r n C h a p t e r /
fundraiser/richardreitz.
“It’s an opportunity to support
the research and education that is
essential for our industry to improve. It’s also an opportunity to
share a week’s adventure with a
special group of friends,” said
Reitz, who works as a professor.
The 2014 STIHL Tour des Trees
has set its sights on besting last
year’s event, which raised $600,000
for the TREE Fund. The itinerary
changes each year, and recent Tours
have explored Illinois, Virginia,
Oregon, New York State and
Ontario. The ride has been featured
on CNN, The Huffington Post and
Forbes, along with Women’s
Health, American Way and Adventure Cyclist.
This year’s Tour traces a loop
through eastern Wisconsin launching from the legendary Milwaukee
German Fest and returning a week
later for the International Society of
Arboriculture (ISA) International
Tree Climbing Competition and
Arbor Fair at Mt. Mary College.
The cyclists will overnight at Madison, The Wisconsin Dells, Stevens
Point, Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay and
Port Washington. Along the way,
they’ll stop to dedicate dozens of
new trees donated and planted by
local nurseries.
Professor Elwood Pricklethorn,
the Tour’s embedded educator and
ambassador for the trees, headlines
programs for kids in Lake Mills,
Sauk City, Nekoosa, New London,
Manitowoc and Milwaukee (at the
Wisconsin State Fair). Challenging
cycling, spectacular scenery and
cheese and brats are hallmarks of
this Wisconsin Tour. The STIHL
Tour des Trees raises the bar with a
level of camaraderie that sets it
apart from other charity fundraisers.
Since 1992, the Tour has raised
more than $6.6 million for tree research and education programs,
funding hundreds of research
grants, along with scholarships for
aspiring tree care professionals.
TREE Fund researchers have
helped to quantify the benefits of
trees, develop hardier, drought- and
disease-resistant species and improve methods for propagating,
planting and maintaining strong
healthy trees.
Photos and videos from previous Tours are available and visit the
Rider Gallery to learn more about
this year’s cyclists: http://
stihltourdestrees.org/2014-ridergallery/.
About the TREE Fund
The TREE Fund’s mission is to
support sustainable communities
and environmental stewardship by
funding research, scholarships and
education programs essential to the
discovery and dissemination of new
knowledge in the fields of
arboriculture and urban forestry.
The TREE Fund has supported
research that has led to important
developments in:
—Understanding air pollution
reduction and carbon sequestration
by trees
—Determining the costs and
benefits of urban trees
—Improving conditions for tree
growth in difficult sites
—Strategies to manage diseases
and pests that affect urban trees
For more information, visit http:/
/www.treefund.org/.
*****
The Rape Crisis Center
hosts first-ever TeenSPACE
youth summit
The Rape Crisis Center (RCC)
is hosting the first-ever TeenSPACE
(Starting Prevention and Awareness
in Communities Everywhere)
Youth Summit at the Historic Fifth
Street School, 401 S. 4th Street, Las
Vegas, on Thursday, August 21,
8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Lunch will
be provided. The one-day event is
intended to bring high-school age
students together for learning and
brainstorming sessions to empower
the students with concrete ideas for
ending sexual assault and related
violence in their own communities
– school, church group, club, etc.
The Summit is free to attend and is
open to Clark County students enrolled in ninth through 12th grades
during the 2014-2015 school year.
Recent graduates from the class of
2014 may also attend. Interested
students may register by emailing
[email protected] to request a registration packet. Registration is free.
Registration deadline is August 15,
2014.
During the Summit, the RCC
staff will start the conversation and
serve as facilitators as the students
work with each other to formulate
ideas for preventing violence in
their schools and community. At the
end of the day, students will be
asked to choose one project and
commit to making it happen during
the 2014-2015 school year. The
RCC, in turn, will commit to supporting each student with information and resources to help make
their project a reality.
“The statistics on the prevalence
of teen dating abuse are staggering
and sobering, and we feel very
strongly that young people have the
power to make a difference by stopping violence of all forms within
their own peer group,” said Daniele
Dreitzer, executive director of the
Rape Crisis Center. “The Youth
Summit is an excellent opportunity
for students to not only hone their
leadership skills, but to take what
they learn and practically apply that
knowledge within their immediate
community.”
*****
City Beat is a compilation of
news and views of our editorial and
writing team, along with reader
submissions and topics. Readers
are invited to suggest a local topic
or any other items of interest.
CCSD
all year. Students are all out of school for vacation during one of the
5-track breaks. Scheduling the schools on this system does increase
that capacity of the district by 20 percent. Each student still gets a
long vacation break similar to a summer break like those who attend
9-month schools do.
Empirical data has proven that this 5-track schedule helps some
students do better because the “long break” is not quite as long and
that leads to better retention of learning over the long break. Many
parents love this schedule because they can go on vacation when summer crowding and high summer pricing are not in effect. Many parents who have to work during peak tourist season love being able to
take time off with their kids at other times during the year.
Bond money from the 1998 election vote was used to build schools
or remodel existing schools to allow elementary schools to hold 720
students on a 9-month cycle or 900 students on a “year-round school”
schedule. CCSD accounting gymnastics have, over the years, attempted to convince onlookers that both 9-month and year-round
schedules are cheaper in operating cost. As CCSD has tried to argue
this both ways, credibility is a problem. But it is hard to argue that
there is no cost savings in not building schools which have cost between $20 million and $90 million each, dependent upon the incompetence of the system and other issues.
When the Clark County economy died and enrollment fell six years
ago, the school board quietly shifted class schedules back to a 9month schedule and hauled off, gave away and demolished thousands
of portable classrooms in order to conceal the fact that they overbuilt
two unneeded elementary schools after the exodus of students.
During the last election cycle CCSD was again shot down by voters when trying to sell more bonds for more schools and school repairs. As evidenced by the vote, voters believed that this was not
needed. Although much of the negative vote was attributed by the
democratic media to the bad economy, proponents now admit that
another big problem that voters had with it was the perception of
CCSD inefficiency in managing the money for operations and building.
Now the school board has decided to ignore the 1998 voter decision to run year-round schools by ordering three portable classrooms
each week since December, spending $90,000 each on them. Projections are that this will cost close to $7.2 million and that the 80 portables are not durable enough to last.
The school board is in a full press public disinformation campaign
to convince voters that CCSD is 20,000 kids over capacity. It is in
fact in the range of between 5 percent and 20 percent under capacity
dependent upon if they only make elementary or all K-12 schools all
year-round.
This week the CCSD campaign extended to CCSD funded PBS.
During this week’s show, Nevada Week in Review’s moderator,
Nathan Baca, hosted a one-sided presentation of the school board’s
position delivered by Patranya Bhoolsuwan and bolstered by comments from Steve Sebelius. Although it was not disclosed that
Bhoolsuwan was advocating the CCSD position, she authoritatively
advocated for the school board position as though it was investigative journalism. Setting aside the issue that that new format of NWR
has eliminated the former facade of presenting both sides of an issue,
CCSD putting out falsehoods to see what holds credibility when coming from misinformed press sources makes the arguments and assertions interesting.
Bhoolsuwan argued that CCSD requires 17 new schools right now
costing at least $20 million each for immediate needs. She also believes that none of the CCSD operating budget of over $2 billion can
be used to build or renovate schools. Neither of these assertions was
able to be supported by my investigation into the Nevada Revised
Statutes or educational facility data available to the public.
From The Desk
ably wouldn’t be too hard to accomplish, except for the fact that our
protectors and leaders have previously destroyed any credibility or worth
they may have, because of their previous lies, distortions, disinformation,
and out-and-out fabrications that they have been caught up in and were
exposed.
Our protectors and leaders bank on the fact that the common resident
is uninformed and has a memory of a mushroom, and thus, is reluctant to
connect the dots, as it were. Maybe this is because they are afraid of the
consequences of exposing the Truth, such as financial harm or physical
harm to themselves, or to their families, or losing their jobs. When you
sit back and look at how many times this happens to our friends and
family in our community, you have to ask yourself, is it worth it?
For some of us old long-time residents, the answer is a simple “Absolutely.” Las Vegas is my home; I came here from California in 1978 from
the L.A. area. Arriving here, I found Nevada to be fresh, clean, and like
the old west, worthy, and a very patriotic community toward our country
with the flag of “Battle Born.” Sure the mob was here and they had their
influence mostly against the criminal element that took advantage of the
tourists that visited our community and contributed their money here.
The idea was to make it as safe a place as possible for visitors and residents, while keeping gambling, prostitution and alcohol “within bounds.”
This idea of keeping things within bounds has strayed to now include
threats, extortion, theft, and even murder to our own Nevada residents,
and also extends to include others from outside our state that have the
misfortune of associating with our native-born and -bred criminal element.
That latest revelation of the 2004 theft of One Billion Dollars from
Nevada taxpayers, illegally transferred to a private company called
“EICON,” or Employees Insurance Company of Nevada, allegedly by
then-Attorney General Brian Sandoval, now Governor Brian Sandaval,
is just one example of the internal infrastructure criminal destruction of
our State and Community. U. S. Attorney Daniel Bogden, Sen. Dean
Heller, and Sen. Harry Reid were all made aware of this alleged theft and
cover-up by me, by letter, in December of 2013, and apparently nothing
has been done to date to correct this theft.
And so it is with the grisly beheading murder of LVMPD Officer Kevin
Scott Dailey, dob//5-4-68, on or around December 5, 2007, in Henderson,
Nevada, and the alleged subsequent disappearance of his autopsy report
six hours after it was entered into the data banks of the Clark County
Coroners Office.
For almost forty years I have lived by the code of Law Enforcement
and have never violated, nor would I ever violate, that Oath and code of
ethics. This is the Oath I swore to uphold in this community, along with
the Oath I took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States
of America.
So with that being said, be looking for the eventual creation of a new
non-profit organization called “Anti-Corruption Coalition of Nevada.”
This organization will be solely dedicated to the betterment of the community and the exposure of this state’s corruption to the public.
In God We Trust.
Gordon Martines is a former LVMPD detective who has served in
many capacities over his 39-year career in law enforcement. He has been
a candidate for sheriff in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, with the intention
of bringing integrity and accountability back to the department, and filed
a federal lawsuit against LVMPD in 2011. Martines now contributes his
opinions and ideas to the Las Vegas Tribune to keep the public informed
and help improve policing in Las Vegas. He has also appeared on the
Face the Tribune radio program several times to share his plan for a
better LVMPD.
Family Court
Anita Lumpkin is fighting the
system that claims that their best interest is to “reunite families” by not
allowing her to adopt her three
grandchildren because the state says
her petition was not filed within 30
days of the grandchildren living
with her. This is one of the issues
up on appeal filed by her attorney,
Cuthbert Mack.
“While my son was in danger of
losing his parental rights, I immediately went to Family Services and
told them I wanted to adopt my
grandchildren. They had been in
foster care for eight months while
my son was working on reunification with his children. After stalling in their decision, I filed a motion to adopt with the County. Three
weeks later, the foster parent decided to adopt them,” the grandmother stated during her appearance on Face The Tribune last
week.
Anita told Face The Tribune, “I
have fostered them myself for two
years, and then my son had them
back for 1-1/2 years. My son was
still working to get them again
when they went into foster care....
So I have to admit, I have been in a
position where I waited to see if my
son was going to get the children.
Now I don’t want to wait any more
and I want my grandchildren...”
During those eight months,
while the children were in foster
care, Anita had the children on the
weekends and holidays. She never
missed the opportunity of keeping
in contact with them, but Family
Services wants to instead “unite her
family” with a family of strangers.
“They admit they have no criminal reasons for withholding the children from me and my family,”
Lumpkin said.
Las Vegas Tribune states that
Family Services just doesn’t like
that it took eight months for this
grandmother to come get them.
According to a court hearing,
Anita states, “Now, if I would have
known that when I fostered them
for almost two years, that I had to
adopt them because I would never
get them back again, I would have
done that.”
“I have now filed an appeal with
the higher courts. Family Services
has a mission statement on their
own brochure to ‘unite’ children
with relatives, yet they are not honoring this mission statement in my
case,” stated Anita on the radio
show.
Lumpkin has worked two jobs
for a year to pay for legal fees to
get her grandchildren back. “I will
not stop, nor will my family, in our
quest.
“I needed to expose this situation, so I contacted the Las Vegas
Tribune to get as much help as possible.
“Family Services feel they have
time on their side while they are
waiting for me and the children to
give up,” explained the grandmother.
These children also have maternal great grandparents who want
them back as well. “I don’t understand why they would spend tax
dollars to keep my grandchildren
away from their family,” cried
Lumpkin. “Those tax dollars in-
clude the $1,800 spent for the children each month, as well as legal
fees to keep them from me.”
Ms. Lumpkin explained that fees
to pay that particular foster home
could be used to help other children
where there is no family that wants
to care for them. “Our tax dollars
should not be used in the legal system for this case,” she said.
But there is another consideration: the man and woman in this
foster home are not married, she
added, and “the woman works the
second (evening) shift at the airport,
leaving my grandchildren with her
boyfriend. She never sees them at
all except to send them off to
school! Why does Family Services
believe that she is a better option
for my grandchildren? The judges
in Family Court on Bonanza and
Pecos Roads are letting Family Services have their way without consideration that the maternal family
also wants me to have the children,”
explained Lumpkin.
Anita, a Special Education
Teacher’s Aide, is the best solution
for her grandchildren, but judges in
Family Court, Family Services and
Child Protective Services are more
interested in “uniting” grandchildren with strangers.
Next week Las Vegas Tribune
will continue with Anita Lumpkin’s
saga with Family Services, Child
Services and Family Court.
Child migrant crisis: at least 85
percent of minors released into U.S.
Deportation is not currently a widely used option, according to figures from the Department of Health
and Human Services, which is responsible for taking care of unaccompanied children crossing the border.
By Lourdes Medrano
Christian Science Monitor
Tucson, Ariz. — While President Obama has warned Central
American parents not to send their
children to the United States because they will be returned, at least
85 percent of boys and girls detained recently for illegally crossing the Southwest border have been
released from shelters here.
Since October, the Department
of Homeland Security has referred
50,688 children to the Department
of Health and Human Services, according to the latter agency, which
is tasked with caring for unaccompanied children caught entering the
country.
Within the same time period,
“43,209 minors have been discharged” from federal custody, says
HHS spokesman Kenneth Wolfe in
an e-mail. He also cited a 96 percent figure for the share of children
who have been released to relatives
in the U.S.
Central American migrants climb off a freight train during their journey toward the U.S.-Mexico border, in
Ixtepec, Mexico, Saturday, July 12, 2014.
A steady number of migrant children from Guatemala, Honduras,
and El Salvador have been nabbed
crossing into the U.S. alone in recent years, but a spike that began
in 2012 and accelerated in 2013 has
overwhelmed the system designed
to protect unaccompanied minors.
That has reignited the immigration
debate and tested the Obama administration.
Advocates attribute the exodus
of children from Central America
to such factors as violence and poverty, but critics blame Mr. Obama’s
policies for encouraging youngsters
to make the trek north.
“If you are really fearful of
sexual violence or trafficking, or
gang recruitment, you’re still going
to come, and there’s no message
about what the Obama policies are
or not that’s going to keep you in
Guatemala or El Salvador or Honduras,” says Greg Chen of the
American Immigration Lawyers
(See Child Migrants, Page 5)
Hundreds of immigrant children are
transported far north of the border
Hundreds of immigrant children have been taken north of the U.S.-Mexico border to stay with relatives
or in temporary government or charitable facilities. Governors there say they’ve been kept in the dark.
By Brad Knickerbocker
Christian Science Monitor
The focus of the political, legal,
and social fight over thousands of
immigration children streaming
north from Central America has
been along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Hastily prepared detention facilities there are filling up. Protesters on both sides of the immigration debate face off. Legal authorities try to sort through complicated
cases involving family members on
both sides of the border as well the
many very young children in a kind
of limbo.
But government agencies and
private organizations far to the
north are involved as well, according to reports from governors and
other concerned officials.
Fox News reported Sunday that
748 unaccompanied minors have
been transferred from areas near the
border to the Chicago area.
Of the original group of 748
kids, 319 have been placed with
family members or sponsors while
they await an immigration hearing,
according to Fox. The other 429
have been placed in facilities run
by the Heartland Alliance, a nonprofit organization that receives
grants from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
Sen. Mark Kirk (R) of Illinois
complains that state officials don’t
have enough information about the
situation. “These detention facilities
should be completely open to the
press and to the American people
so that we know how what condi-
judicial elections far more seriously
and learn about the candidates running for judge.
Monti Levy is running for a family court post and has no business
getting involved in a fund-raising
with a district judge that has a dubious reputation, well-known for
being unfair and abusive of the
power that his job offers.
Judge Smith is the judge that the
Las Vegas Tribune has been referring to who allows his friends to
appear before him, then rules in favor of his friends’ clients, after
which “the team” walks out of the
courthouse together to have lunch
and maybe to celebrate the favorable ruling just issued a few minutes earlier.
The big picture always gives a
better view regarding what this
newspaper has been saying for a
long time.
Not that anyone believes in those
“judging the judges” time-consuming political games, but Judge
Smith was rated only 40-something
percent, and he only drew one challenger because everyone else is
afraid to face off with the sitting
judge in Department 8, and the oth-
ers with less than a 40 score did not
even get one challenger; how can
that be possible?
It can be possible because the
people are misinformed and others
don’t even know the name of the
judge that may have ruled in their
case just hours or minutes ago.
The judicial race has always basically taken place within the legal
community and not within the Clark
County voters’ community-at-large;
most voters are not familiar with the
candidates or don’t care about who
wins or loses.
Judicial races are for attorneys
and their families to elect the judges
they would feel most comfortable
appearing before, and the sitting
judge from whom they would most
likely get a favorable ruling because
of their large campaign contributions.
Not too long ago soon-to-be
former judge Gayle Nathan got a
$5,000 campaign contribution from
an attorney; coincidentally, she
ruled in his or her favor a few days
earlier.
When judges are corrupted, they
think they are above the law and
they assume they can insult the intelligence of the constituents that
faithfully march to the voting polls
to exercise their most precious
right: the right to vote.
In the primary election Las Vegas saw a bad judge lose her race;
hopefully in the November 4 general election, others — like Doug
Smith and Vincent Ochoa — will
not be reelected, and candidates like
Monti Levy will not be elected for
not having control of her own campaign and for allowing others to
decide for her.
Las Vegas Tribune has, on its
radio station radiotribune.com, applauded the courage of Christine
Guerci-Nyhus for running against
a judge that thinks he is above the
law and is under the assumption that
a law group — that believes itself
powerful enough to intimidate candidates and offers them help in return for a fund-raising — may significantly help him when they may
not bring in enough money to buy
even one television commercial or
one 30-second radio spot.
The newspaper may not endorse
candidates any longer but it does
recommend that the voters see the
history and record of Christine
Guerci-Nyhus before going to the
voting polls.
Guerci-Nyhus
Re-Elect
tions are, we should be able to talk
to the kids who are there,” he told
Fox.
Nebraska faces a similar situation.
“I found out in the last 48 hours
that approximately 200 illegal individuals have been transported to
Nebraska [by the federal government],” Nebraska Gov. Dave
Heineman (R) told Politico, “The
federal government is complicit in
a secret operation to transfer illegal individuals to my state and they
won’t tell us who they are.”
At Fort Sill in Oklahoma, 1,100
immigrant children are being
housed.
Gov. Mary Fallin (R) tells Politico that there’s been no guidance
about how long the children will be
housed, whether they’re entitled to
any taxpayer-funded benefits, from
education to Medicaid to foster
care. And she’s unsure whether they
might be “let loose in the United
States” once they turn 18.
“Those are all the questions and
concerns that governors like myself,” she said. “They are children
so we want to treat them very humanely, but we also have a lot of
concerns.”
Some of those concerns break
down along partisan lines.
Republican governors and lawmakers emphasize border security
and potential problems in dealing
with an estimated 52,000 immigrants who have come to the U.S.
so far this year — double last year’s
rate, according to U.S. Customs and
Border Protection — which they
blame on the Obama administration.
Democrats place the blame on
the Republican-controlled U.S.
House of Representatives, which
has refused to take up bipartisan
immigration reform legislation
passed by the Senate. They’re also
more inclined to emphasize what
they see as a humanitarian crisis
involving refugees from a part of
the world that has grown increasingly violent.
“We are not a country that
should turn children away and send
them back to certain death,” Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) told
reporters Friday at a National Governors Association meeting in
Nashville. “It is contrary to everything we stand for as a people to
try to summarily send children back
to death... in a place where drug
gangs are the greatest threat to stability, rule of law and democratic
institutions in this hemisphere.”
Meanwhile, the immigration
debate continued Sunday on the TV
news programs.
“We are faced with an extraordinary situation where thousands of
people, young people especially, are
fleeing Central American for economic reasons, to get away from
endemic violence in their countries,” U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Can you see where the critics
are coming from when you see
buses of people being brought inland after they come here illegally?”
Mr. Holder was asked.
“Let me just say this: Our immigration laws are broken,” he replied. “It’s why we need comprehensive immigration reform.”
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R)
said that to “staunch this flow, you
do not have to have a change in
law.” He says President Obama
should order more National Guard
troops along the border.
“They need to be right on the
river,” Gov. Perry said. “They need
to be there as a show of force because that’s the message that gets
sent back very quickly back to Central America.”
(Left to right) Travis Kai Torres of Adatto Men’s Wear, Eva Secchiari of
Life After Active Duty and Andrick Wesley, CEO of All Computer Needs.
BUSINESS NETWORK MIXER
Business Networking is
made extremely simple
By John Thomas
Las Vegas Tribune
Marketing, Money, and Management — or M-3; that was the theme
and purpose of this buisness networking put on by Mr. Andrick Wesley
and the staff over at All Computer Needs on July 9th, from 6 to 9 p.m., at
their 7495 W. Azure Drive address.
Having arrived late and having missed a couple of speakers at this
Business Network Mixer, one of which was the present mayor of North
Las Vegas, John Lee, I felt I had missed the best part. I was wrong. Bert
Villa from All Computer began a very explicit but easily understood explanation of the use of Digital Media in your buisness.
In the 10 - 15 minutes it took him to talk about how websites work in
conjuntion with marketing, you’ve got it.
Mendora Anderson from Innovative Marketing and Lora Hendrickson
from Radioactive Productions were just as dynamic talking about marketing plans, effective advertising, and the use of video on the Internet.
However, if your buisness is broken, needs a jolt or a reality check and
actual organization, Dr. Donna Thomas-Rodgers is your answer. What
Dr. Donna does is give you the tools to take control of your business and
increase your bottom line. She is very blunt and truthful; but most all,
knowledgeable.
Not only was I happy to be a part of M-3, looking around the room at
other busnesses — such as The Construction Notebook, Life After Active
Duty, and all the other people — my only thought was: “this is good
stuff.”
Child Migrants
Association.
The president has asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency
funding to deal with the rising numbers of unaccompanied minors and
other Central American immigrants
slipping across the border, primarily through south Texas.
Minors from Mexico also are
being captured crossing the border,
but with few exceptions, they are
quickly screened and sent back.
Central American minors, after
being processed by border patrol,
are sent to approximately 100 permanent shelters, according to Mr.
Wolfe. There, children can attend
classes and get counseling under
tight supervision.
The large influx of children has
forced the government to open additional temporary shelters.
The release of the children to a
relative or guardian is appropriate
under a 2008 bipartisan law that
offers enhanced protection to young
border-crossers from non-neighboring countries, Mr. Chen says.
Children who are united with
relatives must appear in immigration court for a legal review of their
case. After what can be a lengthy
process because of a backlog, they
may be allowed to stay if they are
eligible.
Many minors may not qualify to
remain here, Chen notes, “but our
legal system will provide them a
fair result, not something that’s
done by a summary process at the
border.”
But some members of Congress
have signaled that they will seek to
expedite the deportation process for
Central American minors, something the White House also has alluded to.
Texas lawmakers Sen. John
Cornyn (R) and Rep. Henry Cuellar
(D) have announced plans to introduce legislation that would amend
the 2008 law to enable a speedy return of unaccompanied minors to
their native countries.
Republican Sens. John McCain
and Jeff Flake and Rep. Matt
Salmon (R) — all of Arizona, where
many Central Americans caught in
Texas are now in detention — also
plan to file similar legislation.
“This crisis will continue until
the parents who paid thousands of
dollars to smuggle their children
north to the United States see planeloads of them landing back at home
— their money wasted,” Senator
McCain said in a statement.
In what was billed as a first, a
chartered flight carrying mothers
and children being deported by the
US landed Monday in Honduras,
according to the Los Angeles
Times. U.S. officials say more such
flights will occur.
All of us are victims
and no one is immune
By Thomas A Nagy
Special to the Las Vegas Tribune
Part Sixth of a Series
How and why would a ninetypound woman become a target for
assassination by forces sworn “to
protect and serve?” Other than asking for justice regarding the murder of her twenty-five year old son,
then demanding action after initial
efforts are rebuffed, what has
Cynthia Turner done to incur such
wrath?
Why would a deputy district attorney or a police homicide detective say to a grieving mother asking for justice, “You’re not going
away, are you?”
There was a missed opportunity.
In response to that last question it
would have been appropriate to answer, “I plan to fade away as soon
as you bring the woman who killed
my son to justice and prosecute her,
and all responsible for my son’s
murder.” This is to say, everyone
familiar with this case knows who
is responsible, who committed the
murder and how it was done. Nevertheless, those empowered to collect evidence and testimony, sufficient to bring the case to trial, have
refused to do so. Instead, overt efforts are made to intimidate, harass
and even to kill Cynthia Turner.
What’s going on?
Last week I wrote about an attempt on Cynthia Turner’s life. An
SUV driver made it a brief mission
to target her small truck on Boulder Highway, and then attempted to
forcefully direct it into trees in the
median at 45 miles per hour. This
was an expert driver accustomed to
maneuvering at high speeds in
dense traffic. As President John F.
Kennedy said particularly in respect
to government, “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”
All of us who watch local television news see too frequently those
stories about police roughing
people up, tazing and sometimes
shooting to death people who, as it
later turns out, posed no threat to
anyone except perhaps themselves.
These events happen in Las Vegas,
and in nearly every major city in
the United States. For some inexplicable reason, populations in general accept this development in society without protest. Perhaps it is
fear of becoming a target, then yet
another victim?
Even as we give in to this widespread fear of becoming another
target, and another victim of violence at the hands of government
officials, we are indeed victims. To
give in to the fear is to become that
victim by design. Those who create and perpetuate the fear know
this. Yet they seem not to know that
they, too, are victims of their own
actions. Those who instill fear in
others, the population in general,
you and me and everyone else who
remains silent and complicit by silence, and complicit by escaping
into an abyss of oblivion, insulated
from our shared reality by personal
pleasures, gambling, drugs, sex, alcohol, sports and television, we all
become victims of the violence of
our culture. We are all trapped.
In a previous article I wrote that
Cynthia Turner is but one person
who suffers from Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder, or PTSD, as a result of her experience and since
becoming a surviving victim of her
son’s murder. Most of us are familiar with the term, but not necessarily the symptoms. Four major characteristics of PTSD are: reliving
events through memory or by reenactments, avoiding similar circumstances, becoming emotionally
numb and being or feeling “wired.”
This last symptom has numerous
outlets or signs, including trouble
sleeping, difficulty concentrating,
having a quick temper, being suspicious of others, and being on
guard for personal safety much of
the time. Evidently very large segments of our society are suffering
from PTSD.
The most revealing and important observation to make is that of
avoidance. We live in a society that
has become increasingly numb. We
avoid emotional commitments as
though commitments are a deadly
plague. This is a “Hook-up Society,” especially for those under the
age of forty. People don’t want to
feel deeply about others. “Here today, gone tomorrow.” Life is too
short, and uncertain; when someone is gone from your life, “get over
it and move on.”
Life is too short; there are too
many things to enjoy in life, and no
room for regrets or looking back.
Have your bags packed; be ready
to go. Leave your personal baggage
behind. “I don’t want to know about
what happens in the rest of the
world; not my problem.” “If it
doesn’t affect me, don’t tell me
about it.” Why care about the price
of tea in China?
The fact is, we are surrounded
by people who don’t want to know
how disconnected they are from the
world in which they live. This is especially true of the residents of Las
Vegas, Sin City, but even more so
with the rest of this country. What
happens in Vegas does not stay in
Vegas; it is spreading throughout
this country, carried on the wind to
the rest of this world. This place just
happens to be like that finger held
up in dry, desert air by which one
can tell which way the wind is
blowing, how cold or hot, and how
much humidity. We live in a spiritually dry climate, and drought is
increasing.
Anther tell-tale sign of PTSD is
the desire to forget about events or
circumstances that have traumatic
effects. Bury the feelings that arise
within victims by some sort of
numbing substance, be it alcohol, a
prescription or non-licit drug, or the
chemicals released in one’s brain by
gambling. Do whatever it takes to
forget. These are the sanctioned
methods encouraged by those who
instill that never-ending stream of
fear in us, those who perpetuate that
sense of drama, trauma and fear.
Two arms of one monstrous body
hold the keys; the “entertainment”
industry that offers its endless menu
of sensational violence and specialeffects dramatic fictions that keep
audiences rapt and hypnotized, and
everyday forces dressed in riot gear
or police uniforms, wearing intimidating grimaces and deadly weapons always at the ready. Add to that
a few well-timed reports of helpless victims, tazed to death, or an
occasional ice-cream vendor shot to
death while wearing handcuffs and
sitting passively on a curb speaking out about one’s innocence. No
sooner do we hear these reports than
the PTSD sets in and we seek some
way to erase the exceedingly harsh
truth from our memories.
Whether aware or not, most everyone in this county, Clark County,
Nevada, suffers some form of
PTSD. It’s only a matter of degree;
how numb you have become, but
not how immune. On both sides of
the badge, it has set in. Some who
wear the badge are so benumbed
that they can blow away an innocent mother seeking justice without
feeling a twinge of remorse, just
because they can get away with it.
At least... while on Earth, for a brief
time, but not for eternity. Sooner or
later, we all “sleep in the bed you
make” for ourselves. The bed we
make is eternal, and no one is immune.
*****
Thomas A. Nagy is the author of
Cannabis Consumer Handbook
available at Amazon.com, and the
blog
ReGeneration
at
blogspot.com.
email:
[email protected]
EDITORIALS
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. — Thomas Jefferson
Our Point of View
Justice is
NOT for all
After a friend pointed out the story of a man that spent
eight years fighting for his freedom, his reputation and the
opportunity of seeing his child graduate, we read it and
we had to agree it was a happy ending for that young man.
However, his case may be unique because he was able
to prove he was telling the truth from the beginning with
the help of two — not one, but two — Clark County prosecutors.
That alone is unique and those two prosecutors should
be commended because we all know how prosecutors in
Clark County work. Prosecutors are never wrong; they
have to get a conviction regardless, and most likely they
would never admit to any wrongdoing. They are perfect
in their own mind, although not in the mind of anyone
who has had the misfortune of facing a Clark County prosecutor, and most definitely not in the minds of our editorial board, since we all know how ready the police department is to plant evidence and/or hide the truth.
The article, penned by Francis McCabe and appearing
in the daily newspaper, stated, “On the eve of his trial, the
Clark County district attorney’s office handed over a Las
Vegas police detective’s notes from 2006 that questioned
the validity of the accusations made by the girls.”
In the article, which was publicized almost like a public
relations piece for the prosecutors — and of course, for
the police too, but especially since it is very rare for a
county prosecutor to admit he or she has ever been wrong
— McCabe wrote,“What is known is that Villalta — who
steadfastly denied the charges — has been vindicated, and
a district judge has dismissed the case with prejudice,
meaning he never again can be charged for the same
crime.”
Vindicated? Really? What happened to the eight years
of suffering and anguish and nerve-wracking nights? Only
those who have not been accused of a crime they have not
committed could consider Villalta as being “vindicated”;
only those who have not lost their jobs because the lawmasters of our community “questioned the validity of the
accusations” could view Villalta as having been “vindicated.”
However, the case is far from being unique at all. Las
Vegas Tribune reported last year on the case of Manuel
Menendez and followed the story to the end.
Menendez’s ex-wife accused him of molesting her
granddaughter. He went to prison for twenty years and
after new evidence came out, the judge reduced his sentence to ten years, but he appealed that sentence also, and
against two hysterical deputy district attorneys who did
not want the judge to grant the retrial, Menendez got a
new trial. At that trial, the daughter and the supposed molested granddaughter testified that the charges were not
true and that the ex-wife had the habit of accusing all —
yes ALL — the men with whom she had relationships,
husbands or not, of molesting minors every time they left
her.
For some strange ulterior motive, the judge that up to
then had a fair reputation, gave up and took the side of the
two hysterical deputy district attorneys and sent an innocent man back to prison, even with all the proof that was
needed to show that he did not commit the crime of which
he was accused.
The judge, Jim Bixler, must have been too busy preparing himself for his new career as a “modern drug dealer”
after applying for a marijuana license and becoming a
member of our new society after he retires at the end of
the year.
If we look at the history of the “pillars of the community” in our law enforcement and prosecution departments,
we will not see Villalta’s case as all that unique; there are
many (and we very earnestly stress “many,” and point out
that we are not saying “all,” as some police groupies might
want to believe we said about even the genuinely guilty
and convicted) individuals who are unjustifiably part of
our prison system in one way or another, sometimes due
to the fact that the truth was not allowed in court, as happened in the case of Kirstin Lobato, the young lady who
has proven that she was not even near the crime scene at
the time it happened, and the prosecutors and the judge in
the case did not allow that small fact to be known to the
jury. On top of that, she has not even been allowed to
present a DNA test that would clear her of the crime and
everyone is wondering why.
And Justice For All is the name of a popular movie starring Al Pacino, from over 30 years ago. For a movie, the
title is good, but in real life the title should be Justice is
Not For All, since obviously it is only for those to whom
the system grants it, and only if the granting of such Justice is convenient for those concerned.
Way past time to demand freedom
for Marine Sergeant Tahmooressi
By Perly Viasmensky
On July 3, 2014, I wrote about U.S. Marine Sgt.
Andrew Tahmooressi who has been jailed in Mexico
since March 31 of this year. U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew
Tahmooressi, 25, who served two tours in Afghanistan, was headed to dinner with friends to a Mexican
restaurant in San Ysidro on March 31 and accidentally missed the last exit before the Mexican border
when he mistakenly wound up at a border crossing
point in Tijuana. Without the ability to turn around
before he crossed the border, he proceeded to the Mexican customs post where he explained that he missed
the exit before the crossing, and volunteered that he
had three U.S. legal guns in the vehicle. After that,
Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi was arrested and charged
with gun smuggling into Mexico.
More than 500 armed Mexican military and law
enforcement personnel have crossed the U.S. border
without permission over the past decade, raising questions over why a U.S. Marine remains jailed in Mexico
for a similar offense under catastrophic conditions. Sgt.
Andrew Tahmooressi, who has been held in Mexico’s
prison system since March, had a court hearing on his
case last Wednesday, and on Thursday the federal
Mexican judge, Victor Octavio Luna Escobedo, ruled
that he must stay behind bars for a further time period
— at least until another hearing expected later in the
summer sometime in August. Hundreds of thousands
of people are crossing the border from Mexico to the
U.S.; they claim they are unaccompanied children, but
I see faces of lots of adults. But let’s assume the majority are children; still they continue crossing with
the blessings of our government and they don’t move
a finger on behalf of a U.S. Marine. The Honduran
foreign minister, Mireya Aguero de Corrales, suggested
minors from her country should be granted special sta-
tus to stay in the United States on “humanitarian
grounds.”
The consul of Honduras to Arizona, Tony Banegas,
told KPHO-TV that children had complained about the
food at the shelter. “This morning they switched to
burritos, but they complained the eggs were cold. They
complained they had a burrito but had to throw it in
the trash,” Banegas said.
Throwing food in the trash when hundreds of American children are homeless and going hungry?
THEY can continue crossing, but our Marine remains in jail in Mexico. And all those crossing illegally are expecting steak and lobster from us? Humanitarian grounds? Complaining about the food they are
receiving? Complaining that they have to sleep on the
floor? For God’s sake, they have been sleeping in hammocks since the day they were born. What Americans
might find surprising is that Sgt. Tahmooressi “only
gets a piece of bread and some sugar water for dinner.” Lunches are a little better, Tahmooressi said, with
some chicken or beef. And beans are served, too, he
said. Are they talking about humanitarian grounds? Do
we need to laugh or cry? What about humanitarian
grounds for Sgt. Tahmooressi?
In an interview with WND from his Mexican jail
cell, Tahmooressi confirmed that the U.S. State Department has not contacted him, nor has he been able
to talk with them. In a letter I received from US Senator Dean Heller, dated June 30, 2014, third paragraph,
in response to a correspondence I sent about my deep
concerns for the fate of Sgt. Tahmooressi, some member of the Senator’s staff (because I don’t believe the
Senator wrote the letter himself) wrote: “ I have forwarded your concerns to the State Department and
asked them to respond to your concerns directly.”
(See Viasmensky, Page 9)
ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Is it hate? A quest for power? The inability to stop?
The Palestinian-Israeli War:
Why do they keep fighting?
By Marami
that Christians, Jews and Muslims
Those who know the feeling of
alike, all of whom strangely enough
hatred for another human being or
share the thread of religion attached
for a whole race or group of individuto God — by whatever name they
als can probably be satisfied with
may call him or whatever personalusing “hate” for a reason when it
ity they may ascribe to him — would
comes to the ongoing battle between
want the same thing: peace.
themselves and whoever is on the
One cannot sell the idea of peace
other side.
with a gun in one’s hand or an impleThose who have been put down,
ment of war behind one’s back. One
locked out, emasculated or simply
cannot buy the notion of peace if one
minimized for whatever reason, in
is subjected to every kind of degrafront of their peers, their enemies, or
dation or inhumanity that does not acthe whole world, can understand the
cept you as a human being, deservMARAMIS CHOUFANI
quest for finally gaining and using whatever power ing of your place to live, your right to work, worship
they have at hand.
and wander freely about your surrounding hills and
Anyone who has ever heard of the Hatfields and valleys and towns. One cannot pretend to have peace
the McCoys can probably understand the notion that in one’s pocket when all that is ever offered to one’s
once a war between two factions is in full swing, it neighbor is the barest facade of tolerance that may turn
might be handed down to the next generation on “gen- into overt hostility at the drop of a hat.
eral principles” and might go on and on and never
Why ever wars — even those that just flare up “now
end. Their ongoing animosity for each other, and by and then” and are not even called wars — may have
consequence, for all the assorted and diverse relatives, started, it is more important to face why they continue.
including those by marriage — and of course, all the Wouldn’t it be far easier to reach that elusive goal of
innocent children born to either side along the way — Peace if everyone could actually know that everyone
has become symbolic of that kind of just-can’t-stop-it else also wanted peace? If all those who want peace
fighting that goes nowhere. Thankfully, the Hatfields could stand on one side of the land, leaving on the other
and the McCoys did come to a peaceful signed agree- side all those who choose to keep fighting, no matter
ment somewhere along the way, and that dreadful and the reason (they enjoy fighting, they can’t let go of
useless fighting has come to an end.
their hatred, they feel the need to be victorious by conWould that the two sides in this dreadful and hate- quest to “prove” that they are right, etc.), those on the
ful fighting could do as much.
side of peace would far outnumber those who choose
The news about another attack, another killing, in war. As they look across at each other, they would see
that “holy” part of the world may be just news to some far more than human targets or human weapons. There
people, but it’s quite another thing to realize you were would be all those children’s faces with that unspoken
there just a few short months ago, in the very area that question in their eyes: Will we ever have a normal life
is under attack once again. While visiting what we without feeling that we or our parents might be killed
refer to as the Holy Land, which is smack dab in the today? There would be pregnant women, wondering if
middle of all this conflict and contention, everywhere they should even bring their unborn child into the nightwe went people would say — not just to me, but to mare that they had prayed would turn back into their
each other — “Pray for peace.” It did not seem strange
(See Maramis, Page 11)
VIEW POINTS
Editors note: The views expressed are entirely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Las Vegas Tribune.
Crony Capitalist-opoly: Where the
Odds are Stacked Against the Little Guy
gets the Government to
By Chuck Muth
force Biz #2 to retroacThe beloved board
tively make major operagame Monopoly has
tional changes and expenspawned all manner of
sive upgrades to its propthemed spinoffs. There’s
erties.
Dog-opoly, ChocolateTo make matters
opoly,
KISS-opoly,
worse, after Biz #2 comMuppet-opoly, Elvispletes the forced upopoly and even Las Vegasgrades, let’s say Biz #1
opoly.
comes back to the GovThere isn’t yet a Neernment and demands
vada-opoly, but if there
that Biz #2 be forced to
was, the rules of the game
make even MORE exCHUCK MUTH
would have to be changed
significantly to be realistic.
pensive upgrades and redesigns. A neverFirst, there would be two competing ending competitor-inspired/governmentbusinesses. Biz #1 would own Boardwalk imposed business nightmare.
and Park Place and have a hotel/casino on
Unfortunately, this isn’t a game. It’s exeach space. Every other property would be actly what’s been going on the last couple
owned by Biz #2, with just one little neigh- of years — with Station Casinos being Biz
borhood tavern on each space.
#1 and Dotty’s Neighborhood Taverns beNaturally, the Government would con- ing Biz #2.
trol all of the Railroads and Utilities and
Dotty’s is a great Nevada business sucalso serve as the Banker and Jailer.
cess story. In 1995, founder Craig Estey
Forget the dice. When it’s their turn, the opened six Dotty’s neighborhood taverns
players would simply announce how many in Nevada. At the time, all the so-called
spaces, between 2 and 12, they wish to ad- experts predicted his business model would
vance. Biz #1 and Biz #2 would offer in- fail. Instead, Dotty’s took off, and now has
centives to get the players to visit one of dozens of locations all across the state.
their properties. When they do, the player
So in 2011, Stations and other Big Gamspends the listed amount while on that ing operators started agitating state and lospace.
cal governments to screw with Dotty’s sucNow a player with a lot of cash might cessful business model and inhibit the small
be enticed to go to a Biz #1 property in re- business’s ability to expand and compete
turn for dinner for two and a show. Players profitably. Outrageous, real-life crony capiwith less cash would likely settle for pa- talism.
tronizing Biz #2 properties for nothing more
Oh, and get ready to play the newest
than convenience and an occasional free spin-off version: Taxi-opoly. In this game,
drink for playing the video poker machines. the Government will team up with the
Different strokes for different strokes. state’s taxicab industry to crush ride-sharFree market competition. But here’s the ing competitors such as Uber and Lyft.
twist.
*****
Let’s say a lot people like to go to Biz
Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Out#2 properties and Biz #1 doesn’t like hav- reach, a non-profit public policy grassroots
ing the competition. So in the middle of the advocacy organization. He may be reached
game Biz #1 goes to the Government and at [email protected].
Three Fears That
Shape Your Leadership
By Doug Dickerson
The fear of
One of the greatest disoverestimating
coveries a man makes, one
your potential
of the great surprises, is to
This fear is rooted in a
find he can do what he was
“who me?” mentality.
afraid he couldn’t do. —
This is a fear that
Henry Ford
causes you to think too
The story is told of two
little of your gifts, talents,
explorers who were on a
and leadership abilities. If
jungle safari when sudyou ever buy-in to the nodenly a ferocious lion
tion that you are not meant
jumped in front of them.
to be where you are, do“Keep calm” the first man
ing what you are doing,
whispered. “Remember
and possessing the skills to
what we read in that book
be there, you will never
DOUG DICKERSON
on wild animals? If you stand perfectly still reach your full potential.
and look the lion in the eye, he will turn
Winston Churchill said, “Continuous
and run.” “Sure,” replied his companion. effort, not strength or intelligence- is the
“You’ve read the book, and I’ve read the key to unlocking our potential.” Your potential is always fluid as you continue to
book. But has the lion read the book?”
What’s your phobia? For some it’s a fear grow. Your level of potential today is not
of heights, or flying. For others it may be the same as it was five years ago simply
riding in an elevator, speaking in public, or based on your growth. The bar will be
Friday the 13th. For me, it’s spiders. I can higher five years out as your growth pathandle most anything you throw my way, tern continues. The key here is to have faith
but for some reason spiders creep me out. in your abilities and to never entertain negaYou will face many challenges as a tive thoughts or attitudes that would hold
leader. One of the the best discoveries to you back. Your potential will be unlimited
make on your leadership journey is that when you take the limits off your potensome of the things you were afraid of were, tial.
The fear of empowering others
in fact, nothing to be afraid of at all. It’s as
This fear is rooted in the “why them?”
you grow and gain confidence in your talmentality.
ents and abilities that you can look back on
Every smart leader understands the imsome of your unfounded fears and smile.
pact
and importance of empowered teams.
So what fears can actually make you a betEmpowered
teams are more productive,
ter leader? Here are three for your considcreate
positive
energy, and build morale in
eration.
ways
you
can’t
do
when individuals are isoThe fear of thinking too big
lated
from
one
another.
But a fear of emThis fear is rooted in the “what if?” menpowering
others
can
undercut
that culture
tality.
and
progress.
Donald Trump said, “I like thinking big.
The fear of empowering others likely has
If you’re going to be thinking anything, you
less to do with your team than it does with
may as well think big.” That’s the rub with
your own insecurities or fear of not being
some leaders. They had rather play it safe
in control. Whatever the reason; it’s a hinwith small thinking. After all, small thinkdrance to your progress and success. But
ing equals small risks. But big thinking rewhen you shed that fear and believe in your
quires big risks and big sacrifices. And did
people, you can unleash your team to do
I mention the issue of pride? After all, as
what they were meant to do. Empowering
the logic goes, how would it look if I failed?
others begins as you overpower your fears.
Let me ask you the question that’s been
Every leader faces fear. That’s common.
around for a while. What would you attempt How you respond to your fear will deterif you knew that you could not fail? Lead- mine the shape of your leadership. Don’t
ers who think big had rather fail at attempt- be afraid to think big, be confident in youring something big than succeed at some- self and your abilities, and empower oththing small. You overcome this fear of ers. When you do fear can’t win.
thinking too big with hard work and dediDoug Dickerson is a syndicated columcation. Don’t let the fear of thinking too big nist. He writes a weekly column for this
hold you back. Embrace your big ideas, newspaper. To contact Doug Dickerson,
goals, and dreams and see where they take email
him
at
ddickerson@
you.
lasvegastribune.com.
Putin pledges to help revive
Cuba’s offshore oil exploration
By Daniel Trotta
United States has blackHavana — Russian
listed individuals believed
President Vladimir Putin
to be part of Putin’s inner
pledged to help revive
circle, and Sechin is among
Cuba’s struggling offshore
the most influential people
oil exploration on Friday at
in Russia.
the start of a six-day tour
Putin will also visit Arof Latin America as Rusgentina and Brazil for bisia aims to reassert its inlateral talks, and while in
fluence on the communistBrazil he will participate in
ruled island.
a summit of the so-called
Putin was joined in HaBRICS nations of Brazil,
vana by close ally and soRussia, India, China and
DANIEL TROTTA
called Russian oil czar Igor
South Africa on Tuesday
Sechin, the chairman of state oil company and Wednesday.
Rosneft, to finalize a deal to explore for oil
On his first stop in Cuba, the Cold War
off Cuba’s northern coast.
ally of the former Soviet Union situated
The Russian president also promised to only 90 miles from the United States, Putin
reinvest $3.5 billion of Cuban debt with met with former President Fidel Castro and
Russia into development projects on the is- current President Raul Castro before reland, part of a deal in which Russia forgave ceiving the Medal of Jose Marti, Cuba’s
90 percent of Cuba’s debt, or almost $32 highest decoration.
billion, most of it originating from Soviet
Fidel Castro, 87, stepped down in favor
loans to a fellow communist state.
of his brother for health reasons in 2008
Both measures inject much-needed for- after 49 years in power. For an hour he and
eign investment into Cuba and demonstrate Putin discussed international affairs, the
an act of defiance against the United States, global economy and Russian-Cuban relawhich maintains a 52-year-old economic tions, the Kremlin said.
embargo that effectively shuts out many
Any major oil find would radically imWestern companies from doing business in prove Cuba’s economic trajectory.
Cuba.
Cuba produces about 55,000 barrels per
“We will provide support to our Cuban day (bdp) through aging onshore wells and
friends to overcome the illegal blockade of imports about 110,000 bpd on favorable
Cuba,” Putin said.
terms from socialist ally Venezuela.
Putin’s journey to the back yard of the
Following a number of foreign compaUnited States comes as he is under pres- nies whose wells have all come up dry,
sure from the West to help restrain pro-Rus- Russian oil company Zarubezhneft last year
sian separatists in Ukraine and urge them began drilling in Cuba’s Boca de Jaruco
to find a negotiated solution.
area. That project has been suspended.
Sechin is one of the Russian executives Zarubezhneft also has been helping Cuba
the United States has targeted for economic extract from existing onshore wells.
sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. The
(See Trotta, Page 9)
BEHIND THE MIKE
We are Truly Blessed!
By Michael A. Aun
where they honored his
Sometimes we simply
latest accomplishments
take things for granted and
of his weightlifting team
most especially the good
as they had another
things we have in our lives.
record year and he was
I get to interview a
selected Orange Belt
dozen people per week in
Conference Coach of the
my insurance practice. In
Year.
the course of solving their
Despite all the honors
problems and addressing
and recognition, his
their concerns, I also begreatest reward was witcome a first-hand witness
nessing high school athto their pain and their tragletes standing with tears
edies.
in their eyes and giving
MICHAEL A. AUN
Many simply take these
testimony about how
things in stride; others take it to their graves. “Coach Aun was like a second father to
The two biggest issues for most boil down them... You are the father I never had,” said
to two words- worry and regret. They worry one. My heart was warmed more by this
about things unnecessarily.
than any of the awards.
The social scientists tell us that 92 perCory’s wife Casey was also chosen her
cent of the things we worry about never school’s Teacher of the Year but as far as
come to pass. So we’re making a huge emo- I’m concerned, she gets a free pass for life
tional down payment on something that because she gave me my greatest treasures,
may never come to fruition.
my beautiful granddaughters, Ashley and
And then there’s regret. We look back Ava. I call Casey “mooch” because she
and say to ourselves “would-a, could-a, loves to mooch a meal at our house, which
should-a,” wishing things have been done I gladly give up just to see my beautiful
differently. With our children, we must grandbabies.
sadly conclude one important fact: you can
Cory’s twin brother Jason is a molecube responsible to them but not for them.
lar microbiologist and helps with Cory’s
I recently attended the annual meeting weightlifting team when he’s in town. Jaof the Million Dollar Round Table for the son is married to a wonderful woman, Jesfinancial services industry in Toronto, sica, who just became Dr. Jessica Aun as
Ontario, Canada. I was actually the closing she completed Med School this June.
speaker for this same venue in 1989 in the
I nicknamed her “Runt” years ago besame facility, the Toronto Convention Cen- cause she’s five foot nothing and weighs a
ter with 9,000 of my fellow financial pro- hundred nothing, but can lift so much
fessionals.
weight she almost earned a spot on the US
I recall that day so fondly, joining the Olympic Team in weightlifting.
other Main Platform presenters Terry
My youngest son is Christopher, who
Bradshaw, Brian Tracy, CSP, CPAE and W. followed in his mother’s footsteps and beMitchell, CSP, CPAE. It was a high point came a Registered Nurse. He plies his trade
of my speaking career because the MDRT in the busiest Emergency Room in Orlando,
meeting is considered the plumb of the Florida, where ironically, Dr. Runt just
speaking industry. When you make it to the joined the staff. I’m not sure that ER can
main platform, you’ve done well for your- handle two Aun’s, but they’re going to give
self. They only bring in the best speakers it a whirl.
from across the planet.
Christopher, who was nicknamed “Gutt”
This year was no exception. The amaz- by his older twin brothers when he was
ing stories of triumph and tragedy that are born, has been unable to shake the handle,
shared on the main platform bring humil- so they just call him Nurse Gutt down at
ity to your own life because you realize that the ER. He is married to a wonderful school
you and your family are blessed beyond teacher, Viviana, who got the handle of
your greatest expectation.
“Bones” from yours truly, because she’s all
I have three terrific sons. I’ve often said skin and bones.
I wish I could be half the man that they are.
All three of my daughters-in-law are
Cory is one of my twins and he’s a coach kind and wonderful people. Yes, my wife
and a school teacher, and he’s darn good at Christine and I are truly blessed!
both. He has earned Coach of the Year hon*****
ors for all of Osceola County’s hundreds of
Michael Aun is a syndicated columnist
high school coaches and Teacher of the Year and writes a weekly column for this newshonors at St. Cloud High School.
paper. To contact Michael Aun, email him
I recently attended his Athletic Banquet at [email protected].
COMMENTARIES
Editors note: The views expressed are entirely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Las Vegas Tribune.
Improving Metro: Or can they
keep justifying everything?
By Norman Jahn
I spend a significant amount of
time trying to keep up with the news
from Las Vegas and the news involving the LVMPD. I do this by
visiting the newspaper and TV station websites regularly.
I recently saw another father
asking why his son was killed
(“blown almost in half”) by a Metro
shotgun as he described it. This was
reference the fatal shooting of
Patrick Heki that was under review
last week. I did a Google search to
help remind me which shooting this
was. I thought it may have been the
one where the officers had a suicidal subject, who had allegedly
injected himself with insulin, and
put his gun down. When they then
ordered him to get on the ground,
they claimed that he then jumped
up and ‘went for the gun,’ necessitating that he be shot and stopped.
That suspect actually survived the
shooting! I realized that the Jose
Aguilar shooting on East University was a non-fatal shooting and
Patrick Heki’s was fatal. The
Aguilar shooting has not been reviewed and one of the shooters is
the son of a Metro deputy chief.
To clarify, the Heki shooting has
now been through the ‘fact-finding
review’ with the District Attorney
and the Aguilar shooting (and many
others) are still in the ‘on deck
circle’ for a review. It turned out that
Heki was in possession of a handgun and two long guns on shoulder
slings when he was ordered to the
ground. There were three officers
who fired at him because Heki’s
guns pointed in their direction when
he exited the residence and was told
to get on the ground. Dozens of
rounds were fired according to the
initial reports. Undersheriff Dixon
stated at a press conference that
Heki said he would ‘die tonight.’
Now how is that even relevant to
the shooting to the legal and moral
justification to use deadly force?
LAS VEGAS (KSNV &
MyNews3) — A Las Vegas man
armed with two rifles and a handgun was shot by Metro police when
they responded to a 9-1-1 call.
C 3 TV reported; The hearing
was very emotional for Patrick
Heki’s parents. Daniel Unger says
his son surrendered before police
shot him multiple times.
Police say Heki was suicidal that
night. He walked outside the apartment with a pistol in his hand and
two rifles strapped on his shoulders.
Police say Heki fired at officers in
the middle of the Mountain Vista
apartments and officers returned
fire.
His father disagrees. “They out-
Trotta
An aide to Putin in Moscow said
on Thursday that Zarubeznheft
would sign a new deal in Cuba
along with Rosneft, but in the end
only Rosneft was present. “Developing new blocks on Cuba’s offshore shelf is [expected] in the very
near future,” Putin said.
Daniel Trotta is a foreign correspondent for Reuters news service.
NORMAN JAHN
right murdered him. He was not a
threat,” Unger said. Unger says he
plans to take legal action against
Metro police because his son didn’t
hurt anyone and didn’t point his
weapons at police. The district
attorney’s office will issue a final
report in a few weeks.”
An earlier account of the shooting in the Review-Journal reported;
The police account differs from the
story Heki’s father told the ReviewJournal hours after Heki’s death.
Dan Unger told the ReviewJournal his son obeyed police,
slowly crouched down and placed
the pistol on the sidewalk with both
of his hands in clear view.
Dixon said Heki never went to
the ground until after the shooting.
Heki was taken to Sunrise Hospital
and Medical Center, where he died
less than an hour later.
Citizens are free to make up their
own minds on whether Metro can
be trusted to investigate their own
shootings after the known history
of distrust during the old Coroner’s
Inquest proceedings. Did anyone
notice that NONE of the three officers was reported to have testified
in this ‘fact-finding review’? This
is a massive problem... the new
sheriff should not pin a badge on a
single officer that is not willing to
testify under oath after the use of
deadly force. Many of us completed
entire careers knowing we were
expected to explain (and justify) our
actions. Enough is enough! If new
officers don’t want to agree to this
requirement and start showing
some value for the ‘sanctity’ of human life then they should not bother
to apply for the job! There are
plenty of departments that require
officers to explain their actions and
their unions do not put up a fight
that they might incriminate themselves.
Did anyone also notice that
Metro is often ‘instantaneously’
able to reveal information to the
public as they did in the Heki shoot-
Viamensky
ing (including dispatch recordings)
when they can be ‘spun’ to the advantage of the police department?
They said he claimed he would die
that night and that he made other
statements. None of the responding
officers heard the 9-1-1 calls before
they used deadly force, so how is
that even relevant to the decision
to pull the trigger? The double standard in these situations is that Metro
withholds identical information if
it portrays the police in a negative
light. It is not new for Metro to
vilify the ‘victim’ of a police shooting. Vilifying the suspect after the
fact does not make a shooting justifiable at the time the trigger is
pulled — but this has gone on with
Metro for decades!
It is sickening that Metro keeps
using the same explanations, excuses, and tactics that have been
used since 1992 when Larry Kepler
wrote Sin City Post Mortem: Stories of Real Police Brutality. I’m
certain that many of the young reporters in Las Vegas have no clue
as to who Kepler was or why he
wrote about police shootings over
three decades ago. They might not
even have familiarized themselves
with the Lawrence Mower’s Deadly
Force series in the Review-Journal.
Kepler had taken criminal justice
classes (it is very likely that he took
many more of them than Sheriff’s
candidate Joe Lombardo has ever
taken for his college degrees.
Kepler was also a bartender at a bar
where police officers gathered.
During the period of time he was
working, he was aware of controversial shootings and use of force
incidents involving Metro. He
would also hear ‘talk’ amongst cops
at the bar and I’m sure it was very
revealing, and at times, very disturbing.
He was apparently motivated to
try to expose information to the
public and the focus on contradictions and hope that someone would
scrutinize these shootings –- or at
least publicize his concerns. I’m
sure that he didn’t have any idea
that thirty years later a comprehensive review of Metro’s use of deadly
force would be reported in Las Vegas’ largest newspaper and would
also be the focus of a Department
of Justice review! I remember early
in my career how ‘they’ tried to
brainwash us that Kepler was
‘crazy’ and he was an enemy of the
department.
The description of the ReviewJournal’s Deadly Force e-book, that
is now available on Amazon, in-
Nothing I hate more than when someone insults my intelligence by
passing the buck, especially someone I voted for, such as Senator Dean
Heller.
If the State Department has not had the decency to contact Sgt.
Tahmooressi — an honorably discharged marine who served two tours in
Afghanistan — at the lousy Mexican jail where he is being treated like a
fifth class citizen, what makes the good Senator believe the State Department is going to answer my letter of concern?
Doesn’t the United States government have any more Talibans (or
Mexicans, for that matter) to exchange for Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi?
Perly Viasmensky is the General Manager of the Las Vegas Tribune.
She writes a weekly column in this newspaper. To contact Perly Viasmensky,
email her at pviasmensky@lasvegas tribune.com.
Open Mic
with Gordon Martines
11:00 a.m.
Tuesday and
Thursdays
on
RadioTribune.com
These three individuals will lead Metro if Joe Lombardo gets elected. It
will be a very ugly situation. (left to right: Todd Fasulo, Kevin McMahill,
and Joe Lombardo) Many entry level offficers who have criminal justice
degrees (including Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo) have had more criminal
justice courses than all three of these ‘leaders’ combined!
cudes: “Until now, debate has fo- arrived on the scene, “a Metro ofcused on individual incidents rather ficer spotted Aguilar walking down
than systemic issues that help de- the stairs, holding a shotgun. Oftermine when, where, how and why ficers retreated to a position of
shootings happen. What the news- cover outside of the home. The suspaper found was an insular depart- pect made his way to the driveway
ment that is slow to weed out prob- where he was issued verbal comlem cops and is slower still to adopt mands to drop his weapon and lie
policies and procedures that protect on the ground. Aguilar eventually
both its own officers and the citi- followed those commands; howzens they serve. It is an agency that ever, as officers walked towards the
celebrates a hard-charging police suspect to restrain him, Metro says
culture while often failing to learn Aguilar abruptly jumped up,
from its mistakes. Nowhere is the grabbed his shotgun and pointed it
problem more obvious than in the at approaching officers.
workings of the department’s Use
Two Metro officers discharged
of Force Review Board, a panel of their weapons. Aguilar was struck
officers and civilians that cleared in his lower body and immediately
more than 97 percent of the more fell to the ground. Police were able
than 500 cases of shootings and to restrain him after a brief
other officer use of force incidents struggle.” I guess this is why his
it has reviewed since 1991.”
head was shown bandaged in the
So just how ‘crazy’ was it for booking photo that Metro promptly
Kepler (a non-police officer) to at- gave to the media. He ‘went for’ the
tend Coroner’s Inquest Hearings gun and got his butt kicked. That
and to challenge the system and try sounds good, right? How about
to focus on unnecessary fatal en- making him move far enough away
counters? It was apparently crazy from the gun that he could not reach
then and it is apparently crazy it? How about having some less
NOW because if any member of than lethal cover or employing
Metro challenges the administration other de-escalation tactics? I seem
on deadly force, effective police to recall that there were additional
service, safety in the Air Support officers on the scene. Whether this
Unit, or any other area, they are is correct, or not, guess what? When
likely to get targeted and termi- the Aguilar shooting is reviewed,
nated. Just where is Lt. Gwain the public is probably not going to
Guedry now? He wrote an email hear the officers explain what they
about helicopter safety that some- did or why they did it.
one leaked to the media. I suspect
One of the shooters just happens
his career is finished. Geez–-where to be my “favorite” deputy chief’s
was the media when I wrote all of son. I’m sure ‘Daddy’ will be enmy memos about ineffective police suring a positive outcome just like
service and brain bleeds, beat he takes care of his other boys for
downs, and violence on the Strip? promotions, etc.
Back to scrutiny over deadly
Police officers in Salt Lake City,
force. New reports indicate that Utah and Cleveland, Ohio (and
during the Aguilar shooting, police
(See Jahn, Page 10)
Verdicts and Judgments:
When Life or Death Hangs on a Comma
By Zachariah Parry
Strange as it may sound, as the
judicial branch metes out judgments based on its interpretation of
legislative decree or contractual intent, sometimes the difference between a win and a loss comes down
to the presence or absence of something as seemingly innocuous as a
comma.
A Pirate’s Death for Three
In an 1818 United States Supreme Court case, U.S. v. Palmer,
the high court was faced with the
question of whether three men—
admitted robbers — were also pirates. If pirates, their sentence
would be death. If mere robbers,
they would be allowed to live and
reflect on their lives as almost-pirates.
The statute in question defined
piracy as “murder or robbery, or any
other offence, which, if committed
within the body of a county, would,
by the laws of the United States, be
punishable with death.”
The defendants argued that,
though robbers, they had not committed their robbery in a way that
“would... be punishable with
death.” The prosecution’s position
was that all murder and all robbery
amounted to piracy, and that the
qualifying phrase “which... would...
be punishable with death” was
meant only to apply to “any other
offence.”
The court, it turns out, sided with
the prosecution. Had the legislature
omitted the comma after robbery,
however, the three men’s lives
would have been saved. Indeed, in
the dissenting opinion, Justice
Johnson pointed out that “singular
as it may appear, it really is the fact
in this case, that these mens’ [sic]
lives may depend upon a comma...”
Outside the Realm
of Punctuation
Sir Roger Casement, a defendant
in King v. Casement, a British case,
also met his fate as a result of a
comma (his betrayal of the crown
likely also played a part). In his
Jahn
On The
Legal
Front
By Zachariah B. Parry
case, however, the comma that
proved fatal wasn’t even in the statute — it was an inferred comma.
One law review article summarizes the facts of Casement’s treason as follows:
Sir Roger Casement was an Irish
nationalist who met with German
officials in Berlin and New York at
the outbreak of the First World War.
He submitted plans for insurrection
to the Germans but ultimately travelled to Ireland in a German submarine to persuade nationalist leaders to delay any uprising. He was
captured in April 1916, imprisoned
in the Tower of London, tried with
high treason at the Old Baily for
inciting Irish prisoners held in Germany to rise up, convicted and sentenced to death in June 1916.
On appeal, Casement called into
question the statutory language defining treason. Any man who was
“adherent to the king’s enemies in
his realm giving them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere...”
was a traitor. Notably, there are no
commas in this section of the statute.
The prosecution’s position was
that “or elsewhere” applied to both
conditions—”adherent to the kings
enemies” and “giving them aid and
comfort”—so the statute applied to
all men “adherent to the king’s enemies” anywhere and “giving them
aid and comfort” anywhere.
Casement argued, however, that
the prosecution was reading the
elsewhere in the U.S.) are being indicted by prosecuting attorneys who
are willing to take a stand and examine ‘bad shoots.’ It will be rare that
any officer will be convicted and actually get sentenced to prison; it just
does not happen! There are some extreme incidents that continue to occur (a totally out of control Cleveland police chase and shooting of two
unarmed motorists) has resulted in widespread discipline and criminal
charges. Questionable shootings are starting to result in extra scrutiny
and just because an officer is charged/indicted does NOT mean that he is
guilty of anything! That officer continues to have the same constitutional
protections (at trial) as anyone else who is accused of a crime in America.
I heard a new term recently when Joe Lombardo (free face-time Assistant Sheriff Joe Lombardo campaigning on duty) was quoted in a story
about the police radio system problems (http://lasvegassun.com/news/
2014/jul/03/radio-troubles-prompt-metro-double-officers-patrol/
#.U8PKioJS1lk.email).
Lombardo was explaining how severe the radio problems had become
and how officers were going to ride in pairs for safety. The end of the
story addressed how police training was “paying off’’...
Reality-based training has been a big focus of the department, which
takes officers through realistic situations — both simulated and with actors — they might encounter on the job.
Lombardo noted that of this year’s 11 shootings, all of them involved
officers dealing with suspects in possession of either a knife or a gun —
three knives, eight guns and one replica gun.
In the past, he added, “shootings our officers have been involved with
may have been a mistake of fact.” That means officers sometimes shot,
thinking a suspect was armed but later found to be unarmed.
“It’s my assessment our training is working,” he surmised.
Did I read that correctly? Joe Lombardo said shootings officers have
been involved with ‘may’ have been a MISTAKE OF FACT! If there was
no gun and the officer ‘thought he had a gun’ then that IS a mistake of
fact. There is no ‘may’ or ‘maybe’ when the facts exist. There is a threat
perception issue and shootings are frequently justifiable even when suspects are unarmed... but get with it, Joe. Officers at Metro (and everywhere else) make mistakes of fact! They also lose their discipline. Readers can check out this story (http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/
20140114/police-shooting-at-redondo-beach-man-during-dorner-manhunt-was-reasonable-mistake-da-says) and wonder how this can be allowed to continue. Officers lost control during the manhunt for Christopher Dorner in Los Angeles. They shot up a truck with two ladies delivering papers, rammed and shot up another vehicle, and the elaborate explanation that the District Attorney accepted just can never be accepted if the
public is going to continue to trust the police. These matters must be
reviewed in a different way — they can’t be left to the discretion of an
elected official or someone so likely to favor the police.
So exactly what is a “mistake of fact” shooting, and how is Metro
GETTING BETTER with reality-based training? To be discussed more
next week.
Norm Jahn is a former LVMPD lieutenant, who has also served as a
police chief in Shawano, Wisconsin, and has nearly 25 years of police
experience. Jahn now contributes his opinions and ideas to help improve
policing in general, and in Las Vegas in particular, through his weekly
column in the Las Vegas Tribune.
statute as though there were a
comma before the term “or elsewhere.” He argued that a better
reading of the statute was that his
actions weren’t treacherous because
he had been “adherent to the king’s
enemies” outside the king’s realm,
whereas a traitor had to have both
been “adherent to the king’s enemies in his realm” and “giv[en]
them aid and comfort” anywhere.
The court apparently found
Casement’s argument persuasive
because instead of relying on the
punctuation of the version of the
statute before it, two of the judges
went to inspect the original copy of
the statute, looking for the comma
that could justify the death sentence
meted out by the lower court. Although they found no comma before “or elsewhere,” they found the
next-best thing—a virgule (a slash
[/], the comma’s predecessor)—
right where they needed it to be.
However, there was some question
as to whether the mark was a genuine virgule or just a permanent
shadow created from a crease resulting from six centuries of folding and unfolding of the paper statute. Regardless, the judges had
found their justification, and thus
inferred the comma that resulted in
the hanging of Sir Roger Casement.
Canadian Comma Karma
Comma drama is not limited to
centuries past. Consider a Canadian
case from 2006 that involved a con-
tract dispute between Rogers Communications, a cable company, and
Bell Aliant, the owner of a network
of poles used to run utility lines.
Rogers and Bell signed a contract wherein it was agreed that
Rogers could use Bell’s utility poles
to run cable lines. The language at
issue had to do with the length of
the contract:
“This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and
shall continue in force for a period
of five (5) years from the date it is
made, and thereafter for successive
five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.”
After just a couple of years, Bell
put Rogers on notice that it would
be increasing the lease rate for its
utility poles. Rogers argued that the
contract fixed the prices for at least
the first five years. Like in the previous cases, the question came
down to a qualifying phrase after
the last comma. Did the termination
provision apply to just the successive five-year terms, as Rogers believed, or was Bell right that termination notice could be given in any
of the five-year terms, including the
first?
The court relied on a rule for
contract interpretation called the
doctrine of the last antecedent,
which says that qualifying phrases
typically only modify the last antecedent, except where there is a
comma, which is an indication that
the qualifying phrase is meant to
apply to all antecedents. With this
justification, the court concluded
that the termination notice applied
as much to the first five-year period as to the subsequent ones and
allowed Bell to increase the lease
rate, which meant extra earnings
amounting to $2.13 million.*
On appeal, Rogers hired an expert on contract language who
called into question the validity of
the doctrine of the last antecedent,
arguing that the rule has no basis in
grammar, and has only ever been
used sporadically and inconsistently by courts.
Lucky for Rogers, the Canadian
federal authorities, who drafted the
contract, drafted copies in both English and French. The deciding
court ignored the comma issue and
instead turned to the French version
of the contract. The parallel language in the French version, which
the court determined did not have
the same inherent ambiguity, clarified that Rogers’ understanding was
correct, so Bell’s termination (and
therefore price hike) could not occur at any point within the first five
years.
Whereas Bell was attempting to
twist the meaning of a contract to
produce a $2.13 million windfall,
in the end, not only did it have to
adhere to the original contract
terms, but presumably, due to the
loser-pays Canadian legal system,
it also had to pay for Rogers’
attorney’s fees.
Granted, not all commas carry
the weight of small fortunes or impending execution, but in a world
where grammar is often under-esteemed, the comma is still relevant.
*By making this decision, the
court was apparently ignoring another canon of interpretation that
says an ambiguity should be resolved in favor of an interpretation
that does not render some portions
of the document meaningless. In
this case, if the termination clause
could apply to the first five years,
and therefore a party could terminate any time with enough notice,
then the five years becomes meaningless. The alternate interpretation
is therefore preferable.
*****
Zachariah B. Parry is a civil litigation attorney and partner at his
firm, Pickard Parry Kolbe. He can
be reached at [email protected],
702-910-4300, or through his firm’s
website at www. pickardparry.com,
or
https://plus.google.com/
+ZachariahParry?rel=author
SOCIAL SECURITY AWARENESS
Medicare is here to stay
By The Duke of Fremont Street
The Adventure Continues!
My thoughts on Mr. Donald Sterling and his severe reprimand and
punishment by the NBA:
I believe as Americans we live in the finest country on the planet;
however, I’m personally troubled by the direction our nation seems to be
headed with all the political correctness and the “Big Brother” mindset.
For instance, if a very powerful billionaire such as Mr. Donald Sterling is
unable to express his personal thoughts and opinions during a private
phone conversation with his girlfriend without being severely railroaded,
reprimanded and punished by the NBA, the left wing American media,
numerous other organizations and private individuals, then what chance
do I, a common citizen of this great land, have when expressing my private thoughts to others, especially in a confidential phone conversation?
I guess what I am attempting to convey to you, the reader, was much
better written years ago by the brilliant French historian, philosopher,
and writer, Francious-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), better known by his
pen name, Voltaire. His original quote and famous misquote are as follows: The popular misquote: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will
defend to the death your right to say it.” (“Je dÈsapprouve ce que vous
dites, mais je dÈfendrai ‡ la mort votre droit ‡ le dire.”) This misquote
actually comes from a 1907 book called Friends of Voltaire, by Evelyn
Beatrice Hall.
What Voltaire actually said was: “Think for yourselves and let others
enjoy the privilege to do so too” from Voltaire’s Essay on Tolerance.
I, The Duke Of Fremont Street, totally agree with Voltaire’s point of
view and totally disagree with the “Popular Opinion” on this Donald Sterling matter. I believe Mr. Sterling was mercilessly crucified by a kneejerk, cowardly reaction by the liberal media, the NBA and many, many
others. I also believe that you, the reader, have the right to totally disagree with me and I will defend your right to disagree with me to the
death! In closing I wonder who will be the next “Thought Police” casualty of the “Politically Correct “ society we live in? — at My beloved Las
Vegas!
I wanted to remind you of the “All in Giving Hearts Poker Tournament” at Binion’s Horseshoe, Sunday, July 20, at 6 p.m. Giving Hearts
www.PSIworld.org. All proceeds go towards the 18th annual Giving Day,
which provides a thousand children in need a very special Christmas.
There will be a cash bounty on The Duke’s head for the lucky player that
knocks him out of the tournament. The buy in is $115. See you there!!
Maramis
dream, and praying every hour that when their time comes, their baby can
at least be born into a moment of peace. There would be friends and neighbors of differing faiths and beliefs who have all come to the realization
that everyone needs a home and basic rights, including that of being able
to worship as one chooses–and that your neighbor’s worship does not
and should not cancel out your own. There would be those who might be
“the enemy” by label or name or background, but who choose to see each
other as human beings, worthy of loving their families and raising their
children and praying in their own way. And there would be those on that
other side who cannot see past the hatred in their hearts (“justified” or
not) and the dedication that they have taken on to be victorious at all
costs, including that of losing their own loved ones in their ongoing quest
to “win.”
It may seem like an easy decision to make: Peace or ongoing animosity and war? Those who are so dedicated to their “just” cause cannot see
it ending till they have been vindicated and are triumphant. But perhaps
by that time, everything they hoped to gain will have been destroyed. The
beauty that I saw in Jerusalem and throughout Israel — the landmarks
and “holy places” that still exist today to some extent, even having been
exposed to the ravages of time and man — may one day be all but desecrated by acts of destruction in some form or another to make a point
that already goes without saying.
Looking back on my trip there in late March and early April of this
year, I realize that I put myself in danger without realizing it. At one point
during our tour, when I was near the Western Wall (commonly referred to
as the Wailing Wall by non-Jews), I wandered away (it wasn’t forbidden
on our particular tour) to explore a place that got my attention. I walked
up many stairs, and went through an unmarked door. As I was wandering
through the darkish corridors made of stone, first this way and then that
way, going further into this labyrinth of the unknown, I felt I should have
asked someone to go with me, what with my being able to even get lost in
Las Vegas. Although not deserted, there were few people there; an occasional child running about with a friend, and some men (only) in various
room-like openings in the stones here and there. As I wandered along, not
even knowing where I was going and not passing any other visitors even
remotely like myself, but so enthralled by the strangeness of it all, I ran
into a few people sitting on the ground, perhaps begging or meditating.
But when I came to the end of one of the long corridors, there were soldiers standing there, several of them, with rifles over their shoulders, and
nobody else around but me. They could easily have assumed I was the
“enemy,” if they wanted to do so — wandering into their territory for
who knows what or why, as it were — but on my side of this awkward
situation, I chose to go for the easiest answer to my own question, “What
do I do now?” and just assumed that even soldiers in such a strange and
remote place might understand English, so I simply asked them to please
tell me the way out, since I had gotten lost. I was then pointed in the right
direction (I hoped, since I still needed three more hard-to-come-by sets of
directions, which fortunately I was able to get from both Jewish and
Muslim men willing and able to tell me how to actually get out of there!).
The Holy Land is beautiful and it felt so good to be there, but in many
ways I can see why one could experience the hatefulness more than the
holiness when one lives there today. It’s the old “us” against “them,” or
“our cause” vs. “their cause.” It’s the Hatfields and the McCoys all over
again, without the peace treaty.
Some maps do not even acknowledge Palestine or the Palestinian area
of Israel. Does that mean that Palestinians do not exist? When I lived in
Kuwait, I had a Palestinian driver who was the epitome of kindness. He
always wished me peace and blessed me, in my or his comings and goings. Does that mean that all Palestinians are like him? Hardly. But the
one thing we do know is that all people share the same humanity.
We needn’t all think alike, dress alike, worship alike or be uniform in
any way. We needn’t even like each other, if we have reason not to. That
would totally cancel out anyone’s free will.
So in what then can we ever find unity? How about in wanting world
peace?
Maramis Choufani is the Managing Editor of the Las Vegas Tribune.
She writes a weekly column in this newspaper. To contact Maramis, email
her at [email protected].
By Amanda McWilliams
Social Security Assistant District
Manager in Las Vegas
Medicare went into effect 48
years ago on July 1, 1966. Earlier
that same year, Medicare workers
went door to door trying to get seniors to sign up. Medicare was not
the cornerstone then that it is today
and people did not know whether it
was going to work for the long haul.
Now, nearly half a century later,
Medicare remains one of the most
popular government programs in
the nation.
We can’t see the future, but one
thing’s for sure: Medicare is here
to stay. Medicare provides health
insurance to more than 50 million
Americans. Forty-two million are
people age 65 and older and the
other 8 million are younger and
have disabilities.
Most people first become eligible for Medicare at age 65.
The four parts of Medicare are
parts A, B, C, and D.
—Part A (Hospital Insurance)
helps cover inpatient hospital care,
skilled nursing care, hospice care,
and home health care. Most people
get Medicare Part A premium-free
since it is earned by working and
paying Social Security taxes.
—Part B (Medical Insurance)
helps cover services from doctors
and other outpatient health care providers, outpatient care, home health
care, durable medical equipment,
and some preventive services. Most
people pay a monthly premium for
Part B. In 2014, the premium for
most people is $104.90, the same
as it was in 2013. Some high-income individuals pay more than the
standard premium. Your Medicare
Part B premium also can be higher
if you do not enroll when you are
first eligible, also known as your
initial enrollment period. There also
is a Medicare Part B deductible of
$147 in 2014.
—Part C (Medicare Advantage)
allows you to choose to receive all
of your health care services through
a provider organization. This plan
includes all benefits and services
covered under Part A and Part B,
usually includes Medicare prescription drug coverage, and may include extra benefits and services at
an extra cost. You must have Part A
and Part B to enroll in Part C.
Monthly premiums vary depending
on your state, private insurer, and
whether you select a health maintenance organization or a preferred
provider organization.
—Part D (Medicare prescription drug coverage) helps cover the
cost of prescription drugs. Many
people pay a premium for Part D.
However, people with low income
and resources may qualify for extra help from Social Security to pay
the premium and deductible. To see
if you qualify for extra help visit
w w w. s o c i a l s e c u r i t y. g o v /
prescriptionhelp.
Will you be age 65 soon? Even
if you decide not to retire, you
should consider applying for Medicare. You can apply in less than 10
minutes using our online Medicare
application. Do it today at
w w w. s o c i a l s e c u r i t y. g o v /
medicareonly.
To learn more about applying for
Medicare when you plan to delay
retirement, read our publication
Applying For Medicare Only —
Before You Decide, available at
www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs.
EarthTalk is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss
and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to:
[email protected]. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/
subscribe; Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.
Dear EarthTalk: Has an alternative to air conditioning to keep
rooms cool been invented that is
significantly cheaper and/or that
uses significantly less energy than
traditional air conditioning? —
Ashutosh Saxena, Allahabad, India
Unfortunately the modern day
air conditioner, with its constantly
cycling, energy-hogging compressor and environmentally unfriendly
chemical coolant, still reigns supreme throughout the world — and
increasingly so in rapidly developing countries like India and China
where possession of air conditioning connotes middle class status.
And while the chlorofluorocarbon
coolant widely used in air conditioners through the 1980s was
phased out because its emissions
were causing damage to the globe’s
protective ozone layer, the chemicals that replaced it worldwide, and
which are now in use in hundreds
of millions of air conditioners, are
some 2,100 times stronger as greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide.
We may have saved the ozone layer,
but — whoops! — there goes the
climate.
Just because people aren’t using
them much doesn’t mean there
aren’t some good alternatives. The
best known is an evaporative cooler
(AKA swamp cooler). Better for
hot, dry climates, these electrified
units cool outdoor air through
evaporation and then blow it inside.
They make for a nice alternative to
traditional air conditioners, using
about a quarter of the energy overall. They are also quicker and
cheaper to install, and can be moved
around to different rooms as
needed. But swamp coolers can require a lot of maintenance and may
not keep the interior space as cool
as some AC-hungry inhabitants
might like.
Apartment/condo and commercial/industrial buildings might con-
sider augmenting their existing
roof-top air conditioning systems
with the cooling power of ice. California-based Ice Energy makes and
sells the Ice Bear system, essentially a large thermal storage tank
that makes ice at night — when the
cost and demand for energy is lower
— and then doles out ice water into
the air conditioning system during
the day to efficiently deliver cooling when it’s needed. Since the air
conditioner’s energy-intensive
compressor can remain off during
peak daytime hours, the electricity
required for cooling can be minimal, with some customers achieving 95 percent electricity savings
using the system. And utilities
across the country are starting to
encourage its use by large customers.
Stanford University has been
utilizing its own version of similar
technology since 1999 to keep its
campus buildings cool. Since upgrading to an ice-based cooling system, Stanford saves some $500,000
a year on its campus cooling bill. If
such technology could be adapted
to augment home air conditioning
systems, it could go a long way toward reducing air conditioning’s
environmental footprint overall.
Of course, let’s not forget that a
small investment in a fan or two to
create a breeze or wind tunnel
through inhabited interior spaces
can go a long way to offset summer heat. Even better, get a professional to install a “whole-house
fan,” which draws in cooler air
through lower level open windows
and exhales hotter air through specially designed attic vents synced
to open when the system is operating.
The race has been on in the air
conditioning business for some
time to find a coolant that doesn’t
destroy the ozone or add to global
warming, but progress has been
Pollution haze in some of our national parks, which emanates from urban and industrial centers sometimes
hundreds of miles away, has been a problem for decades despite a 1977 Congressional order calling for these
areas to be free of the unhealthy air. Pictured: haze pollution in Acadia National Park, Maine
slow. Meanwhile, global warming
itself will beget the need for more
air conditioning, which will only
exacerbate an already dire situation,
especially as the rest of the world
starts to demand artificial cooling
just like we’ve enjoyed in the West
for decades.
*****
Dear EarthTalk: I was appalled
by the pollution haze I saw on a
recent visit to Acadia National
Park in Maine, and was told by a
ranger that it was from smokestacks and tailpipes hundreds of
miles away. Is anything being done
to clear the air in Acadia and other
natural areas where people go to
breathe fresh air and enjoy distant
unobstructed views? — Betty
Estason, via e-mail
This pollution haze, which emanates from urban and industrial centers to the south and west, has been
a problem at Acadia National Park
and elsewhere (e.g. Great Smoky
Mountains, Shenandoah and
Voyageurs national parks) for decades despite a 1977 Congressional
dictum calling for the nation’s
greatest natural treasures — known
as “Class 1” areas — to be free of
the unhealthy air plaguing cities.
The haze is caused when tiny pollution particles absorb and/or scatter sunlight before it reaches the
ground, reducing the clarity of what
we see. According to the National
Park Service (NPS), which is working with other agencies and state
governments to help remedy the
situation, “Some types of particles,
such as sulfates, scatter more light
than others, particularly during humid conditions,” reports the NPS.
Of course, the pollution in the
air causing the haze is also not good
for our health or the environment.
“Exposure to very small particles
in the air has been linked with increased respiratory illness, decreased lung function, and even pre-
The chlorofluorocarbon coolant widely used in air conditioners through the 1980s was phased out because
it was damaging the Earth’s protective ozone layer, but replacement chemicals are some 2,100 times stronger
as greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. We may have saved the ozone layer, but there goes the climate.
[email protected]
mature death,” reports the NPS.
Also, the most common particles,
nitrates and sulfates, contribute to
acid rain, which renders some water bodies unsuitable to support
aquatic life.
Analysts with the Mid-Atlantic/
North East Visibility Union
(MANE-VU), a regional planning
agency with representation from all
Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic
states as well as two tribes and four
federal agencies, calculated that
100 miles in visibility should be the
norm throughout these regions but
that 40-60 mile visibility is typical
today because of pollution. They
also warn that haze can reduce visibility to just a few miles at times.
The fact that these problems exist
in natural areas hundreds of miles
from the sources of pollution is particularly troubling to environmentalists, park visitors and seekers of
fresh air.
In November 2011 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) agreed to finalize requirements for states to create haze pollution clean-up plans — those first
called for in 1977. These plans will
require the worst polluters to install
“Best Available Retrofit Technology” (BART) to clean up particulate pollution.
But a recently proposed addendum would allow 28 eastern U.S.
states to avoid direct compliance,
since they are already required to
cut emissions through the Cross
State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR).
“While the emission trading program created by CSAPR will result
in significant air quality benefits for
many eastern states, it will not require some of the most egregious
polluters of iconic Class I national
landscapes to clean up their pollution to the same level that would
be required under BART,” reports
the National Parks Conservation
Association, which would like to
see EPA drop its proposed BART
rule exemption.
Readers can do their part by using less energy and making sure
some of the power offered by their
utilities comes from renewable
sources. And stay away from hazeprone locales on humid days when
conditions are ripest for the formation of particulate pollution and the
negative health effects that can
come with it.
ENTERTAINMENT
You can live the fantasy
By Sandy Zimmerman
Las Vegas Tribune
Photos by Sandy Zimmerman
during the concert
It all began in DJ Loczi’s vivid
imagination and later became a fantasy of lights, sounds, animation,
special effects, and everything else
he could squeeze into his “Electric
Dream” extravaganza.
An incredible experience awaits
you unlike anything you have ever
known. Let yourself go and feel the
excitement while all of your senses
are reeling. Electric Dream surprises everyone because it is only
happening AT THAT MOMENT
and changes according to the whims
of the star DJ Loczi. He revs up the
dancers with his music then completely changes the mood.
For the first time, a spectacular
production show is appearing in a
night club setting combining all of
the thrills of “Electric Dream” with
the romance of dancing. Some
people watch the show while they
are dancing, than stop to see the
special effects and continue to
dance, while others want to give
their full attention to the show.
DJ Loczi is really an important
part of the show. Watch his face
changing with the beat sometimes
he seems captivated caught in an
uncontrollable frenzy. Loczi is
ONE with the music.
Like a conductor, Loczi is aware
of everything that is happening, giving cues to the next act, orchestrating all of the pieces that are involved in this multidimensional
production.
DJ Loczi explained, “Realistically what I offer and what is very
unique is I might play Aretha
Franklin or James Brown, and then
an original track. Realistically the
music is very diverse. We take
songs which were iconic and rebuilt, re-mastered, remixed to make
them fresh and relevant for today’s
dance floor.
So someone who never experienced that song and never understood how powerful that song was
at the iconic studio 54 in New York
are now hearing it for the first time
and realizing WOW this is a really
amazing piece of music. I also produce and build songs that I think
are going to be driving the musical
scene in the future.”
Intrigued with the name “Electric Dream,” I had anticipated visions of a kaleidoscope of lights and
thunder. Well that was partially
right. During the evening, I was
happy to have a chance to get together with Loczi. He discussed his
concept,
“Electric Dream lends itself to
an opportunity for surrealism so at
any moment in the night you might
be surprised by an aerial act above
your head or someone walking up
a wall. You do not know what is
going to happen and from what
angle it is coming. There are tremendous amounts of moving parts
with 35-40 people working on this
show at any given point. Electric
Dream combines elements of a live
show bringing them into a nightclub
environment. We are providing an
opportunity for an evolved and almost revolutionized form of entertainment for the public. If you just
watch one visual representation,
you would have an entire experience than anyone else. Just listening to the music provides you with
a different experience. If you hear
pieces of the music and see pieces
of the movie that is a third experience.”
This amazing man has created a
truly spectacular show. Can’t wait
for my next visit to see all of DJ
Loczi’s surprises! Come for your
own special experience at DJ
Lociz’s “Electric Dream,” appearing in Las Vegas: Friday, July 4,
HAZE nightclub; Sunday, July 6,
Hard Rock Hotel; Friday, July 11,
HAZE nightclub; Friday, July 18,
HAZE nightclub; Friday, July 25,
HAZE nightclub; and Saturday,
July 26, Liquid Pool Lounge, Aria
Hotel.
*****
Award
winning
Sandy
Zimmerman has been involved in
producing television programs, TV
commercials, and travel specials
for 28 years. Sandy is a syndicated
show and dining reviewer, travel
writer, professional photographer
and talk show host of the Las Vegas Today Show and Discover the
Ultimate Vacation travel specials.
For information or questions about
Sandy’s columns, contact Sandy
Zimmerman at P. O. Box #750211,
Las Vegas, NV. 89136. SUGGESTIONS: Do you have a favorite inn,
hotel, or resort in the United States
or around the world? Why does it
appeal to you? Please send your
suggestion explaining the reasons
for your choice, your name, telephone number, e-mail address, and
you may win free show tickets or
other prizes. P. O. Box #750211,
Las Vegas, NV. 89136.
Rittz “OD Tour” at LVCS
This Week
in Las Vegas
By Mike Kermani
By Mike Kermani
Las Vegas Tribune
Rittz is preparing for his forthcoming “OD Tour,” which is slated
to hit 52 cities in June, July and
August. The tour, which also features Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang
member Tuki Carter and Seattle
rhymer Raz Simone, is set to launch
June 18 at The Gramercy Theatre
in NYC and conclude August 15 in
Rittz’s hometown of Atlanta at The
Masquerade Theatre. The full “OD
Tour” itinerary is below.
Rittz is also putting the finishing touches on Next To Nothing, his
sophomore Strange Music album.
Slated for release later this year, it
is the follow-up to 2013’s acclaimed The Life And Times Of
Jonny Valiant, which includes the
“Switch Lanes” single featuring
and produced by Mike Posner.
In 2013, Rittz also appeared on
BET’s Hip-Hop Awards cypher and
embarked upon three tours, including a headlining jaunt with Snow
Tha Product and Jarren Benton.
Rittz got his first big break in
2010 when he appeared on
Yelawolf’s “Box Chevy” single.
Riding the success of that appearance, the Georgia rapper released
the White Jesus and White Jesus
Revival mixtapes, was named a
Spin “Breaking Out” artist in August 2011 and toured the United
States with Yelawolf as part of the
Slumerican Tour in late 2012.
Complex also named him one of
10 ATL artists to watch out for in
September 2012.
*****
MARK SHUNOCK JULY
“MONDAYS DARK” TO
BENEFIT SAFE HOUSE
With Special Show Called
“Classic Vegas” Featuring Clint
Holmes, Pia Zadora & More at Vinyl Inside the Hard Rock Hotel &
Casino, Monday, July 21st at 8:30
pm.
Mark Shunock is proud to announce that the July edition of
“Mondays Dark” will take place on
Monday, July 21st, 2014 at 8:30
p.m. at Vinyl inside Hard Rock
Hotel & Casino. Following the success of last month’s TONY night,
100 percent of the ticket proceeds
from the July show will benefit
SAFE HOUSE and will feature
Clint Holmes, Pia Zadora, Chris
Phillips, Frankie Scinta, Peter
Pavone and others to be announced
with the evening titled “Classic
Vegas.
“Last month’s Tony Night was
a blast and this month’s Classic Vegas Themed show shouldn’t be
missed,” says Shunock, who plays
Lonny in the hit “Rock of Ages” at
the Venetian. “The support of the
community and the performers here
in Las Vegas has truly inspired me
to take ‘Mondays Dark’ to a new
level each month so that we can
continue to raise much needed
funds for local charities.”
Every month Shunock gathers
an eclectic cast of guests including
stars from Hollywood, the Strip,
musical acts, athletes and celebrity
chefs for 90 minutes of chat, entertainment — and a lot of laughs.
“Mondays Dark” partners with
a different Las Vegas-based charity to raise money each month for
that charity, between ticket sales
and silent auction items. Previous
charities to benefit from Mondays
Dark include Opportunity Village
and AFAN (AID FOR AID of NEVADA), Nevada SPCA and the St.
Therese Center HIV Outreach, The
Shine Family Foundation, and The
Miracle League of LV.
Tickets are $20 in advance, $30
at the door, and are limited to 300
tickets per event can be purchased
by visiting the
website
www.MondaysDark.com. For more
information please call 702-4851262. Follow us on Twitter
@Mondays_Dark. To donate silent
auction items please call 702-4851262.
A native of Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario Canada, Mark is a former
member of the Canadian Hockey
League. After his hockey days
ended, he spent almost 10 years living in New York City performing
on Americas premiere stages.
He was recently seen playing
Timon in DISNEY’S THE LION
KING, for which he earned a Helen
Hayes Nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
He is currently starring in the
smash hit ROCK OF AGES playing at the Venetian/Palazzo in Las
Vegas. He is the creator/producer of
MONDAYS DARK, a monthly variety show in Vegas where 100% of
all proceeds go to local Vegas charity and features Headliners from all
shows
on
the
strip.
Tw i t t e r : @ M a r k S h u n o c k
www.markshunock.com
*****
SHREK THE MUSICAL AT
SUPER SUMMER THEATRE
Super Summer Theatre and Feral Tale Theatricals will welcome
Shrek the Musical to the stage, August 6-23. Tickets to the show,
based on the 2001 blockbuster
DreamWorks film, “Shrek,” and
William Steig’s 1990 story, Shrek!
are
now
available
at
www.SuperSummerTheatre.org.
Feral Tale Theatricals is no ordinary theatre company. It is a Las
Vegas-based incubator of creativity with a mission to generate engaging storytelling in the Las Vegas community with a repurposing
initiative and a dash of mischief.
Feral Tale Theatricals cast and creative team in conjunction with Super Summer Theatre will bring to
life Shrek the Musical for a limitedtime engagement.
The plot revolves around Shrek,
a grouchy and solitary ogre, who
awakens to find his beloved swamp
has been overrun by fairytale creatures who have been banished there
by the fairytale-hating Lord
Farquaad. When Shrek confronts
Lord Farquaad and demands his
land back, the two strike a deal:
Lord Farquaad will return Shrek’s
land, if Shrek accepts his mission
to rescue Princess Fiona, who is
being held against her will as she
waits for her one true love.
As Shrek embarks on his quest
with a very chatty donkey by his
side, the two bond as they encounter grave dangers and colorful characters. Upon rescuing Princess
Fiona, Shrek learns that she may not
be who he thought she was, and that
perhaps the real fairytale has just
begun.
“The challenge is to tell a good
story while tipping your hat to the
iconic characters everyone knows
and loves,” said Erik Ball, President
and Founder of Feral Tale Theatricals and Director and Head of The-
atrical Arts at Faith Lutheran High
School.“This story is unique, because it’s silly, charming and engaging all at once, but at the same time,
it holds a mirror up to the audience
and allows us all to reflect on how
our individual talents and differences make us very special indeed.”
Ball encourages family members of
all ages to enjoy this musical adventure.
This particular production includes original set and costume designs, a 23-foot long dragon puppet and surprises around every corner.
Performances of Shrek the Musical can be seen August 6-9, 1316, 20-23 (show begins at 8:05
p.m.) at Super Summer Theatre at
Spring Mountain Ranch. Tickets
starting at $12.95 are available at
ShowTix4U.com
or
at
www.SuperSummerTheatre.org.
*****
PRANK-CALLING
COMEDIAN RICKEY SMILEY
DEBUTS AT ORLEANS
SHOWROOM
Best known for his prank calls
and many film and TV appearances,
standup comedy veteran Rickey
Smiley will perform at the Orleans
Showroom August 23 and 24.
A notable “clean” comic, Smiley
finds comedy in everyday observations. He brings his cast of beloved
original characters with him to Las
Vegas, including church lady “Mrs.
RICKEY SMILEY
Bernice Jenkins,” “Lil’ Daryl,” “Joe
Willie” and redneck “Beauford.”
The show also features a live band,
which Smiley accompanies playing
several instruments and singing.
Smiley is perhaps most famous
for his prank calls, in which he presents absurd situations and cases of
mistaken identity in the voices of
one or more of his original characters. His six comedy albums of
prank calls have garnered favorable
reviews.
Star of his own top-rated, nationally syndicated radio show, “The
Rickey Smiley Morning Show” is
heard on urban radio stations across
the country. It features Smiley’s signature prank phone calls, news and
music, as well as interviews with
entertainers including Kevin Hart,
Ne-Yo, Ice Cube and Nicki Minaj.
Taking his comedy talents to the
silver screen, Smiley has appeared
in films such as “Friday After
Next,” “First Sunday,” and “Baggage Claim.” He has also hosted
and appeared on “BET’s Comic
View” and appeared on “Comedy
Central Presents,” as well as HBO’s
“Def Comedy Jam” and “Def Comedy Jam: All Stars.” The third season of Smiley’s sitcom “The Rickey
Smiley Show” recently aired on TV
One.
Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are
available starting from $39.95, plus
tax and convenience fees, and can
be purchased at any Boyd Gaming
Box
Office,
by
calling
702.365.7075, or visiting
www.orleanscasino.com.
*****
Mike Kermani is an entertainment writer for the Las Vegas Tribune newspaper. He writes a weekly
column in this newspaper. To contact Mike Kermani, email
mkermani@ lasvegas tribune.com
Prince Tribute at the D July 31
By Jerry Fink
Las Vegas Tribune
Purple Reign, the Prince Tribute
Band, will perform downtown at
the D at 8:30 p.m. July 31.
*****
JUBILEE TO HOLD AUDITIONS MONDAY, JULY 21
Jubilee at Bally’s Las Vegas, the
longest-running show on the famous Las Vegas Strip and the last
remaining showgirl production of
its kind, is holding auditions for
female and male dancers and singers. An entertainment legend in itself, Jubilee has outlasted every
showgirl production — and every
Las Vegas show in history — since
its 1981 debut. Jubilee maintains
the glitz and glamour of a classic
Vegas revue flocked in feathers and
rhinestones.
It’s truly a Sin City showgirl institution; Monday, July 21, 2014;
Male Dancers: 10 a.m.; Female
Dancers and Showgirls: Noon;
Male and Female Singers: 2 p.m.;
Callbacks: 4 p.m.; Jubilee Theater;
Bally’s Las Vegas.
Looking for male and female
dancers with strong jazz, ballet and
contemporary technique. All female dancers, singers and showgirls
must be 5 feet 8 inches and taller
and all male dancers and singers
must be 5 feet 11 inches and taller.
Also looking for singers who sing
a variety of genres including
Motown, R&B and/or pop. Singers
and dancers are encouraged to bring
their headshot and resume to the
audition. Must be 18 years of age
or older.
*****
PAWN SHOP LIVE! —
THE LOST EPISODE
AT THE RIVIERA
Take 3! PAWN SHOP LIVE!
debuted a completely reworked
version of the show on Mon., July
14 in the Starlite Theatre at the
Riviera.
Introducing PAWN SHOP
LIVE! - The Lost Episode , a gritty
new comedy based on HISTORY’s
popular series “Pawn Stars” written by actor/comedian Howie Gold.
PAWN SHOP LIVE! — The Lost
Episode follows a day in the life of
Rick, Corey, Chumlee and the Old
Man as they encounter insane customers, street people and sleazy
agents while trying to shoot their
pilot episode. With original video
clips featuring the actual “Pawn
Stars” themselves, the show is a
multimedia event for both fans and
newcomers alike.
PAWN SHOP LIVE! - The Lost
Episode performs in the Starlite
Theatre inside the Riviera Hotel &
Casino Saturday through Thursday
(dark Friday) at 4:30 p.m. Tickets
are $28.36 plus tax and applicable
fee for General Admission; $45.64
plus tax and applicable fee for Preferred; $62.00 plus tax and applicable fee for VIP. Must be 18 years
or older with valid ID.
*****
RAPPEL PLANET
HOLLYWOOD RESORT &
CASINO TO BENEFIT
SPECIAL OLYMPICS NEVADA
Experience the Las Vegas Strip
like never before from the roof of
Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino
before you rappel more than 350
feet down the side of the center
Strip properly. In the world’s most
daring fundraiser, brave individuals can sign up to go over the edge
of Planet Hollywood to support the
3,200 athletes of Special Olympics
Nevada.
Come Oct. 11, only 85 people
will get the chance to Rappel Planet
Hollywood and registration is currently open at the website
www.RappelPlanetHollywood.com.
All participants fundraise a minimum $1,000, which directly benefits Special Olympics Nevada athletes, who compete year-round at no
cost to them because of events like
Rappel Planet Hollywood.
“It is a rush and you can help
change a lot of people’s lives,” twotime rappeller and Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino executive
Joe Lusch said. “There is power in
numbers, get started early. There is
no telling how far over the $1,000
mark that rappellers can go. Many
people applaud the effort and will
forever look at you differently.”
Rappellers are trained by Over
the Edge professionals, secured
with harnesses and then rappel 350
feet down the side of Planet Hollywood. Special Olympics Nevada
provides rappellers with a
fundraising website and a variety of
tools to boost their fundraising efforts.
“It’s a tremendous experience”
four-time rappeller Mary Ann Denis
said. “It is fun, inspiring and you
spend the day with great people and
great athletes. Special Olympics is
one of my favorite charities, and I
love to rappel. I raise money doing
something I love for a cause I believe in.”
Rappellers come from all backgrounds and locations as Rappel
Planet Hollywood draws people
from across the country. Community members of all ages, Las Vegas celebrities and Special Olympics athletes have rappelled. Corporations have sponsored their employees’ rappel spots as an incentive. Some offices even take up collection pools to toss their bosses.
Special Olympics Nevada provides year-round sports training and
competition programs for children
and adults with intellectual disabilities at no cost to the athletes or their
families. When individuals sign up
to Rappel Planet Hollywood, not
only do they get a rare experience,
they will feel great knowing the
money raised benefits the 3,200 athletes of Special Olympics Nevada.
Register
today
at
www.OverTheEdgeLasVegas.com.
*****
MOB MUSEUM:
HOT HAVANA NIGHTS
Before Las Vegas, there was
Havana. This summer, an unmistakably tropical vibe will come to
downtown Las Vegas when The
Mob Museum, The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law
Enforcement, hosts “Hot Havana
Nights.” On Thursday, August 7,
from 6 to 10 p.m., guests will celebrate everything vibrant about
Cuban culture, including its delectable cuisine, the sounds of Latin
Jazz by Space to Pace Cuban Latin
Trio and dances such as the Tango
and Conga. Exhilarating casino
games including blackjack, roulette,
craps and baccarat will be available,
as will tropical cocktails and a cigar bar from The Spirit of Cuba.
Hot Havana Nights is presented in
collaboration with the Cuban Heritage Foundation and the Las Vegas
Latin Chamber of Commerce.
The evening is inspired by the
decadent Havana resorts of the first
half of the twentieth century, which
attracted everyone from celebrities
and scions of industry to middleclass vacationers. Visitors were
drawn to Havana by its permissive,
sun-soaked, indulgent atmosphere
— comparable to the one eventually associated with Las Vegas. By
the 1940s, all Havana’s major resorts and casinos were run by U.S.
Mob families from Chicago and
New York, representing another
dynamic replicated a few years later
in Las Vegas.
A variety of items from Cuba’s
heyday as America’s playground
are on exhibit at The Mob Museum.
Objects on display include photographs, a 1958 issue of Life magazine containing an exposÈ on the
“U.S. Gambling Mob in Cuba,” artifacts from infamous Havana hotels, casinos and cabarets such as
the Nacional, Tropicana, Sans
Souci, Casino de Capri and Hotel
Habana Riviera.
Tickets for the event are $40. To
make reservations, please call (702)
229-2734.
*****
RUSSELL PETERS
RETURNS TO THE PEARL
Celebrated comedian Russell
Peters returns to The Pearl inside
Palms Casino Resort on Aug. 2,
2014 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $49,
plus any additional service fees.
Doors at the Pearl will open at 7
p.m. and show time is 8 p.m. The
Pearl Box Office is open daily from
noon until 7 p.m. with extended
hours on select event days. Follow
The Pearl on Twitter at
@PearlatPalms for concert announcements and event information.
*****
KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD
& LOS LONELY BOYS
TO CO-HEADLINE
Five-time GRAMMY-nominated and multi-platinum selling
blues/rock guitarist, Kenny Wayne
Shepherd, along with GRAMMYaward winning trio Los Lonely
Boys, are set to co-headline at The
Pearl inside Palms Casino Resort on
August 1, 2014 at 8 p.m. Tickets
start at $35, plus any additional service fees.
*****
MIKE EPPS RETURNS
TO THE PEARL
Comedian and actor Mike Epps
brings “The Mike Epps: After
Dark” tour to The Pearl inside
Palms Casino Resort on Aug. 16,
2014 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $44,
plus any additional service fees.
Epps steadily climbed his way
up the stand-up comedy ranks when
he was recognized by a national
audience in 1995 when he appeared
on the Def Comedy Jam tour and
HBO’s Def Comedy Jam. During a
performance at LA’s Comedy Store,
Epps caught the attention of Ice
Cube. This led to the first of three
feature films they would do together; the cult hits “Next Friday,”
“Friday after Next,” and the New
Line comedy “All About the
Benjamins.” He has had two
Showtime Comedy specials “Mike
Epps: Underrated and Never
Faded” and “Mike Epps Presents...”
He has starred in more than 30
feature films and won a NAACP
Image Award for his role in the
Sony Pictures film, “Jumping the
Broom.” In February, Epps saw the
release of his newest film “Repentance” starring opposite Forest
Whitaker and Anthony Mackie.
Doors at the Pearl will open at 7
p.m., show time is 8 p.m. The Pearl
Box Office is open daily from noon
until 7 p.m. with extended hours on
select event days. Follow The Pearl
on Twitter at @PearlatPalms for
concert announcements and event
information.
*****
THE IMPROV AT HARRAH’S:
JULY 15–JULY 20
The world-famous Improv at
Harrah’s Las Vegas is the longestrunning comedy club on the Las
Vegas Strip. The Improv’s ability to
showcase young comedians, as well
as bring in big names, has attributed to its longevity and success .
Each week, The Improv show-
cases three of the funniest and
freshest faces in comedy, creating
a show that is always unique and
definitely funny. The comedians
who will perform July 15-July 20
are:
Todd Glass: Philadelphia native, Todd Glass, is best known for
bursting into the comedy scene as
a contestant on NBC’s “Last Comic
Standing 2” and “Last Comic
Standing 3.” Glass has appeared
regularly on programs such as
“Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Late
Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The
Dennis Miller Show,” “Politically
Incorrect,” “Louie,” “Tosh.0,” and
had his own Comedy Central Presents special in 2001.
Bobby Miyamoto: Bobby
Miyamoto began his comedy career
writing for Premiere Radio Networks where he wrote for radio stations all around the country.
Miyamoto has made appearances
on Comedy Central, CBS’s “Late
Late Show with Craig Ferguson”
and “Comics Unleashed.” He has
also been featured on the Animal
Planet’s “The A List” and TruTv’s
“World’s Dumbest.”
David Gee: David Gee began
doing stand-up at 18 and has been
performing both onstage and as a
writer ever since. Gee was named
“Best Comedian in a Production
Show” by the Las Vegas Review
Journal four years in a row. Gee has
been a regular contributor to the Los
Angeles Times and, in 2007, was
commissioned to pen one-liners for
the President of the United States
at the annual White House
Correspondent’s Dinner.
Shows are at 8:30 p.m. and
10:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Please note that starting Tuesday, May 15, the 10:30 p.m. show
will be moved to 10 p.m. Tickets
are $29.05 or $44.95 (plus applicable taxes and fees) for VIP tickets that include special seating, an
Improv t-shirt and post-show meetand-greet with the comics. Special
two-for-one tickets are also available for locals for the 10:30 p.m.
show. Tickets are available at
Harrah’s Box Office (702-3695223)
and
online
at
www.harrahslasvegas.com.
*****
Jerry Fink is an entertainment
columnist for the Las Vegas Tribune
newspaper and writes a weekly column. To contact Jerry Fink, email
him at jfink@ lasvegastribune.com.
&
HEALTH LIFESTYLES
Tonight will be special!
By Sandy Zimmerman
Las Vegas Tribune
When you approach The Steak
House Restaurant‘s impressive entrance, your mood changes. The
dark wooden door and paneling attracts attention and suggests “tonight will be special.”
A few steps across the hall and
you discover The Steak House has
been named one of the “Top Three
Restaurants in Las Vegas” and their
many other awards.
On the left, the large dry-aging
room holds their corn-fed Midwestern beef. Inside whole sides of beef
hang from the ceiling while different cuts are also placed on a table
near the window. You can see the
Premium cut 24-ounce porterhouse,
24-ounce rib eyes, 16-ounce New
York, 8- and-12 ounce filets on the
table. This is a great way to help
you make a decision and select your
dinner.
Most dry-aged steaks and beef
are shipped to the restaurants, just
a few restaurants age their own
beef. Instead of just mentioning
they serve 21-day-aged beef, at a
temperature of 38 degrees, you see
for yourself.
With their generous portions, the
eight-ounce petite filet, six-ounce
baked potato, vegetable and large
salad complete the dinner.
I savored every bite of my ohso-tender filet. It’s look and mesquite broiled charcoal taste were
enticing. There was a choice of
baked potato, garlic mashed potato
or wild rice blend.
Celebrating their 32nd anniversary, The Steakhouse proved they
earned all of their awards with every satisfied customer. Since the
opening in 1982, The Steakhouse
continued insisting on quality at
reasonable prices lower than most
of the other restaurants.
Every month one of their specialties becomes the house special.
The guests have a chance to savor
that dinner at a reduced price.
Tourists and residents think of
The Steakhouse as a restaurant destination.
The Steakhouse received the
“Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence” since 2011 and has been
awarded “Best of Las Vegas” in the
Las Vegas Review-Journal’s annual
readers’ poll for more than 20 years.
Recently the restaurant was
awarded the “2013 Zagat Customer
Service Excellence Award.”
The Steakhouse is located inside
the Circus Circus Hotel, at 2880 Las
Vegas Blvd South. For information,
call 702-734-0410. Reservations
are suggested.
The Circus Circus Hotel has
been a Las Vegas favorite for many
years. They have a 3,770 room hotel, wedding chapel, meeting and
banquet rooms, casino, Circus Midway, world famous circus acts, Adventure Dome and entertainment.
For additional information visit
the following websites: http://
newsroom.circuscircus.com/ and
http://www.circuscircus.com/
*****
Award
winning
Sandy
Zimmerman is a syndicated columnist featuring Show and Dining reviews, Travel, Health, Spas, Luxury,
Cars and more. Sandy is talk show
host of the Las Vegas Today Show
programs and Discover the Ultimate Vacation travel specials. If you
want to suggest topics for articles,
for information or to ask any questions about Sandy’s articles, call
(702)-731-6491 or email her at
[email protected]
SUGGESTIONS: Sandy seeks suggestions and the latest information
about entertainment, travel, dining
and health. Please send your information and you may win complimentary show tickets or other
prizes. Email Sandy Zimmerman at
[email protected].
The less older adults sleep, the faster
their brains age, new study suggests
By Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore
Researchers at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical
School Singapore (Duke-NUS) have found evidence
that the less older adults sleep, the faster their brains
age. These findings, relevant in the context of
Singapore’s rapidly aging society, pave the way for
future work on sleep loss and its contribution to cognitive decline, including dementia.
Past research has examined the impact of sleep
duration on cognitive functions in older adults. Though
faster brain ventricle enlargement is a marker for cognitive decline and the development of
neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, the
effects of sleep on this marker have never been measured.
The Duke-NUS study examined the data of 66 older
Chinese adults, from the Singapore-Longitudinal Aging Brain Study(1). Participants underwent structural
MRI brain scans measuring brain volume and neuropsychological assessments testing cognitive function every two years. Additionally, their sleep duration was recorded through a questionnaire. Those who
slept fewer hours showed evidence of faster ventricle
enlargement and decline in cognitive performance.
“Our findings relate short sleep to a marker of brain
aging,” said Dr June Lo, the lead author and a DukeNUS Research Fellow. “Work done elsewhere sug-
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gests that seven hours a day(2) for adults seems to be
the sweet spot for optimal performance on computer
based cognitive tests. In coming years we hope to determine what’s good for cardio-metabolic and long term
brain health too,” added Professor Michael Chee, senior author and Director of the Centre for Cognitive
Neuroscience at Duke-NUS.
Bacterial switches in human gut pave
way for therapeutic manipulation
By Wageningen University and
Research Centre
The microbial ecosystem in the
human gut can switch from one
stable state into another, without
staying for a long time in between.
Key groups of bacteria tend to be
either nearly absent, or relatively
abundant in any given individual.
This discovery highlights fundamental organizing principles of the
intestinal ecosystem and they suggest novel strategies for diagnostic
purposes and therapeutic manipulation to improve well-being and
health. An international research
team from the University of
Helsinki and Wageningen University published their findings in Nature Communications on July 8.
Diverse microbial communities
thrive in the human gut, with a profound impact on our well-being. We
have, however, a limited understanding of the mechanisms that
control the balance of this complex
ecosystem. A major question is
whether the intestinal microbiota
exhibits alternative stable states
separated by unstable ‘tipping
points’. Changes in the microbial
composition would then occur
through abrupt switches between
the alternative states, rather than by
flowing gradually from one configuration to another. Such alternative stable states would be resilient
to changes, hence providing promising targets for therapeutic manipulation.
Aging and overweight
The deep and robust analysis of
gut bacteria across a thousand western adults derived from a large database at the Laboratory of Microbiology at Wageningen University
(The Netherlands) demonstrates
that our intestinal ecosystem exhibits such properties. The international research team from Helsinki
(Finland) and Wageningen University reports multiple groups of bacteria that tend to be either very
abundant or nearly absent, and robust to short-term dietary changes.
The research team proposes that
these bi-stable bacterial populations
vary independently and their specific combinations can be used to
categorize individuals. The alternative states of these bi-stable bacteria are linked to host factors such
as aging and overweight, and hence
represent potential targets for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
Targeting specific sub-populations of intestinal bacteria — as opposed to the daunting complexity
and variability of the entire ecosystem — can simplify the characterization and possible manipulation
of the intestinal microbiota. Resetting these ‘bacterial DIP switches’
may be a radically new way to approach the rapidly growing number
of health issues related to the intestinal microbiota, changing the way
we look at management of the intestinal ecosystem.
While the team focused on
healthy western adults, further research could show whether the alternative states of the human gut
ecosystem translate into differential
disease susceptibility or drug response of the host, and pinpoint
further tipping elements associated
with different ethnic populations,
age groups and disease cohorts.
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El Concilio Hispano does not discriminate against sex, age, religion or race.
By Dr. Nina Radcliff
Las Vegas Tribune
“Stress is the trash of modern
life. We all generate it. But if we
don’t dispose of it properly, it will
pile up and overtake our lives.”
Let’s face it: money, parenting, family conflict, health, work/life balance, the state of the world today,
have made it difficult for our ancient stress response to keep up. In
fact, The American Medical Association states that chronic stress has
put us “in the midst of the worst
degenerative crisis in the history of
humankind.”
What is stress?
Think of it in two parts: the perception of the situation and the automatic physiological response resulting from the release of stress
hormones (adrenaline, cortisol).
Known as “fight or flight,” this response served to protect our ancestors from predators. By making our
heart pound faster, muscles tighten,
breathing speed up, and senses
sharpen, our ancestors had increased strength and stamina, faster
reaction time, and enhanced focus
to defend against or escape from
their predators. Today, in most
cases, we are no longer running
from dinosaurs or lions. And acute
stress can be productive by pushing us to the level of optimal alertness, behavioral, and cognitive performance.
What are long term
effects of stress?
The continuous outpouring of
stress hormones, known as chronic
stress, can result in physical and
mental consequences: immune system suppression, headaches, digestive disorders, infertility, muscle
tension, short-term memory loss,
heart disease, depression, panic attacks, and premature death. It can
make us “worried sick.”
How can we use “mind
over matter” to help us
deal with stress?
One popular method is The 4
A’s: Avoid, Alter, Adapt, and Accept
—Avoid unnecessary stress. The
concept is similar to placing certain
people and situations on a “do not
call” list. Some people are emotional vampires—they suck our energy and happiness in order to survive. Figuratively, use garlic, holy
water, and wooden stakes to limit
the time we spend with them or end
the relationship entirely. In other
words, create and maintain healthy
boundaries.
—Alter the way we communicate and make decisions. Communicating our concerns in a constructive manner can help avoid resentment and possibly improve the
problem. In other words, don’t
bottle up our feelings!
—Adapt to the stressor. Changing our attitude and expectations
can help the way we perceive an
issue. For example, a glass that is
half empty is really just half full.
And let’s reassure ourselves that
“This too shall pass”; “Time heals
all wounds”; and “Stay calm and
carry on.”
—Accept the things you can’t
change. Often, we cannot choose
the circumstances we are dealing
with — the end of a relationship,
death of a loved one, serious illness,
or paying taxes. But we can certainly choose to accept it, in order
to regain control and move on. On
a similar note, forgiveness does not
mean we are accepting someone’s
actions as acceptable, but that we
are ready to find peace for ourselves.
What else can I do
to manage stress?
Having a positive attitude can
significantly curb our stress. But we
also need time to shut down and
reboot. This can include setting
aside relaxation time (going for a
walk, meditating, praying, reading,
playing with a pet, savoring a cup
of coffee, or listening to music);
connecting with others; and of
course keeping a sense of humor.
For example, sometimes we have
to close our eyes, count to ten, take
a deep breath, and remind ourselves
that we would not look good in
prison stripes.
And here’s another reason to
adopt a healthy lifestyle: it makes
us better prepared to handle stress.
Eating a healthy diet, exercising
regularly, decreasing caffeine and
sugar consumption, avoiding alcohol and smoking, and getting
enough sleep are keys to success
when it comes to stress management.
Being healthy is not exclusive to
just our physical well-being. Our
spiritual, emotional, and mental
state are all interconnected and interrelated. When one is affected by
chronic stress, it will create a chain
reaction, or domino effect, bringing down the others. Let’s stand up
and stand tall.
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Oak Glen’s interactive Log Cabin Tour
By Sandy Zimmerman
Las Vegas Tribune
There is a village where you can
forget about everything and join
their interactive recreations of the
life of the early settlers. Dennis and
Sharon Riley‘s Apple Farm, Log
Cabin tours and Orchard is one of
the events here.
From the beginning of Riley’s
Log Cabin Tour, the visitors are included in all of the activities.
First everyone entered the outdoor Apple Seed Theater to hear the
authentic music of the early days.
This music helped get in the mood
for their tour.
Dennis explained, “Kids listen to
today‘s music but I want to get that
out of their heads and back in the
frame of reference of the early settlers. Music in that day told a story.
The kids get up to dance the special dances typical of the Appalachian flat-foot clogging and ScotsIrish-step dancing. We sing songs
from the period that tell a story
about the things they are going to
see on our log cabin tour.”
Dennis begins singing, “I wish I
had a big fat horse.” He continued,
“The idea is to feed their imagination. The children join the band and
play the washtub base, the old ceramic jug and the triangle, the traditional musical instruments of the
past. Our tour covers the period
when Joe Wilson was homestead-
They are learning how to build a log cabin.
survive. In the early days, this type
ing his property in 1878. This is easier than you may think.
Logs of different sizes were of cabin would have been built by
how the pioneers lived. We demonstrate off-the-grid living skills piled up and two kids or adults a young, maybe 16 years old, with
that the typical homesteader would grabbed a log and brought it over his wife.”
to the frame. They have to place the
Each of the exhibit’s settings
have used in those days.”
offered insights into the past.
Walking over to the frame of a logs where they would fit.
Dennis felt, “We teach them how
Both a learning experience and
log cabin, the visitors learned how
to build a log cabin. The task was to build a cabin in case they had to fun for kids and adults, the high-
lights were two pioneer log cabins.
One with just the simple basic necessities and the other larger cabin
decorated with pages from magazines.
With a population of only 300,
even though Oak Glen is hidden in
the San Bernardino Mountains they
attract thousands of visitors.
Oak Glen has so much to offer
for the kids and all ages! For information, call (866) 585-6407.
Riley’s Log Cabin Farm & Orchard
Tours are located in Oak Glen, California, near San Diego, Los Angeles and just a short drive from Las
Vegas.
*****
SUGGESTIONS: Do you have a
favorite city in the United States or
around the world? Please send the
reasons for your choice, your name,
telephone number, email and you
may win tickets to a free show or
other prizes. Award winning Sandy
Zimmerman has been involved in
producing television programs,
television commercials and travel
specials for 28 years. Sandy is a
syndicated Show and Dining Reviewer, travel writer, professional
photographer and talk show host of
the Las Vegas Today Show and Discover the Ultimate Vacation travel
specials. For information or questions about any of Sandy’s columns,
contact Sandy Zimmerman: (702)735-5974 or email her at
[email protected]
The tour teaches visitors how the pioneers lived.
Dennis Riley, owner of the Apple Farm and Log Cabin Tours.
The tour brought everyone into the cabins.
This early settler’s cabin had pages from magazines decorating their walls.
The bands used a wash tub and many other household objects
to create their music.

lvt20140716 - Las Vegas Tribune

Transcription

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