LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE - Las Vegas Tribune

email Dave Thomas may retaliate against them...

John G Watkins 300x225 Dave Thomas may retaliate against them...

Last Thursday I went to a fundraising event in honor of Las Vegas Attorney John G. Watkins who is running for judge in Department 2 of District Court, which will be vacated by retiring judge, Valorie Vega, at the end of this year.
It means that there is no incumbent to be concerned about for retaliation; but there it is, even if no incumbent is in that race.
The place was filled with the best of our legal community, from attorneys to judges to justices, but no one wanted to be photographed, recognized or mentioned in any social chronicled page because they are very concerned that political consultant bully Dave Thomas may retaliate against them for supporting or contributing to Watkins’ campaign.
It is a real shame that in this time and era in a country that is supposed to be almost a free country people are not free to support, endorse, help or contribute to the candidate of their choice because of their concern over a vindictive campaign manager that erroneously believes he is some kind of Godfather that no one better disappoint by having a different choice of candidate.
It would have been very good for John Watkins to have a photo taken with all those pillars of the legal community, or for those “pillars” to have been able to give a healthy donation instead of being concerned about being confronted by their campaign manager or even by any other office-holder in any other race.
The possibility exists that “the other side” will send spies to check out who’s at whose fundraising event, with or without pictures; but why?
American people should be able to support the candidate of their choice without retaliation from others who have their own candidates to support and help.
There is the story of a family court judge who had an attorney approach the bench and asked why the name of the attorney was not in
the list of contributors and when the attorney explained that money was tight, the judge asked with a smile on his face (to make it look like a friendly chat), “You don’t want to make me mad, do you?”
The attitudes and behaviors of those who cannot be honest with themselves as well as with the candidates of their choice — because they’re not brave enough to stand up to their own beliefs — need to stop.
The only way that kind of behavior is going to end is by the community taking a stand and openly supporting the candidate of their choice without hesitation or without being afraid of the consequences.
The only way those bad apples are going to have the power that they think they have taken away from them is by showing them that their time is up and that the community is not afraid of them anymore.
Help by contributing openly to support the candidate of your choice, and vote, and urge your friends, co-workers and neighbors to vote.
Openly speak up and tell others about the qualifications, the experience and the credits in favor of that honest candidate for whom you intend to vote and whom you now choose to support.
Remember that unions, organizations and PAC committees do not have the control of every individual member; do not get impressed or even intimidated by those group endorsements because when the members go to the polls, none of those groups are there with the voters to see who they are voting for. Votes are confidential and private; no one has the right to ask anyone who they voted for and no one can force anyone to vote for anyone.
In the judicial race voters should be extra careful and very sure of their votes because those who are elected in the November election, like it or not, will be there until 2020 regardless of their qualifications and their performance.
The judges that are reelected in November may have the lives of the people appearing before them in their hands; if they are not honest, fair and knowledgeable of the law, they can destroy a person’s life forever.
This community needs to elect judges that are not afraid of prosecutors nor intimidated by corrupted cops that want the law to be applied as it is convenient for their egos of for simply winning a case, regardless of justice.
Attorneys need to start showing some respect for their clients by not being scared of the police or intimidated by prosecutors who are not looking for justice, but are trying for a high rate of cases won.
I have told this story many times to as many people as were willing to listen, but most of the time they do not believe it until they experience the same thing on their own and suffer it on their own: a local well known attorney mentioned to me that he cannot go against the prosecutors because chances are that he will have another case with that prosecutor and he or she can make his life miserable.
The same well known attorney told me that those who plead guilty walk and these who don’t do twenty-five years in prison.
These are the things that need to be abolished in the legal community and these are the things that people need to think about when they go to the polls; who has more television commercials and who has more billboards that make them more recognizable should not be the considerations.
The only thing that can solve this problem is, as I said before, to not be afraid of voting for the candidate of your choice and not being misled to vote for the one that someone else with an ulterior motive tells you to vote for; after all, if you make a mistake, it should be your own mistake not someone else’s mistake.
Think about it people; look at the Sheriff race: why should you vote for a candidate that would be controlled by the powerful gaming executives, or by anyone else, for that matter, but the community?
Joe Lombardo will be another ghost sheriff if he is elected — just like the present office holder — answering only to the Strip money people and no one else.
Clark County constituents should make sure that they are not being impressed by the mainstream media’s hype — controlled by the powers-that-be — and vote for the candidate they know would be best, not the one that is being pushed upon them. We always strive to tell you why.
Reading what the mainstream media writes can be a disaster for our community because Lombardo was just promoted to undersheriff after Undersheriff Dixon left to take a well-paid job at the Venetian Hotel that many believe Gillespie wanted, but for which he was turned down.
On most of the occasions when people in office are going to run for office, they take a leave of absence to campaign so no conflict of interest can apply to their race, as well as not cheating the taxpayers out of their money by using hours of work to be campaigning. Lombardo would be collecting money from the citizens of Clark County until the last day in office and that is the kind of Sheriff Joseph Lombardo AKA Joe Lombardo would be — squeezing money out of you all the way to the end of his term.
I personally believe that the community should open its eyes and ignore Lombardo’s cheap talk and VOTE FOR LARRY BURNS. 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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8111.

email African Americans may not be that important to community leaders

NEWS African Americans may not be that important to community leaders

It is a well kept secret — only to those who are blindfolded and refuse to accept the fact — that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department ranked third, behind Houston and Chicago, in officer-involved shootings per capita and is out of control.
Google and other media organizations’ reports show that during the period 1990 to 2011, the department reported 310 shooting incidents, 115 of them fatal; but Las Vegas will never be another Ferguson, Missouri.
Although the local population is less than ten percent Black, about a third of those shot by the police are Black.
In less than a decade several Blacks were killed by police and few of them were minors about the same age of Michael Brown, the teen killed by police in Ferguson, who has been in the news for weeks now due to the publicity created by riots in that small city protesting Brown’s shooting.
Former University of Nevada, Reno basketball star and casino floor man Charles Bush was killed in his apartment while he was sleeping. The killers were three police detectives who entered Bush’s residence without a warrant and without identifying themselves as police officers.
If memory serves some people right, police tried hard not to mention that Bush was a black man working in the gaming industry and tried to accuse him of having been a pimp.
The late Clark County District Attorney, Rex Bell, who was known for always refusing to accept guilt by police, declined to charge the detectives and Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa took the extraordinary step of charging all three with involuntary manslaughter.
All three were eventually acquitted by a hung jury, and Bush’s family received a $1.1 million settlement. On June 11, 2010 Detective Bryan Yant killed a young naked black unarmed man in the bathroom of his residence minding his own business.
Detective Bryan Yant was not fired; instead he was reassigned to duty as a desk officer for violating several police department policies including lying in the preparation and serving of the warrant, in addition to several minor violations.
Yant was not demoted, suspended, nor perhaps even reprimanded, and today he still enjoys being an out-of-control police detective to whom superiors send the message that it is okay to lie to judges “in the name of the law” and kill another human being for being young and black.
On 12 December 2011, Officer Jesus Arevalo shot and killed Stanley Gibson in a standoff at an apartment complex after misinterpreting the order of a superior that had just arrived at the scene.
Gibson, a black Gulf War veteran, had reportedly suffered from psychological distress. He was disoriented, circling an apartment complex when someone reportedly called in a report of a burglar.
The police responded by boxing in Gibson’s vehicle and ordering him to come out. He did not. Police then planned to extract him from the SUV.
Arevalo told the Las Vegas Tribune that the arrival of a senior officer, Lieutenant David Dockendorf, caused some confusion about how to proceed when Gibson gunned his vehicle’s engine.
In the confusion, Arevalo killed the unarmed man with four shots from an AR-15 assault rifle. In 2013, the agency agreed to pay Gibson’s family $1.5 million.
Arevalo, a Latino police officer, was the only scapegoat in the case when it went through many levels of investigation and disciplinary hearings.
Dockendorf was demoted two ranks. Two separate review panels recommended Arevalo be fired, and in October 2013, Officer Arevalo became the first policeman in the history of the department to be fired as a result of an on-duty shooting; and we were told by reliable sources that Dockendorf is back at his rank.
To calm what the local police control mainstream media called “community outrage,” then Clark County Sheriff John Moran created the internal review board to look at each incident where a Las Vegas cop used deadly force.
The board, five officers and two civilians, would recommend not only discipline for errant officers but also changes in training and policy.
The FBI investigated another case of black vs. white police officers when Orlando Barlow, who was killed by Metro police officer Brian Hartman after being on the ground on his knees, was placed under arrest.
The FBI focused on whether race was a reason for the shooting while Metro is investigating allegations that shirts being used by several police officers with the initials BDRT, which in reality stands for “baby daddy’s removal team” after the death of Trevon Cole, whose girlfriend was pregnant and due a few days after Cole was killed by Detective Bryan Yant.
Maybe the national news is not publicizing the murders of black young people in Clark County because the community as a whole is not making enough noise to attract the interest of the networks and the national press corps.

email Hafter waiting for response in BLM killing of Berghardt

Benhard 257x300 Hafter waiting for response in BLM killing of Berghardt

Hafter 300x192 Hafter waiting for response in BLM killing of Berghardt

A local attorney representing the family of a man killed by Bureau of Land Management officers last Valentine’s Day in Red Rock Canyon question the jurisdiction and authority of the Clark County District Attorney to handle the case, and ask that the file be transferred to the US Attorney’s office without further delays.
Jacob Hafter, an attorney who represents the estate and family of D’Andre Berghardt, an unarmed black man that was walking with a suitcase on State Route 157 just outside Red Rock Canyon, wrote a letter to Mr. Wolfson on Tuesday, asking why his office has had the file for the past seven weeks when he has no jurisdiction to hold any proceedings on the matter.
The letter echoes comments that Hafter recently made during an appearance on the Face The Tribune radio show last Friday.

When a police involved shooting occurs in Clark County, the municipal code provides that the DA is authorized to conduct a Police Fatality Public Fact-finding Review process. This process is the new administrative review of police shootings that recently replaced the flawed coroner’s inquest process in 2013. However, under the code, such proceedings only apply to shootings involving local or state police. Hafter’s letter notes that the BLM officers who shot and killed Mr. Berghardt are federal officers and are not covered by the law that authorizes the DA to hold the Police Fatality Public Fact-finding Review process.
“Our community has approached this killing of an unarmed man with civility and responsibility,” said Hafter. “However, such a response depends on the proper authorities exercise of proper responsibility and management of the investigation. If the government won’t behave in a respectful manner, I cannot see how our community can respect the government, in return,” Hafter continued. “While we were patient for the investigation to be completed, knowing that it was completed on July 2, and we are still waiting for the results of the investigation or the government to take action as a result of the death of an unarmed young man, is simply unacceptable,” said Hafter in an interview with the Tribune.
Hafter, a native of Las Vegas and a judicial candidate for District Court Department 22, is known for his dedication to constitutional rights, governmental accountability and representing those who often do not have a voice. In 2009, Hafter represented a woman who went to the emergency departments of both UMC and Valley Hospital, only to be turned away, resulting in her giving birth to her baby in her home.
While the baby died, Hafter’s advocacy resulted in systematic changes in how UMC triages its emergency room patients.
According to Hafter’s August 26th letter to the DA, the Metropolitan Police Department conducted the investigation into Berghardt’s death.
Once completed, the file was turned over to the DA’s office on July 2.
It appears that the DA still has not completed its review of the file in the seven weeks that he has had the file. The file includes various key pieces of evidence in the case, including the coroner’s report, witness statements and various videos of the event.
Hafter’s letter also suggests that the “BLM officers exceeded their authority to use deadly force” in this case. Previously, it has been suggested that lethal force was necessary because Berghardt entered a Nevada Highway Patrolman’s vehicle where there were various weapons which he could have used against the police or the bystanders. It is unknown whether those weapons were locked up at the time Berghardt entered the vehicle. Hafter’s letter, however, points out that the NHP
officer whose car Berghardt entered did not believe that Berghardt’s presence in the trooper’s car created an imminent danger, as the NHP trooper, unlike the BLM officers, did not discharge his weapon.
“Thus, in this case,” states Hafter in his letter, “the one person who knew whether his firearms were actually secured in the patrol car did not believe that deadly force was necessary as a result of Mr. Berghardt’s entry of the car. Instead, officers from a different agency, unaware of the status or condition of the car or any weapons contained therein (i.e., locked up or unlocked), decided to fire on Mr. Berghardt.” Hafter notes that statistics show that nationally, BLM officers make less than 1,000 arrests a year. Hafter suggests that the lack of experience in detaining and arresting individuals may have caused the BLM officers in this case to be far more aggressive than the situation warranted.
A telephone call placed to the District Attorney requesting comments for this story were not returned on time to be included in this issue of the Las Vegas Tribune.
People in Ferguson have been protesting for weeks the killing of one single resident with that “black, young, unarmed” profile. Not to in any way discredit that situation, but Las Vegas has had such situations with Charles Bush, Trevon Cole, Orlando Barlow, and Swave Lopez, besides a disoriented black war veteran who cost the taxpayers $1.5 million that Las Vegas Police had to pay to the family of Stanley Gibbons after killing him.
“This case is different from Ferguson in that Mr. Berghardt was not a suspect in a crime,” stated Hafter. “In this case, Mr. Berghardt was clearly disorientated and in distress, and the calls made were to help him, and, instead, he wound up dead. While I do not agree with the violent response that the Ferguson community has taken, given the lack of response and accountability we have seen in this case, I can understand the utility of the actions of the citizens of Ferguson,” Hafter stated. “It is a shame that it takes such a drastic community response for the government to be held accountable for their killing of an unarmed human being. I expected more from our community,” Hafter concluded.

email Lies, extortion and blackmail: they are all ugly words

criminals with license Lies, extortion and blackmail: they are all ugly words

Lies, extortion and blackmail: they are all ugly words for morally wrong deeds and are perhaps legally punished… unless you are a police officer.
Let’s take a couple of classes regarding these words and then I will tell you why I want to bring these few lessons to you.
To start with, when you do not tell the truth, you are lying — and for an “ordinary person” that is morally wrong, but if you are a policeman it is OK.
We all know what it means to lie; telling an untruth, usually for our own perposes, sometimes falsifying statistics to bolster a weak argument.
It is not illegal to lie to the police; even if the police may tell you otherwise, it is NOT illegal to lie to police officers.
“There is no penalty for giving local or state police officers false information, but it is not smart to lie to a police officer because he can usually tell you are lying and he will not be happy.” However, it is a crime to lie to federal law enforcement agents.
What happens is that police officers have the tendency to believe that they are the only ones that can lie and they do that in the name of the law, and in Nevada the law is twisted to the extreme that “In the state of Nevada, giving false information to a police officer is called “obstruction of justice.”
An “unhappy” police officer can be very dangerous and in some cases harmful to your health and maybe to your life’s safety.
“Perjury is considered a serious offense as it usurps the order created by the courts. It results in miscarriages of justice, secondary detriment to the person already victim of the first offense, and general detriment to the trust of peace exchanged for payment of taxes; but it is my personal opinion that in Las Vegas, Clark County police officers commit perjury on a daily basis without any consequences because they do that “in the name of justice and in the name of the law” because “dedicated public servants do not lie ever.”
“I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” is a mantra recited dozens of times a week in TV shows and movies. It’s so familiar that its significance can be overlooked.
But, when sworn in a court or other official proceeding, it makes everything said afterward either the truth or perjury.
Perjury, the crime of lying under oath, is a serious offense because it can derail the basic goal of the justice system — discovering the truth. Even the famous and the powerful have faced the consequences of perjury, which include prosecution (Barry Bonds), prison (Marion Jones), and impeachment (Bill Clinton). Historically, perjury was defined as lying while testifying in court.
In modern usage blackmail differs from extortion in that the money or other valuable object or act is not extorted by threat of direct bodily harm, but by the threat of revealing something presumed to be injurious to the victim.
There is this lady with a working visa close to expiring that found herself in the middle of a police investigation but did not want to be involved and refused to “cooperate,” and the police somehow found out that her working visa was about to expire and told her that if she wanted the visa to be extended so she can stay in the country working, she had better cooperate and become a snitch, risking her life and her future.
There’s the case of a certain family that the police assumed was friendly with a certain man who had committed an error, but the police wanted that family to “create” or “fabricate” a story — yes, lie; call it whatever you like — because they wanted something on that guy.
One prosecutor did not want to follow in their steps and ended up dead; the other prosecutor was promised help in his political career and later was accused of wrongdoing so they wouldn’t have to “keep their promise,” and was then forced out of office.
A judge refused to play the game of the police and recused himself; another judge played the game and was promoted; and the third judge “hammered the nails into the cross,” so to speak, as a robot without checking the facts.
Police officers are allowed to lie, to blackmail, to extort and to do anything they want because they are above the law, because they have no conscience, because they are a bunch of angry little men that have been cheated on by their wives; because — individually — they are not man enough to fulfill their “husbandly duties”; because they’d rather be with their partners intimidating citizens or sitting in a local coffee shop bragging about how much of a man each of them is when in fact they are nothing at all without their badges and guns.
Again, I want to make very clear that I am not in any way referring here to the honest and brave officers in uniform that are out there trying to do a good job protecting the community to the best of their ability with the little they are offered to work with, risking their lives to protect their community with a decent radio communication, with the little morale they have left because the administration is too busy begging for money that they are not using for what they said, placing their friends in positions they know nothing about as a campaign pay-back, protecting middle supervisors from being prosecuted for domestic violence, spouse abuse and other morally wrong behaviors.
I am referring to those big-bellied sloppy out-of-shape cops that are under the impression that their poop does not stink; those who hope people will look at them as real men while they’re pretending to be what they are not, abusing little women that are not able to defend themselves, giving the department a bad name — not only in their own jurisdiction but all over the nation, because it is no longer true that “what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas.”
Not only the community, but also the rest of those decent, honest police officers that wear the uniform with pride, deserve that change that I have been talking about for years.
The community as a whole needs a complete overhaul in the police department — an overhaul that can reflect the true feelings and the honest relationships that these police officers so badly want to maintain with the community they live in and faithfully protect.
Only those who the administration are protecting, or are afraid of, need to be replaced; those who are in charge of units they know nothing about; those who think they are God’s gift to the world with more in their pants than the rest because they have a badge and a gun and they are on the good side of the current corrupted administration, need to go.
That change, my friends, can only come when YOU and only YOU have the courage to stop the current administration from keeping their own puppets in office.
The best choice for the community is to elect Larry Burns as the next Sheriff of Clark County.

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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8111.

It’s great to know that gentlemen like this still enrich our planet! While staying on the legendary Queen Mary this week in Long Beach, California, I had the pleasure of dining at the Queen’s premiere restaurant, Sir Winston’s, as I’ve done numerous times before.
I believe since I’ve eaten at many of the best restaurants in the world — including many of the finest in my beloved Las Vegas — I consider myself a connoisseur of fine dining establishments. I put Sir Winston’s in the top echelon and consider it a world-class dining experience. The food, the ambiance, and the gracious service are all tremendous!
My dear friend John Bowshewicz (JB) is the restaurant manager. In Webster’s dictionary, if you look up the word “gentleman,” there should be a picture of John. JB is a quintessential man of style, class, graciousness and manners and I am proud to have this nobleman as my friend.
I also had the privilege of meeting JB’s friend, Commodore Everette Hoard. The impeccable commodore is also a gentleman in every way and a
man that is truly living his dream. I look forward to seeing both these fine gentlemen when I return to The Queen Mary and Sir Winston’s again soon.
It is comforting to know that such “bigger than life” gentlemen such as the commodore and JB still exist, and the planet is enriched because of their presence!
You can comment on The Duke of Fremont Street Facebook page.

email Las Vegas Fire Chief “Pulls a Corleone”

Chuck Muth Las Vegas Fire Chief “Pulls a Corleone”

If someone stuck a gun to my head and instructed me to say, on video, that Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval is the most conservative governor in the country and should be considered the best man for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, I’d really have no choice but to repeat such ridiculous words.
Like in a hostage video… or one of those North Vietnamese POW propaganda films.
Similarly, Las Vegas Fire Chief William “Fast Willie” McDonald has been holding a gun to the head of American Medical Response (AMR) — a private ambulance service that’s been operating successfully in Las Vegas for decades — and two weeks ago reportedly made AMR an offer it couldn’t refuse.
But first, some background… AMR has been operating its private ambulance service in Las Vegas for over fifty years. For that privilege the company pays the city around $400,000 a year in “franchise fees.” The company earns its money from
insurance companies and individuals for transporting people to the hospital. The fire department, by contrast, costs taxpayers a bundle to provide the same service.
Which always reminds me of the old conservative saying that if you can find it in the Yellow Pages, the government probably shouldn’t be doing it.
Which brings us to a caveat: AMR provides medical transport service for things like heart attacks from reading your property tax bill; it does not provide rescue services — such as using the “jaws of life” to extract a victim from their car in an auto accident. Rescue services are not what we’re talking about.
So here’s how things worked, quite well, in the old days… Life-Saving Race to Your Place Let’s say you’re having a cup of Maxwell House while reading the morning newspaper and suffer a mild stroke after reading that the City of Las Vegas actually wants to use millions of tax dollars to build a soccer stadium downtown.
After quickly checking online to make sure your life insurance is paid up, your spouse dials 911 and requests an ambulance.
The fire department takes the 911 call and dispatches both AMR and a taxpayer-funded ambulance to your house. That means two ambulances rush to your side, and whichever one gets there first immediately renders aid and stabilizes you.
Now, after you’re stabilized it only makes sense that the AMR ambulance would then transport you to the hospital so that the fire department ambulance crew — which, unlike the AMR folks, is capable of responding to the more serious types of rescue calls — is again available for service.
And this is where the problem lies… Whichever ambulance actually transports you to the hospital, that’s the service that gets to bill the insurance company. If AMR does the transport, AMR gets the service fee. If the taxpayer-funded fire
department ambulance executes the transport, the taxpayer-funded fire department gets the additional dough.
Enter Fast Willie Over the years, it’s made perfect sense for AMR to handle the bulk of hospital transports. Until last March. After the new fire chief came to town.
Fast Willie McDonald knows the way to San Jose — though it’s not likely he’d be welcomed with open arms if he goes.
Just a little over a year ago Josh Koehn of San Jose Inside.com wrote a column headlined, “San Jose Fire Chief Leaves for Las Vegas Amid Unanswered Questions.” In it Koehn noted that Chief McDonald announced he was leaving San Jose just three days after announcing he was staying.
“The change of heart fits a pattern,” Koehn reported, “as McDonald, leaving a job he started almost exactly three years ago, has rarely stayed put for long. He’s now left fire chief posts in Fremont, Foster City, San Mateo and Scottsdale, Ariz., an unusual number of top-level leaps for someone just 55 years old.”
McDonald is said to be a nice enough chap publicly, but one veteran San Jose firefighter quoted in the story said, “What he portrays of himself is absolutely the opposite of who he is behind closed doors and how he manages people. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
McDonald’s San Jose tenure was also tainted by an “inability to properly report response times” and included accusations of “gender and religious discrimination, amongst other charges.” Indeed, at the time of his departure a year ago for the greener pastures of Las Vegas, McDonald himself admitted that morale in his department was “very low.”
Ladies and gentlemen, your NEWWWW Las Vegas fire chief!
The Emperor Strikes Back
Under the pre-McDonald emergency medical response system, AMR was handling roughly 70 percent of the hospital transports and the fire department 30 percent. McDonald, intent on swelling the amount of dough going into his taxpayer-funded department’s coffers, radically changed that system last March.
Under the new McDonald system, 911 operators stopped giving AMR automatic notifications of emergency calls. Instead, fire department medics were dispatched to every call and AMR was notified only if thefire department thought they might be needed.
Don’t call us; we’ll call you.
But that’s not even the worst of it. Last May, Jane Ann Morrison of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported
on a study conducted by the well-established/well-respected research firm Applied Analysis. And that study showed that, during the month of March 2013, “in lower income areas, the Fire Department is reducing the number of hospital transport calls.”
Now why, you might ask, would the taxpayer-funded fire department blow off emergency calls to low income areas?
Well, low income people are far less likely to have health insurance policies that cover emergency medical transport, that’s why!
Indeed, it looks like the fire department had started cherry-picking emergency calls in middle- and upper-income areas and sloughing off the low-income, predominantly minority areas because it’s much harder to collect the transport fee from poor people without insurance.
According to an RJ editorial on May 15, 2014, Applied Analysis’ study looked at the demographics in two ZIP codes…
“In 89134, which includes Sun City Summerlin and is 81 percent white, the Fire Department took 63 percent of 182 transports, leaving AMR 37 percent. In 89110 (my ZIP code!), which is 63 percent Hispanic, the Fire Department took 17 percent of 255 hospital transports, leaving AMR 83 percent. In 89134, the payment collection rate was 45 percent.
In 89110, it was 21 percent. So the Fire Department, with the support of city management and the City Council, is having AMR pay a $400,000 annual franchise fee to the city for the exclusive right to lose its shirt.”
Holy screw job, Batman! For his part, in response to the study, Fast Willie declared the claims “completely false” — even though he admitted that, um, he hadn’t actually, you know, read the study.
Spoken like a true butt-covering, turf-protecting government bureaucrat. Is that a Horse’s Head in Your Bed?
Then on August 20, 2014, the RJ’s Morrison reported that “Las Vegas’ dual response system for emergency ambulances is dying.”
As such, instead of one ambulance from AMR and one ambulance from the city rushing to your aid in an emergency, “One or the other will be dispatched, not both.” This, according to Morrison, “after more than a month’s negotiations between the department and AMR.”
Apparently Scott White, AMR’s general manager, woke up one morning with his prized stallion’s head lying next to him in a pool of blood (Google “The Godfather”). Fast Willie appears to have made Mr. White a Corleonesque offer he couldn’t refuse.
The “agreement” — which clearly was “agreed to” under duress by AMR — is scheduled to be inked this week and presented to the Las Vegas City Council. McDonald predicts the “compromise” will result in the fire department doubling the number of calls it gets to 60 or 65 percent, while simultaneously slicing AMR’s piece of the pie in half.
In other words, the fire department, with this “agreement,” gets the gold mine and AMR gets the shaft.
And make no mistake: This boost in fire department transports will inevitably, down the road, lead to Fast Willie demanding increased funding to increase the personnel and equipment necessary to handle this increased workload. It is as certain as the sun rising in the east tomorrow morning.
So this “agreement” will ultimately not just be bad for AMR, and not just bad for patients requiring emergency assistance, but for Las Vegas taxpayers, as well!
As such, the best thing the Las Vegas City Council could do at their meeting this week is reject this “agreement” and instead vote to get the Las Vegas City Fire Department out of the hospital transport business altogether.
Because if you can find it in the Yellow Pages…
Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy grassroots advocacy organization. He may be reached at cmuth@lasvegastribune.com.

email Everybody is too busy cutting ribbons, offering advice and playing God

Just a few weeks ago I wrote about the constant repairs and all the construction on Oakey Boulevard between Decatur and Rancho, where the repairs, painting of white lines, pipe remodeling and many other things take these dedicated employees all year long.
Just this past Monday when the rain was so heavy I decided to take Oakey Boulevard because I assumed (but we all know what happens when we assume) that after all that year-long construction there would not be any problem with the water and the drains as always happens on Charleston Boulevard.
Well, I was wrong, very wrong; Charleston Boulevard was better than Oakey I was told.
The street was inundated with water and reckless people were driving as if they were on Interstate 15, while others were getting all the water splashed by those “Speedy Gonzalez’s” in big trucks risking not only their own life, but also the lives of other drivers.
If loving this city means NOT talking about what’s going on that’s wrong, then I guess I don’t love the city as much as I thought I did; but it is a shame that as wealthy as Las Vegas is, we need to be all the way at the bottom when it comes to education and other important things like protecting our children and our veterans.
Everybody is too busy cutting ribbons, offering advice and playing God while our streets are getting worse than those in third world countries; our veterans are ignored and disrespected daily when we should stand up and salute them every time we see one and thank them for their service to the nation and to all; and our children are treated worse than orphans in a Dickens’ novel.
Talk is cheap and career politicians take advantage of that bargain.
But why would they spend three times what they’re going to make when elected, and fight so hard to stay on the job they chose and lie and cheat to stay in office?
We can send millions or billions to other countries, and we can raise money to eliminate hunger in other countries, but our veterans right here are living on a sidewalk not too far from the County building, City Hall and the State office and our children go to school with torn shoes and without a lunch bag.
Every time I hear of an organization raising money to help children or a group collecting money to help those in another state, I wonder how much of that money is in fact for the cause they claim it to be.
It is my humble opinion that the majority of those political figures (not all) are under the impression that the constituents are mentally on a lower scale than they are.
Why do citizens have to beg these public officials for a few minutes of their time? Why are they only allowed to speak three minutes and then the Sheriff comes and talks for 25 minutes begging for money that sooner or later he is going to get anyway.
Why do small businesses have to pay the Secretary of State a flat rate to operate a business in the city or the county having to respond to the same questionnaire two or three times, and when someone asks any of these “elected officials” who have taken these jobs forever, their response is that “it’s the price of doing business in Las Vegas” instead of saying because we are afraid of the Secretary of State’s political clout and we don’t have the guts to tell him that he is wrong.
I have been doing business in this community since 1961 and I don’t remember ever paying money to the Secretary of State unless it was to operate a business that required a restricted license from the State of Nevada, such as gaming, liquor, insurance, bail bonds, private investigator, banks and loan sharks.
I asked that question to many elected officials and public employees and, believe it or not, only one elected official had the strong enough conviction to tell me, “it is because we don’t have the audacity to stop unfairness, unethical and corrupted behavior.”
That is one part of our problem; the other part is the judicial system where judges seclude themselves so they don’t have to answer any questions unless it is campaign time where they face the possibility of being fired and then they become accessible and to a point available to those who are brave enough to ask questions.
I saw a comment in the newspaper website posted by Ochoa Law which I assume (again) is the former law office of Judge Vincent Ochoa, asking this newspaper (but we all know he was asking me) to retract the article that was on the front page of the Las Vegas Tribune saying that the school police had rescinded their endorsement in Judge Ochoa’s race.
The comment that Judge Ochoa posted on our website almost accused me of lying because every liar thinks that everyone is a liar; I ignored that comment even if some people in our organization suggested that we should retract.
I trusted my source; I knew they would not let me down and that we could wait for the truth to prevail and my source would prove us right. Finally the letter came and we proved ourselves once again to be right.
People come and people go, but we stay, and every time someone pulls some tricky stuff to make us look bad, unethical, ignorant or any other disparaging kind of way we prove our good intentions and stand
tall because the truth will make us strong.
If I was going to count with the fingers that I have on my two hands the times that very good people who admire us for what we are doing for the community bring us information that we “can use with no problem,” I would need more hands and more fingers; but we all know that the information is not valid that all they want is for us to print it and lose the credibility that we have worked so hard to build over the last sixteen years.
I started this newspaper for the sole purpose to expose corruption, abuse and wrongdoing by the government and all their allies because I have suffered in my own skin the behavior of corrupted police officers, cowardly judges who’ve taken orders from the prosecutors, and low life prosecutors who’re afraid of police officers that tell them whose life to destroy or whose life to save.
At my age I could be retired by now; I never in my whole life drank, used illegal drugs, or gambled, and at my age sex is a miracle to savor once in a great while. With my retirement I could live so much more comfortable, without headaches, even in my cubbyhole in Santa Monica Beach; but I put my money where my mouth is and little by
little I have seen some of those corrupted cops being destroyed all by themselves, because of their own greed and the “man complex” they have when there is any doubt of their masculinity.
I have a dream that some day I will have the pleasure of seeing our community really cleaned up behind the entire facade of so-called caring and honesty and integrity that has been built up and
perpetrated upon us for all these years.
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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8100.

email Giving every candidate a voice is what we do

The 9/11 Patriot Day Debate took place as scheduled last Thursday at the world famous Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino.
In our opinion, the event could have been an eye-opener to those who either enjoy criticizing the Las Vegas Tribune, or to those who are always hoping to see us do something else good for the community.
Yes, we now know that the room was too big for the event, and that not everyone who says they’ll show up will (from certain candidates to certain whole groups of politically active constituents, to our less than responsible prearranged master of ceremonies). Such things happen.
However, the event proved one thing that the Las Vegas Tribune has been talking about: Candidates not only want to get to know their constituents, but NEED to get to know them, and we do everything we can to make that happen. The voters and constituents who did show up obviously wanted to be as well informed as possible for when it comes time to register their vote.
Normally, and often, candidates will complain that going to fundraisers, debates, and meet-and-greets are almost a waste of time because the places are always packed with other candidates — those running for office or for reelection. Obviously, those candidates really want to see and meet members of the community, the voters, who are the ones that will profit most from getting to know all those in the race.
The 9/11 Patriot Day Debate was different; it was not a fundraiser nor a meet-and-greet, although anyone there could obviously take a candidate aside for additional questions after he or she had finished speaking to get their own particular questions addressed — and so they did.
It has always been the intention of this newspaper to get the community involved in the election process. We print all the candidate information that will help voters choose wisely. But we felt that there is no substitute for meeting them in person and hearing them speak. That is what last Thursday’s event was all about. Hopefully those who like to criticize us and those who want to see us putting our money where our mouth is to do something good for this community could both see that that was exactly what we did.
We understand that most politicians do not like to face their constituents because by doing so, they can be held accountable more easily and that is why they may prefer to stay secluded behind scheduling assistants, secretaries, and many other titled personnel, to say nothing of their infamous campaign managers.
We believe that some candidates who were not present at the 9/11 Patriot Day Debate were controlled by campaign bully Dave Thomas, who is afraid to place his candidates in a debate — such as in the case with attorney Richard Scotti, who called the Las Vegas Tribune to confirm his appearance and later canceled, perhaps induced by Thomas’ bad comments about this publication.
Candidates that don’t know how to take advantage of the opportunity of speaking to an audience, regardless of its size, and leave that space open to their challengers to have their say, only prove that they are not intelligent enough or professional enough to take advantage of a speaking opportunity to win the votes of those willing and eager to
hear what they have to say.
Although this editorial is not about Dave Thomas, we want to point out that he (Dave Thomas) cannot even offer the usual well-worn inducement to gain candidates that he can guarantee certain endorsements. All we need do to prove that is to say look what happened to Judge Vincent Ochoa and his “promised” endorsement! How embarrassing must it be to have one or more so-called guaranteed endorsements retracted, and especially on the front page of a newspaper? How does one explain that to one’s constituents?
Candidates that are not afraid to step up and face their constituents and answer their questions are those who have the best interests of the community at heart.
Ask any normal, regular, hard-working human being what Joe Lombardo stands for — or even what he looks like in person — and no one can come up with an adequate answer.
The same can apply to Judge Ochoa and Family Court Judge Bill Gonzalez, and to judicial candidate William Horne, another candidate who chose to not attend, who is running against an incumbent with a brilliant reputation, sitting Judge Carolyn Ellsworth, who was present at the event and spoke to the audience.
William Horne, a product of the system — as we refer to those public workers who always sign the checks on the back and never experience the effort that goes into paying for office space, staff, utilities and many other “amenities” that are part of doing business because the taxpayers always pay it for them — is also a product of the Dave Thomas stable and is not allowed to do anything on his own.
However, we want to take this space to thank all the candidates who attended the event and those members of our community who were present to take part in the opportunity to get to know those who want to serve the people of Nevada in whatever capacity they choose.
We also want to thank the members of the legislature that were not able to be at the event — due to an emergency call to duty at a special session — for their service to the community.
And of course our gratitude goes to John Thomas, the organizer of the event; Donald H. Snook, our production manager; and Maramis Choufani, Las Vegas Tribune Managing Editor and now the newly elected official MC for all Las Vegas Tribune future events.

email I still think that people are ready to listen to and question the candidates.

a debate 300x151 I still think that people are ready to listen to and question the candidates.

When I used to visit New York I stayed at the Edison Hotel on West 47th Street while most of the people that I was meeting stayed at the Americana Hotel, and some at the Waldorf Astoria, because they liked to show off paying ten times more than me to stay out of the hotels and be in meetings and then just sleep a few hours.
I was paying much less money, and after my good friend, the now late Cuban singer Miguelito Valdez (Mr. Babalu) got me an even better deal next door at the Century Paramount, I was paying even less money for a room that some time I didn’t even use.
Both hotels, The Edison and The Century Paramount, are located in the heart of Madison Square in the heart of Times Square.
Today, I am back at the Century Paramount and I am surprised to see how elegant and fancy they have made this historic (to me) New York hotel and how expensive it is even if I did not pay for it this time.
I am sitting here on the top floor and my window is open because the temperature must be around 75 or 80 degrees and the view is breathtaking; lots of memories come to my mind including that tragic day that had destroyed the life of so many people; even after thirteen years it is still fresh in everyone’s mind.
I opened my computer and started reading Maramis’ column for this week’s edition of the Las Vegas Tribune where she mentioned the day of September 11 as a possible reason for why the 9/11 Patriot Day Debate was not as expected, but like I always say, everyone is entitled to their opinion in this almost-free country that we live in.
I think that something short of 200 people total, at an event that was also impacted by the emergency session of the legislature, could be seen as some kind of a boycott of a Rolando Larraz-related event… or maybe a Las Vegas Tribune event. But I still think that people are ready to listen to, and to dig into, the plans and backgrounds of the
candidates.
I wish I would have been able to be there, but it was not possible. I had planned this trip almost three months ago and there were too many people involved to make everyone change their plans for the capriciousness of others and the lack of communication among many of us in this organization.
I believe that the September 11th date should not be a day on which to have events or demonstrations; it is a day on which to meditate, to remember that tragic event and those who lost their lives that day; to pray for the families left behind by the victims of that terrorist act and to thank all members of the United States Armed Forces for their service and for the job well done in protecting the country.
Every time I see a holiday used for picnics, barbeques and a day at the lake, with people merely enjoying an extra day off with pay, and no one takes the time to teach our children the meaning of that extra day off, it is sad to me.
No one is thinking about talking to the new generation about the sacrifice of those who were involved in any of those particular days off because all they think about is the extra day off, from teachers to everyone else down the line; no one talks about the meaning or the reason for that extra day off, be it a happy day or a sad day.
There is New Years Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Washington’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, which are federal holidays (whether or not everyone gets them off); then we have the State holidays, Ethnic and Religious holidays, plus other celebrations and
observances; but I am willing to bet, even though I am not a betting man, that I know — and probably better than the younger generation — the meaning of these so-called holidays.
First of all, our teachers, under the pretense of being underpaid, are more interested in preparing for the extra day off (notice that I didn’t say the holiday celebration) than teaching their classes what holiday they are about to celebrate and why that holiday is taking place.
I am not even going to mention the staff of our public officials that are ready to take off the day before the holiday, and the day after the holiday as well.
Again, I’ll be willing to bet that most of those born in the beginning of this century, year 2000, don’t even know why adults are talking about the September 11th episode.
And for those who are talking about the “tragic event” of September 11, maybe we need to remind the elected and public officials what brought up the “tragic event of September 11” and when they talk about putting their guard down, opening the border and, most popular of them all, Immigration Reform, they need to think about these who live here and vote instead of thinking of those who are not allowed to vote unless they are friends of Harry Reid.
I have a lot of Mexican friends, but the problem is not the Mexicans who come here to work and be part of this great nation — in fact Miguel Barrientos and I talked about this during his first radio show on Radio Tribune last Wednesday — the problem is that there are too many chameleons standing by the border pretending to be Mexican to gain entrance to the American territory with the idea of causing problems and destroying this country.
It is time for the American people to realize that the country is being taken over more and more by enemy forces and that has to be stopped if the American people want to gain control back of their nation — a little bit of the nation is being taken over here and there by someone, and a little of the American people here and there are letting that happen.
Me, I am happy to be on my way back to Las Vegas where my roots are and where bad or good, we can call it the best city of them all, and I call it home sweet home.
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
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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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8111.

email Smart meters continue to be a serious problem

Smart Meters 300x225 Smart meters continue to be a serious problem

The Las Vegas Tribune is asking the office of the Attorney General in Nevada to start an investigation of the smart meters after several NV Energy customers have complained that they have been forced to install the smart meter under duress; others with medical certification have told the newspaper that they believe they have smart meters in their residence even with a letter from their doctor that the smart meter is damaging to their health.
The controversy of the smart meters is not limited only to Southern Nevada; Reno is also facing some of the same dilemmas with their meters.
The Reno Gazette Journal reported that since 2012, four fires have occurred in Reno and five fires have occurred in Sparks that city investigators say are linked to the smart meters manufactured by North Carolina-based Sensus.
Those investigators, however, have been unable to conclusively determine what started the blazes.
Reno and Sparks’ fire chiefs are asking the Public Utilities Commission to investigate the safety of smart meters installed by NV Energy on homes throughout the state in the wake of a troubling spate of blazes they believe are associated with the meters, including one recent fire that killed a 61-year-old woman.
All across the nation utility companies has been forcing, with threats and intimidation, consumers to change their meter for the so-called smart meters and after that the power bills had doubled and in some cases tripled, with no excuses for that.
There also have been health effects, and safety violations are being reported, and much to the disbelief of many consumers, privacy in homes is being violated.
StopSmartMeters.org, an Internet page created to alert consumers about the smart meters, asks its readers a very good question on its pages: “Do you value civil liberties and the right to privacy? When a ‘smart’ meter is installed, your utility has access to a treasure trove of information about your electricity usage, compromising your privacy.
Depending on the regulatory protections — and enforcement of those Rules — in your state, they will be able to sell this information to a series of corporations and the government.”
Growing out of the grassroots group ‘Scotts Valley Neighbors against Smart Meters,’ which was started in June 2010, Stop Smart Meters! Has now evolved into an advocacy, media outreach, and direct action network providing activism consultation and advice to dozens of local groups sprouting up who are fighting the wireless ‘smart’ meter assault.
NV Energy is the monopoly for power service in Nevada and with the blessing of the Public Utility Commission is abusing the consumers with astronomical high power bills that have no excuse for and the commissioners always go alone with the race request. NV Energy is the same company who came to a woman’s house with armed men and disconnected her electricity for choosing a safe analog meter.
Up to now no fire in Southern Nevada has been attached to the smart meters; but the possibility that smart meters have been installed in residences where the habitant has a medical alert indicating that their health is in jeopardy because of the smart meter does exist.

email Judge Diana Sullivan told me, “I am the boss; I run my campaign and David works for me.

For a long time I have been trying to open the eyes of the voters in Clark County in regard to candidates that are controlled by political bully Dave Thomas and how they are not serving the community as well as they should because they are controlled by their alleged “campaign manager,” AKA their “master.”
But there is another reason why the voters of Clark County should be aware of the candidates or incumbent judges that are under the spell of Dave Thomas.

Diana Sullivan Judge Diana Sullivan told me, “I am the boss; I run my campaign and David works for me.

When they don’t have a challenger it’s not because they are too good or because they are doing a great job serving the people of Nevada.
The reason that they do not have a challenger is because Dave Thomas uses “muscle,” so to speak, to keep candidates away from “his people” so they do not have to run a campaign — but they still do have to pay Thomas’ “juice” fee regardless.
Look at Judge Diana Sullivan in Justice Court. When I invited her to be on the Face The Tribune radio show, I asked her who her campaign manager was; when she told me that her campaign was being run by Dave Thomas, I told her that he would not allow her to be on my show.
Like everyone else running for office, Judge Diana Sullivan liked to talk “tough” and sound independent, and she said to me, “I am the boss; I run my campaign and David works for me. I’ll have my JEA look at the schedule and she will call you with the day that I am available.”
This all took place while a friend, who is also a judge, and I were walking out of the election department. My friend was witness to the entire conversation.
Do I think that she is a good judge and that she deserves to be retained? I think so; she is a good judge but she could be better if she was not under the spell of Dave Thomas.
I personally supported Judge Sullivan in her first race and I believe the Las Vegas Tribune endorsed her in that race as well. I even attended her victory campaign party, which — as those who know me would know — I wouldn’t normally do since I do not attend any political parties unless it is a John Watkins party.
Why is she alone in that race? Because Dave Thomas muscled his way in with the other female candidate who was running against Judge Diana Sullivan through her boss, and intimidated her to the point of losing her job in a local office.
It is a shame that a good judge like Diana Sullivan has to be tied up to a Dave Thomas-type of person because it is my humble opinion that she would not have any problem getting reelected and she could have saved a bundle of money.
I can see my former friend, Judge Jessie Walsh, using Dave Thomas to scare people away from her race because her record is, unfortunately, not the best; but Diana Sullivan’s record is very good.
During the 2008 election, Judge Jessie Walsh was not tied to Dave Thomas in any way, shape or form. She was in the middle of a very tough reelection campaign and she was “accidentally” assigned to a long, complicated trial that kept her from campaigning as strong as she should have.
Fast forward to the present time, when two judges who are not connected to Dave Thomas are also “accidentally” assigned to long and high profile cases that are keeping them from attending organizational lunches, radio interviews, debates and several other public events, keeping them out of the limelight and giving the opportunity to Dave Thomas’ clients to attend all those events.
What is really a miscarriage of justice is that all of these people — many of them decent candidates who perhaps unknowingly hired that political bully — really do not need him and they pay him a bundle of money for his “service” for intimidating possible challengers; if they are good they don’t have to worry about having anyone running against
them.
Many candidates have told me that they hire Thomas because they are promised endorsements from different organizations, unions and PACs — but you see what happened to his favorite candidate, Judge Vincent Ochoa! He had his endorsement rescinded and the other guy in Department 2 did not get any of the endorsements because the PPA,
Metro, PPACE, FOP as well as former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, former Nevada Governor and former US Senator Richard Bryan, as well as the Las Vegas Review-Journal gave their endorsements to John G. Watkins who IS NOT a Dave Thomas puppet.
I wish I could have a different opinion of Judge Diana Sullivan because there is nothing I would like better than to go against her for being a client of Thomas, but I would be doing a complete disservice to the community and I would be going against my word and my principles by not giving people the correct information about candidates.
Besides Diana Sullivan being a very good judge, she was also intelligent enough to seize the opportunity to hire the best marshal there is in the Court system. When Marshal Lisa left the Clark County marshals a few months ago, I wrote that they did not know what they were missing; but I saw Lisa Cologna with the blue uniform of the City of Las Vegas marshals inside the court and I knew I was in trouble because I would not be able to write against a Dave Thomas client that was smart enough to recognize a good marshal when she saw one.
Most lawyers are acting the way they act because the judges allow them to be unfair with the defendants and it should not be that way and I believe that Judge Sullivan does not tolerate that kind of behavior.
I see it all the time — lawyers walk in the courtroom and start paging for their clients because they have not even seen the client, much less had a meeting with him or her.
The judge should say to the attorney: “Wait a minute — this person has been incarcerated for three months and you have not had one single hour of time to meet with your client?” And then the judge should tell the attorney he is postponing this hearing “until you meet with your client because everyone is entitled to a fair hearing”; it may not be
a perfect trial, but it should definitely be a fair one.
I remember when Ron Brady Jr. hired a supposedly high-profile attorney who acted as if he was doing a favor for the client that was paying him big bucks and he never met with the client until the hearing day; then he walked into the courtroom with that paging attitude, wanting the client to plead guilty and “get it over with” — and that is why
many people are so much in favor of a Nevada Appellate Court so they don’t have to wait three years for the Nevada Supreme Court to rule in their unfair case.
Hopefully someday soon Diana Sullivan will realize that I am telling the truth when I say she does not need a man like Dave Thomas to get herself re-elected. All she needs to do is keep doing her job as good as she has been doing.
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
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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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8111.

email Mother protests with hunger strike in front of the R. J. C. against Judge Douglas Smith

Blanca Diaz 225x300 Mother protests with hunger strike in front of the R. J. C. against Judge Douglas Smith

The mother of a young man with several mental illnesses spent all last week in front of the Regional Justice Center on a hunger strike protesting against a court decision by Judge Douglas Smith after her son finalized a plea deal where he would plead guilty to lesser charges in return for a much lower sentence.
Dagmar Diaz was arrested and charged with kidnapping and intent of sexual assault; his public defender attorney negotiated a lower sentence if he admits guilt to a lesser charge.
Up to now, everything seemed routine and business as usual with the prosecutors and defense attorneys playing at law with the lives of the defendants.
However, everyone agreed to the plea bargain deal and they were ready to be in Department 8 in front of Judge Douglas Smith to seal the negotiations, but no one counted on the judge’s racial antagonism against Latino defendants; he did not approve the deal.
The Public Defender appointed to the case tried to explain to the judge that the young man had several head injuries and illnesses due to being run down under a car in front of his school, but Judge Smith did not allow her to finish the explanation and shut her down.
The Deputy District Attorney, who always hides under the name of the elected District Attorney, was shocked with the judge’s decision and tried to explain to the judge the plea agreement, but the judge told both attorneys that he didn’t care and the ultimate decision was up to him and… NEXT CASE.
Judge Smith is known for being rude and arrogant on the bench and has the tendency to be extremely rude to people who speak with an accent.
Judge Smith most recently was 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. Later the Nevada Supreme Court disagreed with Smith’s order and ordered the defendant’s bail back down to the original $3,000 and
the case transferred 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 found more than thirty cases in which the Nevada Supreme Court had not been in agreement with Judge Smith, reversing the rulings.
Dagmar Diaz and his mother Blanca have been in the country little more than a decade from Cuba; just a few months after Dagmar was enrolled in his school, he was run over by a car in front of that school on Twain and Spencer.
Dagmar was in a coma for fourteen days and his mother had to quit working to care for him; he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, post traumatic brain damage and attention deficit disorder (ADD) and needed continual medical attention.
“My son broke the law and has to pay for his error — which is how I raised him, to take responsibility for his actions, when the woman who stabbed him in the hand came to me and told me about the incident,” said Blanca Diaz during an interview at the Las Vegas Tribune office last Monday.
“Kidnapped and she was able to walk to me and tell me what she says happened? I do not see the kidnap anywhere, but…” said the elder Diaz.
Blanca Diaz told the Las Vegas Tribune that she is not complaining because her son was arrested, but she is disappointed that the judge did not follow the prosecutor’s recommendation and accept the plea agreement.
“My son needs continual medical attention; the judge could have sent him to a medical facility instead of a regular prison where he is running the risk of getting killed by either another inmate or by a prison guard if he gets off track, [off] the medicine, and goes on an attack,” Ms. Diaz explained.
On Monday, Diaz was supposed to be in court but it was postponed until today, Wednesday, September 24, and his future is unpredictable; but Blanca Diaz will be on Face The Tribune radio show on Friday, September 26 at noon talking about her son’s case.
Blanca Diaz’s hunger strike is the first hunger strike in Clark County and she did not say if she will continue the strike after her son’s Wednesday court appearance.

email The media find it easier to step on someone who is already down

David roger 3 The media find it easier to step on someone who is already down

In 2010 District Attorney David Roger berated Ms. Turner over the
phone for delivering extensive evidence of the crime to his office,
screaming, “How dare you!” and other inanities.

I have always believed that some members of the media find it easier to step on someone who is already down than to go after a new issue.
For years District Court Judge of Family Division Steve Jones has been in the spotlight of many members of the local media; and now, after the Judicial Discipline Commission finished with him, the media wants to keep going — stepping on him every time they get a chance or whenever it is a slow news day.
Steve Jones was not the best judge in many people’s minds, but many litigants before him thought of him as a fair judge. However, we need to keep in mind that Family Court is a very complex court and always one side or the other will find the judge’s decision to be unfair.
Come to think of it, even in District Court criminal case defendants are not too happy with the judges’ decisions, especially those who are not guilty and are forced to plead guilty to a lesser charge in order to get a little percentage of justice.
What bothers me is that the media in this city only sees one side of any story; just last Sunday, one good journalist — in my opinion — wrote about Steve Jones and the possibility of him collecting his pension for the rest of his life.
This young journalist may not realize that incidents like that take place in our community on a daily basis and no one talks about it, no one opens their mouth to complain because they all know about that biz as usual.
Look at the corrupted METRO cop known as Rod Mathis; he was committing fraud, he was coercing a Utah entrepreneur into a large bribe in exchange for deleting all the man’s criminal cases because of his strong ties with the District Attorney’s office and its deputies.
The man consulted with his attorney and contacted the FBI in Utah, but not before the sum of $25,000 was paid to the “illustrious” police detective.
The Utah FBI arrested him at a local Chili Restaurant, because Metro and/or the local FBI would never arrest him. Mathis, who was 100 percent authorized by the department to snort cocaine (according to the opinion of then Deputy Chief Sullivan) because of his job as an undercover detective, was sent to prison for 28 months and all the time he was in prison he was collecting his pension.
After coming out of federal prison, Roderick “Rod” Mathis was a race driver during the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and died of multiple injuries sustained in an accident in the Shelby Pro Series.
We never knew if the accident happened because of his heavy desire for cocaine, but none of those anti-Steve Jones journalists wrote about the issue.
Why? Well, because this is Las Vegas and justice goes according to how lucky you might be.
There is no difference between a corrupted judge and a corrupted cop.
Actually, I prefer the corrupted judge who has his opponents because of his ruling from the bench, than a corrupted cop full of drug habits and other vices to embarrass himself, the community, and the department.
It is obvious that the local media is a news machine that is ready to repeat whatever those in some official capacity will order them to say to keep the propaganda going for personal vendettas against a particular person.
Many people do not want to understand this; do not want, or are not able, to accept the real truth in some political events.
Steve Jones was a well known foe of former Clark County District Attorney David Roger, a man I have diagnosed as having a Napoleon complex because of his short stature and his extreme desire for being a big man — someone able to manipulate many people during his career as prosecutor.
David Roger is that deputy district attorney that prosecuted Sandy Murphy and Richard Tabish to win the position of his dreams, being the District Attorney, even if after he was elected (he did not win the election), the sentencing of Murphy and Tabish was reversed by the Supreme Court.
David Roger is the same District Attorney that manipulated the OJ Simpson trial in order to be re-elected, and one year later, in the middle of the HOA investigation conducted by the FBI, resigned his post. At the time, Roger explained that he wanted to spend more time with his family, but then accepted a job with the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the union that represents the rank and file members of the police department, while he also accepted a job with a local law firm.
What a way to spend more time with his family when the wife works all day as a judge and he works two jobs!
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
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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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8111.

email Margin tax proponents factually wrong, just five seconds into first television ad

Mistruths running rampant about Nevada’s history of education-spending increases
By Victor Joecks
Proponents of the ballot proposal for a job-killing margin-tax made a $700,000 TV-advertising buy that begins today, as reported by liberal pundit Jon Ralston.
Their first ad begins ominously: “For decades, politicians and big businesses have done nothing to increase education funding.”
Wait… what?
You read that correctly. The backers of the margin tax are claiming that politicians haven’t increased Nevada’s education spending in the last 20, 30, 40 or 50 years.
This is factually incorrect on every level, as data from both national and state sources shows.
The best national source for education spending data is the federal government’s National Center for Education Statistics.
According to NCES data, Nevada has increased its current expenditures on public elementary and secondary education from $87.27 million in the 1969-1970 school year to a staggering $3.68 billion in the 2010-2011 school year.
There were two very natural reasons for Nevada’s education spending to soar. The first was a dramatic increase in the number of Nevada students. In the 1969-1970 school year, the average daily attendance in Nevada’s schools was 113,421. In the 2010-2011 school year, that number had more than tripled — to 406,965.
Even when this is accounted for, Nevada’s education spending still shows a dramatic increase.
The final factor to account for the increase is inflation. Even after adjusting for inflation though, Nevada has nearly tripled inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending in the last 50 years.
So has this spending spree produced results? Nope. Combining this NCES data with SAT scores, the Cato Institute found that Nevada’s dramatically increased education spending has produced a negative “return on investment.” As inflated-adjusted, per-pupil spending soared, SAT results were stagnant.
It should be noted that the spending figures above don’t include all the additional billions that Nevada school districts spend on buildings or debt service, such as the $4.9 billion that the Clark County School District spent from its 1998 bond.
So how can Nevada politicians — funded by taxes from Nevada’s big businesses and families alike — dramatically increase education spending for decades, yet be generally ignorant about Nevada’s true levels of education spending?
A recent episode involving Lt. Governor candidate and current state Sen. Mark Hutchison is illuminating.
Hutchison did an editorial-board interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and described how the Legislature and Gov. Brian Sandoval increased education funding during the 2013 Legislative
Session: During the 2013 legislative session, Hutchison noted, the governor was able to pump another $500 million into education funding, to add $50 million for English language learning. The money also expanded all-day kindergarten.
In response, liberal pundit Jon Ralston lashed out on both his blog and TV show, calling Hutchison’s statements “outlandish claims.” He blogged, “This is utterly misleading. And the RJ either knows or should know this. That figure is a mirage. Nearly $400 million of it was from the cost of additional students, benefit increases and roll-up costs. It is pure propaganda, allowed to stand.”
A review of Nevada’s education budget, however, shows that Nevada’s state education spending through the Distributive School Account will increase from $5,374 per-pupil in Fiscal Year 2013 to $5,676 per-pupil in FY 2015. In addition, state spending on special education and class-size reduction will grow from $263.9 million in FY 2013 to $295 million in FY 2015.
Less than $28 million of Nevada’s increased education spending in FY 2014 and 2015 comes from projected increases in student enrollment at FY 2013 spending levels.
So this is a classic example of how education spending increases — and government spending increases in general — become “devastating cuts.”
Education bureaucrats ask for an 8 percent increase in spending, including assumed spending increases like roll-up costs and higher PERS contributions. If taxpayers only give them a 6 percent increase, they complain about 2 percent budget cuts. And their allies in the media echo chamber repeat the cry.
When this narrative occurs, unchecked by reality year after year for decades, as it has in Nevada, the escalating absurdity of it all climaxes in things like the above campaign commercial.
Margin-tax supporters claim Nevada hasn’t tried increasing education spending to increase student achievement, but both federal and state figures show that’s virtually the only thing the state has tried.
In this instance, professed advocates of Nevada education are, once again, spending big bucks to inculcate public ignorance. It’s thoroughly shameful.
* * * * *
Victor Joecks is executive vice president at the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a non-partisan, free-market think tank. For more visit http://npri.org.

email If Moody considered Lombardo to be the candidate, why did he run against him ?

Ted Moody If Moody considered Lombardo to be the candidate, why did he run against him ?

The news that the Review-Journal endorsed Joe Lombardo did not come as a surprise to me because it is the normal thing for the daily newspaper to do: endorse the incumbents and mislead the community during election time.
What did surprise me is the 360-degree turn around from Ted Moody, the former Assistant Sheriff and former sheriff candidate who right after the primary election told me that he was not planning to endorse either of the two candidates because they were not viable candidates.
I asked the same question to a few of the other candidates and they all had the same answer: “I will not endorse either one of them.” And even if I personally would have been happy to see some of them give their endorsement to Larry Burns, I respect their opinions and admire their sticking to their decision.
In fact their responses brought back memories from another election — another Clark County Sheriff race — one as far back as 1968, in which a Mexican named Danny Sanchez wanted to run against Ralph Lamb, the incumbent, and a former Las Vegas police Lieutenant named John Slipper, former head of the narcotic unit of the old Las Vegas Police Department.
The day before the primary election Danny Sanchez somehow found the money to run some television commercials and he ran one of the most controversial television commercials I have ever seen in all the forty-nine years I have been writing in Las Vegas.
The commercial was filmed at a local cemetery and as he was talking, every gravestone was falling down and a narrator voice was saying “This is what Ralph Lamb has left for us in Clark County… death after death.”
The next day after the primary election, as it was expected, the Clark County employee Danny Sanchez lost the primary and the following morning he released a statement saying that he was supporting Ralph Lamb because he was the indisputable best candidate for the job of Clark County Sheriff.
Later in the day in my office I asked Danny Sanchez how anyone can accuse a candidate of being responsible for so many deaths and overnight become the “the best candidate,” but Sanchez was not able to respond to my question.
Back in those days I was not discriminated against by either the police department or the sheriff’s office and I was accepted as a member of the Las Vegas media regardless of my political views or our editorial line.
Then again in 1978 in the race for Clark County Sheriff, John McCarthy challenged the incumbent Ralph Lamb and erroneously, I supported John McCarthy in that race.
One day a Cuban guy that I used to know came to my office with a few of those trigger happy “friends” that made Ralph Lamb look worse that what he really was and told me that “you have to endorse Lamb because it is the right thing to do,” and asked why I was helping John McCarthy.
I told them that I thought I was doing the right thing for the community and that I was not changing my mind because (again erroneously) I thought that McCarthy was the very best candidate even if Sheriff Lamb (the incumbent) was a regular writer in our newspaper.
It has never been my intention to benefit, profit or gain anything with my publications; I believe that a newspaper is to serve the community, to protect the constitutional rights of the citizens who live in the community and to defend their constitutional rights above anything and at any cost.
I believe that a newspaper’s duty is to help readers become informed citizens and help them to make better decisions by providing lots of facts without directing them one way or another.
A newspaper, even if it is important to have revenue in order to stay in business, should not sell itself to the most powerful business or most wealthy “contributor” or high ranking politician or important judge.
Take for example Department 8 in District Court, and Judge Doug Smith. He claims that I am helping the lady that is running against him because I am doing this and that, but he does not realize that I would be better off helping him, the incumbent, and be on the good side of his pals — those wannabe famous attorneys — than helping a lone female candidate with a brilliant background, and no skeletons of any kind in her closet.
I had to call judge Smith’s chambers two or three times during specific issues, such as when the judge didn’t like how a
Spanish-speaking man said thank you, or when a Cuban young man was given thirty- five years by Judge Smith because “he may commit another crime when he comes out of prison if given less time.”
Is has always been my humble opinion that running a newspaper or publishing one is like a priesthood dedication, and if money is more important than printing the truth, then the newspaper should not exist.
I once wrote that with all the years I have been in Clark County, and all the powerful movers and shakers that I have met and known in all those years, I could now be wealthy and powerful myself, if I only knew how to bow down, lie, and go along to get along, and do any number of other things required of one who is a puppet receiving benefits from the rich and/or powerful bestowing those benefits on their followers; but I don’t know how to pretend that bad is good or that the ugly is really beautiful.
I do like Ted Moody but it never crossed my mind that he would give in to materialistic things and false promises. I think Ted made a huge mistake by believing in Joe Lombardo’s offers and promises to him, promises and offers made in desperation, and offers and promise that Lombardo may never fulfill.
Assuming he does intend to make good on those promises, he may well come to resent his having made them after just a few months.
If Ted Moody considered Lombardo to be a good candidate, why did he run against him in the first place? He should have become a supporter and maybe all those promises would have become more acceptable in the eyes of many of his supporters.
In the meantime, I continue with my support for Larry Burns and hope that my readers will listen to me and not let the materialistic intentions of the daily newspaper blind them with the wrong endorsement. I am not going by the powers that be; I do not follow those who have more billboards paid for by controlling money that will be predominantly limiting the services of our police officers to the Strip and to the wealthy residential areas of our community. I am not
going to let the shine of someone else’s money that we cannot use because it is not ours make me cast a vote against the community.

We need a sheriff that is a police officer, a sheriff that is liked and respected by the rank and file, a sheriff that can bring back the morale in the department and the respect of the citizens to every man and woman in uniform.
The possibility that Larry Burns cannot win this election would be a slap in the face to every decent police officer and member of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and the consequences could be a higher crime rate, more officer involved shootings, and less protection to the decent hard-working citizens of Clark County.
I hope the people who have the power of the vote realize that what I say here today is very important and they should make sure they go to vote and vote for the best candidate for that job of sheriff based on the facts alone. I see that man, our best bet for sheriff, as Larry Burns.

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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8111.

email Marriage is only a piece of paper to fulfill the ego of society

Miramis Choufani 248x300 Marriage is only a piece of paper to fulfill the ego of society

Maramis Choufani celebrate her birthday with family members and friends

Like James Brown says in his song, “It is a man’s world,” but without a woman we are nothing; and as someone else has said, behind every successful man there is always a woman — this newspaper is blessed with a few women to whom we owe part of our own success. Parker, Natasha, Alexandra, Maramis and Perly, all females, and a major part of our weekly victory to put out a first-class publication with opinions and investigative reporting equal to none. And we can even add in Victoria and Melody as part-time, sometime contributors to our efforts.
But this week I would like to put the emphasis on one of them, Maramis Choufani, our managing editor, who every week goes beyond her line of duty working hand-in-hand with the production department until this newspaper is put to bed as a final product.
Maramis, The Friend of the Universe, as our friend Bob Beckett has always called her during their on-the-air chat, is celebrating her birthday today (Wednesday, October 15) and I would like to join all her friends in wishing her a happy birthday and many more to come.
Last Friday a group of friends gathered in her office to share Happy Birthday wishes for her upcoming day because she is off on Wednesdays.
They all wanted to show Maramis their friendship, and I joined them in singing the Happy Birthday song to her better than James Brown ever did!
And now back to reality, and I may not be the best person to talk about the issue of same-sex marriage because I don’t believe in the marriage vows regardless of whether it’s same sex, different sex, or no sex at all; I believe that marriage is only a piece of paper to fulfill the ego of society.
Marriage, in my opinion, is based on respect, trust and loyalty; without those there is no marriage, and on that I can comment from experience.
For twelve years I lived with my girlfriend without a problem; never cheated on her and always respected her; my neighbor was married by the church, had a civil ceremony with a big fanfare, and his bride wore white and they shared those special vows. Yet he cheated on her every day and was under the impression that by doing that he was more of a man that anyone else around him, myself included.
But that is not what I am referring to in this column; I am referring to the fact that everyone is making a big deal about same-sex unions being official now.
The media keeps voicing the “news” for the county, and the marriage license bureau keeps cranking out those press releases as if there is no tomorrow, so it must be a slow news day otherwise, despite the fact that our police department keeps killing people in our streets, and the feds keep allowing passengers from Africa to arrive in this country risking exposing our citizens to the Ebola disease.
What is the big deal about two people getting married when not even the day on which American women were allowed to cast their first ballots in the presidential election of 1920 caused such a big public
outburst?
When Nevada State Senator David Park came out of the closet announcing that he was gay, the news was disseminated as normal news of the day and no one made a big deal out of it.
President Barack Obama was elected as the first black president in the United States and no one made a national holiday out of it; Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House and no one made a big deal out of that.
Two people that have lived together for any amount of time and want to make it official for any reason should be allowed to do so regardless of their same sex or not; then, they can take the consequences when they don’t get along and a divorce comes to light.
Heterosexual people get married and they get divorced all the time; why should same sex marriage be any different?
Please understand that I am not criticizing same sex marriage. I am indeed criticizing the big fanfare the government is making out of something that was coming anyway.
I am saying that if the government is looking at same-sex marriage as some kind of revenue for the state, they are merely ahead of the attorneys sitting at the door of the courthouse waiting for the euphoria of the marriage to slow down so it will be their time to enjoy the revenue that will come from the divorce cases, the child custody cases, and any other “benefits” the attorneys can find to benefit their bank accounts.
I think that it’s time that we wised up and realized all the games those ruling our lives play to make themselves look better in the eyes of others and pretend to be doing the job they are supposed to be doing for their constituents.
Diverting the attention of the public to a less important issue is the best the government can do to keep the public entertained from important issues and making them look like they are doing their job.
I am willing to bet that the majority of people couldn’t care less if thirty people or a hundred people obtained a same-sex marriage license, but the county keeps track of those licenses as a reminder that “the county is doing the right thing for the people of Nevada” by obeying the ruling of the Supreme Court.
However, I wish all those newlyweds good luck, much happiness, and the best wishes on behalf of myself and the Las Vegas Tribune staff.
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
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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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 868-6397

email Here Comes the Judge... in Las Vegas Family Court

Jason Here Comes the Judge... in Las Vegas Family Court

SCALIA 300x201 Here Comes the Judge... in Las Vegas Family Court

What makes a good judge? Is it the one who raises the most money? Is it the one who has Dave Thomas as a campaign manager? Is it the candidate who has been an attorney longest?
There are two races in District Court, two Family Division races that are significant and that we want to focus on for the purpose of informing the public about the best candidates in Family Division of the Eighth District Court.
Family Court is a very controversial and problematic part of the judicial system in Nevada and it is important that the public get to know the other side of who to vote for and why, in order to not be fooled by the personal interests of campaign managers and the materialistic mentally of the daily newspaper.
Dept B — This is an open seat and it is a shame we are losing a great judge who is retiring. Here we have candidates Linda Marquis (who has very little, if any, family law experience and might not even know where the Family Court complex is) and Joe Scalia, who is very experienced in family law with over 20 years of family law experience.
Ms. Marquis has spent over $100,000 in this “stepping stone” race. She has no business running for this seat since she wants to become a judge to likely seek a different office or perhaps a higher office.
There is no reason she should run in this particular race when her experience is in other areas in civil litigation.
Ms. Marquis believes an election can be bought. That is why she has retained the services of that bully, Dave Thomas. It is no surprise she is getting all of the endorsements in this race, yet lacking substance.
Why is it relevant to anyone regarding candidates for judicial races, especially the police endorsements, to ask who the candidate’s campaign manager is? How is that relevant? She may have the good looks in this race based on the signs on the side of the road, but that does not make her qualified to serve Clark County as a District Court judge. Clark County can do better and fortunately there is a better choice on the ballot.
Joe Scalia runs his own family law firm and has the respect of the family law community for a reason. The man is extremely intelligent and is fluent in Spanish. Family law attorneys should be scared of perhaps appearing in front of Ms. Marquis, who will learn from the bench at the litigant’s and the taxpayer’s expense. She has stated that she knows family law since she has attended legal education seminars. That is like saying one can learn to swim by reading a book.
You learn by doing, and in this race, family law experience is where it should be. How can Ms. Marquis be a family court judge when she has never done a family court trial?
Joe Scalia did a mock divorce hearing example at the Patriot Day Debate event held at the Golden Nugget last month, at which Ms. Marquis failed to show. This would have been the perfect chance for Ms. Marquis to let others know why she believes she is the better choice.
Mr. Scalia’s intelligence and confidence is impressive. Mr. Scalia is the better choice and is passionate about what he does. Joe Scalia should be the next judge in Department B at Family Court.
Dept S — The Las Vegas Tribune has met Judge Ochoa and he has lied to us in our face about whether or not Dave Thomas is his campaign manager. Why would he feel the need to lie when we ask an honest question? In his election filings, it clearly shows he is paying Policy Communications a/k/a Dave Thomas, $2,500 per month.
Here is a guy that misses work to campaign (costing taxpayers money when a senior judge fills in to run his court that day while Judge Ochoa still gets his paycheck), and lost the Police Officers Association Union’s endorsement with the Clark County School District based on his gender discrimination against men (he has publicly stated that men do not get overnight visitation with their infant children the first six months of the child’s life and then only one overnight
the next six months).
Judge Ochoa also has the badge of the CCSD police union on his campaign signs when he does not have the endorsement. How is that fair to the voters? Isn’t that unethical and why is that tolerated? The right thing to do would be either to take the signs down or to cover up the badge. This is just another example of Judge Ochoa using any
means necessary to get re-elected. This shows his true colors and should not sit well with members of the voting public.
Veterans in Politics and the Review-Journal did not endorse him in 2014 while he is a judge, yet both endorsed him in 2010 when he was running for judge. Judge Ochoa was a personal injury, immigration, and workman’s compensation attorney before being elected in 2010. He has had very limited family law experience and it appears that shows. He
has been disqualified from one case involving his opponent based on the “quarrel” he caused at a Family Law conference in Ely, Nevada earlier this year. In September 2014, Judge Moss ordered a new trial in the same case due to all of the errors that Judge Ochoa caused.
Taxpayers now have to pay for a 2-day trial delaying justice in other cases. We can do better than Judge Ochoa on the bench.
Judge Ochoa only has a 64 percent retention rating with the Review-Journal poll. That is a “D.” Can we do better than a “D” Judge? The answer is yes.
We have gotten to know Jason Stoffel very early in this campaign. It is true that 99 percent of his cases since day one are in the area of family law. He has the knowledge and the experience to serve Clark County. He has appeared on the “Face the Tribune” program several times and would be a welcome addition to the bench. He is a Truancy Diversion Judge on Friday mornings helping the youth in Clark County.
According to his website, he is on several committees at the State Bar and the Clark County Bar Association.
Jason Stoffel clearly will be the superior choice to be the next Judge at Family Court in Department S. I like the “S for Stoffel” campaign slogan he uses since it is not only name recognition but it brings attention to the race where voters can do their research online about his qualifications and experience. He is also a volunteer settlement master at Family Court so he also has the respect of existing sitting judges. Those judges know something that the voters should know as
well — Stoffel should be on the bench.
Our final thoughts are that being a Judge is an important position.
Voters need to become educated about our elected officials, especially in non-partisan races that affect the community. It may be modern to vote early, and old-fashioned to “hold out” till Election Day, but please — everyone should do their civic duty and cast their ballot, early or not.

email Dirty campaign tolerable; lying and misleading the voters is not

Melody Howard Precin68031A Dirty campaign tolerable; lying and misleading the voters is not

Last-minute attacks in any election are normal and many voters know that that is why they do not pay attention to those last-minute lies and innuendos.
Most of the time that type of behavior is due to the lack of real credibility on the side of those bringing up the lie. The mainstream media doesn’t care because they are only interested in the advertising dollars and allow it to take place.
However, when a candidate and his campaign team misrepresent facts and mislead the public to gain the credibility they don’t have, it is bordering on the unethical and such actions are despicable, as far as we are concerned.
Richard Scotti has a television commercial in which he starts out inflating his qualifications and the truth about his background experience, then he ends by saying, “Your vote will allow me to keep serving you as a judge,” giving the impression that he is already a judge when he is not and has never been one.
Scotti’s desperation to be a judge got him to create his own Political Action Committee (PAC), known as Citizens For an Ethical Judiciary, and the first person Scotti endorsed with his Citizens For an Ethical Judiciary was himself, Richard Scotti. He then added a group of insecure and frustrated candidates belonging to Dave Thomas’ stable of judges that had to pay $1,000 each to be endorsed by the PAC.
Issues such as this one created by Richard Scotti and his master, Dave Thomas, are among the reasons why endorsements are losing the credibility of the intended endorsement process and the interest of those who used to gain the endorsement of unions and organizations that in the long run cannot force the members to vote for whomever the
group endorsed and have no way to verify who they do vote for.
These issues may cause voters to wonder why Richard Scotti is willing to gamble over $100,000 of his own money and beg to raise another $200,000 in contributions to try to get a job that pays that much only if you include insurance and other little perks.
Citizens For an Ethical Judiciary was founded and created by Melody Howard, the president of a local organization that in part is financially supported by Dave Thomas; it supposedly exists to cater to and care about veterans, but few of the endorsed candidates are veterans.
It is very noble to see a woman getting involved with veterans and the political scene of Southern Nevada to ensure that only “good” candidates are elected to represent the people of the community in which they reside.
However, in looking a little deeper into who Melody Howard is, the Las Vegas Tribune was surprised to learn that Melody Howard is employed by the law firm of Kemp, Jones & Couthard, the same law firm for which Richard Scotti works.
Coincidence? Some people who are familiar with the modus operandi of Dave Thomas are not surprised at all with this type of coincidence; however, a few of these people are surprised to see Richard Scotti operating such a dirty campaign and a few more of them were disappointed with such unethical behavior by a man for whom they were planning to vote.
Judges with impeccable reputations and stellar qualifications such as District Court Judge Kerry Earley in Department 4, District Court Judge Adriana Escobar (endorsed by Radio Tribune) in Department 14, and even District Court Judge Jerry Tao (who will never be endorsed by any organization under the Tribune umbrella until he apologizes to the founder of the Las Vegas Tribune) — who are all very well respected and are doing a good job on the bench — are paraded by Thomas and Scotti in the endorsement fliers that everyone knows costs the grand total of $1,000 each.
That is when the question is begged as to why judges with a good reputation, doing a great job, and with an impeccable record, need to pay for endorsements. The endorsements are given to qualified elected officials; why then do they have to pay?
It is because the endorsements belong to the campaign manager and who knows how many people participate in the splitting up of the $16,000 collected by the PAC, which is collected by the secretary in the law office where Richard Scotti works.
It is understandable that judges like Bill Gonzalez and Vincent Ochoa and Sandra Pomeranze pay for the endorsements due to the poor report card they all have with several organizations and with litigants in family court.
It is also understandable that Susan Bush had to pay for an endorsement after her campaign took a 360-degree turn when she allowed a pair of local attorneys to compromise her reputation by adding her to a campaign fund-raising event with Judge Doug Smith to make the judge look good by being connected with her.

email Judge Vincent Ochoa screamed at her...

Blanca Diaz 225x300 Judge Vincent Ochoa screamed at her...

There is no doubt in my mind that it takes a special kind of person with an incredible personality to be a politician — almost like a good entertainer. A good entertainer can have a broken heart, but once he or she jumps on the stage, that entertainer is a different person.
Politicians are almost the same but for a longer period of time; for three or five years the politician is busy, whether he or she is just out of the office, in a meeting, in several back-to-back seminars or due to any other excuse that the secretary, liaison, or other-titled person who gets paid to cover up for them gives us as to why their politician is unable to take our call or meet with us.
Once an election year starts up, however, you see them like flies, everywhere — no more busy schedule, or out of the office/in a meeting/in several seminars and all those other excuses the secretary, liaison, etc. are instructed to use; they answer all telephone calls, kiss all the babies they can find, take time to read to the kids in the schools, in any graders or of any age.
I am sick and tired of seeing them sitting in a tiny desk embracing a child with a book in their hands.
Look at District Court Judge Douglas Smith who discriminates against Latinos who appear in his courtroom; he forced a single Latina mother to go on a hunger strike to protest his abusive behavior and irrational ruling, decision and sentencing of her mentally ill son, but now he appears on Spanish television speaking in Spanish to beg the Latino audience that does not know him to vote for him.
How dare this man, judge or no judge, to have the audacity to turn to the Latino community — asking for their support!?
He may not know that I have taken my time to tell everyone I can, in Spanish, English or by sign language if necessary, that they should NOT vote for Judge Smith. The lady on that hunger strike is doing the same and the Latino who Judge Smith sent to jail and raised his bail from $3,000 to one million dollars because he did not like the way he said thank you to him are also campaigning against Judge Smith.
If Judge Smith thinks that because a couple of Latino attorneys are afraid of his retaliation and kiss his rear end, that they are going to make him win this election, I think he is going to be surprised on November 4 after the votes are counted.
I am recommending to every one that I know — Latinos, Anglos, Blacks, Asians and any other race — to vote for Christine Guerci-Nyhus because she is the best candidate for judge in District Court Department 8 without a doubt.
If Undersheriff Joe Lombardo believes that the Latin Chamber of Commerce has any influence on the Latino Community, he has a real surprise coming. If he thinks that Fernando Romero’s clique has any respect within the Spanish community of any kind, his surprise will be even bigger.
The Latinos in Las Vegas know better than that; they know that under the Lombardo regime the Clark County Detention Center Latino population has increased; and as I pointed out a few weeks ago in this column, three Latinos have been murdered and the police always arrive too late.
Latinos in Las Vegas know Larry Burns; they know that Larry Burns speaks our language and is able to communicate with the Latinos that have not learned English yet.
Larry is not going to be out there in the streets of Las Vegas being an interpreter for the Latino community — of course not — but Larry Burns knows the Latino mentality and he knows how to deal with the Latinos.
Those of you who did not have the opportunity of listening to my radio show last Tuesday when I interviewed Desiree Lucido, should allow us to send you a copy of that show before the election. In that interview, you would have heard from this mother who, after two years without seeing her daughter, still cries for her as she told us how Family Court Judge Vincent Ochoa screamed at her and told her that she will never see her daughter again.
Request a copy of that show which aired on Face The Tribune and you can hear her telling us that when she and Judge Ochoa met at a traffic light, she asked the judge when he was going to let her see her daughter and he rolled down his window and told her, “F*** you.”
This election should be an example for those elected officials that still believe that by coming out only in election year they are going to be able to keep their job; many of them could get a nice little surprise of rejection from the voters who give them the pink slip.
In fact what this community should be doing is starting to organize themselves to lobby for every office holder to have a term limit. We should not be keeping those government employees in office forever — they need to learn how to earn a paycheck or learn how to sign a check on the front and not just on the back.
This election should be an alert to those individuals that make politics their career to show them that serving the community, “giving back to the community” as they say, should have a term limit because the people of Nevada do not want to abuse the generosity of those politicians who need to get back to their normal life and their families.
I hope and pray that this election serves as an example of how tired the public is of career politicians and how eager they are to see new faces in office. This is a Republic, not a monarchy; we do not need just a few families governing the people of Nevada. Open your eyes, people, and vote the right way, the honest way, the educated way and the way that is best for the good of the community.
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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8111.

email Have a happy Election Day and regardless of who you vote for, please vote

I promise, I am not going to turn this column into the social page of the Las Vegas Tribune, but there is nothing better than being able to recognize the quality of those who deserve to be recognized, plus being able to brag of the connection of these people with us, and that is what I am doing in this column today.
First, in the legal department, I want to wish our long time friend and attorney, Chris Rasmussen, a very happy birthday on October 30.
Chris Rasmussen took over the task of being the Las Vegas Tribune legal adviser after my friend and business associate, Attorney John Fadgen, passed away; and even if we do not always see eye to eye, he has always been there for us doing his best for the publication.
Chris, in my humble opinion, is a good guy and always tries to do what is best for his clients with the tools that attorneys in Clark County are afforded while making a respectable name in the legal community, both state and federal court, and is being seen by many as a political figure if he stops making money and starts spending a little when he runs for an office.
Regardless of his arrogant walk and his rude way of talking, I have grown to like Chris, respect and admire him and I wish him a very happy birthday.
Also two of the most important people in our organization are celebrating their birthdays on the same day, November 1, and I feel the need to recognize them and tell them both how grateful I am for having them as friends and business associates.
I have been lucky enough to be associated with Donald H. Snook since 1976 and that was the best day of my life. Since then, I have depended on him for almost everything; during the La Verdad newspaper era and our stint with the first bilingual answering service, Don has been the man behind the scenes of every idea I have ever endured.
Don, an Idaho native, is a workaholic, a down-to-earth human being, even if he does not look like one sometimes, and without knowing a word of Spanish, he managed to put out the La Verdad newspaper, the best Spanish newspaper ever in Las Vegas, every week.
I consider myself a very lucky man by having Don as a friend for almost forty years of my life and I am proud to call him my friend. So this week I would like to take the opportunity to show my respect to Don Snook, and tell everyone how much I appreciate this long-lasting friendship and I want to wish Don a very happy birthday (working of course).
And last, but not least, the newest addition to this team of hard-working people who are always thinking of how to make the Las Vegas Tribune better and better, working around the clock for the things we all believe in, is John Thomas.
John’s birthday is also on November 1st. but unlike Don, he’s planning to take off and celebrate because he thinks he’s still young and that is what young people always do — celebrate.
John has teamed up with Don and between them they keep this fort standing up. He also works twenty-eight hours a day and no matter what time anyone calls the office he answers the telephone.
John Thomas was the driving force of the Candidates Debate on September 11, giving people the opportunity to meet, ask questions of and learn about the candidates, as well as giving the candidates the opportunity to present their candidature to people that otherwise they may never have had a chance to meet. The effort was obviously
recognized by the attendees at the event.
If all this time John has put up with me, he has to be one of the best and more patient human beings I have ever met, but he knows that even if I don’t know how to say nice words, I do appreciate everything he does and I recognize his dedication to our team. Happy birthday John, and thank you for being part of our team.
Enough mush already; let me get back to business as usual and remind everyone that tomorrow (Thursday) is the Las Vegas Tribune and Radio Tribune Open House between 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., or for as long as you, our guests, would like to stay. We have moved to a very nice place to meet the standard that our friends, our readers, and our advertisers deserve.
Somewhere in this edition of this newspaper is an announcement with the address and the new telephone numbers. We will have hors d’oeuvres, and I hope to see you here.
Because this is the last issue of the Las Vegas Tribune before Election Day, I want to express my gratitude to all the candidates for taking the time to participate in this process that make this nation different from many other countries; we can complain and criticize our election system but, let’s face it, we have a system that many countries do not have and we should be able to thank the good Lord for that.
On behalf of everyone on the Las Vegas Tribune team, we appreciate your participation. Whatever happens on November 4, we still recognize your efforts and the fact that you put your money and your heart into this process. Win or lose, whatever your reasons for running may have been, you did run and the citizens appreciate your effort to represent your community to the best of your ability.
The public, the constituents, the people of this great State also deserve to be thanked and appreciated for taking part in this process, and even if some races could have been less aggressive and perhaps a little more respectful, we nonetheless thank you for taking the time to get involved.
That is what makes this country so magnificent and so wonderful and the best county of them all.
Have a happy Election Day and regardless of who you vote for, please vote. Exercise that wonderful opportunity that only those like me, who were not born here, could appreciate — the right that many veterans have given their life for us to enjoy — the right to VOTE.
God Bless the United States of America.
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: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 868-6397

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Judge Vincent Ochoa screamed at her…

Have a happy Election Day and regardless of who you vote for, please vote