Like James Brown says in hissong, “It is a man’s world,” butwithout a woman we are nothing;and as someone else has said, be-hind every successful man there isalways a woman — this newspa-per is blessed with a few women towhom we owe part of our own suc-cess.

Parker, Natasha, Alexandra,Maramis and Perly, all females, anda major part of our weekly victoryto put out a first-class publicationwith opinions and investigative re-porting equal to none. And we caneven add in Victoria and Melody aspart-time, sometime contributors toour efforts.

But this week I would like to putthe emphasis on one of them,Maramis Choufani, our managingeditor, who every week goes be-yond her line of duty working hand-in-hand with the production depart-ment until this newspaper is put tobed as a final product.

Maramis, The Friend of the Uni-verse, as our friend Bob Beckett hasalways called her during their on-the-air chat, is celebrating her birth-day today (Wednesday, October 15)and I would like to join all herfriends in wishing her a happy birth-day and many more to come.

Last Friday a group of friendsgathered in her office to shareHappy Birthday wishes for her up-coming day because she is off onWednesdays. They all wanted toshow Maramis their friendship, andI joined them in singing the HappyBirthday song to her better thanJames Brown ever did!

And now back to reality, and Imay not be the best person to talkabout the issue of same-sex mar-riage because I don’t believe in themarriage vows regardless ofwhether it’s same sex, different sex,or no sex at all; I believe that mar-riage is only a piece of paper to ful-fill the ego of society.

Marriage, in my opinion, isbased on respect, trust and loyalty;without those there is no marriage,and on that I can comment from ex-perience.

For twelve years I lived with mygirlfriend without a problem; nevercheated on her and always re-spected her; my neighbor was mar-ried by the church, had a civil cer-emony with a big fanfare, and hisbride wore white and they sharedthose special vows. Yet he cheatedon her every day and was under theimpression that by doing that he

My Pointof View

By Gordon MartinesThe Honor Code for police of-

ficers, set decades ago, wherebypolice officers swear never to lie,cheat, steal or put up with anyonedoing it, appears to have gone to thewayside and is nothing more thanan old tradition to make fun of andto ridicule anyone for following it.

career assassination and unlawfultermination.

There has always been a certainsmall degree of individuals that fitinto this category, but in this dayand age, that number has greatly in-creased, and it is probably a wasteof time to try to discern if any hon-orable supervisors are left. It has not (See From the Desk, Page 6)

The same goes for being pro-moted up the ranks and sustainingthat promotion, whereby individu-als must demonstrate their willing-ness to lie, cheat, steal, drink the“kool-aid,” bend over, and backstabtheir fellow employees, at the im-mediate behest of their superior of-ficers, or else become targeted for

Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce Member

always been this way, but unfortu-nately it is definitely that way now.

In comparison, the Federal gov-ernment, which has been infectedwith elements of the Muslim Broth-erhood, the LVMPD Police Admin-istration has been infected with el-ements of Organized Crime.

LVMPD sets the standard for betrayal of the law

By Rolando Larraz

Volume 16, Issue 32 October 15-21, 2014

Why Obama may punt onimmigration, even after

the electionPAGE 9

Citizen Task Force forVoter Rights formed to help

reduce election fraudPAGE 10

Government has failed in itsjob to protect Americans

from EbolaPAGE 8

FROM THE DESK OF GORDON MARTINES

lasvegastribune.net

(See My Point of View, Page 2)

By Rolando LarrazLas Vegas Tribune

What makes a good judge? Is itthe one who raises the most money?Is it the one who has Dave Thomasas a campaign manager? Is it thecandidate who has been an attorneylongest?

There are two races in DistrictCourt, two Family Division racesthat are significant and that we wantto focus on for the purpose of in-forming the public about the bestcandidates in Family Division ofthe Eighth District Court.

Family Court is a very contro-versial and problematic part of thejudicial system in Nevada and it isimportant that the public get toknow the other side of who to votefor and why, in order to not befooled by the personal interests of

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

campaign managers and the mate-rialistic mentally of the daily news-paper.

Dept B — This is an open seatand it is a shame we are losing agreat judge who is retiring. Here we

have candidates Linda Marquis(who has very little, if any, familylaw experience and might not evenknow where the Family Court com-plex is) and Joe Scalia, who is veryexperienced in family law with over20 years of family law experience.Ms. Marquis has spent over$100,000 in this “stepping stone”race. She has no business runningfor this seat since she wants to be-come a judge to likely seek a dif-ferent office or perhaps a higheroffice. There is no reason sheshould run in this particular racewhen her experience is in other ar-eas in civil litigation.

Ms. Marquis believes an election

can be bought. That is why she hasretained the services of that bully,Dave Thomas. It is no surprise sheis getting all of the endorsementsin this race, yet lacking substance.

Why is it relevant to anyone re-garding candidates for judicialraces, especially the police endorse-ments, to ask who the candidate’scampaign manager is? How is thatrelevant? She may have the goodlooks in this race based on the signson the side of the road, but that doesnot make her qualified to serveClark County as a District Courtjudge. Clark County can do betterand fortunately there is a better

(See Family Court, Page 6)

By Ken SmallSpecial to the Las Vegas Tribune

The public is unaware that byvoting for more teachers it will beforcing itself to spend billions formore schools in the next election.Will voters elect to create a marginstax if they know that they will soonbe forced to provide billions formore schools? When voting forraising taxes, the credibility of thepublic entity to be funded is the firstthing that voters should think of.

Part of the pattern of the ClarkCounty School District’s (CCSD)constant attempts to get taxes raisedis a steady flow of press releasessent out to reporters for the purposeof bolstering its case. Typically theLas Vegas liberal press parrots therelease, verbatim, without any re-search. Often what is not said ismore important than what is said.

School District claims found tobe false and misleading, again

(See CCSD, Page 11)

Jason StoffelJoe Scalia

Ross Miller Adam Laxalt

By Alexandra CohenLas Vegas Tribune

The comment expressed by Sec-retary of State and candidate forAttorney General, Ross Miller, dur-ing a debate last Friday by callinghis opponent, Adam Laxalt, un-qualified and a “paper-pusher,” wasnot only offensive to his opponentbut to the many Nevada residents.

Adam Laxalt, a graduate ofGeorgetown University andGeorgetown University Law

Ross Miller’s shameless and offensiveattack on Adam Laxalt was unnecessary

By Natasha MinskyLas Vegas Tribune

During all the years of SheriffDouglas Gillespie’s dictatorial re-gime, the Las Vegas Tribune hasbeen accusing the Gillespie regimeof discrimination and of denyingthe newspaper the right to cover thenews as any other publication li-censed in Clark County, ever sincethe newspaper refused to endorsehim in all his elections and refusedto give him the same kind of four-page spread that was donated toformer Sheriff Bill Young, beforehe decided not to run for a secondterm.

Many people are of the opinionthat this is all part of the conspiracytheory mentally of the newspaper’sowner, who made the decision notto endorse Gillespie after a 30-minute meeting between the twomen.

The sheriff has never denied oradmitted the truth of that situation

Metro discriminates againsta legit licensed newspaper

(See Laxalt, Page 8)

(See Discrimation, Page 10)

regarding the Las Vegas Tribunefounder’s accusations — and de-spite a “courteous” hello when thetwo run into each other in an eleva-tor at county commission meetingsor any other public event, the fric-tion between the sheriff and the

newsman is obvious.The Las Vegas Tribune’s pub-

lisher believes the newspaper hasenough sources within the depart-ment that it doesn’t need the PublicRelations office of the sheriff to tellthe newspaper what to write.

On the few occasions that thenewspaper had to ask for certain in-formation from the office of publicinformation that serves as a publicrelations office for the sheriff, theperson answering the phone always

Page 2 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

MISSIONSTATEMENT

We search for the truth, em-brace the truth, and print the truth.If we inadvertently print some-thing that is not true, we will letour readers know. We are open todocumented information to shedlight on any issue of concern toour readers. We are of service toour community, and it is our in-tention to serve our communitythe best way we can.

RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF THE LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE EVERY WEEK!To receive a complimentary link to every new issue of the Las Vegas Tribune, please send

an email to circulation@lasvegastribune.com and give us the email address where youwould like your copy sent. We look forward to having you as a subscriber to our publication.

Quote of the Week:“Never be bullied into silence.Never allow yourself to be made avictim. Accept no one’s definitionof your life; define yourself.”

—Harvey Fierstein

Please Note:Although the Las Vegas Tribuneis open to all and sundry opin-ions about what we publish, wewish to inform all those whochoose to submit their opinionsin writing to refrain from threat-ening anyone about whom an ar-ticle is written or the writer ofthe article. In other words, anyopinions containing threats willnot be published. We thank youfor adhering to this policy.

(Continued from Page 1)was more of a man that anyone elsearound him, myself included.

But that is not what I am refer-ring to in this column; I am refer-ring to the fact that everyone ismaking a big deal about same-sexunions being official now.

The media keeps voicing the“news” for the county, and themarriage license bureau keepscranking out those press releasesas if there is no tomorrow, so itmust be a slow news day other-wise, despite the fact that our po-lice department keeps killingpeople in our streets, and the fedskeep allowing passengers fromAfrica to arrive in this country risk-ing exposing our citizens to theEbola disease.

What is the big deal about twopeople getting married when noteven the day on which Americanwomen were allowed to cast theirfirst ballots in the presidential elec-tion of 1920 caused such a big pub-lic outburst?

When Nevada State SenatorDavid Park came out of the closetannouncing that he was gay, thenews was disseminated as normalnews of the day and no one madea big deal out of it.

President Barack Obama waselected as the first black presidentin the United States and no onemade a national holiday out of it;Nancy Pelosi became the first fe-male Speaker of the House and noone made a big deal out of that.

Two people that have lived to-gether for any amount of time andwant to make it official for any rea-son should be allowed to do so re-

My Point of Viewgardless of their same sex or not;then, they can take the consequenceswhen they don’t get along and a di-vorce comes to light.

Heterosexual people get marriedand they get divorced all the time;why should same sex marriage beany different?

Please understand that I am notcriticizing same sex marriage. I amindeed criticizing the big fanfare thegovernment is making out of some-thing that was coming anyway.

I am saying that if the govern-ment is looking at same-sex mar-riage as some kind of revenue forthe state, they are merely ahead ofthe attorneys sitting at the door ofthe courthouse waiting for the eu-phoria of the marriage to slow downso it will be their time to enjoy the

revenue that will come from the di-vorce cases, the child custody cases,and any other “benefits” the attor-neys can find to benefit their bankaccounts.

I think that it’s time that wewised up and realized all the gamesthose ruling our lives play to makethemselves look better in the eyesof others and pretend to be doingthe job they are supposed to be do-ing for their constituents.

Diverting the attention of thepublic to a less important issue isthe best the government can do tokeep the public entertained fromimportant issues and making themlook like they are doing their job.

I am willing to bet that the ma-jority of people couldn’t care lessif thirty people or a hundred people

obtained a same-sex marriage li-cense, but the county keeps trackof those licenses as a reminder that“the county is doing the right thingfor the people of Nevada” by obey-ing the ruling of the Supreme Court.

However, I wish all those new-lyweds good luck, much happiness,and the best wishes on behalf ofmyself and the Las Vegas Tribunestaff.

My name is Rolando Larraz, andas always, I approved this column.

* * * * *Rolando Larraz is Editor in

Chief of the Las Vegas Tribune. Hiscolumn appears weekly in thisnewspaper. To contact RolandoLarraz, email him at:Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com orat (702) 699-8111.

Special to the Las Vegas TribuneGillette, Wyoming — a small

town in Wyoming where everyoneas a community looks out for oneanother, and helps neighbors intimes of need. The community isnow at a loss wondering, along withthe parents, where the two teens,Alicia Jones and Colton Mefford,have disappeared to. Families, reli-gious communities, and businessesare helping to get the word out thatthese teens are missing.

Law Enforcement receives a callfrom a parent. Their teen is miss-ing.

Then the second call comes re-garding the other teen just dayslater. We now have two teens miss-ing from Gillette. Friends and fam-ily are now dealing with not know-ing where Colton and Alicia are.Are they safe?

In The Heart of America: The “MISSING”

Their child is missing. A harshtruth for any parent. We Help TheMissing, a pending non-profit501©3 organization that assistsfamilies and law enforcement insearching for missing family mem-bers, was notified.

First one case, then the other asparents gave permission for theorganization to begin searching forthe two. Tips come in daily and areverified by the private investiga-tors who volunteer with WHTM:Dave Wolfskill and AmandaWaldron, local Wyoming residents.

A tip the teens are with another in-dividual has not been confirmed tothis date.

Both teens’ parents, Tanya andJesse Kimbley and Angie and AcieMefford, never thought the daywould come that they would needthe community’s and lawenforcement’s help to locate theirchildren. The feelings a parent of amissing child have are many. Thosefeelings range from hopelessness tofrustration to feeling alone. The feel-ing that no one is looking for theirchildren or is seriously taking themas missing causes them worry thatthey may be in danger; it’s a feelingno parent should have to face.

We Help The Missing worksdaily with the parents to alleviatesuch feelings. We Help The Miss-ing does not use the term “Run-away,” regardless of whether or notthe individual left on his own. Anyperson who is missing is ENDAN-GERED if they are not in the safetyof their home, with their loved ones.In many states, it is against the lawto aid or harbor an underage personwho is not with parents, whichleaves many law enforcement agen-

cies the option of pressing chargesagainst those who may be aiding orhiding a missing teen.

We Help The Missing and lawenforcement, along with the fami-lies of Alicia and Colton, are ask-ing for media coverage outside ofWyoming to ensure the safe returnof those children.

If anyone has any informationregarding the location of Alicia andColton, you are asked to immedi-ately contact Gillette Police Depart-ment (307) 682-5155 or Private In-vestigators Dave Wolfskill (307)467-5915 or Amanda Waldron(307) 797-0363 or WE HELP THEMISSING TIPLINE at (866) 660-4025. The families are asking foryour assistance in locating the teensand appreciate the many thoughtsand prayers for the safe return oftheir children.

The danger of child trafficking,among other dangers, exists. Thedangers are very real and most teensdo not realize how serious thiscould be. We are asking you toplease share this information. Theparents now ask where their childis and ask for your help. Below are

messages to Colton and Alicia fromtheir parents.

Alicia Jones and ColtonMefford: “If you are reading this,your parents would like you to knowthat they LOVE you and you bothare missed dearly. Please call nomatter what to let them know thatyou are safe. Anything can beworked out just let us know that youboth are safe!”

Alicia Jones, age 15, was lastseen on September 18, 2014 inGillette, Wyoming. She has brownhair, hazel eyes, is 5’4” tall andweighs 120 lbs. Colton Mefford,age 15, was last seen on September20, 2014 in Gillette, Wyoming. Hehas medium brown hair, hazel/brown eyes, is 5’10” tall and weighs170 lbs. If you have any informa-tion regarding the whereabouts ofColton or Alicia, please contact theGillette Police Department at (307)682-5155 or Private InvestigatorDave Wolfskill at (307) 467-5915or Private Investigator AmandaWaldron at (307) 797-0363 or WEHELP THE MISSING — TIPLINE (866) 660-4025. All tips willbe confidential. Thank you.

FOUNDERRolando Larraz

VOL. 16, NO. 32

PUBLISHERAND

EDITOR IN CHIEFRolando Larraz

GENERAL MANAGERPerly Viasmensky

PRODUCTIONDon Snook

MANAGING EDITORMaramis Choufani

ASSOCIATE EDITORColleen Lloyd

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERKenneth A. Wegner

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October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 3

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CITY BEATPage 4 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

Halloween is always a time forchildhood fun, but this year withHalloween landing on a Friday,grown-ups are getting in on the ac-tion with nearly half of Americanadults planning to don a costumeaccording to the annual HalloweenSurvey released recently by thriftretailer Savers. The classics aremaking a comeback as 30 percentof adults look to traditional themeslike vampires or witches for cos-tume inspiration, while pop cultureis still a top source of inspirationwith 31 percent getting ideas frommovies, TV shows and celebrities.Whatever the look, nearly half ofthe nation agrees you don’t have tospend a fortune to put together thebest costume. In fact, 41 percenttypically combine new and gently-used items for a one-of-a-kind look,and 35 percent feel thrift stores area great place to get costume inspi-ration.

There is excitement this yearpredicting “Best Celebrity ChildCostume” with Prince George, sonof Prince William and KateMiddleton, beating out QueenBey’s Blue Ivy Carter. Halloweenremains a fun day for kids acrossthe country as 88 percent of parentsreport their children dress up forHalloween, and more than half lettheir kids have free reign over theircostume choice. Thirty percent ofparents tend to combine new andsecond-hand items to help theirchild have a standout look from thecrowd.

Trends for Halloween 2014Selfie: With the “selfie” bigger

than ever, more than 60 percent ofsocial media users who dress upreport their social networks willimpact their costume choices. So-cial media has continued to sparkcostume wearers’ creativity — if aphoto is likely to be posted to theirsocial channels, 35 percent wouldbe more inclined to create a one-of-a-kind costume. Forty-four per-cent plan to get inspiration fromtheir newsfeed, while 34 percentwant to wear something differentevery year to avoid posting similarphotos.

Celebrity Costume WatchWith a close eye on Hollywood,

Americans believe Lady Gaga willtake home the award for best Hal-loween costume this year, followedby Ellen DeGeneres.

Don’t Get Left in the ColdThis year, Americans think

Disney’s “Frozen” will glide out infront of “Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles” and “X-Men: Days of theFuture Past” for the top movie cos-tume inspiration.

Halloween HypePeople are getting excited to cel-

ebrate; 82 percent of those who usu-ally dress up plan well in advance— on average, preparing for the bigday two and a half months aheadof time!

Walkers, Fangs and Swords!Oh My!

For the fourth consecutive year,Americans chose “The WalkingDead” as the TV show that will in-spire the most costumes. And ifdressing in a TV-inspired groupcostume, respondents are mostlikely to choose the regal furs,swords and wigs from the “Gameof Thrones” cast.

Fun for the Whole FamilyParents love dressing up their

kids and they are also bringing their“fur babies” into the celebration.Some costume-crazy pet owners(22 percent) are willing to pick co-ordinating costumes for themselvesand their animal pal, while 22 per-cent take their pet trick-or-treatingand 15 percent enter their pet in acostume contest.

Classic and pop culture costumesunite for the ultimate Halloween fun

For Laughs or Looks?This year, it’s all about fun. More

than two in three prefer a funny orscary costume over a sexy look. Buton the flip side, nearly half of 18-29-year-olds care more about look-ing good in their costume, versus27 percent of their 30-plus counter-parts.

Deck the Halloween HallsChristmas isn’t the only holiday

where people like to make a splashin their neighborhoods. More thanhalf of Americans — 53 percent —plan to decorate their house forHalloween.

Whether shoppers are looking tostand out from the crowd or theywant to get a good deal, the Saversfamily of thrift stores is the ultimateHalloween destination. The storesoffer the largest selection of bothnew and gently-used costumes, ac-cessories and home dÈcor, whichmeans there’s a costume to matchevery budget. Every store has thou-sands of brand-new, ready-madelooks that can easily be paired withpre-loved clothing and accessoriesthat fill the aisles at Savers for afraction of their original price. Thepossibilities are endless at Saversand shoppers never know what theymight find.

“Halloween continues to be acelebration for all ages and this yearwill be no exception. Last year withHalloween falling on a Thursday,sales grew nearly 10 percent —with this year’s observance on Fri-day, we anticipate even highergrowth,” said Ken Alterman, Presi-dent and CEO of Savers. “Hallow-een is to thrift stores as Christmasis to traditional retailers, with newand seasoned thrifters flocking toour stores to find their costume so-lutions at a great value. It’s our busi-est time of year.”

Costume ConsultantsBecause each store is filled with

more than 100,000 new and gently-used items during Halloween, eachstore location has specially trained,knowledgeable “Costume Consult-ants” to help people create their per-fect costume by combining items inways they never thought possible.

To provide further inspiration,stores will host free “HalloweenCostume Catwalk” fashion showsat 3 p.m. every Thursday in Octo-ber. Set to festive Halloween-themed music, each store’s Cos-tume Consultants will showcase theseason’s most popular costumelooks while providing useful Hal-loween shopping tips.

Online Inspiration and FunSavers is hosting two exciting

Halloween costume contests on so-cial channels and through its SuperSavers Club Card program thisyear.

Savers’ Halloween CostumePhoto Contest offers participantsthe chance to win $500, $250 or$100 Savers gift certificates bysharing photos of their best Hallow-een costumes on Facebook,Instagram and Twitter. From Octo-ber 1 to November 3, 2014, fans canenter to win by uploading photosof themselves, their families or petsin their Halloween costumesthrough the page’s Facebook tab, bytweeting photos @SaversVVillageusing #thriftortreat or by using thesame hashtag on their Instagramphotos.

Join the Club for a chance to wina magical trip to Orlando, FL. AllSuper Savers Club Card membersare automatically entered to win atrip for four to Orlando, plus themepark passes of their choice. Becomea member at www.savers.com on orbefore October 31 for a chance towin.

* * * * *

City of Las Vegas CulturalArts November Calendar

of Events 2014Ethnic Express International

Folk Dancing (ages 8+)Wednesdays, 6:30 to 8:45 p.m.Cost: $4 per person per week at

the door.Charleston Heights Arts Center,

800 S. Brush St., 702-229-6383.Have an evening of fun learning

international dance styles, includ-ing Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian,Chinese, Greek, Israeli,Macedonian, Russian, Serbian andTurkish folk dances. No need tobring a partner. Ethnic Express In-ternational Folk Dancing is a non-profit volunteer organization. Formore information, call 702-732-4871 or go online towww.ethnicexpresslasvegas.org.

An Afternoon of OperAntics(all ages)

Saturday, Nov. 1, 2 p.m.Free and open to the public.Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza

in Lorenzi Park, 720 Twin LakesDrive, 702-229-3514.

Everyone is invited to a specialafternoon at Sammy Davis Jr. Fes-tival Plaza, with a performancecombining the thrill of live musicand theatre with the best tunes fromthe world of opera, many sung inEnglish. Experience the funny sideof opera as Arts Connection pre-sents Las Vegas’ premier contem-porary opera company, Sin CityOpera, featuring professional operasingers. OperAntics is a fun-filledintroduction to the world of opera,with recognizable musical treats forthe entire family.

Scottish Country Dancing(ages 13+)

Fridays, 6:30 to 8:45 p.m., Nov.7, 14, 21

Cost: $5 per person at the door;$4 for members of Southern Ne-vada Old Time Contra Dancers.

Charleston Heights Arts Center,800 S. Brush St., 702-229-6383.

Scottish country dancing cel-ebrates the beautiful ballroomdance styles of Scotland. Dancescan be joyfully energetic or grace-ful. From the first chord to the finalbow or curtsey, participants will beinspired by the driving reels, jigs,strathspeys or lilting airs. Dancersshould wear comfortable clothesand soft shoes. Dances are pre-sented by the Southern Nevada OldTime Contra Dancers, a nonprofitvolunteer organization. For moreinformation, call 702-656-9513 orgo online towww.lasvegascountrydance.org.

Contra Dance (ages 8+)Saturday, Nov. 8. Group lesson

6:30 p.m.; dance 7 to 10 p.m.Admission: $10 adults; $5 mem-

bers, students & military; $3 chil-dren under 16 & non-dancers; payat the door.

Charleston Heights Arts Center,800 S. Brush St., 702-229-6383.

Dance to a live acoustic bandplaying joyful tunes, driving reelsand a waltz or two. All dances aretaught and called; newcomers andfamilies welcome. No need to bringa partner. Wear comfortable flat-soled shoes and casual clothing.Dances are presented by the South-ern Nevada Old Time Contra Danc-ers, a nonprofit volunteer organiza-tion. For more information, call702-656-9513 or go online towww.lasvegascountrydance.org.Weaving Art-making Workshop

(inspired by Navajo Rugs)(ages 11+)

Saturdays, Nov. 8 & 15, 12:15to 2:15 pm. Registration is openOct. 1 through Nov 8, or until full.

Cost: $26Charleston Heights Arts Center,

800 S. Brush St., 702-229-6383.Celebrating Native American

Heritage Month in this two-day spe-cialty workshop, students will cre-ate their own cardboard looms,string them, choose their color pat-tern and execute a woven yarnhanging inspired by Navajo rugs.Instruction led by JaquelineEihausen. To register online, visitwww.artslasvegas.org/classes/register.htm.

Book Club at CharlestonHeights Arts Center (14+)

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 6 to 7:30p.m.

Free to join with registration. Alllevels welcome, teens and adults.

Charleston Heights Arts Center,800 S. Brush St., 702-229-6383.

In honor of Native AmericanHeritage Month, “The RoundHouse,” a political novel by LouiseErdrich and winner of the NationalBook Award for Fiction in 2012,

will be discussed. Meet spiritedbook lovers! Fiction or non-fiction,e-reader, paperback or hardcover,you’ll read a new book everymonth. Come to learn, laugh, sharestories and make new friends! En-joy guided discussion of selectedtitles of modern literature withgroup moderator, Aleida Castro.Book titles are subject to change.Call or visit www.artslasvegas.org/classes/chac.htm for more informa-tion.USA Ballroom Dance (ages 13+)

Saturday, Nov. 15; 7 to 10:30p.m. Dance lesson at 7:30 p.m.

Admission: $10 adults; $5 mili-tary/students ages 13-25. Pay at thedoor.

Charleston Heights Arts Center,800 S. Brush St., 702-229-6383.

Presented by USA Dance LasVegas Chapter #4038, a local chap-ter of the national nonprofit volun-teer organization, dedicated to thepromotion of ballroom dancing. Formore information, call 702-260-0772 or go online towww.usadancelasvegas.org.

The American Irish DuoFriday, Nov. 21, noon to 1 p.m.Free and open to the public.Lloyd D. George Federal Court-

house Jury Assembly Room, 333Las Vegas Blvd. South.

Featuring the best in Irish andCeltic music, The American IrishDuo play traditional instrumentalIrish music, with passion for the pubmusic of the Irish countryside, withan American twist. Providing amixture of jigs, reels, strathspays,and American tunes, they are asought-after duo throughout theWest.

City Beat is a compilation ofnews and views of our editorial andwriting team, along with readersubmissions and topics. Readersare invited to suggest a local topicor any other items of interest.

The American Irish Duo

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 5

Contact John at 702-383-1006 or john@watkinsforjudge.com

ately notified, as was LVMPD.Both police departments re-sponded; but strangely, LVMPDsent out the Intelligence Section torespond rather than the HomicideSection. Intelligence Detectives in-formed everyone at the scene thatthey were now in charge and foreveryone to leave and not discussthis incident with anyone else.

To date, the only publication ofthe death of Officer Kevin ScottDailey, dob/6-5-68, is an obituaryentry in the RJ, dated December 5,2007. No mention of the circum-stances, manner of death, cause ofdeath, or any other information hasbeen published or documented. Dis-turbingly, the autopsy report forOfficer Kevin Scott Dailey in theClark County Coroners Data Bankswas removed six hours after it wasput in, and allegedly is now unavail-able.

I personally have written lettersand sent legal depositions to U. S.Attorney Daniel Bogden, the Jus-tice Department, the FBI, SenatorHarry Reid, Senator Dean Heller,the District Attorney’s Office, theState Attorney Generals Office, theLVMPD, and others regarding thisincident. To date, no action appearsto have been initiated by anyone,regarding the beheading murder ofLVMPD Officer Kevin ScottDailey.

Justice must prevail, and allthose responsible or complicit inthis egregious act must be held ac-countable, regardless of how muchpower they possess, or how muchmoney they have, or who theyknow, or how rich and powerfulthey are. The Rule of Law must beobeyed and not betrayed.

IN GOD WE TRUSTGordon Martines is a former

LVMPD detective who has servedin many capacities over his 39-yearcareer in law enforcement. He hasbeen a candidate for sheriff in 2002,2006, 2010 and 2014, with the in-tention of bringing integrity and ac-countability back to the department,and filed a federal lawsuit againstLVMPD in 2011. Martines nowcontributes his opinions and ideasto the Las Vegas Tribune to keep thepublic informed and help improvepolicing in Las Vegas. He has alsoappeared on the Face the Tribuneradio program several times toshare his plan for a better LVMPD.

Page 6 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

Scandal after scandal, lie afterlie, criminal cover-up after crimi-nal cover-up and still this commu-nity tolerates and accepts this typeof behavior from our alleged pro-tectors, without even a wink or aprayer. The question is, what is itgoing to take before the people inthis community wake up and smellthe roses?

Open Murder usually generatesa spark of attention even from themost mundane individual. Well,here you go: In November of 2007,LVMPD Officer Kevin Scott Daileyfailed to show up for work at theClark County Detention Center.Dailey’s co-workers wonderedwhere he was, and they were toldto mind their own business byLVMPD supervision and not toconcern themselves with OfficerDailey’s whereabouts and AWOLstatus.

LVMPD Correction Officers inCCDC generated fliers inside thejail asking for any/all informationregarding the whereabouts ofLVMPD Officer Kevin ScottDailey; an inmate came forwardand told officers that Officer KevinDailey was murdered by the Rus-sian Mafia and that Officer KevinDailey’s sister was also prostitutingherself for the Russian Mafia, andin addition was also dating aLVMPD Intelligence detective.

This information was met withanimosity by the LVMPD Intelli-gence section and severe punish-ment was dealt out to the Correc-tion Officers that generated the Of-ficer Dailey fliers that produced thisvery disturbing information. Still,no formal investigation was under-way for the whereabouts of OfficerKevin Dailey.

Toward the end of November2007, three weeks after the first re-port of LVMPD Officer KevinScottDailey’s failure to report for dutyat the CCDC, a civilian passerbyspotted Officer Kevin Dailey’sburned-out personal vehicle in thedesert area near Lake Mead in theHenderson jurisdiction. HendersonPolice were notified, the vehiclewas impounded, but still no formalinvestigation was initiated at towhere Officer Kevin Dailey was.

LVMPD Correction Officerswere outraged that LVMPD orHenderson Police Department hadnot initiated any formal investiga-tion as to the whereabouts or wel-fare of a LVMPD, fully commis-sioned on duty Corrections Officerthat had been missing and unac-counted for during that three weeks’time.

Unbelievably frustrated by thelack of concern by the LVMPD Ad-ministration, co-workers in the jailformed a voluntary search party,made up from corrections officers,family, and friends, to start lookingfor evidence and clues to OfficerKevin Scott Dailey’s whereabouts.The search party decided to startlooking from the location of whereOfficer Dailey’s burned-out vehiclewas found. The search party imme-diately found Officer Kevin ScottDailey’s severed head approxi-mately 300 feet from where hisburned out vehicle was first locatedby the citizen passerby.

Henderson Police were immedi-

From The Desk(Continued from Page 1)

choice on the ballot.Joe Scalia runs his own family

law firm and has the respect of thefamily law community for a reason.The man is extremely intelligentand is fluent in Spanish. Family lawattorneys should be scared of per-haps appearing in front of Ms. Mar-quis, who will learn from the benchat the litigant’s and the taxpayer’sexpense. She has stated that sheknows family law since she has at-tended legal education seminars.That is like saying one can learn toswim by reading a book. You learnby doing, and in this race, familylaw experience is where it shouldbe. How can Ms. Marquis be a fam-ily court judge when she has neverdone a family court trial?

Joe Scalia did a mock divorcehearing example at the Patriot DayDebate event held at the GoldenNugget last month, at which Ms.Marquis failed to show. This wouldhave been the perfect chance forMs. Marquis to let others know whyshe believes she is the better choice.

Mr. Scalia’s intelligence andconfidence is impressive. Mr. Scaliais the better choice and is passion-ate about what he does. Joe Scaliashould be the next judge in Depart-ment B at Family Court.

Family Court(Continued from Page 1) Dept S — The Las Vegas Tri-

bune has met Judge Ochoa and hehas lied to us in our face aboutwhether or not Dave Thomas is hiscampaign manager. Why would hefeel the need to lie when we ask anhonest question? In his election fil-ings, it clearly shows he is payingPolicy Communications a/k/a DaveThomas, $2,500 per month.

Here is a guy that misses workto campaign (costing taxpayersmoney when a senior judge fills into run his court that day while JudgeOchoa still gets his paycheck), andlost the Police Officers AssociationUnion’s endorsement with theClark County School District basedon his gender discrimination againstmen (he has publicly stated thatmen do not get overnight visitationwith their infant children the firstsix months of the child’s life andthen only one overnight the next sixmonths).

Judge Ochoa also has the badgeof the CCSD police union on hiscampaign signs when he does nothave the endorsement. How is thatfair to the voters? Isn’t that unethi-cal and why is that tolerated? Theright thing to do would be either totake the signs down or to cover upthe badge. This is just another ex-ample of Judge Ochoa using any

means necessary to get re-elected.This shows his true colors andshould not sit well with membersof the voting public.

Veterans in Politics and the Re-view-Journal did not endorse himin 2014 while he is a judge, yet bothendorsed him in 2010 when he wasrunning for judge. Judge Ochoa wasa personal injury, immigration, andworkman’s compensation attorneybefore being elected in 2010. Hehas had very limited family lawexperience and it appears thatshows. He has been disqualifiedfrom one case involving his oppo-nent based on the “quarrel” hecaused at a Family Law conferencein Ely, Nevada earlier this year. InSeptember 2014, Judge Moss or-dered a new trial in the same casedue to all of the errors that JudgeOchoa caused. Taxpayers now haveto pay for a 2-day trial delaying jus-tice in other cases. We can do bet-ter than Judge Ochoa on the bench.

Judge Ochoa only has a 64 per-cent retention rating with the Re-view-Journal poll. That is a “D.”Can we do better than a “D” Judge?The answer is yes.

We have gotten to know JasonStoffel very early in this campaign.

It is true that 99 percent of his casessince day one are in the area of fam-ily law. He has the knowledge andthe experience to serve ClarkCounty. He has appeared on the“Face the Tribune” program severaltimes and would be a welcome ad-dition to the bench. He is a TruancyDiversion Judge on Friday morn-ings helping the youth in ClarkCounty. According to his website,he is on several committees at theState Bar and the Clark County BarAssociation.

Jason Stoffel clearly will be thesuperior choice to be the next Judgeat Family Court in Department S. Ilike the “S for Stoffel” campaignslogan he uses since it is not onlyname recognition but it brings at-

tention to the race where voters cando their research online about hisqualifications and experience. He isalso a volunteer settlement masterat Family Court so he also has therespect of existing sitting judges.Those judges know something thatthe voters should know as well —Stoffel should be on the bench.

Our final thoughts are that be-ing a Judge is an important posi-tion. Voters need to become edu-cated about our elected officials,especially in non-partisan races thataffect the community. It may bemodern to vote early, and old-fash-ioned to “hold out” till ElectionDay, but please — everyone shoulddo their civic duty and cast theirballot, early or not.

It is with great sadness that we received news ofthe passing of Herlan Portelles, a member of the lo-cal Cuban community for decades.

When we first met Herlan over 30 years ago, hehad a small market in the downtown area where heworked shoulder-to-shoulder, day in and day out,with his then-wife, Ana Cecilia, to make it prosper.

That market did prosper big time and after somuch effort and dedication they opened LaEsperanza Market at the old and well-known Com-mercial Center on Sahara Avenue. Not only did thebusiness grow, the family did too, with the additionof a little girl, Yvette.

Not everything in life last forever; the marriagefailed but the love of little Yvette for her father wasunique. While all Yvette’s little friends were going

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 7

Herlan Segundo Portelles

11:00 a.m.Tuesday and

Thursdayson

RadioTribune.com

with Gordon MartinesOpen Mic

June 1, 1932–October 9, 2014to a park or visiting each other after school, Yvettewas helping her daddy at the supermarket.

Herlan continued working all kinds of hours tothe point that he added a bakery in the back of thestore.

Fresh Cuban bread coming out of the oven everythirty minutes. And little Yvette trying to help cus-tomers to the best of her abilities — the cash registerwas bigger than she was.

Very unfortunately, Yvette was not with her fa-ther at the time of his passing and she is totally dev-astated. Very few daughters love their fathers the wayYvette loved and still loves Herlan.

All of us at the Las Vegas Tribune send our deep-est condolences to Herlan’s sister and family, andespecially to his daughter, Yvette.

R e - E l e c tR e - E l e c t

Page 8 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

School, served as a judge advocategeneral in Iraq as\ a lieutenant withthe U.S. Navy. During his trip toIraq, for which he volunteered,Laxalt had responsibility for morethan 20,000 dangerous detainees.Later, Laxalt worked as a specialadviser to the United States Depart-ment of State.

In 2006, Laxalt was on a fire linein Iraq while Secretary of StateMiller was getting his desk readyin an air-conditioned room for “pa-per-pushing.” Laxalt al the whilewas not only fighting for Miller’sfreedom, but for the freedom of allNevadans and every citizen of theUnited States.

Ross Miller claims experience asan attorney. He said “Adam Laxaltis not qualified, I am qualified,” butfour years of practicing law with theClark County District Attorney can-not be called experience when pros-ecutors with the Clark County Dis-trict Attorney are nothing but sal-ary-earners. This is their step tojudgeship or further political of-fices. It is deeply amazing to sensethe little respect this young man,Ross Miller, has for the military,but, not surprising. If Adam Laxaltwas considered merely a paper-pusher in the military, according toRoss Miller, what would Miller callhimself? As a Secretary of Statehe is indeed a paper-pusher. Hepushes letters written to him on tohis secretary, who pushes those let-ters on to her secretary, who thenpushes the letters on to the othersupposed secretaries, until the lastperson drops them into the wastebasket, and all those secretaries’salaries are paid at taxpayers’ ex-pense.

It is not surprising how this

Laxalt(Continued from Page 1) young man, Ross Miller, expresses\

himself about military men and thelittle respect he has for them.

At least Adam Laxalt was a “pa-per-pusher” in the military. FormerPresident Bill Clinton moved toanother country to continue hisstudies to avoid military service;our honorable Senator Harry Reidnever served in the military. And,our Commander in Chief, Mr.Obama, never served in the mili-tary. Mr. Ross Miller himself neverserved a day in the military. Noneof those famous Democrats knowwhat it is to fight for the freedomof the citizens of the United Statesof America. But that wouldn’t stopone or another of them from know-ing how to criticize those who do.

By Phyllis SchlaflyAmericans against amnesty are

not only worried about unemployedMexicans crossing our southernborder illegally to take U.S. jobs.More than ever, we need the fencethat Congress voted for and Presi-dent George W. Bush made a tele-vision photo event when he signedit into law.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.,said that at least 10 ISIS thugs havecrossed our southern border. Hunteradded, if we caught 10, “you knowthere are going to be dozens morethat did not get caught by the Bor-der Patrol.”

Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., saysthe Islamic State, ISIS, is activelyworking with Mexican drug cartelsto infiltrate and eventually attackAmericans.

ISIS has told us it wants to ex-tend a caliphate over America, sowhy is anybody surprised that theyare doing what they said theywanted to do? The problem of in-vasion across our border is nolonger just a jobs problem. It’s anational security problem, a welfareproblem, a public school problemand a dangerous disease problem.

It’s not a problem of accepting afew lost teenagers who arrived un-announced and demanded admis-sion.

Ignoring the ThreatIt’s a problem of our public

schools suddenly being invaded by

Government has failed in its jobto protect Americans from Ebola

thousands of young adults whohave never been to any school, whoare not familiar with basic hygiene,who can’t read or write, who don’tspeak English or even familiarSpanish (but speak one of 21 dif-ferent Spanish or Indian dialects)and who may carry new diseasessuch as EV-D68.

It’s a problem of requiring ournewly burdened health care estab-lishment to deal with diseases thatare not common in the U.S. Duringthe summer we suffered an out-break of EV-D68, a polio-like en-terovirus.

The outbreak is widespread inCentral America, from which manyof the illegal kids came.

The CDC reports that at least538 people, mostly children, in 43

states and the District of Columbiabecame ill with EV-D68. At leastfive U.S. children infected with EV-D68 died this fall.

Obama has refused to bar entryto the U.S. by people from coun-tries where Ebola is epidemic. Theproblem we face is not just one Af-rican who entered our country andthen died from Ebola.

It’s a national health problemthat has made our health care per-sonnel carriers of a fatal Africandisease endangering Americanswho never went to Africa.

Obama sent thousands of U.S.troops to Liberia, a country strickenwith Ebola. He ignores the dangerto our American troops and also toother Americans when these ser-vicemen and women return home.

The safety of the American

people is less important to him thanposing as a world citizen.

Marine Corps General John F.Kelly, commander of the U.S.Southern Command, told the Na-tional Defense University in Wash-ington, DC that if Ebola comes toCentral America, “it will cause apanic,” that “it’s literally ‘Katie barthe door,’ and there will be mass mi-gration into the United States.”

Meanwhile, the Centers for Dis-ease Control reports that, “By theend of the year, there will be 14million people infected with Ebolaand 62 percent of them dying.”

Why doesn’t Obama impose atravel ban on persons flying herefrom Ebola-infected countries?

Suspend VisasIt’s not enough to take the tem-

perature of airline travelers andhave them fill out a written formbecause we know that the Africanwho died from Ebola after arrivalin the U.S. had lied on his form.

Mark Krikorian points out thatthe U.S. has issued 13,000 visas fortravel to America from the threemost Ebola-infected West Africancountries: Liberia, Sierra Leone andGuinea.

Will Obama let those 13,000people into America?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the special-ist on infectious diseases at the Na-tional Institute for Health, is verymuch opposed to closing the U.S.border. Instead, he is blaming theDallas Hospital, saying, “They

dropped the ball” by failing to de-termine the patient’s “travel his-tory.”

Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of theCDC, blamed a supposed “breachof protocol” for a Dallas nurse get-ting Ebola, and called for an inves-tigation of how she could get thedisease while following full CDCprecautions.

According to Louisiana Gov.Bobby Jindal, the CDC was givennearly $3 billion to fight infectiousdiseases but spent only 6 percent ofthat for its declared purpose.

A much larger share of themoney was spent on communitytransformation grants to increaseaccess to healthy foods and promoteimprovements in sidewalks to makeit easy for people to walk and ridebikes.

We are hearing some commonsense from a few members of Con-gress. House Homeland SecurityChairman Michael McCaul calledfor barring entry into the U.S. forpeople from West African countrieswrestling with Ebola, and also tem-porarily suspending the 13,000 vi-sas that have already been issuedto people in those countries.

Sen. Ted Cruz said it best: “Ourpriority should be protecting theAmerican people and preventingEbola from coming here.”

Phyllis Schlafly is an Americanconstitutional lawyer, conservativeactivist, author, and founder of theEagle Forum.

R e - E l e c tR e - E l e c t

Page 8 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

School, served as a judge advocategeneral in Iraq as\ a lieutenant withthe U.S. Navy. During his trip toIraq, for which he volunteered,Laxalt had responsibility for morethan 20,000 dangerous detainees.Later, Laxalt worked as a specialadviser to the United States Depart-ment of State.

In 2006, Laxalt was on a fire linein Iraq while Secretary of StateMiller was getting his desk readyin an air-conditioned room for “pa-per-pushing.” Laxalt al the whilewas not only fighting for Miller’sfreedom, but for the freedom of allNevadans and every citizen of theUnited States.

Ross Miller claims experience asan attorney. He said “Adam Laxaltis not qualified, I am qualified,” butfour years of practicing law with theClark County District Attorney can-not be called experience when pros-ecutors with the Clark County Dis-trict Attorney are nothing but sal-ary-earners. This is their step tojudgeship or further political of-fices. It is deeply amazing to sensethe little respect this young man,Ross Miller, has for the military,but, not surprising. If Adam Laxaltwas considered merely a paper-pusher in the military, according toRoss Miller, what would Miller callhimself? As a Secretary of Statehe is indeed a paper-pusher. Hepushes letters written to him on tohis secretary, who pushes those let-ters on to her secretary, who thenpushes the letters on to the othersupposed secretaries, until the lastperson drops them into the wastebasket, and all those secretaries’salaries are paid at taxpayers’ ex-pense.

It is not surprising how this

Laxalt(Continued from Page 1) young man, Ross Miller, expresses\

himself about military men and thelittle respect he has for them.

At least Adam Laxalt was a “pa-per-pusher” in the military. FormerPresident Bill Clinton moved toanother country to continue hisstudies to avoid military service;our honorable Senator Harry Reidnever served in the military. And,our Commander in Chief, Mr.Obama, never served in the mili-tary. Mr. Ross Miller himself neverserved a day in the military. Noneof those famous Democrats knowwhat it is to fight for the freedomof the citizens of the United Statesof America. But that wouldn’t stopone or another of them from know-ing how to criticize those who do.

By Phyllis SchlaflyAmericans against amnesty are

not only worried about unemployedMexicans crossing our southernborder illegally to take U.S. jobs.More than ever, we need the fencethat Congress voted for and Presi-dent George W. Bush made a tele-vision photo event when he signedit into law.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.,said that at least 10 ISIS thugs havecrossed our southern border. Hunteradded, if we caught 10, “you knowthere are going to be dozens morethat did not get caught by the Bor-der Patrol.”

Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., saysthe Islamic State, ISIS, is activelyworking with Mexican drug cartelsto infiltrate and eventually attackAmericans.

ISIS has told us it wants to ex-tend a caliphate over America, sowhy is anybody surprised that theyare doing what they said theywanted to do? The problem of in-vasion across our border is nolonger just a jobs problem. It’s anational security problem, a welfareproblem, a public school problemand a dangerous disease problem.

It’s not a problem of accepting afew lost teenagers who arrived un-announced and demanded admis-sion.

Ignoring the ThreatIt’s a problem of our public

schools suddenly being invaded by

Government has failed in its jobto protect Americans from Ebola

thousands of young adults whohave never been to any school, whoare not familiar with basic hygiene,who can’t read or write, who don’tspeak English or even familiarSpanish (but speak one of 21 dif-ferent Spanish or Indian dialects)and who may carry new diseasessuch as EV-D68.

It’s a problem of requiring ournewly burdened health care estab-lishment to deal with diseases thatare not common in the U.S. Duringthe summer we suffered an out-break of EV-D68, a polio-like en-terovirus.

The outbreak is widespread inCentral America, from which manyof the illegal kids came.

The CDC reports that at least538 people, mostly children, in 43

states and the District of Columbiabecame ill with EV-D68. At leastfive U.S. children infected with EV-D68 died this fall.

Obama has refused to bar entryto the U.S. by people from coun-tries where Ebola is epidemic. Theproblem we face is not just one Af-rican who entered our country andthen died from Ebola.

It’s a national health problemthat has made our health care per-sonnel carriers of a fatal Africandisease endangering Americanswho never went to Africa.

Obama sent thousands of U.S.troops to Liberia, a country strickenwith Ebola. He ignores the dangerto our American troops and also toother Americans when these ser-vicemen and women return home.

The safety of the American

people is less important to him thanposing as a world citizen.

Marine Corps General John F.Kelly, commander of the U.S.Southern Command, told the Na-tional Defense University in Wash-ington, DC that if Ebola comes toCentral America, “it will cause apanic,” that “it’s literally ‘Katie barthe door,’ and there will be mass mi-gration into the United States.”

Meanwhile, the Centers for Dis-ease Control reports that, “By theend of the year, there will be 14million people infected with Ebolaand 62 percent of them dying.”

Why doesn’t Obama impose atravel ban on persons flying herefrom Ebola-infected countries?

Suspend VisasIt’s not enough to take the tem-

perature of airline travelers andhave them fill out a written formbecause we know that the Africanwho died from Ebola after arrivalin the U.S. had lied on his form.

Mark Krikorian points out thatthe U.S. has issued 13,000 visas fortravel to America from the threemost Ebola-infected West Africancountries: Liberia, Sierra Leone andGuinea.

Will Obama let those 13,000people into America?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the special-ist on infectious diseases at the Na-tional Institute for Health, is verymuch opposed to closing the U.S.border. Instead, he is blaming theDallas Hospital, saying, “They

dropped the ball” by failing to de-termine the patient’s “travel his-tory.”

Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of theCDC, blamed a supposed “breachof protocol” for a Dallas nurse get-ting Ebola, and called for an inves-tigation of how she could get thedisease while following full CDCprecautions.

According to Louisiana Gov.Bobby Jindal, the CDC was givennearly $3 billion to fight infectiousdiseases but spent only 6 percent ofthat for its declared purpose.

A much larger share of themoney was spent on communitytransformation grants to increaseaccess to healthy foods and promoteimprovements in sidewalks to makeit easy for people to walk and ridebikes.

We are hearing some commonsense from a few members of Con-gress. House Homeland SecurityChairman Michael McCaul calledfor barring entry into the U.S. forpeople from West African countrieswrestling with Ebola, and also tem-porarily suspending the 13,000 vi-sas that have already been issuedto people in those countries.

Sen. Ted Cruz said it best: “Ourpriority should be protecting theAmerican people and preventingEbola from coming here.”

Phyllis Schlafly is an Americanconstitutional lawyer, conservativeactivist, author, and founder of theEagle Forum.

Martindale-Hubbell Rated AV Preeminentfor Twenty Years

Highest Possible Peer Review RatingIn Legal Ability & Ethical Standards

1994 - 2014

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 9

Why Obama may punt on executive actionon immigration, even after the election

By Doug MataconisChristian Science MonitorWhen the summer began, Presi-

dent Obama had said that he wasdirecting his advisers to come upwith a list of actions he could takeon immigration that would not re-quire the approval of Congress.This step had been rumored forsome time, having been hintedabout by administration officials,and was believed to include consid-eration of measures such as expand-ing the Deferred Action for Child-hood Arrivals program that thepresident had announced two yearsearlier. As the summer wore on,though, reports circulated that manyDemocrats running for reelection inred states were urging the adminis-tration to delay action until after theelection for fear that anything an-nounced before then would doomtheir campaigns. Last month, Presi-dent Obama did in fact announcethat there would be no action takenbefore the election, an action forwhich he received a lot of criticismfrom Latino organizations and im-migration rights groups, Since thatannouncement, the underlying as-sumption has been that we wouldindeed see some kind of action fromthe president after the election, per-haps during the lame-duck periodbefore the new Congress takes of-fice. Matt Yglesias, though, seemspretty convinced that the adminis-tration may punt on the issue again,depending on the outcome of theelections:

President Barack Obama saysthat after the midterm election he’sgoing to use his executive author-ity to create a fairly broad de factoamnesty program for many undocu-mented migrants living in theUnited States.

I’m just not sure I believe him.Not that I doubt the president’s

sincerity. I haven’t gazed into hissoul on the subject, but the best readI have on White House officials isthat they genuinely believe that theyare going to do this. I just think theymay be mistaken about their ownlikely behavior. Especially if Re-publicans take the Senate — whichseems likely — it’s easy for me toimagine that they will look aroundat the new November landscape andhave a change of heart...

Even if Republicans take theSenate, they still can’t stop Obamafrom following through on hispromise. But as Brian Beutlerwrites, if the GOP takes the Senatethey’ll be in a position “to place ‘ex-ecutive amnesty’ at the center ofproximate fights over funding thegovernment and increasing the debtlimit.” And the basic dynamicwhere Democratic Senators fromstates with low Latino populationsaren’t eager to have a hugethrowdown over the issue wouldremain in place. The odds of theWhite House losing its nerve as partof a strategy to hold the party to-gether in sure-to-be-grueling battleswith congressional Republicansseem high.

Further reducing the odds thatObama will plow ahead in the faceof a bad election result is the rela-tive silence of Hillary Clinton onthe issue. If Democrats were hav-ing a normal 2016 presidential pri-

President Obama has backed down on this issue in the past and, if Republicans win the Senate, a plausiblecase can be made that immigration reform is not important enough an issue to tie up operations of government.

mary, you’d expect to see leadingcontenders out there making state-ments about their hope that thepresident will deliver for immi-grants. But Clinton, not facing anyrobust opposition, is so far mostlydodging questions from immigrantactivists and talking about the needto “elect more Democrats.” If ac-tivists don’t have the leverage to geta clear statement of support out ofa presidential candidate, it seemsunlikely that they really have themuscle to force the White House toact if the political climate is unfa-vorable.

Such a move would, of course,be incredibly disappointing toLatino voters and immigration ac-tivists, and with the 2016 electionapproaching soon after the mid-terms, it seems inconceivable, atfirst glance, that the presidentwould throw this group of voterscompletely under the bus after hav-ing dangled the promise of somekind of action in front of them forthe better part of a year. If nothingelse, such a move would risk dam-aging Democratic Party fortunesgoing forward — not so much be-cause these voters would suddenly

switch loyalty to the GOP, but be-cause they would be likely to juststay home on Election Day and be-come less active in campaigns. Thiswould do as much harm to theparty’s fortunes as voting for theopposing party, if not more. Look-ing at this purely from the perspec-tive of partisan politics, then, itseems inconceivable that the presi-dent would do something that

would clearly be seen as a slap inthe face to an important and grow-ing constituency, and an importantpart of the Democratic coalition.

That being said, I believe thatYglesias is on to something whenhe argues that a Republican victoryin November is likely to spook thepresident into either scaling backthe executive action that wasplanned to make it much more mod-

est than it might otherwise havebeen, or to put it off altogether infavor of another push for immigra-tion reform in the 114th Congress,which will likely not go anywhere.As he notes, in the context of aCongress fully controlled by Re-publicans, there will be tremendouspressure to delay action in order toget things like budgeting and othertasks needed to keep the govern-ment functioning. Even someDemocrats are likely to be less thanenthusiastic about the idea given theelectoral price they could pay in thefuture. Finally, there’s the simplefact that President Obama hasbacked down on this issue in thepast, and that a plausible case canbe made that immigration reform isnot important enough an issue to tieup the federal budget or other op-erations of government.

So, if the GOP does win the Sen-ate, don’t be too surprised if wedon’t see any executive action at allor, if we do, that it is substantiallymore modest than previously hintedat.

Doug Mataconis appears on theOutside the Beltway blog at http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/.

Page 10 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

FOR DISTRICT JUDGEDepartment 3

www.DavidsonForJudge.com

Have you been embarrassed lately when someone pointedout to you that you misspelled a word in your report or maybehad a whole sentence all messed up? Have you personallyfelt that you could’ve done a much better job on that manuscriptbut just didn’t have the time?

Why put off doing what you know you should have done before:call in an editor! As a word-, sentence-, and document-doctor,she will fix what needs fixing by adding a little of this or that,and taking out what shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

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tells the newspaper, “We’ll get backto you,” but never once did thenewspaper get a call back as prom-ised.

The Las Vegas Tribune newsdepartment and administrationknow firsthand and always what theresponse will be when they call, butthey always get to prove their pointthat they will never call back. “Itseems like none of the [male] staffare ‘man enough’ to tell us that theyare not allowed to give us any in-formation,” said Alexandra Cohen,an investigator reporter with thenewspaper who laughs when itcomes to the sheriff’s public rela-tions office denying discriminationand the effort of the sheriff’s depart-ment to seclude the Las Vegas Tri-bune from getting the real news outto the public.

“Not only do we have a 39-yearveteran former detective with rob-bery/homicide and a former lieuten-ant with several years seniority, butwe also have several sources in keydepartments and close to the admin-istration who keep us informed ofwhat is going on behind the scenesat 400 Police Plaza,” Cohen stated.

For those who like to take sideswith the police administration, wehave gathered the email addressesof several newsmen and news or-ganizations that do not include theLas Vegas Tribune — the only realindependent newspaper in ClarkCounty that does not print onlywhat the administration wants thepublic to know.

The following comprehensivelist includes many local newspa-pers, wire services and a few report-ers that count on the blessing of thesheriff and others:

From: PIO@LVMPD.COMSent: Sunday, October 12, 2014

4:32 PMTo: Abel Ortiz; Adriana Arevalo;

Ana Ley; Andrew Blankstein; An-gel Covarrubias; Annalise Little;Associated Press; AP - Los Ange-les Office; Bev Lorente; BobGuerrero; Brian Haynes; CassandraKeenan; Catalina Villegas; ChuckMeyer; Cy Ryan; Cynthia Johnston; Dave Mondt ; Dayna Roselli;Denise Rosch; Dennis Broad; Den-nis Neuhausel; Elmundo; EricJimenez; Ethan Miller; FabiolaMarzano; Francis McCabe; GordonAbsher; Grace Gomez; GreciaFigueroa; Greg Haas; GreganWingert; Guy Demarco; HernandoAmaya; Ian Russell; IselaGonzalez; J Locher; Jackie Valley;Jan Hogan; Jeff German; JeffGillan; Jen Wahl; Jim Flint; JoeGillespie; Joe Schoenmann; JohnShaffer; Jonathan Cisowski; JordanGartner (Nightside); Joyce Kotnik;Julio Nunez2; Karen Fedelleck;KDWN News; Ken Ritter; KimRuesga; KLAS TV CH 8; Channel2 KLBC Laughlin; KOLO 8 News(Reno); Krystal Allan; Channel 3KVBC; Channel 13; KVVU Fox 5;KXNT Radio; Kyle Hansen; LarryIsh - 13; Metro Editors; LaughlinTimes; Laura Myers; LaurenRozyla; Leslie Contreras; LeslieContreras; Lindsay Curtis; Luis

Discrimination(Continued from Page 1) Deleon; Maria Cristina Matta-Caro;

Marina Belisle; Maritza Flores;Mark Damon; Mark Thomas;Martha Caldera; Martha Saldana;Marv Clemons; Mary Hynes; MeadGruver; Melissa Arseniuk - Vegas7; Melissa Duran; MichelleRindells; Mike Blasky; NateTannenbaum; Nicolle Poretto;Norm Clarke - RJ; Phil Burger;Review-Journal; Police Beat;Ricardo Fernandez; RigoVillalobos; Rosana Romero; SandraGonzalez; Sandy Mejia; StacyWillis; Stef Jay; Steve Kanigher; TMilliard; Taimi; Tate South; TerriFoley; Tiffany Murphy; Total Traf-fic; Tovin Lapan; VictoriaSpilabotte; Viridiana Vidal-Gonzzali; Wade McAferty; WebEditor LV Sun; Xochitl Sandoval;Yazmin Beltran; Yeraldin Deavila;Yvette Monet.

The Las Vegas Tribunenewspaper’s name, along with anyof the individual reporters’ names,is nowhere to be found on that listand the newspaper executives be-lieve that the sheriff has a lot to dowith that form of discrimination,regardless of the end result.

“This is the kind of behavior theGillespie mob is offering to thecommunity; and if we getGillespie’s shoulder-tapped succes-sor, AKA as Joe Lombardo, the pat-tern will continue and that is whythe people in Clark County need toelect Larry Burns as the next sher-iff,’ said Rolando Larraz, Founder,Publisher and Editor in Chief of theLas Vegas Tribune newspaper, whohas been out of the office for thelast few weeks knocking on doorson behalf of Larry Burns for sher-iff.

Unfair behavior like this and dis-crimination against another news-paper would have not been toleratedby the daily newspaper while TomMitchell was Editor — and a cham-pion protecting the rights of anypublication, as he did when Larrazwas subpoenaed by the governmentto testify in a case while protectedby the journalist shield law andMitchell took the time to show hissupport.

Citizen Task Force for Voter Rightsformed to help reduce election fraudSpecial to the Las Vegas Tribune

After the 2014 primary electionsin Nevada Congressional District 4where Mike Monroe, an unknown,unfunded, handyman received5,392 votes (22.18%) and outrightwon several rural counties, a groupof citizens began looking closely atthe votes in that race and question-ing the integrity of the election sys-tem. That investigation produced somany unanswered questions it re-sulted in the formation of “CitizenTask Force for Voter Rights”(CTFVR). This nonpartisan groupis on a mission to alert voters in theupcoming general election to lookfor and report suspected electionfraud. In the future, CTFVR will behelping to coordinate efforts to re-pair the serious vulnerabilitiesfound in the Nevada election sys-tem.

“There is nothing more impor-tant to our citizens than the trust-worthiness of our election process.We know that in Nevada, and acrossthe country, the election machinesand the process of vote reportingcan be compromised. Our task forcewants to help limit that as much aspossible. By alerting voters on howto spot and report on observed prob-lems, and by demanding the systembe capable of being independentlyaudited from beginning to end, can-didates, donors and citizens can be

much more confident of the accu-racy of the reported results,” saidRetired Air Force Colonel RobertE. Frank, Chairman and foundingmember of CTFVR.

Other founding members of Citi-zen Task Force for Voter Rights areJulie C. Hereford, Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, and Nic Alfonsetti.

Citizen Task Force for VoterRights is a non-partisan group, ini-tially aiming to help protect all voterrights to:—Ensure Vote Counted Accurately—Demand End-To-End Audit Trail—Enforce Accountability—Insist on Transparency—Require Third Party Certification

In order to “Make SureYour Vote Counts”

—Verify Signature on Voter Log—Report Problems to Poll Watcher,County Election Department andNV Secretary of State—Report Details of SuspectedFraud to Authorities—Request Post Election AuditRecords For Public Review—File Election Law ViolationComplaints to the NVSOS, AG andFBI

Citizen Task Force for VoterRights has launched its initial cam-paign to alert and educate voters toensure the reporting accuracy ofvotes by handing out voter alertcards and training observers to call

any irregularities or observed prob-lems with voting machines andelection systems to Election FraudHotline: 702-557-9369, EmailVoterRights@CitizenTaskForce.Org.

In the future, CTFVR will beworking with the Secretary of State,Attorney General, The Legislatureand nonpartisan groups to establishindependently verifiable, full elec-tion system audit trails to createchain-of-custody records that en-able rapid and equitable resolutionsof questionable election results.

Frank added, “Increased voterawareness and better trained pollwatching teams during this Novem-ber election should enable manymore concerned voters to partici-pate in bringing about significantsystem improvements to avoid re-peats of the gross irregularities seenin the 2014 CD-4 primary election.”

Page 10 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

FOR DISTRICT JUDGEDepartment 3

www.DavidsonForJudge.com

Have you been embarrassed lately when someone pointedout to you that you misspelled a word in your report or maybehad a whole sentence all messed up? Have you personallyfelt that you could’ve done a much better job on that manuscriptbut just didn’t have the time?

Why put off doing what you know you should have done before:call in an editor! As a word-, sentence-, and document-doctor,she will fix what needs fixing by adding a little of this or that,and taking out what shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

Give yourself the luxury of looking your best in print!Editor-at-your-service@gmail.com. 702-706-6875.

DO YOU NEED AN EDITOR?

tells the newspaper, “We’ll get backto you,” but never once did thenewspaper get a call back as prom-ised.

The Las Vegas Tribune newsdepartment and administrationknow firsthand and always what theresponse will be when they call, butthey always get to prove their pointthat they will never call back. “Itseems like none of the [male] staffare ‘man enough’ to tell us that theyare not allowed to give us any in-formation,” said Alexandra Cohen,an investigator reporter with thenewspaper who laughs when itcomes to the sheriff’s public rela-tions office denying discriminationand the effort of the sheriff’s depart-ment to seclude the Las Vegas Tri-bune from getting the real news outto the public.

“Not only do we have a 39-yearveteran former detective with rob-bery/homicide and a former lieuten-ant with several years seniority, butwe also have several sources in keydepartments and close to the admin-istration who keep us informed ofwhat is going on behind the scenesat 400 Police Plaza,” Cohen stated.

For those who like to take sideswith the police administration, wehave gathered the email addressesof several newsmen and news or-ganizations that do not include theLas Vegas Tribune — the only realindependent newspaper in ClarkCounty that does not print onlywhat the administration wants thepublic to know.

The following comprehensivelist includes many local newspa-pers, wire services and a few report-ers that count on the blessing of thesheriff and others:

From: PIO@LVMPD.COMSent: Sunday, October 12, 2014

4:32 PMTo: Abel Ortiz; Adriana Arevalo;

Ana Ley; Andrew Blankstein; An-gel Covarrubias; Annalise Little;Associated Press; AP - Los Ange-les Office; Bev Lorente; BobGuerrero; Brian Haynes; CassandraKeenan; Catalina Villegas; ChuckMeyer; Cy Ryan; Cynthia Johnston; Dave Mondt ; Dayna Roselli;Denise Rosch; Dennis Broad; Den-nis Neuhausel; Elmundo; EricJimenez; Ethan Miller; FabiolaMarzano; Francis McCabe; GordonAbsher; Grace Gomez; GreciaFigueroa; Greg Haas; GreganWingert; Guy Demarco; HernandoAmaya; Ian Russell; IselaGonzalez; J Locher; Jackie Valley;Jan Hogan; Jeff German; JeffGillan; Jen Wahl; Jim Flint; JoeGillespie; Joe Schoenmann; JohnShaffer; Jonathan Cisowski; JordanGartner (Nightside); Joyce Kotnik;Julio Nunez2; Karen Fedelleck;KDWN News; Ken Ritter; KimRuesga; KLAS TV CH 8; Channel2 KLBC Laughlin; KOLO 8 News(Reno); Krystal Allan; Channel 3KVBC; Channel 13; KVVU Fox 5;KXNT Radio; Kyle Hansen; LarryIsh - 13; Metro Editors; LaughlinTimes; Laura Myers; LaurenRozyla; Leslie Contreras; LeslieContreras; Lindsay Curtis; Luis

Discrimination(Continued from Page 1) Deleon; Maria Cristina Matta-Caro;

Marina Belisle; Maritza Flores;Mark Damon; Mark Thomas;Martha Caldera; Martha Saldana;Marv Clemons; Mary Hynes; MeadGruver; Melissa Arseniuk - Vegas7; Melissa Duran; MichelleRindells; Mike Blasky; NateTannenbaum; Nicolle Poretto;Norm Clarke - RJ; Phil Burger;Review-Journal; Police Beat;Ricardo Fernandez; RigoVillalobos; Rosana Romero; SandraGonzalez; Sandy Mejia; StacyWillis; Stef Jay; Steve Kanigher; TMilliard; Taimi; Tate South; TerriFoley; Tiffany Murphy; Total Traf-fic; Tovin Lapan; VictoriaSpilabotte; Viridiana Vidal-Gonzzali; Wade McAferty; WebEditor LV Sun; Xochitl Sandoval;Yazmin Beltran; Yeraldin Deavila;Yvette Monet.

The Las Vegas Tribunenewspaper’s name, along with anyof the individual reporters’ names,is nowhere to be found on that listand the newspaper executives be-lieve that the sheriff has a lot to dowith that form of discrimination,regardless of the end result.

“This is the kind of behavior theGillespie mob is offering to thecommunity; and if we getGillespie’s shoulder-tapped succes-sor, AKA as Joe Lombardo, the pat-tern will continue and that is whythe people in Clark County need toelect Larry Burns as the next sher-iff,’ said Rolando Larraz, Founder,Publisher and Editor in Chief of theLas Vegas Tribune newspaper, whohas been out of the office for thelast few weeks knocking on doorson behalf of Larry Burns for sher-iff.

Unfair behavior like this and dis-crimination against another news-paper would have not been toleratedby the daily newspaper while TomMitchell was Editor — and a cham-pion protecting the rights of anypublication, as he did when Larrazwas subpoenaed by the governmentto testify in a case while protectedby the journalist shield law andMitchell took the time to show hissupport.

Citizen Task Force for Voter Rightsformed to help reduce election fraudSpecial to the Las Vegas Tribune

After the 2014 primary electionsin Nevada Congressional District 4where Mike Monroe, an unknown,unfunded, handyman received5,392 votes (22.18%) and outrightwon several rural counties, a groupof citizens began looking closely atthe votes in that race and question-ing the integrity of the election sys-tem. That investigation produced somany unanswered questions it re-sulted in the formation of “CitizenTask Force for Voter Rights”(CTFVR). This nonpartisan groupis on a mission to alert voters in theupcoming general election to lookfor and report suspected electionfraud. In the future, CTFVR will behelping to coordinate efforts to re-pair the serious vulnerabilitiesfound in the Nevada election sys-tem.

“There is nothing more impor-tant to our citizens than the trust-worthiness of our election process.We know that in Nevada, and acrossthe country, the election machinesand the process of vote reportingcan be compromised. Our task forcewants to help limit that as much aspossible. By alerting voters on howto spot and report on observed prob-lems, and by demanding the systembe capable of being independentlyaudited from beginning to end, can-didates, donors and citizens can be

much more confident of the accu-racy of the reported results,” saidRetired Air Force Colonel RobertE. Frank, Chairman and foundingmember of CTFVR.

Other founding members of Citi-zen Task Force for Voter Rights areJulie C. Hereford, Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, and Nic Alfonsetti.

Citizen Task Force for VoterRights is a non-partisan group, ini-tially aiming to help protect all voterrights to:—Ensure Vote Counted Accurately—Demand End-To-End Audit Trail—Enforce Accountability—Insist on Transparency—Require Third Party Certification

In order to “Make SureYour Vote Counts”

—Verify Signature on Voter Log—Report Problems to Poll Watcher,County Election Department andNV Secretary of State—Report Details of SuspectedFraud to Authorities—Request Post Election AuditRecords For Public Review—File Election Law ViolationComplaints to the NVSOS, AG andFBI

Citizen Task Force for VoterRights has launched its initial cam-paign to alert and educate voters toensure the reporting accuracy ofvotes by handing out voter alertcards and training observers to call

any irregularities or observed prob-lems with voting machines andelection systems to Election FraudHotline: 702-557-9369, EmailVoterRights@CitizenTaskForce.Org.

In the future, CTFVR will beworking with the Secretary of State,Attorney General, The Legislatureand nonpartisan groups to establishindependently verifiable, full elec-tion system audit trails to createchain-of-custody records that en-able rapid and equitable resolutionsof questionable election results.

Frank added, “Increased voterawareness and better trained pollwatching teams during this Novem-ber election should enable manymore concerned voters to partici-pate in bringing about significantsystem improvements to avoid re-peats of the gross irregularities seenin the 2014 CD-4 primary election.”

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 11

Speak Up!If you have somethingto say... say it on your

own radio show.RadioTribune stillhas one hour of

airtime available.For more information,call (702) 699-8100

In a January 2014 press release CCSD asserted “The current school yearopened with five of the schools teaching more than 1,000 students oncampuses intended for 725 children.” Insiders know this to be an outrightlie as schools are actually designed to house 900 students in year-roundclasses. In my last article, on “Count Day,” published on September 24,the Tribune reported the facts regarding the “record enrollment.” Specifi-cally, that it was not really a record. In this article the school district’sown published documentation was used to explain the falsehood of theCCSD assertion, and the pattern.

Following that article I was contacted by Michael Paoli, school dis-trict and tax issue activist, who noted that while my selected CCSD sta-tistics made the case for the facts on the issue of count day false “facts,”the facts on the school districts assertion that they are “overcrowded” aremore disturbing. In a post to the RJ, Michael cited actual statistics ofenrollment. Lies, lies and more lies! Elementary school enrollment 2008-09 was 150,997. Since, CCSD has added 17 more elementary schools.Elementary enrollment 2013-14 was 148,252. 17 MORE SCHOOLS for2745 FEWER STUDENTS. Numbers are straight from the CCSD offi-cial reports. You can download them and look for yourself.”

CCSD: Lies, Lies and more LiesIn my September 24 Tribune report I cited year around school capabil-

ity as a reason why the school board’s ongoing assertion that they neededto squander more money on new schools was wrong.

Consider, on top of that, Paoli’s evaluation: “The game they’re play-ing is class size reduction (CSR). Elementary [class size] used to be 28,now it’s 16. Let’s say there’s 20 students in the room. As built, class-rooms are sized for 40 students. On that basis, that would be 50 percent ofcapacity. On the basis of 28, it becomes 71 percent. On the basis of 16 itbecomes 125 percent. Same 20 kids in the same room goes fromunderutilization to ‘bursting at the seams.’ Same with teachers. Student-teacher ratio at CCSD is only 17, down from 24 in 2008-09. That’s a 40percent increase in staffing relative to students in the past five years. Andwhat have we gotten from it? Nothing! Academic achievement has de-clined every year.” These numbers are, on average, correct. Some olderelementary classrooms are sized to seat over 40 and some of the last onesaround 25 students per classroom.

One other “sore subject” with the school district mishandling of class-room sizing is that of “team teaching.” Many of the larger classroomscould have been used as team teaching classrooms with CSR. The teamteaching concept involves having two teachers and two classes togetherin one room. That would have worked with CSR which relates to thenumber of students per teacher and not the number of classes in a room.

CCSD has no statistical proof that there is a correlation between CCSD’suse of CSR and improvements in educational outcomes. However, therehave been empirical studies proving that team teaching, because studentsget more hours of hearing the teachers teach per day, does improve out-comes at other school districts.

Unfortunately CCSD’s improper use of the team teaching tool wasrampant during what the school board now asserts as the heyday of moneyat CCSD. The school board then got in the habit of staffing the teamteaching classrooms with, not two teachers, but one teacher and an im-properly trained “helper.” Therefore, the state legislature took this toolaway from CCSD due to incompetent management of it. Had this notbeen the case, then team teaching could have been a tool to bring utiliza-tion up while increasing (not improving) student teacher ratios. As CSRhas not been proven to solve the problem then taxpayers may concludethat class size is not the problem. So why does the school board keeppushing for it and more buildings to support it? We know that the teach-ers union is pushing it because more teachers will theoretically join theunion.

Most of the public suspects that the school board has repeatedly bungledmanagement of things like team teaching and CSR. But, the public isunaware that by voting for more teachers it will be forcing itself to spendbillions for more schools in the next election. Because, if we hire moreteachers to reduce class sizes, then we will immediately need more class-rooms. This is a new route (forced) to the same ballot item that taxpayersfailed during the 2010 election. Will voters elect to create a margins tax ifthey know that they will soon be forced to provide billions for moreschools? The last vote for school bonds resulted in over $5 billion beingspent on schools while educational outcomes went down.

CCSD(Continued from Page 1)

Page 12 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

U.S. Navy unveils fleet of unmanned patrol boats

By Brock VergakisChristian Science MonitorNORFOLK, VA. — Self-guided

unmanned patrol boats that canleave warships they’re protectingand swarm and attack potentialthreats on the water could join theNavy’s fleet within a year, defenseofficials say, adding the new tech-nology could one day help stop at-tacks like the deadly 2000 bomb-ing of the USS Cole off Yemen.

The Arlington-based Office ofNaval Research demonstrated theautonomous swarm boat technol-ogy over two weeks in August onthe James River near Fort Eustis inVirginia — not far from one of theNavy’s largest fleet concentrationareas. It said the Navy simulated atransit through a strait, just like theroutine passage of US warshipsthrough the Strait of Hormuz in thePersian Gulf.

In the demonstrations, as manyas 13 small unmanned patrol boatswere escorting a high-value Navyship. Then as many as eight of theself-guided vessels broke off andswarmed around a threat when aship playing the part of an enemyvessel was detected, the office said,calling the demonstrations a suc-cess.

Robert Brizzolara, programmanager at the Office of Naval Re-search, said that the boats can de-cide for themselves what move-ments to make once they’re alertedto a threat and work together to en-circle or block the path of an op-posing vessel, depending on thatvessel’s movements and those ofother nearby vessels.

The rigid-hull inflatable patrolboats can also fire .50 caliber ma-chine guns if called upon to do so.However, a human will always bethe one to make the decision to uselethal force, officials said. A sailoron a command ship would be incharge of each of the unmannedboats and could take control overany of the boats at any moment.And if communication between theunmanned boats and the sailor over-seeing them were ever broken, theboat would automatically shutdown.

“I never want to see the USSCole happen again,” said RearAdm. Matthew Klunder, chief ofnaval research, speaking about theattack by a small boat packed withexplosives that killed 17 sailors andinjured 39 on that warship. “I cantell you the systems we just put out

This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows an unmanned 11-meterrigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) from Naval Surface Warfare CenterCarderock, as it operates autonomously during an Office of NavalResearch demonstration of swarmboat technology held on the JamesRiver in Newport News, Va. During the demonstration as many as 13Navy boats, using an ONR-sponsored system operated autonomouslyor by remote control during escort, intercept and engage scenarios.

Military officials say the fleet of self-guided watercraft could be ready for navaldeployment within the year and could eventually help to protect merchant ships as well.

on the water would’ve preventedthe Cole.”

Brizzolara said the technology isintended to allow sailors who wouldordinarily be manning such boatsto stay out of harm’s way while theself-guided boats seek to “deter,damage or destroy” enemy vessels.

Officials said while the Colebombing was not the sole inspira-tion for the program, it was a sig-nificant one. Researchers have beenworking on the technology forabout a decade. The kit can beplaced on any small vessel and in-cludes sensors and radar that tellsit what’s happening in the area.Advanced algorithms help the boatplan its route and determine itscourse of action and speed.

Klunder said that manpower cansometimes be an issue as to whymore patrol boats aren’t escortinglarger ships, and that potential en-emies may try to outnumber thoseboats. He said such technologycould put more protectiveboats inthe water, freeing up sailors for keyroles aboard ship.

“We’ve really put our sailorsback where they need to be anyway,which is back manning our combatsystems, manning our weapons sys-tems, steering our ships,” Klundersaid.

Klunder said the technologyshould be rolled out to fleet com-manders within a year. He said theparts for the small, transportable kitcost about $2,000 and can be ap-plied to existing patrol boats presentat Navy installations and aboardmany large warships.

The Navy said some of the com-ponents were adapted from technol-

ogy originally developed by NASAfor the Mars Rover spaceflight pro-grams. What made the August dem-onstration so important is that itshowed that numerous boats couldcoordinate with each other, Klundernoted.

He said it’s the first time thetechnology has ever been employedwith more than one or two boats.And he spoke of possibly widerapplications in the future outsidemilitary use.

“This is something that youmight find not only just on our na-val vessels, we could certainly seethis utilized to protect merchantvessels, to protect ports and harbors,used also to protect offshore oilrigs,” Klunder said.

As The Christian ScienceMonitor’s Anna Mulrine reported a

year ago, the Navy has investedheavily in development of a myriadof autonomous underwater ve-hicles, or UAVs.

At university labs across the US,the Pentagon’s Office of Naval Re-search (ONR) is bankrolling, for ex-ample, the creation of robotic jel-lyfish that mimic the efficient natu-ral movements of the ocean crea-ture and that could ultimately beuseful in underwater surveillanceand search-and-rescue missions.Such robots could also theoreticallybe powered by hydrogen and, there-fore, never run out of fuel.

ONR also funds projects tomimic the nearly wake-free undu-lations of the eel and the propulsionof the tuna, because engineers stillhave not been able to create under-water craft that swim as well as abasic fish.

With determination, you cansurvive domestic abuse

Our Point of View

EDITORIALSA government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. — Thomas Jefferson

By Perly ViasmenskyAs a woman I feel that we all deserve the best treat-

ment in the world, especially from men who need toconsider the fact that they have come from a woman.

The worst thing that could happen to a woman is tobe a victim of an abusive husband, partner, or what-ever the other person is in their lives.

The story I am about to tell should be a lesson tothe many women calling the police department claim-ing domestic violence.

Police officers file a report to the best of their abili-ties to report that there were no visible injuries to thesupposed victim. Many of those women, after makinga big scene out of the situation and practically destroy-ing the reputation of their husbands, “forgive” theirhusbands for economical and financial gain — but deepinside of them they keep a strong resentment againstall men and consider all women victims regardless ofthe situation.

We need to be honest; there are horrible cases ofdomestic violence, but there are also cases of womenaccusing men who have never touched them; womenwho make false accusations because some man hasrejected their flirtatious advances and their likely in-appropriate or unwanted approach.

There are cases of young women severely intoxi-cated coming out from the middle of nowhere yellingand screaming RAPE. Those young women are luckyenough to cover their indiscretions and false accusa-tions when they find another woman (or women) inpowerful positions doing anything possible to makeany man pay for the abuses they claim their own hus-bands committed, yet whom they have already “for-given” because money is very important in their house-hold. Those “important” women made a scene, theincident was publicly disclosed, and the name of thehusband was used to mop the floors of every buildingin the city in which they reside, including the countycourthouse building.

This is the true story of an abused woman and howshe survived to educate her four children to be men

and women of great integrity. Her name is not impor-tant at this time:

It was a warm afternoon in August 1985 in a smallcity in the State of Florida. To the neighborhood people,they were the perfect couple. A very educated man witha very good job and a perfect Catholic woman dedi-cated to their four children. What nobody knew wasthat that perfect educated man was also a perfect ver-bal, psychological, and physical abuser. After 14 yearsof marriage, the young woman — who was only 38years old — couldn’t put up with another day of abuse;she didn’t want her children to continue witnessing allthe abuse she was subjected to and asked for a divorce.

She looked for refuge at her mother’s home sinceshe lived nearby. He followed her there and shot bothmother and daughter, leaving them for dead. She wokein the hospital after a long surgery to receive the sadnews that her mother was dead as the result of the shoot-ing and that her spinal cord was so severely damagedthat she was diagnosed as being paraplegic. She wasimpacted by the news that she was being confined to awheelchair for the rest of her life.

After four long months at the hospital receivingphysical, mental, and occupational therapy, this cou-rageous woman knew that she not only had to look outfor herself, but for her four children. She had to learnto perform all household chores from the limited spaceof her wheelchair. She learned how to drive only withher hands.

This woman knew that she had to fight for herself,but most of all, for her four children. She forced her-self to get up at four o’clock in the morning on week-ends, putting her four children in the back seat of thecar, half-sleep, and traveled to a swap meet, flea mar-ket, or whatever it is called, to sell a few things in or-der to get some money to continue surviving.

None of her children lost time out of their lives.She continued taking them to school, church and schoolactivities, and managed to buy them all all their neces-sary things.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

ample, a tattoo parlor’s owner de-cided to remake the place into a par-lor just for women, or just for theover-70 crowd or a couples-only es-tablishment (for whatever reasons),then that is what they would standfor and that is how they would holdthemselves out to the community(just like any senior communitiesaround town, or any day spas forwomen only, or any couples-onlydance establishments, etc.). There-fore, being “forced” to allow the typi-cal (or usual, or not-so-typical or -

By MaramisFreedom seems to be a rather rela-

tive thing. As the joke goes, I wantthe freedom to do what I want, but Idon’t want my relatives to do whatthey want, since that will end up hurt-ing me.”

Freedom has to be more than arelative thing, but it seems to alwaysdepend on which end of the FreedomStick one is holding.

We like to think of “freedom” asapplying equally to one and all. Inreality, freedom is rather situational.Take, for example, the freedom to do whatever workyou want to do. Well, you are free to apply for the jobof doing the work you want to do, but you are only inthe running to get that job to do that work IF you meetthe employer’s requirements. And being in the run-ning does not guarantee getting the job. And gettingthe job does not guarantee that you can or will do thework, either well or at all.

Now consider the freedom to get married. Recently,same-sex couples in Las Vegas have been “granted”the freedom to marry here. Yea for freedom! Yet wait...can that in any way impact the freedom of anyone atall in the businessworld?

I feel that if I owned a business, anyone who spendslegal tender at my place of business for either my goodsor my services — and does not in any way disrupt orhurt my business — would be more than welcome.But did you catch that qualifier? We cannot dismissthat tiny little qualifier: “...and does not in any waydisrupt or hurt my business.”

I am not a lawyer — although I used to play one inmy dreams — yet it seems to me that a business-owneris not obligated to conduct his or her business in sucha way as to put himself out of business. If, for ex-

usual) male customer, or the first-time-getting-a-tat-too teenage boy who wants to impress his friends, orthe small group of non-coupled friends — who signeda pact to get “Live free or die” on their forearms —into their place of business to get tattoos in spite of thebusiness’s established image and particular atmosphere,seems to me to be one of those “I want my freedom touse your place of business, but I don’t want you tohave your freedom to exclude me because of your ‘spe-cial’ image or atmosphere” (reminding us once againabout the relativity of freedom). So what if forcing thatbusiness to be like all the other tattoo parlors in towneventually spoils their business and they lose all theircustomers and have to close down — did you want tosay, “Tough”?

So on to the point. As long as there are other tattooparlors that will accommodate anyone, providing it isoperating legally and the customer is legally able toagree to the tattoo, and no one is being denied a tattooon any personal basis or bias — other than not meet-ing the criteria of the establishment (being female, over70, or a couple), it makes no sense for any man or youngperson or single person (depending on the particular

(See Maramis, Page 16)

MARAMIS CHOUFANI

There have been — as of this writing — three verifiable casesof Ebola in this country: one is the NBC cameraman who con-tracted the illness while working in Liberia, and the second andthird are the Texas health-worker who tested positive for Ebolaafter caring for an Ebola patient, and that patient, who died lastweek.

State health officials say the Dallas County sheriff’s deputywho exhibited symptoms of Ebola has tested negative for the dis-ease. The deputy, Michael Monnig, did not have contact with Dal-las Ebola patient Thomas Duncan who died on October 8, althoughhe and other deputies days earlier had gone inside the Dallas apart-ment where Duncan was staying. However, Monnig did have con-tact with some of Duncan’s family members who are now in iso-lation. Health officials stress that Monnig tested negative for thevirus.

Ebola is nothing new. The outbreak of a deadly virus in 1976was named after the nearby River Ebola in the Democratic Re-public of the Congo. What is new is that this recent outbreak is fardeadlier than other disease outbreaks that come to mind anywherein the world. The good news, however, is that if it is taken seri-ously by everyone, and we all pay attention to the admonishmentsand the advice for keeping it from spreading even in the mostunlikely of situations, it can be contained and there will be noneed for panic.

We believe that concern — paying attention to all the advicefor proper hand-washing and reporting of symptoms immediatelyis far better than fear, which leads to nothing but panic and evenmore of what one is fearing since one is not taking the properprecautions when operating out of that mindset.

Those reporting the news, and those “in charge of” the news donot know everything. Better to heed the words of those doctors,scientists and researchers who have devoted their lives to fightingsuch diseases and do the absolute best for yourselves by not beingcareless in what you touch and then touching your eyes or mouth.Although hand-washing may not prevent you from “catching” theEbola virus, it will keep you aware of everything you touch. Be-sides having normal good hygiene habits, now we have to con-sider if we might inadvertently be interacting with someone whomay have been with someone who was possibly infected and chosenot to say anything.

People lie, whether for their own convenience or to avoid nega-tive publicity. Chances are that no visitor from Liberia or environswill land in Las Vegas, at least without going through the neces-sary 21-day quarantine first, but we can’t imagine stopping allflights into or out of Liberia or its vicinity in the meantime if thatwould mean all healthcare workers would be banned from goingthere to assist those so in need of help, but vacation flights ornonessential flights, of course.

With the knowledge we have, and the precautions in place, ifthey are followed, the virus should be well contained. Yet whileprecautions are used in wearing protective garb, those wearing itmust be taught how to remove the gear with the same precautions,as well as how to dispose of anything that touched the exposedparty.

It can be done. It is being done. Always and ever, the best de-fense is self-defense with the simple act of being on guard, usingcommon sense in NOT jumping to conclusions and determiningwhere the flu-like symptoms came from, and then reporting thosesymptoms for which there might be a suspicious cause. Always,good health before political correctness!

Ebola: Spreadeducation, not panic

Forcing your “freedom to...” onsomeone else’s “freedom not to...”Have we forgotten The Golden Rule?

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 13

(See Viasmensky, Page 15)

Three days from today (Wednesday, Oct 15) the early votingperiod starts. Even if we prefer to stick with the old-fashionedcasting of one’s vote on Election Day, in our traditional fashion,for several reasons, many of our readers do like to take advantageof that convenience.

We do not believe that going to vote should be a matter of con-venience; we see it as a privilege and responsibility of those blessedwith the opportunity of being able to pick the person they believeto be best to represent the community at all levels of government.

In the old days people used to really feel good when going tothe polls to vote; employers (under law) allowed their employeesto take time off to go vote if they could not do it before or afterwork.

Today people seem to be losing their sense of responsibility —or perhaps they are losing love or regard for their country. Appar-ently, if they can vote while they are out shopping, that is fine.Otherwise they are too “inconvenienced” to take the time to exer-cise their right to vote.

Ironically, these who do NOT take themselves out to vote arethe first ones to speak up or out about their “rights” when thoseelected officials — that they did not elect because they didn’t go tovote — do something wrong or do something with which they donot agree.

Whether you choose early voting or voting on Election Day,we urge every one of you in this community who is eligible tovote to get out there and exercise that right to choose those whowill lead us in some way up till we have the chance to chooseagain in the following election.

Your vote is very important; your vote may be the decidingfactor in any election. And even if you later discover that you votedfor the “wrong” candidate, you will have done your duty, and yourcountry will thank you, to say nothing of your community.

That is the beauty of living in a country where its citizens stillhave the power of the vote.

God Bless the United States of America!

Do the rightthing: VOTE

Page 12 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

U.S. Navy unveils fleet of unmanned patrol boats

By Brock VergakisChristian Science MonitorNORFOLK, VA. — Self-guided

unmanned patrol boats that canleave warships they’re protectingand swarm and attack potentialthreats on the water could join theNavy’s fleet within a year, defenseofficials say, adding the new tech-nology could one day help stop at-tacks like the deadly 2000 bomb-ing of the USS Cole off Yemen.

The Arlington-based Office ofNaval Research demonstrated theautonomous swarm boat technol-ogy over two weeks in August onthe James River near Fort Eustis inVirginia — not far from one of theNavy’s largest fleet concentrationareas. It said the Navy simulated atransit through a strait, just like theroutine passage of US warshipsthrough the Strait of Hormuz in thePersian Gulf.

In the demonstrations, as manyas 13 small unmanned patrol boatswere escorting a high-value Navyship. Then as many as eight of theself-guided vessels broke off andswarmed around a threat when aship playing the part of an enemyvessel was detected, the office said,calling the demonstrations a suc-cess.

Robert Brizzolara, programmanager at the Office of Naval Re-search, said that the boats can de-cide for themselves what move-ments to make once they’re alertedto a threat and work together to en-circle or block the path of an op-posing vessel, depending on thatvessel’s movements and those ofother nearby vessels.

The rigid-hull inflatable patrolboats can also fire .50 caliber ma-chine guns if called upon to do so.However, a human will always bethe one to make the decision to uselethal force, officials said. A sailoron a command ship would be incharge of each of the unmannedboats and could take control overany of the boats at any moment.And if communication between theunmanned boats and the sailor over-seeing them were ever broken, theboat would automatically shutdown.

“I never want to see the USSCole happen again,” said RearAdm. Matthew Klunder, chief ofnaval research, speaking about theattack by a small boat packed withexplosives that killed 17 sailors andinjured 39 on that warship. “I cantell you the systems we just put out

This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows an unmanned 11-meterrigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) from Naval Surface Warfare CenterCarderock, as it operates autonomously during an Office of NavalResearch demonstration of swarmboat technology held on the JamesRiver in Newport News, Va. During the demonstration as many as 13Navy boats, using an ONR-sponsored system operated autonomouslyor by remote control during escort, intercept and engage scenarios.

Military officials say the fleet of self-guided watercraft could be ready for navaldeployment within the year and could eventually help to protect merchant ships as well.

on the water would’ve preventedthe Cole.”

Brizzolara said the technology isintended to allow sailors who wouldordinarily be manning such boatsto stay out of harm’s way while theself-guided boats seek to “deter,damage or destroy” enemy vessels.

Officials said while the Colebombing was not the sole inspira-tion for the program, it was a sig-nificant one. Researchers have beenworking on the technology forabout a decade. The kit can beplaced on any small vessel and in-cludes sensors and radar that tellsit what’s happening in the area.Advanced algorithms help the boatplan its route and determine itscourse of action and speed.

Klunder said that manpower cansometimes be an issue as to whymore patrol boats aren’t escortinglarger ships, and that potential en-emies may try to outnumber thoseboats. He said such technologycould put more protectiveboats inthe water, freeing up sailors for keyroles aboard ship.

“We’ve really put our sailorsback where they need to be anyway,which is back manning our combatsystems, manning our weapons sys-tems, steering our ships,” Klundersaid.

Klunder said the technologyshould be rolled out to fleet com-manders within a year. He said theparts for the small, transportable kitcost about $2,000 and can be ap-plied to existing patrol boats presentat Navy installations and aboardmany large warships.

The Navy said some of the com-ponents were adapted from technol-

ogy originally developed by NASAfor the Mars Rover spaceflight pro-grams. What made the August dem-onstration so important is that itshowed that numerous boats couldcoordinate with each other, Klundernoted.

He said it’s the first time thetechnology has ever been employedwith more than one or two boats.And he spoke of possibly widerapplications in the future outsidemilitary use.

“This is something that youmight find not only just on our na-val vessels, we could certainly seethis utilized to protect merchantvessels, to protect ports and harbors,used also to protect offshore oilrigs,” Klunder said.

As The Christian ScienceMonitor’s Anna Mulrine reported a

year ago, the Navy has investedheavily in development of a myriadof autonomous underwater ve-hicles, or UAVs.

At university labs across the US,the Pentagon’s Office of Naval Re-search (ONR) is bankrolling, for ex-ample, the creation of robotic jel-lyfish that mimic the efficient natu-ral movements of the ocean crea-ture and that could ultimately beuseful in underwater surveillanceand search-and-rescue missions.Such robots could also theoreticallybe powered by hydrogen and, there-fore, never run out of fuel.

ONR also funds projects tomimic the nearly wake-free undu-lations of the eel and the propulsionof the tuna, because engineers stillhave not been able to create under-water craft that swim as well as abasic fish.

With determination, you cansurvive domestic abuse

Our Point of View

EDITORIALSA government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. — Thomas Jefferson

By Perly ViasmenskyAs a woman I feel that we all deserve the best treat-

ment in the world, especially from men who need toconsider the fact that they have come from a woman.

The worst thing that could happen to a woman is tobe a victim of an abusive husband, partner, or what-ever the other person is in their lives.

The story I am about to tell should be a lesson tothe many women calling the police department claim-ing domestic violence.

Police officers file a report to the best of their abili-ties to report that there were no visible injuries to thesupposed victim. Many of those women, after makinga big scene out of the situation and practically destroy-ing the reputation of their husbands, “forgive” theirhusbands for economical and financial gain — but deepinside of them they keep a strong resentment againstall men and consider all women victims regardless ofthe situation.

We need to be honest; there are horrible cases ofdomestic violence, but there are also cases of womenaccusing men who have never touched them; womenwho make false accusations because some man hasrejected their flirtatious advances and their likely in-appropriate or unwanted approach.

There are cases of young women severely intoxi-cated coming out from the middle of nowhere yellingand screaming RAPE. Those young women are luckyenough to cover their indiscretions and false accusa-tions when they find another woman (or women) inpowerful positions doing anything possible to makeany man pay for the abuses they claim their own hus-bands committed, yet whom they have already “for-given” because money is very important in their house-hold. Those “important” women made a scene, theincident was publicly disclosed, and the name of thehusband was used to mop the floors of every buildingin the city in which they reside, including the countycourthouse building.

This is the true story of an abused woman and howshe survived to educate her four children to be men

and women of great integrity. Her name is not impor-tant at this time:

It was a warm afternoon in August 1985 in a smallcity in the State of Florida. To the neighborhood people,they were the perfect couple. A very educated man witha very good job and a perfect Catholic woman dedi-cated to their four children. What nobody knew wasthat that perfect educated man was also a perfect ver-bal, psychological, and physical abuser. After 14 yearsof marriage, the young woman — who was only 38years old — couldn’t put up with another day of abuse;she didn’t want her children to continue witnessing allthe abuse she was subjected to and asked for a divorce.

She looked for refuge at her mother’s home sinceshe lived nearby. He followed her there and shot bothmother and daughter, leaving them for dead. She wokein the hospital after a long surgery to receive the sadnews that her mother was dead as the result of the shoot-ing and that her spinal cord was so severely damagedthat she was diagnosed as being paraplegic. She wasimpacted by the news that she was being confined to awheelchair for the rest of her life.

After four long months at the hospital receivingphysical, mental, and occupational therapy, this cou-rageous woman knew that she not only had to look outfor herself, but for her four children. She had to learnto perform all household chores from the limited spaceof her wheelchair. She learned how to drive only withher hands.

This woman knew that she had to fight for herself,but most of all, for her four children. She forced her-self to get up at four o’clock in the morning on week-ends, putting her four children in the back seat of thecar, half-sleep, and traveled to a swap meet, flea mar-ket, or whatever it is called, to sell a few things in or-der to get some money to continue surviving.

None of her children lost time out of their lives.She continued taking them to school, church and schoolactivities, and managed to buy them all all their neces-sary things.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

ample, a tattoo parlor’s owner de-cided to remake the place into a par-lor just for women, or just for theover-70 crowd or a couples-only es-tablishment (for whatever reasons),then that is what they would standfor and that is how they would holdthemselves out to the community(just like any senior communitiesaround town, or any day spas forwomen only, or any couples-onlydance establishments, etc.). There-fore, being “forced” to allow the typi-cal (or usual, or not-so-typical or -

By MaramisFreedom seems to be a rather rela-

tive thing. As the joke goes, I wantthe freedom to do what I want, but Idon’t want my relatives to do whatthey want, since that will end up hurt-ing me.”

Freedom has to be more than arelative thing, but it seems to alwaysdepend on which end of the FreedomStick one is holding.

We like to think of “freedom” asapplying equally to one and all. Inreality, freedom is rather situational.Take, for example, the freedom to do whatever workyou want to do. Well, you are free to apply for the jobof doing the work you want to do, but you are only inthe running to get that job to do that work IF you meetthe employer’s requirements. And being in the run-ning does not guarantee getting the job. And gettingthe job does not guarantee that you can or will do thework, either well or at all.

Now consider the freedom to get married. Recently,same-sex couples in Las Vegas have been “granted”the freedom to marry here. Yea for freedom! Yet wait...can that in any way impact the freedom of anyone atall in the businessworld?

I feel that if I owned a business, anyone who spendslegal tender at my place of business for either my goodsor my services — and does not in any way disrupt orhurt my business — would be more than welcome.But did you catch that qualifier? We cannot dismissthat tiny little qualifier: “...and does not in any waydisrupt or hurt my business.”

I am not a lawyer — although I used to play one inmy dreams — yet it seems to me that a business-owneris not obligated to conduct his or her business in sucha way as to put himself out of business. If, for ex-

usual) male customer, or the first-time-getting-a-tat-too teenage boy who wants to impress his friends, orthe small group of non-coupled friends — who signeda pact to get “Live free or die” on their forearms —into their place of business to get tattoos in spite of thebusiness’s established image and particular atmosphere,seems to me to be one of those “I want my freedom touse your place of business, but I don’t want you tohave your freedom to exclude me because of your ‘spe-cial’ image or atmosphere” (reminding us once againabout the relativity of freedom). So what if forcing thatbusiness to be like all the other tattoo parlors in towneventually spoils their business and they lose all theircustomers and have to close down — did you want tosay, “Tough”?

So on to the point. As long as there are other tattooparlors that will accommodate anyone, providing it isoperating legally and the customer is legally able toagree to the tattoo, and no one is being denied a tattooon any personal basis or bias — other than not meet-ing the criteria of the establishment (being female, over70, or a couple), it makes no sense for any man or youngperson or single person (depending on the particular

(See Maramis, Page 16)

MARAMIS CHOUFANI

There have been — as of this writing — three verifiable casesof Ebola in this country: one is the NBC cameraman who con-tracted the illness while working in Liberia, and the second andthird are the Texas health-worker who tested positive for Ebolaafter caring for an Ebola patient, and that patient, who died lastweek.

State health officials say the Dallas County sheriff’s deputywho exhibited symptoms of Ebola has tested negative for the dis-ease. The deputy, Michael Monnig, did not have contact with Dal-las Ebola patient Thomas Duncan who died on October 8, althoughhe and other deputies days earlier had gone inside the Dallas apart-ment where Duncan was staying. However, Monnig did have con-tact with some of Duncan’s family members who are now in iso-lation. Health officials stress that Monnig tested negative for thevirus.

Ebola is nothing new. The outbreak of a deadly virus in 1976was named after the nearby River Ebola in the Democratic Re-public of the Congo. What is new is that this recent outbreak is fardeadlier than other disease outbreaks that come to mind anywherein the world. The good news, however, is that if it is taken seri-ously by everyone, and we all pay attention to the admonishmentsand the advice for keeping it from spreading even in the mostunlikely of situations, it can be contained and there will be noneed for panic.

We believe that concern — paying attention to all the advicefor proper hand-washing and reporting of symptoms immediatelyis far better than fear, which leads to nothing but panic and evenmore of what one is fearing since one is not taking the properprecautions when operating out of that mindset.

Those reporting the news, and those “in charge of” the news donot know everything. Better to heed the words of those doctors,scientists and researchers who have devoted their lives to fightingsuch diseases and do the absolute best for yourselves by not beingcareless in what you touch and then touching your eyes or mouth.Although hand-washing may not prevent you from “catching” theEbola virus, it will keep you aware of everything you touch. Be-sides having normal good hygiene habits, now we have to con-sider if we might inadvertently be interacting with someone whomay have been with someone who was possibly infected and chosenot to say anything.

People lie, whether for their own convenience or to avoid nega-tive publicity. Chances are that no visitor from Liberia or environswill land in Las Vegas, at least without going through the neces-sary 21-day quarantine first, but we can’t imagine stopping allflights into or out of Liberia or its vicinity in the meantime if thatwould mean all healthcare workers would be banned from goingthere to assist those so in need of help, but vacation flights ornonessential flights, of course.

With the knowledge we have, and the precautions in place, ifthey are followed, the virus should be well contained. Yet whileprecautions are used in wearing protective garb, those wearing itmust be taught how to remove the gear with the same precautions,as well as how to dispose of anything that touched the exposedparty.

It can be done. It is being done. Always and ever, the best de-fense is self-defense with the simple act of being on guard, usingcommon sense in NOT jumping to conclusions and determiningwhere the flu-like symptoms came from, and then reporting thosesymptoms for which there might be a suspicious cause. Always,good health before political correctness!

Ebola: Spreadeducation, not panic

Forcing your “freedom to...” onsomeone else’s “freedom not to...”Have we forgotten The Golden Rule?

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 13

(See Viasmensky, Page 15)

Three days from today (Wednesday, Oct 15) the early votingperiod starts. Even if we prefer to stick with the old-fashionedcasting of one’s vote on Election Day, in our traditional fashion,for several reasons, many of our readers do like to take advantageof that convenience.

We do not believe that going to vote should be a matter of con-venience; we see it as a privilege and responsibility of those blessedwith the opportunity of being able to pick the person they believeto be best to represent the community at all levels of government.

In the old days people used to really feel good when going tothe polls to vote; employers (under law) allowed their employeesto take time off to go vote if they could not do it before or afterwork.

Today people seem to be losing their sense of responsibility —or perhaps they are losing love or regard for their country. Appar-ently, if they can vote while they are out shopping, that is fine.Otherwise they are too “inconvenienced” to take the time to exer-cise their right to vote.

Ironically, these who do NOT take themselves out to vote arethe first ones to speak up or out about their “rights” when thoseelected officials — that they did not elect because they didn’t go tovote — do something wrong or do something with which they donot agree.

Whether you choose early voting or voting on Election Day,we urge every one of you in this community who is eligible tovote to get out there and exercise that right to choose those whowill lead us in some way up till we have the chance to chooseagain in the following election.

Your vote is very important; your vote may be the decidingfactor in any election. And even if you later discover that you votedfor the “wrong” candidate, you will have done your duty, and yourcountry will thank you, to say nothing of your community.

That is the beauty of living in a country where its citizens stillhave the power of the vote.

God Bless the United States of America!

Do the rightthing: VOTE

BEHIND THE MIKETWINSThree Signs Your Leadership

Style Resembles BigfootBy Doug DickersonTo be or not to be, that

is the question — WilliamShakespeare

For many he is an urbanlegend, for others he is agreat hoax. Regardless ofyour beliefs, Bigfoot en-thusiasts have been on thehunt for a long time. In theinterest of full disclosure Iwill confess I’ve becomeaddicted to the AnimalPlanet show FindingBigfoot. I will also confess

Your people areperpetually one step

behind you.Where are you?In Finding Bigfoot the

dedicated team alwaysseems to be one step be-hind their prey. Here’s therub — people willinglyfollow a strong and confi-dent leader. But when yourpeople are reduced tochasing after you and arealways one step behindyou then frustration builds.

When that happens morale begins to sinkand the Gallup poll on engagement becomesall too real. Your people want a leader whois with them — not evasive, and one theycan trust with their own eyes. If you are dis-engaged as a leader your people will even-tually dismiss you as a hoax.

Your people risk a lot to believein you. Have you let them down?

One of the regular features of FindingBigfoot is a town hall meeting to hear theclaims of people who say they’ve had aBigfoot encounter. It’s up to the team toinvestigate and separate fact from fiction,or something like that. Be it the investiga-tive team or the people making the claim,they put their reputations on the line byexpressing a belief in what many claim tobe a fraud. Likewise, your people risk a lotby believing in you as a leader. It’s one thingto believe in your people- that’s important,but you must respect them enough by giv-ing them a reason to buy-in to your leader-ship and believe in you. Having the respectand trust of your people is a sacred honor,don’t let them down.

Dispelling the Bigfoot leadership myth

“A leader is one who knows the way,goes the way, and shows the way,” saysJohn Maxwell. Going forward and solidi-fying your leadership credentials will hap-pen when you take corporate culture seri-ously, build relationships with your people,and make trust the focal point of your lead-ership. Your leadership does not have to besubjected to the status of an urban myth orlegend. It’s time to come out from the shad-ows and lead with purpose.

What do you say?Doug Dickerson is a syndicated colum-

nist. He writes a weekly column for thisnewspaper. Contact Doug Dickerson atddickerson@ lasvegastribune.com.

that while I find the show entertaining Iremain a skeptic. However, I would wel-come an invitation from Bobo and the gangto go ‘Squatchin’.

After watching many episodes of Find-ing Bigfoot it didn’t take long to connectthe dots and draw parallels between thecharacteristics of Bigfoot out in the wildand some leaders in their offices. Just assome people swear that Bigfoot exists,many people in their organizations makethe same claim about their leader — alwayslurking in the shadows somewhere ,but, canwe really be sure?

In Inc. magazine earlier this year, DinoSignore wrote about the importance and thechallenges leaders face in building relation-ships and being connected to their people.Clearly, if you want to engage your employ-ees it will take hard work effort on yourpart.

Signore cites Gallup’s “State of theAmerican Workplace” survey in which sev-enty percent of American workers say theyare disengaged. What does that mean foryou as a leader? In short, it means that youare going to have to come out from the shad-ows and step up your leadership game. Doyou have the leadership characteristics ofBigfoot? Let’s find out.

Your people make wild claimsabout your leadership, butthey have little evidence

In order to be a leader that is connected,engaged, and involved in what’s going onyou have to be seen. Your people will gainconfidence in you as a leader when you leadfrom the front, not when you are lurking inthe shadows. If your credentials as a leaderare based upon rumors and sightings thenyou have lost their trust. If in the eyes ofyour people you are a fictional characterthen you are nothing more than a fictionalleader.

By Chuck MuthIt was ten years ago that

I testified, for my first andonly time, before a govern-ment legislative body —the United States SenateSubcommittee on the Con-stitution. It was surreal.

Up on the dais, on myside of the issue, weresome of the most liberalelected officials in all theland, including the lateSen. Ted Kennedy, then-

and go find another wed-ding planner who will. IfI’m a photographer whodoesn’t want to photo-graph gay weddings,leave me a alone and gofind another photogra-pher who will. If I’m abaker who doesn’t wantto bake cakes for gayweddings, leave me aloneand go find another bakerwho will.

Indeed, as KelseySen. Joe Biden, Sen. Diane Feinstein, Sen.Chuck Schumer and Sen. Russ Feingold.The issue was gay marriage. I was arguingagainst the proposed Federal MarriageAmendment.

It was obvious to me that the concept ofequal protection under law would eventu-ally end the practice of government extend-ing special benefits to married coupleswhile denying certain individuals the rightto marry the adult person of their choice.This was no longer a religious issue, thanksto foolishly allowing the government intothe institution of marriage in the first place.

The way we’ve now foolishly allowedthe government into our health care system.But I digress.

The point is I’ve been a live-and-let-livelibertarian on this issue for a long time. Assuch, I have a completely clear consciencein telling certain members of the gay com-munity to stop being such intolerantcrybabies!

Look, folks. You won. You now have,or soon will have, the right to marry theperson of your choice in every state, coast-to-coast. But that doesn’t mean you havethe right to force others who object to gaymarriage to support the exercise of yourright.

If I’m a wedding planner who doesn’twant to plan gay weddings, leave me alone

Harkness reported last month in The DailySignal, a bakery owner and his wife inOregon are facing a whopping $150,000“discrimination” fine after a crybaby les-bian couple filed a complaint simply be-cause Melissa and Aaron Klein, owners ofSweet Cakes by Melissa, didn’t want todesign their wedding cake (boo-hoo).

After the complaint was made public,the Kleins were subjected to “threats, vi-cious protests and boycotts.” One email thecouple reportedly received read, “I hopeyour kids get really, really, sick.” Anotherread, “Here’s hoping you go out of busi-ness, you bigot. Enjoy hell.”

For choosing not to bake a cake? Seri-ously?

The Kleins have already closed downtheir retail store and are now operating thebusiness from home. They’re appealing the“discrimination” ruling. If they lose,they’ll lose their business completely.Bankruptcy.

This is not right. And the greater gaycommunity itself needs to rise up againstsuch intolerance. Live and let live has towork both ways.

Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Out-reach, a non-profit public policygrassroots advocacy organization. ChuckMuth may be reached by email atcmuth@lasvegastribune.com.

Gay Couples Need to StopBeing Intolerant Crybabies

CHUCK MUTH

VIEW POINTSEditors note: The views expressed are entirely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Las Vegas Tribune.

DOUG DICKERSON

“Who Speaks for Earth?”By Winslow Myers

Few people rememberthem today, but there weresignificant global leader-ship initiatives in the 1980sagainst the proliferation ofnuclear weapons. Thedawn of the nuclear era hadcoincided with the begin-ning of the Cold War.People in the United Statesand their leaders viewedthe world through the lensof East-West cold war su-perpower tensions, reinforced by the rigiddualistic convictions of officials like JohnFoster Dulles, U.S. Secretary of State from1953 to 1959. A quarter century further intothe cold war era, nearly 200 less powerfulnations came to realize that a superpowernuclear exchange was potentially just as lifethreatening to them as to the superpowersthemselves.

The leaders of six non-aligned countrieson five continents, India, Sweden, Argen-tina, Greece, and Mexico, formed the Five-Continent Peace Initiative to advocate for adecrease in tensions among the nuclear su-per-powers. Julius Nyerere, representingAfrica, asserted that “peace is too impor-tant to be left to the White House and theKremlin.” Indira Gandhi, before she wastragically assassinated, introduced the ini-tiative in 1984 by saying in words thatshould haunt us today: “I am deeply dis-tressed and also astonished at the apathywhich one sees, almost a resignation or ac-ceptance of such a horrifying event [asnuclear war].” At the same time, respectedpublic intellectuals like Carl Sagan obtainedaccess to diplomats at the United Nations,and, warning them for the first time aboutthe phenomenon of nuclear winter, asked“who speaks for Earth?”

Thirty years further on— today — only Dr.Strangelove types wouldcontinue to argue againstRonald Reagan’s sensibleassertion that “a nuclearwar can never be won andmust never be fought.” Yetno one in power todayseems able to muster themoral imagination to re-verse the continued drift ofour lifeboat we call Earthtoward the inevitable

nuclear Niagara somewhere down the time-stream. Resources desperately needed toprevent imminent conflicts over water andother natural resources, let alone needed tomitigate the gigantic challenge of climatechange, continue to be poured into an in-ternational security system that rests uponextremely dubious premises — first andmost egregious of all the assumption thatno nuclear nation will ever make that fatalmistake or misinterpretation that ends inapocalypse for all.

Attaining top positions of national lead-ership often requires years of Machiavel-lian manipulation that inevitably includescompromise with agents of huge corporateand financial power. The security bureau-cracies that have sprung up in the U.S.,Russia and China are vast, complex, self-perpetuating and both inter- and intra-para-noid. The mystery that clings to the assas-sination of the Kennedy brothers and evenMartin Luther King Jr. suggests that lead-ers who over-indulge in the rhetoric ofpeacemaking and international cooperationmay put their own lives in mortal danger.

A quick look at those in power at thepresent moment is not reassuring for citi-zens who are wondering what the possibili-

WINSLOW MYERS

(See Myers Page 15)

By Michael A. AunI’m blessed to be a fa-

ther of twins, which hashad its advantages andchallenges over the years.Not twins like DannyDeVito and ArnoldSchwarzenegger in themovie by the same name,but for-real, look-alike twinsons named Cory and Ja-son.

We never bought intothe Harry-Larry or Hank-Frank deal. That was justtoo cutesy even for us.

As babies, twins command the attentionof everyone. Every beautiful woman, whohas no idea who you are and would not evenbother to say hello to you otherwise, willapproach you with open arms and a disarm-ing smile when they spot your twin sons ina stroller. Twins are the single best deal-closer I know of.

The problem for me, I already closed thedeal with their mother and was off the mar-ket, so to speak. But some of my singlebuddies would meet up with us at the Malland would play the role of the grieving fa-ther who was meandering along with hisdarling twin sons trying to forget the tragicloss of their mother.

While I found this downright despicable,I was always a willing co-conspirator justto watch the shameful scene play out. Toprotect the guilty, their names shall remainanonymous. Also, should I ever need toblackmail them, this would be excellentleverage.

As Cory and Jason grew older, they toowere co-conspirators, playing the role of thedarling children without a mother. We al-ways came clean as it usually ended up withmy wife concluding her shopping and ar-riving on the scene to expose the disgrace-ful farce, much to the chagrin of my buddy,who was crafting a yarn that would makeeven Nora Roberts jealous.

Such was our life as parents of youngtwins. As they grew older, even they man-aged to scam some girlfriends when theybegan dating in high school, never takingadvantage but generally having some cleanfun.

We weren’t big fans of dressing themalike and the teachers were too lazy to putthem in the same class for fear of confus-ing them. They always gave us some balo-ney about them being dependent on oneanother. Nothing could be further from thetruth. From the earliest day I can recall, theywere as big of rivals then as they are today,

competing inweightlifting, wrestlingand football.

The move on the partof the teachers interest-ingly gave us an oppor-tunity to compare theirteaching skills. I remem-ber in the first year, onechild had a positiveteacher and the other...well, not so much. Thecontrast in their teachingstyles clearly definedthem as night and day.

Today, Jason is a molecular microbiolo-gist with the Food and Drug Administra-tion and Cory is a teacher and coach at St.Cloud High School in Osceola County inFlorida. Jason’s wife Jessica is a doctor withbeautiful long blonde hair. Cory’s wifeCasey is a brunette and a teacher.

Jason and Jessica will be walking alongin a Mall when one of Cory’s student ath-letes spots him, immediately concluding theCoach Aun has a new woman in his life.

Students sometimes get offended whenJason won’t speak to them. Duh! He doesn’tknow you kid.

And then there are the times Jason helpsCory as a Judge at weightlifting meets andthe kids call him Coach Aun. “No, I’m theother one,” is the most commonly repeatedfive words in his vocabulary.

On balance being twins is a gift thatkeeps on giving because every new daybrings a new experience. For instance,Cory’s students manage to come up withthe dumbest questions. “What’s yourbrother look like?”

Really?Another favorite: “Do you guys have the

same birthday?”“Coach Aun, what does your brother

look like?” Cory can’t resist: “He’s the uglyone.”

Or, “Who’s the oldest?” Jason likes tosay “We came out at the same time!”

“If I hit you, will the other one feel it?”No but you will!

Fortunately, Cory and Jason were notborn at midnight, giving them differentdates of birth. Their sibling, Christopher,was a leap year baby however, and as badlyas I wanted my wife to deliver him on Feb-ruary 29, she didn’t have the heart to cheathim out of a birthday three out of four years.Welcome to my world!

Michael Aun is a syndicated columnistand writes a weekly column for this news-paper. To contact Michael Aun, email himat maun@lasvegastribune.com.

MICHAEL A. AUN

Page 14 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

A Pimp, a Police Captain, and a Tourist TerrorBy Norman Jahn

What do a pimp named RobertSharpe, a prostitute named CameliaTerry, and a police captain namedCharles Hank have in common?Well, if news reports are correct andfacts known about domestic vio-lence and human trafficking aretrue, both Robert and Charles resortto power and control to get theirway. Camelia has been a TERRORto tourists for nearly a decade! Shehas also probably been the victimof quite a few beatings. As a matterof fact, I once helped her to cleanup and disinfect her wounds aftershe had a fight with another prosti-tute on the pedestrian bridge be-tween the old Bill’s Gambling Halland Ballys. I found her cowering inthe back seat of a car behind theCasino Royale. I gave her antisep-tic wipes and offered to take a re-port and try to arrest someone.

All three of these people alsohave another thing in common.They all have benefitted from non-enforcement or under-enforcementof the laws! Sharpe literally tor-tured his victim and it probably wasnot the first time. (http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/police-woman-s-vegas-dream-smashed-sex-industry-tor-ture) I didn’t know Robert, but Idealt with one of his relatives(Raymond Sharpe) over the yearsthat I worked the Strip. Raymondis doing multiple life terms in prisonright now. I wonder if he ‘trained’Robert?

Captain Charles Hank draggedhis wife around by her hair (thereis news coverage of his ‘incident’on May 13, 2010 and also policerecords and photos). So what is thedifference between Sharpe, Terry,and Hank? Sharpe and Terry havebeen arrested (or are going to bearrested — I don’t think they havelocated Terry yet). Sharpe’s victimdidn’t want to cooperate initiallybut she was talked into it (NOT‘talked out’ of making a statementagainst her pimp). Her injuries wereboth visible and so severe thatmedical staff had to amputate a fin-ger and there were other horribleinjuries. She was dumped nearUMC according to news reportsand, thank goodness, she has beensaved from a monster by patrol of-ficers who made notifications andactually got assistance from Vicedetectives. (http://www.reviewjournal.com/columns-blogs/john-l-smith/hookers-treat-ment-far-worse-dog).

‘King Charles’ on the other handbenefitted from having power andcontrol (rank) over most everyonethat he had to deal with. I surewould like to have phone recordsof any of his ‘supervisors’ that hemay have called for help that morn-ing (i.e., Sheriff Gillespie). Hankalso had the power of the badge. Hewas not arrested. He was not pro-cessed at the jail. He may not have

even been formally interviewed butthey put the screw to his victim (po-lice, prosecutor, even the FBI).Charles faced no known criminalcharges but it has been reported thathe had to complete mandatorycounseling and this ‘intervention’was enforced by former D.A. DavidRoger. The only news reports that Iever saw were two short discussionsby a ‘columnist’ named John L.Smith. It is said that his wife Maria‘recanted’ her story about the abuse.But guess what, she didn’t tell themabout only one incident. There wasa pattern to the behavior and Hankwas never held accountable.

So how do Sharpe, Hank, andNFL player Ray Rice compare?Sharpe got stopped before he usedhis power and control to kill his vic-tim—but he tried selling her to an-other pimp and was warned that shecould die. He apparently could careless. That case is being prosecutedbecause it made the news and thevictim could decide not to cooper-ate when she recovers — but youcan bet Sharpe will be put in prison.A pimp beating a prostitute IS anact of domestic violence and themandatory arrest procedures shouldapply.

Evidence is quite clear that Hankcommitted domestic violence/bat-tery against his wife but the man-datory arrest wasn’t applied. Hank’swife was talked out of prosecutingby one or more people during theinvestigation. The cooperation withinternal investigations and truthful-ness policies at Metro (among oth-ers) should have also applied andheld Hank to an even higher stan-dard than the street pimp. Thatdidn’t happen. I often wonder whatwould have been different in mycareer, the careers of Roger Barerra,Wil Guevara, Dakota Almazan (andothers) if Hank had at least beenplaced on ‘relief of duty’ that day.Better yet (if he had been arrestedlike he was supposed to have ben)he may have been humbled andmight have stopped wrecking thecareers of people that worked forhim. That didn’t happen either. Diddomestic violence detectives,Hank’s supervisors, or the districtattorney drop the ball? The ball wasdropped because King Charles was‘special’ as defined by SheriffGillespie and his regime.

Ray Rice was held accountable

only because of video in the eleva-tor that night. He almost got awaywith that violent act because hisfiancé was standing behind him andthey were both telling stories to in-vestigators and the NFL. It was notuntil the video was leaked that hefaced serious consequences for hisactions.

Will this selective prosecutioncontinue under a new sheriff? It de-pends on who wins the election.One of the officers listed above wasplaced on ‘relief of duty’ when itwas discovered that he tried to geta fake ID from DMV before heturned 21 and before he joined theLVMPD. Hank accused him of be-ing untruthful in his applicationmaterials and transferred him but,luckily, the officer survived this at-tempt to terminate him. It didn’tmatter; Metro fired him later whenhe tried pretending he was ATWORK to fool a girlfriend intothinking he was working that shift.

The other two officers, in fact allthree, were put back on full dutyeven after initial statements of com-plaint were filed against them. Sowhat is Metro thinking when theyhave what they believe to be a vio-lation that merits a termination butthey still allow the officers back onthe streets? A second officer listedabove simply went to lunch andunexpectedly saw the whole Vicesquad and Sgt. John Hayes sittingat a table. He excused himself be-cause of animosity that had devel-oped with Hayes (the same ‘qual-ity’ relationships exist betweenHayes and many members of theLVMPD).

Hayes (a childhood friend ofKing Charles Hank) immediatelyreported that the officer had ‘blownthe cover’ of his plainclothes offic-ers by saying something to a wait-ress on his way out of the business.The officer was later not sustainedon the charge after an arbitrationhearing and the arbitrator actuallywrote about some of the people whotestified against the officer. Thosefolks happened to be Assistant Sher-iff Joe Lombardo, Captain CharlesHank, Sgt. John Hayes, and Lt.Karen Hughes. The arbitratorstraight-up said that departmentwitnesses EMBELLISHED theirtestimony against the officer. Eventhough he was cleared of blowingthe ‘cover’ of the Vice squad theLVMPD found a way to terminatethe officer. If anyone wants to seeJoe Lombardo become sheriff theyshould be forewarned that the restof the Unholy Triad may be pro-moted as well. If they aren’t (be-cause they are nearing a cushy re-tirement) then be forewarned thatyou will be saluting people by thenames of McMahill and Fasulo whohave their own records of destruc-tion of the careers of officers.

I’m willing to hear argumentsthat the pimp and the police cap-tain are not similar. I’m willing to

hear arguments that the police cap-tain was treated the same way‘regular’ officers are treated. I’ll getto the predator prostitute in a mo-ment, but how about this idea?Shouldn’t there be a mandatory ar-rest when a pimp beats and tortureshis girls — even if they DON’T co-operate? Shouldn’t police officersand prosecutors be directed to em-ploy the current domestic violencelaws to stop this conduct (it is actu-ally more like attempted murder)instead of (so frequently) lookingfor a reason to NOT make an ar-rest? Shouldn’t a police captain beheld to higher standard than a pimp?

TOURIST TERROR TERRYThe Review-Journal recently ran

a story entitled, Vegas Prostitutewith 250-plus run-ins with law in-dicted. I checked court records andshe has at least seven felony cases(often involving multiple felonycrimes) dismissed or closed, includ-ing one series of charges as recentlyas June of 2014. I had a lot of expe-rience investigating this predatoryprostitute. The Review-Journalstory reported:

“...about 4 a.m. June 6, Terry, aknown prostitute, accosted a tour-ist who had a bloody nose and wasleaving the Aria, crossing the pe-destrian bridge over the Strip. AsHall approached, Terry grabbed theman’s genitals, reached into hispocket and pulled out about $2,000in cash that he had won at the ca-sino... The man gave chase as thewomen tried to flee, and they werearrested that same day... Terry hasfailed to appear for court more than50 times... and she is among what’sknown as Vice Enforcement TopOffenders.

Court records indicate that as

COMMENTARIESEditors note: The views expressed are entirely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Las Vegas Tribune.

NORMAN JAHN

ties are for creative servant-leadership based upon the interest of the planetas a whole. President Putin initially made conciliatory gestures towardthe West, but the West betrayed its word and expanded NATO aggres-sively eastward toward Russia’s borders. Putin now operates from theheart of an enormous web of kleptocratic corruption, and identifies witha backward-looking czarist conception of the Russian empire.

President Obama reached out to the Muslim world, advocated in Praguefor the abolition of nuclear weapons, wound down the wars in Iraq andAfghanistan, and, in spite of a racist, obstructionist Congress, managedto pass the Affordable Care Act. Recently he has advocated for authenticmeasures against climate change. At the same time he has condoned theenormous growth of an off-the-books national security bureaucracy, ra-tionalized his failure to bring torturers to justice, indulged in routine ex-tra-judicial killing by drone, and continues to renew the U.S. nuclear ar-senal at obscene expense (yet another $355 billion according to projec-tions by the Congressional Budget Office).

International leaders interested in creating safe spaces for people tocome together at the heart level to work on common challenges seem tobe few and far between. Benjamin Netanyahu and his counterpart Hamasleader Khaled Mashaal are perfect demonstrations of exactly the obverse:they dehumanize and scapegoat each other with hyper-masculine zealand thus perpetuate an endless round of utterly futile destruction.

Julius Nyerere refused to benefit personally from high office and con-sistently put the best interests of his country ahead of his own well-being.Nelson Mandela is another servant-leader who earned worldwide respect.Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary General of the U.N., is yet an-other example of disinterested international leadership. Sadly, like Kingand the Kennedys and Indira Gandhi, he paid with his life for his serviceto us all. Is it the veiled threat of individual martyrdom that makes disin-terested efforts to prevent collective destruction so rare?

Another Five-Continent Peace Initiative is long overdue. The agenda:nuclear disarmament, restriction of conventional arms sales, and reallo-cation of resources to address climate instability. The survivors of inad-vertent nuclear war — itself a source of climate disaster — would bepitiless in their condemnation of the present rot — the rationalizations,evasions, and delays that led to disaster. Only if citizens everywhere de-mand true servant-leaders instead of bellicose fulminators will more life-affirming outcomes become possible.

Winslow Myers, the author of “Living Beyond War: A Citizen’s Guide,”serves on the Board of Beyond War, a non-profit educational foundationwhose mission is to explore, model and promote the means for humanityto live without war. Myers writes for PeaceVoice.

Myers(Continued from Page 14)

far back as 2004 Terry has beencharged with misdemeanors andfelonies including soliciting pros-titution, loitering for prostitution,theft, burglary, battery, larceny andtrespassing.

(http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/vegas-prostitute-250-plus-run-ins-law-indicted).

Terry used to do ‘licks’ withNataka Hines. Hines was one of the‘lovely ladies’ that actually fired agun at a pickpocket victim who wastrying to flee from these tourist ter-rors at the Mirage one year ago. TheLas Vegas Sun reported:

“Deonna Hicks lured the maninto the car with the promise of oralsex and a ride from Mandalay Bayto the Bellagio. Two other womenwaited in the car.

The job was to be a simple pick-pocket. Yet, as they pulled his pantsoff and stole his wallet, BassamBatta caught on. The ride spiraledinto a chaos of pushing, kicking andflying clothing. One of the womenyelled, “Get the gun,” and the rideended with Batta sprinting from thecar at Treasure Island with one shoeon and a woman shooting at him.

These were the details outlinedin a Metro Police arrest report forNataka Hines in Hines, who Metrosaid is a known trick-roll prostitute,was arrested on counts of attemptedmurder, robbery with a deadlyweapon, battery with intent to com-mit robbery and conspiracy to com-mit robbery. Trick-rolling, Metrosaid in the report, is where a pros-titute robs or steals from a clientwho has agreed to pay for sexualfavors.

The report indicates the follow-ing: Earlier on July 27, Batta lost

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 15

Time passed and today all of her children are university graduated.Her oldest boy is a computer programmer, the oldest girl is a pharma-cist with a masters from Nova University, her third child is a school-teacher and her youngest is a computer engineer graduated from FloridaInternational University.

Those children followed in their mother’s footsteps, giving theirown children the best education ever. One of this woman’s grandchil-dren is a Marine Architect in Long Island, New York.

The most important thing this woman taught her sons is to respectwomen regardless of their race, ethnicity, faults or living standards.

This is a true story of surviving domestic violence. The ones claim-ing to be pushed against a wall or the drunk ones who still don’t re-member if they were coming or going are nothing but users of thegoodwill of the community.

Perly Viasmensky is the General Manager of the Las Vegas Tri-bune. She writes a weekly column in this newspaper. To contact PerlyViasmensky, email her at pviasmensky@lasvegas tribune.com.

Viamensky(Continued from Page 13)

By Jerry SchaferRecently friends of mine have

been talking about the SecondAmendment... the right to bear armsand the continuing debate about thisin Washington....

I say going back in our history,to the year 1788, June 5 to be ex-act, Partick Henry said, “Guard withjealous attention the public liberty.Suspect everyone who approachesthat jewel. Unfortunately nothingwill preserve it but downright force.

Whenever you give up that forceyou are inevitably ruined.”

Of course people who lived inGermany pre-WWII could testify tothe fact that once their arms weretaken away they were, as PatrickHenry said, “ruined”....being unableto defend or protect themselves,most of them were murdered in coldblood!

I’m not sure what the exact num-bers are, however I will hazard aguess saying that there are over 300million guns privately owned inAmerica. I believe that in the caseof a national emergency wherepeople’s lives and liberty are threat-ened, 100 percent of the gun-own-

Thoughts about the Second Amendmenters won’t hesitate to use their gunsaccordingly.

In the most innocuous way, thegun-owners in America protect thisnation and its people without beingpart of the armed forces or a militiaof any kind.

No matter what the social andeconomic problems are facing ournation, the bottom line is that no

people on earth are like the Ameri-can people when it comes to theirlove of life, liberty and the pursuitof happiness.

A national threat would result inseeing 100 percent of Americangun-owners stepping up to the platelike sleeping giants to protect theserights. It would become a case ofone for all, all for one!

(See Norm Jahn, Page 16)

Tune in and listen to those who will tell youthe truth, and nothing but the truth. You’lldiscover different personalities and heardifferent opinions, but when it comes to thefacts, you’ll always get the truth from us!

www.RadioTribune.comCall-In Line (702) 772-8082

Tune in toRadioTribune

By Zachariah ParryHalloween is not just for chil-

dren anymore. By some estimates,Americans spend over $8 billion onHalloween. That includes roughly$2.9 billion on costumes, $2.3 bil-lion on candy, $2.2 billion on deco-rations, with the remaining $600million spent on greeting cards andpet accessories. But candy retailersand costume makers are not theonly ones trying to capitalize on theinclination during Halloween formoney to change hands.

Indeed, more than a few “entre-preneurial” individuals have tried totake advantage of All Hallow’s Eve,though their venue of choice has notbeen a haunted house, but a court-house. At least one has taken ad-vantage of constitutional protec-tions and used Halloween as a cre-ative way to add fuel to a fieryneighborhood feud. Others yet,with delicate sensibilities, see Hal-loween as a religious affront that

The Law and Halloween

if possible, more pagan than ever.In particular there was a carpet thatemitted a horrific scream wheneveranyone walked on it. This screamwas a continual reminder to [Plain-tiff] that her religious beliefs werenot respected by her employer.

After an analysis of the facts andthe law, the Court dismissed hercomplaint, finding “[t]he cats, gob-lins or screeching mat alone do notconvey an endorsement of any reli-gious belief. Such decorations, likeHalloween costumes and parties,are linked to the seasonal celebra-tion of a fun-loving tradition inwhich children are particularly in-volved in classrooms, neighbor-hood gatherings and trick or treat-ing... Halloween lost its religiousand superstitious overtones longago.”

Double Double, Toiland Trouble

In a 1994 Florida case, the par-ent of a student sued the school al-leging that the school’s use of sym-bols of witches, cauldrons, andbrooms created an excessive en-tanglement with religion (specifi-cally, the Wiccan religion) andtherefore violated the EstablishmentClause of the U.S. Constitution.Both the trial court and appellatecourt found in favor of the school.

The court’s decision hardlyneeded the justification it provided:“the costumes and decorationsserve to make Halloween a fun day

for students and serve an educa-tional purpose by enriching theireducational background and cul-tural awareness,” which promotesa secular, not religious, purpose,and therefore does not violate theEstablishment Clause.

Costumes for CustomsNot all Halloween cases involve

opportunistic plaintiffs, however.For example, in a 2003 internationaltrade case, the Federal Circuit courtof appeals was tasked with classi-fying certain imports for the pur-pose of the imposition of interna-tional tariffs. The defendant, theU.S. Government, argued that theUnited States Customs Service’sclassification of Halloween cos-tumes as “festive articles” was ap-propriate, whereas, Rubie’s Cos-tume Company, the plaintiff (andthe largest manufacturer of cos-tumes in the U.S.) believed the Cus-tom Service had it wrong, and thatthe costumes would more appropri-ately be classified as “wearing ap-parel.”

In a 7,000-word opinion, theCircuit Court weighed the variousfactors and concluded, “[w]hen theimported textile costumes are of aflimsy nature and construction,lacking in durability and generallynot recognized as normal articles ofwearing apparel, it is neither illogi-cal nor unreasonable to concludethat the subject merchandise is clas-sifiable as festive articles.”

By the Duke of Fremont StreetAs The Duke Of Fremont Street and Las Vegas Treasure Hunter, I’ve

had the privilege of traversing six of the seven continents over the lastfour decades. I consider the memories I’ve amassed while trekking tothese far-off lands priceless.

Although I’m still actively considering new adventures, I’m certainI’ve been on more than I will be on again. Not too long ago I scrapped myplans to travel across Sierra Leone into Liberia. Logistics held up myplans and now with the Ebola pandemic, a voluntary expedition to thoseWestern African countries would be nothing short of foolhardy. I’m notat all interested in contracting a possible life-threatening virus or experi-encing an extended quarantine unnecessarily.

I’m happy to have taken the safaris and expeditions when I did be-cause our world is becoming increasingly perilous for the traveler.Pandemics such as Ebola, numerous civil wars and regional conflicts,and the threat of ISIS and other fanatical Islamic militant groups are manyof the common sense reasons to stay closer to home. It’s sad that there areliterally entire regions of the planet that are off-limits to the civilizedworld, making travel impossible!

Remember the airliner shot out of the air recently? It’s amazing that inthe 21st century travel to many far destinations is virtually impossible. Ifthat weren’t enough of a deterrent, how many consider air travel less-than-desirable? I believe it is a totally dehumanizing experience. In fact,the indignities of air travel keep me from roaming the planet as I oncedid. I believe with added medical screening and security features beingput in place the air travel experience will become even more personallynon-gratifying. Now many air carriers are introducing new aircraft floorplans that will allow even less personal space to the traveler. I recall thelast time I flew from Heathrow to O’Hare, an 8-hour-plus flight, I stoodin the back of the plane rather than being smothered by the obese passen-ger who had the seat next to me.

Ever notice how there are more and more incidents of passenger ragedisrupting flights recently? I believe this is related to people being treatedwith indignity and at the same time their personal freedoms are takenaway in the name of security. I see nothing positive developing in thenear future to stop this.

What’s the solution to these dilemmas? It’s sad to say that I have noanswer to that question. I suppose one must recognize these new travelrealities, weigh the consequences and decide for himself whether the des-tination is worth the journey.

The Duke Of Fremont Street, Las Vegas Treasure HunterBuyer & Seller of Precious Metals, Patron & Trader of Vintage U.S.

Coins and CurrencyEmail:TheDukeOfFremontStreet@cox.net

Websites: www.IBuyCoins.com, www.TheDukeOfFremontStreet.comTwitter: @DukeOfFremont

Facebook: Personal; The Duke Of Fremont StreetPublic Figure; The Duke Of Fremont Street

Telephone (702) 561-9431

The Adventure Continues!

Tombstone Insults AreProtected Free Speech

At the climax of a neighborhoodfeud, one neighbor erected sixtombstones in his yard one Octo-ber. He inscribed them with descrip-tions of his offending neighbors’deaths. Two of the six read as fol-lows:

Old Man Crimp was aGimp who couldn’t hear.

Sliced his wife from ear to ear.She died... he was fried.

Now they’re togetherAgain side by side!

— 1720 —Here lies Jimmy,

The old towne idiot.Mean as sin even without his gin.

No longer does he wearThat stupid old grin...

On no, not whereThey’ve sent him!

—1690—The court considered the tomb-

stones under the “fighting words”doctrine, which inhibits the free-dom of speech insofar as they “bytheir very utterance inflict injury ortend to incite an immediate breachof the peace.” However, “speechinflicting psychic trauma alone—without any tendency to provokeresponsive violence or an immedi-ate breach of the peace,” does notqualify as “fighting words,” and isstill constitutional protected. Thus,insulting tombstones are fair game.The House that Was Haunted

as a Matter of LawOne case from 1991 begins,

“Plaintiff, to his horror, discoveredthat the house he had recently con-tracted to purchase was widely re-puted to be possessed by polter-geists.” After discovering that thehouse was haunted, the plaintiffsought to rescind the sale. The trialcourt refused to allow the rescissionand enforced the contract. The ap-pellate court, though, sided with the

must be stopped. These cases rangefrom spooky to hilarious to justplain deranged.

The Screaming Carpetand the Hostile Work

EnvironmentOne plaintiff, a Puerto Rican

employee of the Department of Jus-tice of Puerto Rico, sued her em-ployers for damages arising fromcreating and subjecting the em-ployee to a hostile work environ-ment and violating her free exerciseof religion, among others. Amongthe plaintiff’s allegations were thefollowing:

From the time [Plaintiff] beganwork, she objected to the decora-tion of government offices withwitches and goblins during the Hal-loween season because, as a Pente-costal Christian, she found this cel-ebration of paganism offensive.

In October 2004 the Halloweendecorations at the Department ofJustice were more elaborate, and,

Page 18 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

friends at a Mandalay Bay restau-rant and was looking for a ridewhen a woman he later identifiedas Hicks approached him with theoffer.

During the course of the ride,two other women in the car at-tempted to completely pull offBatta’s pants. He stopped them, butas he pulled his pants back on, henoticed his wallet was missing.When he confronted the women,they began yelling and kickingBatta. Then one of the womenyelled: “Get the gun.”

Batta said he attempted to getout of the car while it was travel-ing through the valet area of Trea-sure Island, but the women contin-ued to grab and kick him. When thecar stopped, Batta ran and thewomen fired one shot in his direc-tion.

Batta reported his stolen wallet,which contained about $600, creditcards and a driver’s license, toMetro...Hicks was arrested oncounts of attempted murder, rob-bery with a deadly weapon, batteryto commit mayhem robbery orgrand larceny, conspiracy to com-mit robbery and discharging a fire-arm within a structure, vehicle orprohibited area.

As far back as 2008, I was fac-ing interference from Lt. KarenHughes and her Vice unit for try-ing to put a stop to these types ofcrimes against tourists. As a matterof fact, I can really trace the begin-

Norm Jahn(Continued from Page 15) ning of my disciplinary history to

an email Hughes wrote to my chainof command in May of 2010 about,“the tone of this email and othersbefore it.” You can’t criticize theQUEEN OF VICE even if what youare trying to do is protect tourists.

Patrol officers on the Strip havedealt with Camelia Terry year afteryear. She was a suspect in threecrimes (pickpockets) in one night atone point. The crimes occurred atthe Luxor, at the MGM, and evenin broad daylight on the sidewalkin front of Ballys. I continued toattempt to share information withVice and the Tourist Crimes Unitbut got in more trouble every timeI tried to coordinate efforts to stopthe predators.

This information is often called,‘intelligence’ and it is welcome bymost detectives in the LVMPD. Youcan imagine how valuable informa-tion is to gang detectives when pa-trol shares names, vehicle descrip-tions, and criminal activity aboutshootings, drug dealing, and otherviolent crime. Sharing this type ofinformation is praised...trying tofight Tourist Terrors on the Stripwas condemned and caused prob-lems for patrol officers because thiswas Vice ‘turf’...

I did everything possible to shedlight on what was happening andthe damage being done to tourists.I’ve saved all of the emails relatedto Camelia and had to just ‘grin’when I saw her on the front page ofthe RJ (at least she was on the front

page of the online edition).I saw so many felony crimes in

progress on the Strip (just drivinghome after my night shift). Wecould do a reality TV show on thisproblem and actually do ‘sting’s onthe HO’s. Maybe Langley Produc-tions would like to get huge TV rat-ings by stealing this idea. It wouldalso contribute to CRIME PRE-VENTION!

I’m sure anyone driving on theStrip as the sun was coming upcould watch (and even record) thepickpockets and other activity in-volving prostitutes and tourists try-ing to find their way home. Mostvictims are targeted because theyare ‘foreign’ tourists. The prosti-tutes predict that the victims won’treturn for court. These hookers areright! They have it all figured out.Too bad the police and prosecutorscan’t see the damage that is doneand punish these, often violent, ca-reer criminals in a manner that willstop the terror and protect the repu-tation of Las Vegas and theLVMPD.

I won’t hold my breath on thisuntil the strategic corruption endsunder new leadership.

Norm Jahn is a former LVMPDlieutenant, who has also served asa police chief in Shawano, Wiscon-sin, and has nearly 25 years of po-lice experience. Jahn now contrib-utes his opinions and ideas to helpimprove policing in general, and inLas Vegas in particular, through hisweekly column in the Las VegasTribune.

establishment to which we’re refer-ring) to force their way into that es-tablishment that very decidedlywants to maintain a different kindof atmosphere and clientele. Aslong as the business is consistent inthe way it deals with its customersand public, it seems like the busi-ness has a right to develop its ownlook and atmosphere and style, aslong as it is NOT anti-men, anti-youth, or anti-singles.

Which brings me up to same-sexwedding planners. There may besome same-sex wedding plannersalready on the scene — even thoughit might be a brand-new businessopportunity here in Las Vegas, andalthough it, too, might be criticizedfor being “exclusive” to a certainclientele — but chances are justabout any wedding planner couldmake that tiny adjustment for thesame-sexness of it all. However,what if one simply could not adjustto that difference — perhaps be-

Maramis(Continued from Page 13) cause of some ingrained belief that

such a union is not “God’s will” orperhaps for something as simple asnot having a cake-maker on boardwho is willing to create two groomsfor the top piece on the cake? Itshould not matter; if that establish-ment cannot, or chooses not to, betotally on board with planning asame-sex wedding, the happycouple should go to one that willmake their union day a happy oc-casion all around. One would thinkthey would want that happy, joyous,free-flowing, all-around good willpulsing through every member ofthose involved in their togethernessday.

Here again we might have a caseof “I want to have the freedom toforce you to accommodate me, butI don’t want you to have the free-dom to tell me that it goes againstyour religious grain or against thereligious grain of someone on yourstaff.” Remember, this is NOT theonly wedding planner in town, and

theirs is NOT the only cake-makerin town. I would kind of wonder,right about now, that when it comesto love (perhaps the reason why acouple wants to get married in thefirst place), why the couplewouldn’t want all those involved tobe involved wholeheartedly andwith joy in their hearts. Whywouldn’t they prefer to have all therelevant elements of their weddingplanned in happiness and with goodwill?

Sometimes people forget thatone’s business often reflects one’sbeliefs. For example, female busi-ness-owners who don’t have asingle thing against men in generalmay prefer to have all-female es-tablishments, whether for the atmo-sphere that they can provide theirclientele, or for the privacy thatwomen may prefer. (I once be-longed to an all-female exerciseclub and liked it that way since therewas a lot of dressing and undress-ing and slipping in and out of min-

eral baths and hot tubs and the like.)And if one ran a sanctuary- or re-treat-type of establishment that re-quired customers/clients to be quiet— to consider the peace and seren-ity of all — one would certainly bejustified in keeping out the rowdycrowds who could not stop the chat-ter and clatter of their ordinaryways. Why would it then seem un-usual or unacceptable if one weresteeped in a certain religious tradi-tion (whichever religion or traditionit might be), and one lived one’s lifewithin those religious parameters,that one would then open a busi-ness and continue believing alongthose same religious lines? Itwouldn’t be strange at all.

Some people will see prejudiceor “ism” where there isn’t any.Some people just want to not beforced to accept the ways of theworld that they find offensive; thatthey do not accept — imagine be-ing forced to remove youryarmulke, turban or hijab because

the sight of it might upset other cus-tomers; or to be forced to serve meator allow the eating of meat in yourvegetarian restaurant, somethingyou’ve spent your life avoiding.

Some people simply want to gofor a different look and feel to theirbusiness — such as catering to thefemale trade or the elderly market— or carry on with their businessin the best way they know how inkeeping with their business plan,their religious beliefs and their tra-ditions.

I say you still can’t beat TheGolden Rule. In this case, it wouldbe: Allow for everyone else whatyou would want others to allow foryou. That way no one will goaround forcing their “freedom to...”on someone else’s “freedom notto...”

Maramis Choufani is the Man-aging Editor of the Las Vegas Tri-bune. She writes a weekly columnin this newspaper. To contactMaramis, email her atmaramis@lasvegastribune.com.

By Zachariah B. Parry

On TheLegalFront

(See Legal Front, Page17)

By Thomas A. NagyPart 15 of a Series

Previously in this series thiswriter suggested that it’s prudent to“follow the money” when dissect-ing any case of injustice. This ap-plies to every politician in America,but especially to those within theCity of Las Vegas.

Another writer, an Israeliwoman, Shannon Snow, has beenwriting a blog on this case also. Herwriting is found at: http://jrshenkertrust.blogspot.com. In arecent post, one of about two dozenon the blog page, Snow brings upmoney and the biological father ofthe murder victim, Jason RyanTurner-Shenker. A reference ismade to the Shenker Academy inSummerlin. A photo caption callsthe Shenker Academy “A disgraceto Judaism” because it has beenfunded by M. Arthur Shenker, Jr.,who was Jason’s father.

The essential claim is this: Ac-cording to Cynthia Turner, ArthurShenker told her immediately aftertheir son’s death that he had nomoney to contribute to funeral ex-penses for his son. Yet, about thirtydays after Jason’s death on Septem-ber 27, 2005, Shenker money wasspent on substantial expansion ofthe Shenker Academy inSummerlin. This school purports tobe a non-denominational preschool,although its property is recordedwith the Clark County Recorder’sOffice as being owned by TempleSinai Las Vegas. Other reviewerslist the school as religious and Jew-ish.

This academy is not registeredwith the State of Nevada Secretary

of State as a foreign or domesticbusiness. However, it charges apricey tuition for preschoolers; thecost for a 2-year-old to attend is$9,940 for a year of five-day weeksof full day care. A parent can opt topay $940 each month. Additionalfees are required to register, and for$1.00 per minute your child canstay over the usual pick-up time.The question is, who benefits fromthese fees?

In researching the school I cameacross this information: “Posted onSep 26, 2014 — Today, while drop-ping off my child at school, I saw aShenker teacher being handcuffed.It makes me wonder the type ofteachers and the kind of staff theyhave there. –Submitted by a parent”

Clearly, the tuition does not gotowards hiring the best availableteachers, unless those are the bestavailable teachers that Las Vegas,Nevada has to offer. Exactly sixmonths earlier another parent

Follow the money as it flowsinto buildings and up noses

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 17

year without quitting or gettingfired.”

Some answers might be found

in the related edifice at the same ad-dress, Temple Sinai Las Vegas. Thistemple is a “30-year-old” organiza-tion that was formerly known asTemple Beth Am. But this is veryodd. Temple Beth Am came intoexistence October 17, 2007, accord-ing to Nevada corporate records.Temple Sinai Las Vegas was incor-porated long before, on April 24,1992. After a “name change,” theproperty at 9001 Hillpointe Road inSummerlin passed through a Ne-vada company called Nevada Se-nior Services, Inc. from TempleBeth Am to Temple Sinai. OnlyNevada Senior Services, Inc. isthirty years old. Temple Sinai runsthe Shenker Academy on the sameproperty that houses its temple andreligious school.

In 2007 a ten-thousand squarefoot expansion building opened atTemple Sinai. The temple had beenoperating from and in temporarytrailers since its inception. This newinvestment allowed services to beheld in a fixed building, which wasan improvement over prior condi-tions. More space was needed forpermanent classrooms and congre-gation space for services. Anothersix million dollars ($6,600,000) hadbeen raised, allowing Temple Sinaito construct another new building.Ground was broken for construc-tion in September 2013, and itsopening planned for July this year.Temple Sinai will have doubled itspermanent space to near 40,000square feet when that project iscomplete.

Classrooms do not teach. Edu-cators teach. Putting money intoschools does not improve educationunless students and teachers alikefocus on curriculum and applythemselves to absorption. Peoplebuild fancy malls, like the newSummerlin Downtown, but glam-orous buildings do not sell products.Salespeople sell. Buildings attractpeople to marvel and gawk, butthat’s about it. Education withinTemple Sinai and Shenker Acad-emy classrooms will only be asgood as its teachers, and the opera-tional philosophy that is actuallyapplied in its classrooms.

My paternal grandmother’sgrandfather was an educator inHungary. In a way, he is still teach-ing in Israel. His name was RabbiDavid Kaufman, and he was a pro-fessor in a Jewish University inHungary. He wrote two “important”textbooks before he died almosttwelve decades ago. Those text-books, I’ve been given to under-stand, have recently been in use inIsrael Yeshivas, still and continu-ously after that many decades. It’sthe content that matters.

Those who have contributed thatsubstantial amount of $6.6 million,and much more, to Temple Sinai

and Shenker Academy have nodoubt not been informed regardingwho Arthur Shenker was. It is un-likely that they would have freelydonated enough money for a tem-porary trailer, let alone a sanctifiedspace, had they known the “real”Artie Shenker. In another venue,someone asked a pertinent ques-tion: to what extent was JasonTurner-Shenker’s father an ‘alien-ated parent?’ This strikes at theheart of the matter. Artie Shenkerwas indeed an alienated father. Ithas been told to me that Jasonwould sit in front of his house weekafter week as a boy of four, five andsix years old waiting for his fatherto go pick him up. Week after week,Arthur Shenker would not show. Heleft his son sitting in this MojaveDesert heat for hours, only to dis-appoint him week after week, eachtime with a different excuse. It gotold after a while. It didn’t take anypersuasion from Jason’s mother to“alienate” Jason and his father,Arthur; the parent needed no helpachieving that himself.

Years later, when Jason was al-most nine and again when he wastwelve, visits to see his father wereopportunities to see Artie Shenkerhigh on cocaine. It seems there werealways lines laid out ready to snort.Surely this was no secret within theinfluential community of ClarkCounty. Those lines of coke wereavailable to anyone who dropped byArtie’s place on Viking Road. dur-ing those years he lived there, in ahouse he purchased for $380,000and conveniently sold less thanthree years later, in a good market,to an elderly California couple for$100,000. “Follow the money” offglass tabletops and portable mirrorsand into hungry nostrils.

Mayor Carolyn Goodman waspresent at the groundbreaking of theTemple Sinai expansion last year.Her husband, Oscar Goodman, theformer mayor, was, as previouslymentioned, Morris Shenker’sprotégé in law decades earlier. Itmust have been through MorrisShenker’s influence that Goodmanbecame president of the nationalAssociation of Criminal DefenseLawyers in 1981, while he wasShenker’s attorney.

This tells this writer, and I sus-pect others, that some financial con-tributors to the Shenker Academyat Temple Sinai have known the realArtie Shenker for years and choseto look the other way. ShannonSnow might be right: The ShenkerAcademy might truly be a disgraceto Judaism.

Thomas A. Nagy is the author ofCannabis Consumer Handbookavailable at Amazon.com, and theblog ReGeneration atblogspot.com. Email direct at:thomas.a.nagy717@gmail.com.

wrote: “Do not place your child inthis school! You’ll be lucky if yourteacher makes it through the entire

LETTER TO THE EDITORLETTER TO THE EDITOR

Judge Vincent Ochoa should NOT be re-elected due to his disserviceand his misconduct.

It would be overstated and a lie to say that Judge Vincent Ochoa’sconduct, on the Bench in family court, was anything remotely close tobeing acceptable, unbiased, impartial, honorable or competent.

As a litigant in Judge Ochoa’s courtroom, I have, on a regular basis,been personally threatened, prejudged, maligned, insulted, belittled, liedto, cheated, and discriminated against; had wrongful TPO’s placed againstme, and had unfair judgments and court orders levied against me; mycourt documents were ignored and disregarded, my attorneys were ma-nipulated and intimidated; the legal process in court was convoluted andwas replaced by Judge Ochoa’s personal bias against me, all done with-out any regard for the health and welfare of my daughter, Makayla, bykeeping her separated from her mother, and placing unlawful and dis-criminatory legal court-ordered barriers and sanctions against me, in or-der to keep an innocent mother away from her minor child, for unknownand unsubstantiated reasons.

Judge Ochoa is widely known for not thoroughly examining crucialsubmitted documentation, along with randomly turning off the court re-cording devices at crucial moments during litigation; also unlawfully al-tering the courts minutes and records to justify his actions and inactions.

These actions, by Judge Vincent Ochoa, were formally submitted in acomplaint and sent to the Nevada Judicial Disciplinary Committee forreview by me earlier in the year.

I actually pity any party that is forced to be judged in Judge VincentOchoa’s courtroom, as this would be like entering the “nightmare fromhell.” I especially warn and advise anybody that is considering voting forJudge Vincent Ochoa in order for him to continue his reign of terror, toseriously re-consider, and vote for anyone else but him.

Family Court Judges do not have an easy task, but unless all partiesare treated fairly and equally by the court, and are afforded their dueprocess rights, the system will fail each and every time.

Desiree Lucido (Mother of Makayla)

plaintiff.The court concluded, “the

buyer..., as a resident of New YorkCity, cannot be expected to haveany familiarity with the folklore ofthe Village of Nyack. Not being a‘local,’ plaintiff could not readilylearn that the home he had con-tracted to purchase is haunted.Whether the source of the spectralapparitions seen by defendant sellerare parapsychic or psychogenic,having reported their presence inboth a national publication (Read-ers’ Digest) and the local press (in1977 and 1982, respectively), de-fendant is estopped to deny theirexistence and, as a matter of law,the house is haunted.” The courtcontinued, “the notion that a haunt-ing is a condition which can andshould be ascertained upon reason-able inspection of the premises is ahobgoblin which should be exor-cised from the body of legal prece-dent and laid quietly to rest.” Inother words, the seller has claimedit is haunted, did not tell the buyer,who is not from these parts, that itwas haunted, and cannot now claimit isn’t. And because the buyer can-not discern the hauntedness fromreasonable inspection, he is excusedfrom performing his otherwise validcontract.

The Witch HatWhich Wasn’t All That

A patent case going back to 1953found two parties in a dispute overa witch’s hat. The plaintiff claimedto have designed a distinctive hatthat defendant misappropriated, andsued the defendant for all profitsmade from the alleged copy. “The‘witch hat’ or ‘Halloween hat’ of theplaintiff is a cone-shaped hat, witha serrated or scalloped edge runningthe length or height of the cone andcontaining a brim which is oval inshape. Plaintiff claims that it placedthis hat on the market in 1946 andthat the characteristics of a serratededge and an oval shape had neverbefore appeared on a ‘witch hat’ or

Legal Front(Continued from Page 16) ‘Halloween hat.’”

According to the witch-hatplaintiff, the scalloping of the conehat and its oval shape grant him amonopoly over the design. Thecourt disagreed, reflecting, “[o]urgrandmothers have engaged in scal-loping... They would apply theseshapes to lace, embroidery, clothsor other materials. Scalloping wasand is of common usage. Probablyno student of the needle tradeswould ever think of claiming itsoriginality.” As to whether the ovalshape granted plaintiff special privi-leges, the court shared, “As we stop

to look at our own hats, we discoverthat the brim and head opening areand have been during our lives ovalin shape. Can this shape when com-bined with scalloping of part of thehat be the basis for a monopoly?The answer is obvious.” The courtfound for the defendant.

* * * * *Zachariah B. Parry is a civil liti-

gation attorney and partner at hisfirm, Pickard Parry. He can bereached at 702-910-4300, throughhis firm’s website at www.pickardparry.com, or his directemail, zach@pickardparry.com.

Vote for anyone but Judge Ochoa

Page 18 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

The Natural Resources Defense Council calls the greening of pro sports “a cultural shift of historic proportions,”bringing important environmental messages to millions of fans worldwide while becoming “more efficient,healthy and ecologically intelligent.” Pictured: The San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park, which has savedsubstantial amounts of energy through a series of lighting retrofits.

EarthTalk is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Mossand is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Maga-zine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to:earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe; Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Dear EarthTalk: I have heardthat fracking is becoming a majorenvironmental issue in the U.S.Which parts of the country are al-ready hosting fracking opera-tions? Are there efforts underwayto stop the practice in specificstates or across the country? — JimRoss, Toronto, ON

Fracking, short for hydraulicfracturing, is a process wherebydrillers blast millions of gallons ofwater, sand and hazardous chemi-cals at high-pressure into sub-sur-face rock formations to create frac-tures that facilitate the flow of re-coverable oil or gas. The techniquehas proven so effective at reachingpreviously hard-to-access reservesthat it has helped spur a boom innatural gas production around thecountry.

This influx of domestic naturalgas means lower home heatingcosts and thousands of new jobs inthe industry. But opponents point todozens of fracking-related acci-dents in recent years and worry thatthe technique is polluting ground-water and air and poisoning com-munities — all to get at more fossilfuels when we’d all be better offmoving more quickly toward devel-oping clean, renewable energysources.

While fracking goes on allacross the country, the MarcellusShale, a layer of sedimentary bed-ding under the Allegheny plateauthat spans nine northeastern andMid-Atlantic States, has becomeAmerica’s primary frackinggrounds. Thanks to fracking andother new extraction techniques, thegas industry is now able to accessthe natural gas in the Shale and be-ginning in 2006 commenced bigextraction operations in parts ofwestern New York State, Pennsyl-vania, West Virginia and elsewhere.

Geologists estimate there may be asmuch as 489 trillion cubic feet ofnatural gas — 400 times what NewYork State uses in a year —throughout the Shale. The race isnow on to extract as much as pos-sible as quickly as possible.

But it’s this very gold rush men-tality that has led to many so-called“fraccidents” in and around theShale. The group Earthjusticetracks and publicizes such incidentsonline via its “Fracking GoneWrong” campaign. They list doz-ens of examples of tainted drink-ing water, polluted air and indus-trial disasters caused or exacerbatedby fracking at or near extractionsites since operations began sixyears ago.”

“Wherever Marcellus develop-ment has occurred in Pennsylvania,reports of poisoned water, sick kidsand dead animals have followed,”reports Marcellus Protest, an alli-ance of western Pennsylvania orga-nizations seeking to halt frackingoperations. The group coordinatesanti-fracking efforts, organizesdemonstrations and produces edu-cational materials, including thewebsite MarcellusShale.org, aclearinghouse on fracking and re-lated activism. Its advocacy workhelped convince the Pittsburgh citycouncil to ban fracking there backin 2010 and is now working to ex-tend the ban to other areas in theregion and beyond.

The controversy has not escapedHollywood. The 2010 HBO film,Gasland, followed Josh Fox aroundthe U.S. on a quest to find out whatimpact fracking was having oncommunities after he was asked tolease his own land for hydraulicfracturing. And a forthcoming GusVan Sant film, Promised Land, star-ring Matt Damon focuses on a smallfarming town that sells its agricul-

tural land to frackers and pays aheavy price in losing a lifestyle anda livelihood while jeopardizingpublic health. Activists hope thesefilms will go a long way to convinceAmericans and their elected offi-cials to say no to more fracking.

* * * * *Dear EarthTalk: How eco-

friendly are professional sportsleagues and their teams? Whichstand out especially for their greenefforts? — Al Simpson, Medina,OH

Professional sports, like manyother pursuits, are getting greenerevery day. While pro leagues andteams have traditionally been thelast to go green, it has all changedin recent years. Maybe it’s the factthat wasting less saves money. Orthat going green generates goodpublic relations. Or that it’s just theright thing to do. Whether it’s anyor all-of-the-above, professionalsports certainly have never beengreener.

The Natural Resources DefenseCouncil (NRDC), a leading envi-ronmental non-profit, has workedwith several sports teams andleagues to green their operations,and has bundled a collection of casestudies into a recently released re-port, “Game Changer: How theSports Industry is Saving the Envi-ronment.” One example is howbaseball’s San Francisco Giantshave so far saved 171,000 kilowatthours of energy at its stadium,AT+T Park, through a series of

lighting retrofits. Another is thebuilding of a 3-megawatt photovol-taic solar array at NASCAR’sPocono Raceway, which offsets3,100 metric tons of CO2 each yearand provides enough power to op-erate the raceway and 1,000 nearbyhomes. Still another is basketball’sMinnesota Timberwolves’ con-struction of a 2.5 acre green roofthat prevents annually a milliongallons of storm water from spill-ing into the Mississippi River fromatop their Minneapolis arena.

NRDC hopes its report can helpeducate sports professionals, theirsuppliers and the millions of fansthat patronize the teams and theirvenues about the business case forgreening, from achieving cost sav-ings and enhancing brands to de-veloping new sponsorship opportu-nities and strengthening communityties.

To further these goals, NRDC,along with Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc.,launched the Green Sports Alliancein 2010, bringing together venueoperators, team executives and sci-entists to exchange information anddevelop solutions to their environ-mental challenges. The findingsgathered are made available to Al-liance members so that they canbetter understand how sportingevents can be performed in an en-

vironmentally sensitive manner.Alliance members represent morethan 100 teams and venues from 13different leagues.

For teams that want to go greenbut don’t know where to start,NRDC created a Greening Advisorprogram, featuring sustainabilitytips and green inspiration. Teamsfrom each of North America’s ma-jor sports leagues can find treasuretroves of information at the inter-section of saving money and theplanet.

NRDC calls the greening of prosports “a cultural shift of historicproportions” and delights in the factthat “North America’s professionalleagues, teams and venues have col-lectively saved millions of dollarsby shifting to more efficient,healthy and ecologically intelligentoperations.”

“At the same time, the sportsgreening movement has broughtimportant environmental messagesto millions of fans worldwide,” saysNRDC. “Sport is a great unifier,transcending political, cultural, re-ligious and socioeconomic barriers.It also wields a uniquely powerfulinfluence [and] in so doing, pro-motes a non-political public com-mitment to environmental protec-tion.”

* * * * *

Hydraulic Fracturing, or “fracking,” involves blasting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals athigh-pressure into sub-surface rock to create fractures that facilitate the flow of recoverable oil or gas.Opponents worry that the technique is polluting groundwater and air and poisoning communities. Pictured:Drinking water from a well near a fracking site.

Page 18 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

The Natural Resources Defense Council calls the greening of pro sports “a cultural shift of historic proportions,”bringing important environmental messages to millions of fans worldwide while becoming “more efficient,healthy and ecologically intelligent.” Pictured: The San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park, which has savedsubstantial amounts of energy through a series of lighting retrofits.

EarthTalk is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Mossand is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Maga-zine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to:earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe; Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Dear EarthTalk: I have heardthat fracking is becoming a majorenvironmental issue in the U.S.Which parts of the country are al-ready hosting fracking opera-tions? Are there efforts underwayto stop the practice in specificstates or across the country? — JimRoss, Toronto, ON

Fracking, short for hydraulicfracturing, is a process wherebydrillers blast millions of gallons ofwater, sand and hazardous chemi-cals at high-pressure into sub-sur-face rock formations to create frac-tures that facilitate the flow of re-coverable oil or gas. The techniquehas proven so effective at reachingpreviously hard-to-access reservesthat it has helped spur a boom innatural gas production around thecountry.

This influx of domestic naturalgas means lower home heatingcosts and thousands of new jobs inthe industry. But opponents point todozens of fracking-related acci-dents in recent years and worry thatthe technique is polluting ground-water and air and poisoning com-munities — all to get at more fossilfuels when we’d all be better offmoving more quickly toward devel-oping clean, renewable energysources.

While fracking goes on allacross the country, the MarcellusShale, a layer of sedimentary bed-ding under the Allegheny plateauthat spans nine northeastern andMid-Atlantic States, has becomeAmerica’s primary frackinggrounds. Thanks to fracking andother new extraction techniques, thegas industry is now able to accessthe natural gas in the Shale and be-ginning in 2006 commenced bigextraction operations in parts ofwestern New York State, Pennsyl-vania, West Virginia and elsewhere.

Geologists estimate there may be asmuch as 489 trillion cubic feet ofnatural gas — 400 times what NewYork State uses in a year —throughout the Shale. The race isnow on to extract as much as pos-sible as quickly as possible.

But it’s this very gold rush men-tality that has led to many so-called“fraccidents” in and around theShale. The group Earthjusticetracks and publicizes such incidentsonline via its “Fracking GoneWrong” campaign. They list doz-ens of examples of tainted drink-ing water, polluted air and indus-trial disasters caused or exacerbatedby fracking at or near extractionsites since operations began sixyears ago.”

“Wherever Marcellus develop-ment has occurred in Pennsylvania,reports of poisoned water, sick kidsand dead animals have followed,”reports Marcellus Protest, an alli-ance of western Pennsylvania orga-nizations seeking to halt frackingoperations. The group coordinatesanti-fracking efforts, organizesdemonstrations and produces edu-cational materials, including thewebsite MarcellusShale.org, aclearinghouse on fracking and re-lated activism. Its advocacy workhelped convince the Pittsburgh citycouncil to ban fracking there backin 2010 and is now working to ex-tend the ban to other areas in theregion and beyond.

The controversy has not escapedHollywood. The 2010 HBO film,Gasland, followed Josh Fox aroundthe U.S. on a quest to find out whatimpact fracking was having oncommunities after he was asked tolease his own land for hydraulicfracturing. And a forthcoming GusVan Sant film, Promised Land, star-ring Matt Damon focuses on a smallfarming town that sells its agricul-

tural land to frackers and pays aheavy price in losing a lifestyle anda livelihood while jeopardizingpublic health. Activists hope thesefilms will go a long way to convinceAmericans and their elected offi-cials to say no to more fracking.

* * * * *Dear EarthTalk: How eco-

friendly are professional sportsleagues and their teams? Whichstand out especially for their greenefforts? — Al Simpson, Medina,OH

Professional sports, like manyother pursuits, are getting greenerevery day. While pro leagues andteams have traditionally been thelast to go green, it has all changedin recent years. Maybe it’s the factthat wasting less saves money. Orthat going green generates goodpublic relations. Or that it’s just theright thing to do. Whether it’s anyor all-of-the-above, professionalsports certainly have never beengreener.

The Natural Resources DefenseCouncil (NRDC), a leading envi-ronmental non-profit, has workedwith several sports teams andleagues to green their operations,and has bundled a collection of casestudies into a recently released re-port, “Game Changer: How theSports Industry is Saving the Envi-ronment.” One example is howbaseball’s San Francisco Giantshave so far saved 171,000 kilowatthours of energy at its stadium,AT+T Park, through a series of

lighting retrofits. Another is thebuilding of a 3-megawatt photovol-taic solar array at NASCAR’sPocono Raceway, which offsets3,100 metric tons of CO2 each yearand provides enough power to op-erate the raceway and 1,000 nearbyhomes. Still another is basketball’sMinnesota Timberwolves’ con-struction of a 2.5 acre green roofthat prevents annually a milliongallons of storm water from spill-ing into the Mississippi River fromatop their Minneapolis arena.

NRDC hopes its report can helpeducate sports professionals, theirsuppliers and the millions of fansthat patronize the teams and theirvenues about the business case forgreening, from achieving cost sav-ings and enhancing brands to de-veloping new sponsorship opportu-nities and strengthening communityties.

To further these goals, NRDC,along with Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc.,launched the Green Sports Alliancein 2010, bringing together venueoperators, team executives and sci-entists to exchange information anddevelop solutions to their environ-mental challenges. The findingsgathered are made available to Al-liance members so that they canbetter understand how sportingevents can be performed in an en-

vironmentally sensitive manner.Alliance members represent morethan 100 teams and venues from 13different leagues.

For teams that want to go greenbut don’t know where to start,NRDC created a Greening Advisorprogram, featuring sustainabilitytips and green inspiration. Teamsfrom each of North America’s ma-jor sports leagues can find treasuretroves of information at the inter-section of saving money and theplanet.

NRDC calls the greening of prosports “a cultural shift of historicproportions” and delights in the factthat “North America’s professionalleagues, teams and venues have col-lectively saved millions of dollarsby shifting to more efficient,healthy and ecologically intelligentoperations.”

“At the same time, the sportsgreening movement has broughtimportant environmental messagesto millions of fans worldwide,” saysNRDC. “Sport is a great unifier,transcending political, cultural, re-ligious and socioeconomic barriers.It also wields a uniquely powerfulinfluence [and] in so doing, pro-motes a non-political public com-mitment to environmental protec-tion.”

* * * * *

Hydraulic Fracturing, or “fracking,” involves blasting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals athigh-pressure into sub-surface rock to create fractures that facilitate the flow of recoverable oil or gas.Opponents worry that the technique is polluting groundwater and air and poisoning communities. Pictured:Drinking water from a well near a fracking site.

Ferras expresses his feelings

ENTERTAINMENT

By Sandy ZimmermanPhotos by Sandy Zimmerman

during the concertVocalist/composer Ferras faces a

bright future following his appear-ances as opening act for KatyPerry’s Prismatic North AmericanTour. Ferras is busy preparing mu-sic for his contract with Katy’s newrecord label.

Ferras explained, “I write songsthat are a combination of my influ-ences, how I see myself and mydeepest feelings. I give voice topeople so they can realize I also feelthe same way they do. When any-one relates to me, I want to helpmake them feel better about them-selves. I express their feelings andthat is the greatest gift for an artist.To give them a voice, that’s ulti-mately the best reward.”

For his concert, Ferras chosesongs that reflected his feelingsabout life.

“No Good in Good Night” ex-presses a person’s wish to not wantthe party to end. Life must have itsups and downs but try to keep theparty going. Those moments of en-joyment must last a long time tocover all of the problems.

Ferras’ song “Dirty LeatherJacket” discussed a jacket that hasbeen with him over the years. Thedirty leather jacket is a clever anal-ogy, a symbol for a friend.

Ferras wore this jacket during hisfirst sexual experiences and throughhis happiest times. The jacket heldFerras’ happy memories and be-came his favorite possession. Ferras’feels, “Every time I wear the jacket,I remember.”

“King of Sabotage” deals withpeople who continually sabotagethemselves.

The song “Champagne” is aboutbeing in love with somebody whois really bad for you.

Ferras’ obsession with outerspace was the subject for his

ALIENS albums (2008), “When Igrew up, I feel that I didn’t belong,felt my home was somewhere in theuniverse. This was a metaphor forpeople don’t understand or don’t fitin. I wanted to meet similar mindedbeings who don’t feel alien anymore. The thing that fascinated me,there are many kids who don’t feelthey belong, feel they are different.I want to say I felt like this too, weare not alone in the universe. I didfind myself in Los Angeles.”

Ferras stands out on the stageaccording to his moods you will seehim in braids, waves, pony tails, theSamurai and other hair styles.Ferras dresses the way he feel eachday.

Ferras began performing as a

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 19

Ferras concert opening for Katy Perry’s Prismatic World Tour at the MGM

child, he wore his mother’s clothesand heals while standing in front ofa mirror. A hairbrush substituted fora microphone.

You can download Ferras latestsongs on ITUNES and see some ofhis performances on youtube. Visit

www.ferrasmusic.com.* * * * *

Award winning SandyZimmerman is a syndicated colum-nist featuring Show and Dining re-views, travel, health, spas, luxuryand more. Sandy is talk show host

of the Las Vegas Today Show pro-grams and Discover the UltimateVacation travel specials. If you wantto suggest topics for articles, forinformation or to ask any questionsabout Sandy’s articles, call (702)731-6491.

Page 20 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

By Marianne DonnellyLas Vegas Tribune

“Nevada” is a “memory play”described as a simile of Nevadianexperiences, “a place of discoveryand dreams, of almost having butthen losing, of hope and discourage-ment. It is a place where the centralremembering character, his bestfriend and his girlfriend come to theend of their journeying road.” It hadmany great moments but feltslightly disjointed at times.

Although David Kranes’ “Ne-vada” has clever staging, competentlighting and effective set, the act-ing was slightly uneven with thehyper, cowboy-wannabe lead just“over the top” at times with a trope“yippie-ie-yahe-ness,” although thepoint of the play IS to show LasVegas’ numerous over-the-top char-acters familiar to us all — drunkflirter; guileless off-key loungesinger in attire 30 years behind; oldcrooner with endless tales no onelistens to; harassed floor manageralways evaluating staff, completewith clipboard; bartender who en-dures; card shark-turned opportu-nistic thief; innocent rich-gal, sup-porting everyone else’s dreams with

Author David Kranes

Atmospheric Memory Play:David Kranes’ “Nevada” at UNLV

her body and especially her wallet;and manic-gambler (complete withincorrect two hands on throwingdice).

We see these drifters and dream-ers in six different staged areassimultaneously...which is “dream-quality” blocking.

Each iconic character lives theirWestern roles faithfully for tourists’benefit, and atmosphere, in“Nevada’s” ‘Golden Dude Casino,’complete with amorphous gilded-cowboy statue centered on the ol’time bar mantle.

Acted primarily by members of

MFA Professional Training pro-gram at Nevada Conservatory The-atre UNLV, it succeeds at convey-ing a “lyrical non-realistic nuanced

production” which uses a “visualequivalent of heightened lan-guage.”

David Kranes is “emeritus pro-fessor of English at University ofUtah... graduating from Yale DramaSchool. For fourteen years heserved as the artistic director of theSundance Institute’s PlaywrightsLab. During his teaching career,

Kranes received every teachingaward offered by the University ofUtah, including the prestigiousUniversity Professor Award andRamona Cannon Teaching Award.”(Source: “The Kings EnglishBookshop” website.)

8 p.m., October 16-18.Box Office: 702-895-2787pacboxoffice@unlv.edu

OCTOBER 24TH

By Marianne DonnellyLas Vegas Tribune

“Hell is other people” is the fa-mous closing line in “No Exit.” Thiswell known existential play byJean-Paul Sartre opened last Fridayand will run through October 26that Art Square’s Cockroach Theatre.

This brilliant production is aclear interpretation of Sartre’sninety-minute philosophical/psy-chological thriller play.

All aspects are perfect! JohnSaltonstall’s stage design maxi-mizes the small space. Lighting(Erika Courtney), especially withfloor under-lighting, suggests anout-of-this-world location. Cos-tumes (Bryan Todd) are carefullymatched to these intense characterswith colors and elegant fabrics per-fect to convey their personas. The“fog scene” is done with restraintgiving this moment a lingeringquality. Sound quality in this the-atre is a pleasure. And the cast wasas tight a team as I have ever seenwith three full-on characters grow-ing in intensity in a steady ride to“forever.” That’s a credit to direc-tion by Bryan Todd.

Ryan Hess as the beguiling andamused “Valet” has a wonderfulpresence that rang natural with hissmile and deep voice.

Thomas Chrastka as the ex-ecuted journalist “Cradeau” showsa range of emotions and owns hischaracter. (Other productions of“No Exit” have different names forthe Valet character as well as theplay, which is alternatively knownas In Camera, No Way Out, ViciousCircle, Behind Closed Doors, andDead End.)

Jessica Chisum as “the bitch”“Inez” was terrifying with her per-sonal power, contained but avail-able throughout the production,from fire-in-her-eyes, severe redhair, to command of posture andgesture.

Jamie Carvelli as the ingenue-terrible “Estelle” was perfectly coybut not weak — ever the poseur andprovaceatur — and when her darkdeeds are revealed we are remindedthat people are not always what theyappear to be.

The sculpture-statue by KDMatheson anchors the far side of thestage with its appearance as a mas-sively heavy iron icon in this eter-nal waiting room in “Hell.” It toois illusion, for after the show agentle tap on it reveals it to be pa-per so well manipulated and paintedas to appear as iron nails and plat-ing reminding one of a miniature“torture coffin iron-maiden” whichagain is an allusion to death andpain. In fact, there are no clear casesof iron-maidens being used but onlydisplayed at museums.

Nowhere is anything or anyonewhat they appear to be in Sartre’sworld. And, that is the point.

Highly recommended by me!cockroachtheatre.com/Cockroach Theatre (702) 818-

3422 1025 S. First St. #110 LasVegas, NV (near Artifice, Arts Fac-tory Bar and Bistro, off Charlestonat Main).

“Hell is other people!”Sartre’s NO EXIT at Cockroach Theatre

New interviews for jobs in LasVegas area. Earn $17-$165 hr.

Ages 3 and older. All experiencelevels. No up front agency fees.

702-530-9176

Actors, Models, Extras!Set of “No Exit” (C) Will Adamson

Vegas’ most popular Halloweenevents returns — this year with agaggle of circus sideshow odditiesin tow: The Neon Museum’sBoneyard Bash. Every attendee is

triloquism through various clips andinterviews.

Showtime each evening is 7:30p.m. Tickets are available from$15.95, plus tax and conveniencefees. Tickets can be purchased atany Boyd Gaming Box Office, bycalling 702.284.7777, or visitingwww.suncoastcasino.com.

* * * * *

OLD MAN CANYON FREESHOW AT HARD ROCKHOTEL NOVEMBER 8

Vancouver’s Old Man Canyonhits the road next month for a tourdown the West Coast in support ofdebut EP, Phantoms & Friends. Thedark-folk outfit have a sound thatblends Coldplay with EdwardSharp & The Magnetic Zeros andMargo & The Nuclear So & Sos(wow, say that three times fast!).

Phantoms and Friends is veiledin mystery, shrouded in the aura ofa dark dreamland. AudioTree saysOld Man Canyon, “Speaks ondreams, doubt and regret in simplebut well-structured phrasing. Theirauthentic approach to musical cre-ation puts poignant thoughts abovecontemporaries. The willingness tobreak folk rules contributes to thisauthenticity.”

Saturday, November 8-10 pmOld Man Canyon @ Hard Rock

Cafe LV at Hard Rock Hotel4475 Paradise RoadLas Vegas, NVhttp://www.hardrock.com/cafes/

las-vegas-at-hard-rock-hotel/ALL AGES FREE

* * * * *NEON MUSEUM

CELEBRATES BIRTHDAYWITH BONEYARD BASHThis Year’s Theme: Carnival

Sideshow.On Friday, Oct. 31, one of Las

By Mike KermaniLas Vegas Tribune

Up-and-coming country musicsinger/songwriter Cole Swindellwill perform for one night only atGilley’s Saloon, Dance Hall & Bar-B-Que on Monday, October 27 at9 p.m.

Swindell’s introduction to thecountry music industry began whenhe sold merchandise on tour withLuke Bryan, whom he’d onceopened some shows for in Georgia.For the second consecutive year,Swindell will open for Bryan on“The Farm Tour.”

Swindell continues to win fansover with his 2013 breakout single,“Chillin’ It.” He released his self-titled debut album in February2014.

Swindell performs Monday,October 27 at 9 p.m. There is nocover charge to attend the perfor-mance.

Gilley’s Saloon, Dance Hall &Bar-B-Que at Treasure Island

3300 S. Las Vegas Blvd.Las Vegas, NV 89109

* * * * *VENTRILOQUIST ANDSTAND-UP COMEDIANRONN LUCAS AT THE

SUNCOASTVentriloquist Ronn Lucas and

his cast of characters will performa mix of stand-up comedy and im-provisations at the Suncoast Show-room on November 8 and 9.

Honing his talent at a young age,Lucas was inspired by the ventrilo-quists he saw on television, such asJimmy Nelson and his doll DannyO’Day on the “Texaco Star The-ater.” By the time he was 10, Lucaswas able to speak without movinghis mouth.

Lucas is recognized as the firstventriloquist to headline a long-running show in Las Vegas and hasreceived numerous awards for hisperformances, including beingtermed “The World’s Best Ventrilo-quist” by The New York Times andThe London Times.

During his show, Lucas voiceshis characters Scorch the Dragon,Buffalo Billy and Chuck the Dis-posable Punk Rocker. In 1992,Lucas voiced Scorch the Dragon inScorch’s self-titled television showon CBS.

Throughout the years, Lucas hasappeared on numerous televisionsitcoms, including “Nip Tuck,”“L.A. Law” and “Night Court.” In1990, he starred in his self-titledprogram “The Ronn Lucas Show,”broadcast in the United Kingdom.In 2009, he was featured in thedocumentary “I’m No Dummy,”which explored the world of ven-

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 21

This Weekin Las Vegas

By Mike Kermani

strongly encouraged to comedressed in sideshow-inspired attire.

Guests will enjoy letting theirfreak flags fly in the Neon MuseumBoneyard after dark, as well as liveentertainment, appearances by thecast of Evil Dead, food trucks,FREE beer, wine and signature

cocktail courtesy of Las Vegas Dis-tillery, Banger Brewing, Big Dog’sBrewing Company, Joseph JamesBrewing Company, Barefoot Wine& Bubbly and Tenaya Creek Brew-ery (while supplies last; cash baralso available). Food vendors in-clude Senor Blues, Funnel CakeCafé and birthday cupcakes byFreed’s Bakery.

Following the Boneyard Bash,ticket holders can head to VelveteenRabbit for an after party, which willinclude a complimentary Hallow-een cocktail and free “spooky”makeup application by professionalmakeup artists.

Specialty acts, stilt walkers, jug-glers, midway games, tarot cardreaders and spirited Halloween rev-elers. Johiah of 93.1 The Party willserve as the emcee and Tote Citywill be the evening’s DJ. Souvenirphotos to be provided byShutterbooth

Friday, October 25General admission: 7–10 p.m.

The Neon Museum770 Las Vegas Blvd., NorthLas Vegas, NV 89101$45 for general admission pur-

chased in advance; $55 at the door;

Country Music Cole Swindellto perform at Gilley’s Saloon

$40 for Neon Museum members.Tickets can be purchased atwww.NeonMuseum.org.

Mike Kermani is an entertain-ment writer for the Las Vegas Tri-bune newspaper. He writes a weeklycolumn in this newspaper. To con-tact Mike Kermani, emailmkermani@ lasvegas tribune.com

Page 22 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

F.I.O.R.E. Spooktacular HalloweenBy the Las Vegas Tribune Roving Reporter

Photos by Dave “Bananas” Williams and Lorraine Thompson

Once again, they lived up to their name. TheNon Club Club F.I.O.R.E. (Fun Italians Organiz-ing Ridiculous Events) rocked the Italian Ameri-can Club on Columbus Day, in a Tarantella fash-ion.

They combined, and successfully pulled it offwith flying colors.

Las Vegas Witches anxious to be a part of thefun, were willing to “broom-pool” to attend theevent.

Skeletons, ghosts, pirates, a Roman Emperor,Cleopatra, Wonder Woman, Kings and Queens,a baby with diamonds, a geisha, a sexy nurse, alady with a hat, a man with a cape, a guy in a suit(!), and even a con-dolier contributed to a real“spooktacular’ evening. To quote the lyrics of aromantic song of the past: “They did the mash...the monster mash... it was a graveyard smash.”

Mrs. Maria Spagnola, a lovely lady who hasmore energy than many folks half her age, verywitty, with a keen sense of humor, added to theexcitement by celebrating her 96th birthday.Bravo, Maria! Centanni e di piu! President andFirst Lady Eddie and Marta DeVries couldn’tthink of a more enjoyable place for their 15guests, all employees of the Fort Knox Storage.

The guys and girls of the F.I.O.R.E. nevercease to amaze me.

Mark your calendar for Thursday, November13th for the monthly FIORE luncheon with guestspeaker Prof. Alan Balboni, Ph.D.

To learn more about F.I.O.R.E. go towww.nonclubclubfiore.com and be sure to checktheir “about us” page. Lovely Witches Cheryl Bella and Pietra Sardelli “broompooled” to the party to avoid the Spaghetti Bowl.

A slow gondola to Palermo. Lena Walther and Lorraine Thompson.The smiles tell the story. Standing are Celia and Dr. Wil Krom, Cindy Joseph,Wayne and Mary Hood. Seated are Sam and Jan Palermo and Beverly Saperstein.

An extremely tall Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.

Brenda and Dave ‘Bananas’ Williams.

Charming ladies: Toni Reiserand Jane Lubarsky.

Getting things started.

Hey there, Toots, put on your dancing boots...come on and dance with me.

I can believe they still dance this way.

We hope Maria will remember this birthday for many years to come.

Rick Reffner, Shannon Sheldon, The Duke of Fremont Street,Spi Der Ella and Brenda WIlliams.

Singer Impressionist BarbaraBright seems to be saying

“Too much pasta.”Artie Schroeck went all out and

squandered money on his costume.

Page 22 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

F.I.O.R.E. Spooktacular HalloweenBy the Las Vegas Tribune Roving Reporter

Photos by Dave “Bananas” Williams and Lorraine Thompson

Once again, they lived up to their name. TheNon Club Club F.I.O.R.E. (Fun Italians Organiz-ing Ridiculous Events) rocked the Italian Ameri-can Club on Columbus Day, in a Tarantella fash-ion.

They combined, and successfully pulled it offwith flying colors.

Las Vegas Witches anxious to be a part of thefun, were willing to “broom-pool” to attend theevent.

Skeletons, ghosts, pirates, a Roman Emperor,Cleopatra, Wonder Woman, Kings and Queens,a baby with diamonds, a geisha, a sexy nurse, alady with a hat, a man with a cape, a guy in a suit(!), and even a con-dolier contributed to a real“spooktacular’ evening. To quote the lyrics of aromantic song of the past: “They did the mash...the monster mash... it was a graveyard smash.”

Mrs. Maria Spagnola, a lovely lady who hasmore energy than many folks half her age, verywitty, with a keen sense of humor, added to theexcitement by celebrating her 96th birthday.Bravo, Maria! Centanni e di piu! President andFirst Lady Eddie and Marta DeVries couldn’tthink of a more enjoyable place for their 15guests, all employees of the Fort Knox Storage.

The guys and girls of the F.I.O.R.E. nevercease to amaze me.

Mark your calendar for Thursday, November13th for the monthly FIORE luncheon with guestspeaker Prof. Alan Balboni, Ph.D.

To learn more about F.I.O.R.E. go towww.nonclubclubfiore.com and be sure to checktheir “about us” page. Lovely Witches Cheryl Bella and Pietra Sardelli “broompooled” to the party to avoid the Spaghetti Bowl.

A slow gondola to Palermo. Lena Walther and Lorraine Thompson.The smiles tell the story. Standing are Celia and Dr. Wil Krom, Cindy Joseph,Wayne and Mary Hood. Seated are Sam and Jan Palermo and Beverly Saperstein.

An extremely tall Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.

Brenda and Dave ‘Bananas’ Williams.

Charming ladies: Toni Reiserand Jane Lubarsky.

Getting things started.

Hey there, Toots, put on your dancing boots...come on and dance with me.

I can believe they still dance this way.

We hope Maria will remember this birthday for many years to come.

Rick Reffner, Shannon Sheldon, The Duke of Fremont Street,Spi Der Ella and Brenda WIlliams.

Singer Impressionist BarbaraBright seems to be saying

“Too much pasta.”Artie Schroeck went all out and

squandered money on his costume.

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 23

F.I.O.R.E. Spooktacular Halloween

Is the Skeleton Smiling?

Known Gamblers anonymous. The ones who saythey broke even. Cindy Joseph, Wayne Hood,

Beverly Saperstein and Mary Hood.Norm and Arlene Nivans with Nelson.

Wayne and Mary Hood with Nelson and Conrad Villella.

Colorful foursome.

A toast and some smiles.Bambi Jonesor Nurse Skretchit hears

a song in Don Hill’s heart.

Gary Anderson does a solo... condolier taps... maybe not.

The bride ofFrankenstein Jr.

Lovely Anita Mazarotidisguised well.

The guys.The Palermos, Sam and Jan, showing Baubles,

Beads, Bangles and Teeth.

You make me feel so young.

In this corner, the baby and stillEmpress, Linda November.

Nurse Skretchit checks Esther Lynn. If youlike your nurse, you can keep your nurse. President Joe DeBlase and the lovely Maria.

Artie Schroeck, Judy Coco and Linda November.Eddie and Marta DeVries and some of guests.

Ambassador Evelyn Cannestra,Maria Spagnola and Nelson Sardelli.

Stephen and Carolyn Jacobs...They did not bring Trigger this time.

We’ve been waiting for you.

Girls Rock Vegas, Mariachi Azuland NyE Communities Coalition.

* * * * *MARGARITAVILLE LAS

VEGAS TO HOST A TWO-WEEKEND PRE-CONCERT

POOL PARTYMargaritaville Las Vegas, lo-

cated on the strip at the FlamingoHotel and Resort, is gearing up forJimmy Buffett’s back-to-backweekend concerts at the MGM Gar-den Arena with its annual Pre-Con-cert Pool Parties at the FlamingoGO Pool.

Kicking-off the weekend’s fes-tivities is a live performance by theBoat Drunks, a tropical Rock ‘n’Roll band from Champaign, Illi-nois, on Friday, October 17 at 10:30p.m. at Margaritaville Las Vegas.On both Saturday, October 18 and25, the pool party event begins at11 a.m. (10 a.m. for Cabana VIPsand a select number of Fins UpClub members). Locals and visitorsof all ages can enjoy complimen-tary admission to the outdoor partyfeaturing a DJ, flair show, live per-formances by Trop Rock bandTommy Rocker and giveaways. Aspecial menu of Margaritaville foodand drinks will be available for pur-chase.

It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere willtake on a new meaning during theseSaturday events with a group vowrenewal available for all qualifyingguests. Couples that would like toparticipate in the 5 p.m. renewalshould e-mail a copy of their mar-riage license tosure@flamingolasvegas.com. Par-ticipants are required to check-inwith an ID and sign an affidavitprior to the ceremony conducted byan ordained officiant.

As a toast to weekend celebra-tions, Margaritaville will offer“Feather of the Parrot” happy hourdrink specials on Sundays from 10a.m. - 2 p.m.

For more information, pleasevisit MargaritavilleLasVegas.comor call 702.733.3302.

WHEN: Friday, October 17 at10:30 p.m.; Saturday, October 18and October 25 from 11 a.m.–6p.m.; Sunday, October 19 and 26from 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

COST: Complimentary admit-tance into pre-concert pool party

WHERE: Margaritaville LasVegas and Flamingo GO Pool

* * * * *FREAKLING BROS.ANNOUNCES THE

TERRIFYING RETURN OFTHE VICTIM EXPERIENCE

ON OCTOBER 24Freakling Bros., Las Vegas’ pre-

miere haunted attraction, has an-nounced that due to overwhelmingdemand, The Victim Experiencewill make its horrifying return thisOctober. Originally debuted in Oc-tober 2013, The Victim Experienceis a one-of-a-kind, terrifyingly re-alistic and utterly hellish experiencefor a special kind of thrill seeker.The Victim Experience will runOct. 24 - 26 and Oct. 31 .

Available for only four nights

By Jerry FinkLas Vegas Tribune

The resort properties in Las Ve-gas within the Caesars Entertain-ment group of companies are hometo 17 chapel locations wherecouples can tie the knot, offeringskilled and wedding coordinatorswith customizable packages for theperfect ceremony.

View packages at http://www.caesarspalace.com/wed-dings/las-vegas/index.html. Wed-ding venues available — to every-one! — include:

The High RollerObservation Wheel

A distinctive icon in the centerof the Las Vegas skyline, the HighRoller Las Vegas is an extraordi-nary location for a 30-minute wed-ding ceremony. Reaching heights of550-feet, wedding packages for thislargest observation wheel in theworld offer the most romantic andbreathtaking views of the Las Ve-gas Strip.

Paris Las VegasParis Las Vegas is known for

enchantment and offers two Pari-sian-inspired indoor chapels remi-niscent of the City of Lights.

Caesars PalaceCaesars Palace contains three

indoor wedding chapels set amidstthe opulent Roman-inspired resortand two beautiful outdoor gardenssurrounded by a five-acre pool oa-sis.

Flamingo Las VegasFlamingo Las Vegas, known for

its picturesque wedding venues onthe Las Vegas Strip, offers five ex-travagant ceremony settings.

Planet HollywoodResort & Casino

Planet Hollywood rolls out anauthentic red carpet in this exclu-sive experience with step and re-peat boards complete withpaparazzi.

The Quad Hotel & Casino (soonto be LINQ Hotel & Casino) Sky-line Chapel at The Quad Hotel &Casino creates wedding packagesthat focus on the fun of getting andbeing married.

And for the perfect LGBTQwedding reception or post-cer-emony celebration, visit LiaisonNightclub at Bally’s , the first gaynightclub in a casino on the LasVegas Strip.

For the ultimate in group cel-ebration and arrangements, TotalExperiences, a personalized con-cierge service for small groups, willmake it all come together at no ad-ditional cost.

For more information, pleasevisit www.totalexperiences.com.

* * * * *COMMONWEALTH TO

THROW ‘MONSTERS BALL’Commonwealth, located in the

revitalized Fremont East District ofDowntown Las Vegas, will host“Monsters Ball,” a Halloween-themed bash on Friday, Oct. 31,starting at 7 p.m.

World renowned burlesque per-former Ms. Redd will headline a se-quence of sexy burlesque perfor-

mances starting at 10 p.m. Guestsmay also enjoy shows from localburlesque master Aya Fontaine andthe stunning Zosa Pistola.

Halloween enthusiasts are en-couraged to dress to impress at thechance of winning $1,000 for thebest overall costume, $500 for thesexiest costume and $500 for thescariest costume. Live DJ sets withsounds by Impact and Cuzzy on therooftop and DJ Turbulence on themain floor will have goblins andghosts dancing all night long.

* * * * *LEGENDS WELCOMESBARBRA STREISAND

TRIBUTE ARTISTThe dynamic cast of Legends in

Concert , Las Vegas’ longest-run-ning live tribute show at FlamingoLas Vegas, introduced BarbraStreisand to its cast of award-win-ning tribute artists on Monday,Sept. 29.

Through the end of the year, thetalented Sharon Owens will honorthe legendary Barbra Streisand withher uncanny resemblance andbreathtaking vocal range of threefull octaves.

The current cast has a range ofmusic legends, from contemporarypop stars to classic icons. With 11performances every week in theDonny & Marie Showroom, guestswill be able to watch the stars alignwith show times including: Sundayand Monday at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30p.m., Tuesday at 9:30 p.m.,Wednesday, Thursday and Saturdayat 4:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

* * * * *HOUSE OF BLUES

FOUNDATION GRANTSTRENGTHENS MUSIC

PROGRAMS AT LAS VEGAS’WILLIAM E. ORRMIDDLE SCHOOL

International House of BluesFoundation has awarded a$2,496.35 grant in support of Will-iam E. Orr Middle School’s march-ing band as part of the 2014 Actionfor the Arts Grants. The school willreceive their new instruments andequipment on Thursday, Oct. 23 at2:30 p.m.

“Music has the power to createopportunities and open doors.” SaidInternational House of Blues Foun-dation Executive Director MarjorieGilberg. “We are dedicated to con-necting emerging young artists withmusical opportunities and resourcesthrough programs like our Actionfor the Arts Grants.”

Orr will receive two alto saxo-phones and various jazz equipmentto allow more students the chanceto practice and lead to more oppor-tunities for the community.

The Foundation’s 2014 Actionfor the Arts Grants Programawarded $220,000 to 63 schoolsand organizations reachingunderserved youth in communitiesnationwide. Additional schools andorganizations in the Las Vegas areareceiving Action for the Arts grantsinclude: After-School All-Stars,Canyon Springs High School band,Fremont Middle School Orchestra,

Caesars Entertainment Properties inLas Vegas offer Same-Sex Weddings

this October, The Victim Experi-ence offers a terrifyingly realistic,traumatic and horrifying test of psy-chological fortitude for those whothink they have what it takes.

Tickets are limited and can bepurchased online only atwww.victimexperience.com. Tick-ets are $120 for the Oct. 24–26 ex-periences and $150 for Halloweennight. The experience includessafety training, orientation, a de-compression period with compli-mentary drinks and a special edi-tion “Survivor” shirt for those whomake it through the experience. Allvictims must be 18 years or olderand must be prepared to experiencepsychological, emotional and sen-sory torture, including physicalcontact and harassment, with zeroretaliation.

Located at the Grand CanyonShopping Center at 4245 S. GrandCanyon Dr. (Flamingo and the 215Beltway), Freakling Bros. The Tril-ogy of Terror operates from 7 p.m.to midnight on Fridays and Satur-days and from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.Sunday–Thursday. Tickets are $12for “Circus of Horrors” and “CastleVampyre” and $15 for “Gates ofHell.” Line-pass t-shirts are avail-able for $10 and are valid all month.Discounts are available for combin-ing houses and multiple visits, in-cluding the $30 “Freak Pass” for allthree haunts and the $40 “All YouCan Scream” pass. To enter the“Gates of Hell” you must be at least17 years of age or accompanied byan adult, and you must sign a con-sent form. Dates of operation forThe Trilogy of Terror are Oct. 9–12 and Oct. 16–31.

* * * * *LIFE TIME ATHLETIC

SUMMERLIN TOCELEBRATE HALLOWEENWITH “SPOOKTACULAR”

POOLSIDE PARTYLife Time Athletic Summerlin

will welcome little ghosts and gob-lins this Halloween season with the“Spooktacular” children’s fair from5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, atLife Time’s resort-style outdoorpool. “Spooktacular” will be opento both members and non-membersof Life Time Athletic.

Now through Saturday, Oct. 18,Life Time will offer early-bird reg-istration for “Spooktacular” pricedat $10 per member child and $20per non member child. BeginningSunday, Oct. 19, registration willincrease to $15 per member childand $25 per non-member child.Day-of registration will be $20 permember child and $30 per non-member child. Each“Spooktacular” ticket will admitone child and one adult, with addi-tional adult admission priced at $5each. Interested participants mayregister for this ghoulish good timeat the Member Services desk insideLife Time Athletic Summerlin.

* * * * *COME AS YOU AREN’T TO

THE ANNUAL VEGASHALLOWEEN PARADE

Costumed characters of all agesinvited to show off on Oct. 31.

Calling the outrageous, the silly,the scary. The 5th annual Las Ve-gas Halloween Parade returns toDowntown Las Vegas on Friday,Oct. 31 and is enlisting the help ofall Las Vegans to make 2014’s pa-rade “spook-tacular.”

All costumed characters are in-vited to walk in the parade downhistoric Fremont Street East.

The parade line-up begins at 4p.m. on East Fremont and 13th St.The Las Vegas Halloween Paradebegins promptly at 7 p.m. movingWest along Fremont Street East tothe after event, located at the endof the parade route.

* * * * *ITALIAN SINGING

SENSATION LAURA PAUSINITO PERFORM AT PEARLInternationally recognized Ital-

ian artist Laura Pausini brings TheGreatest Hits World Tour to the in-timate Pearl Concert Theater insidePalms Casino Resort on Oct. 19,

2014 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $43,plus any additional service fees.

Laura Pausini is the first Italianartist ever to win an Icon Award forher international career.

Doors at the Pearl will open at 7p.m., show time is 8 p.m. The PearlBox Office is open daily from noonuntil 7 p.m. with extended hours onselect event days. Follow The Pearlon Twitter at @PearlatPalms forconcert announcements and eventinformation.

* * * * *ERASURE TO PERFORM

AT THE PEARLEnglish synth-pop duo Erasure

(Vince Clarke and Andy Bell) haveannounced details of a brand newalbum, The Violet Flame and aworldwide tour of the same name,which includes a stop at The Pearlinside Palms Casino Resort on Hal-loween — Oct. 31, 2014 at 8 p.m.Tickets start at $39, plus any addi-tional service fees.

Doors at the Pearl will open at 7p.m. and show time is 8 p.m. ThePearl Box Office is open daily fromnoon until 7 p.m. with extendedhours on select event days. FollowThe Pearl on Twitter at@PearlatPalms for concert an-nouncements and event informa-tion.

* * * * *THE IMPROV AT HARRAH’S:

OCT. 14 -19The world-famous Improv at

Harrah’s Las Vegas is the longest-running comedy club on the LasVegas Strip. The Improv’s ability toshowcase young comedians, as wellas bring in big names, has attrib-uted to its longevity and success.

Each week, The Improv show-cases some of the funniest andfreshest faces in comedy, creatinga show that is always unique anddefinitely funny. The comedianswho will perform Oct. 14–Oct. 19are:

Max Alexander: MaxAlexander was born on the EastCoast. He moved to Los Angeles inhis late twenties to pursue his lovefor stand-up comedy. Alexander hasappeared on sitcoms and moviesworking next to fellow comedianssuch as Jim Carry, Steve Martin,Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Siegle.Since 2009, Alexander has been oneof the only comics to perform on“The Tonight Show,” starringJohnny Carson, Jay Leno andConan O’Brien.

Jim McCue: Annie Ledermangot her start as a stand-up comedianon E!’s “Chelsea Lately,” where shehas appeared regularly since 2007.Her original and honest humorcomes from her roots as a recover-ing alcoholic and former waitress.Aside from her appearances on“Chelsea Lately,” she has per-formed on Comedy Central’s “Liveat Gotham” and at “The AmericanComedy Co.” in San Diego.

Jodi Borrello: Comedian JodiBorrello is known for her uniquestyle of comedy with a New Or-leans touch. Her comedy materialis featured alongside some of thegreatest female comedian ins best-selling book “She’s So Funny.” Jodihas also been active with writing forprograms on VH-1, and is a con-tributing writer for The Times Pica-yune. Jodi has opened for power-house comedian Dennis Miller, andwas chosen as one of New Orleans’“30 People to Watch.”

Shows are at 8:30 p.m. and 10p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.Tickets are $29.05 or $44.95 (plusapplicable taxes and fees) for VIPtickets that include special seating,an Improv t-shirt and post-showmeet-and-greet with the comics.Special two-for-one tickets are alsoavailable for locals for the 10 p.m.show. Tickets are available atHarrah’s Box Office (702) 369-5223 and online atwww.harrahslasvegas.com.

Jerry Fink is an entertainmentcolumnist for the Las Vegas Tribunenewspaper and writes a weekly col-umn. To contact Jerry Fink, emailhim at jfink@ lasvegastribune.com.

Page 24 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

&More than great food — the HardRock Cafe is a virtual experience!

By Sandy ZimmermanLas Vegas Tribune

Photos by Hard Rock Cafeunless otherwise indicated

Can you imagine a MEGA-I-Phone, one that encompasses anentire wall? The Hard Rock Cafe,on Las Vegas Boulevard, is aheadof its time. The Hard Rock Cafe isthe FIRST business in the world toprovide Rock Wall Microsoft Sur-face Technology to their guests.

Hard Rock International col-laborated with Duncan/ Channonand Vertigo to create several cus-tom applications for their guests tobe able to search for memorabiliafrom any of their restaurants aroundthe world. The “larger-than-life” 18foot wide by four foot tall interac-tive Rock Wall (tm) is the largest,one-of- a- kind wall in existence.

When you walk into therestaurant’s lobby at the hostesses’station, you cannot miss the inter-active wall. Yes, I said Wall. Justwalk up to the interactive Wall andjoin the fun. It is a “free for all” witheveryone doing their own thing!

This multi- user “share the wall”experience provides a quick way tosearch for a showcase of rock his-tory memorabilia by the name of thecelebrity, the concert, the memora-bilia, listing the Hard Rock Cafe lo-cation, and under many other cat-egories. It is so easy! Several peoplecan be enjoying the wall at the sametime.

Touch the screen, move thememorabilia up, down, send it toyour friend on the left or right as itseems to fly by on the screen pastall of the other people. You can ex-pand one of the pictures or videosby making it larger, smaller, or evenas large as the entire wall. It is ascreen where everything happens.

There are photos of handwrittenlyrics by John Lennon, JamiHendrix’s Flying-V guitar, classicmusical instruments, celebrities pic-tures, letters, concert tickets,checks, stage costumes, platinumand gold LP’s, and the excitementof other historic rock ‘n’ roll

HEALTH LIFESTYLES

across the reception area, bar, andVIP lounge.”

And the multiple Microsoft Sur-face Tables, a dream come true forguests of all ages, are programmedwith a choice of many differentgames. If you like puzzles just touchthe screen to indicate the degree ofdifficulty you wish. There is a greatconcentration game, turn over cardsand try to match the pictures witheach other. It is harder than youthink!

Even when you sit down at oneof their large, comfortable booths,try your own private interactive 19-inch touch screen just for you andyour friends or family. Now you canentertain yourselves while eatingdelicious food.

Another one of the uniquenessabout the Hard Rock Cafe’s memo-rabilia, each piece is donated freeof charge by the celebrities becausethey wanted to have them exhibitedfor the public’s enjoyment and thecelebrities often visit the Café.

This exciting Hard Rock Cafe,with all of Microsoft’s latest incred-

ible Rock Wall Surface Technology,multiple surface tables, and otherinteractive fun, is located on the LasVegas strip, at 3771 Las Vegas Bou-levard South, on the same side ofthe street as MGM Grand Hotel,near Tropicana. The second HardRock Cafe is inside the Hard RockHotel, on Paradise Road.

* * * * *Award-winning Sandy

Zimmerman is a syndicated colum-nist featuring Show and Dining re-views, travel, health, spas, luxuryand more. Sandy is talk show hostof the Las Vegas Today Show pro-grams and Discover the UltimateVacation travel specials. If you wishinformation, have questions aboutany of Sandy’s articles, call (702)735-5974. SUGGESTIONS: Doyou have a favorite restaurant inLas Vegas or around the world?Please let us know and you may winfree show tickets or other prizes.Send the name of the restaurant, thereasons for your choice and yourtelephone number. Information islisted above.

memorabilia.More than just seeing the collec-

tion of one of the properties, this isa virtual tour of all of Hard Rock’s156 venues and memorabilia fromaround the world. The Hard Rockcollection includes 70,000+ piecesof memorabilia. The Wall is like a“directory of history,” all here foryou to spend a few hours using thismulti-touch technology.

Greg Thomas, the General Man-ager, took us on a tour explainingabout their wondrous Wall and Sur-face Tables. I feel, “The technologyis absolutely amazing, where eachperson can play or concentrate onserious searching for their favoritecelebrities’ memorabilia simulta-neously. Experience the memora-bilia as you have never before,close-up and in every detail. The

(Photo by Sandy Zimmerman)

(Photo by Sandy Zimmerman)

Hard Rock Cafe is always addingnew pieces playing with multipleMicrosoft Surface units scattered

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 25

&More than great food — the HardRock Cafe is a virtual experience!

By Sandy ZimmermanLas Vegas Tribune

Photos by Hard Rock Cafeunless otherwise indicated

Can you imagine a MEGA-I-Phone, one that encompasses anentire wall? The Hard Rock Cafe,on Las Vegas Boulevard, is aheadof its time. The Hard Rock Cafe isthe FIRST business in the world toprovide Rock Wall Microsoft Sur-face Technology to their guests.

Hard Rock International col-laborated with Duncan/ Channonand Vertigo to create several cus-tom applications for their guests tobe able to search for memorabiliafrom any of their restaurants aroundthe world. The “larger-than-life” 18foot wide by four foot tall interac-tive Rock Wall (tm) is the largest,one-of- a- kind wall in existence.

When you walk into therestaurant’s lobby at the hostesses’station, you cannot miss the inter-active wall. Yes, I said Wall. Justwalk up to the interactive Wall andjoin the fun. It is a “free for all” witheveryone doing their own thing!

This multi- user “share the wall”experience provides a quick way tosearch for a showcase of rock his-tory memorabilia by the name of thecelebrity, the concert, the memora-bilia, listing the Hard Rock Cafe lo-cation, and under many other cat-egories. It is so easy! Several peoplecan be enjoying the wall at the sametime.

Touch the screen, move thememorabilia up, down, send it toyour friend on the left or right as itseems to fly by on the screen pastall of the other people. You can ex-pand one of the pictures or videosby making it larger, smaller, or evenas large as the entire wall. It is ascreen where everything happens.

There are photos of handwrittenlyrics by John Lennon, JamiHendrix’s Flying-V guitar, classicmusical instruments, celebrities pic-tures, letters, concert tickets,checks, stage costumes, platinumand gold LP’s, and the excitementof other historic rock ‘n’ roll

HEALTH LIFESTYLES

across the reception area, bar, andVIP lounge.”

And the multiple Microsoft Sur-face Tables, a dream come true forguests of all ages, are programmedwith a choice of many differentgames. If you like puzzles just touchthe screen to indicate the degree ofdifficulty you wish. There is a greatconcentration game, turn over cardsand try to match the pictures witheach other. It is harder than youthink!

Even when you sit down at oneof their large, comfortable booths,try your own private interactive 19-inch touch screen just for you andyour friends or family. Now you canentertain yourselves while eatingdelicious food.

Another one of the uniquenessabout the Hard Rock Cafe’s memo-rabilia, each piece is donated freeof charge by the celebrities becausethey wanted to have them exhibitedfor the public’s enjoyment and thecelebrities often visit the Café.

This exciting Hard Rock Cafe,with all of Microsoft’s latest incred-

ible Rock Wall Surface Technology,multiple surface tables, and otherinteractive fun, is located on the LasVegas strip, at 3771 Las Vegas Bou-levard South, on the same side ofthe street as MGM Grand Hotel,near Tropicana. The second HardRock Cafe is inside the Hard RockHotel, on Paradise Road.

* * * * *Award-winning Sandy

Zimmerman is a syndicated colum-nist featuring Show and Dining re-views, travel, health, spas, luxuryand more. Sandy is talk show hostof the Las Vegas Today Show pro-grams and Discover the UltimateVacation travel specials. If you wishinformation, have questions aboutany of Sandy’s articles, call (702)735-5974. SUGGESTIONS: Doyou have a favorite restaurant inLas Vegas or around the world?Please let us know and you may winfree show tickets or other prizes.Send the name of the restaurant, thereasons for your choice and yourtelephone number. Information islisted above.

memorabilia.More than just seeing the collec-

tion of one of the properties, this isa virtual tour of all of Hard Rock’s156 venues and memorabilia fromaround the world. The Hard Rockcollection includes 70,000+ piecesof memorabilia. The Wall is like a“directory of history,” all here foryou to spend a few hours using thismulti-touch technology.

Greg Thomas, the General Man-ager, took us on a tour explainingabout their wondrous Wall and Sur-face Tables. I feel, “The technologyis absolutely amazing, where eachperson can play or concentrate onserious searching for their favoritecelebrities’ memorabilia simulta-neously. Experience the memora-bilia as you have never before,close-up and in every detail. The

(Photo by Sandy Zimmerman)

(Photo by Sandy Zimmerman)

Hard Rock Cafe is always addingnew pieces playing with multipleMicrosoft Surface units scattered

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 25

Speak Up!If you have somethingto say... say it on your

own radio show.RadioTribune stillhas one hour of

airtime available.For more information,call (702) 699-8100

“Alex, I’ll go with ArtForms for $1000”

By Dr. NinaQuestion: Shedding tears of joy, the desire to rhythmically move your

body, and bringing people together are brought about by this art form.Answer: What is music?Music has the ability to describe places, people, movies, and feelings

in ways that words cannot fully capture. Scientifically speaking, musichas real, demonstrable effects on our brains — melodies and tunes canincrease Dopamine levels. What’s Dopamine? It’s the ‘happy’ chemicalthat is released when you are exposed to something positive — it rein-forces behaviors and encourages you to seek out more of whatever causedthe Dopamine release. Other examples of times when this chemical isreleased in your brain include: when you eat foods you enjoy, see some-one you love, or have sex. It is a chemical that acts on the reward systemin your brain, so clearly, as far as science is concerned, music is good foryou!

Research has even shown that listening to music can have positiveeffects on the way you learn as well as your physical and mental health.

—Learning. Music has been shown to engage many of the same areasof the brain that are involved in language processing, memory, and othercritical thinking skills that are necessary for academic success. One studyshowed that students who participated in music programs scored 63 pointshigher on the verbal and 44 points higher on the math sections of theSATs compared to students with no music participation. So, maybe yourkid’s addiction to Spotify isn’t the worst thing after all!

—Heart healthy. Eating your vegetables and engaging in exercise arenot the only way you can keep your ticker ticking. Researchers have shownthat listening to music brings about a feeling of joy that is linked to thedilation of blood vessels. This corresponds to a decrease in blood pres-sure and the amount of work that the heart must perform.

—Anxiety. Rhythms go back to the womb where babies hear theirmother’s heart beating and her lungs breathing. They are both natural andlife-sustaining sounds. In fact, pediatricians often recommend replicat-ing these sounds to soothe a baby or get them to fall sleep. Thus, it is nosurprise that listening to and playing music decreases levels of cortisol —a “fight or flight” stress hormone — even in adolescents and adults. Thisintroduces the potential to use music in situations where previously wehad to resort to drugs.

—Patient care. Hospitals and healthcare settings have begun to ap-preciate how music can be soothing to patients where they may feel theyhave lost control from their external environment. It can create a calm,personal atmosphere and block out some of the disturbances that sur-round them. One study showed that listening to music before surgerymay be more effective than drugs when it comes to reducing anxiety.What’s the science behind this? Music may cause neurons in brain stem— a primitive part of the brain — to sync with the beat. A slow beat leadsto relaxation.

—Exercise. Wanna run faster? Then put on your MP3 player. Musichas been shown to increase physical endurance by as much a 15 percent!It helps decrease the perception of effort during exercise as well as in-crease energy efficiency. This may be due to the “feeling state” that mu-sic brings about. Even though you are working out at a very high inten-sity you are feeling more positive.

Does classical, hip-hop, country, or the blues work best? As a generalrule of thumb, if you want to relax, consider songs with slower tempo andfewer key changes. If you are trying to increase your endurance duringexercise, consider a faster tempo to increase your stride. However, justlike some people prefer pizza to hamburgers, it depends on your indi-vidual preference and experience. If you grew up with rock ‘n’ roll youmay find it both relaxing as well as uplifting. Alternatively, certain songsor genres may be associated with unpleasant experiences or memoriesand fail to provide the benefits that have been discussed.

You do not have to be Beethoven or major in music to experience thebenefits of music. In addition to bringing about the same joys you feelwhen you eat your favorite meal, music can help enhance building blocksto learning, keep you calm, and improve your health. So, crank up yourspeakers, and start rocking out to whatever tunes makes you smile today!

* * * * *Dr. Nina Radcliff is dedicated to her profession, her patients and her

community, at large. She is passionate about sharing truths for healthy,balanced living as well as wise preventive health measures. She com-pleted medical school and residency training at UCLA and has served onthe medical faculty at The University of Pennsylvania. She is a BoardCertified Anesthesiologist and a member of the American Society of An-esthesiologists where she serves on committees for Young Physicians andCommunications. Author of more than 200 textbook chapters, researcharticles, medical opinions and reviews; she is often called upon by mediato speak on medical, fitness, nutrition, and healthy lifestyle topics im-pacting our lives, today.

By Donna FuscaldoFOXBusiness

Claiming your social securitybenefits may seem like a straight-forward thing. You reach your re-tirement age, you file and thenshortly thereafter you start gettingmonthly checks, right?

Well, think again. With morethan 8,000 ways a married couplecan file for benefits, countlesspeople are leaving thousands ofdollars on the table because ofavoidable mistakes.

“Over 60 percent of Americanhouseholds rely on social securityfor more than 75 percent of theirincome so getting it right is reallyimportant for a lot of people,” saysKelly O’Donnell, executive vicepresident at Financial Engines, theinvestment advisory company.“The challenge is it’s not well un-derstood for good reason. It’s verycomplicated.”

From claiming too early tothinking the money is tax-free,here’s a look at five common snafuspeople make when it comes to ap-plying for their social security ben-efit.

Claiming Too EarlyMost people will start collecting

their social security benefits as soonas they reach their full retirementage. But if they delay claiming theirbenefits until they reach age 70 theywill see a 6 percent to 8 percent in-crease in the amount they get eachyear, says O’Donnell. “The differ-ence between claiming at age 62and age 70 is about a 76 percent cu-mulative increase,” she says. “Evendelaying one, two or three years canreally make a difference.”

Letting Fear Drive YourClaiming Strategy

The government shutdown of acouple of years ago is fresh in theminds of many people, includingthose that are nearing retirement. Asa result, many people fear there willbe no money left even in a year ortwo from now and start claimingearly. But according to David Rich-mond, founder of investment firmRichmond Brothers, for peopleolder than 47 there is little to nochance they won’t get their socialsecurity benefits. “With any of thepublished proposals (by politicians)nobody touches social security be-fore age 47,” says Richmond.“Don’t let fear be a driver.”

Missing the BoatOn Spousal Benefits

It’s not surprising marriedcouples make mistakes when filingfor social security given there aremore than 8,000 combinations theycan use. Because of the sheer num-ber, Richmond says marriedcouples should either consult a fi-nancial advisor well-versed in so-cial security or do their homework

Five Costly Social Security Mistakeson their own before deciding howto claim.

The government has a ton of re-sources online to get informationon claiming strategies. You can alsocall your local social security of-fice to get answers. O’Donnell saysone strategy that will protect thesurvivor in a marriage is to havethe lower earner claim early andhave the higher earner delay for aslong as possible.

The lower earner’s monthlychecks can be used to supplementtheir income while the higherearner’s benefits are delayed to getthe maximum amount. “Once youreach 60 or 65 in general onespouse outlives the other by elevenyears,” she says. “That’s why thesurvivor benefit is really impor-tant.”

Divorcees Don’t Apply ForTheir Ex-Spouses BenefitDivorcees may not realize it, but

they may be eligible for the ben-efits of their ex-spouse, whichcould boost their monthly income.According to O’Donnell you hadto be married for at least ten yearsbefore the divorce and you can’t be

remarried. In order to receive thebenefit the amount you would geton your own has to be less thanwhat you can get from your ex. “It’sa little known fact that a lot ofpeople are thrilled to hear,” shesays. “They are treated as almost amarried couple.”

Thinking Your SocialSecurity Benefit Is Tax-Free

Listen to most politicians, par-ticularly around election time, andyou are sure to hear them talk aboutsocial security as a tax-free benefit.Yes you don’t have to pay taxes onit but it does get added to your in-come so either way Uncle Sam isgetting paid.

According to Richmond manypeople will think they are getting$20,000 a year in social securitybenefits when they are actually get-ting what’s left over after the$20,000 is taxed. You can chooseto pay taxes on your benefits eachmonth, but either way you need toconsider taxes as part of income.“The higher adjusted gross incomethe more you pay,” says Richmond.“Adjusted gross income manage-ment is a really important thing.”

WhatYou NeedTo Know

By Dr Nina Radcliff

Page 26 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

Special to the Las Vegas TribuneEach year at this time it’s on the

minds of most seniors and caretak-ers of older adults in the Las Vegasarea. It’s Medicare, and startingOctober 15 and continuing throughDecember 7th, the annual open en-rollment period for seniors to selecttheir benefits beginning in 2015 isin effect.

Having a hard time understand-ing the budget debate about Medi-care? Scare tactics aside, there aremore Medicare options today thanever before and it’s important tomake the right decision about youror your loved one’s medical carebenefits.

So how do you know where tostart?

“I tell my patients to bring intheir current Medicare benefit planso we can discuss what options theymay have for the coming benefityear,” said Dr. Jae Choi ofCareMore Health System, a highlyregarded Medicare Advantage pro-gram that serves seniors and other

SOCIAL SECURITY AWARENESS

Medicare decision time isnow through December 7

Medicare eligible consumers in theLas Vegas area. “There is an over-abundance of information availableto the public about Medicare op-tions so you should sift throughwhat’s important for you to knowrelated to changes to your plan forthe coming year. Whether with yourcurrent provider or another trustedresource.”

For 2015, there are somechanges to the Medicare benefitprogram, including improvementsresulting from healthcare reform.

IS THIS STILL ACCURATE?Healthcare reform changes effec-tive last year may reduce the priceof drugs for seniors with big drugbills who fall into the “donut hole”gap. Once drug expenses hit $2,970insurance coverage ceases until aperson’s out-of-pocket expensesreach $4,750. The healthcare re-form law has been reducing the costof drugs inside the doughnut hole.This year, consumers must pay 52.5percent of the cost of branded drugsand 79 percent of the cost of generic

drugs. These percentages will de-cline in future years under the law.Because medication costs continueto rise, it’s important to compareyour current Medicare benefits withthose of other plans, especiallyMedicare Advantage Plans that of-fer additional benefits above thoseof traditional Medicare plans. Youcould potentially save a lot ofmoney in out of pocket costs.

“The best advice I can give mypatients is to do a comprehensiveneeds assessment about their cur-rent health status and needs,” addedDr. Choi. “I take the time to talk tomy older patients and their familymembers to discuss the type ofmedications, tests and other medi-cal services that may be necessaryfor the patient next year. Once weget a handle on that, the patient canmake an informed decision aboutwhat health plan options best suitstheir needs. The good news is thatwith many health plan optionsavailable, seniors can find one thatperfectly suits their needs.”

lasvegasprintingcenter@gmail.com

Speak Up!If you have somethingto say... say it on your

own radio show.RadioTribune stillhas one hour of

airtime available.For more information,call (702) 699-8100

“Alex, I’ll go with ArtForms for $1000”

By Dr. NinaQuestion: Shedding tears of joy, the desire to rhythmically move your

body, and bringing people together are brought about by this art form.Answer: What is music?Music has the ability to describe places, people, movies, and feelings

in ways that words cannot fully capture. Scientifically speaking, musichas real, demonstrable effects on our brains — melodies and tunes canincrease Dopamine levels. What’s Dopamine? It’s the ‘happy’ chemicalthat is released when you are exposed to something positive — it rein-forces behaviors and encourages you to seek out more of whatever causedthe Dopamine release. Other examples of times when this chemical isreleased in your brain include: when you eat foods you enjoy, see some-one you love, or have sex. It is a chemical that acts on the reward systemin your brain, so clearly, as far as science is concerned, music is good foryou!

Research has even shown that listening to music can have positiveeffects on the way you learn as well as your physical and mental health.

—Learning. Music has been shown to engage many of the same areasof the brain that are involved in language processing, memory, and othercritical thinking skills that are necessary for academic success. One studyshowed that students who participated in music programs scored 63 pointshigher on the verbal and 44 points higher on the math sections of theSATs compared to students with no music participation. So, maybe yourkid’s addiction to Spotify isn’t the worst thing after all!

—Heart healthy. Eating your vegetables and engaging in exercise arenot the only way you can keep your ticker ticking. Researchers have shownthat listening to music brings about a feeling of joy that is linked to thedilation of blood vessels. This corresponds to a decrease in blood pres-sure and the amount of work that the heart must perform.

—Anxiety. Rhythms go back to the womb where babies hear theirmother’s heart beating and her lungs breathing. They are both natural andlife-sustaining sounds. In fact, pediatricians often recommend replicat-ing these sounds to soothe a baby or get them to fall sleep. Thus, it is nosurprise that listening to and playing music decreases levels of cortisol —a “fight or flight” stress hormone — even in adolescents and adults. Thisintroduces the potential to use music in situations where previously wehad to resort to drugs.

—Patient care. Hospitals and healthcare settings have begun to ap-preciate how music can be soothing to patients where they may feel theyhave lost control from their external environment. It can create a calm,personal atmosphere and block out some of the disturbances that sur-round them. One study showed that listening to music before surgerymay be more effective than drugs when it comes to reducing anxiety.What’s the science behind this? Music may cause neurons in brain stem— a primitive part of the brain — to sync with the beat. A slow beat leadsto relaxation.

—Exercise. Wanna run faster? Then put on your MP3 player. Musichas been shown to increase physical endurance by as much a 15 percent!It helps decrease the perception of effort during exercise as well as in-crease energy efficiency. This may be due to the “feeling state” that mu-sic brings about. Even though you are working out at a very high inten-sity you are feeling more positive.

Does classical, hip-hop, country, or the blues work best? As a generalrule of thumb, if you want to relax, consider songs with slower tempo andfewer key changes. If you are trying to increase your endurance duringexercise, consider a faster tempo to increase your stride. However, justlike some people prefer pizza to hamburgers, it depends on your indi-vidual preference and experience. If you grew up with rock ‘n’ roll youmay find it both relaxing as well as uplifting. Alternatively, certain songsor genres may be associated with unpleasant experiences or memoriesand fail to provide the benefits that have been discussed.

You do not have to be Beethoven or major in music to experience thebenefits of music. In addition to bringing about the same joys you feelwhen you eat your favorite meal, music can help enhance building blocksto learning, keep you calm, and improve your health. So, crank up yourspeakers, and start rocking out to whatever tunes makes you smile today!

* * * * *Dr. Nina Radcliff is dedicated to her profession, her patients and her

community, at large. She is passionate about sharing truths for healthy,balanced living as well as wise preventive health measures. She com-pleted medical school and residency training at UCLA and has served onthe medical faculty at The University of Pennsylvania. She is a BoardCertified Anesthesiologist and a member of the American Society of An-esthesiologists where she serves on committees for Young Physicians andCommunications. Author of more than 200 textbook chapters, researcharticles, medical opinions and reviews; she is often called upon by mediato speak on medical, fitness, nutrition, and healthy lifestyle topics im-pacting our lives, today.

By Donna FuscaldoFOXBusiness

Claiming your social securitybenefits may seem like a straight-forward thing. You reach your re-tirement age, you file and thenshortly thereafter you start gettingmonthly checks, right?

Well, think again. With morethan 8,000 ways a married couplecan file for benefits, countlesspeople are leaving thousands ofdollars on the table because ofavoidable mistakes.

“Over 60 percent of Americanhouseholds rely on social securityfor more than 75 percent of theirincome so getting it right is reallyimportant for a lot of people,” saysKelly O’Donnell, executive vicepresident at Financial Engines, theinvestment advisory company.“The challenge is it’s not well un-derstood for good reason. It’s verycomplicated.”

From claiming too early tothinking the money is tax-free,here’s a look at five common snafuspeople make when it comes to ap-plying for their social security ben-efit.

Claiming Too EarlyMost people will start collecting

their social security benefits as soonas they reach their full retirementage. But if they delay claiming theirbenefits until they reach age 70 theywill see a 6 percent to 8 percent in-crease in the amount they get eachyear, says O’Donnell. “The differ-ence between claiming at age 62and age 70 is about a 76 percent cu-mulative increase,” she says. “Evendelaying one, two or three years canreally make a difference.”

Letting Fear Drive YourClaiming Strategy

The government shutdown of acouple of years ago is fresh in theminds of many people, includingthose that are nearing retirement. Asa result, many people fear there willbe no money left even in a year ortwo from now and start claimingearly. But according to David Rich-mond, founder of investment firmRichmond Brothers, for peopleolder than 47 there is little to nochance they won’t get their socialsecurity benefits. “With any of thepublished proposals (by politicians)nobody touches social security be-fore age 47,” says Richmond.“Don’t let fear be a driver.”

Missing the BoatOn Spousal Benefits

It’s not surprising marriedcouples make mistakes when filingfor social security given there aremore than 8,000 combinations theycan use. Because of the sheer num-ber, Richmond says marriedcouples should either consult a fi-nancial advisor well-versed in so-cial security or do their homework

Five Costly Social Security Mistakeson their own before deciding howto claim.

The government has a ton of re-sources online to get informationon claiming strategies. You can alsocall your local social security of-fice to get answers. O’Donnell saysone strategy that will protect thesurvivor in a marriage is to havethe lower earner claim early andhave the higher earner delay for aslong as possible.

The lower earner’s monthlychecks can be used to supplementtheir income while the higherearner’s benefits are delayed to getthe maximum amount. “Once youreach 60 or 65 in general onespouse outlives the other by elevenyears,” she says. “That’s why thesurvivor benefit is really impor-tant.”

Divorcees Don’t Apply ForTheir Ex-Spouses BenefitDivorcees may not realize it, but

they may be eligible for the ben-efits of their ex-spouse, whichcould boost their monthly income.According to O’Donnell you hadto be married for at least ten yearsbefore the divorce and you can’t be

remarried. In order to receive thebenefit the amount you would geton your own has to be less thanwhat you can get from your ex. “It’sa little known fact that a lot ofpeople are thrilled to hear,” shesays. “They are treated as almost amarried couple.”

Thinking Your SocialSecurity Benefit Is Tax-Free

Listen to most politicians, par-ticularly around election time, andyou are sure to hear them talk aboutsocial security as a tax-free benefit.Yes you don’t have to pay taxes onit but it does get added to your in-come so either way Uncle Sam isgetting paid.

According to Richmond manypeople will think they are getting$20,000 a year in social securitybenefits when they are actually get-ting what’s left over after the$20,000 is taxed. You can chooseto pay taxes on your benefits eachmonth, but either way you need toconsider taxes as part of income.“The higher adjusted gross incomethe more you pay,” says Richmond.“Adjusted gross income manage-ment is a really important thing.”

WhatYou NeedTo Know

By Dr Nina Radcliff

Page 26 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 15-21, 2014

Special to the Las Vegas TribuneEach year at this time it’s on the

minds of most seniors and caretak-ers of older adults in the Las Vegasarea. It’s Medicare, and startingOctober 15 and continuing throughDecember 7th, the annual open en-rollment period for seniors to selecttheir benefits beginning in 2015 isin effect.

Having a hard time understand-ing the budget debate about Medi-care? Scare tactics aside, there aremore Medicare options today thanever before and it’s important tomake the right decision about youror your loved one’s medical carebenefits.

So how do you know where tostart?

“I tell my patients to bring intheir current Medicare benefit planso we can discuss what options theymay have for the coming benefityear,” said Dr. Jae Choi ofCareMore Health System, a highlyregarded Medicare Advantage pro-gram that serves seniors and other

SOCIAL SECURITY AWARENESS

Medicare decision time isnow through December 7

Medicare eligible consumers in theLas Vegas area. “There is an over-abundance of information availableto the public about Medicare op-tions so you should sift throughwhat’s important for you to knowrelated to changes to your plan forthe coming year. Whether with yourcurrent provider or another trustedresource.”

For 2015, there are somechanges to the Medicare benefitprogram, including improvementsresulting from healthcare reform.

IS THIS STILL ACCURATE?Healthcare reform changes effec-tive last year may reduce the priceof drugs for seniors with big drugbills who fall into the “donut hole”gap. Once drug expenses hit $2,970insurance coverage ceases until aperson’s out-of-pocket expensesreach $4,750. The healthcare re-form law has been reducing the costof drugs inside the doughnut hole.This year, consumers must pay 52.5percent of the cost of branded drugsand 79 percent of the cost of generic

drugs. These percentages will de-cline in future years under the law.Because medication costs continueto rise, it’s important to compareyour current Medicare benefits withthose of other plans, especiallyMedicare Advantage Plans that of-fer additional benefits above thoseof traditional Medicare plans. Youcould potentially save a lot ofmoney in out of pocket costs.

“The best advice I can give mypatients is to do a comprehensiveneeds assessment about their cur-rent health status and needs,” addedDr. Choi. “I take the time to talk tomy older patients and their familymembers to discuss the type ofmedications, tests and other medi-cal services that may be necessaryfor the patient next year. Once weget a handle on that, the patient canmake an informed decision aboutwhat health plan options best suitstheir needs. The good news is thatwith many health plan optionsavailable, seniors can find one thatperfectly suits their needs.”

lasvegasprintingcenter@gmail.com

Hotel Interlaken, a hotel of another eraBy Sandy Zimmerman

Las Vegas TribunePhotos by Sandy Zimmerman

and Hotel InterlakenThe Hotel Interlaken is the old-

est hotel in the village yet its oldworld charm still beckons tourists.

Georges Beutler, Director of theHotel Interlaken, explained, “TheHotel Interlaken has a long tradi-tion dating back to 1323, the earlyMiddle Ages. We recently refur-bished and updated its infrastruc-ture. There has been a mixture ofarchitecture styles which havegrown and developed over the cen-turies, antique styles mixed withmodern interiors. With 61 rooms,our four-star hotel has hotel roomsand suites or family rooms with sev-eral beds. Many hotel’s were builtin the 19th century between 1850and 1910 which brought a lot ofupper-class customers to Switzer-land. Two famous visitors to theHotel Interlaken were composerFelix Mendelssohn and LordByron. We have a Lord Byron Jun-ior suite and Felix MendelssohnRoom.”

In front of the hotel, a Japanese

PLACES TO GOQUICK GETAWAYS

garden beckons guests to relax atits lake which is filled with Koi fish.Guests have a lake or mountainview from their room’s balconies.”

When you open the door to thehotel room, the wall pictures depictscenes from the early years ofInterlaken.

Guests enjoy a flat screentelevion with connections for inter-national television programs, a di-rect dial telephone and internet ac-cess.

Guests receive a complimentaryall-you-can-eat breakfast and whata breakfast! It is not just bacon andeggs but a hot, cold and interna-tional breakfast.

They serve two types of yogurt,fresh fruit salad, several sliced coldmeats and fresh fruit.

This is your chance to taste theirspecial selections of Greyerzer,Brie and Edamer Cheeses.

Breakfasts also include hardboiled and scrambled eggs, bakedbeans, chicken sausage, bacon, riceand four cereals.

They offer pretzel and threeother loafs of bread as well asrolls, croissants and even five

different jams.”Georges feels, “Breakfast is very

important in Switzerland and cen-

All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast Buffet. (Photo by Sandy Zimmerman)

Parts of the lobby still have walls from the original building. (Photo by Sandy Zimmerman)

(Left photo) Hotel Interlaken and park (present time) and an early photo of the Hotel Interlaken. (Photos by the Hotel Interlaken)

Alphorn band (Photo by Hotel Interlaken)

Junior Suite — Antique (Photo by Hotel Interlaken)

tral Europe. International guestsfrom around the world don’t wantjust breads. You have to strengthenyourself and eat a good breakfastto have a good day.”

The Hotel Interlaken has a bar,restaurant, outdoor terrace dining,business center, banquet and meet-ing room.

While walking around the lobby,you can see some of the walls fromthe original building.

The Hotel Interlaken is acrossfrom the railroad trains as well asclose to restaurants and shops.

Watch the Para gliders jumpfrom the top of the mountains toland in the nearby field. They have20,000 flights a year.

For information, see theirwebsites: www.interlaken.ch;w w w. m y s w i t z e r l a n d . c o m ;www.SwissTravelSystem.com; andwww.hotelinterlaken.ch

* * * * *Award winning Sandy

Zimmerman is a syndicated colum-nist featuring Show and Dining re-views, Travel, Health, Spas, Luxury,Spas, Fashion, Automobiles andmore. Sandy is talk show host of theLas Vegas Today Show programsand Discover the Ultimate Vacationtravel specials. If you want to sug-gest topics for articles. For infor-mation or to ask any questionsabout Sandy’s articles, call (702)735-5974.

October 15-21, 2014 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 27