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John L. Smith
Nobody asked, but Las Vegas Valley thrives on good, bad, ugly
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Nobody asked me, but ...
I still think downtown's National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement should have been named the House of Whacks. ...
Speaking of the Mob Museum, who are madder these days, the hoodlums whose faces are on the walls of the place or the thugs whose mugs were left off? My money is on the latter. ...
On Presidents Day, we honor the lives and historic contributions of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln with sales on sheets and pillowcases. The Father of Our Country and Honest Abe would be so proud. ...
Government officials pay tribute to the importance of those two great American leaders by doing no work. ...
The Smith Center will change the way locals and visitors perceive downtown. It should put a little spring in the step of every resident in the valley. It's really something to be proud of. ...
And I'm not just saying that because they put my name on the building. ...
Former state Sen. Bob Beers has decided to enter the race for the Ward 2 City Council seat vacated by new District Attorney Steve Wolfson. If he wins, it means we'll have Beers at City Hall. After a dozen years of Martinis with the Mayor, anything is possible. ...
Multibillionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn accuses partner Kazuo Okada of making improper payments for foreign officials after former FBI Director Louis Freeh's investigation found $110,000 in suspicious payments and gifts to Philippine gaming regulators. No investigation has yet determined anything suspicious about an American casino man agreeing to contribute $135 million to Macau University. ...
Even bigger casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson is said to be willing to hand a Newt Gingrich Super PAC another $10 million to jump start his lethargic presidential campaign. Some call that $10 million scandalous; Adelson calls it chump change. ...
Anyone who wonders why Muhammad Ali is called "The Greatest" need only acknowledge that he agreed to turn his 70th birthday into a huge fundraiser for Larry Ruvo's Keep Memory Alive in support of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Millions were raised. Ali wins by knockout without laying a glove on anyone.
Who has a harder time getting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the phone these days: Sharron Angle, or Harvey Whittemore? ...
Seldom has a Nevada governor taken fewer political risks and gotten better press than Brian Sandoval. Jim Gibbons must be crying in his beer. ...
Longtime cop-turned-Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen must be embarrassed by the recent chaos in the offices of the police chief and the city manager. Maybe some day he will step up and use his bully pulpit to help Henderson break free of its growing reputation as a politically incestuous Mayberry. ...
State Sen. Elizabeth Halseth has announced her resignation from the Legislature. She cited mean, partisan media coverage as one reason for her decision to leave. Maybe someone forgot to tell the amateur that politics is a contact sport. ...
Sheriff Doug Gillespie says he's considering putting cameras on his officers to improve their performance. I suggest we do the same thing with local elected officials. ...
City Councilman Bob Coffin made some salient points last week before voting against funding the reopening of F Street, but his tale of legislative intrigue was overrated. After three decades in Carson City, he knows well how the sausage is ground. ...
Residents who lost their homes to foreclosure after waiting many months for help from the government must be pretty pleased with Nevada's recent settlement. I hear some families will receive enough for a new tent. ...
Speaking of tents, Occupy Las Vegas is folding its own after generating little more than headlines recently. ...
Nobody asked me, but ... this column is dedicated to the memory of the late newsprint pugilist Jimmy Cannon, who would have called me out for copying his signature line.
John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.
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Hello John,
I like way the elected in the state of Washington recently said they will not pay Washington Medicaid for 500 different types of medical complaints seen in ER's.
Clark County officials are always crying about UMC and it's over flowing ER...well?
Here's my question of the day Johnney boy....when are you going to do some real reporting and put out the goods on Sheriff Gillespies off duty escapades. From what I hear even the FBI is aware of his corrupt ways but won't do anything about it because they don't want a political war. It was Sheriff Young's carousig at the Palms that got him to not run again.
Mr. Smith: Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen graduated form UNLV with a degree of Business Administration. He retired from Metro POLICE DEPT in 2002. He was a Council Member in Ward 2 beginning 1987. He did 6 terms. He has been proud of HIS POLICE works. After 6 terms he became Mayor. He was a Police while working as a council member.
If Cassius Clay is so Great, why did he claim his NEW Religion prevented him for Fighting for this Country?
Mr. Smith: I read that Henderson Mayor interviewed Stone for City Manager's position. One person who supports Stone wrote that He is the best person to become Henderson City Manager because Stone did mission works in China and he speaks Cantonese. He did a good job in China where one-son-in-one-family-others-are-killed China for Mormon Missionary. Those two qualifications were only written. However, Henderson is not in China. Chinese people here speak English. Then I found out that Henderson had First female city manager, first female city attorney, first female city manager and first female Police Chief. So I figured Mayor wants to have a first Chinese speaking Manager. Henderson will have NBA, major league baseball team and the sport arena will be built by a Chinese company. Angeles? Dodgers? Wow! 50,000 seats baseball game! So that is why Mayor needs a Chinese speaking man for the City Manager! Disappointment is only 17,500 seats of two arenas. Maybe 3 people packed in one seat? Mayor sucker. Then I found Snow works for RTC. It will not be too long when he gets caught by 'the Conflict of Interest' law. Maybe he thinks his mouth piece Council Man who covered mayor by saying kicking face 5 times is an appropriate police action? I was wondering why he always hides behind these two young council ladies. He was from Metro!
Mr. Smith, nobody asked me, but ... Jimmy Cannon has been dead almost 40 years. I doubt that more a handful of your readers know who he was or what you are referring to ("copying his signature line"). The dedication in your column seems completely pointless -- did you need an extra 29 words to pad your column?
The Smith Center along with the Mob Museum will be a complete failure,just a waste of Taxpayers money,the Goodman family have no proper vision on how to create jobs and to bring in more money to our City,when I tried to explain this to the last Mayor over breakfast,which was by the way a complete waste of time,I felt that he had no cultural education or understanding,how much income is predicted for the Smith Center to bring in Annually,does anyone know,if it is not bringing in at least $80-$100,000,000 a year then it is a complete useless project,if the City wants to see this kind of income,then they have to be prepared to spend a further $200,000,000 so if somebody from City Hall wants to contact me on how this can be achieved then,my e-mail cybennett@gmail.com please only City officials are to contact me. they may do so,the newspaper has my e-mail.
Relevant information omitted from the Mob Museum:
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/Inside_Vegas_Archive.html
The Smith Center along with the Mob Museum will be a complete failure,just a waste of Taxpayers money,the Goodman family have no proper vision on how to create jobs and to bring in more money to our City,when I tried to explain this to the last Mayor over breakfast,which was by the way a complete waste of time,I felt that he had no cultural education or understanding,how much income is predicted for the Smith Center to bring in Annually,does anyone know,if it is not bringing in at least $80-$100,000,000 a year then it is a complete useless project,if the City wants to see this kind of income,then they have to be prepared to spend a further $200,000,000 so if somebody from City Hall wants to contact me on how this can be achieved then,my e-mail cybennett@gmail.com please only City officials are to contact me.
The mob museum is what it is: a part of Las Vegas history, nothing more, face it in good or bad. As for the rest of the mess; to me they hurt me more then facing the past. With all the problems this city has, Wynn and Adelson put their money elsewhere instead of helping the home that help them get rich in the first place. I don't expect them to give directly to me; but, it would help if they think about their own back yard instead of Macao and DC. I guess they are paying off their markers. If they thought about here, maybe the mess in the city and the state you have written about would not be happening.