One Man's View

Like a book, our lives have multiple chapters

2009-08-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

One Man’s View:

By Tim O'Callaghan (contact)
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009 5 p.m.

In the book of life, some people open and close chapters in their lives on a regular basis. However, I'm the type who doesn't do extreme change well — which probably explains my 28 years with the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News and a 30-year relationship with the Las Vegas Sun.

It was in July 1979 that I first walked into the Sun mailroom to help insert the paper. That is the process of placing advertising circulars into each newspaper. It was a hot, sweaty job, not to mention dirty. But it supplemented my other part-time job making ice cream for Swenson's, which was, in contrast, a much cleaner environment.

In late 1980, Hank Greenspun and my dad, Mike O'Callaghan, struck a handshake deal to buy the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News from Morry Zenoff. It was an interesting proposition for my mom and dad for many reasons. I think for him, the best reason was that he wrote sports stories for the Home News while he was a teacher at Basic High School.

By July 1981, my career as a Swenson's Kreme Meister ended and my immersion into newspapering began as a runner, carrier, route manager, distributor, graphic artist, photographer, proofreader, copywriter, copy editor, circulation manager, general manager, columnist, publisher and finally owner. My career has been influenced by many who helped me grow in ways they may have not known, such as Lorna Kesterson, John Dailey, Paul Szydelko, Jess Dixon, Burt Buy, Teddy Fenton, Bill Harbour, Sandy Thompson, Goldie Begley, Ruthe Deskin, Don Ploke, Tony Blei, Bob Morgan, Sylvia Field, Ray Brewer, D.J. Allen, Marilyn Pearson, Keith Foutz, John Peterson, Sherm Frederick, Doreen Reynolds, June Andrews, Jack McCloskey, Tony Hughes, Jim Sanford and every associate who trusted in me.

There are the more obvious influences, such as my loving bride, whom I would have never met had I not worked at the paper; my mom and dad; my brothers and sisters, especially Colleen who co-published the newspapers with me; and any number of the Greenspuns. I would be remiss if I failed to mention my column editor, Jean Reid Norman, who helped me become an award-winning columnist, as well as my most staunch critics. By the way, Jean's mother was my English professor at the College of Southern Nevada.

You must be wondering where this is leading, and if you've hung in reading thus far it is very simple. I'm closing a chapter in my life. On July 4, 2009, I sold my remaining shares of the newspapers to the Greenspun family.

This was not an easy decision for me or my family. Our family counted success through the lives of our employees — how many children and grandchildren were born, how many kids graduated, how many entered college — and we celebrated the lives of those who have gone before us. So many have touched our lives coming through our doors and then leaving to become bigger and better people.

However, when our parents passed in 2004, something changed in me. It had been brewing for a couple of years. My parents had planted a seed in me by example and, unbeknownst to me, my dad was watering, fertilizing and nurturing it.

On the night of Wednesday, March 3, 2004, I had gone to my parents' home to discuss the possibility of them watching our children while Donna and I went to Phoenix to explore entering a Diaconate formation program. It would require many weekends over years for me to reach ordination as a deacon.

My dad looked at me in his most serious demeanor, then smiled and said, "Your mom and I would be happy to watch the kids." He paused and then said, "You know, you really need to talk to the Bishop about bringing a deacon program here."

As I got up to leave, he gave me one last, deeply personal instruction that remains in my heart and I shall not share here.

On Friday, March 5, 2004, God called him home while he was attending daily Mass. The seed dad had nurtured so carefully sprouted on that day, too.

Before the Funeral Mass began, I told Bishop Joseph Pepe about my last conversation with Dad and how we needed a formation program in Las Vegas. The bishop looked at me for a moment and then said, "God works in mysterious ways. We are forming a Diaconate formation program with the Jesuits right now."

Five years have passed, and this weekend Donna and I will attend a retreat with several other brother candidates and their wives, marking the beginning of our fourth year of formation studies.

That little seed my father planted has grown into a tree, though a small tree. In the last three years, I have worked part-time for Bishop Pepe coordinating the Social Action Ministry and editing the diocesan newspaper, the Desert Clarion. I have also worked with U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, advocating for social justice on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised in our society and around the world. Last year, I was appointed as a consultant to the U.S. Bishops Committee on Domestic Justice, Peace and Human Development, which made me a member with voting rights along with the bishops.

Two years ago, I traveled to Africa with Catholic Relief Services to observe food security operations, HIV-AIDS programs and how U.S. policies affect them. These experiences have made it clear where I am headed next.

Newspapering has been a wonderful chapter in my life, and many of you have contributed to it. However, the time has come to close this chapter and pick up writing the new chapter in my life.

This week is my final submission to the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News in the form of One Man's View. Next week, I will continue working for the Diocese of Las Vegas and begin working in a local parish, where it is my prayer that the seed (the light of Jesus) planted by mom and dad will bear fruit.

Tim O’Callaghan writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Las Vegas doesn’t need an apology — it needs stimulus

2009-08-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

One Man’s View:

By Tim O'Callaghan (contact)
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 2:43 p.m.

It appears President Obama’s off-the-cuff remarks have been taken out of context by Nevada’s economically strained hoteliers and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has demanded an apology from the president.

During a town hall meeting Obama held to promote the economic stimulus package, he said, “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime” — referring to corporate CEOs.

Unfortunately, Las Vegas was probably at the top of his mind for a couple of reasons. The first was Wells Fargo Bank’s plans to hold a corporate event to recognize employees, as reported by the Associated Press last week. To the credit of Wells Fargo, the company quickly reversed its plans canceling the event. This was unfortunate for Las Vegas' economic woes, though.

The second reason is the Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs’ run for cover after the fallout from Wells Fargo. Those Wall Street types are a slick bunch, because they still plan on having their conference — only in San Francisco, not Las Vegas. Here’s the kicker: The Four Seasons San Francisco is advertising on Orbitz.com rates of $395 a night, while THEHotel at Mandalay Bay is advertising $243 for the same nights and same suite.

With that said, perhaps Goodman and company may have a hair to stand on for their hypersensitivity. However, what if the president instead mentioned Chicago, Atlanta or San Francisco? Well, I am not convinced it would have the same chilling effect on any city. I don’t think there will be a chilling effect at all.

The president was correct to say, “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime,” using federal bailout money.

This blowup begs the question of how many bailed-out companies are throwing conferences or parties anywhere using federal money. My guess is not many.

The bottom line is the president’s remarks will have very little effect on the convention business in Las Vegas. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “The President knows that Las Vegas is America’s premiere destination to do business. The city has more than 140,000 hotel rooms and tens of thousands of feet of meeting space.”

Perhaps, Oscar Goodman should retract his request for a presidential apology. We don’t need an apology — we need some economic stimulus.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Current path won’t fix health care

2009-08-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

One Man’s View:

By Tim O'Callaghan (contact)
Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009 4:53 p.m.

Most everyone in the United States knows health-care reform is needed. However, each may have his own idea of what reform should be. To me, it's quite obvious there are at least two points to consider.

The first is the cost of actual medical care and the second is medical coverage, or the mechanism to pay for the rising cost of medical care.

My personal experience from this past week has made this even clearer than ever before.

It started with a weekend at Lake Mohave two weeks ago, where we met up with some of our Orange County clan. While frolicking and jumping off rocks into the lake, our youngest must have picked up some bacteria in her ear. She returned to OC with the clan, where her ear exploded with ooze and became so inflamed it closed up.

Donna and I had gone up to Pioche in Lincoln County for a couple of days when the drama began to unfold, leaving any urgent care decision to our relative, Sharon. After they made a trip to the urgent care facility, then a second one and finally a trip to the ER without any results, we made a quick change of plans and immediately headed to Southern California. When we arrived, we made a call to Dr. Dushman, the family pediatrician, and explained everything that had occurred. To us, it seemed desperate after four doctors and eight different prescriptions with no improvement. He said she needed an ear wick to get the antibiotics into the ear. We had an appointment with a ear specialist, who confirmed what our pediatrician had told us over the phone.

All turned out well, although it leaves me wondering why it took so many doctors and prescriptions. We had to pay the deductibles, and the insurance company must cover the rest.

Even though the first four doctors didn't get it right, we don't recover our deductibles, and the insurance company still has to pay.

We can't return the unused meds to the pharmacy and, again, the insurance company still has to pay.

So what kind of health-care reform are we looking for?

The issue has become quite convoluted. But one thing is for sure: The bill proposed by the House of Representatives is flawed in many ways. It has the backs of the insurance industry, the medical community and average Americans up against the wall.

The Senate needs to listen to the American people and come up with reform that makes sense and is written in concise language that can be understood.

We need reform that is fair and provides coverage for every citizen that doesn't impede upon ability of Americans to have a choice in coverage.

The rhetoric is running deep and fast in the public debate, making it hard to decipher what is true and what is not.

The stakes are high with all sides skewing the truth.

The rhetoric needs to stop, solutions need to be created and reform needs to begin.

In my opinion, it should start with legislation that is less complicated than what is proposed by Congress.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Sotomayor proof of evolving melting pot

2009-07-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

One Man’s View:

By Tim O'Callaghan (contact)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 6:29 p.m.

The hot days of summer are finally upon us in the relentless Mojave Desert. Even for a native desert rat like myself the 110 degree temperatures can be tough. It seems just a bit hotter since my return from the Pacific Northwest where temperatures are either pleasantly warm or down right cold.

Things are apparently heating up in Washington DC as well with the opening of the Senate confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor and her honor in the hot seat.

It never fails to amaze me how the parties line up for or against the president’s nominee, to the point where their political colors are unmistakable no matter how qualified a nominee may be.

Seriously, don’t you think the small number of Americans that actually follow the confirmation hearings don’t see through the veil of political partisanship? Or are they also stuck on their own political agendas?

The most honest statement made during the opening day of the hearing was from Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, saying to Sotomayor, “Unless you have a complete meltdown, you are going to be confirmed.”

Then Graham followed up with a jab at her “Wise Latina” comment she had used in several speeches. She would say, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion.” And in one speech she added, “than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Not the wisest choice of words, however, it does ring with truth, and I hardly find it to be racist or sexist. I do find it ironic because, until my generation, white males pretty much controlled this country in every sense of the word. And by the way, if you haven’t noticed, the country is still dominated by white men.

However, things are changing in America, the “Melting Pot” of the world. If America is to continue the path set forth in the Declaration of Independence, we must accept it wouldn’t always be “all men are created equal” but it would evolve to be all people are created equal.

Yes, America is evolving in many ways as people pursue their happiness, struggle to keep their unalienable rights and for many to simply grasp those rights.

From the time I type this column to when you read it and to the end of the Senate Confirmation Hearing for Sonia Sotomayor, plenty can happen. However, I’m betting with Sen. Lindsey Graham to say Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed, because a meltdown is not likely to happen with one as strong, confident and qualified as she is.

Judge Sotomayor and I may not share all the same philosophies or the same life experiences, but I’m confident she will be a needed balance in the pursuit of blind justice for all.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

After 25 years, she still leaves me in the dust

2009-07-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

One Man’s View:

By Tim O'Callaghan (contact)

Wed, Jul 1, 2009 (5:48 p.m.)

Newport, ORE. — It was 27 years ago I first laid eyes upon Donna, affectionately know to readers as my bride, at the Las Vegas Sun, where she worked in the dispatch department. I was an ad runner while cutting my teeth in circulation at the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News.

I remember as though it were only yesterday when I walked passed the department with its fish-bowl appearance — in the old Sun building, almost all departments had glass upper walls so most everything was transparent, as it should be.

Anyway, there she stood with a stack of ads to be shuffled between production, the art department and sales. She was wearing a yellow T-shirt and overalls. Her long blonde hair framed her face with her blue eyes, and a devilish smirk stopped me dead in my tracks. However, her feelings were not exactly mutual, and it took a little time to sway her my way.

We had some common interests in motorcycles and dirt bikes, which led to our first date, which was to repair the flat tire on her Yamaha IT 175.

I was not the greatest mechanic but capable enough to fix a flat tire. Yep, it took three of us and only two hours get it done.

In contrast, today I can do it in 20 minutes.

With the tire fixed, we pursued our goal of going out to Boulder City to ride. It had been a while since I had last ridden a bike, but it’s like riding a bicycle — you never really forget, right?

Well, not exactly!

She had located a nice sized jump where she effortlessly launched into the air and landed with ease. After several jumps, she pulled up to me and said, “Here, you try.” I said, “No problem!” Boy was that an overstatement.

I launched, I flew and I landed on the ground, shredding my new 501s and my knees.

To this day, I’m still picking pebbles out of them — my knees that is.

Fortunately, I had a job so I could pay for any need repairs, like the handlebars, clutch handle and rear fender.

Oh, she has a wicked sense of humor. The only way she could get more laughs out of the situation was to continue dating me and ribbing me for the next 27 years.

Within two years, we would be walking down the aisle, but not without a few bumps in the road.

The first was our drive down to Brea, Calif., where we would let her grandma know we were getting married.

It went something like this: “Grandma, Tim and I are going to get married.”

She said, “Oh! You are? What church are you going to get married in?”

I said, “St. Anne’s in Las Vegas.”

She said, “Isn’t that a Catholic church?”

The soon-to-be bride chimed in, “Well, he is Catholic,” and Grandma said, “Oh no! You’re Catholic!!!”

I was stunned and I said to myself, “Yeah and your granddaughter is converting, to boot.”

As I mentioned to myself, my soon-to-be bride would begin the process of her conversion to Catholicism, which would take about a year.

No worries, except that her family was moving away from Las Vegas and she would have to move in with my mom and dad until the completion of her formation and our wedding day.

Talk about complicating matters. We worked in close proximity. Donna worked at the Sun with my dad. I worked at the Henderson and Boulder City papers with my mom. Donna now lived with them, and my dad had a curfew in his house, no matter how old you were.

By the way, we continued to work together most of the last 27 years.

During those years, we have laughed, played, struggled and cried together.

We have raised three beautiful children, each unique in their own way. I suspect you never really stop raising them.

We have celebrated the lives of three grandparents. We mourned the loss of my mom and dad, but together we also celebrated the accomplishments of their wonderful lives together.

To this day, we share the same interests we had when we first met, but it has come with some compromises, such as trading in her beloved motocross bike, respectfully named E.R., due to the stitches my bride received from their first encounter on Christmas Day.

The Bride cared for her bike as though it were a child, cleaning and primping it all the time. However, we agreed after we reached 45 years of age we would shift from two wheels to four on the dirt.

So as promised, she put E.R. out to pasture and converted to riding a quad.

So today, June 30, we celebrated by going salmon fishing off the coast of Oregon to spend treasured time together outdoors, where we have made so many memories.

For the record, we each caught one fish. Mine was the larger by a scale.

I can’t wait to see what the next 25 years will bring us.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Summer a good time for teens to volunteer

2009-06-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

One Man’s View:

By Tim O'Callaghan

Wed, Jun 10, 2009 (2:52 p.m.)

lassvegassun.com

Graduation week signals the hot days of summer are on the horizon in Southern Nevada. This is the time of year when the excitement and glitter of the Las Vegas Strip lures many local teens with nothing better to do than hang out with friends in the tourist corridor.

The hot topic among local parents is the lack of available jobs for high school teens this year. Kids are finding themselves competing for jobs at most fast food and retail businesses with older job seekers. I've noticed the increase of retired folks now back in the job market to supplement sagging or diminished retirement income.

As a parent, I'm concerned about the amount of free time teens have on their hands this summer, leaving them vulnerable to so many negative influences. Many will infiltrate the adult pool party circuit, keeping resort security teams on their toes. This summer we will see an increase of kids going to the Lake Mead Recreational Area to hang out with friends keeping cool in the lake. A number of young people will head to the cool air of Mount Charleston for hiking, picnics and games of Frisbee on the high meadows.

Except for the resort pool parties, the activities are good clean fun until mixed with drugs or alcohol. This is the time of year we tend to see an increase in alcohol-related accidents involving teens.

There are plenty of things for kids to do in Las Vegas, but most of them are on the Strip. There is the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus, rides at the Stratosphere, the roller coaster at New York New York and other spots on the Strip. All of them require money, which for many is lacking due to the economic crisis and not having a summer job.

Again, all of these places are on the Strip, where there are loads of other temptations and trouble to be found by teens.

Even the price of a movie in the theater is getting out of reach for many. Last week, I took my daughter to a movie and was surprised the price had reached $10.50 per ticket. No surprise the movie industry is booming, but what bugs me is the news reports stating many people are heading to the theaters to escape their troubles for a couple of hours. I may have mentioned that in a previous column.

The rub is with so many folks heading to the theaters, why are the prices so high? Sure, it's good ole American capitalism, but it seems to be leaning toward gouging.

After mentioning this to a few acquaintances, I'm finding many are waiting for major hits to come out on video.

Anyway, what I'm alluding to is the fact that many of our teens will have plenty of time to get into mischief of every degree, magnified by the lack of cash flow.

What I'm suggesting is turning some of that time into something useful, such as volunteering at a local nonprofit, animal shelter, hospice, hospital or church organization.

Volunteering has many benefits, such as building confidence and self-worth. Many young people need to develop interpersonal and communication skills needed in today's world. This can happen by volunteering. Keeping a regular schedule will help your teen establish the practice of discipline.

No, it's not going to put any cash in their pocket today, but it will pay off over time with experience gained.

Interested in getting your teen involved or perhaps yourself? A few places to start looking are:

Opportunity Village
839-4756
6300 W. Oakey Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89146
www.opportunityvillage.org

The Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada
1660 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89119
Phone: (702) 892-2321
www.volunteercentersn.org

Las Vegas Catholic Worker
500 W. Van Buren Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89106
(702) 647-0728
www.lvcw.org

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Reid getting ready for next big fight of his life

2009-05-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

One Man’s View:

By Tim O'Callaghan

Wed, May 27, 2009 (4:15 p.m.)

lassvegassun.com

Like any seasoned fighter, Harry Reid is in for the fight of his life. That's the way it is in square ring of boxing, and it is no different in the political ring. The next fight is always the biggest fight.

Today, Harry is the champion the crowd loves to hate. Like any good fighter, the Senate Majority Leader has a few scars — I'm sure one or two going back to when he first trained as a boxer under the tutelage of my father, former Nevada Gov. Mike O'Callaghan.

Big Mike, the most popular governor to serve the state of Nevada, saw something in the kid from Searchlight that perhaps others didn't see.

He had plenty of opportunity to get to know Harry well as a youth, both at the Henderson Boys Club, where Mike taught Harry boxing, and in the classroom at Basic High School, where he taught U.S. history and civics.

He saw enough in Harry to ask him to run as his lieutenant governor in 1970. He kept up with the incredible demands of Gov. O'Callaghan, who worked all hours of the day and night, especially during legislative sessions.

Harry Reid is training for the next big fight of his life. He may not be running in front of my dad's car on the dusty road between Henderson and Railroad Pass, as he used to as a boxer, but he is running the tough and demanding campaign trail in Nevada.

This campaign trail will be different from any other he has run before. Today he doesn't have a definitive opponent to speak of; yet, he has more challengers from beyond the state lines of Nevada than any candidate here has ever faced.

A likely challenger will emerge from outside the state of Nevada in the form of a carpetbagger. Don't discount any challengers from within the state of Nevada either, because there are plenty of sacrificial lambs roaming the open ranges of the state who would gladly get slaughtered for a chance at the U.S. Senate or 15 minutes of fame to use as a stepping stone in political gain.

The challengers, carpetbaggers and little lambs are busy building rhetorical land mines to scatter along the trail to VOTE 2010, such as convincing voters Harry is unpatriotic, out of touch or bad for Nevada.

The job of majority leader of the Senate is a thankless job for any member of the Senate no matter what party they are from. The leadership has to pull the entire party agenda no matter how liberal or conservative, leading the electorate at home to believe that is what the leader has become. The national spin begins to weigh heavier than 16-ounce gloves in the 12th round of a prize fight.

The reality is the numbers look bad, and the special interest groups are foaming at the mouth, thinking they have Harry up against the ropes before the first bell has rung. They don't give a hoot about Nevada or the people who live, work, are raising a family or have retired here. Their only concerns are their own agendas and how Harry Reid stands in their way.

Nevada is one of the least influential states in the union without seniority in the Congress of the United States. Without Harry Reid, Sen. John Ensign and Rep. Shelley Berkley, we would have little clout on a federal level. Nevada has a growing influence with Rep. Dean Heller, who would be wise to remain focused on his House seat to continue cultivating his growing leadership in Congress. Rep. Dina Titus is perfectly positioned to accelerate in a Democrat-led house.

Party politics has little influence on me, and it shouldn't on you. Rather, the politics on Nevada should be a main concern.

Although I have known Harry my entire life, I'm no Reid apologist. We have not always agreed on every issue, but when it comes to issues concerning Nevada, Harry is a world-class fighter.

When I said this would be a fight like no other, I meant it. Harry is no longer fighting in the square ring but rather the caged octagon with no rules and multiple challengers in all eight corners.

I can't predict the outcome, but I do know for sure Harry Reid will put up "The Good Fight."

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Bank bailout does little for those who need help most

2009-05-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Bank bailout does little for those who need help most

By Tim O'Callaghan

Tue, May 19, 2009 (11:13 a.m.)

lasvegassun.com

The big bank bailout does nothing for the ones who need it most.

How does that old saying go? “No good deed goes unpunished.” Perhaps more fitting for today’s mortgage crisis it should say, “No good mortgage payment history will get aid.” The more people I talk to about their mortgages, the more clear it becomes that people were confused about the bank bailout. It was never meant to assist Americans having trouble making their mortgage payments. The idea of saving the big banks was more about keeping them solvent and keeping depositors from making a run on the banks. In the minds of many Americans, it was also intended to stimulate the availability of money for banks to make loans.

It appears many banks that received the money from the government by way of John Q. Public — that would be you and I and heck, who knows how many future generations — won’t even talk to debtors until they fall inescapably behind on their mortgage payments.

I’m not surprised by the number of people telling me their balloon payment hasn’t hit or their adjustable rate hasn’t gone up yet, but will be coming in the next year. Most are unable to refinance because they are too far under water to do so. In other words, the debt on their home is greater than its value. As I mentioned in a previous column, many of these questionable mortgages were still being sold in fourth quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008.

One couple I know can’t refinance or get a loan, because one has been laid off and the other is expecting to be laid off soon. They are representative of our state’s double-digit unemployment rate — victims of a bad economy with very little hope in the future. This would be a good time to explore services needed in this time of distress and fill the need with a small business.

More needs to be done to help protect homeowners in bad mortgages who make their payments on time but are struggling to do so. There may be hope on the horizon for some through changes in the federal Making Home Affordable program. The idea is to give lenders incentives to modify loans to homeowners who are upside-down or under water. It’s estimated that 21 percent of homes in the United States were upside-down, loan to value, at the end of March this year.

While on the subject, I suggest reading these helpful tips on avoiding foreclosure rescue scams from Making Home Affordable.

• There is never a fee to get assistance or information about Making Home Affordable from your lender or a HUD-approved housing counselor.

• Beware of any person or organization that asks you to pay a fee in exchange for housing counseling services or modification of a delinquent loan. Do not pay — walk away!

• Beware of anyone who says he can “save” your home if you sign or transfer over the deed to your house. Do not sign over the deed to your property to any organization or individual unless you are working directly with your mortgage company to forgive your debt.

• Never submit your mortgage payments to anyone other than your mortgage company without their approval.

For more information, go to makinghomeaffordable.gov.

Gas prices

On another economic front, have you noticed the price of gas is making its annual summer price hike up the charts? According to the Energy Information Administration, the average price per gallon of regular unleaded has jumped from $2.138 on March 31 to $2.34 on May 18. I have no predictions of how high it might go over the summer, but my guess is it may remain stable, because so many families are staying closer to home this year, keeping overall consumption down.

Reflective curb addresses

Last week I received an orange flier on my garage door soliciting $20 to have a reflective address number painted on the curb in front of my house.

This isn’t the first time this has happened, and just as before I threw it in the garbage. However, many years ago I did pay to have numbers painted on the curb and a couple of years after that, another group came along and painted over it, covering up the black numbers when I said it didn’t need repainting. Didn’t really matter, because we have large numbers on the front of our house, which are required by CC&Rs.

What is different this time around is not only have they painted addresses on the curbs, but they have painted the street names on the corner curbs, too. Personally, I think the painted street names are ugly as can be in the daylight, but at night they are much better than the street signs.

Heck, for $20 you can paint your own and those of all your neighbors, too.

Living through a parent’s worst fear

2009-05-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

Wed, May 6, 2009 (9:56 a.m.)

http://www.lasvegassun.com/staff/tim-ocallaghan/

Parents: Have you ever considered what steps to take if your child was ever missing?

Young people: Have you ever considered the immeasurable pain and worry your parents experience when they don’t know where you are?

Two weeks ago, my bride and I were preparing for an overnight trip to Arizona to take care of some business when I received a text from Carli, our son Sean’s girlfriend. It read, “Hey Mr. O, have you heard from Sean today?”

It was curious, because that is what I usually text her when I’m unable to reach our adventurous, 21-year-old college student.

I said to my bride, “This is a strange text message from Carli. Maybe you should call her.” As I was driving, Donna was calling to find out what’s up.

When she answered the phone, Carli said she was concerned because Sean and his buddy had not returned from a fishing trip to Squaw Creek near Lake Tahoe early that morning. She had expected him around 3 a.m.

Normally, I would have suggested everyone keep calm and give it some time. However, there was a severe storm with high winds and snow the night before. I have been stuck in the snow on an occasion or two. It was certainly possible he may have gotten stuck in the snow as well, I thought.

Our trip would have to wait so we headed home.

First, we needed to confirm he wasn’t in his Reno apartment sleeping off a late night of fishing. We enlisted Pearl Miller, our longtime family friend and my father’s executive assistant when he was governor.

She gladly offered to rouse him out of bed — as she had done to me a few times when I was much younger.

About 20 minutes had passed when she called confirming he and his car were not there. She left a note for him or one of his roommates to call us when they found the note on the door.

A gnawing fear

Our level of concern was growing and amplified by Pearl’s concern about the high winds and snow the night before.

The normal rule is to wait 24 hours before calling out the troops, but as my bride looked across the kitchen table at me with a look of anguish that only a mother fearing for the safety of her child can give, I began to fear the worst had happened.

Parental fear is a force that can crush the strongest of men. I have witnessed it a few times growing up in the eyes of my own mother and father. I never really understood it until now. It’s primeval in nature.

Hunting for answers

My first instinct was to catch a flight to Reno and begin a search, but my better senses kicked in, allowing me to get a grip on the situation. We pulled out the laptop after putting together a strategy that included checking with law enforcement agencies in the area and checking GoogleEarth to get a good idea of what the area looked like.

I called the California Highway Patrol and was referred to the Truckee-area command, where I spoke to a non-emergency dispatcher. He asked me all the details including Sean’s name, date of birth, hair color, weight, Social Security number, car info and license plate number.

Amazingly, the bride had pulled all the details together from her trusty filing cabinet ready to give to whoever needed it.

Lesson one: Parents, keep an updated list of information on your kids, including car license plates.

The very helpful dispatcher said, “You realize he is 21. This is common with kids his age.”

I answered, “Yes, I do, but, there are circumstances here.”

He said, “The good news is we haven’t had any contact with him in the last 24 hours.”

Then I contacted the Placer County Sheriff’s Department with the same results: no contact in the past 24 hours. The helpful female dispatcher asked me for my number, saying she would call me back if she heard anything new.I kept wondering: Why would he head up to that area in the wind and snow to go fishing? What possessed him to do something so foolish?

The worst-case scenario was setting in my heart when the phone rang. It was Carli’s mom, Suzy Portz, asking if there was anything she could do. I was choked up and told her I didn’t think so. She suggested we call Sean’s cell company to see if it could trace or get a location on his phone. She offered to do it for us.

In the meantime I was googling the heck out of “Squaw Creek” when I read the link “Squaw Creek Reservoir, Washoe County, Nevada.” Not a minute later, Carli called with the same information.

Lesson two: Kids, always tell someone where you’re going. Write it down, be exact and tell them when you will be back.

While we were concentrating on the California side of the high Sierra Nevada Mountains, Sean and his fishing buddy were most likely in a remote area near the Black Rock Desert in Washoe County, Nevada.

Carli’s mom, Suzy, got in touch with a relative in Reno who has contacts in law enforcement in Washoe County to see if they could assist or if they had contact with the boys in the past 24 hours.

About two hours after we contacted the Placer County Sheriff’s office, a deputy called to say he had thoroughly searched the area of Squaw Creek, near Truckee, Calif., with no sign of the vehicle or the boys. He was sure they weren’t in his jurisdiction. I confirmed with him that we were now searching Washoe County.

Good news

After about four hours of worry, a Washoe County deputy sheriff from Gerlach called to tell us he had found the boys at Squaw Creek Reservoir in Washoe County.

“I thought you should know I located Sean,” he said. “He is a bit of a hero up here today. He pulled a man out of the cold water, probably saving his life.”

He also told me Sean was confused why anyone would be looking for him this early in the day, because he wasn’t due back until 3 p.m.

Remember lesson two?

We went back through our list of people and agencies we had contacted to let them know we had located him.

Even though we were relieved, we were left drained and numb by this experience. Sean called us to get details of all the fuss before he called Carli — I think he was gauging just how much trouble he was in with her.

He gave us the details how he assisted a 72-year-old man who fell into the frigid water after the man capsized his boat reaching for a dropped oar.

Our advice to Sean was to be specific with time of day, because there is a big difference between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. when someone is expecting your return. Then as far as gauging Carli, he would have to make that call on his own.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Finding where Nevada gets revenue is a taxing experience

2009-04-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

This first published April 21, 2009 in the Henderson Home News website, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication. Here

Have you ever sat down for a moment to examine where the state of Nevada gets its revenue? I have, and it's slim pickings to say the least.

I downloaded a copy of the Nevada Department of Taxation Combined Sales & Use Statistical Report to explore the budget woes.

I've always looked at income to determine how much I can spend in any given budget year. That's what I set out to do with the state budget, but I got sidetracked by the staggering changes in revenue flow.

There are just over 100 taxable sales and use categories that contribute to the states revenue stream, which doesn't seem like a lot. Some are small contributors and other are enormous. However, I'm sure other categories could be added.

The first two categories on the taxable list may surprise those of you who have not ventured far enough north of North Las Vegas to discover that ranching and farming do exist in Nevada. Those of you living within a breeze of R.C. Farms, the pig farm, are very familiar with the fact we have categories, 111 Crop Production, and especially 112 Animal Production.

What is interesting is crop production was up 15 percent for the first half of fiscal year 2008-09, producing $7.3 million in revenue. According to the state of Nevada Department of Taxation 2008-2009 Personal Property Manual, taxable property "Includes machinery and equipment such as tractors, combines, hay balers, forage harvesters, unlicensed farm vehicles including utility trailers, wagons and utensils used to grow crops mainly for food and fiber. The subsection comprises establishments, such as farms, orchards, groves, greenhouses, and nurseries, primarily engaged in growing crops, plants, vines, or trees (including Christmas trees) and their seeds."

Peri & Sons Farms in Yerington is one of the best producers of onions in the U.S. It produces over 3,000 acres of sweet, yellow, red and white onions every year. Last year while we were visiting family there, I noticed the Peri's were also growing baby greens, too.

In the same period, tax revenue from Animal Production fell 2 percent but is still producing $1.2 million in revenue.

With that said, I'm not surprised revenue from crop production is up and animal production is still relatively stable. It is an indication of how hard Nevada ranchers and farmers must work to earn a living for their families. Farms, ranches and equipment, which are all part of the tax equation, are expensive to buy, operate and maintain.

Then there's Category 722, Food Service and Drinking Places. What I find interesting about this is not the 10 percent decline in revenue statewide, rather, the changes in various counties. For instance, there is loud clamoring from Clark County bars and grills that the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act has, well, cleaned them out. People are not coming in anymore because they can't smoke, drink, eat and gamble at the same time.

I actually bought in to this idea until I started looking at the county-by-county numbers. While Clark and Washoe have bar-breaking declines of 10 and 12.5 percent respectively, many of Nevada's smaller counties had upswings in sales tax revenue. For example, Carson City had a 7 percent gain, on the low end, while Eureka had an amazing 30 percent gain in revenues on the high end.

Although, I can't say for sure, it's likely that the rural county increases can be attributed to the continued boom in mining.

Food Service and Drinking Places provided the highest sales and use tax revenue stream for state coffers at $3.6 billion in the first half of 2007-08 and are down to $3.2 billion for the first half of this fiscal year. If this trend continues, it will lead to more than half a billion of the $2.8 billion budget shortfall facing Nevada. With that said, I'm not convinced this shortfall can be laid only on the back of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act. However, I must admit it didn't help either.

From my own observations, I've noticed the folks who dined at high-end establishment have been eating at Chili's and Applebee's and the folks eating at those establishment are now eating more often at fast food places. In other words Nevadans are notching down a bit and eating at home more often than not.

Even though families may be eating out less, it appears they have been going to the movies more often. The movie industry is booming and ticket sales are way up. That doesn't mean theater operators are doing better, because concession sales are way down. News reports have attributed the gain in ticket sales to the people needing to escape the realities of a bad economy, even if it's for a couple of hours.

In my family's experience, we have gone to the movies more often recently, making sure we catch a movie right after dinner. My bride prefers I get the bag of popcorn as opposed to the bucket and bottled water so she can pour in one of those nifty soft drinks in a packet.

More recently we have been hitting the video store and staying home. Last weekend we had a what we call a date night, when all of the kids are out with friends and we have no one to answer to. We went out, had a margarita, a burrito then stopped at the local theater bought a bucket of popcorn and headed home to watch one of the many unopened DVDs we own.

By the way, the bucket of popcorn was $7.50 — and theater owners are wondering why sales are down.

What does this have to do with the state budget crisis? A lot if you consider the drop in tax revenue, the drop in household incomes, the need to raise revenues to pay for, let's say, higher education and the ability of households to pay for that higher education?

The Nevada Legislature needs to raise taxes in order to get out of this mess. The tough question is whose ox is going to get gored?

There is room in the revenue stream to expand some sales and use taxes in small increments without increasing bureaucracy. I wouldn't suggest a tax on services such as hair stylist, barbers and pool sweeper per se, because that would require an entire agency for collection and enforcement.

Nevada's budget crisis is a vicious cycle, which leaves me to ask: How much of your ox are willing to have gored?

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News.

A world without newspapers will be dumber

2009-03-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

This first published March 26, 2009 in the Henderson Home News website, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

While newspapers across the country shutter their newsrooms and empty the ink from their presses, there is a good deal of sadness surrounding the historic change in how Americans get their news.

There appears to be a hero in the U.S. Senate who has proposed legislation to bail out newspapers, sort of.

Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., has introduced a bill that would allow newspapers to choose tax-exempt status. The bill would allow newspapers to request 501(c)3 status. However, this status would prevent newspapers from endorsing political candidates.

That, my friends, is risky business, the first swing of the axe at the foundation of the First Amendment, in my view. That makes the Newspaper Revitalization Act a dangerous compromise to the First Amendment.

But the alternative concerns me. The newspaper industry as it exists is in grave danger, and there are deeper concerns to think about when considering the elimination of the printed word.

The closing of newspapers may lead to the dumbing down of America even further than has occurred.

As I contemplate a nation without newspapers, I can’t help but think about the most ridiculous movie I have ever watched. The 2006 film “Idiocracy,” directed by Mike Judge, is surely one of the dumbest movies ever made, yet it has some serious undertones.

The story is about Private Joe Bauer, an average, underachieving Army librarian who is selected to participate in a secret military experiment “Human Hibernation Project.” He and a prostitute named Rita are placed in a state of hibernation for what is supposed to be one year. The man in charge of the project is arrested, however, leaving the pair suspended in time for 500 years.

When they are accidentally awakened in 2505, they discover the nation is in shambles, run by illiterate couch potatoes. The average Joe finds himself to be the smartest man in the world.

Surely this is far-fetched and unlikely, right? But it’s where my mind takes me when I think of a nation without newspapers.

Perhaps, it will only lead to a world that is more “back to the future,” where an educated elite is granted all of the rights.

Obviously, I’m not a prophet and I don’t have a clue to the future. However, the movie provides me a vision of an exaggerated concern I have with people relying on the Internet as an accurate news source.

Day in and day out, friends and family have sent me e-mails they received about whatever you can imagine. Most of what they were reading was untrue, yet it looked authentic, with dozens of attributions.

It got to the point where I was sending them back the e-mails, telling them what a disservice it was to forward the inaccuracies.

Today, they send me inquiries of whether something is true or not so I can check the facts for them, then reply.

The case I make for newspapers is that most good newspapers have fact checkers and editors to keep information accurate. However, no one is perfect and mistakes are made. Therefore, in reliable papers, there is a corrections box on page 2 or 3. This is to correct the record for history, whereas in cyberspace, once it’s out, it is almost impossible to retrieve or correct.

Here is a reality check for those of you who are giving up your newspaper for news from the Internet for free! There are no free lunches, at least in the long term.

The Internet news model doesn’t work like the dinosaur newspaper model. In other words, the price point that Internet companies receive for advertising is less than what newspapers charge, creating a revenue problem or lack of revenue to pay for expenses, such as fact checkers, editors and reporters.

My point is that while the Internet provides a buffet of news sources for the small price of Internet access today, it won’t be so tomorrow. Quality news organizations will become coveted, pushing the market to an all-paid model.

You will have to pay for your news in one form or another. Perhaps, your Internet provider will charge you a news surcharge, which it will pay to subscribe to a quality news source.

Sadly, the truth isn’t free, leaving the question of who is willing to pay for accurate news and how much are they willing to pay?

Large newspaper Web sites will be forced to charge subscription fees in order to become profitable. That’s no different from your daily newspaper, except the subscription fee will be used for direct operations rather than to offset delivery cost.

As I struggle to hold onto my parents’ dream of providing quality community news on paper, the rest of the world is looking at the day when all of your news will be free on the Internet.

That’s what keeps the ember glowing in my heart, because I know newspapers will stick around in one form or another without compromising our First Amendment rights.

If left unbridled, the Internet could lead to illiteracy or, worse, a grossly misinformed public. As the gates of the Fourth Estate become blurred, information seekers will have a difficult time determining news from fiction. This would open the door wider for fiction to become history, if left unchecked.

There is some irony here in that this column will probably not be printed in the paper. This column will forever float in cyberspace on dozens of servers around the world, where my grandchildren will be able to find it with ease and read it for a few bucks.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News.

Where’s the money? It’s spent

2009-03-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

This first published March 24, 2009 in the Henderson Home News website, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

It can be found in Las Vegas’ foreclosed homes

Have a little cash? Buy a home in foreclosure, for goodness’ sake.

First-time home buyers may be keeping Las Vegas alive as they swoop in on the distressed housing market. There are deals to be had in Las Vegas.

The question of the day is, will they have a job tomorrow to keep up with the mortgage payments?

Last week, I met with a community organizer from Tucson, Ariz., and our conversation quickly turned to the economy — specifically the Las Vegas economy.

He asked when I thought things would turn around for Las Vegas. Whenever I’m asked that or a similar question, I give my stock answer, “Not very soon.” As I have written before, the mortgage dilemma will continue for another four years if the government doesn’t step in to assist. I’m not suggesting the government get involved, but rather stating my opinion on the situation.

The reason I say Las Vegas won’t recover very soon is the same reason the Big Three auto companies won’t recover anytime soon — or at all for that matter.

As I told my visitor, there is little money left for Americans to spend. If you happen to be wondering where all the money is, I’ll tell you what I told him. As I pointed my finger out my office window in a wide sweep across the Strip I said, “The money is out there in all those hotels — and not just those hotels, but also hotels in New York, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and many more cities across this country. The money is in millions of cars and SUVs that are being repossessed by banks and finance companies. The money is in exotic vacation spots around the world.

The money is in colleges and universities, spent by hopeful parents so that their children might have a greater opportunity than themselves. Many of those hopes have been dashed by deflating investments and 401(k)s.

Get it? The money is spent! Those buildings and dreams were built on the backs of many American mortgages, and when the equities dried up, the building stopped. Jobs were lost, homes sales tanked, and the economic tsunami was put into a full roll.

In Las Vegas, gaming companies gambled in a big way or never really thought about where the prosperity was coming from. How many gaming companies leveraged themselves? The answer is all of them.

It’s hard to believe the decision-makers couldn’t see this coming. Didn’t CEOs see what was happening in their personal finances? Did they think the boom would never go bust?

As long as tourists were doing their own kind of leveraging with credit cards and home equity lines, the facade — or house of cards, as I’ve been calling it — would hold up. Everyone just had to keep playing.

Now, it is what it is.

I, like many people, made good personal financial decisions by not leveraging everything we own into oblivion. Who is going to bail us out as we are affected economically by the carelessness of others? The answer is no one.

More than 140,000 people are jobless today in Southern Nevada alone. Millions are across this nation. Is there any hope for them? Not immediately.

The reality is no one will get through this recession unscathed. But I’m willing to bet there will be more new small businesses spawned in the coming years than ever before in our history.

That’s a bet worth taking. The final question is, will you be willing to bet on America? If you have a secure job, have never owned a home and plan on sticking around, you should invest in a home.

This is probably a good time for first-time buyers to snatch up a deal, according to the National Association of Realtors. Lawrence Yun, the group’s chief economist, said first-time buyers accounted for half of all home sales last month, with activity concentrated in lower price ranges.

“Because entry-level buyers are shopping for bargains, distressed sales accounted for 40 to 45 percent of transactions in February,” he said. “Our analysis shows that distressed homes typically are selling for 20 percent less than the normal market price, and this naturally is drawing down the overall median price.”

It may be drawing down median prices, but it’s the only action out there right now.

What are you waiting for?

Nevada can’t afford another ‘Empty Suit’ in 2010

2009-03-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

This first published March 18, 2009 in the Henderson Home News website, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

When Nevadans look in the executive leadership closet, they keep finding the same old empty suit. Gov. Jim Gibbons continues the same habits he possessed while in Congress — that is absence.

Jim Gibbons should have never been elected governor and would not have been if the Democrats had been more strategic or the Republicans had convinced Bob Beers to get off his single issue of the "Tax and Spend Initiative."

Hindsight is definitely 20/20. But it sure makes me feel like a pundit to look back at a column I published July 6, 2006.

During Campaign '06, every time Jim Gibbons faced controversy, he would go underground and become as quiet as a church mouse while his handlers would clean up and spin the mess.

At the time, I wrote, "While every other candidate seems to be voicing his or her positions, I don't recall the good congressman (Jim Gibbons) saying a heck of a lot since he supposedly plagiarized a speech in rural Nevada."

Another observation was, "I've heard plenty of people talk about his unwillingness to debate the issues. I tend to ask them, 'What else can we expect from an empty suit?'"

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "a leopard can't change its spots." In this case, the governor can't change his ways. When things get tough in the capital, he seems to take refuge in Elko, where he is more accepted and less likely to be challenged. However, I'm sure he has worn out a bit of his welcome there, too.

Obviously this tactic worked to get him elected, and I even suggested in my column in 2006 that staying low would be helpful in getting elected.

"Although he is doing well in the polls, he may be better off to just continue to keep a low profile. He has done very little as the congressman from Northern Nevada and continued to be re-elected. This may be a very good strategy. As you know, it worked for President Bush, too."

But I didn't say that would be an effective way to govern the state of Nevada.

Back in July 2006, I was fairly kind to the congressman who never seemed to be in Washington, D.C., whenever I was. I pointed out, "Jim Gibbons is a very likable fellow, so don't count him out too quickly. He could have the Republican primary sewed up, for the most part, and may be completely unscathed and energized to pick apart whatever remains are left on the table from the Democrats, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas."

Beers, the governor's primary opponent, could have been a strong choice, except for his one-track mind and single campaign objective.

I wrote, "Not so fast — let's not forget the ever tenacious and single-issued Bob Beers. If he could spread his wings a bit and show voters he is more than a no-tax, ultra-conservative, then his campaign may take off. Beers needs to show voters he cares about more than TASC, the 'Tax and Spend Control' initiative."

Because of Beers' one-track mind, Gibbons emerged unscathed. But like the leopard, the spots would eventually reappear in the form of trouble, and that trouble was Chrissy Mazzeo. That bit of political scat would have sunk best of political candidates, except that the Democrats had left each other in shreds after the primary.

So what does this column I wrote in July 2006 have to do with today? Simply, folks are throwing their hats in the ring for the election in 2010. Both parties should be planning a strategy to bring their best candidates to the dance. History often repeats itself. 2010 could have a few similarities to the election in 2006, but certainly not the consequences of the past two years of the Gibbons administration — unless the state is unfortunate enough to re-elect him.

Jim Gibbons has indicated he plans on running for re-election. Fellow Republicans North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon, who terms out as mayor, and former state Sen. Joe Heck, who was tossed from Senate District 5 last fall, have thrown their hats in the ring.

The Democrats have no confirmations, but a couple of strong candidates have expressed an interest in the Governor's Mansion, including Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid and Speaker of the Assembly Barbara Buckley.

Of course, this is America and anyone with the filing fee is free to run for office — even an empty suit.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News .

Hey Pa.: Keep your waste in your own backyard

2009-03-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

This first published March 9 2009 in the Henderson Home News website, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Today I was trolling the blogs and newspaper web pages when I happened to read this amusing editorial by Denny Bonavita, editor and publisher of McLean Publishing Co. in west-central Pennsylvania, which includes the Courier-Express in DuBois, Pa.

The “Our Opinion” penned by Mr. Bonavita is titled “If Not Yucca, Where?” and starts out by accusing the president of “pandering to Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate.” It then goes on to throw a little mud in Senator Reid’s face by continuing it “further muddies Obama’s credentials as an effective, bipartisan president. But that’s fine.”

OK Denny, so that’s fine. But the president usually doesn’t pander to the Senate leadership, no matter what side of the aisle they lead. It’s usually the other way.

This is where I begin to find his editorial amusing, if not hypocritical, when he makes a few interesting statements such as this beauty:

“We have just one nagging question.

“The federal government is obligated by law to accept the used reactor fuel from 104 commercial power reactors, but as yet it has no place to put it. The spent fuel, growing at the rate of 2,000 tons a year, is being held in pools and above-ground concrete containers at reactor sites.

“What happens to it?”

That’s easy for me to answer with a rhetorical question, such as, “What have you been doing with your garbage for the past 20 years?”

He follows up with, “What happens to us if terrorists steal it? If earthquakes or tornadoes spread it?”

This editorial reminds me of a neighbor I once had who would pick up his dog’s used dog fuel and toss it over his back wall instead of putting it in his own garbage can.

Anyway, I suggest they start shipping those super-duper, train crash-resistant canisters that were proposed for Yucca Mountain to the nuclear power plants around the country. Perhaps they might start with Pennsylvania.

The editorial goes on: “But no state wants to host the long-term storage site. The Nevada site had been vetted by previous administrations, both Republican and Democratic. Yes, Nevada loses.”

Well Denny I’m afraid that’s where you’re wrong. The political game called congressional seniority is how Nevada got screwed in the first place. We elected a dressmaker over Nevada’s second most powerful senator in history, Howard Cannon.

Today, Harry Reid is the most powerful senator ever to represent the people Nevada.

It has taken people such as Harry Reid, John Ensign, Shelley Berkley, Jon Porter and Dean Heller our congressional delegation of the past several years, to get the nuke screw out of our backside. The odds have always been stacked against Nevada, with only three members of the House of Representatives compared to Pennsylvania’s 22 members of the house.

By the way Denny, how many dogs — oops, I meant nuke plants — do you have in your back yard? Nevada has zero!

One last bit of irony. He wrote, “But we have no way to deal with the waste, which can kill us by the millions.”

OK, let me understand this. Nevada has to give a little bit. Therefore, it’s OK if terrorists try to steal 5-ton casks of your garbage from our backyard, and it’s OK if the garbage can kill millions of Nevadans.

For some reason, I fail to see your logic.

Or perhaps I’m just as big a NIMBY as you.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News.

Bill could prohibit offenders from taking DUI classes online

2009-03-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

This first published March 3 2009 in the Henderson Home News website, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

I received a call from Sandy Heverly of Stop DUI asking if I had a copy of a column I had written in 2004 about a DUI Victim Impact Panel I had attended with my then-16-year-old son, Sean.

She is preparing to testify next week on AB 209 before the Committee on Judiciary at the Nevada Legislature.

Apparently NRS 484.3797 allows DUI schools or Victim Impact Panels via the Internet. This bill would reverse that.

The law as it stands is a travesty to me, because it removes the human tragedy and strips the human face off the victim by allowing offenders to escape facing victims in person and sober.

During a telephone conversation, Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, described a scenario to me of the offender sitting home on a Saturday afternoon watching a ball game, sucking down a few brews then losing interest in the game. What to do now? Uh, maybe I'll get DUI School out of the way. So he sits down with a six-pack in his belly to complete his court-ordered class.

Manendo is spot on. DUI offenders should never, never have the opportunity to self-medicate before experiencing a life-changing event such as the Stop DUI Victim Impact Panel. If offenders have an ounce of humanity in their flesh, they will be changed by the panel, even if it is only temporary.

I foresee a bit of challenge to the simple changes in this law, because there is money to be made by Internet companies. Follow the money on this bill or the lobbyist for that matter. A quick visit to the Nevada DMV Web site, dmvnv.com/dlschoolsdui.htm, reveals a boatload of companies that may have something at stake, including the City of Las Vegas Municipal Court, operates it own online classes at www.lasvegasduischool.com and advertises it is the "Exclusive Provider of DUI School for the Las Vegas Municipal Court!"

The Web site also reads, "Following your registration, you study the course materials online and then answer the quiz questions. There is no need to attend a boring class, listen to long lectures or watch repetitive videos. Study at your leisure, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Can you imagine this? "Honey, would you stop and grab me a 12-pack for when I sit down to attend my DUI School on the computer?"

The in-person Victim Impact Panel just cannot be given justice that way. To see why, I want to share with you the column Heverly was asking about, originally published June 24, 2004.

Stop DUI rarely leaves a dry eye

"Do you know what this is?" the speaker asked.

"A body bag," someone answered from the audience of 276 driving under the influence offenders.

"That's right, but not for me, Bobby Kintzel," the speaker added. It wasn't for him even after being hit by a sports utility vehicle speeding at 95 mph.

Former Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Robert "Bobby" Kintzel was laying down spike strips on the U.S. 95 to stop a fleeing suspect when he became the target of the suspect he was trying to stop.

Holding up a lesser-sized bag, Kintzel continued his lesson.

"This is a smaller bag for smaller (body) parts and if there is anything left that is unidentifiable, it goes in this," he said. "This is a biohazard bag, but not for me. I am still here."

The ex-trooper doesn't remember anything about the day he died, except what he reads in police reports and what people tell him.

Yes, he did die. Kintzel's life ended that day as far as he is concerned.

He was reborn after lying unresponsive in the intensive care unit for weeks. After nearly three years of rehabilitation, he returned to work in a civilian capacity last February.

In this capacity, the former Marine has declared war against drunken drivers.

"I am in a war, and if you drink and get behind the wheel, you are the enemy," he said.

Kintzel is not against drinking. In fact he candidly talks about popping a beer while sitting down to watch a baseball game on television that was rained out. He had just taken a sip, just a sip.

The game was off and so he thought a movie would be nice. Asking his wife to take him to the video store, she was too busy.

Did he get behind the wheel? Absolutely not.

This man is hero material.

Kintzel was one of three speakers at the monthly STOP DUI Victims Impact Panel at the Flamingo Library in Las Vegas. The panelists each discussed their gut-wrenching experiences. However, as an observer to the court-ordered panel, I was struck by other observations.

I was invited by Sandy Heverly, executive director of Stop DUI, to attend the Victims Impact Panel. She greeted my son and me, giving us a quick outline of how the panel operated and the procedures for entering the panel.

Because of the high volume of Hispanic offenders, the organization has a separate Spanish-speaking panel. This night there were 71 offenders attending the Spanish session.

She said the panel had used interpreters and headphones for Spanish-speaking offenders, however, the emotion of the victims got lost in the translation. The Spanish panel has been a much better success for the courts and STOP DUI, she said.

The first rule of the panel is attendants must be fully sober, which includes absolutely no consumption of alcohol on the day of the panel. If offenders show up with alcohol on their breath, they are asked to leave and come back the following month.

This night was no different for one fellow. He said he only had a sip off his girlfriend's beer earlier in the day.

Too bad, so sad.

He was asked to leave and invited to return next month.

Hopefully, his court date is not before the next panel. If so, he could possibly suffer some sanctions by the court for not meeting its requirements.

We had asked to sit in the front center row to have a full view of the audience and hear comments before the presentation.

I was disappointed in the lack of humanity shown by members of the audience. They were rude, insensitive, loud and obnoxious.

More profanity was spoken here than anywhere I have ever been. Among the lowest of human trash, one could spot the more cultured of society. A doctor dressed in scrubs was the most obvious, although there were several people in business suits.

The audience was representative of every socioeconomic level. It was sickening to listen to the complaining by offenders for having to attend the panel.

Heverly sat fully composed, responding to a barrage of idiotic questions and comments before the panel started.

"Are we going to see a movie?" one young lady asked sarcastically. "And have popcorn."

Heverly never lost her composure, although I was squirming in my seat, biting my tongue.

What she knew that I didn't was there would be a transformation over the next 90 minutes. Laughing and smirking would turn to tears and remorse during this time.

Victims' faces and their stories were riveting. The pain they suffer now and forever is real. It doesn't go away.

Images of dismembered Southern Nevadans forever etched in offenders' memories hopefully will serve as a reminder not to drink and drive.

Emotions high, senses tingling, mind and body on overload, my son and I sat among the silent offenders.

It was deafening.

It was numb and the transformation was complete. No more rude, bragging, insensitive, loud and obnoxious comments. My wish is they never return.

My faith in humanity restored, and I have a new hero to cheer. We should think twice before drinking and driving.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News.

Congresswoman Berkley is "Mad as Hell"

2009-03-05T07:40:00.000-08:00

Rep. Shelley Berkley responded to a barrage of political attacks on Las Vegas, however, let's keep it real, these attacks are against Sen. Harry Reid.
Then there is the old disdain for Las Vegas from the extreme conservative right.

Here is what Rep. Berkley released yesterday....

(March 4, 2009 -- Washington, D.C.) Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today responded to Congressional critics of Las Vegas and to lawmakers who have attacked funding for Nevada projects, including the proposed Mag-lev high speed train. Berkley delivered her comments in a speech from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Her remarks are as follows:
Statement of Congresswoman Shelley Berkley
Mr. Speaker, I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore.

I've had enough of my colleagues bashing my district, my hometown, and the community I love, Las Vegas.

I've sat back as Las Vegas has been maligned, insulted, and lied about for the sole purpose of making political points.

I've been waiting for common sense to prevail. But I'm here to say that this nonsense, the bashing and lies about Las Vegas have got to end and they have got to end now.

It started with Senator McConnell's misguided attack on the stimulus bill by singling out a mob museum in Las Vegas as an earmark in the stimulus package.

There's only a couple of things wrong with that, there never was an earmark in the stimulus bill -- there are none -- and there certainly wasn’t one for a mob museum, there was never a mention of it in the stimulus package. The lies continue.

Then we found out about the Mag-lev train, countless republicans have misrepresented the $8 billion included in the stimulus bill as being an earmark for the Las Vegas-Anaheim Mag-lev route.

The only problem is even after it was pointed out that there is no earmark, that Las Vegas and California are going to have to compete with other projects, that this has been a project that's been in the works for 20 years and that it will bring thousands of visitors to the Las Vegas area and to the Southern California area, the lies continue.

The latest one was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. He repeated the lie in his televised response to the President's remarks to Congress, claiming the bill included funding for a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas to Disneyland.

And then it goes one worse. Trent Franks just mentioned there's a Mag-lev going from Disneyland to the Moonlight Bunny brothel. Now I grew up in Las Vegas and I've never heard of the Moonlight Bunny brothel, but I guarantee the Mag-lev train is not going there.

The latest whipping boy is in the omnibus bill -- Sustainable Las Vegas.

Just yesterday, Senator McCain took to the floor of the Senate to attack sustainable Las Vegas. What does sustainable Las Vegas mean? He yelled. Let me enlighten the senator, it's a University of Nevada education and research program on energy supply, water supply and air quality issues that are very important for the desert southwest for cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix and Tucson. But he knows that.

So why is it different than the hundreds of other programs given out to other universities in the United States? Including universities in Arizona? Because it has Las Vegas in its name.

And let me tell you about my hometown of Las Vegas -- it's a community of families looking for a better life; it's a community of schools and churches and mosques, a community of small businesses, working people and beautiful hotels.

That brings me to the most egregious affront to Las Vegas. Stop bad mouthing Las Vegas and stop telling businesses and major companies to stay away from Vegas.

You are hurting our economy, you're forcing major layoffs of employees in the hotel industry. Hundreds-of-thousands of Nevadans depend on the tourism and convention business for their livelihood.

Las Vegas has long been a city where serious business is conducted, where small and large conventions can be accommodated. When it comes to business meetings, Las Vegas is the best city on the planet. You still get the best bang for your buck. Great hotels, great convention facilities, great restaurants, great transportation and a great price.

When you bad mouth Las Vegas, you are hurting our major industry, you're hurting your fellow citizens by taking away their livelihood. You are taking food out of their children's mouths.

Las Vegas is having a very tough time right now. High mortgage foreclosure rate, high unemployment, high bankruptcy rate. We are hurting. Every attack on Las Vegas by my colleagues is a knife in the heart of my city.

So I implore my colleagues, stop bashing Las Vegas. Find some other whipping boy. We've had enough, we're not going to take it anymore. I yield back the balance of my time.

Congressman lies about Las Vegas railroad

2009-03-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

Arizona Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., has either lost his moral compass, spent too much time in the Arizona sun or is a baldfaced liar.

Franks flatly deceived viewers on Fox's "America's Newsroom" earlier this week by implying that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had earmarked funds for a railroad from Disneyland to the Moonlight Bunny Ranch, one of many legal brothel outside Carson City.

How could Franks come up with such bucket of hogwash? It's obvious he has already spent too much time in Washington, D.C., because he has clearly forgotten his western geography. There is no direct rail right-of-way from Las Vegas to Carson City, 400 miles away.

First, the proposed $12 billion magnetic levitation train is planned connect Las Vegas to Anaheim, Calif., not to Lyon County, Nev.

Maybe he just got confused. There are two separate projects being proposed with a single thread in common — tourism.

The two rail projects are probably a century apart in design, the maglev is a super speed aerodynamic passenger train yet to be completely designed. The other is the McCloud No. 18, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia in 1914. This steam engine burns oil to make steam.

The reconstruction of the Virginia Truckee Railroad project began in 1974 from Virginia City to Gold Hill, with plans that now extend all the way to Carson City — well past the brothels at Mound House. By the way, the funds proposed for the VTRR are less than $500,000.

This is no more than another Republican arrow whizzing at the target on Reid's back. It also demonstrates the desperation of the GOP to cast aspersions on Nevada's senior senator and Senate Majority Leader.

The mere fact that a member of the United States Congress would go on a national cable news program to tell a lie is sickening. To fabricate such a ridiculous lie by combining two projects 400 miles apart, then spinning up a little diversion to include businesses that are in the vicinity of each project, is desperation.

Fox host Megyn Kelly laid the track for Franks' line of deceit by saying, "It's a super railroad of sorts, a line that will deliver customers straight from Disney — we kid you not — to the doorstep of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch Brothel in Nevada."

Franks clearly misled viewers by affirming the train would run from Disneyland to the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Mound House, Nev.

Kelly later piped in with, "The bunnies are very happy about this development," adding fuel to Franks' outrageous lie.

Fox obviously has an inside line with the Bunny Ranch by means of Fox talk show host Sean Hannity, who spent some time interviewing the bunnies at the ranch in 2007.

Even though Kelly half-heartedly challenged the validity of Franks' claim, she was doing her best to take advantage of the interview.

The irony of Franks' charade is that 80 percent of his district, which includes the Colorado River system and the Grand Canyon, benefits from Nevada tourism, which sends thousands of Las Vegas and Laughlin tourist to those sites every day.

The second irony is that Franks alluded to Americans losing trust in government, but how can Americans trust congressmen like Franks when he is capable of totally twisting the truth with a straight face?

Wow, I need to remove my rose-colored glasses.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News.

Las Vegas is still a good investment

2009-03-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

This first published March 3 2009 in the Henderson Home News website, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

For many of us calling Las Vegas home, it is no surprise that Forbes magazine named it America's "emptiest" city. A part of Las Vegas' unprecedented growth was built on speculation — that is speculation the building boom would last many more years.

Many people speculated by buying multiple homes in hopes of flipping them for a nice profit. How could they resist, drunk on the Kool-Aid whipped up in the sink of the media-spun hyperbole? The house- and land-flipping overinflated the values of real estate, whether commercial, residential or otherwise.

The economic train was certainly chugging away with a full head of steam generated by coal that was no more real than the houses built of cards by overzealous and profit-drunk builders. It wasn't just the builders that were driving the economy under the influence of false prosperity, either. Local governments were also fairly tanked up, too, creating huge parks and infrastructure with future dollars in the form of development fees, while older parks and infrastructure lost priority.

Yes, the Las Vegas Valley has the best of the best anywhere, but it's now waking up from its unbelievable binge at the bowl of tainted punch. The skeletons are visible in the forms of empty building pads, lifeless steel structures and the barren wood frames of unfinished homes.

What about all those empty houses in Las Vegas pointed out by Forbes?

I say, so what? No big deal, unless you own one or two of them. I still believe Las Vegas is a great buy, especially now that some sense of truth in home values is returning to the market.

Some say Las Vegas will never be the same again. To that, I wonder, compared to when? Three years ago? Perhaps not, but it's feeling a lot like 1989 again, and to a native Nevadan, that's not all bad. Life seemed a little simpler then, didn't it?

The construction boom has ended, forcing the skilled and unskilled labor forces to leave to seek greener pastures in other job-barren states. This is not urban flight, either, because Las Vegas is more suburbia than metropolis.

Las Vegas will recover at some point. Folks tired of bitter winters will continue to look at Las Vegas for retirement, because there will be great deals on homes to be found and the weather is marvelous.

If you look close enough, you will find many positive aspects to this mess we're in. We will have more time to address the issue of water and where to get it. It will give us more time to come up with better energy solutions, too. These are important issues in light of the effects of the drought plaguing the West.

It is disturbing enough to think about Lake Mead drying up, but before that happens, Hoover Dam would lose is capacity to produce energy. That is an entirely different crisis brewing.

Still, unlike the naysayers, I know the Las Vegas economy has not totally derailed in a smoking heap. Sure, we are going to suffer for awhile, and many Nevadans will be out of work. But there will be many more who will rise in the new economy.

Now is the time not only for Las Vegas but all of Nevada to start sketching and molding what it wants to be after this economic meltdown.

Las Vegas doesn't have to be the emptiest place in America. What started out as a dusty watering hole on the Union Pacific Railroad was actually a desert paradise with flowing artesian wells that sustained many settlers passing through by the wagon full. Just as it sustained ancient native Americans with the gift of life in a hostile environment, Las Vegas will continue to provide for those who are willing to brush the dust from themselves and pick up a shovel, hammer, trowel or perhaps dig into the ol' cookie jar, if it isn't already empty, to help in this remodeling of our economy.

Perhaps once we get our train moving again, we should slow down enough to pull up a neighbor. Then, in time, we may be the fullest city in America again.

What's that saying? The community that rebuilds together, prospers together, or something like that.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News.

Economic scars will be ever present

2009-02-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

This first published February 12, 2009 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

A few Sundays ago, my bride asked if there was anything I wanted to do that day for my birthday. I told her a bicycle ride on the River Mountain Loop trail at Lake Mead might be fun.

We packed up the bikes and lunch to eat on the way to the trailhead. As we drove past Lake Las Vegas, she noticed the grass was turning brown on the golf course and asked if the course was closing.

I told her I didn’t think the judge had ruled on it yet.

However, according to a story by reporter Jeremy Twitchell, federal Bankruptcy Judge Linda B. Riegle ruled Jan. 15 that Lake Las Vegas can close The Falls golf course at the main entrance of the project.

It sounds as though Lake Las Vegas will let the course dry up and brown out, which would match the rest of the landscape along Lake Mead Parkway. For the record, I don’t think Lake Las Vegas will allow the entrance to lose its luster entirely. I would expect the front of the course, closest to the road, to be kept green.

To my disbelief, however, I noticed how development has encroached upon the desert area heading to the lake, and now that building has stopped, it’s left an unsightly mark.

Developers have scarred the desert mountain landscape east of the entrance toward Lake Mead to an irreparable state.

During the boom of speculation and colossal financial leveraging, developers hacked out giant steps in the hillsides leading down to the entrance of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, before the economic collapse of 2008.

Now the land stands scarred and undeveloped, ruining the view of the hillsides. The result of unbridled growth and speculation will be around for a while, I’m afraid.

If my memory serves me correctly, our real estate crisis started back in 2002, when the nation was recovering from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The spawning of economic recovery through high-leverage financing and interest-only sub-prime loans turned what was just a crisis into economic disaster. Those balloon payments came home to roost, starting the unstoppable domino effect, in 2007.

The housing boom across America created a Pandora’s box for Las Vegas, either unbeknownst or perhaps flatly ignored by most. People were flocking to Vegas either to be entertained or buy real estate.

But how were they able to afford the weekends in Sin City or the purchase of a second or third home in the city where the streets are mythically paved with gold? My guess is they took advantage of those hot mortgage deals and raided the equity in their homes.

The Ponzi schemes people played on themselves in hopes of making a comfortable future for themselves have quickly collapsed — leaving families and businesses financially scarred much like those hills gutted until the next cycle of prosperity hits America.

The real question is, when will that occur? By my account, if we only look at the mortgage crisis, it could be another three to four years if homeowners and leveraged business can’t get refinancing. Sub-prime loans and other risky leveraging were still being transacted in the fourth quarter of 2007. My guess is that we have seen the height of the tsunami but have yet to imagine the carnage when it completely recedes.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News

Some reflection on Inauguration Day

2009-01-23T11:07:00.000-08:00

Now that Nevadans are returning from four days of Inauguration festivities in Washington, D.C., I have put together some Inauguration thoughts...

First let's correct the record all over the blogosphere. President Obama didn't mess up the oath. It was Chief Justice Roberts' mistake by first pausing then misquoting the oath, causing Obama confusion. Just in case, they did a do-over in the Oval Office. I'm sure folks will spin and debate this faux pas for years to come, depending on their particular polarization.

There also seems to be a great deal of spin on the cost of Obama's inaugural festivities by comparing the expense to President George W. Bush's second inaugural. Yes, my friends his second, not his first.

Keep in mind this is a very extraordinary inauguration and, more importantly, a historic event with the election of the first African American president. Therefore, I think the pundits should compare apples to apples, not otherwise.

I recall as a young boy in 1974, my dad had been re-elected to his second term as Nevada's 23rd Governor, and he decided, in light of the economic crisis at that time, that it wouldn't be prudent to have another Inaugural Ball. His comment at the time was a breezy, "We already had one." This inauguration, on the other hand, was Obama's first, and he deserved a ball.

The most captivating moment for me was the invocation by Pastor Rick Warren, of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and the author of one of my favorites books "The Purpose Driven Life."

One of the most striking lines in his prayer was, "We celebrate a hingepoint of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership."

Warren followed those lines with this reference to the Bible that still echoes in my head: "And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven," to which in my mind the voice of Dr. King answered, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

At that point, I was at the proverbial mountaintop. But I did not stay there long. Soon I began asking myself, are we really free? Sure we're free in this country to move about as we please, yet I can't help think about how so many people and families are chained to this economic crisis in one form or another.

Are we really free when religious zealots want to impose their beliefs on us, against our will in some cases and with the threat of harm or death? These zealots come from every imaginable faith, not just one or two. There are extremes in every faith.

A disappointment came in the benediction by the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a personal hero of mine from the civil rights movement. Although, he may have intended to poke fun at racial stereotypes, he offended many with this line from his closing prayer: "And in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead man, and when white will embrace what is right."

This was really an unfortunate statement implying that whites haven't embraced other races and cultures. His statement reminded me of the old saying, "the pot calling the kettle black." As offensive as that might sound, Lowery clearly displayed the chip on his shoulder by implying things haven't changed or perhaps not enough. I would disagree with that line of thinking, because things have changed a lot — not perfectly, but you must admit things are getting better in this not-so-perfect multicultural country.

Rev. Lowery may have slightly bruised this historic day, which is the fruit from trees grown from the seeds planted not only by Dr. King and Rosa Parks, but also the very seeds Lowery planted himself in Mobile, Montgomery and Atlanta.

Now let's give our new president a chance to work on this country's difficult challenges.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular for the Henderson Home News.

Reality checks for a new year

2009-01-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

This first published January 15, 2009 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Most things in life tend to be cyclical. A good example is the price of a gallon of gas. I’ve always had my own theory about the price of gas and why it goes up and down at certain times of the year.

One theory is that gas gets cheaper in the fall, around the end of October, because this is when the holiday season begins. If gas prices are high, shoppers tend to be tighter, and if this remains true on Black Friday, then gas prices begin to fall even more.

Then miraculously, the prices begin to rise the first week of January, continuing through March. Then in June, the summer march to the top of the price tolerance begins. This past year was a perfect example of that theory, but remember it’s only a theory with no scientific basis to stand on.

The increase in news reports about the rise in gas prices prompted me to reflect on the past year, so I scoured through all my columns and blog entries for a reality check. These columns are available at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Here is what I pulled from the recent past.

April 3, 2008

I wrote:

“For the past six months, I’ve been driving a hybrid that averages 46 miles per gallon and costs about $26 to $30 to fill up. Occasionally, I drive the Big Red Truck for short trips to the hardware and lumber store or to run a quick errand.”

Reality check

I filled it up this past Monday for just over $16 and was happy as can be about it.

I wrote:

“I pulled into the gas station, stuck the nozzle in the receptacle and walked away to give a little TLC to my abused truck by cleaning the windows and wiping down the interior from an accumulation of dust and yellow pollen. After a few moments, I heard the ka-chunk of the nozzle shutting off, giving me the cue to finish up. A quick glance at the pump stopped me in my tracks. I blurted out an, ‘Oh my gosh,’ or something like that, staring at the $93.81 displayed on the pump. I was caught in a sort of ‘Pump Paralysis’ — downright denial or disbelief.”

Reality check

For the most part I have continued to drive the Prius. However, I have driven the Big Red Truck a bit more with the drop in gas prices, but I’m reminded by my bride that it is more cost effective to take the Prius.

I wrote:

“I have to wonder how long will it take before the rising cost of everyday products due to fuel costs overtakes the value of the dividend check and will finally sink in? Profiting from stock investments is not a crime — it is capitalism at its best.”

Reality check

Respectively, it didn’t take long for more folks to complain about the price of groceries. However, did you notice the price of groceries going down with the price of fuel? Uh! I didn’t either.

May 29, 2008

I wrote:

“For years, we have enjoyed less expensive gasoline in our northwest Arizona getaway, primarily because there are fewer local taxes added on than in Clark County, which has plenty.

This was true until this past Memorial Day weekend, when the gouging began. The week before, I had checked our only local gasoline retailer in Arizona, and the price was $3.67 per gallon. Imagine my shock over the weekend when I went to fill two 5-gallon gas containers and the price had jumped to $4.19 per gallon. Heck, that’s 10 cents more than the notoriously high-priced Chevron station across from the Hacienda Hotel between Boulder City and the Hoover Dam.”

Reality check

I still avoid purchasing gas at my local Arizona station, even though I think someone came to their senses and lowered the price. However, I still purchase a few staples there.

Also, the price of gas at the Chevron across from the Hacienda actually fell into line for a while, when prices bottomed out but is now moving up above pace.

Nov. 6, 2008

I wrote:

“Now that the election is over, we can turn our attention back to daily life and economics. One of the most interesting items to speak of is the price of gas. This fall marks the sharpest decrease in prices at the pump in four years.

“According to GasBuddy.com, in December 2004 the average price of regular grade gas in the Las Vegas area was $1.81 per gallon. During the next 3 1/2 years, until June of this year, prices bounced up and down to an all-time high average $4.26 per gallon.

“Since then, the price has dropped an amazing $1.71 to its lowest average since March 2007 at $2.55 and is still dropping.

“I’m no expert, but I would bet the price of gas will start an upward trend sooner rather than later, even if we continue to reduce our consumption in the U.S.”

“Personally, I will continue to reduce consumption whenever possible by planning local errands, fewer trips out of town, carpooling and driving the hybrid whenever possible.”

Reality check

The price of gas has started its trend upward, how high no one knows. Consumption increased with lower prices, but I think the overall economy is keeping us from over indulging.

On the home front, as I mentioned before, we are still keeping our household consumption down and using the savings to offset rising costs of everyday life.

Prescient posting

Coincidentally, while going through last year’s columns, I rediscovered a posting from my blog that may very well explain how Barack Obama was elected. Not exactly, of course, but it could have been a symbolic tossing of the tea leaves when it was sent me by a reader named Pete.

TIM:

I read your article in today’s paper. I suffer from the same problem you have, filling up my Lincoln Navigator and my Sea Ray boat. We differ in the reason for why we are so “dumbfounded.”

I believe it is large part due to oil speculators and greed for profits. I watched yesterday’s hearings on oil and why the oil company’s profits are so high. Naturally, they insisted that they needed the huge profits and basically offered no solution for lowering gas prices. I watched, hoping a senator would ask questions about the price of gas and relate it to prices in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and three years ago. No one did, and no one asked why gas outstripped the rate of inflation.

The price of oil is high not because I drive my Lincoln Navigator 100 miles in a month or use my boat two to three times a year. It’s due to lousy speculators that the government doesn’t want to control. You can suggest that I change my habits, but the result will be immeasurable as far as lowering the cost of oil.

Find the right person or business to point the finger at, but blaming the individual misses the mark.

I joke with friends that the presidential candidate who promises $1.99-a-gallon gas will get my vote. As a staunch Republican, voting for a Democrat would be very difficult, but give me gas back at $1.99, and they have my vote.

Thanks for listening,

PETE FERRELL

I don’t think we can credit lower gas prices for getting Obama elected, but doesn’t it raise an eyebrow when you consider the timing?

Conspiracy theories aside, perhaps, in reality, it’s just another cycle in the economy.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News.

Clark County District Attorney commissions centennial seal

2009-01-09T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Clark County District Attorney’s office will marks it 100th anniversary on July 3.

According to Assistant District Attorney Christopher J. Lalli, the District Attorney’s office commissioned a special centennial seal to commemorate the founding of the office in 1909.

The silver and blue seal with a banner that reads “A Century of Service” features the Roman Goddess of Justice, symbolizing the office’s primary function as a prosecution office. The will seal will begin to appear on memorandums, letterhead and used in place of the district attorney’s badge where appropriate for the year.

According to Lalli, David Roger is the 22nd district attorney to serve Clark County. In 1909, W.R. Thomas was the first appointed district attorney. O.J. Van Pell became the first elected district attorney on Jan. 1, 1910.

The longest-serving district attorney was Harley Harmon, elected to four terms in the 1920s and ’30s. It was during Harmon’s terms that the elected term of the district attorney changed from two years to four years.

Another interesting Clark County district attorney was George Holt, who after one term in the office decided to run for Clark County sheriff and lost in the primary in 1978. Holt felt the newly consolidated Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department needed change. Holt was succeeded by Bob Miller, who went on to be elected lieutenant governor in 1986 and to succeed Gov. Richard H. Bryan in 1989 when Bryan resigned to become a U.S. Senator.

The Foleys, a prominent law family of Las Vegas, produced the greatest number of district attorneys in Clark County, starting with Roger T. Foley and followed by sons Roger D. Foley and George Foley.

Yucca Mountain shouldn't be partisan

2008-12-31T10:25:00.000-08:00

This first published January 1, 2009 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

This is the start of a brand new year, and things are looking tough for the rest of it. The economy is taking its toll on America’s families, including those here in Nevada.

The Nevada Legislature is gearing up for the 2009 session, which is expected to be the hardest, if not cruelest, in decades, especially on those without a voice.

One thing that isn’t brand new is the idea of storing the nuclear industry’s waste in Nevada at Yucca Mountain. This plan is getting some attention from the Republican Party of Nevada. Because the economic chips are down, some are willing to sell their souls, or at least the health of their children and grandchildren, for some short-term economic gain.

Last month, the Nevada Republican Central Committee took a field trip to Yucca Mountain to see just how safe it would be to store the deadliest garbage known to man.

For years, the Department of Energy has been waving the money bait in the faces of Nevadans, hoping greed will overcome their good senses.

With the economic collapse of 2008, a no-new-tax governor, a weary gaming industry, broken retirement funds — just to name a few of our aches and pains — a cash infusion might be inviting to some.

The lifeless body of the Yucca Mountain Project, Nevada’s greatest demon, could start to quiver with life at the smell of fear. The fear of economic destitution is a powerful one, so beware.

Former Republican Nevada Gov. Robert List, who has become a nuke lobbyist, led the tour of fellow Republicans. List is the only former Nevada governor to turn against Nevada on this issue.

List’s actions remind me of something my father, Mike O’Callaghan, also a former Nevada governor, wrote in this space in 2002.

“So who are the people supporting this dumping on Nevada?” he wrote. “Generally speaking, they are people who have made a living from some part of the nuclear business, plan to make money from it or are presently making big bucks from it. A large majority of Nevadans who love living in this area and are raising families don’t want any part of having the waste, and all of its obvious problems, on their highways or deposited in a place that science hasn’t been able to support.”

Seven years later, his words still ring true, and Robert List is the poster boy.

The conservative talk radio hosts are claiming that Nevada is snubbing its nose at billions of dollars in economic benefits that could fix the billion-dollar state budget deficit.

I would call that blood money.

More than 70 percent of Nevadans oppose Yucca Mountain, but could the thought of economic prosperity change their minds? The way I see it, that’s what the nuke pushers are hoping for.

For decades, we have recognized Yucca Mountain as being pure politics at the national level, but the sides were split more regionally. States that had nuclear power supported Yucca Mountain. Those that didn’t, opposed it, fearing the trucks hauling waste through their states.

However, this year it has turned partisan in the state of Nevada. Bob List, pushing his influence on his fellow Republicans to attempt CPR on a “dead on arrival” Yucca Mountain Project is deplorable.

Who can forget how President George W. Bush promised the people of Nevada just eight years ago that the project would be based on sound science? Everyone knew the science was flawed, so with that promise, Nevada gave President Bush the votes he needed to win. In turn, he shoved it up our collective promised repository. Today, the science remains flawed.

President-elect Barack Obama has also said Yucca Mountain is dead and, with Nevada being one of the most influential states in the country because of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s clout, we have a sense of security.

That doesn’t mean we can let our guard down for a second, no matter how tough the economy gets. Once you sell your soul, you can’t get it back for 10,000 years, and that’s a long time, even on God’s clock.

My only hope is that the Nevada Republican Party chooses a better path and decides not to risk the health and futures of generations in Nevada to come.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column for the Home News.

Solutions for a broken economy

2008-12-18T10:21:00.000-08:00

This first published December 18, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

How many B-2 bombers would it take to bail out the state of Nevada? That’s easy. One and a half would suffice.

I turned on Discovery Channel the other night hoping to catch “How It’s Made.” Instead, I caught the program “Destroyed in Seconds.” I really enjoy “How It’s Made” so much that I can blow a whole evening watching how things are manufactured.

Being of the male gender, I was also a bit fascinated seeing things get blown up while everyone survived. I’m not sure which was more amazing: how quickly something got trashed or the fact that everyone survived.

In the episode I watched, there was a segment showing the crash of a B-2 Stealth bomber. Miraculously, the pilots ejected and only received minor injuries. However, the bomber blew up in flames.

Do you have any idea how much a B-2 bomber cost?

Don’t be concerned, because I asked several of my friends on different occasions if they could tell me how much a B-2 bomber cost. One said, $100 million and another said $200 million. Neither is even close. The closest answer I received was a half a billion dollars, and that isn’t even close.

For fun I asked how many B-2 bombers would it take to bail out the state of Nevada. No one had a clue. It would take nearly two Stealth bombers to dig Nevada out of its budget shortfall at $1.5 billion a piece.

This exercise put a few things in perspective for me, such as the size of the state’s budget shortfall and just how easily the federal government could bail out Nevada.

When you think about the size of a B-2 and the size of our state, the $1.5 billion price tag doesn’t seem that great.

I’m also reminded by the program just how quickly a Stealth bomber can be destroyed and just how quickly budgets can go up in flames. Even more importantly, it reflects how fragile our economic base is in Nevada.

We should be doing everything possible to diversify our economy here in Nevada. There are several ideas being tossed around, such as renewable energy, but will that help in the immediate future to solve our economic woes?

Not a chance, but it’s definitely an option for our long-term future.

Nevada could expand mining opportunities — except we are one of the largest producers of gold in the country as it is. However, we are being pillaged by the mining industry. Unlike casinos, which pay a gross revenue tax on gaming winnings, the mining industry pays taxes on net profits after exemptions.

Since 2000, Nevada miners have extracted more than $25 billion in gold from this state and have put a tiny fraction of that into state revenues.

During 2007, mining operations extracted more than 6 million ounces of gold from Nevada. Next to water, gold is Nevada’s most precious natural resource, and it is being sucked out faster than the waters of Lake Mead. By the end of this year, 8 million ounces of gold are projected to be produced in Nevada, with very little money going into state coffers.

Can you imagine how many B-2 bombers could have been built with the gold extracted from Nevada soil since 2000? The answer is 16. The only thing stealthier than the B-2 Bomber are the mining profits leaving Nevada.

Here in Nevada, where the state budget was “destroyed in seconds” and gaming and mining are “how it’s made,” we need to work together to develop solutions to fix our broken economy.

Smelly tourists

At the risk of my critics calling me a Harry Reid apologist, I should clear the air regarding his recent remarks about being able to smell the tourist coming to Washington, D.C., in the summer.

Well folks, having been to the capital in the sweltering heat and humidity of summer, I can testify to the fact you can, indeed, smell the visitors as they shuffle by the thousands through the halls and galleries. I should know since I’ve been one! So your sweat don’t stink?

What stinks worse than the capital in the heat of summer is the goofy commentators, editors and other media types who took the opportunity to water the already rabid far right. This proves one thing: Sen. Reid has a target on his political back and Republicans such as presidential candidate-turned-talking head Mitt Romney will do anything to keep the heat on.

Fortunately the capital now has air conditioning to keep visitors cool, and most Nevadans will keep cooler heads to keep Nevada the most powerful state in the union by not only returning Reid to the Senate in 2010 but also Sen. John Ensign in 2012.

Gee, all this flap over new air conditioning in the capital and a straight-talking senator from Searchlight, Nev.

Nuff said!

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column at the Home News.

Young athletes 'go for broke'

2008-12-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

This first published December 4, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

It’s been four years since my dad passed away and three years since I first penned this column about the Go For Broke trophy. This is a good time to dust it off and tweak it up, not only because we’re celebrating outstanding athletes, but also because next Sunday is Pearl Harbor Day. It is the perfect opportunity to think about the event that was the catalyst for the Go For Broke trophy.

• • •
It is that time of year when the Home News presents a Go For Broke trophy to one football player from 12 of our local high schools.

Not a season has passed that I’m not reminded that something is missing in local high school football. Indeed, this is often pointed out by regular fans of prep football. This year was no different when I attended a Bishop Gorman football game and an old timer came up and said, “Sure miss seeing your dad at the games.”

Isn’t it funny how the words never change?

My dad loved watching the kids develop into men by hard work and discipline. Yes, and over the years he watched a few girls develop into fine young ladies by playing special teams.

Not only was Mike O’Callaghan a decorated war hero and former governor of Nevada, but he was also a coach and teacher. His passion for people was evident in everything he did. He loved the underdogs and championed their efforts. His love for teaching and his enthusiasm for high school football led to the development of the Go For Broke trophy.

In the spirit of teaching and the understanding of the importance of this award, I must tell you the story of its foundation.

At the young age of 11, my dad’s family lost their farm in Wisconsin for the expansion of military operations. By the time he was 13, trainloads of Japanese Americans were arriving in Wisconsin for interment, held as prisoners of war in their own country.

The threat from the Empire of Japan escalated after the surprise attack and bombing of Pearl Harbor. The fear of Japan grew into prejudice and mistrust of Americans of Japanese decent.

Ironically, nearly 40 percent of the population of Hawaii was of Japanese decent. The military didn’t know what do, because half of the defense team looked like the enemy. The Nisei, soldiers born from Japanese immigrants, were rounded up, had their weapons confiscated and held at gunpoint.

Eventually, they were given back their weapons with much suspicion. The Nisei were secretly and swiftly shipped out of Hawaii in the middle of the night without being given a chance to say goodbye to their families.

After a long voyage on a cramped troop transport ship to Oakland, Calif., they were loaded on troop trains headed for the farmlands of Wisconsin to await orders at Camp McCoy.

My dad often told us stories from his childhood and wrote several columns about the 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. One of his favorites went like this:

“This Wisconsin farm boy and hundreds of others living in and around Camp McCoy soon learned to respect the soldiers from those faraway islands. So did a division of soldiers from Texas who didn’t want to give them room on the sidewalks of nearby towns. Almost three dozen went to the hospital one night when the smaller men had enough. My father, only 5 feet 8 inches tall himself and a World War I veteran, became a cheerleader for the new troops. He followed their heroic exploits with great interest as they fought their way across Europe.”

The men from the 100th/442nd loved the game of craps that was so popular in the Hawaiian Islands. Every good game of dice must come to end. It is that point when one lays it all on the line for one last roll. This is when you “Go For Broke.”

It was my dad’s admiration of a group of underdogs who were willing to “Go For Broke” against all odds that is the cornerstone of the Go For Broke trophy. Casualties were high and decoration plenty for the 100th/442nd.

My dad described it best:

“Heavy combat in Italy resulted in more than 900 casualties before the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team were joined together. Now the ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’ battalion and the ‘Go For Broke’ regimental combat team were together.

“The combat record of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was unequaled. The cost was heavy and resulted in 9,486 Purple Hearts. Heroism was an accepted fact of life and death that the men faced during seven major campaigns in Europe.

“The accomplishments of the young Japanese Americans during World War II, both in Europe and as military intelligence people in the Pacific, have placed them high on the list of American patriots.”

In the spirit of those brave Americans of Japanese descent, we look for the athlete who lays it all down.

He may not be the star but oftentimes is the inspiration of a team.

He may not be the leader, but he is a warrior in practice and game.

Although dad first dedicated this award 24 years ago, its foundation began in the heart of a farm boy from Wisconsin more than 60 years ago. The award will live on in its name and the hearts of those who receive it.

This year we are presenting 12 trophies to area athletes, including these fine Go For Broke recipients who have already received theirs thus far. Others will receive their awards in the next couple of weeks.

Michael Wadsworth, Silverado High School; Tanner VanOverbeke, Coronado High School; Chris Waitkus, Foothill High School; Trey McGhin, Centennial High School; and Croix Nikodemus, Faith Lutheran High School.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column One Man's View.

Tuition hike would dash dreams

2008-11-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

This first published November 20, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

A meeting between Gov. Jim Gibbons and representatives from Nevada higher education took place last week that included University Regent Chairman Michael Wixom, Chancellor Jim Rogers and Daniel Klaich, a vice president in the system, to discuss the upcoming budget. The Carson City meeting lasted a whopping 30 minutes.

First of all, 30 minutes isn’t enough time to even suggest anything, much less agree to anything. However, I’m sure it felt like a 12-hour day for the governor having to sit with his chief nemesis, Rogers.

One of the subjects Rogers and Gibbons discussed was raising college tuitions to help fill the gap.

Apparently, it was an effective use of time and enough to get the tuition increase ball rolling.

Since then, much has happened to make an increase more likely. It now has the support of State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley and a band of others with vested interests in higher education in Nevada. However, there is one caveat being tossed around, and it seems to make an increase palatable. That is any tuition increase would stay at the individual institution rather than go to the general coffer for redistribution.

The situation is so desperate in Nevada that every possible avenue must be explored. However, this doesn’t change my concerns about education in Nevada as whole.

Nevada is at the bottom, rated 47 of 51, when it comes the number of people who have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher — fewer than 25 percent of Nevadans.

Higher tuition in Nevada would put a college education even further out of reach for Nevada families. I predicted that enrollments would drop starting in January because of economic hardship. Raising tuition right now would only exacerbate the problem.

Many families may be reconsidering college options for their kids, such as enrolling them in the community college for two years to complete transferable undergraduate courses for less before enrolling them in UNR or UNLV.

Many Nevadans are concerned about losing their jobs, owing more for their homes than the market value and keeping up with the enormous cost increases of groceries.

According to a poll commissioned by the Reno Gazette-Journal and KTVN-TV Channel 2, 26 percent of respondents said they were “afraid” or “very afraid” for their jobs; with 37 percent “not too” afraid and 21 percent “not at all” afraid.

Nevada is ground zero for the mortgage crisis and now foreclosure crisis. Many parents were counting on second mortgages to fulfill college promises to their children. Those promises are now impossible to meet for many parents who are now faced with losing the roof over their heads. The dreams of getting a college education are quickly vanishing for many young people.

I don’t know about your household, but our grocery bill has nearly doubled in the last two years, even with fewer kids at home. It’s even more of a hardship for the adult student who is working a full-time job and going to school full or part time in an effort to better their quality of life and improve their employment opportunities. Oftentimes they are also raising a family at the same time.

Education is often the key to opening the gate leading out of poverty or into financial independence.

If the governor, Legislature and the Board of Regents raise college tuition now, they may as well change the locks on the gate of opportunity for many Nevadans young and old.

This is survival of financial fittest at its best.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column One Man's View.

Action needed on U.S. 93 now

2008-11-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

This first published November 13, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Wake up, Gov. Gibbons! The clock is ticking, and before we know it the O’Callaghan-Tillman bridge will be open and the traffic nightmare may very well be real.

In July last year, Robert Malone, a contributing editor at Forbes.com, scribed an article titled “America’s Killer Roads.” In it he names U.S. 93 between Hoover Dam and Wickenburg as one of the deadliest roads in America.

I can’t say too much about the entire distance, but one thing is for sure: I have plenty to say about the six or so miles west of Hoover Dam and then the next 16 mile east of Hoover Dam.

Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, travelers definitely put the lives of themselves and their families in harm’s way when driving the short 22 miles of two-lane highway. It was a constant battle between 18-wheelers chugging up hills then racing down hills and impatient drivers getting in or out of Las Vegas.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, all 18-wheelers have been banned from crossing the dam and rerouted over to Laughlin and up U.S. 95 through Searchlight.

This has been an excellent solution, especially with all the improvements made to U.S. 95, such as several passing lanes, divided highway sections and the relatively flat terrain.

The 22 miles of U.S. 93 to Boulder City, although it has improved with the absence of trucks, still remains deadly. The tractor-trailers have been replaced by reckless tour buses, unsure tourists and other assorted vehicles going and returning from Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk.

I have lost count of the near-misses and many crashes while driving between Hoover Dam and the point 16 miles south where U.S. 93 becomes a divided highway.

The most common culprit is the impatient driver not satisfied with the posted 65 mph speed limit. During the past three years, I have had a few close calls requiring evasive and dangerous maneuvers to avoid a head-on collision, including hard braking, ditch diving and rail sliding. One time, I was inches from the guardrail going south, while the northbound vehicle being passed was in dirt. The impatient jerk between us was zipping past without a care in the world.

Even though the Arizona Department of Transportation has plans to widen the road east of the dam, there are no set plans for the short length of the 93 between the Hacienda Hotel and Buchanan Boulevard in Boulder City.

So what does this have to do with Gov. Gibbons? U.S. 93 is controlled by the state, and traffic controls have to be approved by the Nevada Department of Transportation. The NDOT director is appointed by the governor. A plan needs to be under way now to stop an impending train wreck.

Granted, I’ve never been a fan of creating a bypass around Boulder City because of economic concerns for the city. I fear that a bypass would take all of the car traffic off of Boulder City streets and leave Nevada Way blowing in the wind like Seligman, Ariz., after Interstate 40 was built.

Even if I were a fan, the project is so far down on the list of state highway projects, it won’t see the light of the drafting table for years — or should I say the pixel of the CAD anytime soon.

Perhaps Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could find a way to keep the big rigs flowing down U.S. 95 or through Laughlin until a safe solution is in place. That might be a no-win proposition for the senator to even address, however. Some gadfly would say he was trying to profit by keeping the traffic flowing through Searchlight, his hometown, if he advocated such a move. Another gadfly might accuse him of trying to get the traffic away from Searchlight if he opposed it.

This kind of controversy wouldn’t be anything new. Several years ago, he had gotten funding to widen U.S. 95 through Searchlight from a two-lane road to a divided highway. Back then, U.S. 95 was a blood alley and many lives had been lost on it. A group of yahoos accused him of trying to increase the value of his property by improving the roadway — which by the way was pure BULL. You could have gotten all the traffic in the world to Searchlight, and it wouldn’t improve the values without a water source or sewer options. Searchlight has limited water resources for the present or near future, for that matter. Needless to say, the opposition delayed the funding for the road. In my opinion, many more people died unnecessarily on U.S. 95 because of distorted reasoning.

Because of Nevada’s vast open space, the Forbes.com article hits home for me because our kids — and many of yours — drive long and narrow roads through rural Nevada to get home for the holidays.

According to Malone’s article, “In 2005, 61 percent of those killed while driving died on rural, two-lane byways, according to the U.S. General Accounting Office. In Arizona, two-lane roads have three times the fatalities as four-lane roads. In California, more than half of all fatal accidents are on two-lane roads. In both Texas and Connecticut, they account for two-thirds of fatal accidents. Overall, rural roads account for less than half of the total miles in the U.S., yet are bigger killers than the interstates or urban streets.”

Perhaps because the bridge is partially named for my father, I feel a responsibility to point out its potential hazards and to remind the governor that he needs to do the right thing before 2010 gets here and the nightmare begins.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column One Man's View.

Raising college tuition in Nevada?

2008-11-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

The Las Vegas Sun’s capital reporter, Cy Ryan, reported about a meeting between the governor and representatives from Nevada higher education today.

According to Ryan’s story, (read here) “Gov. Jim Gibbons, University Regent Chairman Michael Wixom, Chancellor Jim Rogers and Daniel Klaich, a vice president in the system, met for about 30 minutes today in Carson City to discuss the upcoming budget.”

First of all, 30 minutes isn’t enough time to even suggest anything, much less agree to anything. However, I’m sure it felt like a 12-hour day for the governor having to sit with his chief nemesis, Chancellor Jim Rogers.

Nevada is at the bottom, rated 47 of 51 when it comes the number of people who have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher — less than 25 percent of Nevadans.

One of the subjects Rogers and Gibbons discussed was raising college tuitions to help fill the gap.

Higher tuition in Nevada would put a college education even farther out of reach for Nevada families. I predict that enrollments already will drop starting in January due to economic hardship. Raising tuition right now would only exacerbate the problem.

Many families may be reconsidering college options for their kids, such as enrolling in the community college for two years to complete transferable undergraduate courses for less tuition before enrolling them in UNR or UNLV.

Many Nevadans are concerned about losing their jobs, owing more for their homes than the market value and keeping up with the enormous cost increases of groceries.

According to a poll commissioned by the Reno Gazette-Journal and KTVN-TV Channel 2, 26 percent of respondents said they were “afraid” or “very afraid” for their jobs; with 37 percent “not too” afraid and 21 percent “not at all” afraid. For the RGJ story by Bill O’Driscoll Click here KTVN Channel 2, Click here.

Nevada is ground zero for the mortgage crisis and now foreclosure crisis. Many parents were counting on second mortgages to fulfill college promises to their children. Those promises are now impossible to meet for many parents who are now faced with losing the roof over their heads. The dreams of getting a college education are quickly vanishing for many young people.

I don’t know about your household, but our grocery bill has nearly doubled in the last two years, even with fewer kids at home. It’s even more of a hardship for the adult student who is working a full-time job and going to school full- or part-time in an effort to better their quality of life and improve their employment opportunities. Oftentimes they are also raising a family at the same time.

Education is often the key to opening the gate leading out of poverty or into financial independence.

If the governor and the board of regents raise college tuition now, they may as well change the locks on the gate of opportunity for many Nevadans young and old.

No such thing as a free lunch

2008-11-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

This first published November 6, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Finally, the campaign season is over and my phone has stopped ringing. Monday night our phone rang off the hook with all of the calls going directly to our trusty answering machine.

This has been the dirtiest campaign season I can recall, greatly attributable to the robocall machines disseminating every imaginable distortion of the truth or misrepresentation of candidate character possible.

No sense in repeating them here so adios robocall!

Now that the election is over, we can turn our attention back to daily life and economics. One of the most interesting items to speak of is the price of gas. This fall marks the sharpest decrease in prices at the pump in four years.

According to GasBuddy.com, in December 2004 the average price of regular grade gas in the Las Vegas area was $1.81 per gallon. During the next 3 1/2 years, until June of this year, prices bounced up and down to an all-time high average $4.26 per gallon.

During this period, the following average highs were reached: September 2005, $2.90; May 2006, $3.15; May 2007, $3.20; and in June 2008, it soared to $4.26.

Since then the price has dropped an amazing $1.71 to its lowest average since March 2007 at $2.55 and is still dropping.

Interesting enough, the price of oil was trending the same as gasoline until June 2007. Then it bolted up from $70 a barrel to over $146 in just over a year, nearly doubling the increase of gasoline in the same period. Then it tumbled back in line to around $60 per barrel this week.

The question remains, will prices continue to fall if Americans continue to use less fuel? U.S. oil consumption is down 5 percent, mostly attributable to the troubled economy and world financial crisis. As the price of gas falls, we may be more inclined to drive more rather than pocket the savings.

This could also build some consumer confidence, encouraging consumers to loosen their tightened purse strings. However don’t get too giddy, because the Saudis are tightening their pipelines to force the price of oil back up to what they consider a comfortable level.

I’m no expert but I would bet the price of gas will start an upward trend sooner than later, even if we continue to reduce our consumption in the U.S.

Personally, I will continue to reduce consumption whenever possible by planning local errands, fewer trips out of town, carpooling and driving the hybrid whenever possible.

While on the subject of gasoline, I’d like to tell you about an experience my bride is having. First, you must understand that she comes from generations of penny pinchers, with three of them still living. She can find a deal where no other can except her mother, grandmother and aunts. They will jump through fire to get the savings or at least jump over more hurdles than most.

So, last August we decided it would be a good idea to have the windows of our Prius tinted. We looked around for a good deal and located a tinter. The business was offering a special on the latest UV block tint material, which was a bit more than the one we planned on. However, it came with $500 in free gas! Sounded fair enough, so we agreed to the super duper (or duped) tint job, and we would get a certificate for $500 in free gas.

Right!

Once we got home, she called the number to activate the certificate in order to receive our gas vouchers. She finds there are a few stipulation, such as one must purchase $100 in gasoline per month from the same oil company, then turn in the receipts before a certain day of the month with your vouchers to get a $25 gas card.

Okay, spend $100 on gas to get $25 free in gas easy enough. If you noticed, you can only claim $25 per month. Which means we will have to spend $2,000 over 20 months to redeem our $500 in free gas.

This is all attainable, right? One fillup of the Big Red Truck and we are three-quarters of the way there.

The vouchers arrive from freebiegas.com all twenty of them on a single sheet of paper. They look official with the redemption number, month, the name of the oil company we’re using, a line stating “Return with $100 in receipts” and her name Donna O’Callaghan printed on each little voucher. There is a bonus here you can spend the $25 on anything the station sells.

I wonder if that includes $25 in quarters for the slot machines?

Needless to say the bride completed every detail and sent the first batch on Sept. 17, her birthday. I’m sure that was deliberate to memorialize the event. She waited the required 28 days then called to get an update, only to leave a message. Then a gentleman called her back to assure her the first card would be here in seven to 10 days. No worries, except its now been more than 20 days. She called again and now you can’t even leave a message, a recording assures you the gift cards are in process and they apologize for the delay due to processing issues.

One thing is for sure: While others give up, Donna will show them the other pincher in her, the Doberman pinscher. Look out freebiegas.com. While there is no such thing as a free lunch, a deal is a deal, and she knows it.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column One Man's View.

Don't let lesser issues pass you by

2008-10-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

This first published October 23, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” was less than hysterical.

In fact, it was downright eerie — that is the striking resemblance of Palin and Tina Fey is eerie.

Her cameo did lend itself to blasting SNL’s ratings to their highest numbers in 14 years. But Alec Baldwin’s line about Palin being hotter in person was belittling.

In any case, Palin has yet to convince me she is vice presidential material and, more importantly, presidential material. I haven’t, however, completely made up my mind about which ticket to vote for.

Because I’m undecided, I repeat what I’ve stated since the inception of early voting in Nevada: I’m really leery of the idea because so much can happen in the last days of a campaign that could determine how people vote.

Why, if I had voted for McCain on Saturday and then on Monday a great American patriot like Colin Powell endorses Obama, I might feel regret. Actually, this race may have been more interesting had Colin Powell been running.

With that said, I must admit early voting can be convenient with busy schedules in a community that operates 24 hours a day. And in many cases it probably doesn’t matter whether people vote early or not.

I say this because many of the Democrats and Republicans I have discussed the election with would vote for their party’s candidate no matter what might possibly happen. It’s amusing how members of each party rattle off their party’s talking points or negative campaign rhetoric without regard to the facts or truth.

Democrats usually recite advertisement copy or news accounts, and Republicans recite the talking points of conservative spinners such as Limbaugh, Hanity and Levine. Being a talk radio junkie, I listen to these three spin doctors throughout the day, challenging the loosely weaved fabric they spin.

Politics is a tricky river to navigate because there is no perfect candidate who could possibly align with every issue you may consider important.

For instance, I know people who abhor abortion yet fervently defend the death penalty.

There is a businessman who complains about the debatable economic drain and increased cost of health care created by undocumented immigrants, then in the very same breath expresses how important they are to the survival of business in Las Vegas and this country.

Whatever your hot-button issue might be, try to remain cognisant of your lesser issues, because they could easily outweigh your hot button.

I’m not suggesting you vote for any particular candidate or back the platform of one party over the other. What I’m suggesting is that you think about the issues that are dear to you and vote your conscience.

If you have no special issues, then educate yourself on the issues, challenge the rhetoric and vote. There is no excuse for not voting, especially in Clark County where every opportunity is provided for you to do so.

Whenever I consider people not voting, I’m reminded of my father’s experiences as an observer of elections in places like Kurdistan in the early ’90s. This is a region on the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey where a people without a country called the Kurds live. In the case of the Kurds, many walked for three days to reach a polling place.

The photos he took are etched in my mind, especially the ones of the long lines, in some cases half a mile long.

It is disheartening to see voter turnouts in Clark County from past elections. I predict a higher than average turnout in this presidential election compared to other presidential elections.

If you do not vote in this election, you have little right to complain about the direction of this country’s future.

If 17 million people will stay up until midnight to watch SNL with Gov. Sarah Palin, just think of the millions who might get out to vote in this election.

That’s no joke!

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. His regular column is at One Man's View

Government Misjudged Lifeline

2008-10-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

This first published October 2, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

It looks like the rooster has come home to roost. The U.S. economy has tanked after the first “bailout” failed, as it should have.

Isn’t it amazing how the stock market moved up as the promise of a lifeline was looming? And then the line snaps, and computers take over with automated trades dumping stocks, causing a 777-point drop on Monday. Some jackpot.

Then on Tuesday, as Congress continued to mend the lifeline for another toss to the sinking economy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped back up 485 points.

Personally, I’m not real fond of bailing out all of the hooligans who have been living high on the hog with multiple homes and private jets on the backs of citizens trying reach the American dream just to have it snuffed out like a bad cigar.

I’m even more disenchanted by the political stock that both John McCain and Barack Obama tried to lasso from the crisis. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t buy into the ridiculous name-calling and blame-shifting going on by both parties. As far as the debates went, both of them should have stayed in Washington D.C. for change — a real change.

Last year, more than 37 million people were living below the poverty level in this country — the wealthiest country in the world. After this year, who knows how many more millions will have been forced into poverty?

What will the big “Bailout of ’08” do for the average “take a lunchbox to work Joe” in America? Very little is my guess.
Being very fortunate to have a 401(k) plan — even one that has gotten the you-know-what kicked out of it lately — I have decided not to panic and ride it out. The beauty of my 401(k) is that I make all of the decisions on what funds I choose. The downside is some of my choices weren’t that great. But I made the choices, and is Congress going to bail me out from my bad choices? Hell no!

Is this economic plan going to bail out all of those speculators who bought multiple homes in, let’s say, Las Vegas? Let’s just hope not.

So what am I going to do about my 401(k) and our mortgage? Absolutely nothing. Remain calm and continue on as usual. I’m not running to the bank and withdrawing our cash savings to put it in the mattress either.

Not only that, I’m encouraging you to spend wiser and, like me, keep spending even a little bit. Especially if you can spend your hard-earned cash with the small-business people trying to keep their heads above water and a roof over their families’ heads.

This is what made America great and will continue to do so in the future.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to tip. Tips are what makes the world go ’round. Just ask any of the tens of thousands of tip earners in this valley — our neighbors that is!

Now what about how our Nevada delegation voted on Monday’s failed bailout attempt?

Remember my last column, where I said Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., needed to shed his Bush lap dog image? Well he didn’t do it on Monday. He voted just the way President Bush wanted him to. Atta boy Jon. Here’s a bone. Good Boy!

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., did the right thing by voting against many of her colleagues and the president. She said the plan didn’t do enough for Americans and too much for corporate America.

Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., voted against it, saying he couldn’t vote for it in good conscience.

Don’t get me wrong: I could support any of the three. Some just need to learn a little independence.

Even though this idea won’t help my 401(k), I believe Wall Street should not get a dime other than what’s needed to borrow for capitalization and conservative expansion to create new jobs in the U.S.

In a perfect world, we would bail out residents trying to keep their homes by providing refinancing in the form of government loans and the understanding only one home would be eligible per tax filing. In other words, if you have two homes and you filed joint tax returns in 2007, you could only refinance one with a government loan.

That would keep the foxes out of the roost and the hens laying.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column at One Man's View.

Political directions are off

2008-09-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

This first published September 18, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the running mate of GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, has captured the imaginations of millions of Americans for many different reasons. This is the land of capitalism, where a creative mind can capitalize on the Palin phenomena with very little effort.

So far we’ve seen the Sarah Palin dolls in different attire, the pit bull with lipstick T-shirts and every other imaginable gimmick.

The real question is: Will she ever become anything more than a novelty? Not to say that with any contempt or flare of sexism, but can she find a place in the minds of American voters?

The McCain campaign has kept her away from any open media opportunities where she could face multiple questions from more than one journalist. After her interview with ABC News anchor Charles Gibson last week, it’s becoming evident she is either unpolished or rather shallow.

This plays well with the hearts of middle America, because she is viewed more like the rest of us plain ol’ folk.

But how does that play with the voters? She has become everything the Republicans deplored about Barack Obama. She now carries the Rock Star label that Barack Obama carried during the Republican National Convention. She is younger than Barack Obama, too.

Just wait one minute. Who is running for president anyway, Palin or McCain? Other than the obvious, it is really hard to tell by media accounts, or rather the amount of media attention being given to Palin, overshadowing McCain.

The media will continue to fall all over themselves to get what they can’t have, and that is Sarah Palin over the pit barbecue spinning on a rotisserie of unfiltered questions. They will probably have to wait until the debates just like the rest of us to really get a look behind her fashionable eye wear and red lipstick.

There are many political tricksters in media-type sheepskin trying to unravel the Palin phenomenon, but only time will tell if anything sticks.

If this is anything like a high school homecoming election and not an election to the two highest offices in the free world, then Barack Obama should be very concerned.

Personally, I’m a bit concerned that Palin didn’t have a clue what the “Bush Doctrine” is and a bit more concerned she thinks that her ability to see Russia from a remote area of Alaska is international relations experience.

Americans need to take a long, hard look at these candidates, including the running mates. Wall Street is collapsing, not one brick at a time, but rather by entire buildings. The economy is in such a funk it is going to require some real leadership and vision. For this reason, we had better take a close look a our U.S. Congress, because that is where reform really begins. Without an agreeable Congress, the best of presidents can’t get a single bill passed.

So, whether Obama is a rock star or McCain is a great American war hero or Biden is ever mentioned or Palin is all lipstick and no pit bull, we are in need of some redirection in America.

Until then, I’m waiting for the debates.

Speaking of Congress, have you noticed the ads in the race for Congressional District 3 between Rep. Jon Porter and state Sen. Dina Titus? Personally, I like both Titus and Porter for various reasons. However, they both need to reconsider their ads.

Porter, for one, has this ad stating he personally helped build the solar generation project in Eldorado Valley. He makes it sound like he was out there shining the mirrors and negotiating the deal for the land. Then I see Titus referring to how she supported legislation for renewable energy.

We need to hear about how they’re going to bring change to the economy and how they will develop bipartisanship in a completely divided Congress.

Porter has to shed his Bush lapdog image, and I would suggest Titus get busy on the issues and not how she has a 30-year-old twang.

Last week I mentioned on my blog that Gov. Jim Gibbons — our politically challenged governor of Nevada — is going to host a seminar for governors-elect to prepare them for their new jobs.

No doubt the governor has plenty of experience to share with those newly elected governors. I imagined some of the seminar topics, so I created a possible top 10 list and posted it on the blog. Hopefully, the governor is only hosting and not providing the topics.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. His regular column is at One Man's View.

Jon Ralston on Gibbons' seminar for new Govs.

2008-09-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Jon Ralston followed up today with his version of what Jim Gibbons might share with soon to be newly elected governors.

Ralston's Las Vegas SUN Column: Gibbons shares his secrets

Gibbons' Top 10 topics for new governors

2008-09-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Flashed by Jon Ralston this morning and reported today by Brendan Riley of the Associated Press, Gov. Jim Gibbons the politically challenged governor of Nevada is going to host a seminar for governor elects to prepare them for their new jobs.

You can find Brendan Riley's story here.

No doubt the Gov. has plenty of experience to share with those newly elected governors. I can imagine some of the seminar topics so I've created a possible list. Hopefully the Governor is only hosting and not providing the outline of topics.

1) Whose words are they anyway? How to write your own speeches

2) Parking Garage Etiquette 101

3) How to dump a first lady in 10 days; barring she doesn't kick you out of the mansion first

4) 101 ways to text message on the public dime

5) Late night texting for dummies, uh Governors

6) How not to fleece rich widows

7) How to survive 23 percent approval ratings: Deny, deny, deny!

8) How to have fun after the party has left

9) Budget cutting basics; widows and orphans then education

10) Play dates for chief executives: kids school programs, rodeos and grocery shopping

Experience is just the start

2008-09-02T15:04:00.001-07:00

This first published September 4, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Many of us are still trying to figure out who Sarah Palin is and what experience she brings to Number One Observatory Circle. In case you’re wondering, Number One Observatory Circle is the official residence of the vice president authorized by Congress in 1974 and is on the campus of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.

In 16 years of public service, she has ascended to vice presidential running mate to Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

She is the first woman Republican vice presidential running-mate and only the second woman in history.

The first question people have asked me is whether she is qualified to be vice president. The simple answer is yes. According to the Constitution, a person must be a native-born citizen, at least 35 years of age and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. Therefore, she qualifies.

Probably because it’s a simple question with a simple answer, folks then ask the follow-up question: Does she have enough experience to be vice president? That is a bit trickier to answer, because it’s all very subjective. Every American may have a different opinion on what experience is necessary to be president. Notice, I say president, because the vice president could become president at a moment’s notice.

But is it really experience we are looking for? Take our own Gov. Jim Gibbons, for instance. He looks great on paper when it comes to experience. He is a geologist, a lawyer, a hydrologist, a pilot with a distinguished record and former congressman with 10 years in office. Yet he is the worst governor imaginable with no sense of good judgment.

The state could elect anyone as governor and, if he surrounded himself with good people, the right people, he could be the best governor ever.

Judgment is the key qualification that should be ferreted out of every candidate. There lies the challenge: for voters to determine judgment and character of those running.

Apparently, Palin has done a respectable job as governor of Alaska and mayor of a community half the size of Boulder City. A colleague pointed out that Oscar Goodman would have more experience if you compared populations. Alaska has a population of 675,000, which is half the population of Southern Nevada — if, indeed, Oscar were the mayor of all Southern Nevada, as he claims.

So what was Senator McCain thinking when he selected Governor Palin as his running mate? Talk radio black sheep and eccentric Michael Savage said McCain was trying to lose the election. Interesting, but not likely.
Is Palin the sacrificial lamb for the Republican National Committee? Couldn’t McCain convince Mitt Romney to run?

Perhaps the real strategy is to pull the Hillary Clinton feminists away from Obama — or at least give them a choice. Probably not, because Palin’s pro-life stance would be way too much, for even the most centrist feminist to embrace.

McCain’s choice of Palin did accomplish a couple things. One, it neutralized the experience debate and kept the prospect of a woman veep alive. However, who ever expected the first woman veep to be a Republican?

What do I think about Governor Palin’s children and their issues? Nothing. They mirror what’s happening in America. Although I find it disappointing that she knew about her daughter’s situation, and the governor still accepted the opportunity, thrusting her 17-year-old into the world media and into the jaws of savage beasts.

I find this disturbing, because of my own experience growing up in the governor’s mansion. It’s painful when your parents are criticized and even more painful when the media point out your own or even siblings’ shortcomings. Especially painful is the feeling of failing your parents’ expectations. It is one thing to experience it in the privacy of the family, and completely another to read it in the paper or see it on TV.

Unfortunately, we know more about the Palin children right now than we know about their mother. I’m sure in the coming days and weeks, we will all ferret out what’s important and what’s not.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular column at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Family experience fosters insight

2008-08-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

A version of this first published August 21, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

A friend of mine sent me a compelling letter concerning her two adopted children and their journey to recovery from a disorder many people have not heard of: attachment disorder. Because of space constraints, I’m posting the entire commentary here on my blog. The names have been withheld to protect the boys’ identities.

A Chance at Life: Helping Children with Attachment Disorder

Even with the insights and empirical knowledge I acquired from twenty five years of working with the homeless mentally ill, I felt unprepared and ill equipped to respond effectively to the steady escalation of dangerous and disturbing "acting out" behaviors manifesting in my twelve and thirteen year old sons. They came into our lives at two and three years of age through the Nevada State foster care program. There were no serious signs of effects of the neglect they had endured before coming to us. They were animated happy children who brought joy into our lives. By the time they were four and five the adoption was finalized.

My personal journey into the suffering of my dear sons, Todd and Tyler, has informed my heart yet again in a new way of the urgent and essential life task of learning to love unconditionally. Through the tragic and terrifying turn of events that have shaken our family, I have been awakened to a deeper understanding of why so many that we see on the streets are so broken and seem to be caught in a never ending cycle of self destruction.

I have also realized that every fiber of experience and wisdom that has been woven into my heart over these years has prepared me for the unsentimental nonviolent love, imperative to the recovery of my two sons. I am reminded of the famous quote from Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov , "love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams and books." It is suddenly clear to me that my work with the homeless and my call to be mother are intimately entwined. Both requiring me to never give up on those who society would deem undeserving. Whether that be the homeless man on the street or the delinquent, "problem" child. Both experiences have shown me how to find and mend the heart of the dejected outcast. Indeed, in both instances I have learned what is possible when compassion and empathy replace punishment and rejection.

Presently, both of my sons are in treatment centers. Their placement was in response to their steadily escalating, dangerous, delinquent behaviors. At twelve and thirteen, they were showing signs that something was terribly wrong. We were well into crisis management before we found a therapist who actually understood what was happening. Hence, my husband and I have been living a crash course in the affects of disrupted attachment, sometimes known as Attachment Disorder. We have learned that children who suffer abuse or neglect during the first two years of life, develop an adaptation for survival. One of many serious consequences of this is their capacity to trust adults is severely damaged. Psychologically they have learned that in order to survive, (not die) they must be in complete control. So they manifest behaviors that are subsequently defiant and oppositional. In turn the adults who they already do not trust; parents, teachers, police etc. react with fear, anger or punishment, which in turn fuels the defiance and reinforces their psychological reality that adults are indeed unsafe and cannot be trusted.

There is also a high correlation between parents who neglect or abuse their children and mental illness, increasing the proclivity for mood disturbance in the children as well.

We learned that when children with a history of early trauma reach adolescence, they begin to psychologically relive the trauma suffered during those first two years of life. Indeed often they manifest the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. They begin to experience anxiety, depression and rage.

We pieced all these factors together to begin to understand why our children were self destructing, why they were not coming home at night, getting into fights at school, not going to school. At twelve and thirteen they were taking drugs and alcohol. They had no regard for our parental authority and would be thrown into a violent rage when we set very reasonable limits. We were getting called by the police in the middle of the night because they would sneak out and get into trouble. They were both caught shoplifting a number of times. It was all brought to a head when they were arrested for breaking into a vacant house. While my husband and I were desperately trying to get help we endured many visits from the police. Authorities consistently gave us well intended but misguided advice. They would inevitably remind us that we had the right to use physical discipline on our children and that if we did this we would have better control. One officer, thinking he was helping the situation, told our boys to behave or they would be sent back to child haven.

After many months of living through this nightmare we found a therapist who had personal experience with attachment disorder, he had foster adopted seven children. He helped us to understand what was happening and what we could do about it. At about the same time our research lead us to the Institute for Attachment and Child Development, a therapeutic program in Colorado specifically effective in treating children with disrupted attachment issues.

It was Holy Week, my husband and I were back in Colorado at the Institute for Attachment and Child Development. Tyler has been here for a month in a therapeutic foster home. Here, he was, with the help of highly skilled treatment parents put into a developmental box, bringing him to a younger psychological age. This process along with medications for mood disorder would prepare him for a long anticipated two-week intensive aimed at healing the wounds of his original trauma of early neglect as well as his relationship to Gary and I as his parents. The therapist warns that it will be a roller coast ride of emotions especially for Tyler and that we as parents need to stay on the platform comforting him through it all.

By day three my son is laying across my lap . He is weeping the tears of grief and disappointment that have been buried under layers of anger, confusion and pain. Together my husband and I held him secure, rocking and soothing the deep sobbing that was finally being released. This went on for about an hour before he became calm and the crying ceased. Then the therapist spoke with Tyler to help him understand what just occurred and when he asked Tyler how this all felt, Tyler smiled like a happy child and replied, "satisfying".

It is unfortunate that there are so many who are born, through no fault of their own, into dangerous and compromised circumstances and never find relief. Often they are inheriting a legacy of mental illness, drug and alcohol addictions, neglect and abuse. Nationally one in four former foster youth will be incarcerated two years after leaving foster care. Across the country, for many reasons, there has been a call to reform the foster care system. Part of this reformation should include efforts to provide effective treatment for these children. Perhaps it is time we do more for the future of these children than just building more prisons.

Attachment Disorder and it's concurrent conditions ( is a very serious social ill that can and should be addressed. The therapies are specialized but not impossible to teach and learn. It is possible to find effective treatment to give these babies/children who experience abuse and or neglect a better chance at life. The institutions and bureaucracies that are set up to respond to these children first need to be willing to look at the studies and research on brain development and the effects of this on these babies. They need to take seriously the potential human and social costs that comes from not treating these children. They must be willing to teach potential adoptive and foster parents about these kids and how to parent these children. There needs to be treatment homes with trained treatment parents to care for these kids in every state.

Comprehensive structural changes in adoption/foster care systems will not only alleviate the suffering of families, it will sow the seeds for social transformation putting to rest legacies of abuse and neglect. Certainly this kind of structural change can and will over time yield a decline in the number of homeless mentally ill.

Tyler and Todd are finally both at home. They both successfully went through the treatment program at the Institute for Attachment and Child Development. They now have a new understanding of family. They were helped to face the truth of their original traumas. They were prescribed effective medication. They have a desire to be part of family and have tools and insight to continue the work of healing. My husband and I have also been given the parenting tools and support to help the boys navigate through their struggles. With continued therapy and medication management the prognosis is good. We are on the road to a brighter, healthier future for our family .

We are full of gratitude for the family and friends that have generously supported our efforts to obtain this specialized treatment for our boys. We only wish that someday this type of treatment will be accessible for all families who are raising children with disrupted attachment. We are heartened to see that there are local efforts being made to bring in experts on the subject to educate and work with local parents and clinicians in the field of foster care and adoption.

On September 11 & 12, 2008 at the West Charleston Library there will be an Attachment Disorder Training: Theory, Treatment and Parenting presented by Forrest Lien, LCSW and Konnie Stoltz, Therapeutic Foster Parent and Parent Trainer from the Institute for Attachment and Child Development. Contact information 702-375-2171

Signed: A local Mom

Hard times call for local measures

2008-08-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

This first published August 8, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Is the Boyd Gaming Group’s delay of the Echelon resort just the tip of nontraditional economic indicators forming in the minds of Las Vegas Valley residents?

Most people are less likely to be aware of major economic indicators used by analysts to gauge the ebb and flow of the economy, such as sales of retail and food services or perhaps gross domestic product.

The indicators most of us can relate to are events or realities in our daily lives.

The construction of Echelon being stopped mid-swing for a predicted 12 months is a good example of an event that has a chilling effect on many locals. How so? The very fact that 600 of our neighbors are out of work, leaving them and their families in a state of uncertainty, hits home.

Let’s not forget the contractors and subcontractors who provided our neighbors with jobs. Those companies have suppliers and vendors that rely on them to keep their businesses going and their employees working. The trickle-down effect can be far-reaching in a small community that isn’t economically diversified.

Southern Nevada is dependent upon the gaming and tourism industries and is nowhere near to being economically diverse.

Another traditional indicator is the growing number of empty retail spaces in strip malls. Retail vacancy rate is nearly 7 percent of the 4.5 million square feet built. Office space has been reported at nearly 17 percent vacancy.

A friend once told me Americans tend to base the economy on the price of a hamburger. Well, if that’s true, then we must be in a rut. According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s is considering taking the Double Cheeseburger off the dollar menu or at least exploring how to make it less expensive for the company.

In some locations, McDonald’s has been making the burger with one slice of cheese and calling it the Double Burger with Cheese. Other locations have been selling them for a $1.09. In case you’re interested, this burger flap is actually about the price of cheese and not beef — at least for now.

The stumbling economy and the high price of gas helped tank U.S. auto sales, dropping 13 percent in July. High demand for smaller cars is propping up market hopes while the sales of light trucks and SUVs has all but crashed them. However, the luxury market appears stable — interesting! Perhaps this is an indication of the shrinking middle class.

No worries, though. I read somewhere a dealership in Florida is offering a small car with the purchase of an SUV.

There are plenty of economic woes in the airline industry, as well. Some airlines are charging for more than one bag, whereas customarily one could check two bags for free. Some routes have jumped 276 percent in the last year, making it impossible for some folks to fly.

Fewer people are taking vacations away from home and opting for the staycation, staying home or close to home. I’ve heard of some local families going on mini-Vegas vacations by taking advantage of highly discounted Strip hotel rooms for a couple of days. Actually, you can stay at Harrah’s for $49 a night. If you would like something more luxurious, the Bellagio has rooms from $179 advertised. What a concept! A cheap room in a nice hotel with the best accommodations possible, including pool, cabana and some entertainment.

That’s investing in the local economy.

The bright spot on the horizon is the price of gas is falling. I personally find this very suspect, especially on the heals of record profits by big oil companies. Americans tend to have very short memories, and this is what appears to happen. The oil companies push the price of fuel up to an unbearable point, then back prices down enough to make folks feel at ease before the dramatic climb to the next record price begins. We Americans are dumb enough to play the game. The oil companies continue to make record profits for their shareholders, which is the American way. Rightfully so!

Personally, in the case of Exxon-Mobil I refuse to buy their gas unless there is no other choice. In fact, I would rather pay a little more to a smaller company.

Sure the economy is sucking wind, but what can we do about it? Plenty. Start by going to local merchants whenever possible, even if it might cost a bit more. This helps keep our dollars in our community, where it counts.

If you eat out a lot or a little, consider eating at locally owned, independent restaurants instead of the chains that send profits out of state to other communities. Most local eateries are family owned and operated, thus supporting multiple households. Check out the dining pages in some of our papers or one of our coupon books for good deals.

Supporting our local merchants will help buck both traditional and non-traditional economic indicators. Give no free rent in our minds for the economic boogie man.

Shop wisely, community-wise that is.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

We must confront our own racisim

2008-07-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

This first published July 24, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

ATLANTA — The weather here is hot and sticky. The days get long and hot here in the South. The resting place of the greatest civil rights activist in American history, Martin Luther King Jr., this is the perfect location to discuss racism in America.
This week I have the privilege of spending a week at Oglethorpe University, with not only many of the brightest minds in the area of social justice, but also people who teach and live it.
The Social Action Summer Institute brings Catholic social action leaders from around the United States together to share best practices and study advanced topics.
It is a national institute for Catholic social justice ministries to develop leadership skills in community activism and the advocacy for those living in poverty or on the margins of society.
This year’s advanced track is a symposium on racism with presentations titled “The Color-Blind Ideology: The Current Racial Order in the U.S.” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, professor of sociology at Duke University. The Rev. Bryan Massingale, doctorate of sacred theology and associate professor of theology at Marquette University, is presenting “The History of Catholic Social Teaching on Race and Racism.”
Although the intention is to build skills to prompt Catholics in the pews to take action, that action benefits all people of every race and every faith. The very basic theme is to protect human dignity of all people in the human family.
Ms. Sherry Frank of the American Jewish Committee is presenting “Building Interreligious and Interracial Justice Coalitions.” The title of this presentation exemplifies the importance of solidarity within the human family just as it is important in your or my immediate families. Individuals together with families create communities, the collective power of communities make nations and the people of those nations make up the human family. And just as there is strife, disagreement and fighting within families, it is the same with the human family. Therefore as people of faith, with all faiths working together, a change in the world is possible.
Having grown up in a family where racism was pretty much non-existent and taboo to say the least, we grew up understanding all people are created equal no matter what the color of their skin, race, nationality or gender. Our parents took every opportunity to share different cultures with us.
In my own experience, I was pretty much color-blind as a child, having a Pollyanna view of racism because I had not ever experienced it. That was until we moved to Las Vegas from Carson City and I transferred to Valley High School. It was there I got my first taste of racism — but it was a reverse racism where I mistakenly felt at the time I was the victim. At first it appeared to be just a case of bullying and intimidation, until names referring to the color of my skin were used.
Fortunately, it didn’t last long. I ended up befriending many of my African-American tormentors. Sounds odd doesn’t it? Today I can draw on the same friendships developed back then following a racially turbulent time in Las Vegas. Some of my friends are now successful businessmen and community leaders.
My parents helped me understand the racial strife and how to deal with it by example, a few good books and a couple of movies to start. But most of all, their care and love for all people was evident and made a lasting impression. Their encouragement to experience others’ cultures or the cultures of different nationalities, including language and best of all cooking, set the foundation for human understanding and compassion.
The challenge today is to get people to confront their own prejudices by first eliminating the “us and them” mentality and striving for equality among all people. It’s not only a class issue, but rather deep-seated color issues, as well as white privilege.
This year we honored the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 40 years after his assassination, and today, after 40 years, we have not come close to abolishing racism. Although we have developed tolerance in society, tolerance is not the solution, but rather a Band-Aid.
Yes, we could very well elect an African-American president this year, but does that mean we have become less racist in America?
I don’t think so, but it does indicate a shift in the scale of racial equality.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Return to hectic life disappoints

2008-07-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

This first published July 10, 2008 in the Boulder City News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

After a few days of R&R in Lincoln County, I begin to wonder why I don’t spend more time in rural Nevada. It is a simple life where things tend to move at a slower pace than our urban and suburban paces — except when it comes to family, a neighbor in need or work.

One can be sure most folks in rural Nevada are kind, generous and hard working.

Admiring the view of the Dry Valley from the back porch, I watched the ranchers cut one field of alfalfa while on another field they were busy gathering up harvested alfalfa into one-ton bales. In a third field, they tended to the irrigation system that delivers life-giving water to the alfalfa.

The most pressing thing on our minds was what to fix for breakfast and when to go fishing or exploring the back roads of the mountains.

However, in the back of my mind were the realities I intended to leave behind at home. Concern about the price of gas coupled with a failing economy was ever present from Las Vegas to the rural stretches of the state. It appeared fewer people were escaping the heat of the Las Vegas Valley.

Normally traffic from Las Vegas to Pioche would be busy on a holiday weekend, with motor homes, campers, travel trailers and the like. Although there were a good number, it was not nearly as many as in previous years.

It still made for a very relaxing weekend with no real crowds to deal with at the nearby lakes and streams. By Sunday afternoon, I was charged and ready to get back home.

My recharged batteries were quickly draining by 7:30 Monday morning while making my daily trek from Henderson to Bishop Gorman High School as part of my carpooling duties for summer school. The 32-mile summer school commute has been much quicker than during the regular school year largely because, during the summer, we hit Interstate 215 before 7 a.m.

However, on this Monday some genius came up with the bright idea of reducing the westbound 215 Beltway to one lane. At first I thought there might be an accident, because a Clark County School District police car passed us on the left emergency lane with lights flashing. That’s odd, I thought, a school cop responding to a freeway accident.

After 30 minutes of toiling in the stop-and-go traffic, I realized that the previously mentioned genius had reduced traffic to one lane during one of the heaviest commutes of the day. I must have overlooked the notice in one of our papers warning of it.

I was already revved up over the traffic mess, but I got really turbo-charged at the thought of the school cop using his lights and the emergency lane to get through the five-mile traffic jam. I will never know whether he had an actual emergency or not. However, I would bet not.

If you happen to be a parent, then you must realize I endure all sorts of strange music with the kids in the car. After dropping off the kids, I continue my morning ritual by scanning between the AM news stations to pick up on breaking news.

This is where conspiracy talk radio festers like a boil on backside of who knows what. The host this Monday morning laid out his question by saying Assemblyman Mark Manedo, D-Whitney, is creating a back-door attack on talk radio with a proposed bill to ban teen use of cell phones while driving.

The host continued to say the bill is actually a ploy to prevent his listeners from calling into his show using their cell phones.

No kidding, Manendo’s bill is a liberal attempt to ratchet up the “Fairness Doctrine” to push conservative talk show hosts out of business by preventing callers from calling in on their cell phones.
Whoa!!! Don’t drink out of that Kool-Aid cup.

I’m not a big fan of any kind of ban on cell phone use and I agree it would slowly chip away at our freedom of choice — to choose when and where we use cell phones. How we use them is a good point, though, and I have no problem with encouraging people to use a hands-free device while driving.

I’m the biggest offender of all when it comes to using my cell phone and driving. The cell phone has made it possible for me to get twice as much done in my day.

Texting is another issue altogether, because it requires the use of one hand and both eyes. Both of my daughters would disagree because they claim they can text without looking, which is unnerving. They are probably the exception rather than the rule.

The bottom line is that this proposed ban of cell phone use needs some rethinking. It should not take away a freedom nor single out teens or minors. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, and if such a law were passed, it should apply to everyone of all ages.

But in no way is Manendo’s proposal intended to stop conspiracy radiophiles from reaching out to their gurus of conservative spin.

With days like this, I could use another three days in rural Nevada, where conservative values reign and so does a little common sense.

Fishing anyone?

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

A handshake once said it all

2008-06-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

This first published June 26, 2008 in the Boulder City News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

There is a breakdown in the moral compass of American society, which seems to be spinning wildly as though it were seated on the North Pole.

Look at the headlines of teenage girls making a pact to get pregnant so they can raise their babies together, as though it’s a free pass to adulthood. The story is now being denied by city officials, while the high school principal is having a memory lapse, unable to recall where he heard the rumor. Either way, it is a sad indication of society.

Then there are more than 400 people connected to the real estate industry who have been arrested for fraud and other conspiracies connected to the mortgage crisis.

Remember the days when a man’s word was his bond and you could take it to the bank where the teller, who knew you, would accept it based upon your own word? I do!

Some of those folks were the ones who believed in Las Vegas and its potential to thrive, then blossom.

Some were of the unsavory kind. However, if they said they would do something like break your leg, you could count on it.

Then there were respectable ones who made a promise or even an indication they would do something and always followed through.

Growing up, I met many of them through my parents, who had the same high level of integrity.

I’m reminded of these folks who lived by their words after seeing the documentary “Where I Stand: The life of Hank Greenspun.” The film, produced by his granddaughter, Amy Greenspun, and directed by Scott Goldstein, was amazing.

Personally, it chronicled many of the incredible facets of Hank’s life that I already knew. Each segment was akin to untying a ribbon from a present, then opening it up only to discover another present inside. It unfolded the integrity of a man who feared nothing in the pursuit of justice, even if it involved the unjust actions of those sworn to uphold the law.

I said it chronicled many of the incredible facets. Not all, because there was much more to his life that may never see the big screen. His infectious adoration of children, his generosity to employees, his loyalty to his friends and his word as his bond.

Hank was magic, and he had a magic closet to prove it. Just ask the hundreds of children who experienced the mighty publisher opening the closet filled with joy in the form of stuffed animals, trinkets and a treasure chest. With their parents watching, Hank would invite the children to pick a toy to take with them.

I’m not sure who relished in the joy more, the lucky child or the inner child of Hank basking in a moment of unconditional love only a child can give.

He was generous with those who worked for him, even in the most challenging times.

Twenty-nine years ago, he gave a kid a job, even though the kid’s father thought it wasn’t a good idea. Hank said he would help him find a summer job, however. He would never promise then fail to keep his word.

The kid didn’t mind sweeping the mailroom and prepacking inserts for the Las Vegas Sun that summer. Who knew it would be the beginning of a lifelong career in publishing for that kid? Hank gave me my first job in the newspaper, or rather he suggested to someone else to do so.

It’s no secret my dad worked with Hank on a handshake that would extend another 15 years beyond Hank’s death, with his son Brian, until my dad’s death in 2004.

It had then become an annual ritual between my dad and Brian Greenspun. My dad would say, “It’s been another year,” and Brian would ask if he wanted a contract. The answer was always no, because he had one bonded by a handshake.

Hank was a fine example of the moral fabric that made this country great. If you ever get the opportunity to see “Where I Stand,” take it!

It may provide an opportunity for you to take inventory of your life and consider what you can do to help reset the moral compass of America. Perhaps, it’s as simple as following through on your word.

It sounds simple, but is it?

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Do Dems have time to recover?

2008-06-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

This first published June 12, 2008 in the Boulder City News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

It's been exactly three months since I wrote about the Democratic dream team meltdown. That column can be found on my blog listed at the bottom of this column.

Now that Obama has prevailed and Clinton has conceded, she certainly has left the door open for the two of them to consummate a deal to seal the dream team, but will he be willing to dance?

It's hard to ignore the fact her spouse is a former president with very distinct opinions. This situation reminds me of something my dad told me more than a few times during his life when I made a decision he wasn't completely sold on. Depending on how little he agreed or disagreed, he would refer to me as Tim, son or boy. He would say “OK, boy, now that you let the tiger out of the cage, let's see if you can keep hold of its tail.”

The question for Obama is if he puts Hillary Clinton on the ticket, will he be letting former President Clinton out of the cage? Is he willing to hold the tiger by the tail?

Actually, it doesn't matter because Bill Clinton is a former president, and he will be an influence no matter who the next president is. That's just the way it is.

Hillary has much to offer the Obama campaign. She has great appeal to women voters. Even first lady Laura Bush said she admires Hillary for her grit and strength, only she wishes the first woman president would be a Republican.

Ah yes, what about the meltdown? Do the Democrats have enough chillers to remold the dream team, or will the Republicans keep turning up the heat? It might be easier to hire a Zamboni and create an ice rink in the desert.

In my previous column, I considered Sen. John McCain as non-threatening to the Democrats, but my consideration is quickly changing.

The election of the president hinges on the quality of the running mate by either candidate.

If I were a tag team wrestling promoter and looking to draw in voters rather than spectators or pay-per-viewers, I would select Obama-Clinton vs. McCain-Romney for a major payday. A matchup like that could give either a party a win.

Its all speculation at this point anyway.

Here's a bit of speculation you can chew on. A friend of mine has suggested to me the Republicans have pretty much given up and are letting the Democrats have the next four years to deal with the mess the economy is in.

That would be a mistake for them. In my opinion, which isn't much, they would be giving up the White House for at least four years and possibly 16. Imagine for a moment that Obama picks Hillary, they win, and she hangs in there for four years, possibly eight. She will still be younger than McCain is today, and he is not too old to run for president. Perhaps, she decides to run against Obama in 2012 — then she could possibly do two terms as president.

This is what I like most about elections, because it allows us the opportunity to imagine strategies that may never happen.

However, if I had a Democratic strategy, it would have been to nominate Hillary first and run Obama the younger of the two as vice president, then in eight years he would have been unstoppable. I'll let you know in November or 2012 if hind site is 20/20.

Tim O'Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Gas prices change family's fun

2008-06-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

This first published May 29, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

What used to be relatively cheap entertainment is no longer so.

For years, we have enjoyed less expensive gasoline in our Northwest Arizona getaway, primarily because there are fewer local taxes added on than in Clark County, which has plenty.

This was true until this past Memorial Day weekend, when the gouging began. The week before, I had checked our only local gasoline retailer in Arizona, and the price was $3.67 per gallon. Imagine my shock over the weekend when I went to fill two 5-gallon gas containers and the price had jumped to $4.19 per gallon. Heck, that’s 10 cents more than the notoriously high-priced Chevron station across from the Hacienda Hotel between Boulder City and the Hoover Dam.

That is a 52-cent jump in price with no explanation. It is taking advantage of unsuspecting visitors and tourists, who quickly realize the nearest pump is at least 30 miles away.

It has always been my habit to spend money at the combination gas station-grocery store to help the local economy by purchasing odds and ends like milk, eggs, bread and filling up with gas before heading home. Although I’m miffed about the weekend price hike, I’ll probably continue to add to the local economy. After all, they bake the best bread around. But I’ll think twice about purchasing gas before heading home.

The days of tossing $25 into the boat tank for a day’s worth of fun whipping the kids around on a towable are quickly fading, along with $20 to spend a day quad riding. The challenge for me isn’t in the price of gas so much as it is the challenge of planning our excursions with better purpose.

This concept makes my bride giddy with excitement, because for her this is an opportunity for families to get back together to spend quality time with each other. This may include shorter boat rides and more family games on the beach or shorter distances on the quads with longer hikes and picnics while out exploring.

Her excitement over quality family time has been resonating with me lately, causing me to rethink how we’ve spent time with our children. Although it has always been our intention to engage our children, it seems I have spent plenty of time entertaining them probably more than I should have.

For example, we have a vacation home with a boat and a few quads. Granted the boat is small and 13 years old, but it has provided us special opportunities to engage our children by experiencing nature in ways not available to most Americans.

Are our children any worse off being entertained? I would say probably not.
The real question is would they be better off without the material stuff and spending more time playing board games?

Maybe so. Or maybe a modified combination would be better to build interpersonal communication skills.

Suppose for a moment that gas is $8 per gallon, you live in an urban city, work within a mile of home, you have no big toys and no car. How concerned are you about the price of gas?

Now suppose for a moment that gas is $8 per gallon and your situation is the same as today. How concerned are you?

It’s not out of the question to consider these situations, because gas is $8.93 per gallon in Germany. Why could it not happen here?

What adjustments would you make to your lifestyle? How would you entertain your children? Would you use the opportunity to engage your children? These are all interesting questions to ponder if you have a moment.

As the economy slumps and the price gougers gouge, look for opportunities to endure by bringing family and friends closer together. Throw a simple barbecue, listen to music and play a few games.

Why wait for the price of gas to go up in order to engage your family in healthy communication and board games?

My bride loves board games. I’m less than enthusiastic about them but willing to play.

So what about you?

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Our refuse is no one else's business

2008-05-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

This first published May 8, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Setting the record straight.
A very astute reader sent me an e-mail pointing out an error in my column last week that needs to be corrected. The reader requested to be kept anonymous and I’ve agreed to his request.
He wrote, “I read your ‘One Man’s View’ in the Viewpoint section, May 1-7, 2008, Home News. Unfortunately, the information you gave concerning ‘interference with recycling containers’ was incorrect and a perpetuation of an urban myth. I would not normally be so familiar with this topic, but I witnessed a similar incident as your wife did, only it was 3 a.m. … I was cited the same incorrect information you printed. … However, in my case, they were not taking aluminum cans, but instead rifling through recycling and refuse looking for identity documents, as you foretold in your opinion piece.
“I phoned the Henderson Police the next day and was given the correct information and reference to City of Henderson, Ordinance 2545. … Apparently, many municipalities changed their city codes, pertaining to ‘refuse and recycling’ after Sept. 11 to heighten safety and security procedures. A Lexis/Nexis search will reveal thousands of such ordinances throughout the nation. A side note: Even the designated refuse collectors may not interfere with your trash. They are only authorized to transport it. Both my refuse and recycling handlers were aware of the law.”
So here is how the Henderson Municipal Code reads:
“5.17.080 Interference with containers prohibited.
“A. It is unlawful for any person other than the owner, the city or its franchisee, or their duly appointed agents, to interfere in any manner with any containers containing solid waste or recyclables or to remove any such container from the location where placed for pickup by the owner, the city or its franchisee.
“B. It is unlawful for any person, other than the operator of a drop-off center or his duly appointed agent, to interfere with or remove any recyclables from a drop-off center. (Ord. 2545 § 1 (part), 2006)”
There you have it. The recycle bins are off-limits in Henderson and probably in all of Clark County.
So what can you do if you see someone interfering with the trash? First, don’t call Republic Services, because they don’t care who gets the recyclables. Second, report it to the Police Department, especially if the interlopers are going through your trash.
Information is collected about you and sold to people who have less-than-honorable intentions.

Gibbons, do over
Reflecting back to last week’s column (if you missed it I posted it on my blog at tocomv.blogspot.com).
My good intentions of trying to keep the state’s first family in check blew up in my face. No sooner had my column published, the governor slapped the first lady with divorce papers, ending any chance of reconciliation by way of a warm fireplace and a blanket.
The governor also wants the first lady tossed out of the mansion and, to no one’s surprise, she isn’t going quietly.
The governor isn’t going to dance around this as easily as he did the Chrissy Mazzeo fiasco. In case you need a Gibbons/Mazzeo primer, it goes like this. The governor, then a candidate, was out having drinks with several campaign cronies at a popular Las Vegas drinking and dining establishment. After a few one-armed curls, he headed back to his hotel unattended. At the establishment’s exit, he happened across one of the damsels he had been working out at the table with.
The gentleman that he is, he offered to walk the woman to her car in the parking garage, where she slipped and he broke her fall by grabbing her arm, allegedly forcing her against the wall.
Her version of the story was completely different than the one I’ve strung together from news accounts. You get the idea, though.
The governor better pray he has better lawyers then he has advisers, because the first lady is a polished contender. His knee-jerk reactionary style often leaves him rethinking his decisions.
Just like the crazy idea of billing the widow of Steve Fossett, the millionaire pilot who vanished into thin air after taking off from the Hilton’s Flying M Ranch in Northern Nevada. That idea earned him a few dunce points for sure. He later restated his position to say he was asking her for a donation to defray the cost of the monthlong search.
That would be because he totally blew the state’s revenue projections. He promised no new taxes, and he is sticking by his word.
The beauty of all this is we only have 2 1/2 years before we can kick him out of the mansion. That is, if the first lady doesn’t do it first.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.

Mansion living could help governor

2008-05-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

This first published May 1, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Gov. Jim Gibbons not living in the Governor’s Mansion appears to be big news these days — but maybe it isn’t.
Having the experience of growing up in the Mansion as one of Gov. Mike O’Callaghan’s five children, I tend to look at the private lives of Nevada’s first families with a little more sensitivity and an appreciation for privacy.
I mentioned a month or so ago that the marital unrest of Nevada’s first couple is their business and not the public’s unless it affects the governor’s ability to govern. I still hold that position, except there seems to be a new twist to the situation.
As reported in both the Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun on Sunday, the governor is living in one of the couple’s two houses in Reno while first lady Dawn Gibbons is residing at the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City.
Separation is not new to the Gibbonses, because while Jim Gibbons served in Congress for 10 years, he lived in Washington and Dawn Gibbons lived in Reno raising their son. As mentioned in a previous column, while Jim Gibbons was preparing his run for the state’s top post, she was busy campaigning for his abandoned House seat. Had she been successful, that would have led them to opposite ends of the country once again.
The situation is what it is, so let’s examine it for a moment.
Some folks are up in arms about the governor not residing in Carson City, much less the Mansion. There’s even a state law requiring the governor to live in Carson City, not necessarily the Mansion though. I think this law makes sense if this were 1867 and we didn’t have trains, planes and automobiles.
With the situation as it is with the Gibbonses, it actually makes more sense for the first lady to reside in the Mansion because of the number of events held there hosted by none other than the lady of the house.
If there is anything that bothers me about the governor living in Reno, it is the amount of wasted gasoline to commute back and forth from Reno to the Capitol at the expense of the taxpayers.
Now if the governor really wanted to cut the budget, he ought to suck it up and sleep in one of the three or so suites in the mansion. Having lived in the Mansion for eight years, I can assure you there is plenty of room for even the most cantankerous of foes to not get in each other’s way.
Speaking of sucking up, during the energy crisis in the ’70s we sucked it up to do our part as the first family by living with very little heat in the winter and lights out early every night. I remember our dad telling us he couldn’t ask casino operators on the Las Vegas Strip to shut off their marquees (which they had) if we continued to burn oil and electricity carelessly. Blankets and a warm fireplace were a way of life.
Perhaps this is good advice for the Gibbonses to rekindle what has been extinguished by years of separation. Blankets and a warm fireplace can be effective.
Recycle bins
Since we’re on the subjects of relationships and economic hardships, here is a situation of my own.
Last week, my bride gave me a jingle at the office to query me about the legality of removing aluminum cans from neighbors’ recycle bins. Before hearing her out completely, I wanted to convince her that, though the economy is bad, it’s really not so bad that she needs to pilfer the cans from our neighbors.
She assured me she had no intentions of doing such a thing, but there were a couple of guys sneaking around the neighborhood removing the aluminum cans from the recycle bins.
She asked, “Is there a number you can call to report it?”
“I don’t know let me check” I replied.
In a quick call to Republic Services of Southern Nevada, I was told there is no law against removing aluminum cans from the bins. The woman on the phone said, “Once you place recycle bins and garbage cans on the street, it’s fair game.”
“Really, are you sure?” I asked.
She assured me it was and said someone must have figured out the pickup schedule and was taking advantage of it.
Still not convinced, I walked over to my editor and gave her the “Did you know” line. With no surprise in her voice, she reassured me it was true. At the same time, she struck a little fear in me when she said that’s why people are allowed to go through trash. Some do that to find information about people and steal their identity. I’m not sure if that’s exactly what she said but it’s darn close and is still unsettling.
If you don’t have a shredder in your household, you should consider getting one. If the economy goes completely into the drink, please ignore the guy in the Big Red Truck pilfering the cans from your recycle bin. Worry about the guy going through your trash.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Filing tax return is our duty

2008-04-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

This first published April 18, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Every year I wait until the last minute to file our income tax return. This year was no different. I sat down with our CPA on April 14 to assemble a box full of documentation into a small book.
Why is it that angst begins to form in my gut when the tax documents begin to arrive in January from banks, investment companies and the credit union?
I would say because it’s an important responsibility as an American, a citizen of the United States, and I don’t take it lightly.
Ideally, that would be the truth, but really it’s because I wonder if all the required documents will arrive on time. It’s all about being on time for me, whether it’s a meeting, appointment or a ballgame. Having never missed filing income tax returns in my life — except one extension because of a late K1 — I find it inexcusable for one not to file.
This is what amazes me about this year in particular. With the expectation of the economic stimulation rebate in full swing, more Americans than ever were not only expected to file, but to file on time.
Expected to file? Have they not filed before? Do they usually file late?
How do they sleep at night? I would have nightmares of IRS agents assaulting the house like storm troopers, whisking my children off and selling them into servitude to pay the tax bill.
Amazingly millions of people don’t file at all! I don’t understand that either. It’s un-American not to pay your taxes. This is how we fuel our government to keep us free and provide services.
Is it fun to pay taxes? Not at all! It is a necessary evil that causes a great deal of stress for many people.
Obviously there are millions of Americans who don’t care to contribute to the common good and suffer no stress over it either.
Now that’s freedom — or is it?

Immigration
Over the years I’ve written about immigration and its needed reform. Recently, Timothy Pratt of the Las Vegas Sun has written two interesting stories about the economic impact immigration has had on Southern Nevada. Some we are realizing now and some will be realized down the road.
In one story he explains the “exodus” of immigrants from the area heading to other states and even back to their homelands.
It solidifies many of the theories I’ve presented and the economic force that exists. Removing 12 million people from this country who are working low-paying jobs would be devastating to the economy.
Now the collapse of the housing market has eliminated many jobs right here at home by virtually stopping all new residential construction. The vacuum effect of those jobs — so many of which are held by illegal immigrants or undocumented workers — is now apparent.
However, anti-immigrant proponents will say it’s only the collapse of the illegal immigrants’ network of support. They will also contend it will have no negative effects on Americans.
I beg to differ, and I have said before there is a huge tax contribution made by undocumented workers in the form of sales taxes and other taxes that directly affect every citizen.
The building boom will return to Southern Nevada in the future, but who will swing the hammers and saw the lumber and at what price?
I foresee many manufacturing jobs leaving this country for greener pastures across the border and abroad, creating another economic vacuum. Some say I’m an alarmist, but so far I’m batting close to 1.000 by looking just beyond my own property line.
We need to secure the borders, no argument there. However, we also need to realize the economic stability gained by those already here.
Consider the economic stimulus that could be generated by bringing undocumented workers out of the shadows and documenting them. This would also force them to be accountable to the communities in which they live and use services by paying their bills and paying income taxes. They need not become citizens, but they do need to pay their way.
I suggest a visit to lasvegassun.com to read Mr. Pratt’s work and then spend some time reading the comments.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Shock at pump prompts query

2008-04-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

This first published April 3, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

For the past six months I’ve been driving a hybrid that averages 46 miles per gallon and costs about $26 to $30 to fill up. Occasionally, I drive the Big Red Truck for short trips to the hardware and lumber store or to run a quick errand. Since August, I hadn’t had to fill it up until last week. The gas tank was near empty, windows were dirty, and you might say she was ignored playing second fiddle to the sprightly little gas miser.

I pulled into the gas station, stuck the nozzle in the receptacle and walked away to give a little TLC to my abused truck by cleaning the windows and wiping down the interior from an accumulation of dust and yellow pollen. After a few moments I heard the ka-chunk of the nozzle shutting off, giving me the cue to finish up. A quick glance at the pump stopped me in my tracks, I blurted out an “oh my gosh,” or something like that, staring at the $93.81 displayed on the pump. I was caught in a sort of “Pump Paralysis” — downright denial or disbelief.

Dumbfounded, I began wondering out loud, how do people do it? Shaking my head side to side, I pulled the nozzle out and slowly placed it back into pump. I thought back when I last had this sinking feeling. It was a $73 revelation at the pump last summer. We bought the hybrid shortly thereafter.

What in the world are we going to do, how long is this going last and who is responsible?

If you were to ask me, I would tell you, first we need to change our habits. Because we have failed miserably at using and urging mass transit in Southern Nevada, now we find ourselves in a transportation quagmire. You can bet it isn’t completely local governments’ fault, either, because they have attempted to designate light rail lines, only to be shut down by the public and a boatload of NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) people.

We are hampered by our own bullheaded, Western ideals, instinctively refusing to give up the convenience of our vehicles. However, it isn’t easy to use mass transit in the Las Vegas Valley. Routes are long and time consuming to get around any distance.
Again, this isn’t the fault of local governments. They have provided the buses and we have failed to use them. The more a system is used, the better and more effective it will become.

The answer to how long is it going to last may be easier to field. The price of gas will probably continue to ebb and flow upward until alternative fuels are implemented. Unfortunately, the cost of fuel affects every bit of daily life and our cost of living.

As far as who is responsible, that is easier to answer. Simply look in the mirror. We all have played a part in what ails America.
Sure, you can blame the oil companies that are making huge profits on the backs of not only Americans but also the world. Many of we Americans are also profiting through ownership of petroleum stocks, which is great.
While middle America shrinks, the wealthiest Americans prosper by investing in developing countries, possibly bringing good fortune back home to the United States.

I have to wonder how long will it take before the rising cost of everyday products due to fuel costs overtakes the value of the dividend check and will finally sink in? Profiting from stock investments is not a crime — it is capitalism at its best.

What probably should be criminal is the lack of reinvestment by these profiteering oil companies into alternative fuels. I suspect that is exactly what Congress may find out when the big oil companies’ executives are summoned to Capitol Hill this week or next to testify on the gas price explosion.

On a brighter note, we should all be happy we live in or near Las Vegas. The gas prices may not be easy, but at least the jobs here are still plentiful.

Las Vegas is a land of opportunity where anyone with a little ingenuity can carve out a livelihood. Las Vegas’ economy is somewhat insulated from the rest of the country’s in that people are still coming, homes are still selling and jobs are on the horizon, with projects like City Center.

If the rest of the country tanks and Americans stop coming to Vegas to play, then there is always the prospect of foreign tourist continuing their visits to the entertainment capital of the world. As other countries grow economically, there will be a larger foreign market for Las Vegas to tap into.
Our future is solely in our own hands and it is up to us make adjustments in our habits for positive change.

My bride chooses to ride her bike to work whenever possible and as for me, I’ll continue to drive the sprightly little hybrid and limit the use of the Big Red Truck.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Avoid trap of misinformation

2008-03-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

This first published March 20, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Like many of you, I have access to the Internet and an e-mail address — OK I have close to a dozen e-mail addresses. It’s a little much, I agree, but keep in mind I have developed them over many years. As a matter of organization, they all end up at one address.

So you could imagine just how much spam, the Internet version of junk mail, that I receive? Thank heaven for spam filters that block many of them by sending them to a “junk” folder.

Being an avid e-mailer lends itself to being put on multiple family and friends’ lists of favorites, which is a little tougher to regulate.

What bothers me more than anything is misinformation that is passed along as gospel on the information highway. There is no other space that has the amount of information the Internet does. However, there is no place or space that has more misinformation than the Internet, either, suggesting it could also be named the misinformation highway. May I suggest calling it the gauntlet, where you can try to figure good from bad.

Once in a while I will get an outrageous sack of bull that doesn’t seem to be logical, so much that I need to know the truth.

When this happens, I turn to a Web site called Snopes.com, the mother of all urban legend busters on the Web.

When I find something isn’t true, I send an e-mail back to the sender and everyone they sent to with the truth according to Snopes.com. Sometimes it’s a gentle message and other times it’s a full shame-on-you for passing bad information.

What I’ve discovered is that I’m receiving fewer e-mails that contain bad information from my friends and family. Occasionally, I will receive a message that is directed just to me asking if such and such is true or not.

You should be aware that most of that outrageous spam is designed to incite an emotional reaction by the reader to join in the mob mentality of hang ’em first and ask questions later. It is the hope of spammers that you will send it to all your friends.

What you may not know is the spammer has included hidden text that sends all those addresses back to them.

This week I received an e-mail that was titled “Allegedly” and it read:
“This is a new ship Wal-Mart had built to make 10-day cycles between China and the USA. It can load and refuel in less than one day. A ship’s beam is its width, if you are a landlubber.
“All I can say is if it ever sinks, Wal-Mart and a lot of U.S. consumers will be in trouble.
“This is how Wal-Mart gets all its stuff from China. Get a load of this ship! 15,000 containers and a 207-foot beam! And look at the crew size for a ship longer than a U.S. aircraft carrier, which has a complement of 5,000 men and officers.
“Think it’s big enough? Notice that 207-foot beam means it was NOT designed for the Panama or Suez Canal. It is strictly trans-Pacific. Check out the cruise speed: 31 knots means the goods arrive four days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China-to-California run. So this behemoth is hugely competitive carrying perishable goods.
“This ship was built in three or perhaps as many as five sections. The sections were floated together and then were welded. The ship is named Emma Maersk. The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 crane rigs that can operate simultaneously.”

Sounds impressive, but not everything you read is factual, and there lies the problem.

The Emma Maersk is a real ship, but it wasn’t built by or specifically for Wal-Mart. It was built by Maersk Line, one of the largest shipping companies in the world. Wal-Mart does use Maersk Line.

After checking the Maersk Line Web site, I found the Emma Maersk sails an Asia-Europe trade lane of ports. There are no “10-day cycles between China and California.”

The actual width is 183 feet, allowing it to go through the Suez Canal to ports in Rotterdam, Holland. It can carry 11,000 (ETU) equivalent 20-foot units, not 15,000. The Emma does have 1,000 plugs for refrigerated containers, and therefore it could carry perishables, but not to U.S. consumers today.

I checked Snopes.com, but nothing came up. Maybe I should submit this item.

Last week I received a spam proclaiming the motto “In GOD We Trust” had been left off the new Presidential gold dollar coins in some kind of conspiracy. The photo was convincing, yet logic was telling me something was wrong with the claim.

After checking it out, I can assure you there is no conspiracy. The “In God We Trust” is located on the rim, or outside edge, of the new coins. Again, this is a good example of how spammers mess with our psyche to get us to respond.

If you are person of faith, you need to be just as cautious, because those sweet little prayer passages and stories that tingle your soul are designed to do just that. The sad thing is, there’s a little devil playing in the background trying get as many souls as possible to spam.

The next time you get one of those e-mails, check it out before you send it off to your friends and family. You might save yourself the aggravation of receiving spam and keeping the spread of misinformation to a minimum.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Democratic dream team melts down

2008-03-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

This first published March 6, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

When it comes to presidential primaries and caucuses, few Americans begin to think about a key element of presidential campaigning this early in the game: the running mate or vice president.

I've been thinking about it from Day One. Before anyone announced, I was pondering the “Democratic Dream Team.” As the announcements were made, I speculated with my friends on whether Hillary Clinton could win or possibly Barack Obama. In one of these little banters, Chris Venable, a friend and co-worker, suggested a Clinton-Obama ticket. The only question left was who would be president, and that one quickly clouded the thought process.

Unable to part with the idea, I've closely monitored the campaigns and the attitudes of Sens. Clinton and Obama. For a while, I was sure a deal could be struck between the two, especially because they were being so cordial, handling each other with kid gloves.

Well, as you know things have heated up between the two, Obama coming from behind, not quite tasting blood but certainly smelling it. While Clinton is certainly feeling his hot breath on her neck, she has turned up the rhetorical thermostat to outrun him. This is sure to end in a Democratic meltdown.

The verbal assaults have begun to ratchet up the tension between them, making any amends appear out of reach. The entire fiasco continues to strengthen what I would consider a nonthreatening Sen. John McCain. A month ago, I would have bet either Clinton or Obama could have beat him hands down. However, today I'm not so sure and, if he picks the right running mate to balance his moderate ideology, it could be a slam dunk.

Don't discount the damage to be inflicted by the Johnny Come Lately and spoiler Ralph Nader. At this point, however, if a real independent surfaced, it could make things very interesting.

— — —

While on the topic of presidential politics, I was scanning the AM band one morning last week for the Heidi Harris tease on KDWN 720-AM, and I happened across KXNT 840-AM morning host Alan Stock hitting rock bottom, which is lower than the gutter. He was posing the question of whether or not Barack Obama should have to use his middle name, Hussein, to be identified. Stock suggested that 90 percent of presidents have been identified by their full names.

In certain terms he was correct by saying presidents. In my lifetime I don't recall candidates using their middle name until after being elected and presented to the country as president. Stock's example of Ronald Wilson Reagan was a farce, because, if my memory serves me correctly, his middle name wasn't widely used until he left office.

So what has my shirt collar in a tangle? The idea that Stock would use whatever credibility he might have to inflame public opinion over Obama's middle name, which Obama did not choose, because it happens to be the last name of America's former top enemy.

I found it even more disturbing when Stock tried to take cover under the guise of "The Messenger" — as in don't shoot the messenger. I guess that might work if he were actually a messenger and not a Talk Radio Host trying to push listeners buttons and sell Toyotas, beds and dog food.

Not to take away props from Alan Stock — I know how tough it is to put together a radio program that has any substance — but there is a fine line between messenger and entertainer. It’s probably tough being the opening gig for the best-known talk radio entertainer, “Crush Limp Jaw,” every morning. By the way, Rush Limbaugh is the master of creating derogatory nicknames for politicians and celebrities.

You can always find some relief from all the name-calling by listening to Mark and Mercedes on the FM dial.

— — —

A few parting thoughts about the marital woes of Gov. Jim Gibbons and first lady Dawn Gibbons. It should be no surprise to anyone in the state of Nevada. The first clue was while he was running for the governor's mansion in Carson City, she was running for the House of Representatives, which would have sent her 3,000 miles away. No matter what happens, it shouldn't change how he's been running the state.

Whether or not it could affect his re-electability is another thing if his lackluster performance hasn't done it already. No matter, whatever happens in their married life should remain in their married life unless it inhibits his ability to govern.

Tim O'Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Chicago Visit was an adventure

2008-02-28T09:47:00.000-08:00

This first published February 28, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

A few thoughts after a winter week in the Windy City.
First off, if you are from Chicago or any of the surrounding suburbs and now living in Southern Nevada, I don’t ever want to hear you complain about the roads or traffic here. Before leaving for Chicago, my biggest concern was dealing with snow. Even though I learned to drive on the snowy roads of Northern Nevada, I was still a bit apprehensive.

To my surprise, the greatest challenges of driving in and around Chicago were the monstrous potholes the size of swimming pools. While staying in the suburb of Oak Park, I encountered one intersection at West North Avenue and North First Avenue on the border of Melrose Park and River Forest that made the back roads of Africa seem tame. Actually I’ve seen 4x4 trails in Nevada less intimidating.

It was quite a sight, waiting three light cycles to reach the intersection, then watching vehicles of every shape and size swerving, rocking and bouncing to negotiate the moon like terrain of the crossroads.

I’ve often been told how beautiful Chicago is by several former Chicagoans now living here in the desert Southwest. Granted, Chicago did appear much nicer when my bride, Donna, and I were there in late August dropping our daughter Brenna off at school. It must be the winters that drive folks to Las Vegas from the Midwest.

Have you ever noticed people in Chicago don’t smile in the winter?

The locked Apple experience
While Donna and I were there this week to visit Brenna, I was given the challenge of removing a cable lock from her laptop that a roommate’s father was kind enough to give to her to secure her computer. It worked really well until the key was lost and the cable had to be cut. She was tired of walking around with a laptop that looked like it belonged on a stolen property list.

We planned a trip into the city, to the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue, to get the lock removed. After arriving at the store, we did the customary login at the Genius Bar – or for non-Applephiles, the service counter –where we learned it would be about an hour’s wait.

That would give enough time to walk down Michigan Avenue and grab some lunch. Even though it was about 6 degrees with wind chill, the sun was shining and the sights were amazing, even though no one was smiling.

In the end, our trip to the city would be fruitless, because the lock was more sophisticated than the Apple Genius.

What to do? Hit the Internet and start looking for locksmiths, of course! After a few calls, that plan, too, looked discouraging. None of the locksmiths had ever removed a lock from a laptop computer. However, one suggested I reinstall the software because that’s what he does when he gets locked out of his laptop.

Clearly he was thinking of the wrong kind of lock.

The situation was getting desperate, so we turned to the Internet searching “computers locks” and “removing lock from laptop,” where we found a video of a guy removing a similar lock. We gathered up the materials needed from the video, which consisted of an empty toilet paper roll, some tape and scissors.

It didn’t work, so I won’t bother explaining how it was supposed to work. So much for the Internet. Turns out half of the businesses we looked up on the 'net in the Chicago area were out of business.

I suggested we actually stop at a lock shop, so the locksmith could see the lock. Brilliant, ehh! We did, and the guy had a picker that could work on this type of key slot.

Still, after about 15 minutes, he gave up and said, “Sorry can’t help you.” There must be an easier way, so I convinced Donna to let me buy a hacksaw. Yes, I asked her permission, because we have this agreement when it comes to
me buying tools. I have too many already that I don’t use. She agreed, and we were off to Sears to buy a $6 saw, plus $4 in extra blades, because this lock must be made out of some kind of super steel that
would dull the teeth on the toughest blades.

With saw in hand, I suggested while the girls were in the mall I’d hang out in the car to work on cutting the lock off. Surely, it would take time and patience. Wow, within 30 seconds the lock was off without a single scratch on the computer.

Frankly, I’m still kicking myself, because I could’ve bought a single blade to do the job. On second thought, I have one more tool I won’t use, but hey, it’s from Chicago.

Ice on the lake
One of the most beautiful sights in Chicago in the winter has to be the ice on Lake Michigan. Its illusionary sight is hypnotic in some ways. The eye is unable to find a focal point, making it look never-ending. This is highlighted by harbor ice broken up by an icebreaker that glistens like floating diamonds in sunshine.

Polar Adventure Days
Finally, we went to the Polar Adventure Days at Northerly Island, where kids and parents were treated to horse-drawn wagon rides, ice sculpting, arts and crafts projects, live owls, several Siberian huskies to pet and many other fun things to do in near-polar temperatures.

I did pick up a handy travel tip before I left, and it paid off for us. A
friend suggested we fly into Rockford on Allegiant Airlines. Although it’s
80 miles from Chicago, it’s a lot less hectic than O’Hare International
Airport, and the flights are cheap. We had to rent a car anyway, so it
worked out well.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or
tim.oc@vegas.com.

Thomas Awiapo: Search for food led to a new life

2008-02-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

This first published February 14, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

In my advocacy work to assist the marginalized in our world, I’m often blessed with the presence of wonderful people. Once in a while, an opportunity will arise where my family gets to enjoy the grace of those less fortunate than ourselves.

There is man from Ghana in West Africa who has touched our family in many ways not only collectively but on a couple of individual occasions. Thomas Awiapo first left an extraordinary impression on our oldest daughter, Brenna, during his first visit to Las Vegas three years ago while talking to a group of Bishop Gorman High School students.
Brenna came home from school and told us about the visitor from West Africa and how he overcame great odds to not only survive being orphaned but to eventually become educated and is now giving back to society.

Within a few weeks I would unknowingly be enriched by the story of Thomas, told by him to a group of Catholic Social Action advocates from around the country in Washington, D.C.
He spends several months of the year on a speaking tour around the United States addressing mostly Catholic parishes and schools on behalf of Catholic Relief Services, raising awareness of the millions of dollars collected in the U.S. through the Lenten program Operation Rice Bowl and how this money is used around the world to break the chains of poverty.

Thomas was the second of four boys born to a couple in a small village in the isolated northern lands of Ghana, where the family barely eeked out an existence living in a mud hut. Within a year of each other, his parents became sick and died, leaving the four boys orphaned to fend for themselves.

Faced with starvation, the boys did whatever they could to survive, often fighting over a small bowl of food, which wasn’t enough. Thomas would eventually see his two younger brothers die from starvation. Later, he would be abandoned by his older brother, who said he couldn’t stay in the village any longer because there was too much misery. One morning when Thomas awoke, his brother had disappeared never to be seen again.

He would have faced certain death with no one left to help him, until a Good Samaritan came along help him. The Good Samaritan was not a single person but Catholic Relief Services, which built a school in the village. Thomas had no interest in going to school — no one in his family had ever gone to school. He needed to find food every day to sustain his existence, and this couldn’t possibly be found in schools.

Well, he was mistaken. He would soon learn that food could be obtained from school in the form of a small snack in the morning and a little lunch later in the day. The food was provided by a program funded by Operation Rice Bowl.

Every Lent when U.S. Catholics fast on Fridays, Rice Bowl encourages them to take the money saved through fasting, place it in a bowl, then donate it to the program on the last Sunday of Lent. Last year Operation Rice Bowl raised $10 million that helped curb hunger around the world.

Thomas would show up to the school, get a snack then sneak away from school. The teachers figured this out, and tricked him and others into going to school by withholding the snack until after the lesson.

“They held me hostage” he said, “tricking me into going to school.”

Eventually, Thomas would get an education, then an advanced education in the United States, where he earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of California, Hayward. He returned to Ghana to, in his words, “continue the practice of tricking children with a little snack to go to schools” knowing that education is the best tool for breaking the chains of poverty.

Last week, we hosted Thomas in our home during his visit to Nevada, where we had the opportunity to be touched personally by him. During Thomas’ previous visits to Las Vegas and many other U.S. cities, he rarely had the chance to see the communities he visits. This trip would be different, because we scheduled some down time during which we could show him a few sites.

Donna and I had the wonderful experience of seeing the Bellagio fountains through the eyes of a man who grew up without truly clean water. Together we watched as he marveled at the acres of crystal clear water on the Strip, and showed even more amazement as the fog rolled across the lake and the fountains burst to life with thunder and light.

As we walked through the mall in Planet Hollywood, Thomas noted the beauty of the evening sky, how it appeared so close you could touch it. I must admit being a little confused until I realized he thought the ceiling was really the sky. This is cause for pause, because we have become so accustomed to these facades that we don’t notice them anymore. This experience through Thomas’ eye whirled me back in time to when the Forum Shops first opened at Caesars Palace, to my own wonderment of the sky within the sky. How jaded we have become, our senses numb to ever-changing technology.

Thomas spoke of growing up without electricity, how excited they were when the moon shined full, lighting the village so they could dance and drum into the dawn. Having experienced the darkness of Africa last September, I recalled listening to the drums and singing, how the stars hung so low you could almost touch them.

With that in mind, we thought it would be appropriate to show him Hoover Dam, where electricity begins for much of the Southwest.

As you probably well know, a trip to Hoover Dam isn’t complete without stopping at the marina to feed the fish. While he and Donna strolled the dock, I ducked into the store for a bag of popcorn. The rest is history if you have ever experienced the feeding frenzy of giant carp.

However, Thomas was even more frenzied watching the last quarter of the Super Bowl after I explained the game. He rooted relentlessly for the underdogs, his new team, the New York Giants. He understands being the underdog. I think that’s why he asked me before the game started, “Who is the underdog?” then said, “That’s who I will cheer for.”

Even observing Thomas watch his first Super Bowl brought more excitement than the game itself.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Bush: What he did and didn't say

2008-02-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

This first published January 31, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

As a good American I listened intently to the president's State of the Union Address to the 110th Congress earlier this week, probably more so than any other State of the Union address in my lifetime. It has been a tradition for me passed on by my father to take the time to either watch it on television or listen to it on radio.

The purpose of my keen listening was to hear what the president was saying and at the same time listen to what he wasn't saying, which is often more telling.

I find it even more telling to watch it on television, not read the emotions of the orator but rather the mood, attentiveness and response of the audience, those folks we elect to represent us in our government including the vice president and the speaker of the house sitting directly behind the president during his presentation.

So let's examine the highlights of what I heard President Bush say Monday night and what I didn't hear him say.

The president said,“To build a prosperous future, we must trust people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy. As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a period of uncertainty. America has added jobs for a record 52 straight months, but jobs are now growing at a slower pace. Wages are up, but so are prices for food and gas. Exports are rising, but the housing market has declined. At kitchen tables across our country, there is a concern about our economic future.”

What he didn't say is we empowered millions of people to grow our economy, which they did, but not wisely. That's why our economy is in a period of uncertainty. What I'm referring to is the proliferation of sub-prime loans, whereby banks made larger loans, with less accountability and lower interest rates. We allowed more Americans to purchase larger homes and more homes, creating a false market that artificially inflated values, generating unearned equity that was tapped and spent.

Not to worry though because he then said, “On housing, we must trust Americans with the responsibility of homeownership and empower them to weather turbulent times in the housing market. My administration brought together the HOPE NOW alliance, which is helping many struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. And Congress can help even more. Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, modernize the Federal Housing Administration, and allow state housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to help homeowners refinance their mortgages. These are difficult
times for many American families, and by taking these steps, we can help more of them keep their homes.”

What he didn't say is “don't worry, we're going to bail you out.'’

The one thing the president said the most was people would be empowered by our government ‹ he used the word empower 11 times.

What exactly does he mean when he says “empower," is it the government is going to give us the tools to become empowered?

So I ask what would empower you as an American? Do you know? Think about it!

Many young Americans in their 20s could be empowered with a college education or their parents empowered to afford a college education for them. However, that would just become another entitlement, wouldn't it?

The president surprised me with his remarks on immigration, leading me to believe he actually gets it. No it doesn't resonate with many Americans and that was showed by the gentle applause from the battered Congress not yet recovered from last session's defeat of immigration reform.

He said, “The other pressing challenge is immigration. America needs to secure our borders – and with your help, my administration is taking steps to do so. We're increasing work-site enforcement, deploying fences and advanced technologies to stop illegal crossings. We've effectively ended the policy of 'catch and release' at the border, and by the end of this year, we will have doubled the number of border patrol agents. Yet we also need to acknowledge that we will never fully secure our border until we create a lawful way for foreign workers to come here and support our economy. This will take pressure off the border and allow law enforcement to concentrate on those who mean us harm. We must also find a sensible and humane way to deal with people here illegally. Illegal immigration is complicated, but it can be resolved. And it must be resolved in a way that upholds both our laws and our highest ideals.”

What he didn't say is we can't just remove 12 million workers from the economic machine without choking it further. That illegal immigrants contribute billions in tax revenue. Even though he didn't say it directly, the president has reinforced what I've been yapping about for months. The truth is empowering and fear is simply paralyzing, so spare me the hate mail this time.

Finally, the president spoke about the war in Iraq and how we must empower the troops with the tools to succeed and how many troops will be coming home soon.

What he didn't say, and it speaks volumes, is what we are doing to help the soldiers who have served in Iraq and returned wounded, traumatized, jobless, homeless and hopeless.

Tim O'Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Nevada: Take a vote in the caucus

2008-01-23T10:25:00.000-08:00

This first published January 17, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

Nevada, you have an opportunity to make a statement to the rest of the country by participating in your local caucus. How we behave this weekend will speak volumes for months, if not for years.

Democrat or Republican, not only your voice but your actions will set the pace for what are probably the most important elections in our lifetimes.

The national media has now put us in the focus of the nation, even though there appeared to be a moment of denial after the New Hampshire primary that the Nevada caucus would be pertinent to presidential campaigns.

How easily they forget it was Nevada that put George W. Bush into the White House because of his empty promises of good science at Yucca Mountain. It is up to us to choose wisely and not make a decision based on any single hot-button issues, but to look in broader terms.

My own considerations involve global issues sprinkled with some state and domestic issues. Many people can’t quite grasp whether I’m Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, which illustrates my point about hot-button issues. Because I’m pro-life, some consider me to be conservative. However, in the same vein, I oppose the death penalty, which would color me as a liberal.

As a young man, I was a proud member of the National Rifle Association, which makes me a gun advocate, a conservative color for sure. On the other hand I’m definitely an advocate for peace and non-violent solutions, and this again colors me a liberal.

Though a registered Democrat, I can’t say I have ever voted a straight ticket in my life. Probably voting for as many Republicans as Democrats is a reflection of my being a Westerner and, more significantly, a Nevadan. Adopting platforms that didn’t really fit my lifestyle and belief system were never an option for me, so I left most party politics behind me in the ’80s.

In this presidential cycle, the candidate to catch my attention will need to show an interest in global matters such as “Smart Power” ‹ not the kind you get from an outlet either. It is the less tangible yet more empowering kind. There’s the superpower, or military power, of the United States, one of force and intimidation, and then there’s our Smart Power, the ability create global relationships through diplomatic strategies coupled with development assistance integrated with economic policies, defense and intelligence activities.

Last week I co-hosted IMPACT ’08 in Nevada, along with 80 or so other community leaders from around the state. IMPACT ’08 is a campaign launched by the Center for U.S. Global Engagement, which promotes “Building a Better, Safer World” through a 21st century vision of U.S. global leadership.

This national nonpartisan campaign co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci seeks to inspire the next administration to make Third World development, global health and diplomacy a priority.

Our presidential candidates need to grasp the importance of strengthening this country’s non-military tools of global engagement.

Most of us have never thought about foreign assistance and how it keeps America safe, nor have we considered how it works as a tool.

According to the Center for U.S. Global Engagement, U.S. foreign assistance works to keep America safer by stabilizing weakened states, assembling international anti-terrorism coalitions, combating weapons proliferation, fighting global crime and drug trafficking and promoting international understanding.

It demonstrates our moral values by alleviating poverty, expanding access to health care and basic education, combating the spread of infectious disease, supporting victims of disaster and conflict and strengthening democratic institutions and civil society.

Finally, it builds economic prosperity by promoting market access and global trade, supporting small and medium enterprise development, creating jobs, advocating for American business overseas and promoting economic development.

So what does this have to do with Saturday’s caucus here in Nevada? The answer is: Everything! You have a voice and a vote that can lead to a safer America for tomorrow by supporting candidates who have the “Smart Power” vision.

Desperate people take desperate measures. Desperation is the seed of terrorism. Desperate people today are the terrorist of tomorrow.

You are the voice, you have the vote. Don’t waste it.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the Home News, can be reached at 990-2656
or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Museum makes Holocaust real

2008-01-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

This first published April 5, 2007 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication. It is one of several previously published columns that will be posted in the coming weeks.

After many years of going to Washington, D.C., I had never taken the time to visit any of the many national museums until last month, when my wife joined me on one of my trips.

We had visited several museums, but none had the impact of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Growing up in a family that had considerable connections to Israel and the Jewish
community through our father, I was certainly aware of the horrific human suffering and genocide of Jewish people in eastern Europe under the persecution of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime.

All the books I've read and the movies I've watched didn't prepare me for the emotional, physical and intellectual exercise I was about to experience.

The visit to the memorial had been planned for months with Nancy Wesoff, the executive director of the Housing Authority of Clark County, where I serve on the board.

Upon entering the memorial Nancy said we should check our coats. This seemed odd at first, because we had carried our coats at other museums.

Nancy then escorted us to counter filled with small books labeled “IDENTIFICATION CARD.” Before I knew what we were doing, she picked up one of the books from the left side of the counter and said, “Please let mine be a survivor.” I then realized we were each picking up a biography of a victim of the Holocaust. As I picked one from the right side of the counter, I quietly prayed for a survivor too.

Nancy flipped to the last page and sighed with relief as I read the following from the book I picked up.

“This card tells the story of a real person who lived during the Holocaust.
“Name: Chaim Frenkiel
“Date of Birth: November 2, 1927
“Place of Birth: Gabin, Poland

“Chaim was the third of seven boys born to a religious Jewish parents. They lived in a town near Warsaw called Gabin, where Chaim’s father worked as a cap maker.

“Gabin had one of Poland’s oldest synagogues, built of wood in 1710. Like most of Gabin’s Jews, Chaim’s family lived close to the synagogue. The family of nine occupied a one-room apartment on the top floor of a three-story building.

“1933-39: In September 1939, two months before I was 12, Germany invaded Poland. In Gabin 10 people were shot in the street; doctors and teachers were taken away. A neighbor who had persistently spoken against Germany was arrested. A few weeks later, the family received a box of ashes — his remains. Then the Germans started terrorizing Jews; they doused the synagogue and nearby homes with gasoline and set them on fire.

“1940-45: When I was 14, I was taken to several forced-labor camps with my brothers Shmuel and Jakob. Food was scarce, so we’d ‘organize’ food when possible. When working outside the camps, we’d beg at homes, or search for scraps in the garbage.

“Shmuel slipped under the camp fence at night to pick cabbage from the fields. Once, five boys were hung for ‘organizing’ food, but it didn't stop us.

“Jakob and I wished for one thing: to live through the war, get a loaf of bread, sit at a table and eat till we were full.

“In 1943 Chaim was transferred to Auschwitz, where he remained for 17 months. After a forced march to Germany, he was liberated in April 1945. He emigrated to the United States in 1949.”

I sighed my own sense of relief to learn I had a picked a survivor, too. Yet this was the tip of the iceberg for what would be a 5 1/2-hour journey.

With our tickets in hand, we waited for the elevator to take us up to the fourth floor and home of “The Holocaust, Nazi Assault 1933-39.” This represents the beginning of the tour and gives a complete history of Hitler’s rise to power and the Nazi Party. From there our senses were challenged by so much information, and emotions tapped by images that were indescribably cruel.

Because the tour starts on the fourth floor, we wended our way down floor by floor. At each permanent exhibit, our bodies were drained by the ghosts of innocence crying out in our heads, begging not to be forgotten, gripping our souls. Held by the power of knowing the truth of such inhumanity, we found viewing the act of genocide in film and photography haunting. This is not a Friday night at the movies designed to titillate your inner fear, but rather the raw truth of a savage movement bent on not just killing off an entire race but also ethnic cleansing of Gypsies, gays and the disabled — recorded forever.

I stepped back for a moment to rest and take in the deafening silence muffled by the shuffling feet of visitors moving in trance like cadence, pausing only to take a second look at what seemed too gruesome to be real.

While I can only describe to you a fraction of what my journey was like, the images of the ghettos, murders, the shoes and, the most haunting of all, the faces of death that flash in the mind’s eye don’t go away.

Finally, we reached the end and entered the Hall of Remembrance, a quiet place for visitors to gather their senses. Whether it was designed for that purpose or not, it certainly worked for me. My head was still spinning in sensory overload as we gathered up our coats and headed for the doors. We exited into the crisp air of our nation’s capital. The three of us looked at each other in silence, and I wondered if they felt less innocent, as I did.

There is a reason why the tour starts on the fourth floor and ends on the ground floor. I know that I would not have been able carry the weight of 6 million Jews and millions of others on my heart from the ground floor to the fourth floor.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

President Ford’s words resonated

2008-01-10T19:13:00.000-08:00

This first published January 5, 2007 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication. It is one of several previously published columns that will be posted in the coming weeks.

Former President Gerald R. Ford was one of four U.S. presidents whom I
have had the pleasure to meet in my lifetime. It was the Fourth of July, 1976, the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence.

I was an impressionable 14-year-old with an unusual interest in politics for a kid of any age. Most teens couldn't tell you who is president, much less who the vice president or the speaker of the House is.

It was for this reason that my dad, the late Gov. Mike O’Callaghan, invited me to attend the National Governors Conference in Hershey, Pa., with him and his longtime friend and confidant, the late George Brookman.

During this trip, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime. Well, actually two, but I had to choose between going to the world-famous Hershey Amusement Park or traveling by bus to Valley Forge to hear President Ford give remarks on the “Spirit of Sacrifice” at Valley Forge State Park.

It was an easy decision for me to choose to hear the president of the United States speak. He was campaigning for election to the White House after succeeding President Richard M. Nixon, who had resigned. President Ford defied all political sense and pardoned Nixon for his participation in Watergate only a month after taking office. History has proven it was the right thing to do, even though it cost Ford the election.

Somewhere in my files are the photos I snapped of Marine One, the presidential helicopter, as it flew into Valley Forge State Park and landed on the grass.

With the aid of the Gerald R. Ford Library online, I’m able to give you a taste of the words that so inspired a 14-year old from Nevada.

“As we continue our American adventure… all our heroes and heroines of war and peace send us this single, urgent message: though prosperity is a good thing, though compassionate charity is a good thing, though institutional reform is a good thing, a nation survives only so long as the spirit of sacrifice and self-discipline is strong within its people. Independence has to be defended as well as declared; freedom is always worth fighting for; and liberty ultimately belongs only to those willing to suffer for it.”

It was by chance alone I had the opportunity to meet him at the edge of the stage in one of the most historic places in the United States. It became one of the defining moments in my own history. Although he would never remember me, I have never forgotten that day.

At that moment, I had no idea I would later that evening meet the next president of the United States for the second time. Former President Jimmy Carter, then governor of Georgia and a presidential candidate, would spend a few moments eating barbecue and talking with a skinny kid and his father from Nevada.

Only years later would I realize the significance of that conversation and the impact it would have on the world, including places like Northern Iraq and Nicaragua, where my dad would act as an international observer of free elections for the Carter Center.

As I reflect on the past week surrounding the death and then state funeral for President Ford, I find myself not only inspired by his life and character, but in his death I see that we have the opportunity to appreciate the fruits of his life and character. We see it combined with the graciousness of his wife, Betty, and in their adult children.

As I watched on television as Americans viewed this president lying in state, I could see the great impact being made as his children greeted each visitor who passed by the casket with great dignity and appreciation.

Today America is a better place because of President Gerald R. Ford, not only for his actions in life but because, in his death, those actions have been recalled for the benefit of every American to learn from.
Even a 45-year-old man, a former skinny kid, from Nevada.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

Immigration laws require reform

2008-01-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

This first published January 3, 2008 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

MEADVIEW, Ariz. – It is the day after Christmas, and because of holiday deadlines, I find myself writing the first column of 2008. Although it is a week before my topic of this column actually begins to play itself out, what a perfect time to get the fireworks going. What better topic to light things up than immigration?

The New York Times crafted an interesting editorial Dec. 18, titled “Blazing Arizona” outlining possible complications of Arizona’s Fair and Legal Employment Act, a two-strike law, suspending a business’s license on the first offense and revoking it on the second for knowingly employing undocumented workers.

The Times editorial reinforces what I have been saying for the past two years about immigration reform.

“We have always said that workplace laws should be enforced vigorously – as part of a comprehensive, nationwide immigration system that doesn’t just punish, but tries to actually solve the problems that foster and sustain the breaking of immigration laws. The boosters of the Arizona law, including the Minutemen border vigilantes who have made 'January First!’ an anti-immigrant rallying cry, have a much narrower goal: the biggest purge of illegal immigrants in the Southwest since the federal government’s Operation Wetback in 1954”, the Times said.

If for just a moment the American public could set aside their fear and anger to simply evaluate the economics involved in immigration – illegal or legal for that matter – they may reconsider their positions on it. Most of us are either unaware or just don’t care about how undocumented workers or illegal immigrants have become integral weaves in the fabric of the U.S. economy.

The Times points out what could be in store for Arizona. “If that happens,
the immigrants will take a big chunk of Arizona’s growth and economic
vitality with them – and not necessarily back across the international
border.

The collateral damage will be severe, as citizens and legal immigrants are also thrown out of work, as businesses struggle to find workers in a state with a 3.3 percent unemployment rate and as sleazy employers move more workers off the books, the better to abuse and exploit them. And the national problem of undocumented immigration will be no closer to a
solution.

“There are many compassion-and-common-sense criticisms of Arizona’s Fair and Legal Employment Act: stories about families torn apart, breadwinners deported and citizen children on public assistance. They make little headway with the law-and-order crowd. Nor does the fact that many hard-line defenders of workplace enforcement show a lopsided devotion to federal laws; they seldom complain when employers abuse undocumented immigrants and steal their wages, even though those violations worsen job conditions and pay for American workers, too.”

Harsh words for Arizona employers, but let’s not poke a stick in the eye of the Grand Canyon State, because so many employers in the Silver State are just as guilty.
With the failure of Congress to pass legitimate immigration reform, the decline in the number of American workers because of retirement and an aging population, the U.S. economy is facing great economic hardships due to worker shortages.

Then again, perhaps this is just an unnecessary concern, given so many American jobs being outsourced to other countries, the U.S. dependency on cheap goods from China and the exploitation of developing countries. Let’s pile on the concern by kicking 12 million undocumented workers out of the country, and don’t forget millions of American children who would be separated from their parents.

Yes, American children born in this country with all of its undeniable rights under the law. Do you really think undocumented immigrants are going to haul their legitimate American children back over the border and overseas?

This appears to be a Catch-22, damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don’t situation that should be addressed with compassion and dignity while protecting an already shaky economy.
By the time you read this column, whatever is going to happen here in Arizona will already be taking shape and could very well grade the path for future immigration and the U.S. economy.

The Times editorial ended with a thought-provoking statement: “As Arizona exacts its punishment on the undocumented workers who have made it so prosperous, it runs the risk of proving itself tough but not smart.” Even though a majority of the New York Times editorial is here, I suggest you take some time to read it in its entirety.

Instead of “Blazing Arizona” we could end up “Raising Arizona.” Ah, nothing like starting the new year off with a bang.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or
tim.oc@vegas.com.

How one grinch honors Christmas

2007-12-26T08:03:00.001-08:00

This first published December 20, 2007 in the Henderson Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

I received an anonymous phone message from a woman wondering why I’m so anti-Christmas. She may have been referring to my Thanksgiving column, where I mentioned the possibility of the Christmas shopping season being slow. By the way, I was wrong about that. It was the same column in which I sounded like an ingrate because of an editing mistake and in my haste to leave town, I did not recheck my work.
It’s funny how a single word added to a sentence can change its entire meaning. I wrote, “... because household income is flat and not keeping up with inflation no matter how hard we work our money.” The edited version came out, “... no matter how hard we work for our money,” sounding as though I didn’t appreciate my paycheck every two weeks. I’m glad that is cleared up!
Well, let’s set the other record straight: I am not anti-Christmas! Quite the opposite if you ask me!
One needs to look at it from another perspective and the traditions of the Western Christian church.
First of all, in those traditions, Christmas doesn’t start until the end of Christmas Eve. The period roughly between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the Advent season, beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ending Christmas Eve at midnight. Advent is a time of waiting, reconciliation, reflection and preparation for the coming of the Messiah. You may be wondering if I have my Holy Days confused, and the answer is no. Both Advent and Lent have similarities. Both are periods of time to right oneself with others, bringing one into favor with God. At one time fasting was a significant ritual during Advent, a ritual rooted in our Judaic foundation.
Christmas Day is indeed a joyful celebration, and the following 12 days
leading to the Epiphany traditionally are the days of buying earthly goods and creating merriment, hence the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Somehow over time, these Holy Days have become less significant and changed into something completely different.
Personally, I dread what I call the X-mas prep days, the commercialization of Christmas during Advent, which literally starts the day after Thanksgiving. One day it may even start the day after Halloween. My family can attest to my pre-Christmas testiness as they gear up – scratch that – let’s say stress out over the holiday spirit while I’m dragging my holiday spiritedness trying to reflect upon my worthiness to be in the presence of the Lord.
These are the days I realize my many shortcomings. Perhaps one I should work on is my lack of patience while driving my bride from store to store, but then I find myself realizing just how patient she is putting up with my impatience. She is the Christmas angel in our home, without a doubt.
Really, I do have an appreciation for the secular Christmas celebration, because it is a bridge between faiths that is a glue in American society. The jolly Santa Claus is an iconic symbol of hope, peace, love and giving that stretches across religious diversity to bring joy to the world.
My adoration for Jesus and my inner child’s love for Santa Claus are in a delicate balance and that is more than likely the reason I wait until the very last minute to Christmas shop trying to preserve the real meaning of the season for myself.
What I wish for during Advent and what I would like to give and receive for Christmas can’t be bought with money at the mall.
My wish is for peace, both on earth and in the hearts of every member of our human family. These are times of war for this country ‹ whether it be the “War on Terror,” the “War on the Border” or a war of words. What this country needs is a little peace, because if we can find peace in our own country, we will be able to show the world what peace is.
It certainly is a gooey wish in terms of what most American men would ever admit to wishing for, even in the intimacy of their own hearts, but it is what I wish for you this Christmas.
From our house to yours, we wish you the Happiest of Holidays, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
– – –
If you need a Christmas spirit boost, take the family to the ”Magical
Forest” at Opportunity Village. Maybe you’re feeling a little bit like the
Grinch with a secret urge to give something back. Then join this Grinch and volunteer at the “Magical Forest” it’s easy. Just call 225-9627 and set up a time.
The Magical Forest will be open until Dec. 30, and there are hundreds of trees frosted with millions of lights to brighten your holiday nights. There are many incredible holiday displays brought to life by many of the Las Vegas Valley’s generous corporate sponsors.
Take a ride on one of two “Forest Express” passenger trains, or on both.
Stop and warm up with hot cocoa and funnel cakes, the Las Vegas holiday classic. Then take a spin on an antique carousel, make a wish with Santa and top it off with windswept trip down the Alpine Slide. According to the elves at Opportunity Village, “Every year The Magical Forest reinvents itself with something new just around the next turn on the Forest path, and this year is no exception. The elves toil all year long to create this Winter Wonderland in the Desert, which in 2006 was attended by over 150,000 visitors from Las Vegas and all over the world.”
The Magical Forest
WHEN: Nightly 5:30-10 p.m. through Dec. 30
WHERE: 6300 W. Oakey Blvd, Las
Vegas, NV 89146
COST: Adults $9, children 12 and under $7. Passports good
for admission and unlimited rides available for $14 for adults and $12 for children.
INFO: 225-XMAS.

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com.

RED means STOP

2007-12-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

This first published December 6, 2007 in the Home News, a Community Newspapers of Nevada publication.

One of the first topics to arise with new residents is how much their car
insurance rates have gone up.
Maybe you’ve heard the Las Vegas mantra, “Green means Go,’ yellow means Gas it’ and red means 'Proceed if you can follow the vehicle in front of you.’” OK, that isn’t an exact quote, but it certainly is a fair description of how we drive in the Las Vegas Valley.
Here at the Home News we recognize the seriousness of the problem.
Therefore, last August we teamed up with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Henderson Police Department, Boulder City Police Department, North Las Vegas Police Department, Nevada Highway Patrol and Las Vegas Department of Detention and Enforcement to start a new mantra for Southern Nevada: “RED MEANS STOP.”
Have you ever witnessed an accident caused by a driver who ran a red light? Perhaps you are the unfortunate victim of such an accident. I’ve had a few close encounters with careless drivers in the past couple of weeks.
Last week, while driving north on Grand Canyon Drive, clearly having the right of way, I was preparing to turn left on Patrick Lane when another driver was attempting to turn left from Patrick north onto Grand Canyon. The problem was she was too busy watching the southbound traffic to notice I had entered the intersection to make the left-hand turn. She didn’t take her eyes off the southbound traffic until I honked my horn, and when she looked my way, she slammed on the brakes and shook her hands at me as though it were my fault she was stuck in the lane.
Another annoyance I’ve noticed is the California rolling stop, which isn’t a stop at all. In Nevada it’s considered disregard of a control device or a moving violation. It’s particularly bothersome when the driver is approaching a stop sign, notices you’re in the crosswalk and doesn’t want to wait for you to finish crossing ‹ so he slows, maybe stops, then gases it before you step in front of the vehicle.
These two examples are just irritating to me; however, there are more serious incidences that result in needless death, dismemberment, disability or serious injury.
As of Nov. 1 of this year Metro reports 24,539 collisions, of those 9,843 or 40 percent resulted in injuries. Of those, 1,325 were DUI-related ‹ attributed to alcohol, illegal drugs or even prescription drugs.
So far this year there have been more than 106 fatal collisions reported by Metro Police: 35 were alcohol related. The fatalities included 41 automobile drivers, 15 motorcycle or scooter drivers, 19 passengers, 31 pedestrians and six bicyclists.
Incidentally, 28 of those fatalities were NOT wearing seat belts.
The No. 1 factor in the fatalities, present in 22.3 percent of the deadly crashes, was failure to yield the right of way. The other factors were excessive speed, 17.9 percent; pedestrian error, 17.9 percent; disregard of a control device (stop sign, signal or other sign), 13.4 percent; failure to maintain lane, 13.4 percent; and bicyclist error 1.8 percent.
Now you have an idea of why your car insurance went through the roof when you moved here.
The next time you’re in a hurry to get somewhere, you could literally be dying to get there ‹ or worse killing someone along the way.
Take your time getting home. It will be time worth waiting, not only for you but your family and someone else’s family, too.
One last piece of advice is to wait a second or two before entering an intersection and look both ways even though the light is green. Some people don’t get that “RED MEANS STOP.”

Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 702-990-2656 or
tim.oc@vegas.com.