Cathy Scott Launches Pawprints of Katrina

On July 26, Las Vegas author Cathy Scott held a book launch for her most recent book, Pawprints of Katrina: Pets Saved and Lessons Learned, at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, located just outside Kanab, Utah. The Sanctuary’s Visitor’s Center is the beautiful place you see in this picture. Back in Hollywood’s earlier days, this area was an outpost for filmmakers. (According to IMDb, 26 movies were filmed at the Kanab Movie Ranch, which was formerly located here.)

Cathy is a journalist with an impressive background, a true reporter who I’ve found has a keen eye and a determination to uncover the facts. She was on the ground in the Gulf after Katrina, working with the dedicated volunteers and staff of Best Friends to help rescue the animals left behind, stranded, and separated from their families—and to document their stories, which she tells us now in Pawprints.

The first person who read my copy was my mother-in-law. (Hey, she agreed to babysit overnight, so she got first dibs on the book.) I asked her yesterday what she thought. She told me she’d had no idea how bad it was for the animals after Katrina. “So I take it that means I should read this book with tissue nearby?” I asked her.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “But it’s not because all of it’s sad. It’s also touching.” So, animal lovers, you’ve been warned. Pick up an extra box of Puffs next time you’re at the store.

I have to confess that my husband and I were so enchanted with the Sanctuary that we didn’t spend much time at the book launch after we bought our copy of Pawprints. Sprocket the potbellied pig (isn't he adorable?) was standing outside, so we hung out with him. We looked at the line for the book signing, and then we wandered back toward the koi pond, a picturesque scene complete with blooming lily pads. The horse corrals beckoned in the distance. An inviting walkway wound past the front of the Visitor’s Center, where the hummingbird feeders were attracting more hummingbirds than I have ever seen in one location. Soon, my husband and I were meandering down the walkway, toward the corrals with the goats and horses. What can I say? We didn’t meet Ali McGraw, who wrote Cathy’s foreword, but take a look below at some of the beauties we met instead.

The Search For Cool

I’m not talking about smooth-talking, Jager-drinking, John Travolta cool… I’m talking about mountains, greenery, and bunny rabbits cool. Sitting outside and drinking lemonade cool. Not feeling faint when you leave air conditioning cool. This time of year, everyone is searching for a break from the heat. My favorite escape is the beach, but the mountains are nice, too. Finding any cooler temps around Las Vegas requires a long drive, but about an hour will take you to Mt. Charleston. (Keep in mind that about half of Las Vegas’ 2 million residents get the idea to head to Mt. Charleston on most summer weekend mornings, so you might want to try a weekday instead.)

Last year about this time, my son and I hiked the Cathedral Rock Trail in Kyle Canyon. The trail cuts across an avalanche field as it climbs to the top of Cathedral Rock, and last year the trail bore fresh evidence of an avalanche. Splintered trees had been flung down the mountain like pick-up sticks. A creative chain-sawer carved a bench from a downed log (picture above).

Mt. Charleston offers camping and picnic areas in both Kyle and Lee Canyons. Trails can be found throughout both canyons, and more intrepid hikers will want to make an assault on the Mt. Charleston summit, which is just under 12,000 feet. I’ve been there, and I’ll tell you two things: the view is stunning, and the trail’s rating of “strenuous” is putting it mildly. For those who would rather wear their hiking boots as a fashion statement instead of a necessity, Kyle Canyon is also home to two lodges: The Hotel on Mt. Charleston and the Mt. Charleston Lodge . Both facilities come complete with bars and restaurants—no hiking required.

If you don’t mind a longer drive (three to four hours), you can explore plenty of high altitudes in Utah, Arizona, and California. Check out Cedar Breaks and Brian Head in Utah, Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead in California, and the city of Flagstaff, Arizona. A six-hour drive will take you to Sequoia National Park in California, where the trees are so large they defy description. ____________________

Photo information: My pictures of Cathedral Rock Trail, August 2007

A Long Road

In case you’ve been wondering what the heck happened to the Vegas Girl, I can explain it very simply: a death in the family.

On May 6, my mom, Barbara Hudson, passed away. For her, the road to the end was short – cancer diagnosis on Sunday, on her way to the next world on Tuesday. For me, her only child, the road has been long and bumpy.

She was a pioneer Las Vegan, an adventurer in spirit—an explorer in her DNA, I believe. I’ve read the family history she left me, compiled by many of my family members over the years, and it only makes sense that my spunky Texan mother liked the Las Vegas of the 1950s and 1960s so much. Wide open spaces. A party every weekend. What’s not to like?

I miss being able to ask her questions like, “What did Dad call the guy who showed up to torch your restaurant for the insurance money?”

Her two-word e-mail reply: “Suitcase Harry.”

I’ve no one to ask these types of questions now.

She was a fellow writer, a woman who contributed her fair share of stories to KNRP’s old radio show, “Making Nevada Home.” I turned on an old stereo the other day, and was shocked to hear her voice on the tape deck, telling radio listeners about playing practical jokes on friends back in those early days. Seems that the Goodsprings Bar saw its fair share of new customers, dressed to the nines, looking for the gourmet restaurant. As you might imagine, the only thing the Goodsprings Bar had was broken floorboards and a pool table. When Mom and Dad fell victim to this joke Mom kicked off her high heels and tried to learn to play pool. Like I said, she was spunky gal.

To say that I miss her would be far worse than a simple understatement, but adjectives don’t help much, either: dreadfully, deeply, lovingly—nothing conveys that measure.

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Photo courtesy of Ben Earwicker, Garrison Photography, http://www.garrisonphoto.org/sxc/

Ash Meadows: Meet the Pupfish

The newspapers have been full of reports about the outrageous anti-homeschooling decision in California and the dismal scores of Las Vegas' public school kids on math tests, which offers an interesting juxtaposition. Normally, I'd have written more about both these stories, but as my son and I head into the fourth month of our own homeschooling experiment, I find that I'm just too busy. But before I tell you about our visit to Ash Meadows yesterday, I will say this: A one-size-fits-all approach to educating children is ludicrous. Not all children do well in a traditional classroom. The idea that only "credentialed" teachers should teach--well, I think we need only look at 80%+ failure rate on Las Vegas high school math scores to disprove that idea.

Here at the Meeks Academy for One, we were busy yesterday with an impromptu field trip. The beautiful spring day demanded that we get outside and explore. I decided we should head out to Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge, which holds the largest concentration of endemic life in the United States. It's also one of the most beautiful places I've ever photographed; I'm convinced that the perfect picture is hiding somewhere within these enchanted springs.

Ash Meadows is best known as the home of the tiny, brightly-colored pupfish, a hardy and unusual fish that loves the warm water of the area's springs. The Devil's Hole Pupfish are the most endangered of the pupfish, numbering only 38. Even before the spotted owl infuriated anti-environmental groups, the pupfish was a rallying point for pro-development outrage. Years ago, the entire area surrounding Devil's Hole was slated to be turned into a housing development. (This PDF Document contains pictures of what the Ash Meadows looked like before restoration began, along with photos of the area in general: http://hegel.lewiscenter.org/users/mhuffine/subprojects/Student%20Led%20Research/pupworld/pdf/ashmeadowsover.pdf.) Today, the area has been restored, but the pupfish that helped rescue it remain severely endangered.

Photo information, top to bottom: Point of Rocks Spring, Crystal Reservoir, birds at the reservoir, Rogers Spring, Longstreet Spring.

The Dumont Dunes (Or How I Didn't Get My Hamburger)

When I arrived at the Dumont Dunes on Sunday, I was hungry and a little nervous. You've probably seen some Dumont regulars around Las Vegas: you know, all those pick-up driving, trailer-toting drivers with "Got Sand?" stickers in their rear windows. I do my best to stay out of their way around town, but the closer Highway 127 gets to the dunes, the harder that becomes. Dumont is one of the places ATVers travel to, along with thousands of their friends, to camp in a huge city that comes complete with law enforcement, medi-vac service, and the place I was most interested in, Hog Heaven, where a good, old-fashioned hamburger oozing with loads of fat, along with a yummy order of french fries, was just waiting to meet me. I had just finished a two-hour walk in the desert at China Ranch, and I was really, really hungry. Sadly, this is the story of how I never got my hamburger.

At the appointed rendezvous time of 2:00 p.m., I pulled to the side of the road to await my husband. He and our son were spending the day at the dunes, and I had come up with the idea to go hiking and then meet them out there. When I came up with this idea, I had no idea that getting to and from sand camp was such a pain in the rear. A long line of cars clogged the dirt road. Now, had I been thinking straight, I would have realized that this was going to throw off my original plans, which were for me to leave in plenty of time to drive home in the daylight. I had explained to my dear, loving husband that I cannot see well at night. (Did I mention the winding, two-lane highway?) However, as hungry as I was, I did not care. I figured it would all work out somehow.

Back at sand camp, my hubby's friend Mark was hard at work on his sand vehicle. All I heard was something about "double carburetors." I recall saying, "I would like a hamburger," but after about the third attempt, I gave up. "Would you like some fruit? Why don't you have some fruit?" offered Mark, which was very kind of him. (And in hindsight, I should have taken him up on the offer.) But after a two-hour hike in the desert, I didn't want fruit. I wanted a freakin' cheeseburger, which I kind of thought my husband should have figured out, especially after me saying, "I would like a hamburger" several times.

You cannot walk anywhere in sand camp, unless you want to be run over. I got as close to the dunes (on foot) as I dared. I wanted to get a picture of the vehicles crawling all over the dunes like ants in a giant's sandbox. Dumont is a great place if you are an ATV enthusiast. If you don't ride anything, like me, there's not much to do.

Late in the day, about two hours after I had planned to leave, we hit the road. Mark's sand thing never did get fixed. By the time we left, it was dark. I was ravenous. An ill-mannered pick-up truck driver tailgated me for about 40 miles down the two-lane Old Spanish Trail highway. By the time I got back to town, I hated all pick-up drivers.

And I stopped at Burger King and purchased one (1) hamburger before I went home.

China Ranch

On Sunday, I took a drive to China Ranch, which is just outside Tecopa, California. I took the Old Spanish Trail (which isn't on my Rand McNally, but, clever girl that I am, I have a detail map.) Follow the signs and you'll find yourself on a winding dirt road that takes you through the badlands and into a small valley. This is where the date farm is located, and you can stop in at the gift shop for a sample of dates and a trail guide. The grounds are quite pretty, and include a bed and breakfast, The Ranch House Inn.

But I was looking for something remote, something as far away from civilization as I could get. Walking around the grounds was nice, but I wanted a trail that would lead me away from all the nice people buying dates at the gift shop. I consulted my trail guide, but without any signage to guide me, I wasn't 100% sure about what trail I was on. I wound up on a trail that began just beyond where I'd parked my car. I think I was on the Crack Trail, but honestly, I'm not sure which trail it was. It was gorgeous, and beyond the first 300 yards, the only other beings I encountered were lizards, hawks, and birds.

This is the kind of landscape that makes me wish I were a poet, or a painter. Words can't convey the aching vastness of the desert. Pictures come closer.

I was supposed to meet my husband at the cutoff to the Dumont Dunes at 2:00, and at 12:30 I had reached the point in this last picture. As a hawk circled above me in the thermals, I decided I'd better head back to the car. I wished I had longer to explore the trail, which seemed to keep going for a good distance. All totalled, I spent about two hours exploring China Ranch. Had I been with a partner, I could have easily spent the entire day on the trails; I'm cautions when I'm alone.

At about 1:15, I headed toward the Dumont Dunes, the ATV city in the sand, to meet my husband. I was looking forward to a hamburger and some friendly conversation. The sky above was brilliant blue, the desert below just beginning to bloom for spring.

I left behind the serenity of China Ranch for the chaos of the Dumont Dunes, where walking is dangerous and the desert creatures are drinking beer and driving sand rails up the face of sand dunes. But that's another story.

St. Thomas and the Disappearing Lake

Before Hoover Dam was built, the town of St. Thomas sat just outside of the Valley of Fire. Then the waters rose, and St. Thomas was submerged beneath Lake Mead. But now that Lake Mead is shrinking, St. Thomas' ruins stand in silent testimony, but I'm not sure to what. What's scarier -- that man's work covered a city, or that nature's work uncovered it?

These first three pictures were taken along the new St. Thomas hiking trail; everything you see went underwater about 1938 and stayed that way until the current drought dropped the lake's level so drastically. Those aren't white rocks on the ground in the third picture - they're shells. Take a good look at the last picture. That's Lake Mead, way off in the distance; the only way to get a picture was with my zoom.

Adventures in Las Vegas

The Vegas Girl has been busy, busy, busy the past few weeks. Now that I'm homeschooling my son, whenever the weather is beautiful I use that vast classroom called the Mojave Desert. I snapped this photo last week at the Valley of Fire, Nevada's first state park. Personally, I think our state mammal, the big horn sheep, is far more interesting in person than taxidermied in a museum. I'll have more photos later today or tomorrow, but until then, take a tip from a native: get your camera, some lip balm and a bootle of water, and head outside. Go have an adventure!

Las Vegas Tree Killers

Someone in Las Vegas recently discovered that trees are good! Two weeks ago, the Las Vegas City Council approved $500,000 for an urban forestry program to plant trees in West Las Vegas. I think that’s fabulous. I also think one way to foster an urban forest throughout Las Vegas would be to encourage people to stop cutting down trees in the first place. I would think that would require cooperation from landscapers and home owners associations. Maybe they could adopt a motto: Don't be a tree killer.

If you live in an HOA-controlled area, as so many of us do, your HOA has the final word on what happens to the landscaping in all common areas, including the removal and planting of trees. I’m fortunate to live in an area that loves trees; when my HOA had to remove hundreds of cottonwoods because of their property-damaging, water-hungry roots, it replanted with equal numbers of water-appropriate trees.

However, should you happen to have an HOA like my mom-in-law’s, you get to watch helplessly as the HOA ruins the landscaping. When she originally purchased her condo, the common-area landscaping was lush and inviting. I thought it was a good idea when the HOA announced it was getting rid of the grass. It seemed like an easy conversion because the complex was full of mature mesquite, African sumac, and palo verdes – all desert-appropriate trees that can live on scarce water. A line of about fifteen mesquite trees shaded the sidewalk and the buildings at front of the complex; the trees were probably ten years old. One day I drove past a line of fifteen severed trunks. The mesquites had been decapitated by a landscaping crew that took the rest of the week to reduce the area to scraps of twisted roots and dirt. What replaced those beautiful trees? Scrawny pines. So the rumors went, one of the HOA’s board members didn’t like desert trees of any kind and wanted all of them removed. After years of an on-going onslaught, from whoever initiated it, just about all the desert trees are gone. Most of the few remaining trees have been trimmed into grotesque shapes that make them look like torture victims.

My mom-in-law’s complex is by far the worst example I’ve seen of tree stupidity, but I would have to say most tree killers I’ve met just don’t grasp the importance of trees in a desert city. News flash: trees are a good way to spend your outside water dollars because they provide SHADE. Shade, if you have not noticed, is an important thing in the desert. In case you don't care about comfort, perhaps it would help to remember shade helps lower your power bills. You don’t have to have lots of lush, green turf to have trees. If you're after water savings, then tear out your turf. The Water District offers excellent rebates. Kill the grass, my friend, but leave the trees.

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Photo information: Top: My photo of the cottonwoods behind my house. They were already sucumbing to disease when this picture was taken, just a few months before they were cut down in 2004. The grass (mostly) remains.

Within the text: My picture of the palm tree stump left after landscapers cut down a 50-foot palm down at my MIL's complex.

More Las Vegas Stereotypes and Other News

Now that Election 2008 has left town, it’s time to sort through my pile of clippings for other Las Vegas news:

…Joe McGinniss, Jr. just released a book set in Las Vegas, The Delivery Man, featuring a teenaged lady of the night and a painter with artistic issues. Can anyone write about Las Vegas without a prostitute as a main character? I mean, realistically speaking, with 2 million people living here, just how many call girls can we possibly have?

…Now that Bank of America is buying Countrywide, do you think Countrywide will stop sending me offers for loans that would clearly result in me owing more on my home than it will be worth at the end of the year? Perhaps Countrywide’s marketing people haven’t heard all that nasty news about falling house prices in Las Vegas?

….The Las Vegas Sun reported that former Family Court Judge Terrence Marren plans to launch a campaign for a return to the Family Court in November. Marren moved to Mesquite ten years ago, but now hopes to return to the bench in Las Vegas. Reporter Brian Eckhouse says that in the 1990s “the Nevada Judicial Commission hand-slapped Marren for failing to resolve a few divorce cases fast enough,” but Eckhouse did not mention Marren’s involvement in other controversial cases. In 1998, RJ Reporter Carri Geer wrote about Marren and the case he presided over that awarded a 16-year-old girl to her boyfriend’s parents. I only vaguely remember that case, but I distinctly remember the Chantel Leavitt/James Kerr custody case since I knew the Leavitt family well at that time. I thought there were plenty of questionable actions on all sides, although a complaint filed against Marren over the case was dismissed. In my opinion, the real losers in the case were the grandparents of the 4-year-old girl in question (not to mention the confused child herself who didn't understand being taken from her mother). Leavitt’s mother and step-father mortgaged their home to raise money for the legal battle, although the deep pockets of Kerr and his family meant Leavitt’s family was outgunned from the start. The little girl was Leavitt’s only child and her parents’ only grandchild. You can read the 1997 article, also written by Geer, for yourself: “LV child custody battle garners national attention.”

…The RJ reported on January 12 about the government’s new Real ID program. Those people born after December 1, 1964, don’t have to have the new, ultra-secure ID cards until after 2014. Why? Because people over 50 are so much less likely to be terrorists, illegal immigrants, or con artists. Let me see if I understand: ethnic profiling = bad; old people = fine upstanding legal citizens. Okie dokie.

…Photographer Allen Sandquist has been hard at work documenting Las Vegas' rapidly disappearing buildings. Kristen Peterson from the Sun wrote about him on January 9, and you can see his pictures at mondo-vegas.com, classiclasvegas.com, and roadsidpeek.com. Without people like Sandquist, our meager history would be utterly gone.

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Photo courtesy of Sinead McEwen at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/659096

Caucus: More Than Just a Funny Word

How many people stomped out of your caucus because of disorganization? At my Democratic caucus, we lost three (3) Obama supporters who just couldn’t take it anymore. According to the news reports I’ve heard and read, a fair number of people from both parties found the process frustrating, poorly planned, and chaotic.

I would have stayed all day, if necessary, to make sure my vote was counted. I insisted that the attention-impaired, patience-challenged people who came with me had entertainment. I got there early to get a seat, and I made sure that I found the bottled water supplies early on. The Boy Scouts are really onto something with that whole “Be Prepared” thing, you know.

Because even the Democrats didn’t believe their own party’s optimistic predictions for voter turn-out, we ran out of everything – chairs, preference cards, patience. Two precincts were squashed into one room, and just hearing the instructions about what to do was difficult. Then, as we were getting ready to split into our little groups, the leader of our precinct announced: “Obviously, everyone here is probably for Obama or Clinton,” which caused the ten of us who were supporting either Edwards or Kucinich to shout at the curly-headed, soft-spoken woman. We found she liked the word “obviously,” as in “obviously, we have way more people than we thought, so, obviously, we’re running out of things.” Obviously.

While I was hopeful that Edwards would make a strong showing, or even come from behind to win a dark horse victory, I have to say that his dismal numbers (at least at my caucus) might have been a reflection on the fact that no one from the Edwards Campaign (or Kucinich’s, for that matter) was there to rally supporters. Five of us initially supported Edwards, but quickly walked over to the Obama side when our group was pronounced “unviable.”

The Obama people were fired up after they gained most of the Edwards/Kucinich supporters. “O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!” chanted our group. The Hillary supporters, by contrast, put me in mind of a phrase sometimes used by the enthusiastically religious to describe sedate church-goers: The Frozen Chosen. After more counts and re-counts than I can recall, the precinct went to Obama by six (6) votes.

Personally, I liked the caucus experience. I enjoyed seeing my neighbors (it’s always refreshing to find out you’re not the lone Democrat). But while I appreciated the chance to “re-align” my support to a viable candidate, I have to wonder if Edwards would have made a better showing in a regular primary.

Only one thing made me uncomfortable at the caucus: an attempt to pass the hat, so to speak, to raise money for the Democratic Party. Sorry, folks, but that was a real turn-off. I understand that donations are needed, but please don’t ask me for money at the same time I’m voting. It looks bad, no matter how you spin it.

Edwards And The Economy

This post was originally titled "Why Edwards Make Take Nevada." As it turned out, Senator Edwards took only 4% of the vote in Nevada. Now, all the candidates have discovered the economy.

Although the mainstream media coverage of the Democratic candidates in Las Vegas could be called “All Clinton and Obama, All the Time,” John Edwards is running a strong campaign here. Polls show the race will be a close one between the three candidates. Almost every Democrat I know is planning to caucus for John Edwards. Why? For the same reason Mitt Romney is pulling ahead on the Republican side. It's the economy, stupid. In fact, if you look at the reasons this phrase was so effective against President Bush The First, we’re in a similar situation today.

Nevada has been hit hard by the housing crash. Now that people are finally starting to use the dreaded “R” word – recession – I’ve even read that the “experts” think Las Vegas already may be in one. Welcome to the party, people! With few exceptions, my friends, family, and business associates have been struggling for months as the Las Vegas economy has withered. Rite-Aide has gone out of business here. Z-Tejas is closed. CompUSA, Levitz, Tweeters – all going or gone. God help the poor people directly engaged in real estate – the agents and mortgage professional, like my cousin. They’re going belly-up faster than they can take the names off the buildings. If you do have a job, better hope it offers insurance. The only person I know who feels health care is just hunky dory is the one (1) person I know who still has an employer-paid plan. Energy costs have become heart-stopping. My husband owns and operates a big-rig dirt truck for a living. Can we say $700 for a fill-up? And while we’re talking energy, how about those $300 and $400 power bills in summer? Isn’t it such fun to open your power bill and immediately experience angina?

Edwards is the one candidate talking the most about these issues. Clinton and Obama aren’t ignoring the economy, but Edwards is talking toughest. I don’t agree with him on everything, but I like hearing someone repeatedly acknowledge how hard times have been for the middle class. I believe Edwards’ willingness to put the spotlight on the economic plight of the many may give him a surprise victory in the Silver State.

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Photo courtesy of Sufi Nawaz at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/865435

John Edwards At The Egg & I

John Edwards shook hands and briefly spoke to the media today at The Egg & I, a restaurant on West Sahara here in Las Vegas. My son managed to edge in close enough to shake Senator Edwards' hand. "What did he say?" I asked Cameron. The crush of people was too great for me to see him.

"He said, 'Hello, young man,' " Cameron said.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I didn't say anything! I was speechless!" he proclaimed.

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Photo information: I took these just after Edwards arrived. Before going inside, he was surrounded by the media. He briefly answered questions (so softly that it was hard to hear him) before breaking away from the reporters. Once he got inside the restaurant, he stopped at tables to shake hands and meet people. It looked like a darned difficult thing to do with the media trailing behind him.

The Vegas Girl On The Go

Since last Friday, I've been from end of the Valley to the other, and I'm on my way back out shortly. John Edwards is scheduled to be at the Egg and I for a meet-and-greet at noon. For a homeschooler, an election year offers some of the best hands-on type of instruction. Now that Nevada actually matters to the political powers that be, we can even meet some of the people in the running for leader of the free world. And what better way to introduce a kid to politics than by hearing former President Bill Clinton speak? That's how we kicked off our day yesterday.

On Friday we visited the DaVinci Exhibit in Henderson and the Clark County Heritage Museum:

I'll have more on my treks all over Las Vegas as soon as I'm parked back at my desk!

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My photo information: Top - former President Clinton speaking to the crowd at the Centennial Hills YMCA; first pic on bottom - The DaVinci Exhibit, which brings to life many of Leonardo's sketches and ideas; second pic on bottom - the Ghost Town area at the Clark County Heritiage Musuem.

A New Homeschooler

When my son was a toddler, he attended gymnastics class. One of the hot topics for the mommies in the waiting area was the Clark County School District. Nobody had anything good to say, and I chalked it up to snobbishness. I graduated from Las Vegas schools. In my opinion, school was what you made of it. The gymnastics moms frequently traded information about the various private schools – costs, uniforms, curriculums. They talked about explaining to relatives back East that the expense of private school was simply unavoidable if you lived here because the schools were so dreadful. At that point, I’d already made some calls and knew that private schools were running about $10,000 a year. Homeschooling, which I considered the province of the deeply religious and somewhat anti-social, was not on my list of educational possibilities.

Then my son started school, a lovely little place within easy walking distance of our home. I’ll call it Mayberry Elementary because it’s a great school. It turns out it’s just not the right school for my son, but that’s another story. Here’s the bottom line in Las Vegas: if you want alternatives to our public schools, your options are limited. And our public schools are stretched wafer thin. They’re doing the best they can, and they’re full of dedicated professionals, but they’re facing challenges on several fronts (now including massive budget cuts). Private schools are still about $10,000 a year. Clark County’s virtual schools, which look very promising, are still in their early phases. Their enrollments were closed in November, when I checked, but they’ll be accepting applications in March. That left homeschooling. Since I’m a writer who primarily works at home, I felt obligated to at least give it a try.

Honestly, I thought my son would quickly loose interest when he found out this wasn’t going to be some kind of edu-tainment experience featuring loads of TV and video game playing time. Instead, he quickly adapted to the new routine and, six weeks or so into our test period, he’s doing well. He’s accepted that math will be a part of his life, no matter where he goes to school. He’s not real happy about that, but lately he doesn’t complain much.

While your options for alternative modes of education are limited in Las Vegas, if you do elect to homeschool, Nevada is an excellent state in which to do so. In Nevada, the parent decides what curriculum to use, the teaching method, the hours of instruction, and most other details – you assume full responsibility for your child’s education. When you notify the school district that you’re homeschooling, you must agree to cover the basics of reading, writing, math, and so on and supply at least a basic lesson plan. Homeschoolers aren’t required to submit to state oversight or additional testing. No NCLB here. Homeschooled kids in the upper grades, just like any other teens, face a battery of tests for college placement and scholarship eligibility. One of the drawbacks is that a homeschooled student doesn’t receive a regular high school diploma from the school district, but you can enroll in accredited distance programs that offer diplomas. Homeschoolers who want to re-enter Clark County public schools for middle school or high school must demonstrate proficiency and competency in all their studies, and may be required to pass examinations or other evaluations. Virtual school students receive regular diplomas because although they attend school at home, they are still attending a public school.

Homeschooled kids are still eligible to attend classes and participate in activities like sports at public schools. You must submit a form to the school district to request to participate in school programs, and you also need to contact the principal of the school your child would attend. I’m currently waiting to find out if my son has been approved to attend his old Gifted and Talented classes at Mayberry; he’s been missing his GATE teacher. His new Mom-Teacher, so he says, is kind of tough. But we don’t have a dress code and snacks are allowed, so I think it’s kind of a wash.

If you’re interested in homeschooling, check the Nevada Homeschool Network’s web page at http://www.nevadahomeschoolnetwork.com/.
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Photo courtesy of Sadiya Durrani at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/398272

The Vegas Girl Confuses Google

Poor Google. When I signed up for their ad-generating program, Adsense, I felt certain that the title of my blog pretty much explained the content. If you don't know, the principle behind Adsense is that it examines your site and generates ads relevant to your content. I thought it would be a no-brainer (if we can even use that cliche in reference to some behemoth computing system) for anyone to deduce that I write about Las Vegas. What other city could I be writing about with a title like "Vegas Girl"? Events in Las Vegas, news in Las Vegas, and people in Las Vegas - I thought all those occurrences of "Las Vegas" in titles and posts would supply all the information that the automated, ad-generating gizmos needed. I was wrong. Today, my site is running ads for volunteers in Honduras, gun training, and personality tests. Not that anything is wrong with any of these things, and who knows, maybe loads of my blog readers have been waiting for more information on acupuncture and self defense. Can it be that even the automated web crawlers cannot compute "intelligent commentary" in conjunction with "Las Vegas"? That seems to be a problem no matter if you are machine or human.

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Photo courtesy of Yaroos Konkret at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/669432

Goodbye, Lt. Willis

I’m now at that age where I read the obituaries because, sadly, I keep seeing names I know. Just a few days ago, when I turned to the obits, I was so shocked I almost dropped the paper. A picture of one of my old bosses, Odis Willis, was smiling at me from the bottom of column three.

Odis was the second lieutenant whom I worked for at Metro PD. The first was Gene Smith, who was a cop of the Larger Than Life variety. Odis was a different kind of cop. He was the quiet, sneaky, you’ll-never-know-what-I’m-really-up-to kind of cop. He was also a good man with a kind heart who wasn’t afraid to admit he was wrong and apologize, which is a rare thing anywhere you work, but even more so at Metro.

I remember his daughter’s wedding – heck, I even remember one of his weddings. Like many cops, he’d had more than one. Odis had a sly sense of humor and loved a well-done practical joke; he laughed wickedly when he told us about the tricks he used to play on one of his ex-wives. He was originally from Oklahoma, where he’d had a hard-scramble existence growing up. He never lost his love of Southern food, and he rarely turned down lunch at N’Orleans, a former restaurant at Spring Mountain and Decatur that served the best fried catfish, collard greens, and red beans (Yes, even better than Hush Puppy).

When my dad was late to my wedding, Odis was drafted to be on stand-by to give me away. (Thankfully, Dad showed up, but Odis is still there in my wedding pictures, smiling knowingly.) A year later, when Dad was desperately ill, Odis called me into his office one afternoon. I thought he was going to get after me for all the time I was spending at the hospital. I steeled myself for the reprimand. Crying was an absolute no-no. When he said, “You take all the time you need to take care of your dad, don’t worry about a thing,” I had to leave his office immediately because tears overwhelmed me. I wasn’t prepared for kindness.

So long, Lt. Willis. Heaven always has room for another guy like you.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone as we sail into 2008! The Vegas Girl has been on "vacation," but I'm back this week. The Christmas holidays slammed into me like a head-on collision on a two-lane moutain road, but I'm in recovery now. Now that we're officially past the season of joy, I'm happy to be back to sifting through my pile of clippings and personal notes. Check back with me tomorrow for a tribute to my old boss, Odis Willis, who recently passed away. Later this week I'll have a post on homeschooling in Las Vegas, since I recently jumped ship from the school district. Unless you have $10,000.00 a year for a private school, your options are limited.

Here's to a 2008 that sees stabalizing home values, gas prices that don't make us faint, and a drought-ending snowpack in the Rockies. Hey, what can I say - I think big!

The Next Generation

It’s a strange thing to read about retirement parties for people you remember as youngsters. When I read John L. Smith’s column about the retirement of Las Vegas Metro Homicide Detectives Jimmy Vaccaro and Tom Thowsen, I shook my head in disbelief.

I was working in Metro’s Crime Lab in the early 1990s when Vaccaro and Thowsen were the new guys in Homicide. We were used to the old-timers like Tom Dillard, Don Dibble, and Dave Hatch, none of whom had a spare word for the office help like me, unless they were barking orders. None of us thought much of it. Cranky, short-tempered cops were common, and those who had chosen a full-time assignment to cover Death in all its violent, brutal, and tragic forms were forgiven for skipping the niceties. When these two young, handsome detectives took the assignment in Homicide, in the office we tsked a little to ourselves. It would be a shame, my office mate Martha and I agreed, if Vaccaro and Thowsen succumbed to the stresses of Homicide, an assignment that we watched wring the life out of several detectives. Vaccaro and Thowsen were fun to talk to, and that was important. There were plenty of details about our job that were never, ever going to be fun.

A steady stream of cops trickled in all day to our office to pick up crime scene pictures and lab results. One detective, Roy Chandler, wore irresistible aftershave that made Martha and me swoon; he was also a sweet-talker. Since Chandler, like Vaccaro, had started out in Vice/Narcotics and later moved to Homicide, we reasoned that there was a chance Vaccaro might retain some of his charm. When I left the Lab in 1994, both Thowsen and Vaccaro were still charming, upbeat, and speaking to the office staff.

Smith’s column covered some of their big cases; I remember them all. Smith muses over whether or not either man can put his time with Death behind him. I suspect that Smith knows the answer, since reporters see many of the same horrors as cops. The case I never forgot was Stephanie Isaacson, a 14-year-old girl whose body was found in an empty desert lot just blocks from where my in-laws lived. She was just a couple of years older than my nieces. Someone brutally assaulted her and left her a bloody mess in the dirt with her textbooks scattered nearby. I wasn’t at the scene – I merely saw the photos and read the file. Many deceased bodies remain in my memory, but it is her name that always floats to the top.

Over the years I worked in the Lab, I was often asked if I ever wanted to become a Crime Scene Analyst (now they’re Hollywood-ified and are officially CSI – Crime Scene Investigator). Thanks, but the pictures and occasional dead body in a car in the Lab’s garage was enough for me. The men and women who agree to accept the challenge of unraveling murders are a rare breed. Justice and consequences may be concepts for some, but for them both are day-to-day reality. “If you’ve ever said you’d never kill someone, then you don’t know people,” Martha used to say. I think she’s still at the Lab, where I imagine she’s sizing up the next generation of Homicide detectives.

UPDATE: In July 2021, Stephanie's case was solved. You can read more about the case at the DNASolves Crime site & I just posted a new post about the case. 

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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1807

Las Vegas News Updates

A few news updates you might have missed...

...In November, I wrote about Pam Anderson, who joined with PETA to serve a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal to homeless people at a local charity, Family Promise. The irresistible and unavoidable comedic material generated by this information overshadowed, to some degree, the philanthropic goals involved. No one wrote much about Family Promise, a charity forced out of its former west Las Vegas home back in 2006 after a bureaucratic snafu over licensing. I haven’t seen too much about the organization lately, so it’s good to know that they have survived and are continuing to serve the woefully underserved Las Vegas homeless.

...Heavy Hitter Glen Lerner isn’t worrying about where to rest his head at night – the RJ reported on November 18 that Lerner sold his Summerlin home and is waiting for his new $20 million dollar home to be built. Wow. I guess the guy knows what he’s doing with all those goofy TV ads, no matter what the State Bar Association thinks.

...Just when you thought it was safe to drive on US95 again, the state is getting ready to commence a widening project from Washington Avenue to Kyle Canyon Road. Road Warrior Francis McCabe reported on phase two, which is set to begin in February. Like it’s a mystery why road rage is so widespread here?

...The New York Times originally reported on the new water-sharing agreement between California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming. One way Las Vegas will be getting more water is through an agreement to finance a reservoir in California that will capture water that was headed to Mexico. Shouldn’t we be feeling a little worse about stealing water from another country? Oh, sorry, I forgot that we’re running out of any to swipe in our own.

Events:

Ice Skating at MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas
Noon – 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 3-9 p.m. Monday through Friday
Through February 17
$15 per person, $12 for children

Ethel M. Chocolate Factory Chocolate Wonderland
2 Cactus Garden Drive, Henderson
5-10 p.m.
Admission: Free
Through January 1; Santa Visits on Fridays & Saturdays
Call 800-471-0352 for details

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Photo information: My Photos in August of Kyle Canyon Road, where a 16,000 home development and high-rise casino is planned and where the soon-to-be-begun road widening will end in approximately six years.