August Mailbag
Posted by Michael Zahara on Aug 30, 2010
Justifiable or Excusable: Based on my recent piece, many of you asked what I would add in the Coroner’s inquest process and I think we need to add a few other choices based on the root words of the adjectives ‘just’ and ‘excuse’. I think jurors need a ‘negligent’ option, an ‘excuseable, but negligent’ option, and an ‘undetermined’ option too.
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Political Rock Groupie Files: Yes, that was former NLV councilwoman Stephanie Smith in the mosh-pit at ‘Cheap Trick’ at the Paris recently!
NLV’s Stephanie Smith was not seen smokin’ doobies, but she was seen in the mosh-pit at ‘Cheap Trick’.
The band told her not to sing along though!
After she lost her mayoral bid, and after losing the trademark lawsuit the Aliante people brought against her for taking their logo and making it her eyebrows, she disappeared for a while then became a rock band groupie, I guess!
Known for her church singing at decibel levels rivaling anything coming out of Nellis’s jets, her LDS stake surpassed the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in sales of NASCAR earplugs and that financed church improvements and 100’s of missions for local young stake members.
Steph, ‘I want you to want me!’ (my fave Cheap Trick tune!), and we desperately need you back in public life because I need more material here!
Sidebar: I’ll admit that I don’t ‘get’ why Stepahnie mows off her eyebrows and then pencils them back in especially since my accident after which I had 1.25 eyebrows. I never really understood how important two functioning eyebrows are to my general sense of well-being, but now that’s it’s almost all grown back, I am one happy dude!
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RJ & Righthaven: Sure, I used to link their stuff all the time and stopped when they started these lawsuits. Isn’t it funny that the local paper that rails against frivolous lawsuits is going after websites that link that which they allow onto public search engines free and unencumbered?
Even the NYT and the Washington Post have you register to read their material on the web, and unless the nation’s papers decide how to charge for reading their content on the web, they could all be gone in a decade or so.
Why would anyone pay for something they’re getting for free?
In the interim, just buy your RJ at the Dollar Store to save money or do what I do: steal the paper every morning from my neighbor that I hate!
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This is soon-to-be former dirty LVMPD Detective Bryan Yant, in case you see him out and about and want to say ‘hello’ to him.
Can you spot a tell-tale sign of steroid abuse?
More RJ Stuff!: Oh yeah, the RJ’s running Detective Bryan Yant’s photo in their inquest coverage was deliberately done to ensure that should he not be fired, he can never do undercover again—but he will be fired…well after the election, though he should be fired immediately!
There’s more than enough on this guy to fire him today and it’s fair to ask Doug Gillespie what the hell he’s waiting for!
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More David Roger Files: Yant will also not be charged by the DA for manslaughter, perjury, or any other crime. The Don Chairez people are going to flood me with hate mail, but yes, I agree with DA David Roger.
Quick, call Ripley’s!!!!
It would look too political this close to the election and I think Roger turned the valley on its ear siccing his attacked dogs at the inquest. Had the jury gone with ‘criminal’, the AG’s office would have handled any prosecutions, but since they went with ‘justified’, the DA had to make an executive decision about office resources and I think he made the right one.
Leaking to the press Yant’s other bullshit was a big, fat, wet sloppy kiss to the Cole family with more to come to pressure the LVMPD to get rid of this rotten-to-the-core cop and to give Trevon Cole’s family a consolation in the impending civil lawsuits.
I’m a harsh Roger critic, but on this whole ordeal, I have no critique of he or his office; he made the correct calls. Let’s see if the Erik Scott matter is handled as well though.
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Lt Karen Hughes Files: The LVMPD’s infamous Vice and Narcotics Lieutenant showed herself on KSNV Friday responding to queries about the Henderson cop copping some local pay-per-use Coochie.
LVMPD Vice Lt Karen Hughes dyed her hair ‘Slutty Blonde’ since I last saw her a few years ago. Looked like she’s lost some weight too!
I hadn’t seen the infamous, if not notorious, Lt Hughes in person in some years and didn’t know she’s dyed her hair Clairol ‘Slutty Blonde’ apparently to participate in Vice stings for those guys into old, tired hags working Fremont Street!
Soooooooo, we can now conclude that the ‘carpeting’ does not match the ‘drapes’ in her case!
I almost fell out of the chair laughing! Her TV appearance also cancels any ability to ever work undercover which she never had done before and if you’re serious about Vice and Narcotics, you don’t put Admin-type police managers in units that require great depth in undercover and intelligence work Dougie!
Same with Captain Zimmerman who was transferred out for the Bryan Yant fiasco and Captain Cannito who was transferred in to the unit; both are good men, but are Admin-type cops with no undercover or operations backgrounds which is OK, but which also means that the unit needs superstar Lts and Sgts (no one would ever call Lt Karen Hughes a superstar outside of the bedroom or backseat!) to carry the load in the vacuum of their Captain’s inexperience.
Cops are no different than lawyers or doctors who are required to know lawyerin’ and doctorin’, but who can also specialize in particular aspects of their profession. Metro needs admin people, and IT people, and other management types in its brass ranks—what it doesn’t need and never needed is three—yes, three now!—Assistant Sheriffs under Doug Gillespie.
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Lt Lew Roberts Files: A surprising number of you civilians have asked why Lt Lew Roberts wasn’t the media spokesperson for the Cole and Scott OIS investigations. He’s developed a strong following over the years with people who like David Letterman smile guys; he’s the guy with the big gap in his big smile you see on TV a lot. Lt Roberts responds to homicides within the general citizenry and though his subordinate detectives investigate all OIS’s (office involved shooting—which should be immediately changed to an inter-agency investigation model to enhance public confidence), it would be inappropriate for him to comment as that should only be the Office of the Sheriff and his/her designees commenting regarding fellow officers.
Lt Lew Roberts seen here enjoying a delicious snack during a recent Homicide briefing
You often see Roberts in civilian clothes on TV because he is on-call for any homicide and has to put down his shovel and leave whichever buffet he’s attacking to immediately respond to the scene. Yes, I do believe the LVMPD legend that he showed up once with a half-eaten, unwrapped cheeseburger in his shirt pocket because he just keeps getting bigger and bigger every time I see him.
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More Metro Messups: Yes, I completely agree that Sheriff Gillespie is terrible on TV and radio interviews and seemingly has added a bunch of people to the PIO’s office to balance that out. What other cities do when crisis demands the police hold a press conference is that the police chief surrounds his or herself at the lectern with their brass standing behind them to show a unity and to explain who is in charge of what—Doug Gillepsie had never done that here and it makes him look like a lone-wolf without department support up there.
The press would have wanted to know who the Captains are, who the Deputy Chiefs involved are, and what their responsibilities are within any particular incident, how the mechanics of the investigation are handled etc… Even when he goes on Ralston, he can bring along any of his subordinates too, but he doesn’t understand any of the public aspects of his duties and is visibly uncomfortable with them.
In fact, I can’t recall any instance where Sheriff Gillespie showed up for such things with his own Undersheriff, Rod Jett!
Undersheriff Rod Jett seen here just before going off the deep-end again at his weekly tornadic tirade meetings.
Yes, he really is that petite!
US Jett may be a ranting, raving lunatic inside of the department but be he was spectacular when Sgt Henry Prendes was gunned down. Young was with the family, then US Gillespie was directing the operations, and now US Jett was on TV speaking clearly, calmly, and factually and that was very reassuring to the public.
Why Sheriff Douglas Gillespie hasn’t trotted out US Jett with him on these recent matters is one of the great mysteries of life here.
Maybe he fears being upstaged by his underlings?
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Board of Regent Files: Oh yes, I, like everyone else am furious a the ‘Arrogance of the Regents’ demanding a 25% increase in their funding, and will wait until I cool off to comment. However, I am pleasantly surprised that Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, has been talking about the Millennium Scholarship and how it needs to change.
Sheila, you’re in the right church, but the wrong pew toots!
The scholarship has to go and this school year has to be the last because we need to start banking that money for healthcare under Obamacare that will cost us easily well over 1 billion, not the 800 million dollar estimates currently being bandied about.
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Steven Horsford Files: No, I haven’t beaten him up here because I did so the day after the story broke on the air to many more people. I said his political inexperience, immaturity, and complete lack of acumen was showing and that his super-secrecy and close-to-the-vest style shuts out everyone.
Had anyone else in the Dem party known what he was doing, they’d have been jumping up and down like their pants were on fire to pull it!
Steven Horsford is a, brooding, suspicious, ineffective island unto himself and that’s not a workable psychosis in political leadership.
Mike Zahara
08302010
www.WatchdogWag.com
