When will the Las Vegas Community demand better?

Editorial by Rick Singer

Although I have written on this subject prior to today the question of “when will the greater Las Vegas community demand more for themselves?’ continues to remain in the conversations of many residents throughout Clark County. As one man put it, (a 3^rd generation Clark County resident) “out of the ashes of what are currently Las Vegas needs to emerge a new Phoenix with leadership”.

When you or I or any resident of Greater Las Vegas or anyone observing Las Vegas from a far looks at the ridiculous standards in which our community continues to operate the scenario goes from beyond humorous to completely embarrassing. The levels of self-indulgence, narcissism and nepotism provided or empowered  by this communities leadership (if you can call this leadership) has excelled to the rate of incompetence, theft and abuse that could never be interpreted as maintaining any form of  ‘fiduciary responsibility”  to the citizens.  Just within the last 4 months, here are some highlights:

1. North Las Vegas judge places an order on North Las Vegas city council preventing further reduction of the city Police force because of the citizens rights to Public Safety have been compromised.
2. The son of a Clark County judge is found guilty for “grand theft” at local casinos and then given a minimal sentence.
3. Sun reporter is “encouraged” by a Judge not to write about a specific story that affects the cornerstone of Journalism and the community’s right to know.
4. The school systems of Nevada and in Clark County are nationally ranked amongst the WORST systems for education in the United States.
5. Pill Mill’s (distribution of Legal Narcotics via Pain clinics) has become so epidemic in the Las Vegas area that the number of arrests of Doctors within the community has gone over 19 in 8 months.
6. Unemployment remains between 13.5 and 13.7%. That means 1 out of every 8 people who were working a year ago is no longer working.
7. Metro’s Sheriff Gillespie and his new management team have determined that it is in the best interest of the public to  triple the building and facilities budget while asking Metro Officers  to reduce their incomes. The leader of Clark County Law enforcement has also decided not to add any new law enforcement academies. (I feel so much safer with that new building, don’t you?)
8. Public Safety has been compromised with multiple shootings taking place on the Vegas Strip; enhanced accosting by smut peddlers and children being both injured and killed attempting to cross the street.
9. Las Vegas property values have diminished at a rate faster than the National average (homes are worth 45% less than they were in 2007) in large part due to the number of foreclosures in Clark County. 
10. Why have the foreclosure rates been so high in Clark County? Because the procedures for “kicking people out of their homes” has been compromised, and oh, by the way, the suicides in which  law enforcement has witnessed in conjunction with foreclosures has increased and  is no longer uncommon.
11. Clark County Firefighters were systematically creating an embezzlement scheme by utilizing ‘loop-holes” in the Firefighters contract to be utilized for sick days.

The list can and probably should continue .. but I am becoming noxious thinking about it. The real question is simple; “when will the Clark County residents become sick and tired of being sold neon signage and a cheap cocktail as a substitute for real community leadership”?

1. Judges are bending rules; children of Judges’ are receiving minimal sentences for federal Crimes.
2. Doctors are going to Federal prisons for drug pushing of prescription narcotics.
3. Our Children are getting the worst education in the Nation
4. Public safety has been compromised, crime has increased and our kids cannot come home safe from a night of “Halloween”.
5. Tourists are concerned about safety on the strip with increased shootings and harassment by smut peddlers.
6. Law enforcement has a nice new building while citizens are being evicted from their homes without proper due process.
7. Firefighters and goodness knows how many other city and county employees are working a system to steal that much more money from the populist.

Is this really Las Vegas at its best? For the MILLIONS of dollars available to these departments and boards are you telling me this is the best result we can get for the community? The answer is obviously No! Many more communities with comparable populations and LESS money are providing more to their citizens.
The hard working people of Southern Nevada are great; the people they choose to represent them are the aliens.  Clark County residents need to begin looking within themselves, their own neighborhoods and friends. It really is time for new leadership at all levels of the City of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Clark County, the Board of Education, the Sheriff, and the Judges. We the people of Clark County need and deserve a new Phoenix with leadership.     

How many Conrad Murry’s are there, how many are here in Las Vegas? The Pill Mill industry providing drugs on demand to consumers is a thriving business.

Las Vegas Police are becoming more active and court dockets are being filled with cases such as Dr James Tinnell. Dr Tinnell (age 74) using the front of a Pain Clinic was convicted following a guilty plea of supplying prescription narcotics without medical cause. In essence Dr. Tinnel was charging consumers a Doctors fee or clinic fee and receiving a narcotic prescription of their choice. Most often the drug of choice is the highly addictive narcotic Oxycodon.

How prevalent is this practice of providing consumers with Prescription narcotics on demand? The efficiency of this practice and the numbers are so high that Prosecutors around the country are making these cases a top priority.

 In Florida (see story) the State has created an entire State-wide program “Pill Nation I and Pill Nation II” which has generated 69 arrests since February of this year. Pill Mills as they are often referred to by law enforcement consist of Doctors, Nurses and Medical Assistants using the front of a “Pain Clinic” to distribute narcotics to consumers and pretty much on demand. Seventy doctors and six pharmacies there have lost their ability to dispense controlled substances so far this year in Florida. In addition, more than $18.9 million in cash and other assets have been seized.

Here in Nevada Pill Mills are active but under huge scrutiny by the Attorney General. (Full Article in the Las Vegas Sun)  Nevada’s U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden condemned illegal prescription drug distribution conspiracies, vowing to continue targeting “pill mills and pharmacist co-conspirators.” Officials have filed federal charges against 70 people for illegally distributing addictive prescription painkillers since January 2010, Bogden said.

Nevada as a State was on the forefront of passing legislation 15 years ago allowing Law Enforcement to track Doctors prescriptions and patients receiving narcotics via Pharmacy records.  Now there is an effort by ethical pharmacy’s and federal law enforcement to create a national tracking system of narcotic drug prescriptions to address the Doctors and Clinics that are coordinating efforts across State lines and outside  individual State jurisdictions. The National Law enforcement effort would address cases similar to the case against Las Vegas Dr. Wetselaar who was arrested last month in Las Vegas while his counterparts were arrested in Michigan.

So why are Pill Mills so popular and why is the number growing? The answer is as obvious as it was easy to create. Money for everyone! The Pharmaceutical companies continue to profit even during a bad economy, selling more of their “higher cost” medications. The pharmacies sell more prescription meds and the Pain Clinics/ Doctors have a steady stream of return addicts. Most all the “patients” are highly addicted to Oxycodon or their narcotic of choice. The price of a visit to the pain clinic is usually nominal ranging between 80.00 and 140.00 dollars. If a insurance company picks up 80% the tab then the cost conscious consumer pays between 16.00 and 30.00 for the visit. 

What makes this abuse and crime so difficult to prosecute? Physician’s unique status and authority in society and the Doctor / Patient privilege make it difficult for Law Enforcement to get a clear case quickly. Added to the complexity are the patients who are often Doctor Shopping or Pharmacy pricing. In order to begin investigation law enforcement must utilize a series of metrics including mathematics, technology, drug usage standards and statistics to build a case.

While the case of Dr. Conrad Murry brought worldwide attention on the issue of Doctor Standards and Practices with regards to prescription drug abuse and medical ethics there is no doubt many more criminal cases involving the same issues will be coming forward here in Nevada.

Rick Singer and Dave Robbins, VegasNewsReview.com

Heaven Can Wait Animal Society: Marie and Rich Little Foundation

Comedian, Impressionist, legendary Las Vegas strip icon Rich Little made an appearance and provided a donation of 100,000.00 to the Heaven Can Wait Animal Society as tribute to his late wife Marie Little on Sunday. According to the Heaven Can Wait Directors, Mr. Little contacted their organization, (completely unsolicited by HCWS) came to the facilities and determined for himself that Heaven Can Wait was the organization that his late wife would have wanted to be supported. The next step by Rich Little was announcing his donation amount of one-hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. Rich’s generosity was further exemplified as he entered a small stage at Bunker Family Park bringing forward a few Presidential Voices; Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Richard Nixon to a small group of HCWS.org  supporters and of course their K9 kids.

The Heaven Can Wait Animal Society  began with Founding Board Members Harold Vasko, Rachel Vasko, Pete Larez and Sharon Seltzer and operates in Las Vegas. The organization's mission is simple, "Eliminate  the senseless killing of more than 30,000 cats and dogs annually in Las Vegas area Shelter". The extraordinary structure and programs to meet this mission is both comprehensive and amazing. Here are some of the high points:

1.) Feral Cat Spay and Neuter Program with release
2.) Women's Prison Dog Training Program
3.) Adoption and Placement Programs
4.) Discounted Services for those pets and families in need

The Heaven Can Wait Animal Society is a full time operation and has a combination of Full time Workers and Volunteers. Most of the funding comes from grants and donations such as the donation made by Rich Little's Foundation.
  
As I was leaving the festivities I could not help but reflect on the experience of having met and shaken-hands with one of the true icons of entertainment. Visions of the great entertainers, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bob Hope and Johnny Carson immediately came to mind. In as much as that was a great personal experience I further recognized the need to continue our story on the Mission of HCWS.org. I have contacted their offices and interview dates are being scheduled ...... more to come.

Rick Singer, VegasNewsReveiw.com

LVMPD’s bad management; is the public paying the price?

When I began writing, I tried not to concentrate so much on my old employer, LVMPD, as it might appear that I had a grudge against them.  But as you watch the TV or read the paper, it is apparent that controversy reigns supreme in Metro’s management.

The question is why?  What is the problem?  We should be looking at the “top”, at the upper administration, not at the troops working the streets. 

The premise?  Most problems with most failing organizations begin with bad management and bad policies.

Let’s review a few of the facts:

1.     The new LVMPD building comes at a lease (30 years) price of over 12 million dollars per year.  Prior to opening the building the total leasing price of the offices it replaces was approximately 1/3^rd of the new lease.  The cost for the new, inadequately equipped headquarters is a net increase of 8 million tax dollars per years.  Coincidentally, this year, the sheriff has told the employees of Metro that another eight million dollars needed to be trimmed from the existing budget this year.

a.)   Most other metropolitan areas have begun investigating in “de-centralizing” their headquarters for obvious security reasons.  After the 9/11 attack of primary government buildings, the vulnerability of having “all your eggs in one basket” became painfully clear.

b.)  There will still need to be millions of dollars in needed upgrades to the headquarters in order for all the residents/officers/detectives to function properly.  (Many of the upgrades, including security measures, were eliminated from the initial budget to meet the construction budget, but will be added later after completion of the building, not that the administration was trying to sneak anything by the public).

2.      Currently, Metro Police officers and civilians are being required to accept pay cuts and decreases in benefits due to budget cuts while upper administration appears to be expanding and new positions are being formed to accommodate the “special” management.  Such new positions such as the Chief of Staff (never had one before) and appointing a new, unneeded Assistant Sheriff in the last six months are indicative of the favoritism in the upper regime.  How does this make any sense?

a.)  These decisions may have made some sense in another, more prolific time, such as the growth boom in the early 2000’s, but with a dramatically reduced population since 2005, why does it take more chiefs to oversee fewer Indians?

3.      Next, it would seem that common sense would dictate Sheriff Gillespie’s decision to appoint Deputy Chief Greg McCurdy to Assistant Sheriff.  Here’s a man that was deemed guilty of sexual harassment of two female Metro employees, while in charge of the bureau that investigated sexual harassment complaints at Metro!  The payout by Metro was allegedly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer’s money.  So, he knows of the policies that regulate his ability to perform his job and he chose to skirt them instead of enforcing them and he is now Assistant Sheriff?  I hope he’s wearing an ankle bracelet.

4.     Mismanagement of tax dollars and public funds for purchasing radios that work only part of the time and in certain parts of the county can be forgivable (everyone makes a bad buying decision from time to time), but to continue to re-enforce that bad decision by force feeding the radio system down the throats of those whose lives depend on a properly working system is unforgivable.  The very same people who have showed concern for the improperly working system have been threatened with discipline if they continue to express their feelings about it.  The same people who are blamed for the radio problems due to “user error”.  Every aspect of the system is flawed, but the administration refuses to accept responsibility for it, instead placing blame on the employees and the surrounding casinos for “infringing” on Metro’s frequency.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention.  This particular company LVMPD bought the system from has been documented for its failures with other police agencies.  Metro continues to spend additional millions in an effort to correct the numerous problems with its radios, now labeled as “speak and spell” by officers.

5.     When chief editor Rick Singer called the Sheriff’s office, he was directed

to a message machine to leave his questions and concerns.  This was last Friday, the 16^th.  To date, he has not received a return call.

At the end of the day, can senior management stop an individual’s poor behavior?  Not really.  Occasionally, people, police officers, etc., may stray, drink and drive, crash into some friends, pick up a hooker, etc..  But where does the permissive attitude begin?  At the top!  Mishandling money, womanizing, domestic violence, promoting employees guilty of unacceptable behavior to high levels of management, promoting friends and family members of senior staff while at the same time asking the “grunts” to take pay cuts and reduce their benefits appears to be the  management and policy method of choice for LVMPD.  Any wonder why crime goes up?  Public service goes down.  Public perception of the police goes down.  Department morale is in the toilet.  Other agencies laugh at Metro’s inadequacy to properly equip our officers in case of a critical incident.

I guess the point is based upon the leadership in LVMPD, how can you expect a once highly ranked/rated police department in the country to do anything else?

 “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”? Let's hope that's true with the example these guys are setting.