THE FAMILY COURT PROJECT HAS COME TO A CLOSE.
Effective 6/1/08, Family Court Chronicles has become inactive (announcement), and
no new information will be added. The page below is retained for
archive purposes, but it could be out of date. Upon request,
the webmaster will
continue to correct significant errors and will consider
removing information that is destructively obsolete.
(Email: FamilyCourtGuy (at) gmail.com) Glenn Campbell's other websites
remain active:
KilroyCafe.com,
RoamingPhotos.com
and
Facebook
Under the bill, candidates for Supreme Court, District Court and lower court judicial positions would have to file for office during the first two weeks in January. They now file during two weeks in May with the candidates for other offices.
Justice Mark Gibbons said if the filing deadline were moved up to January, the court would modify the canons of judicial ethics and prevent candidates who did not draw any opponents from soliciting campaign contributions.
In last year's election, 60 percent of judicial candidates ran without opposition, he said.
Because the filing period has been in May, just three months before the primary election, Gibbons said judges now must begin asking for contributions early in the year on the assumption they will draw opponents.
District Judge Michael Cherry, for example, raised $500,000 in contributions last year, although he did not draw any opposition in his run for the Supreme Court.
With a crowded field of respected attorneys vying for the Las Vegas Municipal Court Department 6 judgeship, the candidates are working hard to separate themselves from the pack in the eyes of voters....
• Gonzalez worked his way through college as a telephone technician and equipment installer. He has both a law degree and a master's degree in business administration.
He has been a Clark County deputy public defender since 1999, representing children in the juvenile division. He is also vice chairman of the Las Vegas Housing Authority board.
"Judges play an important role in our community," Gonzalez said. "My background gives me the necessary tools to immediately assure the public that justice will be served swiftly and fairly while the litigants will receive a reasonable hearing."
Our photo of the candidate, showing his American and Nevadan spirit...
In 1993, a Las Vegas man named Robert Hays was convicted on eight counts of sexually abusing his 8-year-old daughter. Sentencing him to four consecutive life terms, the system declared: Case closed.
Yet after 15 years in prison, after several appeals were rejected, Hays was freed last week when a federal judge ruled he was not guilty.
Hays had been victimized by every major participant in his trial, U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt said.
Four-year-old Manaen Miles' father was granted full custody Thursday. The boy was kidnapped from Southern California and was found here in Las Vegas three days later. A family court hearing master wanted to see Manaen Miles' birth certificate to prove his father's relationship.
After seeing the document, the hearing master Thursday morning released the boy into his father's custody, and he went to his father in Southern California.
(The "hearing master" mentioned was probably either
Gibson or Sullivan.)
CARSON CITY -- MGM Mirage Senior Vice President Paula Gentile will lead the 33-member commission that is charged with improving Nevada's judicial system.
On Wednesday, Gentile was elected chairwoman of the Article 6 Commission, a group formed last fall by Supreme Court Chief Justice Bob Rose. Article 6 is the section of the state constitution that pertains to judicial matters.
"I have been part of the large group of lawyers and judges who think we can do better," said Gentile, general counsel for risk management at MGM Mirage. "My goal is to look at the justice system with the eye toward improving it to meet needs of all people."
It is important the commission finds how to improve courts without spending more money, she said. One immediate suggestion she made was that more lawyers should serve as unpaid judges pro tempore in lower courts of the state.
Gibson and attorney Gregory Mills on Friday filed a motion to compel the Carrascals to respond to deposition questions. The information being sought covers the Carrascals' financial history, their track record as foster parents for Clark County Family Services and details of what occurred in the time leading up to the disappearance of Everlyse, which was reported to police on June 10.
Regardless of their drug of choice, addicts lead stunted lives. The substance that once brought pleasure eventually becomes a curse, sucking up their resources while giving less and less satisfaction. Trying to quit brings waves of anxiety. Paychecks are blown to support the habit, while children and relationships are neglected. Over time, the addict’s health and quality of life deteriorate, and no matter how much of the drug they take, they can never recapture their original high.
That’s the trouble with being a NASCAR fan, a soap opera watcher or an NPR listener. The addiction takes you over and pushes real life to the side.
Clark County Public Defender Phil Kohn is among those who believe the county should do away with the contract defender system altogether. He favors expanding the duties and number of special public defenders.
"It would be easy to expand that office," Kohn said. "The framework is already in place. You'd just have to put in attorneys who would do the lower-level cases."
Short said the public defender's office under Kohn's management shows the advantages of having a formal county entity in charge of indigent defense.
"That was a small-town public defender's office until he brought a modern and professional approach to operating the office," Short said.
County Special Public Defender David Schieck estimated that an expansion of his office would necessitate about 25 additional salaried positions.
In January 2006, Sammie Wyatt was charged with misdemeanor theft of a pair of sneakers from a local Sears store.
At his first court appearance, prosecutors offered Wyatt a deal to plead guilty and serve 90 days in jail. After Wyatt rejected the offer through his public defender, the district attorney's office raised the stakes.
Prosecutors dismissed the misdemeanor charge against Wyatt and resubmitted the case as a felony.
According to the new criminal complaint, Wyatt's previous convictions for petty theft made him a habitual offender under state law, one who could be sentenced to life in prison, if convicted.
Christopher Tilman put in long hours last year. Impossibly long hours, according to invoices he submitted to the county.
On June 5, 2006, Tilman claimed, he worked more than 37 hours at $100 per hour. He charged the county for more than 35 hours worked on April 6 and also on April 19.
Tilman billed for more hours than a day contains on 22 separate occasions in the first half of 2006.
Neither the judges assigning Tilman to cases, nor the court administrators and county financial managers reviewing the bills, noticed the obvious overbilling....
Tilman got so much work in part because three attorneys from the county special public defender's office declined to take any more than 80 cases. The county agency has since added two new attorneys to help alleviate the need for so many appointments.
Between 2000 and 2005, the number of cases in Family Court grew from 41,297 to 59,478, an increase of 44 percent.
Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle, who assigned Tilman to many of the termination cases, said no single bill that crossed his desk raised a red flag.
Hardcastle and other judges praised Tilman's dedication and competence.
Hardcastle said Tilman has become one of the few specialists in abuse and parental termination cases by virtue of the sheer number of these cases he has handled.
But Angella Tiger, whose case was assigned to Tilman last year, expressed a different opinion.
"He never called me, and I never had any contact with him," said Tiger, who was assigned Tilman to help her make final arrangements to adopt a foster child. "We're back to square one now."
Despite having never spoken to Tiger, Tilman billed the county for $400 on her case.
An examination of cases from late 2005 and early 2006 reveals a pattern in which defendants alleged that Wommer pressured them to plead guilty, and if they chose not to, largely cut off contact.
Michael Villani had no incentive to help John Kearney avoid his fourth DUI conviction.
Like other contract defenders, Villani's financial interests were with paying private clients or defendants with cases that qualified him for an hourly county fee.
But Villani, who was appointed by Gov. Jim Gibbons to a vacant District Court judgeship last week, went to the mat for Kearney to save him from a wrongful conviction, the kind of diligent representation some contract defenders provide regularly.
Contract attorney Greg Denue has turned his part-time job of defending the poor into big business.
Denue billed the county nearly $400,000 last year, including payments for cases started in previous years.
County records show Denue, who declined repeated interview requests, devoted more than 950 hours in the first six months of last year to a small group of cases that qualified him for a $100-per-hour fee.
Wommer, a private attorney who was paid a flat monthly fee by the county to handle an unlimited number of indigent cases, urged Cone to plead guilty.
But Cone said he wanted to plead not guilty.
When Cone resisted a plea deal, things got ugly between him and Wommer.
Cone complained in three separate court filings that his attorney threatened to work with prosecutors to get him the most severe punishment possible.
Cone said Wommer told him at a court hearing, "You want to have some fun, huh? We are going to trial on everything. ...You're going to get life in prison, and I'll make sure of that, my brother."
Two witnesses to the exchange signed court affidavits backing Cone's memory of the events.
District Judge David Wall followed Monroe's recommendation Friday and imposed the maximum sentence on Jack Richardson Jr.: life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years. Wall imposed the same sentence two months ago on Richardson's girlfriend, 29-year-old Charlene Snyder.
On Wednesday, a small group of mothers and fathers who have had access to their children denied or restricted rallied together to highlight their cause, making shared and equal custody of children a legal given in Nevada.
"It's too late for me," said Amira Chalamish, who lost all contact with her teenage son three years ago after she said her ex-husband accused her in court of abusing the child. "But I said I would help."
Chalamish, a bookkeeper, said the accusations were false. But because her former spouse had money, a good attorney and witnesses who Chalamish claimed lied on his behalf, he was able to obtain a no-contact order that bars her from being with her son, now 16, she said.
The sign Chalamish carried in front of family court summarized her grief: "You legalized my ex-husband stealing my son."
In the face of heated resistance to their hopes for a 30 percent salary hike, Nevada judges are scrambling to make sure they receive some increase in pay before the Legislature wraps up business.
Two weeks ago, legislators from both sides of the aisle slapped down the proposed pay raises for Nevada District Court judges and Supreme Court justices, which are included in the Supreme Court's overall request for a 38 percent increase in funding.
Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, went so far as to say that if every agency got such an increase, the state would be bankrupt...
Nevada's 64 District Court judges earn $130,000 annually, and the state's seven Supreme Court justices make $140,000. A 30 percent raise would boost those salaries to $169,000 and $182,000, respectively.
The national median for District or Superior Court judge is $120,000.
In fiscal 2006, judges' salaries accounted for 36 percent of the judicial system's overall budget.
Comments from the Webmaster
Our heart goes out to those impoverished judges. How do they get
by on $130k?
CARSON CITY -- A bill to create 10 new district judgeships would cost Clark County $41 million, as the county struggles to deal with huge medical and child protection costs, a county lobbyist testified Wednesday.
Sabra Smith-Newby told the Assembly Judiciary Committee that the cost of court expansion is prohibitive because the Clark County Commission must now allocate $60 million to bail out University Medical Center and spend an additional $7 million for child welfare program improvements....
Family courts in other states handle 900 to 1,300 cases a year, while those in Clark County must deal with 4,000, [Supreme Court Justice] Hardesty said. "This isn't justice. This isn't an emotional appeal. This is fact."...
Smith-Newby said new judgeships will be more costly for Clark County than the state.
The state only must pay for the salaries and benefits of the additional district judges, which are paid $130,000 a year, she said. The county, however, must build courts at a cost of $2.1 million per courtroom, pay court staff, and hire public defenders and district attorneys. Those salaries will cost $7.3 million a year for the 10 new courts, according to estimates.
The four-year-old at the center of an Amber Alert is at home with family in Las Vegas.
Manean Miles ended up in the valley after allegedly being kidnapped by his mother and her lover. They were both in court Thursday morning.
The family court hearing did not take long. The judge agreed to release Manean Miles from Child Haven. His father's aunt and uncle live in Henderson and successfully asked the judge for temporary custody.
The recent massive recall of pet food isn't terribly relevant
to child welfare, but this article caught our eye.
ATLANTA (AP) -- A recall of potentially deadly pet food has dog and cat owners studying their animals for even the slightest hint of illness and swamping veterinarians nationwide with calls about symptoms both real and imagined....
Denise Tracy of Milford, Mass., said her first thought after hearing about the recall was, "Oh my gosh, I killed my cat." Fluffy's health deteriorated after Tracy fed her Special Kitty brand food, one of the recalled labels, and she had to euthanize the 11-year-old cat last week.
She said the family, including her five children, are heartbroken. Her husband contacted a lawyer, and she plans to contact her state's attorney general.
"They're killing animals because of somebody's mistake," Tracy said. "They should be held accountable for that."
Comments from the Webmaster
In American society, we throw away children without much thought,
but Heaven forbid you should mess with Fluffy! We'll have lawyers
all over you in a minute!
Assembly Bill 147 is a textbook example of Bad Law in the making. It is an emotionally driven bill that is seeking to treat the most visible symptoms of a disease rather than the disease itself. It is an unconscionable sweeping under the carpet of the abused and neglected children of Clark County.
The committee has failed to ask the most obvious question raised by this bill: If young children can’t be taken to Child Haven when there is no better placement available, where are they going to go?
The answer is simple: They are going to be forced into substandard foster care.
CARSON CITY -- A group of frustrated grandparents asked Nevada lawmakers Thursday to pass a law that would give them standing in court to fight for the right to visit their grandchildren.
Nevada law allows grandparents to take their case for visitation to court only if a child's parents are separated. In the case of intact, two-parent families, the visitation decisions rest solely with the parents.
Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to support Senate Bill 204, which would allow grandparents seeking visitation rights to take their case to court. Grandparents would have to win in court to get visitation rights, a case which even supporters admit grandparents usually lose. A similar bill in 2005 died in the Assembly.
Comments from the Webmaster
What this law would do is give meddling grandparents the right to
harass and second-guess the parenting decisions of their children.
Even if they didn't win their case, they could do great damage
simply by suing and forcing their children to hire lawyers to
defend themselves.
There are good grandparents out there but also some very evil
ones, and parents should have the right to remove themselves
from the bad ones.
Grandparents often have more money and time than their offspring,
and this proposal would let them wreck havok in their children's
lives.
DeLeon was arrested as a juvenile on graffiti charges, but he said in court that he never did more than a night in juvenile detention. When he was arrested last year, he spent 30 days in the Clark County Detention Center.
His bail, before pleading guilty, was set at $200,000.
DeLeon said he realized the impact of his actions when he could not get out of jail to attend the funeral of his 24-year-old brother, who was stabbed to death....
DeLeon's attorney, Garrett Ogata, said after the sentencing that perhaps boot camp would be better for DeLeon than the five years of probation he would have had to do under the original plea agreement, which could have been more difficult for him to successfully complete.
A Pathetic Display
3/15/07:
Celebrating Women's History Month
(RoamingPhotos.com/gc)
- Linkable
Entry
Comments from the Webmaster
We came across this pathetic display of women lawyers at a
library at UNLV, celebrating "Women's History Month."
What's so sad about it is that woman have
been lawyers for a century and have had
practical equality with men for some thirty years, yet memorable
women lawyers only fill up one small display case.
One of these lawyers is fictional, and the principle claim to
fame of the others is that they were "the first woman" to do
one thing or another. There's no one in the case who is there
for pure accomplishment, apart from their womanliness.
We regard all displays like this as pathetic, regardless of
what oppressed group they focus on: women, blacks, gays, short people.
By celebrating the "accomplishments" of this group, they
are implicitly emphasizing the group's sense of inferiority—as
though it was a big deal that a woman could become a lawyer.
Women will have achieved full and natural
equality—and self-confidence—when
we wouldn't have a "Women's History Month" any more than we
would have a "Men's History Month."
Whatever woman put this display together should actually
go out and DO something with her life rather than "celebrating"
what others of her gender have done.
Manuel Carrascal doesn't have to talk to the police about the disappearance of 2-year-old Everlyse Cabrera, but he did have to appear for his court-ordered deposition. Though this question and answer session was hardly illuminating.
Carrascal pleaded the fifth to almost every question -- from the mundane, like who pays your mortgage, to the meat, like do you know where Everlyse Cabrera is right now?
A Borderline Example
3/14/07:
[National]
Story of the Psycho Bitch from Hell
(/Kathleen)
Here is an interesting little profile (found by chance on the internet) of a person who probably suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder, a surprisingly common mental disorder that is little understood by the public.. Entities:
borderline (example of) - Linkable
Entry
My buddy FreakMagnet Dave's last post dealt with his BIL's psycho ex-girlfriend. It gave me the idea of telling you all about the LB's (Little Brother for those new here) PsychoBitch Girlfriend, who is finally an ex, although there was fear in the family that she would never be an ex.
...The LB is cute and girls really like him. And just like wife beaters are really good at finding women who will put up with him hitting her, PsychoBitches are really good at finding the guy who is too nice and malleable for his own good. In other words, my brother.
CARSON CITY -- Nevada has an abysmal record on collecting child support, and state Welfare Division officials are not responding to the problem with the urgency it deserves, a lawmaker said Tuesday.
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, cited a number of Nevada rankings in child support success compared to other states, noting that the state ranks 49th in establishing paternity, 49th in the amount of child support collected, 48th in the number of cases where support is not current and 47th in cost effectiveness.
In fiscal year 2005-06, child support was collected in only 46 percent of the cases in the state, Buckley said during a review of the agency's budget by a joint Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee.
On March 12, 2007, child welfare activist Glenn Campbell testified, or attempted to testify, at a public hearing before the Health and Human Services Committee of the Nevada Assembly. He was the only person opposing a bill that would make it illegal for DFS to keep children under the age of six at Child Haven. He didn't get very far before the chairwoman of the committee cut him off. A heated exchange between the two then followed.
You can hear his 4½-minute
testimony yourself in the audio that plays in the background of this page.
Child welfare reform entered the Assembly on Monday riding high on the shoulders of Gov. Jim Gibbons and state lawmakers of both parties.
"If any issue should be nonpartisan, it's the welfare of children," Gibbons said during testimony before the Committee on Health and Human Services in Carson City.
"Certainly one of the most essential services of government is to safeguard children who cannot adequately protect themselves from harm," the governor said.
Gibbons made a rare appearance before the committee to support two pieces of proposed legislation. Assembly Bill 147 would prohibit the placement of children younger than 7 in congregate care settings such as Child Haven, Clark County's emergency shelter for neglected and abused minors.
The other measure, Assembly Bill 188, requires state licensing for emergency shelters such as Child Haven. State licensing is now optional, and Child Haven is not currently licensed.
Comments from the Webmaster
As usual, the newspaper is clueless. See our opposition to
the bill in the entry above. The reporter did at least note that
opposition existed...
The bills were opposed by one public speaker. Glenn Campbell, who runs a Web site that spotlights Clark County Family Court, said they would weaken local control of services and take away decision-making authority from workers closest to the problems.
As problems with Nevada's child welfare program continue to get worse, lawmakers say it's time get tough. Now, they may have help from the governor himself.
He doesn't come to the legislative building very often, and when he does, Governor Jim Gibbons gets a lot of attention. But on this day he wants to focus that attention on the serious problems with child welfare in southern Nevada.
"As political leaders, it's our duty to provide the best care possible for children, who through no fault of their own, come under the care of the child welfare system," said Gov. Gibbons, (R) Nevada.
As I was going to court on Friday, Mar. 9, at about noon, I saw two
protesters on the sidewalk. I stopped and chatted with them and learned
their stories.
They were Shawn and Amira. They were representing a group called Parental
Alienation Awareness. (They have brochures but no
website at present.)
The group meets weekly: Every Monday at 6:30pm at
953 East Sahara, Suite B-31. They said they had invited
Judge DelVecchio and
Judge Moss to one of their meetings, and both
came!
Here is their message...
According to their literature...
Parental Alienation involves the systematic brainwashing and
manipulation of children with the sole purpose of
destroying a loving and warm relationship they once
shared with a parent.
After getting know these two, I agree that
"parental alienation" has probably been used against them
by their ex-spouses. I was more interested, however,
in their personal stories.
Shawn's story was about how his ex-wife was
turning their 9-year-old son against him.
He also said that his ex-wife had forced him to go
to prison for 24 months for a crime he didn't commit (an alleged
abduction of her at gunpoint when he didn't even own a gun). However,
there didn't
seem to be
a lot in Shawn's story that could be directly attributable
to Family Court.
Amira, on the other hand, did seem to have a
grievance against the court. She had not been allowed to
see her son in three years, even though she was required
to pay $500 monthly in child support and insurance.
I told her that this was very
unusual. Nearly every divorced parent gets to see their
child, regardless of how unfit they are deemed to be.
(If nothing else, the visit could be supervised at
Donna's House.) I told Amira
that I would look up her divorce file later in the
afternoon. She appeared not to be expecting this, and
she warned me that the file was full of lies. I told her
that I would do my best to read between the lines.
I said that I would look it up only if she wanted me to,
and she agreed.
When I received the file in the clerk's reading room, it
was 2-inches thick! After browsing the file for about 15 minutes,
I felt that I understood the case and why Amira had not been allowed
to see her son. It was an injustice, but an understandable one.
The judge in the case was Sanchez.
The case file showed the usual nasty
abuse charges by each party against the other.
There was an original custody agreement in which Amira had primary
custody, but her ex-husband later moved to have it overturned and
give primary custody to him.
He said she was depriving him of nearly all access to the child,
while she said he was narcissistic and abusive.
The charges were unproven on each side and
seemed about evenly matched. Who do you believe: him or her?
That is a matter for an evidentiary hearing. Indeed,
one was held in 2004,
but unfortunately Amira did not show up for it.
One document filed prior to the hearing
said that Amira's attorney was withdrawing from
the case because she had not been paid and was having
difficulty contacting her client.
The attorney stated that Amira had been informed of the hearing
date, and a copy of her letter to Amira was attached.
Without Amira at the hearing, the other side presented their
arguments and their witnesses and basically got everything they
asked for, including a no-contact order against Amira
(until contact was approved by the child's therapist)
and an award of attorney's fees.
Amira called me today and I talked with her for 20+ minutes.
She did not deny knowing about the hearing date, but said that
she was too overwhelmed to attend. She said that the earlier
hearings indicated to her that lies were being told about her
and that she wouldn't get a fair shake.
Amira, I could see, is very emotional, so much so that she
seems to be crippled by it at times. One
example is the letters she has recently received from the District
Attorney's Office, presumably regarding back child support that
she has been unable to pay (because she is unemployed). The letters
are so disturbing to her that she hasn't even opened them!
This seems to be what happened with the custody hearing:
It was so disturbing to her that she didn't attend.
Amira is working with a therapist, and the therapist
has tried to contact the child's therapist to arrange a
visit, but the child's therapist has never returned the calls.
(Probably the child is long out of therapy anyway.)
It seems to me that getting visitation would be relatively
easy if she could afford a lawyer, but next to impossible if
she can't.
I feel very bad for Amira. She should have been allowed to see her
son (now 16) regardless of her mental state,
but missing that hearing was critical and essentially
final. Amira
herself points out that it is only a year and half
until her son is 18 and she is free to contact him, so fighting
it at this point might be futile.
The father, if he had any compassion, would have allowed
Amira to see her son, but obviously he has none. Absent this,
Amira can only hire an attorney, which she can't
afford, or she can wait.
Update 3/15:
Amira's case continues to bother me.
Given her emotional volatility, custody probably should
have gone to the father, although he is apparently no
gem. This is no grounds, however, for cutting her off
completely from her son.
The judge did what seemed reasonable: Cut off visitation until
the child's therapist approved of it. Unfortunately, this
puts control entirely in the hands of the father.
All he would have to do to prevent Amira from seeing her
son is cut off therapy, or not tell the therapist at all
about the court's orders. (Generally speaking, a judge
should no be delegating decision power to a third party
like this.)
Amira remains actively involved
in therapy (with a therapist who has been
good enough to see her even when she can't pay).
Her therapist
tried to contact the child's therapist but was unsuccessful.
Within Amira's own limitations—which are significant—she
has done what she can.
I propose that not just the well-being of the child is
important here but also the well-being of Amira—the mother
who raised the child for 13 years. It may possibly be
true that the son is better off not seeing his mother,
but that is not the whole equation. Unable to see her son
who she is deeply attached to, Amira has been torn up
for the past three years.
Amira
would have good grounds for seeking visitation, but she lacks
the money to hire a lawyer, which is a barrier to justice for
a lot of divorce litigants.
Even if she didn't show up for court, I think the judge
should have ordered a default visitation schedule,
perhaps under supervision at Donna's House. Even the
most violent spouses get this (if they are not in prison),
and Amira should have gotten this, too.
At this point, with is only a year and
a half until the boy turns 18, I am on the fence over
whether Amira should do anything, even if she had the
money.
It is a hard, tragic case and it really bothers me.
Amira has significant mental issues, but not sufficient
to justify what is a complete termination of parental
rights. (PLUS, she has to pay child support!)
It took attorneys and District Judge Lee Gates three days to seat a jury to try a 17-year-old accused of murdering another teenager and burning his body last summer.
Most of the first 50 potential jurors brought in earlier this week raised their hands when Gates asked them whether they had heard of James Carter Jr.'s case.
A 16-year-old boy who was registering as a student at Canyon Springs High School was arrested Friday for bringing a loaded .25-caliber handgun to the campus.
Principal Ronan Matthew used the incident at his school as an example of why the school needs walk-through metal detectors.
Comments from the Webmaster
We are opposed to metal detectors. The perceived improvement
in security is outweighed by the percieved transformation of
schools into fortresses.
This principal should be shot! (Oops, didn't quite mean that.)
A slowdown in residential construction and related employment has kept the Las Vegas economy at a standstill over the past 12 months, a local economist said Friday.
The Southern Nevada Index of Leading Economic Indicators continues to signal neither expansion nor contraction, said Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research....
"The mix in the data shows no sign of a recession," he said, "though weakness is to be seen. It is highly likely that the index will continue along its recent track through 2007 because of weakness in residential housing."...
"Given the magnitude of the froth and imbalances in the Las Vegas housing market, we should not expect a turnaround overnight," he said. "Still, after all is said and done, we have seen adjustments for about a half-year.
I think we are halfway there to seeing our way out of the woods."
Comments from the Webmaster
Articles like this always quote local experts who
say we're almost out of the woods. The fact is, they don't
know. Certain economic fundamentals can be predicted, but
human psychology is much more fickle. We are concerned
about what will happen when Las Vegas ceases being "hot" in
people's minds.
So much of our economy depends on construction, growth and th
perception of growth
that when they falter, the rest of the economy is unsustainable.
We predict that this will be a hard fall, not an easy one as the
"experts" predict.
"Today in Nevada, there's one qualification to be judge" -- money, Adams asserted -- "$500,000 for a district court judgeship or $1 million to be on the state Supreme Court." The relentless search for money to feed the machine that propels a candidate to victory results in negative but shallow media sound bites, the judge claimed
We propose a simple fine: $75 for each public smoking offense, regardless of the child’s history. It would be equivalent to littering or a minor traffic offense. There would be no escalating fines, no community service and no referral to juvenile court unless the kid chooses to contest the charge. There would probably be no active enforcement if the kid failed to pay, unless he came to court on another matter, in which case the unpaid fine would be added to his restitution.
A 3-year-old German girl who came to Las Vegas last year only to experience repeated and near-fatal abuse returned to her homeland Sunday.
She was accompanied by German social workers and her father, Murat Celebi, who is trying to gain primary custody....
Celebi, who did not give permission for his daughter to travel to the United States, came to Las Vegas at the end of February to lobby for the child's return. Since he was never married to Rezaei, he does not have parental rights under German law.
Comments from the Webmaster
We would dispute that last sentence.
It is a sweeping statement that the reporter isn't qualified to make.
Of course, the reporter missed most of the story here,
as described in our newsletter on the
case.
For historical and sentimental reasons, we have brought back our
archived Morton Investigation, which hasn't been seen since Nov. 20.
These pages have been restored in their original
archeaological state, and
many of the links don't work. In the next few days, we will
review the links and see if any can be fixed; otherwise, these
pages will be kept as they were when the Ancients abandoned them.
If we have any new information, it will be added to a new
section.
The foster parents of a missing 2-year-old girl plan to dodge questions about her disappearance next week. They may plead the fifth during a deposition, according to the lawyers who represent the girl's biological family....
Despite earlier protests, the lawyer representing the couple tells the I-Team as of right now, they will attend, though attorneys for the Cabrera family told the I-Team they've been told the Carrascals will assert their fifth amendment right against self-incrimination and refuse to answer questions.
Attorney David Gibson said, "We want to know, and we want it unequivocable, what is their version of what happened to Everlyse. They've taken the stand that this was an accident, that the little girl just walked out the door. I want them to say that if it's true, but if it's not true I want to see on their face how they look when they're telling me that story."
CARSON CITY - A legislative budget subcommittee has sent the Nevada Supreme Court packing after it asked for an increase of more than 38 percent in its spending for the next two years.
Characterizing the requested increase as horrendous, Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, chairwoman of the subcommittee, told Chief Justice Bill Maupin, "If we give everybody a 38 percent increase, we would be bankrupt."
CARSON CITY -- Chief Justice Bill Maupin told legislators Wednesday that cooperation among branches of government must continue as Nevada copes with overcrowded prisons, jammed court dockets, endangered foster children and "malignant" growth of methamphetamine use....
Maupin urged legislators to make a "considerable" funding commitment to the state's specialty courts, and he said the courts can play a major role in getting meth addicts "out of the revolving door of the criminal justice system."
State and local governments must fund more attorney positions to represent foster children, Maupin said, mentioning recent reports of deaths and injuries of such children.
He added that Nevada law should spell out a right to legal representation for such children.
Lawmakers are considering a $98 million, two-year budget for the state Supreme Court and district and family courts, an increase of 29 percent.
Comments from the Webmaster
It will be interesting to see if there is any action this
session on the attorneys-for-children issue. If so, then
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley is going
to have a huge conflict-of-interest, since she heads the
Children's Attorney Project in Clark County.
CARSON CITY -- State Sen. Bob Beers complained Wednesday that Nevada's Supreme Court and District Court judges would become the highest paid in the country if the Legislature approved the pay increases recommended in the court system's $178 million two-year budget.
Chief Justice Bill Maupin said justices' annual salaries, $140,000, would be increased to $182,000 under the budget proposal. District judges are paid $130,000, and their salaries would increase to $169,000 under the budget request.
The initial stop will be in Ely on March 15 for the first session ever held there by a Supreme Court panel.
The Ely court session will be held in the White Pine County High School auditorium and attended by senior class students from four area high schools...
The audience may also include Family Court judges and attorneys who specialize in family law, since the Supreme Court session will coincide with the State Bar of Nevada's annual Family Law Conference in Ely....
One case involves the appeal by an Ely man over his conviction for selling drugs. Another is a civil case from Eureka involving a gold mining company. The third is the appeal of a Las Vegas divorce case.
Comments from the Webmaster
A good portion of the judges and attorney of our Family Court will
be present in Ely for the conference, leaving a skeleton staff in
Las Vegas.
One side of the divorce case mentioned is
Gayle Nathan.
A young child at the center of an international custody dispute has been returned to her home country....
The little girl, who turned four years old over the weekend, returned to Germany with her natural father on Sunday. Though according to German officials, she'll spend some time in foster care while they determine whether her father is an appropriate placement.
Comments from the Webmaster
This is the final resolution in the case that was the subject of
our latest newsletter.
Eleven teenagers walked into a holding cell at the Regional Justice Center, saw the uninviting stainless steel benches and the toilet where your business would be everybody's business. A few faces flickered with revulsion. Soon after, they left Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle's courtroom with a clearer understanding of the reality of the law....
Real life experience and understanding of the law is exactly what Project R.E.A.L. -- Relevant Education About the Law -- was set up to do, and the court tour is just one aspect of the little-known program.
Comments from the Webmaster
This program appears to be solely prophylactic (We love that word!)
with no ties to juvenile court.
When Hernandez moved to Las Vegas from Hawaii a year ago, he bought a truck so he could live in it and use it to drive to and from work. But when the truck broke down, he didn't have the money to fix it and couldn't get to work.
Hernandez ended up out on the streets pushing his belongings around in shopping carts. "Even if you got a job, what are you going to do with all your stuff in the carts?" You can't bring it to your work," Hernandez said.
Someone told Hernandez about the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth Drop In Center, which helped him with food, housing, and even simple things like an address and phone number so he could start applying for jobs. Hernandez is currently a shift manager at a local restaurant and is making plans to attend college.
In our 2/15
Blog Entry, we predicted Tilman's roasting. Now, here it is....
Apparent overpayments were not limited to contract attorneys. The inquiry also revealed that another local lawyer billed the county nearly
$458,000
last year for cases in Clark County Family Court. Attorney Christopher Tilman claimed in invoices that he worked more than 24 hours on each of 22 different days in the first half of 2006. Tilman, who receives hourly appointments but is not a contract attorney, said he did not know he had overbilled but suggested he might have had other attorneys helping him those days.
Comments from the Webmaster
As we said in our blog, Tilman is a good egg. We have watched him
in court, and we have no doubt that he is providing good representation.
He just squeezed the golden goose just a little too much.
We also don't have much doubt about the quality of representation
given by the contract attorneys in delinquency and dependency.
This article mainly concern contract attorneys in the criminal system,
which we know nothing about.
The issue of how much is paid for the service
is a matter for the county
to resolve, not the court directly, since the county pays the bill.
County management was made aware of the problem long before the
article but failed to do anything. Maybe now they'll take action.
Maintaining the quality of representation is a different
matter. We would like to see the creation of one or more
"Alternate Public Defenders Offices"—as we have seen in
dependency court in California. If we had THREE public defender agencies
instead of one, there would rarely be a need for outside attorneys.
(This would be similar to the Special Public Defender
that works independently of the main Public Defender in dependency cases.
Contracting or establishing a whole new Public Defenders office
would take advantage of economies of scale and allow these attorneys
more resources, like investigators and better access to records.
In all, we are pretty happy with the article. It is way more
substantial than we usually expect from the Rebuke-Urinal™.
Call it God; call it superstition; call it, as Atran does, “belief in hope beyond reason” — whatever you call it, there seems an inherent human drive to believe in something transcendent, unfathomable and otherworldly, something beyond the reach or understanding of science....
Lost in the hullabaloo over the neo-atheists is a quieter and potentially more illuminating debate. It is taking place not between science and religion but within science itself, specifically among the scientists studying the evolution of religion. These scholars tend to agree on one point: that religious belief is an outgrowth of brain architecture that evolved during early human history. What they disagree about is why a tendency to believe evolved, whether it was because belief itself was adaptive or because it was just an evolutionary byproduct, a mere consequence of some other adaptation in the evolution of the human brain....
Atran ascribes the persistence to evolutionary misdirection, which, he says, happens all the time: “Evolution always produces something that works for what it works for, and then there’s no control for however else it’s used.” On a sunny weekday morning, over breakfast at a French cafe on upper Broadway, he tried to think of an analogy and grinned when he came up with an old standby: women’s breasts. Because they are associated with female hormones, he explained, full breasts indicate a woman is fertile, and the evolution of the male brain’s preference for them was a clever mating strategy. But breasts are now used for purposes unrelated to reproduction, to sell anything from deodorant to beer. “A Martian anthropologist might look at this and say, ‘Oh, yes, so these breasts must have somehow evolved to sell hygienic stuff or food to human beings,’ ” Atran said. But the Martian would, of course, be wrong. Equally wrong would be to make the same mistake about religion, thinking it must have evolved to make people behave a certain way or feel a certain allegiance.
Court documents also show that the birth parents unsuccessfully sought a $2.3 million settlement from Clark County. In a letter sent to Mills on Feb. 21, District Attorney David Roger said that because the parents now have a financial stake in the outcome of the lawsuit, their ability to represent the best interests of Everlyse is compromised. Roger also said that the history of drug use on the part of both parents was a barrier in acknowledging them as appropriate guardians for Everlyse.
"My client cannot ... overlook your client's unwillingness or inability to refrain from drug use and your client's history of making bad choices," Roger said.
To that end, Mills is seeking a court-appointed guardian for Everlyse to represent her best interests during the legal proceedings. However, in a letter to the district attorney's office dated Feb. 22, Mills blasted the district attorney for questioning the competency of his clients.
Mills emphasized that the question at hand is the competency of Clark County Family Services and not that of Olivas and Cabrera. They didn't lose their own daughter, Mills said, the county did that.
In a written response, Roger reminded Mills that the record shows Olivas and Cabrera did fail to provide adequate oversight for another child.
"Regarding your statement that 'Everlyse never disappeared from her parents' custody,' don't forget that your clients did lose her little brother Benjamin, who was located on Fremont Street by the police," Roger said.
Glossy advertising campaigns can backfire and induce more people to use drugs, said Maria Canfield, director of the Nevada Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Agency. Even the National Office of Drug Control Policy created an ad that prompted more drug use, she said.
"Some kids felt more comfortable using the drug," Canfield said. "The message is we have to be careful."...
A study found that Nevada ranked No. 1 nationally in use of the drug, with 2 percent of its population over age 12 having used meth at least once.
Users find meth several times more pleasurable than a sexual orgasm, Oregon anti-meth advocate Rob Bovett told legislators last month.
Question: How many CAP attorneys does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, if he is a very special CAP attorney, Steve Hiltz.
However, to unscrew the light bulb that Hiltz screwed in, it takes nine lawyers, four representatives of the German Consulate, two translators, four members of the media, a father flown in from Germany, an unnecessary court hearing and at least three weeks of delay.
A settlement is in the works over the disappearance of Everlyse Cabrera, the three-year-old who went missing from her foster home last June. Though her whereabouts are still unknown, a civil lawsuit filed by her biological parents is moving forward in her absence.
Everlyse's foster parents, Manny and Vhee Carrascal, have offered to settle the civil case against them. Though it won't cost them a dime. As licensed foster parents, Clark County maintained a $300,000 insurance policy for the Carrascals.
According to court documents the insurance company has agreed to pay the maximum, with one condition. If Everlyse is found, she can't turn around and sue the Carrascal's again.
To that end, Gregory Mills, the attorney for Everlyse's natural parents, filed two motions in federal court, one to include Everlyse as a party in the lawsuit and the other to have a guardian ad litem appointed for her.
The local attorney will act in Everlyse's best interests and ultimately control the division of any monies collected.
Mills told the I-Team, for example, if the settlement goes through, the money would likely be held in an interest bearing account for Everlyse, or potentially used to help find her.
Comments from the Webmaster
Who really settled here is the insurance company. It sounds like
the foster parents
are just going along with insurance company.
It is interesting that the money is being held in trust for
Everlyse, who we can pretty fairly assume is dead. If at some
future date she is legally declared dead, then we assume that
the money would go to her "heirs", meaning her parents, to
blow on drugs as they see fit.
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3/29/07:
Justice fails again and again, he spends 15 years in prison
(Las Vegas Sun/ss)
3/29/07:
Dad Awarded Custody After Son Kidnapped by Mom
(KLAS-TV/el)
Entities:
David Gibson Sr. (mentioned below) 
3/28/07:
[National]
Newsletter #22: You're an Addict!
(Family Court Chronicles/gc)
A purely philosophical newsletter with no direct reference to Family Court. Entities:
Glenn Campbell (author),
drugaddiction (mentioned),
meth (mentioned) 
3/27/07:
Court officials review indigent defense
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/am)
Followup article on conflict attorneys Entities:
Chuck Short (quoted),
Conflict Attorneys for Juvenile Dependency (relevant to),
Conflict Attorneys for Juvenile Delinquency (relevant to),
Alan Maimon (author),
Clark County Special Public Defender (mentioned) 
3/26/07:
Prosecutors' tactics challenge courts
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/am)
Criminal court (no Family Court involvement) Entities:
Alan Maimon (author) 
Christopher Tilman put in long hours last year. Impossibly long hours, according to invoices he submitted to the county.
3/25/07:
IN DEPTH: For one, first-class defense was free: Diligent representation saves defendant from a wrongful conviction
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/am)
Criminal court (no Family Court involvement) Entities:
Alan Maimon (author) 
3/25/07:
IN DEPTH: Part-time work, big business: Contract defender spends lots of time doing 'research' on cases paying hourly
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/am)
Criminal court (no Family Court involvement) Entities:
Alan Maimon (author) 
3/25/07:
IN DEPTH: Lack of standards leads to curious choices: Unseasoned lawyers being assigned to serious felony cases
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/am)
One in series. Entities:
kohn (quoted),
dustin (mentioned),
Alan Maimon (author) 
3/25/07:
IN DEPTH: INDIGENT DEFENSE: CONFLICTED JUSTICE: Clark County's contract system a problem both for taxpayers, impoverished suspects
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/am)
Lead article of an in-depth section on conflict attorneys Entities:
Chris Tilman (mentioned),
Conflict Attorneys for Juvenile Dependency (mentioned),
Conflict Attorneys for Juvenile Delinquency (mentioned),
Alan Maimon (author) 
3/24/07:
Man sentenced to life term in death of girlfriend's child: Neglect victim, 2, had cerebral palsy
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/cgt)
Entities:
Adacelli Snyder (case of) 
3/22/07:
Temporary Custody of Kidnapped Boy Granted to Local Relatives
(KLAS-TV/el)
3/19/07:
CHILDREN SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET in Pending Child Welfare Legislation
(Family Court Chronicles/gc)
Newsletter on a pending bill in the state Assembly. Entities:
Glenn Campbell (author),
AB147 (subject) 
3/16/07:
Graffiti vandal gets boot camp: Judge orders 180 days of hard work, discipline
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/kch)
Entities:
graffiti (charged with),
Clark County Juvenile Detention Center (mentioned) 
3/14/07:
I-Team: Foster Parents Questioned in Girl's Disappearance
(KLAS-TV/cm)
Entities:
Everlyse Cabrera (subject),
Gregory Mills (quoted),
gibsonjr (mentioned) 
3/14/07:
[National]
Story of the Psycho Bitch from Hell
(/Kathleen)
Here is an interesting little profile (found by chance on the internet) of a person who probably suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder, a surprisingly common mental disorder that is little understood by the public.. Entities:
borderline (example of) 
3/12/07:
Governor Gibbons Calls for Child Welfare Overhaul
(KLAS-TV)
Entities:
Jim Gibbons (subject),
AB147 (regarding governor's appearance at hearing for) 
3/10/07:
BODY SHOT, BURNED IN DESERT: Jury seated in teen's slaying: Case's high profile impacts process
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/kch)
Entities:
Certification (juvenile subject to),
directfile (juvenile subject to) 
3/9/07:
Newsletter #20: IT'S ALIVE!
(Family Court Chronicles/gc)
"Juvenile smoking bill rises from the dead. Threatens Las Vegas. Who will save us?" Entities:
Glenn Campbell (author),
Senate Bill 14 (2007) (subject),
ACLU of Nevada (mentioned) 
3/8/07:
Thomas Morton — An Investigation
(Family Court Chronicles/gc)
Entities:
Tom Morton (subject) 
3/8/07:
Everlyse Cabrera's Foster Parents Could Plead The 5th
(KLAS-TV/cm)
Entities:
Everlyse Cabrera (parents' lawsuit),
Gregory Mills (mentioned),
gibsonjr (quoted) 
3/8/07:
Justice says crowded prisons, courts should be priorities: Speech touches on meth, foster children
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/br)
Entities:
foster (mention),
meth (mentioned),
Nevada Supreme Court (Speech by Chief Justice of),
Barbara Buckley (mentioned below),
Childrens Attorney Project (mentioned below) 
This is the final resolution in the case that was the subject of
our latest newsletter.
3/3/07:
MISSING GIRL: Settlement may clear foster parents: Lawyer for birth parents files motion
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/lkb)
Entities:
Everlyse Cabrera (parents' lawsuit),
Gregory Mills (quoted),
Christine Skorupski (quoted),
David Roger (quoted) 
3/1/07:
Newsletter #19: Hiltz Goes Global
(Family Court Chronicles/gc)
Entities:
Steve Hiltz (subject),
Glenn Campbell (author),
Barbara Buckley (mentioned),
Childrens Attorney Project (mentioned) 
