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Friday, attendance is down at Liberty High School because of rumors that violence was going to happen on campus. There were rumored threats of a shooting or even a bomb -- and that kept a lot of students home.
...
Students say they got phone calls, text messages and MySpace messages all night warning them not to go to school because of a possible bomb threat or shooting at school Friday. Many students didn't go to class while most of those who did sat in class until their parents came to pick them up and escort them out of the building.
Comments from the Webmaster
The word for this is "hysteria." It's the sort of thing bureaucracies
don't handle very well and usually end up making worse.
CARSON CITY -- The marriage between Gov. Jim Gibbons and wife Dawn is on the rocks, sources said Thursday, and the couple might be considering a divorce.
...
In an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal posted online Thursday, the governor's chief operating officer, Dianne Cornwall, said the couple intends to have a weekend family meeting to discuss their marital problems. ...
Another source close to the governor, who requested anonymity, confirmed there will be a weekend family meeting.
Comments from the Webmaster
Sounds bureacratic. There's going to be a "family meeting." We wonder
if both sides will be represented by counsel.
The shooting that seriously injured Victor Bravo, a sophomore, marked the third time in 11 days bullets were fired outside of a Clark County School District campus.
Las Vegas police announced earlier in the day they arrested a sophomore at Western High School on a charge of attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon. A police report identified the suspect as Tevin O'Neal Carr. He is 16.
Brittney says she didn't follow the legal process that ultimately imprisoned her attackers. Two teens claimed Brittney's mom sold them table salt, instead of methamphetamine.
"When I get mad and I have a bad day, I sit there and I'm like, "Why did this have to happen to me?" and then later I'll be like, "Obviously it happened for a reason. I don't know what. Maybe to give me this. Give me my life,"" she said.
For the last five years, Brittney has worked to re-define herself from crime victim, to competitive athlete. Brittney competes in tennis, swimming and track
Most traffic predictions seem to be based on the growth patterns of the last decade, when our city virtually doubled in size. Growth like that can’t be maintained for long or we’d soon be passing Mexico City as the world’s largest metropolis.
Sooner or later, growth has to slow, stop or even reverse and when that happens, the roads we already have are going to be fine for our needs.
At a Tuesday news conference, Las Vegas police Undersheriff Rod Jett railed against that kind of "stop-snitching" culture, which he said is rampant among today's youth.
"Don't buy into the hype," Jett said, urging teens to come forward with any information they have.
It's a message Deputy Chief Gary Schofield reinforced, saying that students need to show that their loyalty is with the community, not with the assailants. Schofield, a 1980 graduate of Western, said he hopes his fellow Warriors will help law enforcement catch the individual who shot Bravo on Monday afternoon, just blocks away from Gibson Middle School.
All of the teen violence has Metro and educators asking parents to take a proactive role in their children's lives. Police are even calling on absent fathers to step up to the plate. ...
It starts at home. Metro even called on fathers who haven't been around to reach out to their sons.
"If you are a father and have been absent from your child's life, I ask you today to locate your son and reconnect. He needs you. We need you. This is not a commentary on your parenting skills but a passion plea for you help," said Metro Undersheriff Rod Jett.
"I think that you know it was a bad thing that happened and it was really big and stuff, but if it didn't happen, I wouldn't be the way I am right now. I wouldn't be healthy, I wouldn't be doing these sports, I wouldn't be here," she said.
Did they think it couldn’t happen here, in Summerlin?
Apparently, some thought they were immune, safe in their community where the grass is manicured, glossy Mercedes and BMWs zip to schools full of sons and daughters of the upper middle class and “mountain view” is more than a subdivision name.
But since the Feb. 15 shooting death of Christopher Privett, a 15-year-old Palo Verde freshman, the Internet has been littered with comments from angry and scared people trying to pin blame — on the lower class, on the middle class, on race.
Beyond the most serious allegation, that he once forced the daughter of his ex-wife to perform oral sex, most of the charges Del Vecchio faces arise from complaints made by former judicial assistants, clerks and bailiffs. The remarks are raunchy and inappropriate, and were supposedly spoken by a person we pay a six-figure annual salary to sit in judgment of others in sensitive cases at Family Court.
Comments from the Webmaster
This article provides more evidence that "John L. Smith" is a
column-writing computer program. In this one, he has done nothing
more than rehash previous news articles. The guy hasn't done any
original research in years!
Reproductive technology, a boon for countless people, has also created a strange kind of tyranny. By extending the deadline and loosening the criteria for getting pregnant, by granting no exemptions from the unremitting pressure to procreate (Menopausal? No problem! Lesbian? No excuse!), the ever-widening window of reproductive opportunity contributes to the notion that not only should parenthood be available to every individual or couple, it's a good idea for every individual or couple too. One needn't pay a midnight visit to the diaper aisle of Walgreen's to suspect that that might not actually be the case.
Most people do eventually want to become parents. But in the 21st century, there is no good reason to see childbearing as an inevitable extension of a committed partnership or even as an ordained personal ambition. Instead, we need to view it for what it is: a profoundly important and difficult job that should only be undertaken by those who have the will and temperament to do it.
Because we're biologically programmed to take on that job -- or at least fill out the application -- it's unlikely we'll run out of humans. And by all means, if you're truly listening to yourself rather than buying society's relentless parenthood sales pitch, have a child, find a mate or both. But when it comes to Gottlieb's case for "settling" -- for doing that at all costs -- I can't help but wonder if what's missing from the prototypical unhappy single woman's life isn't a man or a baby but an imagination.
The Clark County Department of Family Services (DFS) will open a Family Visitation Center on Saturday, February 23. Located on the Child Haven campus in the O’Bannon Cottage, the new visitation center will be open seven days a week, including holidays, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
G----- D------, 16, arrested for shooting and killing a Palo Verde high school classmate has now officially been charged as an adult. G----- D----- made his first appearance outside of family court, standing next to an alleged accomplice
That's $450 million the 2009 Legislature won't be able to cobble together with existing funds. The governor will use rainy-day funds to offset the current budget shortfall, and there's no end in sight to the downturn in sales tax receipts.
So as much as no one likes the big "T" word, there's no real alternative any more if we hope to pull together that much cash each year and do things such as widen Interstate 15, the lifeline of our tourist economy.
Yet lawmakers sit in fear of the Promise Keeping governor who won't permit taxes on gas, truck hauling miles or even toll roads.
Comments from the Webmaster
Although Neff mentions the "T" word, she still hasn't mentioned the
"I" word—Income Taxes—which we bravely did in our
latest newsletter.
Southern Nevada's economy is performing a "high-wire balancing act" between a strong push of big investment spending along the Strip and the drag of falling residential construction and real estate sales, a UNLV economist said.
The Southern Nevada Index of Leading Economic Indicators has followed a flat trajectory for the past 12 months, dipping slightly to 133.56 in January, the Center for Business and Economic Research at University of Nevada, Las Vegas reported. ...
"Essentially, the Southern Nevada economy has been flat over the past year and a half," he said.
Las Vegas' commercial market performance could become the story of the year, research analyst Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis said at a recent economic forecast. Commercial building permits fell to 49 in December, compared with 91 in the same month of the previous year. ..
"Expect projects not to be completed. Fewer projects will go from planned to under construction," Aguero said. "There's going to be less office and industrial development."
Robert Shiller, professor of economics at Yale University, said there's a "good chance" the housing recession will go on for years. American real estate values have lost about $1 trillion and that could triple over the next few years, he said.
What is the solution to school
violence? Better security? More police?
Maybe we should prosecute more
children as adults so they pay for their
youthful mistakes with a lifetime
sentence. Better yet, we could arm all
teachers, so when a kid pulls a gun in
class the teacher can shoot back.
Or we could improve our schools.
Imagine a school system that didn’t just
teach the three R’s to the students who
bother to show up. Imagine one that
actually reached out to students in need
and tried to address the underlying
issues that lead to violence and academic
failure.
...
Nevada politicians often give lip
service to education—Our children are
our future, yada, yada.—but Nevada as a
society isn’t yet committed to funding it.
The 16-year-old accused of shooting a 15-year-old Palo Verde student will be charged as an adult.
On Tuesday morning, 16-year-old G----- D------, with his family by his side, faced a judge for the first time since being arrested. The sophomore has been held at the Juvenile Detention Center but is expected to be transferred to the Clark County Detention Center in the near future. He is charged with shooting freshman student Christopher Privett as the teen walked home from school on Friday. Privett died of a gunshot wound to his chest.
In a sign the Las Vegas housing market continues to deteriorate, foreclosures in January surpassed the sales of new and existing homes for the first time during the downturn.
...
Las Vegas ranked third in 2007 in the nation among metropolitan areas when it comes to foreclosures, according to California-based RealtyTrac.
If you're like me, you read recent articles about District Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio linking him to a litany of civil sexual abuse and sexual harassment allegations and found yourself asking a question:
What is this little black-robed weasel still doing on the bench?
...
Like a smutty lounge comic who refuses to leave the stage, the judge's inappropriate comments just keep on coming.
...
There's little in the complaint against Halverson that even remotely compares to the depth of sleaze of which Del Vecchio stands accused. A rookie judge, Halverson is accused of falling asleep on the bench, botching some rulings, and verbally abusing the hired help. ...
Does anyone reasonably believe he can conduct his duties now that these blistering allegations against him have been made public?
Comments from the Webmaster
Nope, definitely not good for the reelection campaign.
Las Vegas police arrested a 16-year-old Palo Verde High School student early Saturday morning who they believe was the gunman in Friday's drive-by shooting that left a Palo Verde freshman dead.
The suspect, a sophomore at the school who was not identified by authorities because he is a juvenile, was found hiding about 3 a.m. in a friend's bedroom in a house near Decatur Boulevard and U.S. Highway 95, according to police. He was taken into custody without incident.
Ice cream truck driver Zyber Selimaj was reunited with his three young sons Friday after what he described as a harrowing several days, beginning with the fatal shooting of his wife Tuesday by a Henderson police officer.
The boys, Alban, 12, Azbi, 7 and Arber, 5, each clutched a basketball and stuck close to their father as they left Child Haven just after noon.
...
At some point, police said, Deshira Selimaj returned to her ice cream truck, got a knife and held it to the throat of one of her sons.
Police said they tried to subdue her using Tasers but she did not drop the knife and made an aggressive move toward them. Police were able to pull the child away from the mother before Officer Luke Morrison, 23, shot the woman, who later died at a hospital. ...
He appeared in Clark County Family Court on Friday morning, after which he was granted custody of his children, said Christine Skorupski, a spokeswoman for Clark County Family Services. ...
Selimaj was cited by Henderson police in October for hitting a 14-year-old boy in the face after he told the boy there was nothing in the ice cream truck that he could buy for a dollar.
According to a court official, Selimaj pleaded no contest to the battery charge and was given a 30-day jail sentence, which was suspended with the condition he complete an anger management class and not be arrested within a year.
It took courage for Rebeccah Murray to go public with her allegations against Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio. She had to know people would inevitably ask: If he sexually abused her when she was 14, why did she go to work for him when she was 24?
Del Vecchio allegedly abused Murray between the ages of 14 and 16, during the time the then-attorney was involved with and sometimes married to her mother, Imogene Serrano, according to the complaint filed with the Judicial Discipline Commission.
So why work for him and put yourself in a position to again be exploited? When the family court judge hired her as his executive assistant in 2002, he soon made it clear that sex with him was part of the job description, according to the 38-count complaint. ...
Alexis Kennedy, an assistant professor at UNLV's Criminal Justice Department with a degree in forensic psychology with an expertise in child abuse, sexual assault and sex abuse, helped explain why someone would start such a relationship and then resume it a decade later. She read the complaint but spoke in generalities, not specifically about this relationship.
The economic slowdown that has affected other job sectors throughout the past year has found its way to the gaming industry.
Large Strip companies and local gaming operators throughout Clark County have begun taking steps to trim hours and payrolls wherever possible because of a slowdown in business, company officials acknowledged Thursday.
"One thing we did different this time was invited lawyers to voice an opinion on whether judges should be appointed or continue to be elected," Downey said, suggesting that this question might have increased participation by lawyers who did not wish to rate judges or whose field of practice gives insufficient time in courtrooms to form opinions on judges' performance. "Even if they don't rate judges, the survey allows them to weigh in on the issue of appointment or election, and we in fact urge them to do so."
Another difference in this year's survey is being the first conducted during the election campaign for judicial seats, because Nevada moved the filing date, for judicial offices only, to January starting this year. Survey results are announced about May 1, and because candidates previously didn't have to file until later, they usually consulted the results before deciding which seat to seek. Jurists who did poorly on the survey were more likely to draw opposition, or to retire without seeking reelection. ...
The survey has been conducted in even-numbered years since 1992, and now evaluates Nevada Supreme Court justices, judges in the Clark County district and family courts, and justices of the peace and municipal judges in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson.
Invited to evaluate them are the 4,236 lawyers who listed Clark County addresses on their registrations with the Nevada State Bar, which provided a list of those bar members but does not participate in or endorse the survey. Each lawyer was mailed a unique pin number and instructions to access a Web site where the poll is conducted online.
Comments from the Webmaster
The lawyer's survey is a flawed tool, since it amounts to
a popularity contest, but it's the only thing
we've got to evaluate judges. We would prefer to have judges
rated by those who actually practice before them rather than
ill-informed voters who simply pick from a list of names.
It isn't clear how much effect the survey has on the outcome
of elections, but clearly if someone is rated as the "worse" or
the "best" judge, that's probably going to sway the election
outcome. Judges in the middle will probably slip by.
Note that Judge Del Vecchio's rating was 77 in the last survey,
which didn't get him any notice either way.
WASHINGTON -- Sales of existing homes fell in 45 states during the October-December quarter, with metropolitan areas showing growing weakness, a real estate trade group said Thursday. Nevada led the nationwide pace with sales down 44 percent.
November will bring one of the most important legislative elections in recent history. Not only is the state facing budget shortfalls, there are daunting transportation needs, looming problems with public employee retirement benefits and significant decreases in federal health care funding to the state. Meanwhile, the K-12 school superintendents still haven't gotten the $1 billion they say could improve education. ...
[Governor] Gibbons, faced with all of these revenue issues, still thinks Nevada has just enough (maybe even too much) money coming in. One thing we know we'll get from him is a veto of any tax or fee increases. As for solving the problems, Gibbons has vowed to take a look at Clark County's revenue and see whether it makes better sense putting it in the state's hands.
Meanwhile, political parties are grooming candidates for legislative races. There's a certain inoffensive, not to mention ineffectual, style emerging on both sides of the aisle: Candidates are marching lockstep to the no-new-taxes refrain.
That actually may just work out. A study suggests there's a 50-50 chance Lake Mead could be dry in 13 years. Those odds are even better then a black-red roulette bet.
Maybe that's the long-term solution we need. If there's no water, who would come -- or stay?
MAYBE ELLEN BEZIAN SHOULD SEND A MUSHY VALENTINE to Judge Nick Del Vecchio. After all, the judge planted a big wet kiss, euphemistically speaking, on Bezian and two other political challengers, though he probably didn't mean to do it.
The kiss arrived in the form of a complaint filed against Del Vecchio by the Judicial Discipline Commission. The highly detailed, highly salacious complaint alleges that the judge is quite a ladies' man. Girls, too. A lengthy investigation uncovered an alleged pattern of sexual misconduct on the part of his honor, lots of hide-the-gavel type stuff, including allegations that he's been molesting his stepdaughter since she was 14. The commission believes Del Vecchio forced the girl to perform certain oral acts on him, then later hired her to work in his court so she'd be around whenever he felt frisky. From the sound of the complaints raised by other female employees, "Frisky" should be his middle name.
Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio is a goner. The claims made about his behavior on the bench are not just a simple she said-he said. It's nine people describing appalling behavior, which, if true, makes him unelectable in the fall.
Even if you discount the sexual abuse claims of stepdaughter Rebeccah Murray and the claims of her mother, (his ex-wife) Imogene Serrano, there remain seven people who worked at Family Court who are saying the judge essentially said anything that crossed his mind, no matter how inappropriate or offensive.
If you read the entire 38 counts in the charges filed Friday by the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission, and if it's all true, Del Vecchio is a lewd, crude sexist and racist who apparently felt free to say whatever vulgar thought floated from his penis to his pea brain.
Comments from the Webmaster
We understand that Del Vecchio and the judicial discipline commission had
an understanding that if he didn't run for reelection, they wouldn't
pursue charges, but he chose to run anyway. Dumb!
The allegations in the complaint are sickening, but Del Vecchio has yet to present his side. He denies the charges and says he will be cleared. However, because of the despicable nature of the charges, he should step aside to protect the Family Court’s reputation. The commission, meanwhile, should move quickly to resolve the case.
It was a slow news day last Wednesday, so the Las Vegas Review-Journal did what it normally does on days like this: It manufactured news to fit the space.
After battling her parents in court for nearly eight years, a North Las Vegas woman has been awarded custody of her firstborn child. ...
Primmer was 16 when she gave birth to her son Jacob in May 2000. Within two months, her parents obtained temporary guardianship of the boy. They remained his guardians until November, when Family Court Judge Cynthia "Dianne" Steel discovered a procedural error that had gone unnoticed since the inception of the case.
Steel ended the guardianship but issued an emergency order that essentially maintained the status quo. Jacob's grandparents, Matthew and Marilyn McLaughlin, then filed a motion for custody that landed the case before Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio.
Del Vecchio held a hearing in mid-January and issued his decision about two weeks later.
"The court finds that the natural mother is fit and proper to now have custody of Jacob and her custody is restored," according to the ruling.
Comments from the Webmaster
We haven't analysed this case, but we suspect that there is a lot more
here than meets the eye—mainly because both Steel and Del Vecchio are
involved.
The special prosecutor for the Judicial Discipline Commission on Friday accused Del Vecchio of wide-ranging sexual misconduct. The prosecutor, Mary Boetsch, accused Del Vecchio in a 38-count civil complaint of having sex with his ex-wife's 14-year-old daughter in the early 1990s. He is also accused of taking nude photos of the girl when she was between the ages of 14 and 16.
About a decade later, that same girl, then in her 20s and identified as Rebeccah Murray, began working as a judicial assistant for Del Vecchio. She accused Del Vecchio of coercing her to have sex with him and making audio recordings of the encounters without her permission.
A bailiff and other court staff also accused the judge of making inappropriate sexual and racial remarks, the complaint states. He is also accused of using his position to get free lunches and airline tickets.
Del Vecchio declined requests for interviews on Monday. He previously denied that he had any sexual relationship with Murray, now 29. He said he was innocent of all the accusations.
Authorities are not filing criminal charges against Del Vecchio because the statute of limitations has run out.
The case came to light in the spring of 2006 when court employees reported that Del Vecchio was acting inappropriately in the workplace, Short said.
The court temporarily re-assigned the employees and the county's Office of Diversity began investigating the allegations.
He said Del Vecchio has 20 days to respond to the complaint and the commission could hold a hearing within 60 days of Del Vecchio receiving the complaint.
Actually, my job title is deputy marshal, not bailiff. With a regime change in the sheriff's office last year, Clark County's bailiffs were authorized to create a new name for themselves and did. ...
Deputy marshals at Regional Justice train for five to six months before getting assigned to one of the building's two front gates. The pay is $38,000 plus county benefits -- more if they're personally selected by a judge to man a specific courtroom.
The special prosecutor for the Judicial Discipline Commission has accused Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio of sexual misconduct and abuse of power, including coercing a judicial assistant into having a sexual relationship with him.
The complaint alleges that the relationship dates to before Del Vecchio was a judge, when the judicial assistant, the daughter of his ex-wife, was 14.
Del Vecchio took nude photos of the girl when she was between the ages of 14 and 16 and had her perform oral sex on him, the 38-count complaint states. The complaint adds that Del Vecchio kept the photos after he became a judge but later destroyed them.
The document, which is not a criminal complaint, also accuses Del Vecchio of using racial slurs against black and Hispanic court staff and of coercing staff into buying him lunches and airline tickets.
Comments from the Webmaster
On stories like this, we like to keep a low profile, since the
press and normal court systems seem to have things well in hand.
We can opine, however, that it probably
ain't so good for the reelection campaign.
Rather a downer, we think.
Since the charges are only before the Judicial Discipline Commission,
Del Vecchio probably could have avoided them simply by not running for
reelection. And of course the charges themselves are certainly
enough to torpedo
his campaign, regardless of whether they are proved. This investigation
has
been in the pipeline for some time, so why didn't Del Vecchio do the
smart thing and simply not run for reelection?
We have a theory: Del Vecchio is not smart.
In fact, Del Vecchio seems to be a personality puzzle as deep as the
Halverson one. All accounts (including our own first-hand sources)
indicate that he has been as senselessly cruel to his
staff as Halverson was to hers.
A year ago, his entire court staff resigned. These are lucrative
positions without any union safety net, so this wouldn't have happened
unless working conditions really were intolerable. Del Vecchio replaced
these employees with new ones who were not considered
the cream of the crop but who needed the work.
Of the formal charges, there is only one that we can personally
vouch for: that Del Vecchio coerced others into buying lunch for
him....
Del Vecchio's new bailiff is inexperienced, has no special qualifications
for the position and has never done
the job for anyone else.
A couple of months after he was hired, we were
in the small independently-run cafe at the courthouse
when the bailiff came in, poured
a large soft drink from the dispenser and told the blind man behind
the counter that it was for the judge. Then he walked out with the
drink without paying.
We don't think he would have done this without
Del Vecchio directly instructing him
to do so, as though this was the normal thing. Being unfamiliar with
the courthouse, the bailiff couldn't have known that this wasn't the
normal thing. Judges have never been entitled to free drinks, but the
owner was obliging and didn't put up a fight.
This soft drink
incident struck us as highly significant. Why would a judge,
making well over $100k/year use the power of his position—and
his bailiff—to
coerce a $1.50 soft drink out of a small business owner?
It looked to us like stealing, and it gave us serious doubts about
the judge's sense of fair play.
Clearly, something isn't right in that judicial cranium.
Behind closed doors in Family Court, Brittney's mother granted the teenager's longtime wish. Tamara Schmidt, who is serving a prison term for child neglect, formally relinquished her parental rights and signed an open adoption agreement with the foster parents who have shared their home with Brittney for five years.
...
Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle previously rejected Duffy's efforts to terminate Schmidt's parental rights. The state's high court was set to hear arguments on the appeal of his decision next month.
In October 2005, Schmidt received a prison term of four to 12 years for leaving her two daughters at their Mesquite home, where they faced a knife attack by intruders. Schmidt's husband, Robert, received a sentence of two to 10 years.
Comments from the Webmaster
Apparently, this is the end of the Bergeron saga -- a Rebuke-Urinal™ production!
If you looked below the surface, the good guys and bad guys weren't who you thought they were, but we're glad this thing is over.
Closing this case leaves more precious
newspaper space for.... Judge Del Vecchio!
A sitting judge, expected to protect young children in family court, is accused of molesting one. ...
The charges against him say that he not only sexually assaulted his 14-year-old step daughter, but continued to force sexual relations on her when she came to work for him. ...
Back in November, Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio applauded his co-workers, thanking them for making so many adoptions possible, "I am very blessed to have a wonderful staff that supports me in these endeavors." ...
But behind the robe, co-workers say he lived a very [different]
life. In a judicial complaint obtained by Channel 8, 38 counts against him include Del Vecchio's constant sexual harassment -- saying he "made inappropriate and or sexually suggestive remarks," about dozens of women.
To call this court document "explosive" would be an understatement.
These charges against a Family Court judge are stunning in
their scope—and their profanity.
If proven, these sexual abuse charges would not only remove Del Vecchio from the
bench; they could conceivably send him to prison from the rest of
his life.
For a court document, this one is pretty easy to read.
It dives into the most lurid charges immediately.
This document may seem seem sensitive,
as the names of many alleged victims are given, but it was released to
local news media in this form. For reasons that may become
apparent upon reading, we will probably remove this
document from our website
when the issue is no longer active.
Twenty-two children involved in abuse or neglect cases during the past two months were placed with relatives or family friends before Clark County Family Services caseworkers completed all required criminal background checks on the caregivers.
"This practice will need to cease and desist immediately," Family Services Manager Paula Hammack said in a Jan. 30 e-mail sent out to department employees.
"This infraction is considered egregious in nature as it jeopardizes the safety of children, which is the primary function of our agency."
The internal e-mail was leaked to the public. Its content angered child welfare advocates who have been pressing Clark County to reform its faulty system of care for abused and neglected juveniles.
Comments from the Webmaster
This is more nonsense from the Rebuke-Urinal™ and utterly
incompetent reporter Lisa Kim Bach.
This non-story ran as the FRONT PAGE HEADLINE in the R-U™, which
shows you how desperate their pathetic paper is for stories.
If you don't have
a story, take a non-story and pretend it's a major one.
Here's the situation, as we interpret the article: There was a problem at the
agency; a manager detected the problem and issued an email to correct
it, and now the agency is being criticized for that email.
Jeez! Is this nitpicking or what?!!!
Every organization is going to have problems, and to correct them,
you have to communicate. Now, we see that any internal
communication is going to be leaked to the press, which will
squeeze as much mileage as they possibly can from it. Doesn't
this have a chilling effect on management's efforts to correct
future problems?
How are they going to communicate now? Carrier pigeon?
This article is no service whatsoever to child welfare.
Child welfare will never be a precision craft. The circumstances
are always impossible, so you make compromises
and do the best you can. That problems exist is not news.
We are more impressed that management is
trying to correct the problems, as their email shows.
Judge William Voy likes to joke that he didn't go to law school to become a social worker. But when the suspect before you is a child who first sold her body at the age of 12, even the black robe can't hide a bleeding heart.
"It's that feeling you get -- you want to reach out and just help them. And how do you do that? We're trying the best we can," he said.
North Las Vegas -- 89031 has the most foreclosures on the books as of December. This zip code had some 368 default notices, 285 auction notices and 88 bank repossessions for a total of 741 filings in this zip code alone -- just north of Craig and 5th.
This information compiled for CNNMoney.com by RealtyTrac. The mortgage meltdown goes well beyond this zip code to other areas in the valley.
When you look at the top 10 of worst-hit zip codes for the country, Las Vegas is on the list six times -- Henderson once and of course that North Las Vegas zip code comes in at number one.
A thick layer of trash along I-15 on the way to the Apex Landfill is more than an eyesore. It's also dangerous. Next month marks the eighth anniversary of a terrible tragedy -- the deaths of six teens who were picking up trash in the highway median. The woman who struck them with her car was sentenced to as many as 48 years in prison. ...
Watkins and Bezian still think Williams' treatment is a disgrace. Williams admits she smoked marijuana the night before she plowed into six teenagers who were picking up trash on I-15, part of a county initiated program. The jury ruled she was not impaired but rather, that she fell asleep at the wheel. Yet an obscure part of Nevada law mandated her conviction on DUI. She received six consecutive sentences. ...
A contributing cause of the tragedy, in the lawyers' view, is the trash on the highway and the county program that put kids out there to pick it up. Trial judge Mark Gibbons, now on the Supreme Court, would not allow the jury to even hear such arguments. Nearly eight years later, the trash is still blowing on the highway and people are still out there picking it up.
Comments from the Webmaster
The accident was a tragedy in many different ways.
The six teens killed were inmates at the juvenile detention center. The accident ended all programs where inmates did useful work in the community.
Nevada is the only state in which judges can't get raises in the middle of their terms, said Supreme Court spokesman Bill Gang....
Since District Court judges and Supreme Court justices serve terms of six years, what happens is that new judges are paid more than their more experienced peers.
District Court judges will see their $130,000 a year salary increase to $160,000 starting July 1, and justice salaries jump from $140,000 to $170,000.
It's a pay inequity for sure. In the late 1990s, some judges were making $42,000 less than their peers. So in 2001 the Legislature finagled a way so justices and judges would get extra pay for serving on two library commissions.
Richard D. Brown spent the better part of his teen years living out of six duffel bags and moving from one foster placement to another.
Most of the time, he felt like a paycheck, not a child. The only reason Brown believed people took him in was to collect the extra income that came with him.
"I'm a product of the foster care system of Clark County," the 21-year-old told state lawmakers Thursday. "Between 2000 and 2005, I had six placements."
Brown and teenagers still in foster care testified before the legislative committee charged with studying Nevada's foster care system and identifying ways to improve it.
CARSON CITY -- A state law that favors trying juveniles charged with crimes involving the use of guns as adults is unconstitutional and a violation of the right against self-incrimination, the ACLU of Nevada contends.
...
The law says juveniles age 14 or older suspected of using or threatening to use a deadly weapon in a crime are presumed to be eligible for prosecution as adults. ...
To stay out of adult court, the law allows a juvenile to present evidence that emotional, behavioral or substance abuse problems contributed to the commission of the crimes.
But to use the process successfully, juveniles essentially have to plead guilty to the crimes for which they are charged by undergoing psychological evaluations and other types of testing, the brief said.
And once the determination has been made on whether to prosecute in juvenile or adult court, any of the information presented seeking to keep a case in juvenile court can be used against the youth in further court proceedings, a violation of due process rights, the brief said.
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2/29/08:
Attendance Down at Liberty High School Due to Violence Rumors
(KLAS-TV)
Entities:
School Shootings (hysteria) 
2/29/08:
Gibbons, wife Dawn are 'going through difficult times'
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Ed Vogel)
Entities:
Jim Gibbons (subject) 
2/28/08:
Father endures 'grueling hours': Question of why kept coming at dad
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Antonio Planas)
Entities:
School Shootings (one) 
2/28/08:
I-Team: Brittney Bergeron Speaks to the I-Team's Colleen McCarty Part 2
(KLAS-TV/Colleen McCarty)
Entities:
Bergeron (case) 
2/27/08:
ROAD RAGE! Predictions of highway gridlock are biased and wildly speculative
(Family Court Chronicles/Glenn Campbell)
Our newsletter #34. Entities:
Glenn Campbell (author),
Las Vegas Review-Journal (criticized),
Libertarianism (discussed) 
2/27/08:
VIOLENCE NEAR SCHOOLS: Police ask for help: Western High students reluctant to discuss shooting of teen
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Lisa Kim Bach, Antonio Planas, Brian Haynes)
Entities:
School Shootings (response to) 
2/27/08:
I-Team: Brittney Bergeron Speaks to the I-Team's Colleen McCarty Part 1
(KLAS-TV/Colleen McCarty)
Entities:
Bergeron (case) 
2/26/08:
Shooting rattles affluent suburb: Fingers point and tempers flare in Summerlin after 15-year-old is killed
(Las Vegas Sun/Joe Schoenmann)
Entities:
School Shootings (in Summerlin) 
2/26/08:
Halverson, Del Vecchio cases show open season on court staff is over
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/John L. Smith)
Entities:
Elizabeth Halverson (subject),
Nicholas Del Vecchio (subject) 
2/23/08:
Finding Mr. Good Enough: If you're a thirtysomething single woman, are a husband and child what you need?
(Los Angeles Times/Maghan Daum)
2/22/08:
Clark County Family Services Opens Family Visitation Center: New Center to Promote Meaningful Visits Between Children and Their Parents in a Safe, Child- & Family-Friendly Environment
(Press Release/Christine Skorupski)
Entities:
Christine Skorupski (author),
Tom Morton (quoted) 
2/21/08:
Higher taxes the only real answer
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Erin Neff)
Entities:
The Great Las Vegas Crash (related) 
Although Neff mentions the "T" word, she still hasn't mentioned the
"I" word—Income Taxes—which we bravely did in our
latest newsletter.
2/19/08:
NO NEW TAXES? ...then watch your city burn
(Family Court Chronicles/Glenn Campbell)
Entities:
Clark County School District (subject),
Glenn Campbell (author),
State of Nevada (sales taxes proposed) 
2/17/08:
PALO VERDE SHOOTING: Arrest made in fatal drive-by: Fellow students mourn victim during candlelight vigil
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Lawrence Mower)
2/16/08:
TRAFFIC STOP CASE: Dad gets boys back after fatal shooting: Ice cream truck driver's wife killed by police
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Lynnette Curtis)
Entities:
Child Haven (mentioned),
Christine Skorupski (quoted) 
2/14/08:
Del Vecchio returning to a position he knows well: perennial candidate
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jane Ann Morrison)
Entities:
Nicholas Del Vecchio (subject) 
2/13/08:
RJ-SUX! Study Finds "No Intelligent Life" at Las Vegas Review-Journal
(Family Court Chronicles/Glenn Campbell)
Entities:
Las Vegas Review-Journal (subject),
Glenn Campbell (author),
Lisa Kim Bach (negatively reviewed),
Gerald Hardcastle (briefly mentioned),
Barbara Buckley (briefly mentioned) 
2/11/08:
FEAR AND LOAFING: Order in the Court (Court Bailiff): Our reporter tries his hand as a deputy marshal
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Corey Levitan)
Concerns the bailiff duties in criminal court, but they are similar in juvenile deliquency court. Entities:
Family Court Bailiffs (general information) 
2/9/08:
Clark County judge accused of sexual misconduct: Del Vecchio confident 'hearing will clear my name'
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/David Kihara)
(See next entry for the actual text of the charges.) Entities:
Nicholas Del Vecchio (defendant),
Vincent Ochoa (quoted),
Chuck Short (quoted),
Kathy Hardcastle (mentioned) 
2/9/08:
Brittney's wish comes true: Imprisoned mom allows adoption
(Las Vegas Review-Journal/Carri Geer Thevenot)
Entities:
Bergeron (case),
Gerald Hardcastle (former judge),
Brigid Duffy (quoted),
Chris Tilman (attorney for mother),
Steve Hiltz (quoted) 
2/8/08:
More Details in Allegations Against Local Judge
(KLAS-TV/Amanda Hernandez)
Entities:
Nicholas Del Vecchio (defendant) 
2/8/08:
Formal Statement of Charges Against Judge Del Vecchio
(Court Document/Mary E. Boetsch)
31-page court document describing the charges against Judge Del Vecchio before the Judicial Discipline Commission. Entities:
Nicholas Del Vecchio (defendant) 
This is more nonsense from the Rebuke-Urinal™ and utterly
incompetent reporter Lisa Kim Bach.
2/5/08:
I-Team: Officials Seek Funding to Help Underage Prostitutes
(KLAS-TV/Colleen McCarty)
Entities:
Juvenile Prostitution (subject),
William Voy (quoted),
Susan Roske (quoted),
Teresa Lowry (quoted),
towers (mentioned as contact),
Courtroom 18 (setting) 
2/4/08:
I-Team: Jessica Williams -- Almost 8 Years After Tragedy
(KLAS-TV/George Knapp)
Entities:
bezian (attorney for Williams) 
