William Keith's grave at Woodlawn.

Thursday, May 22, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Quick and Dirty: A notebook of news and politics

Rhodes to nowhere

Phase one in the mission to protect Red Rock Canyon from nearby development was completed Monday when Gov. Kenny Guinn signed a bill freezing low-density zoning on Blue Diamond Hill. The Nevada Legislature made it clear with unanimous votes in both houses that protecting the hill overlooking Red Rock is more important than developer Jim Rhodes' proposal to permanently destroy the character of the area by planting 5,400 homes and an array of commercial enterprises at the edge of a much-loved national conservation area.

Rhodes probably will sue, as that is what developers who don't get their way tend to do around here. So phase two will be to beat back his impending legal challenge. Phase three is the plan outlined by U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign for the government to buy the land from Rhodes, reclaim the mining-scarred areas and fold the hill into the conservation area. This is called good government.

By the way, you gotta look at this as a big victory for Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who sponsored the bill to protect the hill and got it through the Senate despite being a member of the minority party. She's given some thought to running for governor in 2006, you know.--GS

Not forgotten

Over in Woodlawn Cemetery at Owens Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, if you put a stethoscope to the ground, you just might be able to hear a friendly dispute waging between old friends and Civil War veterans William Keith and Joseph Graham.

"No no, I say it went like this: `Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,'" says Keith, who fought for the North.

"You're wrong. It was: `I wish I was in the land of cotton,'" says Graham, who fought for the South.

"Huh uh, no sir. And the next line was, `He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,'" continues Keith.

"`Old times dar am not forgotten!'" shouts Graham.

"`He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,' sings Keith, more loudly.

"`Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land!'" screams Graham.

Ah, what time and friendship have blurred. But nevermind--on May 30, the Sons of Union Veterans and Sons of Confederate Veterans plan to revive the memory of the Civil War as they march on Woodlawn in period costume, with a brass band and dignitaries, to fete the two dead old gentlemen and nine other Civil War vets buried there. And both the "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Dixie" will ring loud and clear again. Stan Armstrong, a local Civil War documentarian who is helping with the celebration, says there also will be an "echo taps," with a trumpeter a mile away answering the on-site trumpeter.

"It's an honorable thing we're doing for these guys," Armstrong says.

Though once official enemies, Keith, who died in 1920, and Graham, who died in 1917, became fast friends after they moved to Las Vegas at the turn of the last century. Now they're buried side by side. The celebration begins at 6:30 p.m. at the site of their graves.--HW

Another goodun gone

The New York Times published an obituary that local newspapers missed, and that's too bad. Fred Cook died. Who? Cook was a freelance investigative reporter who published 45 books, many of them based on articles he had written for magazines and newspapers. One of his books was The FBI Nobody Knows, based on a series of articles in The Nation in 1958 that made him among the first to document the civil rights and liberties abuses perpetrated by the egomaniacal J. Edgar Hoover--and he later was joined by Gov. Grant Sawyer of Nevada, one of the few politicians to take on Hoover. Not that this endeared Sawyer to Nevadans, or that Cook's work pleased other residents of this state. Another book based on his writings in The Nation was The Secret Rulers, which attacked organized crime.--MG

Pork, next exit

As you drive south on U.S. 95 toward Boulder City, you may have noticed that the last exit is Wagon Wheel Drive. But it has a new name. The signs on the freeway also say "Nevada State Dr." That refers to Nevada State College and is useful information--the three cars headed to the college on a daily basis might not exit so easily without the signs. It's also worth noting that Nevada State has that listing and a sign for a state college, and it took much longer for the nearby CCSN Henderson campus and the Clark County Museum to be so identified. Things get done much faster when they are done for something totally unnecessary.--MG

Mack wearing thin

It seems that the more than 18 months on the Councilman Michael Mack bankruptcy case is taking its toll on the politician's attorney. Never mind the more than $67,000 that Brigid Higgins' law firm, Gordon and Silver, has earned--she was overheard saying to another attorney outside Bankruptcy Court recently before the proceedings started, "This case is beginning to irritate me. I just want to get it over."

It's no wonder. There have been more than a dozen court appearances, numerous filings and more than 242 documents--some of them quite lengthy--to wade through as Higgins prepared Mack's case. And it's not going to get any better. There'll be at least three more court appearances and dozens more copies to read and digest between now and June 19 when the case could, finally, come to an end.--FC

Meet the new

boss, same as

the old boss

Geoff Schumacher, editor and publisher of this newspaper, got a promotion last week that, to be honest, probably doesn't mean a whole lot for Mercury readers. Schumacher was named the director of community publications for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Sun, but he'll continue to run the Mercury and write his weekly column therein (maybe a little less other writing but you probably won't notice much difference). The rest of his time will be devoted to working on the company's other community publications, including the View neighborhood newspapers, the El Tiempo Libre Spanish-language weekly and the Pahrump Valley Times. He's also overseeing the R-J's weekend real estate sections and special sections. Lots of work, sure, but Mercury devotees shouldn't notice anything unusual going on.