Backstory: Odds and ends

By Michael Green

On June 8, 1984, Valley Times publisher Bob Brown died. That June 22, the paper published its last issue. The newspaper was only 25. Brown was only 53. They were too young, and so was I.

The North Las Vegas and Moapa Valley Times, named for the areas it was to serve, was born in 1959. Adam Yacenda, who had been managing editor of the Sun, ran it. He soon focused exclusively on North Las Vegas. In the 1960s, its city manager, Clay Lynch, merrily annexed land and expanded services. Not only did Yacenda work with him, but he was tight with Oran Gragson, the mayor of Las Vegas.

But health problems forced Yacenda to sell in November 1973 to Brown, a kindred spirit as a newspaperman and political operator. Brown had been a United Press reporter before becoming the Review-Journal's editor in 1961. At the time, the Sun was a close competitor. A fire nearly forced the Sun out of business in 1963, but Brown also greatly improved the R-J.

Brown left the R-J in 1964 in a dispute with publisher Donald Reynolds, who wanted him to slant the news in favor of U.S. Sen. Howard Cannon. Brown strongly supported Cannon's opponent, Republican Paul Laxalt, and quit. He then spent nearly a decade publishing papers in Washington and Arizona, and worked at a major local ad agency where a lot of local political operatives learned at his feet.

Brown was glad to be back in action and eventually expanded the Times to six days a week. He hoped to compete with Hank Greenspun for the No. 2 position behind the R-J.

Journalistically in the late '70s, Brown's paper was No. 1. Editors A.D. Hopkins and Bruce Hasley did brilliant work. Their staff included Linda Faiss, now a top ad exec and consultant; Claudia Collins, later a Channel 10 producer and author; former R-J news editor Dave Verbon; longtime hotel executive Jim Seagrave and his wife, Jan; Ken White of the R-J; and Ed Koch of the Sun.

It's enough to say the lead columnist was Ned Day, still the best reporter ever to hit these parts. Day broke just about every major story about the mob you ever heard--what Lefty Rosenthal really did at the Stardust, the role of Kansas City mobsters in the Tropicana, the iron fist Tony Spilotro wielded on Las Vegas streets.

Add in Brown's insider editorials and the Times was must reading for Nevada's movers and shakers, even when circulation was bad--and if your cholesterol level is 400, your circulation still is better.

Financially, though, the Times remained No. 3, and Brown made a deal with the devil. Rosenthal bought more than $250,000 in advertising and Brown kicked back 90 percent of the money. The Stardust was running an illegal skim operation. Brown was trying to survive.

Ultimately, he proved unsuccessful. As wonderful a journalist as he was--and as lovable a guy--he was a lousy businessman. The paper wound up in bankruptcy and ran on a shoestring, thanks to a few loyalists who stayed despite being told on those rare occasions when they received paychecks that they couldn't cash them until a certain day at this or that casino.

Many of them have gone on to better things--certainly better-paying things. And when an underpaid college professor says that, you know how bad the pay was.

Brown hired me as a 17-year-old reporter. It changed my life. I was going to be a newspaperman. Now I was one. Thanks to working at a newspaper with almost no staff, I got to do a little of everything.

Since I was getting a graduate course in journalism--how to and sometimes how not to--I decided to become a history major. When the paper closed, I pursued that line of work. Whatever I have done, right or wrong, it's because I worked at that paper. I wouldn't have some of my most cherished friendships. I probably wouldn't have met my wife. I certainly wouldn't be doing this column...I'll quit while I'm ahead.

But what a fun place to work! Where else could a teenager put out a daily paper and get the chance to do stupid things? Where else could I have covered a presidential visit the day I took a midterm or written an editorial that inspired one of our senators to call and bust Brown's chops? Where else could I have thought I actually was important?

Well, Brown really was important and he left several legacies. One of them, unfortunately, was a greater awareness of how the illegitimate side of the community--the Midwestern mob's front men at some of the hotels--sank its teeth into legitimate business.

Happily, he left other legacies to Las Vegas. One, his son Mark, has been involved in numerous good works as a leading advertising and political consultant, even if at times he works for the dark side (he says the same about me). Another was that Brown's paper's outstanding news coverage forced the R-J and Sun to become better. Some of those he trained or employed are important parts of local and national life.

Granted, he would shake his head at some of the stuff printed under this byline. But every time I try to make sense of this community, I hear him whispering in my ear. I hope this is one legacy he wouldn't have minded living with.