LETTERS

I'm Freaky for Football! Glad Sal's Back!

Finally, the feature column (or whatever you magazine type folks call it) that makes my week. Sal's football picks return to the Weekly. I certainly missed Sal during the long off season.

Thank you so much.

Always reading,

Editor's Note: The Arizona Cardinals are going to the playoffs, just so you know.

Dear Josh Bell,

You rock my world.

I LOVED your review of The Quiet [August 31]. So far you seem to be the only one who gets it. The Quiet is definitely one of my favorite camp comedies. My friend Zeke and I spoofed four scenes from it and posted it on YouTube as proof. If you've got some time for a laugh, check em out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7p7AXc8T9Y


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5gcDn0NS7E


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKv6jP1cYww


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3jaa_XvF3Y

Best,

In response to an article Joshua Longobardy wrote about what goes on in Boulder City, "Small Town Politics” [July 20]:

There has been more discussion lately as to how our city [Boulder City] is using creative bookkeeping to disguise the city's true financial condition.

This has been going on ever since the new golf course opened in early 2003. In May of 2003, the City sent a "News Letter” to all residents in Boulder City; this was just one month before the June election in which I was running for mayor against Bob Ferraro. This news letter discussed the City's financial condition and stressed just how well the new golf course was doing and how there should be no concern with the City's financial future.

Although this is really ancient history, I feel that the background of this mailer will indicate to just what lengths the City and the Mayor will go in order to keep the real financial truth from the general public.

The last page of this mailer says that the statement is made "the start-up and financing of the Boulder Creek Golf Club involved no money from the City's General Fund.”

The truth was that, by the date of this mailing, nearly $500,000 of General Fund money had been spent to cover operating expenses at the new golf course. During a candidates meeting, just after this mailer had been distributed, all of the candidates were asked if they thought this was a planned attempt by the City to influence the outcome of the election. All of the candidates, with the exception of Mayor Ferraro, indicated that the timing was suspect. Mayor Ferraro stated that he was surprised by the mailing and the first he knew of it was when it showed up in his mail box, and this leads me to the second part of this deception.

At the last Council meeting before the election, the City found it impossible to continue to hide the losses at the new course, so a detailed report was given, showing, in the best light possible, that we were really into a financial dilemma. If you remember, Mayor Ferraro feigned total lack of knowledge of the financial problem, until just that week, and asked that City Manager John Sullard resign and blamed the entire problem on Sullard's poor management and keeping the Council in the dark. The truth was that Mayor Ferraro had been approving, each month, thousands of dollars from the General Fund to cover the deficits at the new course.

A few weeks after the election, I met with City Manager John Sullard; during our discussion I asked John if Mayor Ferraro had prior knowledge of the mailer. John laughed and said that Bob not only knew about the mailer but he had edited it at least twice prior to its mailing. With this knowledge, I made a complaint to the Ethics Commission as it is illegal for any government entity to spend any money to influence any election and for any elected official to use his office to further his campaign. The Commission did investigate my complaint and after talking with Mayor Ferraro and Rose Ann Miele, the City's Public Information Officer, they concluded that, yes, Mayor Ferraro did know about the mailer, but had only reviewed it for grammatical errors and that did not constitute a ethical problem. As far as I know, they never did talk with John Sullard and I guess, using false information is just expected standard political procedure.

I am an avid reader of your mag and absolutely love it. ... MUAH!

You rock, baby!

Love the f--king mag. U guys are really reppin' Vegas well. Best wishes.

I just LOVE the WEEKLY!!! What would we do without you?? Have a good one.

I love LV Weekly! "When you're riding in a time machine way far into the future, don't stick your elbow out the window, or it'll turn into a fossil.” - Jack Handy

Jeremy Kinsey

I never read Las Vegas Weekly but it looks good to read.

The Weekly supports healthy unions and regrets the error.