Why Does PennyLas Vegas, NV Volume 3 Number Press 46 AUGUST 10, 2006 Bill Young Hate This Guy? See Analysis Page 3 See Editorial Page 6 THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 2

www.pennypresslv.com The Penny Press is published weekly by Penny Credits: 5010 Productions, Inc. All Contents © Penny Press 2006 Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors: Letters to the Editor are encouraged. They should be sent to our offices at 418 1/2 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Press Fred Weinberg Diane Grassi Al Thomas Vegas 89101. They can also be emailed to: Logotype Circulation: Doug French Bill Here [email protected] No unsigned or unverifiable let- Pointedlymad Charlotte Weinberg Brent Jordan Pat Choate ters will be printed. licensed from: Rich Gast Joyce Meyer Bob Jennings 702-740-5588 Fax: 702-920-8215 Penny Press , 16 PAGES VOLUME 3 NUMBER 46 AUGUST 10, 2006 Airola Tells Of His Plans For Metro

By DAVID HIMMEL jet to assist. The only answer Airola receives is, become the next sheriff of Clark Libertywatch Magazine Staff Writer Donating a private aircraft in “Not gonna happen.” So Airola calls County. “It is a misuse of their dire circumstances is not uncom- a representative at the Las Vegas authority, a misuse of the county’s A woman loses her son. He was mon for Airola. “Non-profit organi- Metro Police Department. assets. If I want to donate a jet to abducted. kidnapped. stolen. zations call for our help very often,” “I was just told by Nevada Child someone to save them trouble, I For several days, she has no idea Airola says. “We are committed to Seekers that they have to leave the should be able to do it.” of his location. Imagine her despair. helping anyone we can. it’s the right airport,” Airola said to the depart- Sure, why would Metro care? then imagine her relief when Nevada thing to do.” ment. Because Undersheriff Doug Gillespie Child Seekers tells her that they The next day, the mother and a As it turned out, the Metro admin- is running against Airola? If so, well, representative from Nevada Child istration ordered Airola’s plane not that’s just politics. Seekers are on a runway at the North to leave and assist a desperate moth- Las Vegas Airport in Airola’s Lear er from seeing her missing son in Who is Jerry Airola? Political Analysis jet, prepared for take off. As the Washington. Instead, Nevada Child plane is taxiing, the representative Seekers had to find someone else to Put simply, Airola is a business- from Nevada Child Seekers gets a donate a plane, anyone but Airola. man, one who has carried a badge. found her boy - in good health, in call on his cell phone. It’s his boss. Airola suspected some power play- He is the father of eight, expecting protective custody, in Washington Puzzled by the request, the repre- ing and bullying. his ninth child and his first grand- State. sentative tells the pilot the plane The story gets worse. child. He comes from a long family The non-profit organization then must turn around and return to the The Metro Police Department tradition of law enforcers - especial- calls Jerry Airola, President and terminal. The mother panics. Why orchestrated a political interference, ly sheriffs. His grandfather, Claud founder of Silver State , can’t they take off? Why can’t they and at a citizen’s expense - a child’s Ballard, worked in the sheriff’s to ask if they can use a plane to Take go to Washington? What happened expense - because its leaders worried department for Calaveras County, this anxious mother to her son 1,200 to her son? Airola’s charity would look good for Calif., for more than 30 years. He hundred miles north. Never one to Airola is now involved. He’s the sheriff-hopeful. was elected to sheriff for two terms. turn down an opportunity to help, asking the representative why they It’s a story that Airola likes to His great-grandfather was also an Airola quickly schedules a Lear 55 can’t fly the woman to Washington. share when discussing his plans to Continued on page4

The Conservative Weekly PAT CHOATE PAGE 5 Voice Of Las Vegas FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6 Penny Wisdom DOUG FRENCH PAGE 7 Inside: BILLHERE PAGE 8 A functioning police state AL THOMAS PAGE 10 needs no police. Why Did Sheriff —William S. Burroughs JOYCE MEYER PAGE 12 Young Go Nuts? PET OF THE WEEK PAGE 15 See Editorial Page 6 THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 4 Sheriff Jerry? Continued from page 3 elected sheriff and his great-great-grandfather was a U.S. Marshall. Airola has always wanted to follow the same path. His first foray into business was while in high school. He took cutting lawns for candy money to a much larger scale, as he started a landscaping business and even hired three other high schoolers to work for him until he graduated in 1983. Airola left his home, the rancher’s paradise of Calaveras County, and moved to southern California to work for an environmen- tal company. He took advantage of its continuing education and training classes, and within a year he was promoted to the position of National Sales Manager. At one of the fastest growing companies in the nation at the time, Airola was responsible for training and overseeing 12 different managers. At that time, his parents moved to Ventura, where the three of them opened and operated three different companies. Sadly, in 1987, the family took a blow when three of his grandparents died. Airola and his parents decided to sell the businesses so they could go back to tend to the ranch, giving Airola the opportunity to get into law enforcement. Three years later, Airola was a Los Banos police officer. He was a patrol officer also investigating crimes like homicide, child molestation and auto theft. He served as the president of the Los Banos Police Officers Association and as a member of the Morale Committee - a task which Airola intends to implement with Clark County. To lessen the hardships of a budding family, Airola took a second job as a mortgage broker for a national bank. In 1995, he accepted the opportunity to move to Las Vegas and open a water purification company. By this time, he was the father of five and had to provide for his family. It’s no secret, and perhaps it’s unfortunate, that a cop’s salary is not always the best way to provide. He relied on his manage- ment skills to keep food on the table and allow a more comfortable life. Rather than uproot himself, he was sworn in as a reserve deputy sheriff with the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office. (Tuolumne County sits as the northern gateway to Yosemite National Park.) His original plan was to move to Vegas, make a killing in the business world, then get back to his home in Calaveras County and become sheriff. But instead, he fell in love with helicopters. And in 1999, he and three other partners bought their first , which would become the beginning of the Silver State Helicopter fleet. Two years later, he bought full ownership of the company and purchased a McDonnell Douglas 500 helicopter before working with small county sheriffs’ departments. He con- tracted the choppers to assist in drug busts and any other police activity they may need assistance with. When Airola came to Las Vegas, he was broke. Without much to his name, he was forced to call the credit card companies and ask for extended limits, but they turned him away. What he did have was a good business prospect. He parlayed that into something bigger. Airola’s business of giving back Want A Penny Press In In 2002, Airola thought it best to expand Silver State Helicopters’ abili- ties, so he diversified. From that one bird he bought in 1999, Silver State Helicopters now boasts a fleet of more than 200. The company can handle The Mail? most any situation and often does. In 2003, he flew five helicopters to Utah to look for Elizabeth Smart. $55 per year First Class Mail Since then, he created Sheriff’s Airborne Law Enforcement (S.A.B.L.E.) This program was one of the first responders to the destruction of the South Name______Penny Press when Hurricane Katrina hit exactly one year ago. In 2005, S.A.B.L.E. Address______418 ½ S. Maryland showed that, flying 400 feet above the ground at a speed of 45 mph, it City_____State___ZIP_____ Las Vegas, NV 89101 was able to detect a dirty bomb, lending its hand to the War on Terror and Continued on page 11 THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 5 Commentary: Pat Choate Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. succeeded so well that Japan’s ongo- In the nine years between 1980 Japan’s Phony The Japanese adroitly used these ing economic expansion was almost and 1989, however, the U.S. moved diversions to mount one of mod- totally ignored by U.S. policymak- from being the world’s largest credi- “Crisis” ern history’s most successful propa- ers, as well as the American media, tor to its largest debtor, drawing ganda campaigns, convincing much for almost a decade and a half. down its entire its surplus and going In the 1980s, Japanese business of the world that Japan had fallen Data from the Bank of Japan’s an additional $259 billion into debt practices came under intense scru- into an economic “crisis.” Using annual reports tell the true story. In – an overall reversal of position of tiny for being “unfair.” Specifically, the collapse of the Japanese land each of the 15 years between 1991 $619 billion, virtually all of which the Japanese government kept out and stock booms of the late 1980s and 2005 Japan had the largest trade went to pay for the federal budget foreign made goods, even as it had as their rationale, Japan presented surplus of any nation, increasing and trade deficits. full access to the U.S. market. itself as in a deep economic slump, from $89 billion in 1990 to more The U.S. position worsened dra- Old news, for sure. But what an emergency so severe that outside than $172 billion in 2005. In those matically in the years after 1989. By happened next is not. political pressure might trigger a same years, the United States ran the the end of 2005 the U.S. net inter- Then, just as the U.S. criticisms global depression. world’s largest trade deficits, top- national financial deficit was more about Japanese economic practices While numerous foreign scholars ping $700 billion in 2005 alone. than $2.7 trillion, representing the seemed to be reaching a crescendo living in Japan debunked this crisis – More significant, the net inter- largest, fastest unilateral transfer of in early 1990, almost overnight, they revealing how Japan’s real economy national investment positions of wealth in world history. stopped as the American political was largely unaffected, even uncon- Japan and the United States changed Contrary to the Japanese eco- consciousness shifted from Japan to nected, to the problems of its banks dramatically during that period. nomic “crisis” propaganda cam- the breakup of the Soviet Union and and stock market-- the spin campaign The Bank of Japan and the U.S. paign, the Bank of Japan proudly Commerce Department, each of reported in the summer of 2005 which annually measures all the that for each of the prior 14 years assets that their citizens own abroad Japan had the largest increase in its and all the assets foreigners own in net international financial of any their country, produce the data for nation. By the end of 2005, Japan these calculations, which indicate was the world’s largest creditor with how well a country is doing eco- net international assets of almost $2 nomically. trillion, a gain of almost $1.9 trillion In 1980, the United States was in less than a quarter century. the world’s largest creditor nation, In March 2006, the Governor of owning a net surplus of $360 bil- the Bank of Japan announced that lion more international assets than the nation’s long economic “crisis” liabilities. This extraordinary posi- was over. The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To: tion of national wealth had taken PAT CHOATE the country almost 66 years to accu- This is an excerpt from Pat Choate’s District Judge Valerie Adair for a fair but not ridicules sentence of former mulate, beginning in 1914 when the forthcoming book, A Dangerous Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Joshua Corcran whose reckless driving U.S. shifted from being a debtor to a Business. caused four deaths. Two to 12 years is a reasonable sentence in a tragic case creditor nation. where Corcran took responsibility for his actions and was clearly remorse- ful. There's a difference between punishment and revenge which appears to have been what some family members of the victims wanted. Want A District Judge Bill Maddox who ruled Monday in Carson City that the Tax and Spending Control petition should remain as a question on the November ballot in spite of the wishes of the state's union goons who don't think the Penny Press public should have so much say in their futures. The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer In The Mail? And A Bouquet of Weeds To:

Sheriff Bill Young for the silly attitude he has to Jerry Airola's candidacy for $55 per year First Class Mail Sheriff. What Young may or may not realize, because he is something of a politi- cal naif himself, is that all of the shrill complaining he is doing is not resonating Name______Penny Press with the public which, truth be told, doesn't think all that much of the job he has Address______418 ½ S. Maryland done as Sheriff himself. And a good question needs to be asked. If Airola is so City_____State___ZIP_____ Las Vegas, NV 89101 bad, why did young decide to quit and make his candidacy possible? THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 6 OPINION From The Publisher... Is Jerry Airola Really Driving Bill Young Nuts? If Jerry Airola gets elected Sheriff of Clark County, contrary to Metro has come a long way. Most of its officers are first rate. the whisperings of the good old boy network at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and their friends in the media, But it is not a religious institution and its leadership is not infal- the sun WILL come up the next morning. lible. The Sheriff is not the Lord High Sheriff, the Chief Rabbi or the Pope. The birds will sing. In that we elect the Sheriff, we believe that we should have a But based on the pettiness we’re seeing from the “in” crowd at new chance every four years to make that decision and that Metro, all of the keyboards in the new Sheriff’s office may have decision is not up to the incumbent Sheriff or any of his bud- the “a” removed or we may see some similar sort of sopho- dies. moric stunt prior to the transition. A few weeks ago we made the case for Airola. Outgoing Sheriff Bill Young, who hand-picked his Undersheriff, Doug Gillespie to succeed him, went nuts last Tuesday, hold- Since then, the mantra from the tower across the plaza from ing a press conference, babbling something about Airola’s the Lord High Mayor’s office has been, “he’s not a cop” and “he experience as a “small town patrol officer” not being sufficient or his businesses have been (gasp) involved in lawsuits”. to qualify him for the exalted post Young decided to vacate, apparently on his own volition. Well, he certainly was a cop when he took his equipment down to Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; they swore It would seem that Young has a problem with an election where him in and put him to work. And if you happen to be in busi- the voters actually get to vote. ness, a lawsuit means that somebody thinks you owe them money and you disagree. Some lawyers think that business- We hesitate to write this simply because we really don’t want men exist to make them rich. to embarrass Bill Young or Doug Gillespie unnecessarily, but they are making their own beds… We have great confidence in the voters. The voters will see through all of the nonsense and make an intelligent decision. You are hearing from these guys and will hear some more that We would hope that they would opt for new ideas and a fresh you have to be a long-time Metro officer, experienced in the approach because what we are doing now needs to be shaken ways of Las Vegas in order to become Sheriff. up.

Well, the fact is that Metro didn’t need to be much of a police We also see heavy elements of the same situation in the race force back in the day because keeping the tourists safe was for District Attorney. handled by the folks who answered to the largest, shall we say, tax exempt, organization in the nation which had financed There, David Roger has had a fairly undistinguished term and most of the casinos and didn’t want anybody except people has never held a job where the check did not come from the who owed them money to feel unsafe here. taxpayers.

If you stepped out of line, you answered to people like Tony Frank Cremen has been a prosecutor and then a very able the Ant or his buddies. defense attorney. He knows every trick in the book that the defense bar can pull. Their methods were crude but so effective that the police department didn’t have all that much to do. He can bring a fresh approach to the DA’s office while Roger can go out and get some experience in the real world. It was not until Steve Wynn raised a billion and a half dollars in public capital from Michael Milkin at 14% to build first the Based on the performance of both the DA’s office and Metro Mirage and then Treasure Island that those elements were no alone, we think that Airola and Cremen should be elected. longer around to make sure nobody got out of line because you can’t skim a cage when you have a 14% interest payment And if Metro’s leadership—such as it is—wants to pull any to make. And the bond market can be much more cruel than more petty stunts such as stopping Airola from using his plane the mob. to help reunite a mother with her kidnapped son(see cover story), those responsible should be prosecuted by the new DA, So it was from that culture in the not too distant past that Frank Cremen. today’s Metro—and its leadership—evolved. FRED WEINBERG THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 7 Commentary: Doug French benefits to children of homeowners. Planning Vs. Affordable Housing Homeowners have a financial incentive to take care of their dwellings and save money for payments and repairs. The financial responsibilities Local government growth-management planning has been a bone of and habits required of parents to manage homeownership are invaluable in contention during debates in Nevada between Democratic gubernatorial instilling the same sort of values in their children. “Homeownership also candidates state Sen. Dina Titus and Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson. Titus leads to measurable increases in self-esteem and neighborhood stability,” championed a bill in the 1997 Legislature that would have limited devel- O’Toole explains, “which probably contributes to the better educational opment in Clark County. The measure, based upon restrictions used in outcomes.” Portland, Ore., would have severely limited development outside of a “ring Las Vegas and Reno, while not yet saddled with direct growth-manage- around the valley.” ment planning, suffer from an artificial land shortage created by the federal Titus believes that her ring idea, if implemented, would have led to government’s ownership of 90 percent of state land. O’Toole believes that higher property values and “caused more planned, rational growth.” Titus is increasing resistance from environmental groups to BLM land sales “might likely correct that property values would have increased, but is that a good be considered a form of growth-management planning, and it explains why thing? Growth controls and growth-management planning lead to increased Nevada cities have become unaffordable despite the lack of any state or home prices and declines in housing affordability, according to a new study local growth-management planning.” O’Toole estimates that homebuyers from The Independent Institute, authored by Randall O’Toole, a senior in Reno and Las Vegas have paid $64 billion more for housing because of economist at the Thoreau Institute. the government-created land shortage. He estimates the cost was $100,000 “Smart growth” initiatives create artificial housing shortages that push to $130,000 per home in 2005. up the price of housing and keep low-income families from affording a A lack of supply creates housing affordability problems, not increased home. Although housing prices have increased significantly in the past few demand. Some of the fastest-growing cities in the nation – such as Atlanta, years, cities with growth-management planning saw price increases from 4 Houston and Raleigh – have not seen the price increases that slow growth to 14 percent per year, while cities without these planning initiatives expe- California cities have. rienced price increases of only 1 to 3 percent. Three factors make up the price of homes: construction materials, labor O’Toole found that more than 30 percent of the aggregate value of and land. Labor and materials are very mobile and thus are similar in all homes in America is attributable to housing shortages produced by growth markets. What is not mobile is land. And because housing is an inelastic planning. Last year alone, homebuyers paid an estimated $275 billion more good – small changes in supply lead to big changes in price – supply restric- for homes because of restrictive planning, according to the study. tions lead to large home price increases, according to O’Toole. Growth-planning schemes such as Titus’s “ring around the valley” plan Thus, smart-growth plans like those put forth by Titus and the Clark increase property values to the benefit of wealthy and middle-class hom- County Community Growth Task Force last year would further compound eowners, while blocking low-income people from enjoying the numerous the affordability problem we already have in Southern Nevada. And, as benefits of homeownership. O’Toole points out, the most disturbing aspect of the planning penalty is In a paper published in the Journal of Urban Economics, professors how regressive it is. Planning harms low-income families and first-time Richard K. Green and Michelle J. White found that one of the primary ben- homeowners the most, “while it provides windfall profits for wealthy hom- efits of homeownership is the effect on children. In fact, Donald R. Haurin, eowners.” professor of economics, finance and public policy at Ohio State University Growth-management laws serve only to increase home prices and suggests that education can be improved more effectively by promoting exclude more people from enjoying the benefits of home ownership. home ownership than by funneling more tax money directly to schools. Government should get out of the way and let homebuilders provide afford- Haurin’s research found that homeowners are less likely to relocate able housing that will change the lives of low-income people for the better. than renters, thus providing a more stable environment for children. Haurin As O’Toole emphasizes, “Barriers to homeownership can only be regarded also points to a better physical home environment, a more emotionally sup- as un-American.” portive environment, and greater connection to neighborhood networks as Doug French You Can Get Billhere's Calendar and Newsletter FREE by email! The FREE, e-mailed, VegasResource.com Newsletter and complete index of Las Vegas coupons for shows, buffets and attractions is available on the internet www.vegasresource.com THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 8 The Best Vegas Calendar BAR NONE! By Billhere The FREE, e-mailed, VegasResource.com Newsletter and complete index of Las Vegas coupons for shows, buffets and attractions is available on the internet at: www.vegasresource.com JAUGUST, 2006 2=Joe Cocker-Red Rock Station. ======4= Labor Day. 10-12=Frankie Avalon & Bobby Rydell- Orleans. 4 = Annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon with Jerry Lewis returns 10-23=Tom Jones-MGM Grand. to Las Vegas-South Coast. 11= Wynonna - Primm Valley. 7-9=Cirque Du Soleil’s “Delirium”- MGM Grand. 11-12=Jay Leno- The Mirage. 8-9=Dana Carvey- The Mirage. 12=Bowling For Soup-Jillians. 8-10= Art & Craft Show - Cashman Center. 12=Shakira, Wyclef Jean- Mandalay Bay. 14-17= Annual Bikefest - Cashman Center. 12= Buck Wild Show closing - Sahara. 15-16=David Spade- Mirage. 12=Lonestar- Sunset Station. 15=Jon Secada- Las Vegas Hilton. 15= Elvis-A-Rama Museum closing. 16= The Guess Who - Cannery. ++++++++++ 16= International Mariachi Festival-L.V.Hilton. 16= Society of Seven afternoon show opening - Flamingo. 16-17= Rich Little- Suncoast. ++++++++++ 21-23=The Temptations and The Four Tops- Stradust. 16=Champions on Ice-Orleans. 21-24= Greek Food Festival - St.John The Baptist Greek Orthodox 16-20=Neil Sedaka- Orleans. Church. 18= Job Fair - Palace Station. 21-25=Dennis Miller- MGM Grand. 18=Def Leppard- Mandalay Bay Events Center. 22=Godsmack and Rob Zombie- Hard Rock. 18-19=Wayne Brady- The Mirage. 23= Ronnie Milsap - Cannery. 19=A Tribute To Woodstock - Cannery. 23= Toby Keith- Mandalay Bay Events Center. 19=Nickelback- Mandalay Bay events Center. 23= Hockey. Los Angeles Kings vs. Colorado Avalanche- MGM 24-26= Reba McEntire- LV Hilton. .CANCELLED. Grand. 25-26=Brad Garrett- The Mirage. 23=Freestyle Explosion-Orleans. 25-26=Freestyle MotoX Championship- The Orleans. 28-Oct.1=Joe Weideris 2006 Olympia Weekend-Orleans. 25-27= Tower of Power - Suncoast. 30=Seal- Lake Las Vegas. ++++++++++ 30=Mariah Carey-MGM Grand 26= Rita Rudner Show closing - New York-New York: (Rumors 30= Clint Holmes Show closing - Harrah’s. persist that the theater will be torn down and the famous CROBAR +++++ Nightclub will open in late 2007.) 30=Mariah Carey- MGM Grand. ++++++++++ ++++++++++ 26- Mel Tillis/Roy Clark - Primm Valley. ++++++++++ Sep. ??= Greek restaurant Taverna Opa opening in the Desert Aug.??= Trader Vic’s opening at the Desert Passage Mall inside Passage Shopping Mall - Aladdin. the Aladdin. ++++++++++ ++++++++++ Aug.??= Steve Wyrick opens his own 430-seat theater with the Sep. ??= MGM Mirage started CityCenter. MGM will begin taking Ronn Lucas(the comic (ventriloquist) Show, the Martin Nievera condo sales reservations in September. Project CityCenter, a $7 (Filipino pop star) show and his own Steve Wyrick (magic) show billion, 66-acre complex of hotels, casinos, retail and residential - in the Desert Passage Mall inside the Aladdin. space which is to be built by MGM Mirage on a site between the ++++++++++ Monte Carlo and Bellagio on The Strip where the Boardwalk was Aug.??= Beacher’s Rockhouse Bar opening where Tequila Joe’s located. The project is larger than New York’s Soho, Times Square was located. The show will be midgets imitating the rock group and Rockefeller Center combined. At $7 billion, this most ambi- KISS - Imperial Palace. tious proposal expects to be the most expensive privately funded ++++++++++ development ever undertaken in the U.S. Scheduled to open in Aug.??= Gordie Brown Show grand opening on a multi-year deal 2009. $3.3 billion will be recouped through condo sales. - Venetian. ++++++++++ ++++++++++ OCTOBER, 2006 Aug.??= Tao will open a 14,000-square-foot entertainment facility ======and pool deck - Venetian. 1= Elvis-A-Rama Museum closing. ++++++++++ 2 = Comedian Rita Rudner Opening Night-Harrah’s. ++++++++++ 5 = Air service starts from Washington Dulles International Airport SEPTEMBER, 2006 - Southwest Airlines. ======5 = Air service starts from Naashville-US Air. ++++++++++ 5-8=Mickey’s Magic Show-Orleans. 1= X Girls - The Show is closing in the V Theater in the Dessert 6-8=The Osmond Brothers- Suncoast. Passage Shopping Mall in the Aladdin. 12-15=Dionne Warwick- Orleans. ++++++++++ 13-14=George Lopez-LV Hilton. 1=The Doobie Brothers- Mandalay Bay Beach. 13-15=Bill Acosta - Suncoast. 1=Down Home Blues Festival- The Orleans. 15=Los Angeles Lakers vs. Phoenix Suns- Thomas and Mack 1-2=David Spade- The Mirage. ======1-3=Tim McGraw and Faith Hill- Mandalay Bay. Please e-mail errors, omissions and additions to: 2=Mary J. Blige=MGM Grand. [email protected] THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 9 THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 10 Commentary: Albert Thomas there would be fewer wars. Gold Is Where You Find It People were not interested in California. It was too far and too hard to get to, but when the cry of ‘gold’ went up thousands made the journey to There are many ways to own gold, many forms: jewelry, bullion, coins, strike it rich. One enterprising man in found out about the mutual funds, gold mining stocks (indirectly) and ETFs (Exchange Traded strike and did not head for the American River to pan for riches. He bought Funds). The latter are similar to mini mutual funds, but usually have few up every pan, pick and shovel in town and them went out to spread the word. stocks and they remain constant rather than have internal trading as mutual The pans he paid 15 cents for he resold for $15. In a week he made $36,000. funds do. In those days that was big, big money. So you can own gold. So what? Why bother when it does not pay any Without gold I don’t think there would be an American California today interest or pay any dividends? What is interesting to note that one ounce as it was claimed by Mexico. of gold today will buy the same amount of goods as it did 100 years ago. Alaska is another territory that brought the dreamers and schemers That item in 1906 might have been $1.00 and today the same item would because of the lure of gold. Good digs were uncovered in 1949 and more in be priced at $100, but when translated into ounces of gold the weight is the 1914. Thousands came to remain and settle this seemingly desolate coun- same. try. Doesn’t that make you wonder? That is inflation at work. Gold is infla- Men continue to search the planet for this elusive golden maiden. Very tion proof. Man has had an ongoing love affair with gold since time began. few find it. Others become entrepreneurs who make their fortune from the Every culture has valued it. gold seekers. Columbus didn’t set out to find America. He came looking for gold. How you seek your wealth is an individual choice, but the wise ones Gold is the only real store of wealth not the paper we call money. who do strike it rich convert some of the new found riches into the golden Dollars have depreciated about 50% in value over the past 18 years. It is metal to protect their wealth from the attrition of inflation. hard to realize as it sneaks up on us that each day that our dollars are worth AL THOMAS less in purchasing power. Wealth is purchasing power. Al Thomas’ book, “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!” has helped thousands The Federal government prints money that has no backing other than of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. their word. Each dollar is watered down as the printing presses turn. Every Read the first chapter at www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s war is financed with paper money not gold. If wars were financed with gold the man that Wall Street does not want you to know. THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 11

ContinuedWhat from page 4 Would Sheriff Jerry Do? Homeland Security. “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.” Airola is quick to give abatement for firefighting, agricultural spray- Every weekend, Airola says gang members come from southern ing and movie-making. In fact, he is a card carrying member of the Screen California to settle beefs with some of Las Vegas’ 7,700 known gang mem- Actors Guild. Silver State Helicopters gives aerial tours, charters and can bers. “That’s going to stop,” he says. even be used for external load lifting and utility work. Airola is also proud “If you come here for trouble, I’ll keep your car, your gun and you’ll go of the training school. It’s where he finds pilots and mechanics who he home on a Greyhound bus. Once we get the reputation, it won’t be fun for eventually hires. them to come here anymore.” Airola has been extremely successful in the private sector - and in such Last spring, Sgt. Henry Prendes was killed in the line of duty by a a short period of time. wanna-be gangsta rapper. Airola doesn’t want to outlaw rap concerts like “There comes a point, if I made another $10 million this year, I’d ask, current Sheriff Bill Young is often accused of, following the officer’s death. ‘What I would do with it?’” he explains. “I’d put it back into the company; Airola sees a larger problem. For any situation, there are a thousand mis- I always have. I grow things; I create jobs. There are a lot of people who takes that officers can make to put themselves in danger. They need to be are paid well, not because I couldn’t find someone to do it for less, but the smartest and most flawless people on the streets. because they deserve to be part of the success. They deserve part of the “I look at crimes like that and I think, ‘What did I not do for him? How spoils because they were here.” did I contribute to his death?’ We need to get into a true-scenario based So it’s about giving back? training program,” Airola says. “I don’t want to sound corny, but when you do something for somebody, Scenario-based training is done to keep the cops fresh and deter rou- you accomplish something. It’s about the way you feel. When you hold the tine thinking. It is ideally supposed to keep officers sharp and alert. When door for your wife; you do it because of the way you feel inside. they come into work, they would not know if they were going to be on the “It’s the same thing with the sheriff’s position. It’d be the ultimate com- street or in a training scenario. That day would be a real-life situation, one pliment to be elected into the sheriff’s office. And then the ultimate achieve- that an officer somewhere in the United States was involved in less than 20 ment is to over-deliver on what I promised.” years ago. And most likely, it’s a situation that went horribly wrong. But, in He built Silver State Helicopters, an Inc. 500 Company, from scratch. Airola’s eyes, officers can learn best from mistakes. He did so understanding the value of people and the value of putting the Officers go into these scenarios with a video crew and their superiors as right people in the right positions. And everyday, he expects those people to judges. Mistakes are expected, but the goal is to run them through scenes show him results. No one running for sheriff has more business experience until their culture has changed - their thinking has changed. Airola says than he does. And he’s coming to the position with a sharp business mind. these types of pop quizzes keep them paying attention, and often they go “Well, the helicopter business and law enforcement really aren’t that dif- back to the books and study - never quite sure when they’ll either have ferent. I run the business like a law enforcement agency,” Airola says. “You another test, or worse, a real-life occurrence where their life, or a civilian’s have ranks. And we deal with the FAA - a federal agency.” life, is in danger. Obviously, taking passengers up in a helicopter is a liability, just like A solid example where this training could have proved effective was sending pilots up in a search effort. during the Fourth of July weekend recently. You may recall a traffic stop “The difference in law enforcement is that you deal with a different just off the Strip where a young man was playing his car stereo too loud. liability: people and guns. The way you manage your assets is very, very One officer reached into the driver’s window to turn the car off and the man, similar. Right now, Metro does not have a real budget.” in a panic, backed up toward another officer. The driver was subsequently Airola calls Metro’s budget a “Christmas list” of things they want. He shot and killed. wants to go to the legislation and have a stand-alone budget, which would Airola feels that the situation escalated to the point that it became justi- mean, as Airola put it, “We would answer to the people.” If Metro is going fied for the officer to shoot the driver. He feels that this incident should be to spend the money, there has to be a need. If there’s a need, he’ll find a way played out in a scenario-based training to give officers that chance to see to get the money. how quickly a situation can escalate to the point of taking a life and the One suggestion he has: charge a booking fee when someone is thrown options that may be available to officers other than the actions taken. in jail and convicted. Why should the innocent public pay for a criminal’s “Public perception is everything. And now we live with the scrutiny that stay in an air-conditioned cell? Metro cops are a bunch of cowboys,” he says. Because he thinks public perception is everything, he believes that the Sheriff Jerry Airola, upon election most pressing issue facing the current Metro administration is customer service - starting on the roads, where the majority of the people come into Of course, police work is more than budgets and administration. contact with the police. Preventing crime is a big part of it too. Technology is Airola’s key. On It seems the stretch of Swenson Avenue from Tropicana Avenue into the average, a car is stolen every 25 minutes in the valley. As Sheriff of Clark airport is backed up during the late afternoon. Often, bike cops will swarm County, Airola would bring in low jacks and other vehicle location tools. the area looking for anyone speeding - should there be enough room to do Each time someone is caught stealing a car, Metro would appear on TV so - or not using a turn signal or committing any other violation. They zip and make the crime public. He found it ridiculous that the media slathered up and down the sidewalks and pull cars over in the travel lanes, causing the airwaves and front pages with news that Vegas was an easy target for even more congestion. They add to the problem, and that is not the kind of car theft. He likened it to one of the most sacred of secrets: “When you arrogant picture Airola wants his police force to paint. find a good fishing-hole, you don’t tell everyone about it. Don’t think that “If there’s not an injury accident, get the cars out of the travel lanes. these criminals don’t have the conversation about how easy it is to get a There’s no need to cause a back up and inconvenience everyone else,” he ride in Vegas. We need to change that conversation to say, ‘You better not.’ says. Perception will lower the crime rate.” Is there even such a thing as better roads? With an endless array of With his war on gangs, he is going to give new meaning to the slogan, orange construction cones and blinking construction horses, streets are like Continued on page 13 THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 12 Commentary: Joyce Meyer God’s grace is always available to begin to take shape. Remember, your pride actually Gaining Grace those who are humble enough to How about you? What are you causes God to set Himself against receive it. In other words, God will striving for today? Are there things the things you are working on. But Through Humility pour out His grace on those who in your life that you are struggling when you admit your weakness and know they need it! to do in your own strength? It’s time humble yourself before Him, His I can still vividly remember a Before I could really write the to “let go and let God.” That might grace comes rushing in and every- time when I sat down to write an article today that God wanted me to be an old saying, but it’s true…every thing changes for the better. article on grace. As I began, I was write, I had to admit that I could not word. You need to let go of those JOYCE MEYER feeling very comfortable and con- do it in my own strength. I had to things that you are stressing out For more on this topic, you may fident. In fact, I thought I had a surrender my own thoughts and feel- about or those things that are caus- order Joyce’s six-part series, Grace, pretty good handle on the topic. ings and my will to Him and allow ing frustration and allow God to give Grace, and More Grace, which is After all, I had taught on the subject His grace to flow. Only then did the you grace to accomplish those things available by calling 1-800-727-9673 many times before, helping people words start to come and the article in His way and in His time. or visiting www.joycemeyer.org. understand what grace is and how to freely receive it for their lives. It seemed like the harder I tried, the harder it became to write a sim- ple article on the subject of grace. When I finally threw up my hands in frustration and admitted that I couldn’t figure out what to do or how to get this job done, I real- ized what my problem had been all along. I had allowed it to become all about me and what I thought and what I could do. In fact, if you reread the previous paragraphs you can see just how many times I used the word “I!” My pride (and yours too!) is one of the main things that prevents me from receiving from God. Whenever I decide to take matters into my own hands and try to do everything in my own strength, I am being prideful… which limits the power and move- ment of God’s Spirit in my life. Let’s take a look at James 4:6. In my Amplified Bible, it says, …God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continu- ally] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it). I’ve always thought that was interesting. Not only does James say that God will not give His grace to the proud and haughty, he says that God actually sets Himself against those who think more highly of themselves than they should. When we believe that we don’t need God, that we can do everything all by ourselves, in our own strength, you can be sure that we are being proud and haughty! But look at the second part of that verse. James goes on to say that God will continually give grace to those who choose humility over pride. THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 13 What Would Sheriff Jerry Do? Continued on page 11 in southern Nevada. But one has to ask - why would he take on this challenge and not stay a slalom course rather than a thoroughfare. Many of the lanes blocked off in the private sector, running a successful business? rarely get any work accomplished on them. A construction company needs a “I absolutely know in my heart that I would be good at this,” Airola says permit to set up those cones. Guess who issues those permits: Metro. Airola with an assuring tone. “I mean, I would really be an out-of-the-box sheriff. I will not issue a permit unless the work will be done in a timely manner and would create a better environment for the officers. Better than they’ve ever that includes getting those barricades up and out of the streets. had.” Creating a general idea that the police are helping the community, rather He’s looking out for the people and the police. The public and the than punishing it, is what Airola is shooting for. “This starts by recruiting bureaucrats know that when an outsider comes into an organization, he will police officers from the area they live and letting them patrol there.” look for accountability. Airola is certain that’s what this department needs.

Airola’s plans to up department morale Airola is indeed a cop

Assigning officers to the area’s they live is a solution to having a task Airola worked as a full-time police officer in California in the early force enter neighborhoods they’re not familiar with. It also encourages ‘90s. He was a DRE (Drug Recognition Expert), investigating stolen-vehi- accountability on part of the captain of each area command. And for the cle crimes, sex crimes and homicide. Airola was the President of the Police officers working a beat in their neck of the woods, it creates a sense of Officers Association and “Advisor of the Year” for the police explorer post. pride and ownership. It harkens back to the nostalgic days of yesteryear, the When Airola moved to Las Vegas in 1995, he gave up his full--time police images of children walking on the sidewalk with a ball and bat alongside officer position and became a Reserve Deputy Sheriff. the officer working his beat. After starting Silver State Helicopters, Airola went back to a refresher “These cops need to have an environment that is fun to work in and a police academy in Napa, Calif., so that he could bring his police certifica- place they look forward to going everyday,” he says. tion current. He was then sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff in Merced County Airola believes that modern technology will go a long way to make the in 2004. police officers’ job more efficient and save time. A police officer starts his It is true that he has not worked for that department in 10 months. Airola day by driving to an area command to get his briefing and pick up a vehicle. was a full-time cop until moving to Vegas in 1995, where he became a Airola believes that each officer could easily save 30 minutes per day if he reserve police officer. After going back to the academy in 2004, he became took his vehicle home at night and was able to start his day with a “virtual the Deputy Sheriff for Merced County. briefing” that was played out to him in his police car via an on-board com- As it turned out, many of San Bernardino’s deputies were living in puter system. Airola says that 30 minutes saved becomes 30 minutes of Nevada as well. An obscure law from the 1800s recently surfaced, stat- additional work that each officer can give to the community. ing that California deputies and marshals have to live in the state of Now we’ll do the math. If you have 700 officers working each shift and California. they all waste only 30 minutes, you really only have one-third of that shift When Airola heard about this, he called his sheriff, who informed Airola working at a time. that the law was an issue they had to address and that it was going in front “So how much time will this give back to the community?” Airola asks. of the state legislation to be appealed. He assured Airola it wouldn’t take “A lot when you’re talking about 250 or more guys working a half hour long. extra. That’s 125 hours. How many more calls could we answer with 125 “He suggested I take a leave of absence until things blow over,” Airola extra hours to work with?” said. Part of the encouragement to motivate a cop is to give him or her That was in February of this year. resources to do their job. If you tell Airola that you can head his gang-task “A couple of months later, I called the sheriff and said, ‘Hey, I’m run- force, rest assured he’s going to demand that within three months you fulfill ning for sheriff of Clark County.’ He asked if he could help with anything. his gang-related needs. And he’ll give that cop whatever he or she needs to And I asked him about the leave of absence issue. He was sure the legisla- accomplish that mission. ture was just a few weeks away from settling it.” “But I need results from you in those three months,” Airola said. “I don’t To avoid the confusion, conflict of interest and any trouble, Airola want an idea for a solution in three months; I want to see a marked differ- extended his leave of absence. ence, week after week after week. While he may not have been walking a beat everyday since first gradu- “And if you find out that you’re lacking something, come to me. All I ating from the academy in 1990, Jerry Airola has been a part of the law- care about is that you get the job done in those three months.” enforcement community, as a sworn deputy sheriff and as a volunteer with By trusting his officers to accomplish the tasks they take ownership of, Silver State Helicopters. Airola instills morale in his department. Some of that countenance may have He has experience as a real cop and he is one hell of a model citizen, been picked up when he was on the Morale Committee back in Los Banos, willing to donate and help with his services in any way possible. Where Calif. was any other businessman or cop from Clark County when Elizabeth “If we just made our department more efficient,” Airola wished. Smart went missing? How did the current Metro administration really add One way he intends to is by pulling in the old dogs. It’s not uncommon a helping hand during the national crisis of Hurricane Katrina? It’s not their to create an auxiliary police force. With a few thousand retired police offi- jurisdiction, sure. But Jerry Airola was there, above the flood waters. And cers in Clark County, Airola wants to create a fully sworn-in position to help he was there to help a woman reconnect with her son. alleviate some of the demands on Metro. These retired cops would have a He’s been outside looking in. But he has the training and the knowl- badge and a gun and would work on cold case files, identity theft and other edge and the right mind to empower the police agency to become the most low impact investigations. respected in the world. Airola’s got his work cut out for him. As an outsider who wants to rally the troops, Airola wants to create an entirely new image for police officers THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 14 THE PENNY PRESS, AUGUST 10, 2006 PAGE 15 Pet Of The Week Adopt This Pet ! My name is

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