Mesquite LocaL NewsThe Week of May 17, 2018 Vol. 14, No. 31

Mayor speaks on clean air initiativePage 4A

OPINION

SPORTS

MESQUITE PD ROTARY CLUB

> See CYCLE, Page 6A

Softball, baseball seasons endPage 1B

> See MUD, Page 5A> See NIGHT OUT, Page 2A

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By Teri NehrenzMLN

It’s not often that one gets into serious trouble with the law and can escape the consequences of jail or a permanent record, but if you live in Mes-quite, you live in a town that completely supports second chances.

Such is the case with Mesquite Court’s “Breaking the Cycle” program. On Tuesday, May 15, Jennifer Davis became the newest graduate of the program who successfully broke the cycle of drug addic-tion and avoided a lifetime of having to overcome a court record.

The Breaking the Cycle program in the Mesquite Courts is one of 42 “Specialty Courts” that have been enacted as a result of Assembly Bill 29 (NRS 176.0613) in 2003.

According to Nevada Courts Overview, “Spe-cialty Courts offer non-violent substance abusing offenders an alternative to incarceration. The goal of a Specialty Court is to break the cycle of the “re-volving door” syndrome and support participants to achieve total abstinence from drugs and/or alco-hol, by promoting responsibility and accountabil-ity, and teaching participants to become productive law abiding citizens, which in return reduces crim-inal recidivism and provides for better, healthier communities.”

You’re familiar with the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child.” In the case of addiction, it takes an

entire community to break the cycle and it seemed as if the entire community, or at least a represen-tative, was there to support Davis’ victory. From Mayor Allan Litman and city council members David Ballweg, Brian Wursten and Gino Withelder to civic organization leaders Police Chief Tanner, friends and family, including other participants of the program, someone was there to show their sup-port of both the program and Davis.

Their leader in breaking the cycle, Judge Ryan Toone, is the most avid supporter of the program and a seemingly perfect choice to be the General in overseeing the battles along the way.

To the casual observer, Toone is no pushover but he is compassionate and fair in both his rewards and consequences. One cannot detect even the slightest bit of negativity in his actions or words.

He is encouraging and positive even when there is a slight hiccup in the participant’s efforts. Toone identifies the problems but quickly passes over the negative. He hands out the consequence with posi-tive words such as, “I’m confident that next time I see you…,” and goes on to praising the accomplish-ments of the participant rather than condemning the momentary failure; without a doubt one of the main reasons the program is so successful in the Mesquite Courts. Others involved in the program have that same positive energy which makes it hard for the participant to have anything other than mi-

By Teri NehrenzMLN

More than 100 people knew, by per-sonal experience, what it meant to be stuck in the “Mudd” in Mesquite on Sat-urday, May 12, when they put themselves there, intentionally, for a good cause.

The cause was the Mesquite Rotary’s Fifth Annual Mudd Volley Ball fundrais-er for the Beaver Dam Jr./Sr. High School’s Interact Club’s Beautification project.

The concept for the beautification project originally came from the stu-dents about six and a half years ago when Linda Gault, active Rotary mem-ber and, at the time, Mesquite Secretary, began the Interact Club in the Beaver Dam High School.

This year’s fund-raising event drew a bigger than ever crowd of participants, spectators and funds.

The event held each year at the pits behind the Eureka Casino, drew nearly three times as many participants, dou-bled the pits and quadrupled the money as last year’s tournament.

The final figures aren’t in yet but Ro-tary member, Linda Gault said, “Some of funds are still being collected; the spon-sorships will be split between Mudd and the Glow Run in September. We, the Rotary Club, offered combined options for the event this year, so it will take us a little while to know how it all shakes out. I think it would be safe to say that we grossed over $10,000.”

The winners of this year’s tournament

are: Champions - S&S Construction; Sec-ond Place, Deep Roots and third place, Eureka. The “Studds of the Mudd” for 2018 went to Mesquite Fire and Rescue. Best Team Name went to Reliance Con-nects for “Sugar & Spikes.”

Gault said, “We couldn’t have done it all without the help and support of all the volunteers helping us from the BDHS Interact Club, Mesquite Show-girls, Mesquite Legends Softball Team members, Mesquite Works, and other Rotary friends. Our major sponsors are also a huge part in the success of the event, they included the Eureka Com-munity Initiative, Reliance Connects and the City of Mesquite Parks & Recreation

MLN

The Virgin Valley High School se-nior class of 2018 are about to set out on new adventures in life and begin many wonderful and fulfilling careers. The Mesquite Police Department would like to make sure their journey in life after graduation begins in a safe and exciting way.

For many years now, the Mesquite Po-lice Department has worked with the students to plan a fun filled night and a safe location to spend their time after graduation ceremonies. The evening consists of entertainment, food, and many activities designed for the gradu-ates.

Members of the Virgin Valley High School senior class along with Mesquite Police Officers will be contacting local Mesquite businesses to ask for dona-tions, which will fund the event’s many activities and safe environment. Private donations from the public are also great-ly appreciated.

This entire event is funded by dona-tions and cannot take place without the generous help of our community.

The grad night party will be held on Friday, May 25, at the Mesquite Recre-

Teri NehrenzJudge Ryan Toone congratulates the very proud and emotion-al Jennifer Davis on her yearlong fight to “Break the Cycle” of addiction during a graduation ceremony held on Tuesday, May 15 at the Mesquite Courthouse.

Mesquite woman gets second chance to ‘break the cycle’

Grad night event offers safe party

Stuck in the mudd was the phrase of the day on Sat-urday, May 12 when the Mesquite Ro-tary held their Fifth Annual Mudd Volley Ball Tourna-ments in the pits behind the Eureka Casino.

Kris Zurbas

Rotary event stuck in the mud for ‘good’

2A The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

Night Outcontinued from Page 1A

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ation Center. The doors will be open from 9 p.m. until midnight. The doors are locked from midnight to 4 a.m., at which time attendees are not allowed to leave without being escorted by a re-sponsible adult.

Chief Tanner said, “The Senior Class of Virgin Valley High School will have a wonderful time attending this event. The police officers and volunteers who do-

nate their time and work for the gradu-ates demonstrate a great example of the quality of our community’s police. The safe and fun atmosphere provided for this event allows the graduates to enjoy themselves and create wonderful memo-ries of this important event in their lives.”

For those who would like to donate to Grad Night Out, please contact Lieuten-ant Fails at 702-575-0383 or come into the Mesquite Police Department, located at 695 Mayan Circle. Please make checks payable to the Mesquite Police Depart-ment.

By Teri NehrenzMLN

May is Student Art Month at the Mes-quite Fine Arts Gallery. All month, the entire gallery is devoted to display of artwork created by students from Virgin Valley Elementary, JL Bowler Elementa-ry, Beaver Dam Elementary and Virgin Valley High School.

Imagine a floor to ceiling eclectic dis-play of some of the most talented artists in town. When you visit the Mesquite Fine Arts Gallery this month that is ex-actly what you will find.

According to the Virgin Valley Artist’s Association, “The Virgin Valley schools are fortunate to have art included in their curriculum, a circumstance that is not the case in many public schools across the nation. Despite studies that show that students who study the arts are more likely to complete high school than those who do not.

To show support for student artists,

Virgin Valley Artists Association invites each school in the valley to display class-room art at the gallery each May.

With that invitation goes a check for $150 to each school to pay for the mount-ing and hanging materials needed to show the student’s work in a profession-al manner. The art teachers are respon-sible for providing the art to the gallery and preparing wall labels to identify stu-dent work.

The student art exhibition is spon-sored by the Eureka Community Foun-dation. Student artists will be honored at a public reception on Thursday, May 24, 4-6 p.m. to which all are invited. The public receptions congratulate the young people for their art education achievements and honor parents and teachers for their commitment to the fu-ture.

For more information, contact the Mesquite Fine Arts Center at 702-346-1338 or stop by the gallery Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Teri NehrenzThrowing out an old book is obviously not an option for Beaver Dam High School Artists Halee Jones and Bianka Garcia but turning them into remarkable works of art is.

Local student artists take stageat Mesquite fine Arts Gallery

On May 9, at about 9:30 a.m., Mes-quite Narcotics Detectives concluded an ongoing investigation involving a husband and wife selling illegal drugs.

The husband was currently on su-pervised probation for previous con-trolled substance sales convictions.

During the course of the investiga-tion, detectives learned of possible child abuse going on in the home.

On May 9, detectives immediately involved Child Protective Services in the investigation. Officers and detec-tives served a search warrant on the home and collected multiple items of drug paraphernalia and other evi-dence related to the criminal charges.

Detectives were then able to safely

take the parents into custody.Colby Bute, 26, of Mesquite, was ar-

rested and charged with: One felony count of child abuse/neglect, one felony count of sales of a controlled substance (meth), one felony count of sales of a controlled substance (meth) in the presence of children, and two misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Frances Bute, 26, of Mesquite, was arrested and charged with: Two felo-ny counts of child abuse/neglect and two misdemeanor counts of posses-sion of drug paraphernalia.

Due to the felony charges, both sus-pects were transported and booked into the Clark County Detention Cen-ter in Las Vegas Nevada.

PD makes narcotics arrest

The Week of May 17, 2018 3AMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

Editor’s note: The following was tak-en from the pages of the Mesquite Police Department blotter from May 6-12.

MAY 6Trespassing: Officer issued a citation

for trespass to an adult female.Wanted person: Officer arrested

an adult female with an active Bench Warrant issued by Mesquite Municipal Court.

Theft: Report taken of a cell phone which was stolen at the carnival.

Hit and Run: Officer spoke with a motorist reporting a hit and run on a public roadway. Driver 2 left prior to any information being obtained.

Reckless driver: Officer responded to a report of a reckless driver. The ve-hicle was located and an adult male was arrested for drug paraphernalia.

Suspicious person: Responded to a suspicious person call. Upon contact with adult male who was confused and disorientated water was supplied and subject was transported to MVRH for evaluation.

Theft: Officer responded to a casino on a report of a theft.

Wanted person: Officers made con-tact with two males. One adult male was arrested for warrants issued by Nevada Highway Patrol.

Threatening: Officers responded to an apartment complex reference a dis-turbance between neighbors. An infor-mation report was completed.

MAY 7Impounded vehicle: Officers located

an unoccupied disabled vehicle. The ve-hicle was impounded due to the location in the desert lot.

Traffic stop: An officer conducted a traffic stop for a violation. It was con-firmed the male driver had a active war-rant for his arrest out of Bunkerville Township Court and a history of failing to appear. The driver was arrested for the traffic violations.

Controlled substance problem: An officer conducted a vehicle stop for a traffic violation. The adult male driver was issued a citation for the traffic of-fense, possession of marijuana, and pos-session of paraphernalia.

Theft: Officer responded to a W. Pio-neer Blvd. business on a report of a theft.

Fraud: Officer took a report of fraud (identity theft).

Traffic accident w/o injury: An of-ficer responded to a minor vehicle acci-dent on Pioneer Boulevard, no injuries were reported.

DUI: Officer observed traffic infrac-tion and conducted a traffic stop. The result of the stop showed the driver was DUI.

MAY 8Domestic violence: Officer took a

report of domestic battery. Suspect fled scene prior to arrival.

Controlled substance problem: De-tectives purchased heroin from a Utah Source.

Theft: Took a report of patio furniture removed from a garage while owner was away.

Burglary: Officer took a report of at-tempted burglary of a Hillside Drive residence. Incident created.

Transport: Transported one white male to Mesquite Dental and returned to Mesquite Detention Center without incident.

Abuse/Neglect: Mesquite Detectives received an anonymous report of child abuse and neglect. A Detective respond-ed to the emergency room to investigate. The investigation is ongoing.

MAY 9Theft: Officer completed a report of a

package theft from the front door.Civil dispute: Officers responded to

the Mesquite Police Department to take a report of phone harassment.

POLICE BLOTTER

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ARREST REPORT

> See BLOTTER, Page 5A

MAY 6-12Statistics supplied by Mesquite Police

Department. Disclaimer: These names were reported in the Mesquite Police Department’s arrest report released May 14. Persons should be presumed in-nocent until convicted in a court of law.

Agguire, Sonia JMesquite5/9/18Contempt of court

Aguilera, RicardoMesquite5/8/18Petit larceny

Amezcua, Alvaro JMesquite5/7/18Basic speed

Antoniadis, Dimitrios A Jr.Mesquite5/11/18DUIPossession of drug paraphernalia

Barlow, Ezra JTaylorsville, UT5/6/18Jail housing agreement

Baty, Nicole ASt. George, UT5/11/18Crossing other than crosswalk

Bezzant, Jennifer LEagle Mountain, UT5/12/18Driving w/suspended driver’s license

Boss, Vladimir TMesquite5/10/18Failure to appear

Bute, Colby RMesquite5/9/18Child neglect/Endangerment

Bute, Frances DMesquite5/9/18Child neglect/EndangermentPossession of drug paraphernalia

Campos-Mendoza, OscarMesquite5/12/18Possession of controlled substance x2

Deskins, Misty DCorona, CA5/7/18Jail housing agreement

Flores, EdgarMesquite5/12/18DUIReckless driving w/disregard of per-

son/propertyExhibition of speed challenge Driving w/o a valid DL

Gesser, Michael JLas Vegas5/8/18Failure to appear

Hefner, Dale LOverton5/9/18Obstructed windshieldOperating unregistered vehicle/trailer

Hernandez, Edelsy SMesquite5/10/18Operator/proof of insurance requiredDUI

> See ARREST, Page 5A

MESQUITELOCAL NEWS

MesquiteLocalNews.com

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To show the amount of work our Mes-quite Fire and Rescue Workers do, we are including a weekly roster of stats and a synopsis of calls fromMay 6-12.

Back pain 1Chest pain 1Choking 1Convulsions 1Diabetic 4Falls 17fire 2Fire alarm 1Heat/Cold 1MVA 1Odor investigation 1Overdose 2Patient transport 11Pregnancy 1Sick person 10Special event 2Unconscious 3Unknown problem 1

MAY 7Fire: Engine 31 and Rescue 31 re-

sponded to a smoke investigation behind a business on West Mesquite Boulevard Found an illegal burn that had been ex-tinguished prior to arrival.

Unconscious: Rescue 31, Battalion 3, and Rescue 11 responded to a local clin-ic for an unconscious person. Patient

transported to local hospital.

MAY 8:MVA: with Injury Truck 11 Respond-

ed to I-15 mm 98 to assist Clark County Fire with difficult extrication. Las Vegas Fire Heavy Rescue still is working on ex-trication when Truck 11 was allowed to return to Mesquite.

Fire: Engine 31, Truck 11, Rescue 31, Chief 2 and Chief 1 responded to a fire alarm at a local casino. On arrival smoke was coming from the roof and extended to the interior. All occupants evacuated. Fire was found and extinguished in an Air Conditioning unit.

MAY 10Fire Alarm: Engine 31, Truck 11, and

Rescue 32 dispatched to the school for a fire alarm. Smoke from burnt food found to cause alarm. Ventilation per-formed and alarm system reset.

MAY 11Convulsions: Rescue 11 and 32 dis-

patched to a report of a patient having seizures. Patient was transported to a lo-cal hospital.

Special Event: Engine 31 and Truck 31 went to Virgin Valley Elementary school to spray water for kids field day.

FIRE AND RESCUE

4A The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

Mesquite LocaL News

Published every Thursday byBattle Born Media LLC

PublisherKirk Kernbbm.kirk@gmail.com

Advertising salesSandi Boycenewbiz.mln@gmail.com801-661-5686

Advertising coordinatorPam Mulliganadvertising.mln@gmail.com

StaffBarbara Ellestad (city council)Linda Faas (Virgin Valley Water District)Lou Martin (Sports)Teri Nehrenz (Calendar/office manager) terin.bbm@gmail.com

12 W. Mesquite Blvd Suite 109Mesquite NV 89027

(702) 346-NEWS (6397)Fax: (888) 241-8172

admin@mesquitelocalnews.com

Let the voters decide on sanctuary cities petition

The U.S. House of Representa-tives voted overwhelmingly, 340-72, this past week to restart the licensing process to make

Yucca Mountain in Nye County the na-tion’s permanent repository of nuclear waste. H.R. 3053, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, also ups the ante, increasing the storage cap from 70 metric tons of highly radioactive materi-al to 110,000 metric tons — a 57 percent increase.

All four of Nevada’s representatives voted nay, even Northern Nevada Con-gressman Mark Amodei, a Republican who in the past has held out for negotia-tions that might provide some benefits for Nevada.

Amodei issued a press release ex-plaining that he voted against the bill af-ter the House Rules Committee rejected an amendment he had proposed.

“Since I was elected to Congress, I have always said I do not believe Yucca Mountain should be a simple dump-ing site for our nation’s nuclear waste,” Amodei said. “Additionally, I have al-ways been cognizant that policy makers should not consider Yucca Mountain to be a ‘dead’ issue, meaning Nevada’s con-gressional delegation should use this opportunity to dictate the terms of the

repository under the best conditions for our state. That’s exactly what I chose to do this week by offering an amendment to H.R. 3053 that would have given Ne-vada a seat at the table to expand upon the mission of the repository.”

His amendment would have directed that the state’s higher eduction system would head up nuclear research and development, designated proper routes for transportation, cleaned up contami-nated facilities in Nevada and required the Department of Energy to locate re-processing facilities at Yucca Mountain instead of just burying the waste. He said reprocessing could create thou-sands of jobs and recycle spent fuel for further energy production.

Nevada’s Democratic representatives were all in over-my-dead-body mode.

“I have fought the misguided and dan-gerous Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project for my entire career and I’m not giving up,” said Rep. Dina Titus. “This legislation is fundamentally flawed and going nowhere in the Senate.”

Rep. Jacky Rosen, who is running for Republican Sen. Dean Heller’s seat in the upper chamber, called perma-nent storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain a “reckless and ill-conceived plan that could put communities across

the country in danger, jeopardize our military testing and training, waste billions more in taxpayer dollars, and harm Nevada’s tourism industry.”

Though 119 Democrats voted for the bill and only 67 against, Rosen blamed the Republican-controlled Congress.

Lame duck Rep. Ruben Kihuen la-mented, “I am disappointed that Con-gress has once again chosen to ignore the will of Nevadans and residents of Nevada’s Fourth Congressional District. 30 years have passed since Nevada was unfairly targeted by the ‘Screw Nevada’ bill and this new bill is nothing more than lipstick on a pig.”

Perhaps, Nevadans are not as knee-jerk opposed as some would have us believe.

Earlier this year, in an op-ed penned for the Reno newspaper, Dan Schin-hofen, vice chairman of the Nye County Commission, noted that a poll taken by that newspaper showed 29.3 percent of respondents believed the project, if it included reprocessing, would be good for the economy, while 17.7 percent said Yucca Mountain would be OK if the state cuts a good deal, and 6.4 percent said Nevada should do it for national security — 53.4 percent open to dis-cussion, as opposed to 43.4 percent

who said the state should just fight the project.

Schinhofen wrote, “It is time to stop the unfounded fearmongering just to delay this multigenerational, multibil-lion-dollar project. Many, if not most, Nevadans want to have an honest dis-cussion about Yucca Mountain, and the state’s politicians and opinion writers should start to listen.”

In a recent online article, retired Air Force Col. Bob Frank, chairman and co-founder of Nevadans CAN (Citizen Action Network), noted that recent breakthroughs in technology make it possible to safely and efficiently recycle spent nuclear fuel.

“The advanced reactors no longer re-quire huge volumes of circulating exter-nal water to cool them,” Frank writes. “They can be independently installed anywhere in remote or populated areas where power is needed. They can pro-duce uninterruptible power for 24/7/365 at varying levels for up to 30 years with-out needing more recycled fuel.”

He argues that Nevada has been an international pioneer in nuclear tech-nology and could continue to lead the nation.

Explore the possibilities instead of throwing a futile tantrum. — TM

Still time to negotiate on Yucca MountainOPINION

> See MAYOR, Page 5A

ThOMAS MITChELLCOMMENTARY

Sometimes it seems the argument boils down to: Those darned vot-ers just aren’t smart enough to figure it out.

That notion was never stated but seemed to linger in the background this past week at the Nevada Supreme Court during arguments about whether an initiative petition should be allowed to appear on the ballot, if enough signa-tures can be gathered.

The Prevent Sanctuary Cities ini-tiative proposes to amend the state Constitution to prohibit state and local governments passing laws limiting or discouraging enforcement of federal im-migration laws, which has happened in several California cities.

After the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the petition, a Carson City district court judge ruled in Janu-ary the petition was “excessively broad and general” and likely to confuse vot-ers, thus barring it from appearing on the ballot. Proponents appealed to the state’s high court.

Though opponents challenged the pe-tition, claiming it violated the law by not addressing only a single subject, as the law requires, and failed to adequately provide a description of potential conse-quences, Paul Georgeson, the attorney representing the petitioners, argued to the court the only foreseeable effect of passage would be to prohibit state and local government from passing laws deterring enforcement of federal im-migration laws.

“All of the other potential conse-quences that are identified by the op-ponents, and which frankly the district court didn’t get into at all in its analysis, are hypothetical and speculative,” he claimed.

Opponents have argued such an amendment might cost local communi-ties money to enforce the law, might harm public safety because immigrants might be reluctant to report crime and they might refuse to enroll in social services.

But attorneys for petitioners note that if the matter is qualified for the ballot there will be an opportunity for both sides to make pro and con statements that will accompany the ballot language.

Georgeson said in court, “The district court did not make a determination or identify any potential effects that are not included in this petition description that should be included,” adding, “How does someone successfully draft a petition to meet the requirements if they have to

anticipate which speculative, hypotheti-cal effect the opponents are going to argue?”

Georgeson said the district judge cre-ated a new criteria by saying the topic was too broad, saying the petition is still on a single subject, even if the subject is broad.

Of the description of effect, George-son said, “It doesn’t have to be the best description, it just has to be an accurate description. The description of effect in this case is succinct, direct, accurate, non-deceptive …”

Marc Elias, an attorney for oppo-nents, argued that the single subject rule and the requirement for a descrip-tion of effect are intended to give the voters a practical sense of what they are signing or voting on. “Both of these two safeguards are in place for the same reason. They are to prevent voter confu-sion and they are to promote informed decision making,” he said.

Elias argued federal immigration law covers many subjects and is subject to change, and the petition is, therefore, misleading. He argued that the very name of the petition connotes lawless-ness to some but to others it means providing succor.

He also claimed immigrations laws affect everything from treaties to Social Security and welfare benefits. “The voter doesn’t even know what the laws are that are being rolled. All it knows are that there is this undefined notion of federal immigration law, which, as I point out, is ever changing.”

Justice Chris Pickering noted that Ne-vada voters amended the state Constitu-tion to tie the state minimum wage to the federal minimum wage law, which is subject to change.

Justice James Hardesty followed up by saying, “If the federal government enacts an immigration law tomorrow or if there is one on the books today this initiative prohibits state interfer-ence with that immigration law. How

AL LITMANCOMMENTARY

Before I discuss the proposed smoking ban let me disclose that I do not smoke, have never been associated with the casino

industry and am not a part of any busi-ness in this state. The campaign against smoking in Mesquite is an obvious well-funded effort to further limit our freedoms, and to impose the will of a few onto many.

The clean indoor air people have placed expensive ads in the DVT nearly every week with unsubstantiated data about the costs to Mesquite related to smoking. The data is flawed and very misleading. They tell us we will save millions because the residents of our city will not have to be treated for heart, stroke and lung problems if the smok-ing goes away.

We have no idea what percentage of our population can relate smoking to these health problems as all person-nel medical records are protected by HIPPA and they can only guess at the numbers. The printed article is only good for wrapping a dead fish in.

Now lets look carefully at what you may be signing away in the petition to

stop indoor smoking in public places.The proposed ordinance is so restric-

tive that smokers will be limited to, virtually their private vehicle or home; that is, if their home is a single-family residence with no walls attached to any other property. The ordinance is many pages long, but clearly says smoking is allowed in private residences that are not contained within multiple unit housing facilities, except if the private residence is used for child or adult care or a health care facility.

The ordinance clearly defined a multi-unit housing facility, as a building or portion thereof, that contains more than one dwelling unit in which a dwelling unit shares at least one common floor, wall, or ceiling with another dwelling unit.

It then lists apartments, condos, town homes, townhouses, and more. Mes-quite has 4,515 residences that fall into this category as of 2016. Smoking will not be allowed in them whether rent-als or owner-occupied, at least not on a patio or balcony if the unit has one. I guess if one goes into the bathroom you are safe. Read the ordinance!

There are numerous other places you will not be able to smoke such as playgrounds, common areas of any of the above including trailer parks private clubs and on and on. If you don’t be-lieve me, read the ordinance!

The owners of any of the above will be required to place signage of a type speci-fied in the ordinance, at their expense in numerous places in and around the property. Read the ordinance! The owners of the property are required to call the police every time a violation occurs and they cannot personally enforce it. Don’t believe me? Read the ordinance!

The ordinance goes on to list numer-ous other places where smoking will not be allowed. Of course these are

Clean indoor air ordinance full of many smoking guns

> See MITCHELL, Page 5A

The Week of May 17, 2018 5AMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

LETTERS TO ThE EDITOR

Mitchellcontinued from Page 4A

Blottercontinued from Page 3A

Arrestcontinued from Page 3A

Headlamps no illimunated

Jones, Rodney RMesquite5/8/18Contempt of court

McCoy, Desiree AMesquite5/11/18Domestic battery

Medina, Dawn HMesquite5/6/18Failure to appear

Traffic stop: A male was stopped for a traffic offense. The male was arrested for the traffic offense and two active warrants out of Las Vegas.

Wanted person: Officers responded to a residence to investigate a threaten-ing incident. One adult female was ar-rested for a warrant out of Las Vegas Justice Court.

Traffic stop: An officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle and issued the driver citations for traffic infractions and a passenger a citation for minor con-sumption of alcohol.

MAY 10DUI: An officer conducted a traffic

stop for a traffic violation and subse-quently arrested the driver for DUI.

Disturbance of school: Mesquite Officer responded to a local High school reference a student being disruptive and threatening school staff.

Traffic stop: A traffic stop was con-ducted for an equipment violation. The adult male passenger was arrested for an active Mesquite Municipal court war-rant.

Suspicious person: Officers re-sponded to a business on a report of a suspicious male who contacted two ju-veniles in an inappropriate way. The in-vestigation is ongoing.

Property damage, non-vandalism: Officers responded to an East Pioneer Boulevard casino reference damaged property. The subject responsible for

the damage was located and issued a ci-tation.

MAY 11Suspicious person: An officer

stopped a suspicious subject, at a Second South Street park, for park curfew. The adult male subject was issued a citation for Mesquite City Code violations park curfew and no alcohol at a city park.

Civil dispute: Officers responded to a West Mesquite Boulevard business ref-erence a report of harassment.

Theft: Officer completed report ref-erence a material being stolen from a house under construction.

Wanted person: Officers observed a male and a female jaywalking and con-ducted a person stop for the offense. One female was arrested for a local warrant.

Domestic trouble: Officers respond-ed to the report of possible domestic vio-lence. One adult male was

Domestic violence: Officers re-sponded to a residence reference a do-mestic in progress. Upon arrival, of-ficers identified the primary aggressor and placed the subject into custody.

MAY 12Battery on person: An officer re-

sponded to an E. Pioneer Blvd. casino reference a battery. Upon arrival, the officer spoke with the victim who stated she did not want to seek prosecution for the incident.

Domestic violence: Officer was dis-patched to an area for a possible domes-tic dispute. Upon arrival a male was ob-served speeding off in a vehicle. Officer made traffic stop and found the male was intoxicated.

Mayorcontinued from Page 4A

Mudcontinued from Page 1A

is that a violation of the rules we’ve enacted?

Let’s get focused here — the rules we’ve enacted for determining the single subject rule.

My understanding from the briefs is that single subject that’s been articu-lated, again not speaking to the policy, whether it is good, bad or indifferent policy is a separate question. But the

single subject that’s stated here seems pretty clear. Local government, state government isn’t going to adopt any law that interferes with federal immi-gration laws.

Sounds like a single subject to me.”

The court should let the voters decide if they are confused and whether the proposed policy is good or not.

Thomas Mitchell is a longtime Nevada newspa-per columnist. You may email him at thomas-mnv@yahoo.com. He also blogs at http://4thst8.wordpress.com/.

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places already covered by the Nevada Clean Air Regulations, and are not the object of this ordinance.

Now that you get the gist of the ordi-nance, lets look at who will be affected financially. The actual numbers are, of course, unknown at this time, but you can be assured there will be losses.

With losses of business income come losses of jobs. Mesquite Gaming’s two hotel casinos, Eureka Hotel and Casino, Golden West, Stateline Casino, two Dotty’s, the two smoke shops, and list goes on will be affected.

Under Nevada Revised Statutes, the ordinance is probably not legal, but I’m sure the decision will be made either in the courts or the legislature. I know I

have read all the statutes very carefully. I do not believe it will allow the city, even if it wanted to approve this ordi-nance.

I know I am not in support of it and what it could do to the economy of our city. I urge all of you to read the ordinance in full before you make any decision as a voter. Next it will be an attempt at prohibition because alcohol can harm you also.

I’m sure this article will raise the hairs on the backs of the necks of the Citi-zens For Clean Air in Mesquite, and it should. What started out as a proposal to eliminate smoking in the casinos and its employees has turned out to be an infringement on personal freedom that goes far past its original intentions. I do not need their protection.

Alan Litman is the mayor of the city of Mesquite.

RETIRINg SChOOL NURSE gOINg TO MISS ThE STUDENTS

Dear Virgin Valley Residents: I am saddened that I will be retiring

at the end of this school year. I have en-joyed my time as the “School Nurse in Virgin Valley”. I have enjoyed watch-ing your children grow into respect-able adults. I appreciate everything you have done to make my job easier. I have learned a great deal from your children. I wanted to take this time to let you know that I am going to miss this posi-tion that I have held for the last 17 years. Thank you Virgin Valley, your children are the best!

LaRae Ward, RN retiring school nurse

BUSINESSES hAVE ThE RIghT TO ChOOSE hOW ThEY RUN ThEIR BUSINESS

To the editor, First, I am not a smoker, but I am a

constitutionalist. The economics have been laid out and that alone should have guided the City to squash this Chinese/North Korean, controlling piece of ar-rogant, freedom sucking idea back to where it came from.

Businesses have the right to run their businesses as they want. Wedges is smoke free, and they made that deci-sion. That is great! But to have a small group come into our town and mandate

to our people and businesses what to do is not the way Nevada works, or Amer-ica works!

The validity of an argument is proven by changing the subject to see if it holds weight. So let’s change “Smoking” with, liquor or what kind of car you drive.

Would we crumble to the wishes of a small group of people that say only economy cars, no trucks because they waste gas?

How about no liquor? That’s a good one.

My favorite is (I think it is) in High-land Utah, they made it illegal to have your business open on Sunday! Yeah, that’s going to fly real good here!

Now the rights thing, a lot of people go into and work in the casinos and bars. I can say with all surety that NO ONE is forced to go into or work in these busi-nesses!

Seriously, NO ONE has to. They can work anywhere! And people do not have to go into these businesses! So no one can say they “Have to work there or go in there “! That alone should send these carpetbaggers home!

So, City and Counsel of Mesquite, in Nevada, we still believe in rights and freedoms.

So, stand up for the entire City and all of Nevada! If not, please move out of our state.

Frank Williams

Department.” The Rotary also had the help of other

businesses who didn’t actually jump face first into the mud but rather spon-sored teams so that willing high school students would have the chance to play. Those companies were: Lindi Corp, Mesquite Showgirls, Mesa View Region-al Hospital, L&M Welding, and Wash-ington Federal.

“We’re grateful to them all,” said Gault and Rotary Club President Jake Knoll a week prior to the event. The money col-lected will be well utilized in the Beaver Dam Beautification project which has been well underway for some time.

While the money raised in prior “Mudd Tournaments” was used to begin the beautification project right away and

the project was started in the heat of the summer months, Knoll stated, in a jestful manner, “This year, the Rotary members will sit on these funds for the summer and begin the next phase of the project in the fall when the weather is more com-fortable for those working outdoors and the students will all be here to lend their youthful hands and backs.”

Rotary members and students were a bit excited in starting phase one of the project right away which put them into a situation where they were doing hard la-bor in over 100 degree heat. Members and students pushed through to complete the first phase and it’s apparent by visiting the school that their hard work has paid off but they learned their lesson and will con-tinue phase two in cooler temperatures.

To see more of Kris Zurbas’ action packed pictures of the Mudd Volleyball Tournaments” visit the Mesquite Ro-tary’s facebook page: https://www.face-book.com/MesquiteNVRotary/

6A The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

Cyclecontinued from Page 1A

Roberson was successful in defeating attempts by Senate Democrats to pass their Sanctuary State bill during last year’s legislative session.Roberson leads charge for amendment

banning sanctuary cities.

Paid for by Friends of Michael Roberson

Michael RobersonCracking Down on Sanctuary Cities

Michael Roberson introduced Senate Bill 333 which would have STOPPED any attempts to make Nevada a Sanctuary State and stop any local governments from making themselves a Sanctuary City.

Michael Roberson will do everything he can to defend our homes and jobs from illegal immigration.

V O T E M I C H A E L R O B E R S O N . C O M

Don’t Forget to VoteTuesday, June 12th

Republican Primar yEarly Voting May 26th - June 8th

The Mesquite Chamber of Commerce would like to invite the public to a Rib-bon Cutting for The Amused Owl on Thursday, May 24, from 5:15 to 7 p.m. Located at 561 W. Mesquite Blvd., Ste 3.

The Amused Owl offers a myriad of specialty gifts, cards and candy along with jewelry, toys and accessories. The store also holds activities for children once a month. Most brands sold are American made. The toys are unique and mostly non-battery operated that have strong learning strategies. At this event they will be offering 15 percent off all merchandise plus the first 54 people

will get a free candle sample.Wendy Hapgood, owner, has been in

bookkeeping and retail management for a number of years. She was operations manager for a small chain of toy stores and volunteered at elementary schools and early childhood nurseries. With this experience she has brought to Mesquite a unique store not found in most com-munities.

Ribbon cutting ceremonies are a time of celebration. The community is always invited to attend. They are an opportu-nity to get acquainted with businesses or organizations in our community.

Amused owl ready to open

nor setbacks. One can’t help but be motivated by the

court’s constant words of encourage-ment and understanding that break-ing the cycle of addiction isn’t easy for anybody, but it’s possible for everybody given the right tools and support.

The program is not designed to allow those who are enrolled to skate through it. Davis worked harder in the program than she would have going to jail but her future wouldn’t have been nearly as bright.

It takes years to overcome the stigma of a felony conviction but with Breaking the Cycle, participants can avoid the con-viction from the start, if they successful-ly complete the one year program.

AA meetings, working the 12 step pro-gram, wearing a GPS ankle device, essay writing, daily contact with a probation officer, private/group counseling, com-munity service, employment and mul-tiple weekly drug testing is just some of what Davis successfully accomplished in her year before graduation.

During the year, Davis was working on winning the fight the Toone and his army of probation officer, city attorney,

defense attorney and counselor were her constant source of both accountabil-ity and moral support.

Like many chronic diseases, addiction is not a condition that develops over-night. In fact, addiction is well-known for developing slowly and perhaps even unnoticed over time. The process of de-veloping an addiction happens in stages just like any other chronic condition; the main difference is that the cycle of ail-ment, treatment, and relapse seems to be much more prominent and recurring in cases of substance addiction.

Breaking the Cycle treats the addiction in stages or “Phases” allowing for more privi-leges as the participants move to the higher stages of the program. There are several par-ticipants in the program at any given time. They are all in different stages but working together. With the support of Toone and his army, they hold them accountable to the community, the program and to the stan-dards they set for themselves.

Davis is well on her way to living the good life of a broken cycle and she should. She is employed in the pet grooming industry and her employer says she’s training to become a groomer. She’s got a strong foundation, awesome motivation, wonderful community support and a great attitude; what she doesn’t have is a record.

By Humberto SanchezThe Nevada Independent

Members of the Nevada House del-egation did their best Avengers: Infinity War impersonations as they united to try to prevent House passage of a bill to restart the plan to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Despite their efforts, the House passed the bill with an overwhelming 340 to 72 vote.

The bill is likely dead in the Senate. Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican, is in the race of his life to hold on to his seat, with Rep. Jacky Rosen expected to be his Democratic opponent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, is not expected to take up the bill in or-der to protect Heller and the slim 51 to 49 Republican majority.

On Friday, the day after the vote, Rep. Dina Titus tweeted a link to the roll call sheet and highlighted those who voted against the Yucca bill. “Here is the roll call from yesterday’s vote on the pro-Yucca Mountain bill. Nevada should remember who its friends are,” Titus said. Of the 72 who opposed the measure, 67 were Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. The five Republicans who voted against the bill included Rep. Rob Bishop and Rep. Mia Love, both of Utah. The others were Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Nevada’s own Rep. Mark Amodei.

The issue of Yucca Mountain also came up in the House Armed Ser-vices Committee, which last week ap-proved the annual defense authoriza-tion bill. Rosen used her position on the committee to add an amendment to the measure that would require the Secretaries of Energy and Defense to report to the panel on any impacts the Yucca Mountain project would have on Department of Defense and De-partment of Energy activities at the Nevada National Security Site, the Nevada Test and Training Range and

any other defense facilities in prox-imity to Yucca Mountain as well as proposed routes for transporting the nuclear waste.

In his speech on the House floor Thursday, Rep. Ruben Kihuen suggest-ed that the issue of Yucca could ultimate-ly be settled in the courts. “I’m here to send a message that we are going to con-tinue fighting this tooth and nail, right here in Congress, in the Senate, here in the House and also, if need be, we’re go-ing to continue fighting this in the legal courts.”

Even Amodei, who supports funding to study Yucca, opposed the bill. But his opposition was based on being denied the opportunity to offer an amendment giving state universities priority on studying project-related issues. “Frank-ly, as presently structured, Nevada will not have a seat at the table moving for-ward on Yucca Mountain,” he said in a release. “The exclusion of my amend-ment, which included responsible pro-posals in the best interest of all Nevadans leads me back to where this discussion started: if I am only given a piece of leg-islation which designates Nevada as the nation’s nuclear landfill — I’m a no! Ac-cordingly, I’m a no.”

In addition to passing the Yucca bill, the House Appropriations Committee’s Energy and Water Subcommittee on Monday advanced its annual spending bill, which included $267.7 million to support the Yucca projects. That is $100 million more than what President Don-ald Trump requested in his budget blue-print. The measure now goes to the full committee.

Heller said he was disappointed with the committee’s move. “The House Ap-propriations Committee’s misguided de-cision to fund Yucca Mountain is an ex-ercise in futility. Under my watch, I will not let one more hard-earned taxpayer dollar go toward this failed project – just as I have in the past. Yucca Mountain is dead, it is that simple,” Heller said in a release.

Yucca bill passes house despite unified delegation opposition

The Week of May 17, 2018 7AMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

TOGETHER WE CAN HELP SAVE LIVES AND MONEY.SUPPORT SMOKE-FREE AIR AT

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8A The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

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www.mesquitelocalnews.com The Week of May 17, 2018

page 1b

Our Kokopelli Landscaping Athlete ofthe Week is senior Kari Wakefield.Wakefield had an excellent year forthe Dogs, batting .430 this past sea-son. Wakefield led off for the Dogsand had an excellent on base per-centage. Congrats to Wakefield whowill be sorely missed next year.

Kari Wakefield

KOKOPELLI LANDSCAPING’SATHLETE OF THE WEEK

EVOLVE PEST CONTROL’S MUSICIANS OF THE WEEK

S. Alex Snow started playing cello in the Southern Nevada Symphony Orchestra in April 2016. He beganplaying cello in 5th grade and currently plays in variousother ensembles including the Zephyr Strings, HarmonicStrings Chamber, and the Cello Society of Southern Utah.He likes to perform in special events around the commu-nity whenever possible, as well as perform in annual performances such as “The Messiah,” and festivals suchas the Dixie State University Cello Festival. Other musicinterests include the bassoon, as well as some not socommon instruments such as the ocarina.

Music has been Alex’s passion and he dedicatesmuch time and devotion to it. He says that music hasgiven him direction and wants to pursue a career in it.He aims to be proficient in a few other instruments, as well as become advanced enough to experienceperformances around the world.

“I think that SNSO is a great place to be around talentedmusicians and learn how to all come together to playbeautiful music,” said Snow. “It helps those like us thatare of the younger generation to experience a bigger andmore challenging music setting that isn’t normally in theschools. The other musicians make me feel welcomeeven though I have not played as long as them, and Ilearn a lot from them. I am very happy Dr. Spitzer has puttogether an orchestra here so that many people that livein these areas don’t have to travel far to be a part of abigger ensemble.”

Alex Snow (Cello)

SPORTS

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SOFTBALL

> See BASEBALL, Page 3B

BASEBALL

By Lou MartinMLN

The Virgin Valley High School softball team’s season ended abruptly Wednesday afternoon with an 18-5 loss at the hands of Pahrump Valley. Earlier in the Day, the Dogs defeated Des-ert Pines, 13-3, to advance to the semi-final matchup with the Trojans.

The Lady Dogs began the tournament on Tuesday, losing to Mojave 7-4. Fielding errors continued to plague the Dogs dur-ing the tournament and season, which resulted in big innings for their opponents. The Bulldogs led 3-0 after two innings against the Rattlers but gave up six runs in the third inning to eventually fall 7-4. Savannah Price and Kyle Cannon led the Dogs with two hits.

The Dogs jumped out to an early lead against the Jaguars Wednesday morning with 8 runs in the first to lead 8-1. Triples

by Jessica Barnum and Calee Clem led the onslaught. Taylor Ostrowski, Taylor Barnum, Kyle Cannon, Jessica Barnum and Clem all had RBIs in the inning. The Dogs added three runs in the second to win easily 13-3. Clem and Clem had two hits for the Dogs and Jessica Barnum finished with 3 RBIs. Price had a complete game for the win.

The Bulldogs could not stay with the strong hitting Trojans in their final game of the season. The Bulldogs fell behind, 13-1, after three innings and could not recover, Taylor Barnum’s home run accounted for the Dogs second inning run. The Dogs added four runs in the fourth, two on a home run off the bat of Price but were outdone by five runs by the Trojans making the final score 18-5. Barnum had two hits for the Dogs and Price took the loss.

The Bulldogs finished the season 5-5 in league play and 16-14 overall.

By Bob SnellMLN

The Virgin Valley High baseball team appeared to be on the verge of clinching a berth in 3A state tournament. Holding a 7-0 lead against Pahrump Valley in the fifth inning of Friday’s regional elimina-tion game, the Bulldogs looked like they were on their way to Reno.

It wasn’t mean to be, however, as the Trojans rallied for six runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to stun the Bull-dogs, 9-7, in the 3A South Regional semi-finals at Whalen Field in Boulder City.

The loss ended Virgin Valley’s season at 19-10-1, just one game short of its goal of reaching the state 3A tournament. In-stead, it will be Pahrump Valley and 3A South Regional champion Boulder City that will travel to Reno this weekend for state tournament play.

The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the Bulldogs who had scored four runs in the top of the first inning and two more in the second to jump in front 6-0. A single run in the fourth increased the margin to 7-0.

Things started to unravel in the bottom of the fifth.

Pahrump Valley, which defeated Vir-gin Valley, 6-5, in the second round on Wednesday, took advantage of some shaky Virgin Valley defense and walks by Bulldog pitchers to score six times in the frame. The seven-run advantage was suddenly down to one at 7-6.

The Trojans tacked on three more runs in the sixth to grab the lead, 9-7.

Facing their final at bat, the Bulldogs managed to load the bases with two outs but could not come up with a key hit thus ending their season.

Easton Jensen and Booker Wakefield each collected two base hits, scored two runs and drove in a run for the Bulldogs. Cade Anderson doubled and scored two runs while Aiden Woods singled and had two RBI.

The Bulldogs reached the semifinal contest by eliminating Chaparral, 9-7, earlier in the day at Whalen Field.

Virgin Valley pushed across six runs in the bottom of the fourth to erase a 4-3

By Lou MartinMLN

The Virgin Valley High School track and field teams qualified seven athletes for the 3A state meet in Carson City on May 18-19.

The qualifiers placed first to fourth place in the NIAA 3A Southern Confer-ence meet held at Moapa Valley High School this past weekend.

The Lady Dogs placed fourth in the meet with 70 points behind winner Moa-pa Valley (109 points), Sunrise Mountain (95 Points) and Mojave (77 points).

“Julia Ramirez had a great meet,” said Bulldog coach Gary Hartman. “Ramirez won the 400 meters and placed second in the 300 meter hurdles and ran a leg on the second place 4x400 meter relay team. Ni-kita Eskelsen also had a nice meet finish-ing first in the long jump and ran legs on the two Bulldog qualifying relay teams.”

Ramirez, Eskelsen along with Rainee Brito and Macee Bundy finished third in the 4X100 relay plus a qualifying fourth in the 4X200 meter relay. The Bulldog 4X400 relay team qualified for the State Meet with a second place finish behind Moapa Valley. Alyssa Ponce joined Ramirez, Brito and Bundy on the run.

The Bulldog boys qualified two, Braden Bingham (high jump) and Ty Bryant (pole vault)..

Lou MartinSenior Kari Wakefield settles under a fly ball during a recent Bulldog game.

Lady Bulldogs fail to advance at playoffs

Bulldogs fall in regional semifinals

Seven qualify for state meet

2B The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

yOuR SEvEN-DAy FORECASTTODAy FRIDAy SATuRDAy SuNDAy mONDAy TuESDAy wEDNESDAy

88/60 91/68 94/6888/66 94/69 94/56 89/66

PET OF THE wEEK

SENIOR CENTER mENuThursday, May 17: Oven baked fish,

roasted red potatoes, baby carrots, WW roll, oranges & pineapple

Friday, May 18: Hot turkey sandwich WW bread, peas & carrots, tomatoes vinaigrette, oatmeal raisin cookie, fresh oranges

Monday, May 21: Chicken parme-

san, California blend vegetables, orange spinach salad, bread stick, fruit cocktail

Tuesday, May 22: Supreme pizza, salad w/ranch, cottage cheese, beets, pineapple

Wednesday, May 23: Pork chops, baked yams, lima beans & peas, salad w/Italian, fruit cocktail

mISSION

May 18, 1918, Littlefield: Misses Ella and Zona Reber went to Mesquite to at-tend the wedding reception of Mr. and Mrs. Hyrum E Leavitt. A very good time was had by all.

May 20, 1909: Our telephone line reached Littlefield -- We can now say Hello for .20 cents.

May 20, 1915: The water is in the ditch (irrigation ditch) after a very hard time with the dam, being unable to rest Sun-day the women took dinner and went to the dam and had a fine time. The river has been really bad until the last few days.

May 20, 1917, Littlefield: Some of the young people went to Mesquite to attend the dance given in honor of the old folk’s day.

May 23, 1918: Marriage license has been issued by the county clerk as fol-

lows. May 20, to Robert E Reber of Lit-tlefield, Ariz. and Mabel Vinda Waite of Bunkerville, NV married in the St George Temple.

May 25, 1916: Head line in the Wash-ington County News “Cactus Kate II and Pilots Leave Salt Lake” (Cactus Kate II was the car’s name) C. H. Bigelow and his party were about to start their return trip on the new Arrowhead Highway; Predecessor of Highway 91. Mr. Bigelow proposed that the road follow the paved highway in Southern California as far as Cajun Pass, where it will cross the Sierra Madres. It will then run to Las Vegas by one of three routes under consideration. From Las Vegas it will go through St Thomas and then to Bunkerville. It will enter Utah by way of St George and come to north Salt Lake through Parowan, Cedar City, Beaver and Nephi.

THIS wEEK IN HISTORy

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BERNICE FISO

Bernice Fiso has accepted a call to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

Sister Fiso will serve in Barbados Bridgetown Mission for 18 months. She will depart for the Mis-sionary Training Center in Dominican Republic on June 6.

Fiso is the daughter of Gaosi and Jennifer Fiso of the Mesquite 5th Ward.

Sister Bernice Fiso will speak on May 20 at 11 a.m. in the Whipple Chapel, located 121 Whipple Way.

The Mesquite Department of Athlet-ics and Leisure Services is hosting a free Alzheimer’s seminar conducted by Ann Murphy, who has been a spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Research and Pre-vention Foundation for several years.

It is scheduled Thursday, May 17, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

There is no cure at this time for Al-zheimer’s: prevention is the key. Learn about the four pillars of Alzheimer’s prevention, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment.

Murphy will discuss the power of brain aerobics. Learn the SA TA NA MA kriyia, which studies have shown greatly improves brain function. Infor-mation provided by the Alzheimer’s Re-search and Prevention Foundation.

Murphy also teaches Body Sculpting, Yoga, Pilates, and sometimes, Water Aerobics at the Recreation Center. Seat-ing is limited to 24 people. Pre-registra-

tion is required. This will be held at the Recreation

Center Conference room.There will be a special presentation by

instructor Michelle Woods on her class “COGNITION” a class formulated to de-velop the most important muscle; THE BRAIN!!

For more information on this and other programs please contact the De-partment of Athletics & Leisure Servic-es at (702) 346-8732.

Register for youth and adult pro-grams online at:www.mesquitenv.gov for more information and to stay con-nected via social media on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MesquiteNVRec-reation or at the Administrative Offices located at 100 W. Old Mill Road.

For more information about this event and other programs please down load the app, it’s available for iOS or Android devices at http://tour.mesquitenv.gov/.

Free Alzheimer’s seminar slated May 17 at recreation center

Cub Scout Day Camp for boys ages 7-10 sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was held on April 20-21.

The theme of Wild West was printed on t-shirts which each boy received along with a bandanna to wear. About 110 cub scouts participated in activities such as building tool boxes and bear shooters, ty-ing knots, and soap carving. Each group

presented skits and was entertained by cowboy poetry from Derek Hafen.

Community leaders and first respond-ers talked to the scouts about citizenship in our town and how to be safe at home. The Webelos, age 10, went on a 3-mile hike on Friday and learned to cook in Dutch Ovens. The Webelos were taught archery and BB gun shooting with Brent Hughes as the instructor.

muRPHy

Found as a stray. Murphy is very vo-cal and will “talk and talk”. You can tell he was well cared for before becoming a stray.. Murphy comes when called, fol-lows you around, likes to be cuddled, wants attention, easily handled. Such a loving cat; purrs up a storm.

Other AdOptABle petsCATS—Mr. Whiskers Black/white. Su-

per friendly Great catParis. Orange/white tabby. Special diet Mia- gray white tabby. DECLAWED in

front. Friendly. DOGS—At this time there are no dogs available for adoption.All animals adopted from the shelter will be spayed or neutered prior to leaving

shelter and receive 1 year rabies vaccination and city license. Ages are approximate. The City of Mesquite Animal Shelter located at 795 Hardy Way is open for adoptions from 11am until 1 pm, Monday through Saturday, Sunday 1pm -3pm. Please call 702-346-7415 during these hours to speak to the front desk. Animal Control officers may be reached by phone or voicemail at 702-346-5268.

Scouts have fun time at day camp

A Cub Scout Day Camp was held April 20-21 for scouts ages 7-10. About 110 scouts attended.

Submitted photo

The Week of May 17, 2018 3BMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

OBITuARy

—IN MESQUITE & MOAPA VALLEY—

SEAMLESS RAIN GUTTERS AND PATIO COVERS

Cody Peterson | Owner | Operator

CitySeamless.com 702-799-9756 cody.kent.peterson@icloud.com

KuRK JAmES mIARS Kurk James Miars, 62, of Mesquite,

Nevada died April 26, 2018 at his home. Kurk was born June 30, 1955 to Annabel Emily Miars in Min-neapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from St. Cloud State Uni-versity with honors in 1979 and worked as an accountant with Fingerhut in the twin cities.

He spent most of his life in Minneso-ta until he relocated with his family to Mesquite, Nevada in December of 1994. Kurk studied and collected music as a hobby his entire life. He enjoyed singing Karaoke whenever he could. He also fol-

lowed all types of team sports and was known to stop by the sportsbook at the local casino on occasion. He liked shoot-ing pool and was tough to beat.

He is survived by his sister Terry Tor-beck and nephew Shawn Martin, both of Castle Rock, Colorado. He was pre-ceded in death by Annabel Emily Mi-ars of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Shirley Elizabeth Miars and James Henry Mi-ars, both of Mesquite, Nevada. He will be missed by his family and friends. “One more, then the sandman” he would often write when closing his let-ters. Memorial Service and inurnment will be at Mesquite City Cemetery in Mesquite, Nevada.

The family invites you to leave a mes-sage or memory in our “Memorial Guest-book” at virginvalleymortuary.com.

deficit and assume a 9-4 advantage. The Cowboys cut the lead to 9-7 with three runs in the top of the sixth, but Dillan Fuqua came in to pitch the seventh and shut down the Cowboys to preserve the victory.

Jayden Perkins led the way for the Bull-dogs with two hits, two runs and two RBI. Logan Felix and Woods each drove in two runs with Josh Abbott adding a base hit and RBI. Wakefield had a hit and scored two runs while Kayden Peterson collected a base hit and scored a run.

The Bulldogs, who opened the double-elimination tournament with a 3-1 home win over Western on Tuesday, bounced back from Wednesday’s loss at Pahrump Valley to crush Desert Pines, 15-0, in an elimination game Thursday at Bulldog Field. The game was called after four in-nings because of the NIAA Mercy Rule.

Virgin Valley scored two in the first, four in the second, five in the third and four times in the fourth to eliminate the Jaguars.

Fuqua went the distance on the mound giving up just one base hit while striking

out three DP batters.Anderson had three base hits, three

RBI and scored four runs to lead the offense while Perkins also scored four runs and Woods had two hits and three RBI. Peterson and Jensen each added two hits and drove in a run. Abbott and Wakefield chipped in scoring two runs apiece.

Virgin Valley opened South 3A Re-gional play with a 3-1 victory over visit-ing Western of Las Vegas Tuesday after-noon at Bulldog Field.

After giving up an unearned run in the top of the first inning, Virgin Valley starter Dakota Munford slammed the door shut on Western’s batters. The se-nior right-hander gave up just two hits, walked five and struck out four in 6.1 innings of work to get the win. Woods came on in relief to get the final two outs and record the save.

The Bulldogs scored single runs in the first, second and sixth inning while making the most of their five base hits.

Fuqua launched a solo home run, Cade Anderson doubled home a run and Peterson collected two hits and scored a run for the Bulldogs. Perkins scored a run and Booker Wakefield singled to aid the VVHS cause.

Baseballcontinued from page 1b

Mesquite Lutheran Church welcomes its new pastor, Rev. David Constien and his wife, Christine. He comes to Mes-quite from Immanuel Lutheran Church and Preschool, Mokena, Illinois, where he served as pastor since 1995.

Pastor Constien is a third genera-tion pastor: his grandfather, father, uncle and cousin were Lutheran

ministers. Pastor and Christine have three grown children, one grandson and a Shetland sheepdog. Welcome, Pastor and Christine, to Mesquite and desert iving.

Mesquite Lutheran Church is located at 450 Turtleback Road. Worship is at 10 a.m. Sundays with Bible study at 8:30 a.m.

On Wednesday, May 9, the NV TOPS 0143 Mesquite held its spring celebration and awards at the conference room of America First on Mesquite Boulevard.

Leader Donna Phelps crowned the new queen for the year, Roxie Hanson, who read a short story of when and why she joined TOPS joining in January of 2017, reached her goal in August, and has maintained her weight since then.

Hanson said she joined when she heard about all the incentives of earn-ing charms, hearing and teaching pro-grams, participating in contests, the weekly weigh-ins and roll calls and en-couragement from the wonderful group of ladies and Keith, currently the only male member. She is a KOPS which stands for Keep Off Pounds Sensibly.

Hanson has run several contest for the club and made embroidered and quilted prizes for the members.

Members brought delicious food items suitable for TOPS members and shared their recipes. The 2016 Queen Suzan Rango attended and shared her success

with the members. Shelley Ludwig and Mildred Pistner

received certificates from the state and pins from the chapter for being division winners last year. Keith Elmore is also a division winner for 2017. To be a divi-sion winner a member must lose over 10 pounds and lose more than anyone else in their weight division.

TOPS stands for Take Off Pounds Sen-sibly and is an international organiza-tion of local chapters that encourage one another to eat healthy and move more to lose pounds. The local chapter meets at 3:30 p.m. each Wednesday in the first floor conference room of America First Credit Union on Mesquite Boulevard.

Members may also attend Nevada state TOPS’ functions the International Recognition Days held during the sum-mer yearly, this year in Montreal, where the international king and queen are crowned and state kings and queens are recognized.

Anyone may attend one free meeting. Call 702-346-2980 for more information.

Mesquite Regional Business is excited to announce the addition of two new members to its Board of Directors.

Ty Wakefield, CEO of Mesa View Home Care, joined the board in March after Burton Weast stepped down for personal reasons. Rob Fuller, director of Business Development at Mesa View Hospital, was voted onto the board this

month and will fill Justin Teerlink’s emp-ty seat. Teerlink stepped down to pursue career opportunities outside of Mesquite.

Fuller and Wakefield are both fix-tures in the local community and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the board. Fuller and Wakefield will be assets in capitalizing on and perpetuat-ing that growth into the future.

Submitted photoTOPS members, from left: Ila Larson, Donna Phelps, Debbie Cross, Roxie Hanson, Carrie Thunell and Shelley Ludwig.

Mesquite TOPS Club holds spring celebration

Mesquite Lutheran welcomes new pastor from Illinois

Submitted photoRev. David Constien and his wife, Christine.

MRB adds to members to board of directors

4B The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

CALENDAR

Mesquite Lutheran Church450 Turtleback Rd. • 702-346-5811 • MesquiteLutheran.org

Mesquite LutheranPRESCHOOL & CHILDCARE

All Children are Welcome702-346-3954

Licensed by the State of Nevada. Voucher Assistance Available.

Sunday Worship 10:00 a.m.

Bible Study 8:30 a.m.

Ages 6 weeks to 5-years-oldMonday through Friday

Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. director@mesquitelutheranchildcare.org

An LCMS Congregation. Learn more at www.lcms.org/belief-and-practice

Pastor David Constien

211 West First South, Suite C&DLocated behind Ace Hardware

702-346-8558 | www.mesquitelivingwaters.com

Service TimesSunday Morning 10 a.m.Sunday Evening 6 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study 6 p.m.

Children and Youth Programs at Each Service

Prince of Peace Lutheran ChurchPastor Travis E. Lauterbach

350 Falcon Ridge Pkwy, Bldg 600(Behind Stage Store in Falcon Mesa Business Park)

702-345-2160 | PrinceOfPeaceLutheranChurchMesquite.com

The mission of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church is to preach, teach, and witness the Gospel of Jesus Christ, administer the Sacraments, and give glory and honor to the Triune God.

Worship Service Sunday 10:30 a.m.The Lord’s Supper is celebrated the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sunday of each month

Bible Study Tuesday 4:00 p.m.

Women of Life Thursday 10:00 a.m.

Bible Study Thursday 3:00 p.m.

Why a person can ‘rejoice always’A 24-year old-combat sports organi-

zation, the Las Vegas-based Tuff-N-Uff presents the best amateur mixed martial arts action in the nation. It has given rise to some of the biggest stars in the sport today, including UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, as well UFC and Strikeforce veteran Ryan Couture, UFC welterweight Alan Jouban and UFC Light Heavyweight Khalil Roun-tree.

Tuff-N-Uff is committed to growing the sport of MMA and building the “Fu-ture Stars of MMA” and on Saturday, May 19 at 7 p.m. Mesquite Gaming is bringing you some of the best with May-hem in Mesquite XIV.

Jaylon “New Breed” Bates out of Port-land City Boxing is a man on a mission. Starting his MMA career with an im-pressive four wins and zero losses, Jay-lon won his last fight via a nasty arm-bar submission. He now has his sights set on going for the 135-pound title against Chris “lil Savage” Elisarrars. These two warriors are the main event and look to bring the house down with nonstop ac-tion.

The Mesquite Department of Athlet-ics and Leisure Services is hosting a free Alzheimer’s seminar, it will be con-ducted by Ann Murphy, who has been a spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Re-search and Prevention Foundation for several years. Thursday, May 17, 2018, 12:00PM - 1:30PM

There is no cure at this time for Al-zheimer’s: prevention is the key. Learn about the 4 pillars of Alzheimer’s pre-vention, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. Ann will discuss the power of brain aerobics. Learn the Kundal-ini Yoga Mantras which studies have shown greatly improves brain function. She will present information provided by the Alzheimer’s Research and Pre-vention Foundation.

Remember to send all of your summer events to terin.bbm@gmail.com and please put “Community Calendar” in the subject line.

THuRSDAy, mAy 17Free Alzheimer’s SeminarWhere: Mesquite Recreation Center,

100 W. Old Mill Rd.When: noon-1:30 p.m.Info: 702-346-8732Kids Steam-CodingWhere: Mesquite Library, 150 N. Yuc-

ca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 4 p.m.Info: 702-346-5224

FRIDAy, mAy 18

Ages 0-5 Story TimeWhere: Mesquite Library, 150 N. Yuc-

ca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 11 a.m.Info: 702-346-5224Gardening-The Art of BonsaiWhere: Where: Mesquite Library, 150

N. Yucca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 1-3 p.m.Info: 702-346-5224Teen SceneWhere: Mesquite Library, 150 N. Yuc-

ca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 3:30 p.m.Info: 702-346-5224

SATuRDAy, mAy 19Mayhem in MesquiteWhere: Casablanca Event Tent, 950

W. Mesquite Blvd.When: 7 p.m.Info: www.mesquitegaming.com

mONDAy, mAy 21Book BingoWhere: Mesquite Library, 150 N. Yuc-

ca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 1-2 p.m.Info: 702-346-5224Bereavement GroupWhere: Mesquite Library, 150 N. Yuc-

ca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 5-6:30 p.m.Info: 702-346-5224

TuESDAy, mAy 22Toddler Story TimeWhere: Mesquite Library, 150 N. Yuc-

ca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 10 a.m.Info: 702-346-52244-H for KidsWhere: Mesquite Library, 150 N. Yuc-

ca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 4 p.m.Info: 702-346-5224City Council MeetingWhere: City Hall, 10 E. Mesquite Blvd.When: 5-7 p.m.Info: www.mesquitenv.gov

wEDNESDAy, mAy 23Pre School Story TimeWhere: Mesquite Library, 150 N. Yuc-

ca St.-Temporary LocationWhen: 10 a.m.Info: 702-346-5224Desert Dames LuncheonWhere: Eureka Casino, 275 Mesa Blvd.When: noonInfo: 720-289-1298

St. Paul says in First Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” If anyone doubts his seriousness, he says elsewhere in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord al-ways; again I will say, rejoice.”

Paul was arrested on numerous oc-casions, whipped, beaten, and stoned. These are just a few of the sufferings he describes in Second Corinthians 11.

Yet, this same man urges his hearers to “rejoice always.”

Paul practiced what he preached.Acts 16 records a time when Paul and

Silas were unjustly imprisoned. Instead of wallowing in self-pity or lashing out against their captors they reacted in a way that might be called weird.

They prayed and sang hymns. They rejoiced.

It wasn’t just Paul and Silas. Acts 5 tells of the disciples rejoicing because they suffered being beaten on account of Jesus.

Why? Why would they rejoice when facing this kind of suffering? Why would anyone rejoice at any kind of suffering?

It’s not that they had some strange obsession with suffering or that they worshiped suffering. Rather they under-stood suffering in a different light.

Sufferings are part of the effects of a sinful, fallen world. Some may suffer more, others less. The kinds of suffer-ings differ. Even so, everybody suffers in

some way.Jesus’ birth

into the world in order to suffer with h u m a n i t y and to suffer for human-ity changes the outlook on suffering. God showed

His love and mercy in His

suffering. He took care of the debt people owe, the wages of sin people earned by taking their death upon Himself.

Jesus’ followers confidently, steadfast-ly, and boldly held to the hope they had in this deliverance.

They knew of Jesus’ death and res-urrection for their salvation from sin, death, and hell. They knew that nothing could separate them from this incredible love of God.

Therefore, absolutely nothing could rob them of the joy they had in their forgiveness and new life. Nothing could steal their joy in the Lord. In their minds, why should they not be willing to suffer for the One who suffered for them and promised to give them an eternal inheri-tance.

So they rejoiced.

TRAvIS LAuTERBACHRELIgION

Sell Your Stuff in Classifieds!CALL 702-346-6397 For Info!

2018 MESSAGE FOCUS: ‘DARING TO LOVE’

700 Hardy Way, Mesquite • 702-346-7061 • fbcmesquite.com

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

Pastor Bill J. Stevenson

SUNDAY SERVICESWorship 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.

Bible Study for All Ages 9:30 a.m.Special Programs for Children 10:45 a.m.

Sweet Hour of Prayer Wed. 6:00 p.m.

Mesquite United Methodist Church Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.

420 W. Pioneer Blvd. | Mesquite | 702-346-4663 | umcmesquite.org

Walk-ins Welcome!SHARING, CARING

CONNECTING.

Traditional Sunday Worship 10:00 AM

Adult Sunday School 8:45 AM

Lectionary Bible Study WEDNESDAY 9:15 AM

Reverend Rick Casebolt

The Week of May 17, 2018 5BMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

2018 MESSAGE FOCUS: ‘DARING TO LOVE’

700 Hardy Way, Mesquite • 702-346-7061 • fbcmesquite.com

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

Pastor Bill J. Stevenson

SUNDAY SERVICESWorship 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.

Bible Study for All Ages 9:30 a.m.Special Programs for Children 10:45 a.m.

Sweet Hour of Prayer Wed. 6:00 p.m.

EmPLOymENT

Golden West is Hiring!! Servers and Cooks Apply at 91 E Mesquite Blvd

THE HUMBOLDT SUN IN WINNEMUCCA, NV IS LOOKING FOR A FULL-TIME SPORTS REPORTER. Primary responsibilities will be covering high school prep sports along with other local sports and general features. Travel, weekends, and nights required. Must have valid Nevada driver’s license and clean driving history. Pre-employment drug screen. Send resume to Winnemucca Publishing, Attn: Tony 1022 S. Grass Valley Rd., Winneumc-ca, NV 89445 or email t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net. EOE (NVCanMay24)

BATTLE MOUNTAIN BUGLE IN BATTLE MOUNTAIN, NV IS LOOKING FOR A FULL TIME WRITER. The posi-tion involves writing stories and tak-ing photos. Job requires good people

CLASSIFIEDskills and an ability to work within deadlines. Clean driving record and valid driver’s license required. Pre-employment drug screening. Email resume to: editorial@winnemuc-capublishing.net or mail to Jen, 1022 S. Grass Valley Rd., Winnemucca, NV 89445 EOE. (NVCanMay24)

REAL ESTATE

Condominium for sale The Falls 2 Bedrooms Completely Furnished Awesome View $120,000 343 Colleen Ct 702-346-2526 Open House Fri 5/18, Sat 5/19, Sun5/20 9a-6p

Lovely home in SunCity 2Br, 2Ba, +Den, Astor Model. Many upgrades, includes all appli-ances. See on Zillow.com. $275,000. 702-287-3367

SERvICE DIRECTORy550 PIONEER BLVD. #102 | MESQUITE

FOR PRICING AND SPECIALS

Natalie Hafen or Richard Gutierrez

702-346-7930

OFFICE & RETAIL SPACESun Valley Plaza3 Units Available

Suite 1 900 sq. ft.Suite 6 1,000 sq. ft.Suite 11 4,000 sq. ft.

12 W. Mesquite Blvd.4 Units Available

Unit 7 720 sq. ft.Suite 111 720 sq. ft.Suite 112 720 sq. ft.Suite 114 1,500 sq. ft.

Falcon Ridge1 Unit Available

Suite 200 A1,850 sq. ft.

Executive Suites Available

VOTED BEST OF MESQUITE 2013 & 2015 FOR RESIDENTIAL LAWN & TREE CARE!

Sales & Service702-346-585050 N. Sandhill Blvd.

www.thelindicorp.cominfo@tlcmesquite.com

APPLIANCE, PLUMBING,AIR CONDITIONING

610 Hardy Way, Building BMesquite, NV 89027

702-346-2904HeritageElectric.org

Peggy Purner, DVMFor appointment please call:

702-346-2456371 Riverside Road, Mesquite

MESQUITE VETERINARY CLINIC, INC. Virgin Valley Veterinary HospitalDr. Tammy A. Brown | Dr. James B. Steyee

702-346-4401www.virginvalleyvets.com

660 Hardy Way, Suite 44, Mesquite

CUSTOM PAINTING EXTERIOR & INTERIORSince 1977

Robert Bishop 702-810-6000NV State License #0014455A

Power Washing • Masonry Concrete Epoxies • Wood

Wrought Iron • Stucco Repair Elastomeric Coatings

702-863-3339561 W. Mesquite Blvd. #2, Mesquite

Keith Leavitt702-370-9792

keith@leavittrepair.com

LEAVITT

APPLIANCE

REPAIR

***Need Renters?***Advertise with us to rent out your units faster! Call 702-346-6397

gARAgE SALES

Moving Sale Everything must go!! 373 Tex St Fri 5/18, Sat 5/19 7a- 2p

Furniture Sale Fri. 5/18 8a – 11a Oval Coffee Table, desk, Corner TV cabinet, chairs 3598 Lake Mead Call 928-218-1128

***Want more people to show up and buy from your garage/yard sale? List your upcoming sale here for as little as $15! Call 702-346-6397***

vEHICLE/AuTO/ATv

***Sell your vehicle here for as little as $15 per week! Call 702-346-6397 today!***

mISCELLANEOuS

SPECTRUM TRIPLE PLAY! TV, Internet & Voice for $29.99 ea. 60 MB per second speed. No contract or commitment. More Channels. Faster Internet. Unlimited Voice. Call 1-844-218-1422. (NVCanMay17)

DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY. Receive maximum value of write off for your taxes. Running or not! All conditions accepted. Free pickup. Call for details. 855-259-6496. (NVCanMay17)

DIRECTV SELECT PACKAGE! Over 150 Channels, ONLY $35/month (for 12 mos.) Order Now! Get a $200 AT&T Visa Rewards Gift Card (some restric-tions apply) CALL 1-877-258-1178. (NVCanMay17)

BATHROOM RENOVATIONS. EASY, ONE DAY updates! We specialize in safe bathing. Grab bars, no slip floor-ing & seated showers. Call for a free in-home consultation: 877-278-5726.

(NVCanMay17)

OXYGEN – ANYTIME. ANYWHERE. No tanks to refill. No deliveries. The All-New Inogen One G4 is only 2.8 pounds! FAA approved! Free info kit: 888-550-6503. (NVCanMay17)

NEED YOUR CLASSIFIED OR DISPLAY AD to have statewide exposure? Contact this paper or the Nevada Press Association at 775-885-0866 or www.nevadapress.com. (NVCanMay17)

mEDICAL EquIPmENT/SuPPLIES

Were you an INDUSTRIAL or CONSTRUCTION TRADESMAN and recently diagnosed with LUNG CANCER? You and your family may be entitled to a SIGNIFICANT CASH AWARD. Call 844-410-0609 for your risk free consultation. (NVCanMay17)

FDA-REGISTERED HEARING AIDS. 100% Risk-Free! 45-Day Home Trial.

Comfort Fit. Crisp Clear Sound. If you decide to keep it, PAY ONLY $299 per aid. FREE Shipping. Call Hearing Help Express 1-844-201-5755. (NVCan-May17)

LIFE ALERT. 24/7. One press of a button sends help FAST! Medial, Fire, Burglar. Even if you can’t reach a phone! FREE Brochure. CALL 855-399-2238. (NVCanMay17)

HEALTH

SELECT QUOTE IS DEDICATED TO FINDING A MEDICARE plan right for you and your wallet. Call 877-816-8043 today and receive a free quote from one of our multiple carriers. (NVCanMay17)

A PLACE FOR MOM. The nation’s largest senior living referral service. Contact our trusted, local experts today! Our service is FREE/no obliga-tion. CALL 1-866-496-7175. (NVCanMay17)

CALL (702) 346-6397

TO PLACE yOuR AD HERE

Will answer plant and landscape questions and assist with landscape designs. Identify plants

and advise with on-site issues.

Questions? “Let’s Talk Plants”702-300-4148

LICENSED AND INSURED

CERTIFIED HORTICULTURIST: ANDREA MECKLEY

MesquiteWorks!

Mesquite Works!May 23 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

This is an excellent opportunity to meet the people who make the hiring decisions.

Bring your updated resume and dress for success!

Location: Grand Ballroom, Rising Star Sports Ranch333 N. Sandhill Blvd, Mesquite

Contact: Linda Rino 801-755-1124 | Mesquite Works! 702-613-0699 | information@mesquiteworksnv.org

Virgin Valley Family Services

HIGHLAND MANOROF MESQUITE

B&B TOWING

AUCTIONAuction for

June 1 at 9 a.m.1997 Honda Accord

VIN# 1HGCO566IVA278676Registered Owner

Landon Dean Leavitt

2006 Mercedes E-500VIN# WDBUF70J16A878085

Registered Owner Gwendolyn Julian &

Westlake Financial Services

546 Commerce CircleMesquite, NV 89027

B&B TOWING

AUCTIONAuction for

June 8 at 9 a.m.1999 Volvo S80

VIN# YVITS97D3X1020729Registered Owner:

Jesus Martinez

1998 Dodge Ram 1500VIN# 3B7HF16Y5WM220874

Registered Owner Stewart Ralph Crandall

2002 Hyundai AccentVIN# KMHCF35G32U216452

Registered Owner: Kellie Therese Morrisey

546 Commerce CircleMesquite, NV 89027

NOTICE OF SALE Notice is hereby given that the following units at

Mayan Storage, 30 Riverside Road, Mesquite, NV 89027Unit #D014 Rena T. Sterling:

Furniture, mattress, grill, household items.

and the following unit at Mayan Storage, 675 Mayan Circle, Mesquite, NV 89027

Unit #E042 Candice Sonny: Full wood bed frame including headboard, footboard and rails.

Nightstands and household items.

Will be sold at public auction for nonpayment of rent at www.StorageTreasures.com auction

Ending on Wednesday, May 23, around 5:30 p.m. PT

6B The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

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Council electionss p e C i a l s e C t i o n

Mesquite loCal newsMesquite, nevada

2AA The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

Paid for by friends to elect Annie Black.

Annie Black is a mother, business owner, and community leader in Mesquite.

Our community deserves council members that believe in real representation and that

will work hard for you. Annie has a vision for Mesquite and is ready to serve.

2AA The Week of May 17, 2018The Week of May 17, 2018� 3AAMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

meet the candidatesBy Barbara EllestadMLN

This is the seventh local elec-tion I’ve been journalistically involved in since I first became a reporter in 2007 for the Mes-quite Local News and later, Mes-quite Citizen Journal. Not much has changed.

Candidates, both well-known and unknown individuals, pay their fees and take their chances on surviving the months-long cycle of forums, meet-and-greets, questioning, and yes, mud-slinging, all so they can make decisions that affect your future for years to come.

However, there is one ma-jor difference in this year’s city council election. It’s the first time in Mesquite’s history that candi-dates are required to run for a particular seat against a particu-lar set of opponents rather than a wide-open, top winners take the cake election like we’ve al-ways had.

The 2018 city council election has three vacant seats with mul-tiple candidates for each. Seat 1 has the incumbent Geno Withel-der running against Sandra Ra-maker and L. Kay Mercer.

Three people are running to fill incumbent Rich Green’s Seat 4—Annie Black, Karen Fielding and Chuck Kruder. Green chose to not run for re-election.

Incumbent David Ballweg has one opponent, George Gault, running against him for his Seat 3.

Seat numbers do not limit the geographic area of representa-tion like ward numbers do. All seats carry a four-year term that expires in 2022.

Because there are only two candidates vying for Seat 3, that race will not appear on the pri-

mary ballot in June. Ballweg and Gault get a pass until the general election in November. However, both men graciously agreed to this round of interviews.

Early voting begins May 26 through June 8. Primary election day is June 12. The Mesquite Lo-cal News will make more infor-mation available on voting loca-tions.

As I was contemplating what to ask the council candidates in a one-on-one interview for this guide, I reviewed questions that were developed by myself and three other people for the 2016 council election. Not so surpris-ingly, many of the same ques-tions are as pertinent now as they were two years ago.

While all the candidates got basically the same questions, no one received them ahead of the interview. Obviously, some can-didates, like the incumbents, re-ceived slightly altered questions.

To save space and make the re-sponses more readable, I added a sub-heading to each question that will appear in the interview synopsis. You should note them in the parentheses following each question before reading the interviews.

There is not enough room to write each answer verbatim. I only edited the candidates’ an-swers for clarity and brevity.

Here are the questions I asked during interviews conducted be-tween April 23 - 26. See how you would answer them before you proceed any further.

—It’s often noted that coun-cil candidates are only seen in meetings and activities once they place their name on the ballot. You’ve not regularly attended a lot of meetings and activities as-sociated with government. How do you convey confidence that

you’re familiar with the issues and are able to make decisions and solve problems? (Not at-tending meetings)

—What do you feel is the most pressing issue facing the city now and how would you try to solve it? (Most pressing issue)

—What are your thoughts on future funding of Mesquite Re-gional Business and should the current council reduce its fund-ing, increase its funding or dis-solve the organization altogeth-er? (MRB)

—Should more of the City’s budget dollars be spent on in-come producing and business generating activities like new sports fields, amphitheaters/concert venues, etc? (Sports fields)

—If elected, what would be the one thing you would most like to work on first. (Work on first)

—There is quite an active cam-paign currently underway by citizens and other lobbying en-tities to have the council declare local casinos totally non-smok-ing. What you do think are the residual effects of that on the ca-sinos’ profits, employment, and general well-being. Do you think that’s the role of government…. i.e., telling a private business what they can and can’t do. Do you agree with that effort and why? Or do you not agree with that effort and why? (Smoking ban #1)

—If the council agenda con-tained an item that required a vote saying yes-ban smoking in Mesquite casinos, or no-do not ban smoking in Mesquite casi-nos, would you vote yes or no? (Smoking ban #2)

—There is a lot of talk about being ‘Business Friendly’. Do you consider Mesquite to be ‘Business Friendly’ and do you

consider City Staff to be appro-priately organized?..i.e., do we have our staffing priorities in place? (Business friendly)

—Are you committed to managed growth of the town or do you prefer slow or no growth?..i.e., ‘it will just happen growth.’ What is your long-term vision for Mesquite? (Growth)

—People complain about the appearance of the downtown corridor. (This isn’t a discussion of whether there is a downtown or not.) Yet there are several mil-lion dollars available to property owners through the Redevelop-ment Agency (RDA) tax fund to help improve the appearance of their properties. What will you do to stimulate businesses tak-ing advantage of those funds? Who sits on the RDA board of directors? (RDA funds)

—There is currently potential for over 250 new jobs in the next 18 months in the Mesquite area. What are your thoughts about providing workforce housing and who should spearhead the effort? (Housing)

—It’s been said that Mes-quite’s economy is driven by the 3 G’s………Golf, Gaming, and Grandparents. Many consider those to be dying industries in that golf is declining across the nation and gaming as we know it is declining in southern Nevada. We won’t address dying grand-parents. How can Mesquite’s strengths be better utilized to prepare for the future? (3 G’s)

—What are your top 3 revenue and expense priorities for the FY 2019 budget? (3 revenues/3 expenses)

—Which sitting council per-son do you most identify with? (Council person)

—Why should I vote for you? (Why you)

Overview of Mesquite City Council candidate interviews

Paid for by friends to elect Annie Black.

Annie Black is a mother, business owner, and community leader in Mesquite.

Our community deserves council members that believe in real representation and that

will work hard for you. Annie has a vision for Mesquite and is ready to serve.

4AA The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

seat 3 – dave Ballweg

David Ballweg is running for re-election to Mesquite City Council Seat 3 that he first won in 2016. He has lived in Mesquite since 2008 and owns LoadTec, Inc., a manufacturing plant located in the Mesquite Technology and Commerce Center. He currently serves on the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He is also a co-founder of Mes-quite Regional Business, Inc.

“I am running for re-election to continue and finish the things I started when I was first elected,” Ballweg said. “I have goals for things I want to accomplish in four more years.”

(Not attending meetings): Ballweg regularly attended coun-cil meetings prior to his election.

(Most pressing issue): “On-going labor costs within the budget is a pressing issue. Labor costs are our biggest budget ex-pense. I’ve already taken steps in my first term to coordinate all the union labor contracts so that they are negotiated at about the same time. Previously, each year the city was negotiating a contract with a different union. Then we would get the ‘me too’ clauses and everybody would complain that the other union got something they didn’t. Next year, 2019, is the first time we are synchronizing all our contracts and negotiate them at the same time.”

(MRB): “I was one of the founding directors. The concept of MRB is the right thing to do. It’s been fraught with problems of organization, goals, and de-veloping practical targets. We need a more practical hands-on approach to operations. We’ve lost three executive directors. We need to have a long-term execu-tive director to develop long-term programs for practical recruiting of businesses. I would have no problem increasing the funding if the board of directors and new

CEO would articulate their pro-grams to provide better results.”

(Sports fields): “I’m not op-posed to development of more sports fields in cooperation with commercial businesses. But it’s clear we don’t have enough hotel rooms. If the city builds the new venues, where will the people stay? We’ve been talking about is-suing bonds for special develop-ments that will enhance all busi-nesses in town. We’re going to need commitments from existing businesses to expand their facili-ties before we commit to build-ing more venues. There are a lot of scenarios we can explore for funds through issuing bonds.”

(Work on first): “To move our economic development forward, we need to issue bonds.”

(Smoking ban #1): “I have met with all of the clean-air people who’ve asked me and each of the casinos. This would be an experi-ment in our micro-economy in Mesquite. The casinos are con-vinced they will lose from 30 to 70 percent of their business initially if they go non-smoking. If the ob-jective is to make it a health issues for the workers, then they should go to OSHA and have cigarette smoke listed as a workplace haz-ard. It would be more palatable if it were a state-wide ban or even a county ban rather than a micro ban in Mesquite.”

(Smoking ban #2): “I would vote no.”

(Business friendly): “His-torically, governments are not business friendly. Compared to other areas that I’ve experienced, Mesquite is business friendly. I introduced an ordinance last year to create a conditional busi-ness license [that was approved] that allows the city and council to more quickly issue a license to a business that doesn’t fit a partic-ular category. A lot of times, the city is blamed for issues created by the health department. The city has nothing to do with that.”

(Growth): “We can’t force peo-ple to come to Mesquite. We have to manage growth. One of our goals is to make Mesquite attrac-tive to businesses. We don’t need

Please let this letter serve as a recommendation for L.KayMercer as a candidate forCity Council, Seat 1. Although I am her son, I am writing this to my bestun-biased ability. Let mestart off with saying thatwithout my mother, I wouldnot be the man I am today. Igot a lot of my strength,willpower, and persistence from her. Over the past decade orso, companies that I have built have grossed over 40 million inrevenue. My mother showed me through her own actions towork harder and smarter than everyone else while stayingrooted in my morals.

I think she would make for a great addition to City Councilbecause not only is she determined and a hard worker, but sheis also a creative individual that can think outside the box. She brings new ideas to the table while being capable and excited about executing them. She’s not just an idea personbut she is a doer, a trait that is apparently becoming rarerthese days. No matter her place or role within City Council, I know that she can prove useful. She is a “Swiss Army Knife”that can help in a variety of situations. Please don’t hesitate toemail me at m@mnml.la, if you would like to discuss further.I think that if she doesn’t get a seat on City Council then itwould be a shame for Mesquite, NV to miss such an opportunity.

Sincerely,

Matte FieldsMatte Fields

Vote for Kay Mercer for City Council

4AA The Week of May 17, 2018The Week of May 17, 2018� 5AAMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

heavy industries, but we do need employment. A new home only provides [through taxes] about 25 to 30 percent of the cost to sup-port that home. Business licens-ing fees provide more income. We also have to look at working on the consolidated tax (C-tax) issue. It has to be managed growth, not controlled growth or no growth.”

(RDA funds): Ballweg sits on the RDA board of directors. “There’s not a lot the city can do to get people to use the RDA tax funds. It may be time the city re-looks at the programs the funds are used for. Maybe the city can use it to acquire properties on the boulevard corridor that have fallen into disrepair and enhance other properties. There are non-habitable sites on Mesquite Bou-levard that the city can acquire, clean them up, and make contig-uous properties more attractive.”

(Housing): “A year ago, I was the only council person attend-ing workforce housing meetings with realtors and developers. It culminated into the developer offering to purchase the lot next to the elementary school which I still think would have been a good place for the facility. We need to educate people on what workforce housing is. It’s hous-ing for young professional people like police officers or nurses. The city has properties that it can of-fer at reduced market prices to developers who would build less expensive homes. Right now, Mesquite is a thousand units under on workforce housing. By default, it has to be a city-targeted function.”

(3 G’s): “It’s a bigger program of making Mesquite attractive and promoting it through MRB and the Chamber of Commerce through hands-on recruiting. It’s a community-wide effort to pro-mote Mesquite. We’re going to buck the trend a little bit on the decline of golf. We have very nice assets in our golf courses. Golf is one of our strengths. People like gaming in this town because it’s more basic, less loud, and set for the older people.”

(3 revenues/3 expenses): Ballweg says his top three rev-

enue priorities and top three ex-pense priorities are basically the same: reviewing the consolidated tax (C-tax); making the current budget more efficient; how the capital budget affects the op-erating budget. We are limited in how we can affect the C-tax even though we don’t get our fair share. I’ve worked for years on the fire department budget and expenses, primarily the interfa-cility transport costs. We spent $3.4 million of our general fund to support ambulance costs and only got $1 million back. We’ll al-ways have to subsidize that. We can purchase less expensive van ambulances for some transports. We can change all sports field lighting to LED lights and reduce operating costs by at least half.”

(Council person): “I’m not going to answer that. As a sitting councilman for 18 months, Ball-weg was asked what his biggest or best accomplishments have been: Ballweg said his motiva-tion to run for Council was to ad-dress issues that have a long-term impact for the city. He feels that two of his best accomplishments have been to positively influence economic development through fee reductions and business li-censing and the reorganization of the Mesquite Fire Department to provide stable and efficient ser-vices.

(Why you): “I’ve gotten more done in the last 18 months on council than most other council people ever have.”

annie BlackAnnie Black is running for

Mesquite City Council Seat 4, fac-ing Karen Field-ing and Chuck Kruder. The seat is now filled by Rich Green who chose to not run for re-election.

Black has lived in Mes-quite two years moving here from Las Vegas. She is a Realtor and president of the Mesquite Republican Women. She ran unsuccessfully for the

Nevada State Senate in 2010 while living in Las Vegas. Her parents, Mike and Lori Black, own an RV park next to Smith’s and the Bea-ver Dam Lodge and golf course.

She’s running for city council because she wants to create more jobs for the future that will allow younger people to stay in Mes-quite. Keeping Mesquite a safe and low crime city is also impor-tant to her.

(Not attending meetings): “Better late than never. I’m at-tending all of the meetings now. I’m also spending a lot of time out in the community talking to people, visiting with city staff and other elected officials. I’m talking to several businesses each day.”

(Most pressing issue): “Working with law enforcement to keep crime in check is my top priority.”

(MRB): “MRB was created be-cause the city was handling eco-nomic development unsuccess-fully. When they get a new CEO and with the improving economy, I think it’s a good time for MRB to kick into high gear. Their funding should be based on performance. It’s important to let private busi-nesses keep their non-disclosure status until they’re ready to re-lease information. With the city handling it, that wouldn’t be pos-sible. The funding should be kept at the current level.”

(Sports fields): Yes, the city should spend money on these kinds of things if the return on investment is good and we do our due diligence. Perhaps we can use redevelopment agency money to fund sports fields. Issuing bonds is also a possibility. We need to do a lot of research before we do that. But, I think private industry should ultimately be responsible to fund the venues.”

(Work on first): “We have all three union employee contracts coming up next year for renewal. We also have several key employ-ees retiring and will need to re-place them.”

(Smoking ban #1): “I under-stand the passion for the issue. But I don’t think it’s a good idea [to make casinos smoke-free]. I don’t think the government

should tell businesses what to do. With tourism as our main indus-try, I think it’s too risky. It’s over-stepping the bounds for the city council to tell businesses how to run their business. If the majority of people feel that strongly, they can gather signatures to put it on the ballot and put it to a vote.”

(Smoking ban #2): “I would be a no vote.”

(Business friendly): “Some of the businesses I’ve talked to have said we are. Others say we have too many fees, hoops, red tape. There’s always room for im-provement. According to some of the department heads I’ve talked to, city staffing isn’t enough. Are we as efficient as we could be? I don’t know.”

(Growth): “We need the kind of growth that keeps younger people here with good paying jobs. But I don’t want Mesquite to be Las Vegas 2.0. If a business or developer wants to build some-thing, I don’t think it’s the city’s responsibility to regulate how fast that happens. I don’t think we should stop growth. If we just get out of the way, it will happen. I don’t necessarily think we should control it.”

(RDA funds): Black did not know who is on the RDA Board of Directors. “We can try to per-suade owners to invest their money and use the funds to im-prove their properties. Some areas get a 75 percent reim-bursement while others get a 50 percent reimbursement. Rather than requiring owners to put up all the money first and then get reimbursed, maybe we can pay the 75 percent reimbursement up front and they pay the other 25 percent. I’ve talked to business owners who said the process isn’t hard so I’m not sure why they aren’t using it. Maybe the city can use the money to beautify some of the areas in town.”

(Housing): “We definitely need workforce housing. There is a developer who tried to build by the elementary school, but people didn’t want it. Now, he’s going across town. It’s already hap-pening in private industry which is the way I think it should hap-

6AA The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

Paid for by the campaign for Karen Fielding

pen. We can advocate for it and bring people in to do it, but the city shouldn’t be doing it. It’s not ‘Section 8’ [low-income] housing. It’s not the city’s responsibility to provide it.”

(3 G’s): “Ball fields and sports tournaments are interesting. I’m not sure the city should pay for the ball fields. Pickle ball is big. Senior games and youth sports are also great. Bringing in natural gas will help develop our indus-trial side. We could build up our warehousing industry.”

(3 revenues/3 expenses): Black’s top three revenue priori-ties are: increasing businesses in town; attract another hotel ven-ture; build more industrial and commercial space. Her expense priorities are: controlling wages and benefits; controlling ambu-lance transport fees; reviewing the police force to determine if increases are necessary.

(Council person): “George Rapson. I admire his honesty and sense of humor.”

(Why you): “I’m the best can-didate for this seat. I have busi-

ness experience. I’m already out there doing what a city council person should do. I’m young and enthusiastic. Public service is a passion of mine. I want to do the job.”

seat 4 – karen FieldingKaren Fielding is running for

Mesquite City Council Seat 4 opposing An-nie Black and Chuck Kruder. Fielding has been a Mes-quite resident for 23 years. She is currently a real estate sales agent. She’s been very in-volved in many different organi-zations over the years.

“When I moved to Mesquite there was nothing on the north side of the interstate except the Virgin River casino. There were only 3,270 residents at the time. I’ve seen the city grow by leaps and bounds. I think the city coun-cil is on the right path, moving in

the right direction and I want to help facilitate that forward.”

(Not attending meetings): “You don’t have to attend since they are broadcast on television. I’ve been focusing on starting my business the last few years. But I’m still knowledgeable about the city. I am everywhere. I have em-bedded myself in this community and I can get more information that way.”

(Most pressing issue): “Bringing business and industry to Mesquite and keeping them is the most pressing issue. The city needs to have more incentives to bring businesses here. Revenues are fabulous when we do. Exit 118 is going to be an excellent place to grow.”

(MRB): “Kudos to MRB for bringing the recreational vehicle service facility and Deep Roots Harvest to Mesquite. We need someone outside the city staff working on bringing business-es in. The city should continue funding them. We may even want to increase the funding. Mesquite is on the threshold of having a

25,000 population that will at-tract more business. MRB has laid the seed work.”

(Sports fields): “The city should spend money on sports fields and provide incentives for these kinds of projects. Are we destination, a retirement com-munity, or family-oriented. Are we going to spend money on housing, roads, and everything that comes with that? I would like to see more activity venues for lo-cals and for families. I would like to see the kinds of events the Ris-ing Star has brought in expand. The city has to spend money to make money.”

(Work on first): “Affordable housing.” (Fielding expanded on this topic later in the interview.)

(Smoking ban #1): “I don’t think five council people and one mayor have the choice to make the decision. Every business should run their business the way they see fit. It should be a state-wide vote and not just Mesquite.”

(Smoking ban #2): “I would vote no.”

(Business friendly): “Yes, we

6AA The Week of May 17, 2018The Week of May 17, 2018� 7AAMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

are business friendly. I’ve always had a great experience with the city from a variety of perspec-tives. Other people tell me they aren’t friendly, but I don’t see. We have criteria and you have to meet that. If there are questions or concerns about a license or permit, the city needs to follow up on that. The city is in the posi-tion to increase hiring and I think the city is on top of it looking for-ward.”

(Growth): “I am totally pro-growth. I think it’s the council and city’s obligation to see the city grow. With that comes other avenues and growth brings more revenues.”

(RDA funds): Fielding knew that the city council serves as the RDA board of directors. “That money is supposed to be used for redevelopment. We need to reach out to property owners on a one-to-one basis. Maybe they’re not aware of the available money. I would love to see the money used to improve the properties.”

(Housing): “We are in desper-ate need of housing. No one has pulled permits for multi-family housing since 2007. The city is in a great position with its va-cant land to offer incentives to developers and builders. It’s af-fordable housing. It’s not Section 8 housing or low-income hous-ing. The failure of the project by the elementary school is because people thought it was Section 8 housing. The city didn’t educate people enough. It wasn’t a good location.”

(3 G’s): “We need more busi-ness and industry to stay strong. I don’t want to see golf, gaming, or grandparents go away. We have to focus on other businesses. Mesquite has always been a des-tination location and a retirement community.”

(3 revenues/3 expenses): Fielding’s top two revenue pri-orities are: increased property tax revenue through new housing; increasing business permits and taxes. Her top three expense pri-orities are: capital programs espe-cially new ambulances; installing LED lights at ball fields; keeping the city financially sound.

(Council person): “None. I am my own person.”

(Why you): “I am level-head-ed. I don’t jump to answers or decisions. I’m professional, I’m a mom, I’m self-employed. I bring all that to the table. I want to have a voice for Mesquite. I’m a good listener.”

seat 3 – george gaultGeorge Gault is running for

Mesquite City Coun-

c i l Seat 3 against the

in- c u m b e n t D a v i d B a l l we g. Gault has lived in Mesquite since 2011

and has been active in several organizations like Mesquite Re-gional Business, Inc., Mesquite Works, and Mesquite Opportu-nities Regional Fund.

“I’m running for city council because I think Mesquite can be more than what it is now. It can be more than a golfing town, or a gaming town or a retirement community. We need to add di-versity and opportunity,” Gault said.

(Not attending meetings): Gault has attended almost all city council meetings over the last five years.

(Most pressing issue): “It’s how the city is going to grow and how you accomplish that. A lot of it will involve the city budget and new approaches like bonding to accomplish things that have been on the table for a long time but not finished.”

(MRB): “The council can’t dis-solve the organization because it’s a stand-alone non-profit. Pulling the city’s funding would be a ter-rific mistake. The budget is ap-propriate at this point and should be continued. The city has not been good at economic develop-ment. The funding is adequate at this time. It may need to grow over time, but we need to see who the next CEO is. If the organiza-tion were to really grow, it could acquire land and make deals on

its own.”[Note: Gault was a co-founder

of MRB and served as interim CEO for 11 months.]

(Sports fields): “Yes, but with reservations. I would sup-port more ball fields because we have two businesses who are do-ing their own marketing [for the sports]. We wouldn’t have to do that part. There’s an opportu-nity for additional growth with the sports marketing. We need to think about our competition in St. George and Las Vegas. The ad-dition of more kids and parents will drive the demand for more hotel rooms and restaurants. I’m not a big fan of publicly-funded convention centers and concert halls. They never pay their own way.”

(Work on first): “The most critical issue we have deals with growth and with MRB partici-pating and producing. The peo-ple we have here now don’t have many of the skills we need for the jobs we have coming in. We’ll have to bring people in from out-side. Where are we going to put them? Growth and workforce housing is what I’d work on first.”

(Smoking ban #1): “I have a big problem telling private busi-ness owners what they can and cannot do. I don’t know what the impact would be on Mesquite casinos. We’re an awfully small community to run an experiment like that. We have too much com-petition around us. If the state legislature were to ban smoking state-wide, then I can support that. None of the casinos in Las Vegas have tried this. I fear that if it were tried here it would re-sult in a loss of jobs and a loss of revenues for the city. I am sympa-thetic to what the clean-air folks are trying to do.”

(Smoking ban #2): “I would vote no for a smoking ban.”

(Business friendly): “Yes, we are, but we can do better. We need to be more timely in our re-sponses to business inquiries.”

(Growth): “I’m not a fan of un-managed growth. I don’t know that we can control the pace of growth very much but I think through ordinances you can de-

termine how it grows in managed subdivisions. We do it in a way that doesn’t bankrupt the city or create an undue burden. Roof-tops alone never pay their way. You need to generate revenue to grow and maintain an equitable tax base.”

(RDA funds): Gault knew that the city council serves as the RDA Board of Directors. “The proper-ty owner has to pay up front and people don’t want to do that. The process is a pain in the neck. In some cases, we could only require two bids for the work instead of three. I would ask a group of people to come and talk about it and get some recommendations. Many of the properties on Mes-quite Boulevard are owned by old families who have no interest in doing anything. I don’t know what you do with that.”

(Housing): “We don’t have affordable housing. Rentals are tight. We know we’re in a hous-ing deficit with a thousand peo-ple paying more than 35 percent of their income on housing. The city needs to spearhead the ef-fort. The developers won’t. May-be the city could discount some of its property for developers. We should enforce our master plan that requires many of the subdivisions around town to include a portion of affordable housing. That’s never been en-forced. I’m frustrated with our relationship with Nevada Ru-ral Housing Authority. Having our own housing authority that could work with developers is my dream. “The recent situation we had with a proposed proj-ect near the elementary school was unfortunate. It could have been handled better with some advanced information with the people involved. It might have turned out the same way, who knows. Apparently, people are proprietary with something that isn’t theirs.”

(3 G’s): “First, you support what you already have. I’m not sure what the city can do to sup-port more gaming at casinos. The city’s role is to make sure things are well-run in the city it-self. That’s why we have to have Paid for by the campaign for Karen Fielding

25,000 population that will at-tract more business. MRB has laid the seed work.”

(Sports fields): “The city should spend money on sports fields and provide incentives for these kinds of projects. Are we destination, a retirement com-munity, or family-oriented. Are we going to spend money on housing, roads, and everything that comes with that? I would like to see more activity venues for lo-cals and for families. I would like to see the kinds of events the Ris-ing Star has brought in expand. The city has to spend money to make money.”

(Work on first): “Affordable housing.” (Fielding expanded on this topic later in the interview.)

(Smoking ban #1): “I don’t think five council people and one mayor have the choice to make the decision. Every business should run their business the way they see fit. It should be a state-wide vote and not just Mesquite.”

(Smoking ban #2): “I would vote no.”

(Business friendly): “Yes, we

8AA The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

from a financial aspect.”(Smoking ban #2): “I would

vote yes if the citizens approved it first.”

(Business friendly): “We do not have enough city staff now. There will be some key retire-ments coming up, creating an even larger vacuum. We need to look for their replacements now. The city has made great strides towards being business friendly. If the city wants to prove they are, then dissolve MRB and put someone in-house for business development and to be a liaison for local businesses.”

(Growth): “I definitely prefer managed growth. The city has to be proactive. It would be advan-tageous if the Chamber of Com-merce and city worked closer together to help local businesses. There’s possibilities to help them grow and bring in other busi-nesses. Eco-tourism is not being played and it should be. We are attracting naturalists but we’re not focusing on that. Eco-tour-ism should be part of our man-aged growth.”

(RDA funds): Kruder did not know who comprises the RDA board of directors. “Having a proactive council would bring the parties together. Get people talking to each other. Show them there are funds available. City Hall is surrounded by bad prop-erty. Pioneer Boulevard is beau-tiful. That has to change. Is it the top priority? No. Is it a priority the city has to consider? Yes, it is.”

(Housing): “The city council has a responsibility to step for-ward and not just be playing the game of ‘we should have done this so now we’re going to do that.’ We should be looking forward to the future and ask what we can do now. The council has a respon-sibility to work with developers. The council is green-lighting the building permits. Looking at the type of buildings that are going in and looking at future needs go hand-in-hand. You have to get the community behind [work-force housing projects]. More families are coming in, but we are still a retirement community per-

Chuck Kruder

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Chuck Kruder

I have no financial or business dealings that would hinder my ability to make fair and impartial decisions that affect our city.Supporting our local businesses is paramount to our growth as a community.More venues are needed to accommodate sports tourism but I am not convinced floating 20 year bonds is the only answer.Eco-tourism to our beautiful environment is increasing and we can do more to build this this avenue of income.New jobs are being created and we need to ensure there is affordable housing for our workers now and in the future.

Growing Our Community Togetherwww.ChuckKruder.com ChuckKruder@gmail.com

Mesquite City Council - Seat 4elect

MRB or another entity to bring in other businesses and industries. We have two companies in town that are upgrading their Internet services so that’s a good indicator to me.”

(3 revenues/3 expenses): Gault’s three revenue priori-ties are: obtaining more grants; work for revisions to the consol-idated tax (C-tax); issuing bonds. Gault’s three expense priorities are: controlling personnel costs; interfacility ambulance trans-port services; obtaining more grants. Personnel costs are the hardest to get a handle on and control. One of the missed op-portunities we’ve had is grants. It falls on both sides of the led-ger. We need a professional grant writer on staff who would more than pay for their salary. Interfacility ambulance trans-port services can be both a rev-enue source and an expense.”

(Council person): “I identify with Rich Green because of his analytical approach to issues.”

(Why you): “I have the expe-rience to work on the issues I’ve

identified and make something happen.”

seat 4 – chuck kruderC h a r l e s

‘Chuck’ Kruder is running for Mesquite City Council Seat 4, facing off between An-nie Black and Karen Field-ing. Kruder has lived in Mes-quite since 2009 and moved here from California. He currently works at Smith’s Food and Drug grocery store.

(Not attending meetings): “My wife had some serious health issues that prevented me from attending meetings. I real-ize there’s a learning curve. But just because I didn’t attend the meetings, doesn’t mean I was out of touch. I’m attending the meet-ings now.”

(Most pressing issue): “Af-fordable housing is the most pressing issue. Businesses are

having a hard time retaining their current employees and hir-ing new ones. All the new busi-nesses are drawing on the issue. The one constant thing I hear is that the people filling new posi-tions need affordable housing. Half-million dollars homes are nice for the community but it’s not sustainable for the future.”

(MRB): “I am not a backer of MRB. [I disagree with] their claim that they brought in Star Nursery, Deep Roots, and Rising Star. All they’ve done is facilitate people walking through paper-work. For $750,000 and the time they’ve been here, you should have something more to show than you helped people with pa-perwork. I don’t see results. I don’t see the council asking for results. For about $40,000 a year we can hire a city employee with business development experi-ence to walk people through pa-perwork.”

(Sports fields): “We’re run-ning out of sports fields. Rising Star is booking events almost every weekend for the rest of the

year. We can use RDA funds [to build more fields]. To develop a more aggressive plan, more likely we will have to float bonds. It’s premature to gamble on 20 year bonds. We have to look at more short term solutions. It’s money well-spent, it’s just a matter of where we’re going to get the mon-ey from.”

(Work on first): “We should either have MRB produce re-sults or pull the plug and return $15,000 a month back to the gen-eral fund. It’s been going on way too long.”

(Smoking ban #1): “Yes, gov-ernment has a responsibility for the health and well-being of their citizens. It will have some impact [on businesses]. Could our ca-sinos section off areas for non-smoking? Probably. There are some ways we can clean up the air. There might be some middle ground that we can move in the direction of no smoking casinos. Overall, the casinos will probably see an increase in business. Rath-er than approach it from a health aspect, they should approach it

8AA The Week of May 17, 2018The Week of May 17, 2018� 9AAMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

from a financial aspect.”(Smoking ban #2): “I would

vote yes if the citizens approved it first.”

(Business friendly): “We do not have enough city staff now. There will be some key retire-ments coming up, creating an even larger vacuum. We need to look for their replacements now. The city has made great strides towards being business friendly. If the city wants to prove they are, then dissolve MRB and put someone in-house for business development and to be a liaison for local businesses.”

(Growth): “I definitely prefer managed growth. The city has to be proactive. It would be advan-tageous if the Chamber of Com-merce and city worked closer together to help local businesses. There’s possibilities to help them grow and bring in other busi-nesses. Eco-tourism is not being played and it should be. We are attracting naturalists but we’re not focusing on that. Eco-tour-ism should be part of our man-aged growth.”

(RDA funds): Kruder did not know who comprises the RDA board of directors. “Having a proactive council would bring the parties together. Get people talking to each other. Show them there are funds available. City Hall is surrounded by bad prop-erty. Pioneer Boulevard is beau-tiful. That has to change. Is it the top priority? No. Is it a priority the city has to consider? Yes, it is.”

(Housing): “The city council has a responsibility to step for-ward and not just be playing the game of ‘we should have done this so now we’re going to do that.’ We should be looking forward to the future and ask what we can do now. The council has a respon-sibility to work with developers. The council is green-lighting the building permits. Looking at the type of buildings that are going in and looking at future needs go hand-in-hand. You have to get the community behind [work-force housing projects]. More families are coming in, but we are still a retirement community per-

centage-wise. You have to make a show of it and explain why it’s important.”

(3 G’s): “Look at what Vegas is doing [with gaming]. Gaming is not going away. The big push now is interactive games that at-tract millennials. More entertain-ment brings more people in. It’s gaming’s responsibility to protect their own industry. Golf may be in a decline nationwide. But golf is a big draw for Mesquite. We have to protect golf as a drawing card.”

(3 revenues/3 expenses): Kruder’s top three revenue pri-orities are: business development and growth through permits and taxes; increasing and improving special events; and promoting family-oriented growth and busi-nesses. His top three expense pri-orities are: cleaning up the down-town area; expansion of sports fields; and hiring city staff for economic and business develop-ment. Land is something we do have. Growing with affordable housing can generate revenue for the city and it will attract more business. The family aspect of the city could generate so much more than it is through family-oriented businesses. We could piggyback on the growth in North Las Vegas and we could be their bedroom community.”

(Council person): “Mayor Al Litman because he’s very in-volved in the community.”

(Why you): “I have business experience, but I don’t have any ties to the local business com-munity which would prevent me from making a fair and impartial decision. I want to make this the best community I can.”

seat 1 – kay mercer

Kay Mercer is running for Seat 1 on the Mesquite City Council against Sandra Ra-maker and in-cumbent Geno Withelder.

Mercer moved to Mesquite in

2015 from Indiana where she taught Braille to blind and low vision children. She considers herself a ‘solution finder to prob-lems.’ She volunteers at a local as-sisted living center.

(Not attending meetings): “When I start something, I don’t walk away from it. I’ve attended the recent council meetings. I’ve interviewed many government officials. I still have some officials I need to speak with. I feel I have the ability to make things better. I’m out talking to people all the time. Government has to work for the people.”

(Most pressing issue): “Growth and development needs to be complemented by work-force housing. We have people wanting to move here but the costs have gone up in the last year. The quality of life isn’t what I think it needs to be to bring peo-ple in and get the growth that we want. It will come in time.”

(MRB): “After doing a lot of re-search, what I see is that the or-ganizations we have are replica-tions of what the state of Nevada already has. I question whether we really need to be aligned with the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance. Maybe for now we do. Right now, I say keep everything the way it is but start looking for alternatives in the future. I think it may be needed now but we need to phase it out.”

(Sports fields): “Within rea-son. Pickle ball is especially popular with older people now. I’ve seen that it’s really big in Mesquite. We need to encour-age that kind of growth in sports with soccer and baseball, all of that. I think the city may have to assist [with funding it] but it re-ally depends on who wants to build what based on what motive. That’s where private industry is wonderful. The city should sup-port it but we have bigger fish to fry. Look for some grant money to support it.”

(Work on first): “Health care. I want to understand why we can’t get the doctors and spe-cialty groups and consistent care. I want to support the hos-

pital CEO and health care pro-viders. It’s complex. It’s not just one thing. If we’re going to be involved in helping and support-ing them, then we need someone from city government or council to sit in on some of the meetings to know what’s going on. There’s not enough transparency. There needs to be more representation from the community.”

(Smoking ban #1): “I like a smoke-free environment. I like the idea. I can see where some busi-ness is being lost because of the smoking in casinos. But, I don’t think a local government should play a part in telling businesses what to do. That’s not what we do. We’re here to support and assist. The money would be gone for a little bit [in a smoke-free casino] but it would all come back. I’m in-terested in going to states that actu-ally have gone smoke-free and talk to them. I don’t think we can close our minds to it but at the same time I don’t think the residents want to see their property taxes go up. If the residents want it, put it on the ballot and have them vote on it. I don’t want to be the reason we lose money in this town.”

(Smoking ban #2): “I would vote no to smoke-free at this time.”

(Business friendly): “With all the organizations that have been created to position us in a bet-ter spot, I would say yes. We are business friendly and we want developers to come in. We have a town right now where the young-er generation has to leave to find good employment. That needs to change. It’s a fine line between growth and development and what the residents of Mesquite want.”

(Growth): “Calculated growth. We need to keep our eye on what’s happening and bringing in busi-nesses that will continue our goal of having a safe city where we don’t have to worry about crime. If we find we’ve made an error, then we need to have a back-up plan.”

(RDA funds): Mercer did not know who is on the RDA Board of Directors nor any information related to the question.

Chuck Kruder

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Chuck Kruder

I have no financial or business dealings that would hinder my ability to make fair and impartial decisions that affect our city.Supporting our local businesses is paramount to our growth as a community.More venues are needed to accommodate sports tourism but I am not convinced floating 20 year bonds is the only answer.Eco-tourism to our beautiful environment is increasing and we can do more to build this this avenue of income.New jobs are being created and we need to ensure there is affordable housing for our workers now and in the future.

Growing Our Community Togetherwww.ChuckKruder.com ChuckKruder@gmail.com

Mesquite City Council - Seat 4elect

year. We can use RDA funds [to build more fields]. To develop a more aggressive plan, more likely we will have to float bonds. It’s premature to gamble on 20 year bonds. We have to look at more short term solutions. It’s money well-spent, it’s just a matter of where we’re going to get the mon-ey from.”

(Work on first): “We should either have MRB produce re-sults or pull the plug and return $15,000 a month back to the gen-eral fund. It’s been going on way too long.”

(Smoking ban #1): “Yes, gov-ernment has a responsibility for the health and well-being of their citizens. It will have some impact [on businesses]. Could our ca-sinos section off areas for non-smoking? Probably. There are some ways we can clean up the air. There might be some middle ground that we can move in the direction of no smoking casinos. Overall, the casinos will probably see an increase in business. Rath-er than approach it from a health aspect, they should approach it

10AA The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

SANDRA RAMAKER FOR CITY COUNCIL

www.sandraramaker.comskramaker@gmail.com | 503-548-3879

Sandra Ramaker

ELECT

COMMITTED TO THE COMMUNITY

Mesquite City Council

Seat #1

PAID FOR BY SANDRA RAMAKER

(Housing): “The mayor needs to be involved along with developers and residents. Have open meetings so that residents can offer their viewpoints. Use tax abatements and incentives to entice developers. The jobs that will be brought in will help our citizens.”

(3 G’s): “We’re involved in enough areas of interest to take up the slack. Other sports, like pickle ball tournaments, will help bring in revenue for the city. I don’t think either gaming or golf are ever going away. But we need to diversify. I don’t like big government, but I think it does need to support diversification in whatever way that looks like. We’re going to have to become real creative as a city in lieu of higher property taxes.”

(3 revenues/3 expenses): Mercer’s top 3 revenue priorities are: property taxes and business development taxes; sports events; issuing bonds.

Mercer’s top 3 expense pri-orities are: city employee salaries; utilities and maintenance in city buildings; city services. “I’m very

concerned about how we’re going to fund huge [public employee] pen-sions in the future. Many of us don’t have that kind of retirement now.”

(Council person): “Dave Ball-weg. He’s very involved and he’s always asking questions.”

(Why you): “I’m doing this more for the city itself. If I’m going to live here, I’m going to embrace this city. I want to make sure we’re operating in the black and not the red. I’m very conserva-tive. I’m concerned that residents think they don’t have a voice. If Trump can win, so can I.”

seat 1 – sandra ramakerSandra Ramaker is running for

Mesquite City Council, Seat 1 against Kay Mercer and in-cumbent Geno Withelder. She has been a resi-dent of Mes-quite for 10 years and previ-ously served on the Virgin Valley Water District

Board of Directors from 2001 to 2016. She is past president of the Virgin Valley Democratic Party but recently stepped down citing a conflict of interest with her coun-cil candidacy.

Ramaker says she can be an as-set to the council because of her extensive activity in the city for the last 10 years. “I’m in touch with the community and the city and anxious to be more involved.”

(Not attending meetings): Ramaker has attended almost ev-ery city council meeting over the years.

(Most pressing issue): “Eco-nomic growth that comes in a couple directions. Not just in housing but in keeping our youth here. I would like to see more ed-ucation in our community college and in trade schools. Fast food jobs are great, but they aren’t go-ing to keep our children here. We want to grow as a family com-munity and to do that we need growth. For instance, if we want to get businesses like the RV re-pair center we need to train me-chanics and develop them. Sports are great for kids, but that won’t give them an education and keep them here.”

(MRB): “I don’t think they should take all the money away from MRB but how long do you keep financing an organization? It [funding] should be reduced. It’s time they branch out more and be more reliant on their own. They [MRB] say they are capable of doing their work; then let’s see them do better on their own. Not that we can’t support them and provide some financial help but I don’t think they need full financ-ing.”

(Sports fields): “If money is available without going in the red, I would be in favor of building these kinds of things. If we could get the funding, yes. We’re in a great location for sports events. If we could get some of the kids’ tournaments here, that would be great. You have to spend money to earn money.” Ramaker re-ferred to a recent sports event at the Mesquite Sports and Events Center that upset local neighbors with noise and raucous behavior.

“Events don’t have to get out of hand like that one did. That’s not the normal thing to happen and it could have been handled better.”

(Work on first): “I can’t say there is one thing. I want to hear what the public has to say about what’s going on at that time.”

(Smoking ban #1): “Person-ally, I believe everyone should be able to work in a clean-air envi-ronment. But I also believe busi-nesses should make their own decisions. When clean-air was first passed it should have stayed as clean-air for all businesses. Do I think we [Mesquite] need to be the first? No. I want to see it all the way across the board. Under the charter, yes, the council can make those decisions. Should we? Not necessarily.”

(Smoking ban #2): Ramaker said she would vote “No” if a re-quest to ban smoking was on the council agenda “as much as I wouldn’t want to.”

(Business friendly): “We’re doing much better than we used to. Our biggest problem is the double HOA fees some busi-nesses have to pay. Even if a busi-ness has a plan, they can’t afford to stay in business because they can’t pay two fees. Development Services seem to be giving out good information to businesses and are helpful. We’ve got so many businesses closing and empty buildings sitting around that it scares me. Why can’t we give more incentives to places on [Mesquite] Boulevard? We don’t want to condemn properties but there should be a way we can get that more developed. Our beauti-ful new library is opening soon and it’s sitting in the middle of a disaster area.”

(Growth): “I don’t want to see us go crazy. I would like more managed growth. We want more business, but I can’t see us hav-ing large industry-type busi-nesses. We are a small retirement and family community and we should get businesses that fit in with that.

(RDA funds): Ramaker did not know who sits on the RDA Board of Directors. “Why isn’t the Board addressing these is-

10AA The Week of May 17, 2018The Week of May 17, 2018� 11AAMESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

sues [of the boulevard appear-ances]. Maybe the property own-ers aren’t being approached. If someone told me the money was available and all I had to do was apply for it, I would jump all over it. If the owners don’t do it the first time, go back to them again. It needs to be marketed better.”

(Housing): “We definitely need workforce housing, low-income housing, and affordable housing. There aren’t enough af-fordable places to rent. The city can make some of the less-desir-ably-located properties that aren’t being used available at a reduced cost to developers. The city could reach an agreement with build-ers to make it happen. Maybe the city could reduce building permit costs.” When asked about the recent workforce housing proj-ect recently proposed to be built next to the elementary school she said, “I don’t like people who make statements like ‘I don’t want that kind of people next to me.’ Do you know who ‘that kind of people’ are? Those people are just as good as anyone else. They are working people. They are hu-man beings. They are people who need a home.”

(3 G’s): “At least our gaming companies in Mesquite aren’t doing the things that Las Vegas casinos are doing like the extra fees, parking and costs. Golfing is more expensive there than here. I don’t think this is as much a gaming destination as it is more a golfing destination. We need businesses here who have better business plans. We need to keep our kids here, develop jobs for them, and train them better. We could have smaller recreational venues from private vendors for people. We could enhance the amenities at Hafen Park.

(3 revenues/3 expenses): Ramaker identified her three revenue priorities as a growing marijuana industry, more school funding from the school district, and more room tax dollars com-ing from the Las Vegas Conven-tion and Visitors Authority.

Her three expense priorities in-cluded public safety, general city staffing, and ambulance services

billing system.“Marijuana is going to grow.

Our police and fire departments are our biggest assets. We need to protect them no matter what. We need to be there for them. Our city staff keeps our city running. We have major turnovers coming up due to key people retiring. One expense that really needs work-ing on is our ambulance billing system. That whole issue needs major work.”

(Council person): “I don’t identify with anyone on the cur-rent council.”

(Why you): “People should vote for me because I will listen to what they have to say. I will act in the best interest of all citizens.”

seat 1 – geno withelderGeno Withel-

der was elected to the Mesquite City Council in 2009 after los-ing his first at-tempt in 2007. If elected, this will be his third and last term. His opponents for Seat 1 are Sandra Ramaker and Kay Mercer.

He is a Realtor with Premier Properties and has lived in Mes-quite since 2000.

(Most pressing issue): “The most pressing issue the city is facing right now is to acquire more competent health provid-ers. We are dramatically short of doctors and health providers. The city attorney and I have had two meetings with the new CEO at Mesa View Hospital and we are working diligently to come up with a solution. In terms of city participation, we could ex-plore using RDA tax money for real estate purchases [for the new hires]. Nothing has been defined at this moment. We are a commu-nity of people 55 years and older. We can’t be without health care.”

(MRB): “I don’t think in-creased funding is an answer. It’s probably at a maximum that we can afford. I think we should maintain it where it is. We lost some competent help when the

previous CEO George Gault left and also when CEO Rachel Dahl left. We need someone at the helm to give us proper direction. I think the city should stay in-volved at the current rate.”

(Sports fields): “If the return on investment (ROI) is good then we should consider the idea of building more sports fields. Should we jump in and arbi-trarily fund [that kind of project] without knowing details? No we should not. But if the ROI would work for the city then we should strongly consider it.”

(Work on first): “Health care and [bringing in] natural gas.”

Withelder related that he re-cently met with a Bureau of Land Management representative in Washington D.C. and com-plained about the length of time (two years) it would take to get BLM permits to build a natural gas pipeline into the city. He said the BLM representative assured him it would be sooner than two years.

(Smoking ban #1): “I don’t believe it is a council decision to impose no smoking anywhere in town. If it was a statewide ban, then let it be. It is not up to the city of Mesquite to impose non-smok-ing. There are other alternatives than an outright ban on smok-ing. Those alternatives are the re-sponsibility of the businesses.

(Smoking ban #2): “I would probably vote no because I don’t believe it is a council decision to affect the general public. It is a statewide decision to make, not a local decision.”

(Business friendly): “A cou-ple years ago, I would have ques-tioned whether we are business friendly. But now I think we are on the right track. The licensing division and the people involved in that division are very capable and have the interests of the city at heart. They are doing a good job. I believe we are going out of our way to be business friendly. We just had a couple of busi-nesses close in the last couple weeks. It’s getting critical. We’ve got to do whatever we can to make businesses work. I’m not sure what the answer to that is

though.”(Growth): “We are the fastest

growing city in the state, growing at five-and-a-half percent a year over the last four years. Controlled growth is inevitable. The real es-tate market is as crazy as its been in a long time. Prices are going up. As real estate goes, so goes the city. The city is going to grow because we have too much to offer.”

When asked to define ‘con-trolled growth,’ Withelder said, “we can’t just let everyone come in and build stuff. We have to control the developers.”

(RDA funds): Withelder knew the council also presides as the RDA Board of Directors. “Mesquite Boulevard is prob-ably one of the most unattract-ive streets in the whole city. It’s ugly, it’s old, it’s unimaginative, it’s boring. There’s no incentive to be there. It’s got to be dressed up. The dividers in the middle of the street with limited turn lanes need to be looked at. We can’t dic-tate to property owners how they want to dress up their properties. It’s common knowledge the mon-ey is available. Why people won’t take advantage of the money is beyond me.”

(Housing): “We have a very uneducated workforce in town. I think that’s common knowl-edge when I make that statement. When kids graduate, they leave town. We have casino workers and construction workers. That’s about as far as it goes. The aver-age employee in this town is very uneducated. Therefore, they have trouble acquiring homes because of their income levels and qualifi-cations. I think the city needs to be the leader in workforce hous-ing but I’m not sure we have the wherewithal to manage and con-trol it.”

He said the workforce hous-ing project recently proposed to be built next to the elementary school was the wrong project at the wrong time and place. He be-lieves the city should direct work-force housing projects to areas on the south side of the interstate be-cause of the lower real estate and land prices and the city should use its property to help develop

“Events don’t have to get out of hand like that one did. That’s not the normal thing to happen and it could have been handled better.”

(Work on first): “I can’t say there is one thing. I want to hear what the public has to say about what’s going on at that time.”

(Smoking ban #1): “Person-ally, I believe everyone should be able to work in a clean-air envi-ronment. But I also believe busi-nesses should make their own decisions. When clean-air was first passed it should have stayed as clean-air for all businesses. Do I think we [Mesquite] need to be the first? No. I want to see it all the way across the board. Under the charter, yes, the council can make those decisions. Should we? Not necessarily.”

(Smoking ban #2): Ramaker said she would vote “No” if a re-quest to ban smoking was on the council agenda “as much as I wouldn’t want to.”

(Business friendly): “We’re doing much better than we used to. Our biggest problem is the double HOA fees some busi-nesses have to pay. Even if a busi-ness has a plan, they can’t afford to stay in business because they can’t pay two fees. Development Services seem to be giving out good information to businesses and are helpful. We’ve got so many businesses closing and empty buildings sitting around that it scares me. Why can’t we give more incentives to places on [Mesquite] Boulevard? We don’t want to condemn properties but there should be a way we can get that more developed. Our beauti-ful new library is opening soon and it’s sitting in the middle of a disaster area.”

(Growth): “I don’t want to see us go crazy. I would like more managed growth. We want more business, but I can’t see us hav-ing large industry-type busi-nesses. We are a small retirement and family community and we should get businesses that fit in with that.

(RDA funds): Ramaker did not know who sits on the RDA Board of Directors. “Why isn’t the Board addressing these is-

12AA The Week of May 17, 2018MESQUITE LOCAL NEWS

projects. (3 G’s): “If we put together some

workforce housing, if we attract more business, or newer and more vibrant businesses, we could be okay. Natural gas coming in to Mesquite is going to help attract businesses, more jobs and indus-tries. Improving our medical care will help. We have the most beauti-ful weather and yet we’re stagnat-ing. Why? I don’t know why.”

(3 revenues/3 expenses): “With the budget session coming up, we’ve got to find a way to put the RDA money to use instead of letting it just sit there and doing nothing. That’s an expense. I don’t know where we can get more reve-nue. We’re at the mercy of the sales tax and the C-tax (consolidated tax). I don’t know of any other rev-enue or expense priorities.”

(Council person): “I most

identify with George Rapson. Ideologically we’re pretty much on the same page.”

(Why you): “I think ten years’ experience has a lot to say about it. I’ve been through the good, the bad, and the real ugly. I don’t think you can replace experience. I haven’t made too many dumb mistakes. I’ve been a voice of everybody and haven’t taken it to one level or an-other. I’ve been pretty much down

the middle of the road and I’m com-mitted to staying that way.

As a sitting councilman for nine years, Withelder was asked what his biggest or best accomplish-ments have been: “My biggest ac-complishment has nothing to do with the city council, it’s my com-munity involvement. As far as ac-complishments related to the city council, I don’t have any. As I said, I’m down the middle of the road.