Oh, I know...

I'd like about two minutes with him in a dark alley...

But that's a whole different subject...

Chuckle. I don't believe in much, but I do believe in Karma--and that son is in for a rough rest-of-his-life as Karma catches up.

And yet another subject. I was chatting with an old girlfriend in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and she said as much as she'd love to have me back in town, that it probably wouldn't be a great idea. Like so many things the real crime rate doesn't get reported because it's committed by transients and tourists. (Same with the suicide rate, as I'm sure you know, since you lived there...) Anyway, Peggy tells me that old folks (i.e.: me) are the constant targets of robberies, muggings, etc. Both of her kids are married and out of the house now, and she sold their house out near Nellis and bought into a nice condo somewhere WAAAY out west on Tropicana. She says it's nice, but like an armed camp. It has a 10 foot fence all the way around the property, which is also home to a golf course, and there are only two ways in and out, and that's past armed, 24 hour guards, plus they have a couple of roving armed patrols that are always on the move, and if you don't have a permit, you simply don't get in.

That's really too bad, because I was kind of thinking I'd like to move back to the desert. The humidity here kills me during the summer, and I hate the cold-damp winters. But I trust her word. She says she'd leave if she had anywhere to go, but she has a good job as a commercial loan officer with Wells Fargo, and only has about 5 years to go before she's fully vested and can retire. (She's 58, I think...can't remember the difference in our ages. ) If she can stick out the last few years, she'll get a really nice retirement bundle. And she has the kind of loan people would kill for on her condo. 1 3/4% fixed. If she leaves Wells Fargo she has to have the place refinanced. If she retires with them, she keeps the loan. So financially, she'd be nuts to leave.

Anyway, she says the streets aren't safe after dark unless you are on the strip or downtown. I guess the big mall on Maryland Parkway is nearly deserted at night--coming and going to your car isn't safe. Sunrise Hospital apparently is going to be absorbed by UMC. Paying patients simply don't go there. They go to the new hospitals in Henderson, Boulder City and way out west, in the foothills leading to Mt. Charleston. North Las Vegas community is part of the Clark County system now...

Sure doesn't sound like the Las Vegas I knew... And of course, they've got all of those loony-left politicians, (Harry Reid, et al) who came 'up the hill' from Los Angles. I don't know if Vegas will ever recover from having Jan Laverty Jones (Fleecer Jones' wife) as mayor. That's when Metro lost their grip on the city, and I don't think they ever got it back.

Oh, well....