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Columns

  • Nuestra Historia: Mayor Junio Lopez and his ‘All American City’

    In 1958, 33-year-old Republican Junio Lopez was elected mayor of West Las Vegas, following 20 years of Democratic control in Old Town, in an era when municipal elections were vigorously partisan.

    Since it became a municipality in 1903, the Town of Las Vegas was governed by a mayor and four trustees, and elected along with Lopez were all Republican trustees, including Ernest (Ernie) Olivas, Johnny Korte and Cleofes (Coke) Romero, Jr. Led by Lopez, the group would undertake the most ambitious transformation of Old Town since it was founded in 1835.

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  • Work of Art — It doesn’twerk

    If I have 11 pine nuts and I give you five, keeping six for myself, what do we have? We have a difference of a piñon.

    What if our differences concern not quantity but time? My wife, Bonnie, and I have radically divergent conception of time, which I will now explain.

    You see, I’m likely to say to Bonnie, “We haven’t seen Diana in two years,” to which my wife will reply, “It’s been more like 10 years.”

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  • Another Perspective — Judicial review needed

    By Joe McCaffrey

    Like many of the readers of this page, I have wearied of the political theater that passes as public discourse relative to the conflict between our mayor, the supporters of the Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance (aka the anti-fracking ordinance) and those who simply wish to revisit the last election. I am deeply distressed by the lack of civility shown by the parties.

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  • Nuestra Historia: Pablo Lopez and other early Old Town mayors

    When West Las Vegas became an incorporated municipality in 1903, Margarito Romero was elected the first mayor of the Town of Las Vegas, and a Romero would be the Republican mayor of Old Town for the next quarter century. Don Margarito, youngest of the five Romero brothers, had led the effort to incorporate the west side, with the purpose of having the Town administer the Las Vegas Land Grant, as explained in an earlier column. (See “Land Grant Prompted Town of Las Vegas in 1903,” Nuestra Historia, Sept. 28, 2012.)

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  • Work of Art — A cheeseburger con queso

    I don’t know whether my childhood friend remembers any of this, but for what it’s worth, this lesson is on redundancy.

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  • Another Perspective — Marketplace and Medicare

    If you haven’t already, you’re going to hear a lot over the next few months about the Health Insurance Marketplace, a new and convenient way to shop for health care coverage.

    The initial enrollment period kicks off on Oct. 1 and runs through March 31, 2014. During that time, the Marketplace is likely to turn into a household word, as health insurance becomes the topic of TV and radio shows, newspaper articles, Internet messages and everyday conversations.

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  • Nuestra Historia: Ivan J. Hilton, a Las Vegas titan

    Whether before or after consolidation, few people in Las Vegas history have left a larger footprint than Ivan J. Hilton, who arrived here from Chicago in 1928 suffering from tuberculosis, seeking recovery in the salubrious climate of northern New Mexico. Born in Springfield in 1898, Hilton had been a successful Chicago stock broker and businessman.

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  • Work of Art — Two eyebrows way up

    It’s about a subtle facial expression, sometimes barely perceptible, but we all know it’s there. And it’s potent.
    I’m referring to the raised-eyebrow syndrome that seems to have afflicted the Trujillo household. I’ll explain through the following narration:

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  • Another Perspective — I-25 bypass changed Vegas

    Art Trujillo’s column in the Aug. 7 Optic brought back memories of the way Las Vegas is today versus the way it was 50 years ago. Some of the memories may be faulty, but here they are:
    The opposition to bypasses by the Interstate went way beyond publishing ads in community newspapers. Towns along the proposed highways got their state legislators to support an “anti-bypass law” that prevented construction of a bypass until the community involved approved the plan, including the number of exits.

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  • Nuestra Historia: Old Town off-limits to Camp Luna G.I.s in WWII

    In “Camp Luna, a Proud Tradition,” we recounted the history of the military training site, and today’s column relates only to a brief period in Camp Luna’s past, as we continue to explain the state of affairs in and between East and West Las Vegas before consolidation. (For Camp Luna’s history, see Nuestra Historia, Dec. 16, 2011.)

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