EmailI saw Steve Cino a few weeks ago at The Italian-American Club and he smiled at me when his son Stevie reminded him who I was. He looked good despite the fact that he was in a wheel chair.
Steve died last Monday and I was sad about his death, but not surprised because he had been having health problems for sometime now; in fact many people who knew him thought that he might die before his wife, Angela, but that was not the case.
Steve was from Buffalo, New York, but had lived in Las Vegas for many years, with the exception of those few times he spent elsewhere for different reasons.
Steve was not my friend – he was just an acquaintance – but I always liked him. The last time I saw him, and his son reminded him who I was, he squeezed my hands and smiled and that meant a lot to me. I will remember that moment for a long time to come.
My heart goes out to his two sons, Steve and Vinnie, and to his daughter and the rest of the family. I know how close of a family the Cinos are, so I will pray for the good Lord to give them resignation on his passing, and to help them keep the memory of the family patriarch going for their lifetimes.
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I know that it is an American way to abbreviate words as much as possible; and after a few decades in this country, I started to get used to using DI for Desert Inn Road and LA for Los Angeles. Once I wrote that American people are so infatuated with shortening words and using abbreviations that even before the Cosmopolitan was opened, and people could start getting used to the place and using its rightful name, they started calling the Cosmopolitan by a different name, “The Cosmo.”
But what I cannot get used to is when the newscasters start their abbreviation trip. I understand that in television, time is very valuable; but shortening words on the air is not the most professional way to report the news.
The other day one of the two channels that I normally watch in the morning reported a B and E on Desert Inn and Paradise; I was surprised enough that they used the name Desert Inn completely, but I never knew what in the heck the B and E initials on Desert Inn and Paradise was supposed to be.
A few days earlier I experienced a similar event. Channel 13 came out with another initials play, MIE. When I called there to find out what MIE was, the woman who answered the telephone was so rude that she hung up the telephone on me, maybe because she herself did not know what MIE was.
I called back and when I asked her name, she said that her name was Susan; but I don’t believe that she was truthful with me. When I told her that I didn’t believe that was her name, she hung up the phone again.
It was my intention to call her boss or someone else with some authority and let them know how their employees treat the audience that may help the station ratings, but by the time I got to the office I figured that if the telephone operator treated callers like that, it is because they know they have the approval of management; so I did not waste my time reporting the nasty “Susan.”
I know that if I had employees treating callers or visitors in an impolite way, I would like to know so that I could correct the unprofessional behavior of such a one who works with me in my place of business.
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Last week I went to the courthouse to give a good friend some moral support at a hearing in the court of the Honorable Susan Baucum, and I was very happy to see her after a very long time of not seeing one of my favorite jurists in our community.
Judge Baucum is one of the Las Vegas Tribune endorsees; and I, personally, have given her my full support, but that is not what I was intending to write about when I mentioned that I had gone to the courthouse – something I used to do on a daily basis in the past and may start doing again.
I walked in and there was no line; it took me longer to put my shoes back on than it took me to go through the gate because I did not have my old special court shoes that are very loose and easy to put back on after going through the gate.
It was nice to see no lines at all; I see that the Chief Judge Jennifer Togliatti and the Chief of Security Bob Bennett were not kidding or misleading me when they told me that they were working diligently on fixing those ugly lines in front of the Regional Justice Center.
The only problem I could see is that some of the marshals still have a certain attitude, and one in particular makes me very uncomfortable when I try to slow down a little (with no one behind me because, as I said, there was no line) to say hello and show my respect to Sergeant Lisa and another marshal that I know from my good old days in the courthouse, but he gave me a face, a very mean and scary face, and ordered me to keep walking.
Well, I was in a hurry and did not have time to explain anything to him that most likely would have ended up in an argument; and besides that, he was bigger than me and had a badge and a gun. Everyone who knows me knows how I feel about those big “brave” macho men in uniform, with badges and guns that supposedly make them more man than I am.
I am happy that I was able to spend a full morning at the Regional Justice Center, happy to see Judge Baucum, chit chat for a few minutes with Judge Cory and Michael Davidson. I said hi to Judge Joe Sciscento by the elevators while I was talking to my friend – and a great defense attorney – Dowon Kang.
I was very surprised how many closed courtrooms there were after seeing two judges names in other courtrooms, and how much everyone visiting me at my office has talked about the need for more courtrooms, and I wonder why many of these new courtrooms on the third floor were not being used as they should.
It was like in the old days; I ran into famous attorney Bill Terry six times and watched Judge Bert Brown in action for a little while longer because his neighbor, Judge Cedric Kerns, was not on the bench that day.
I honestly have to say that I enjoyed that morning very much and I did not realize how much I missed my mornings in the courthouse.
In the past I always walked from my office to the courthouse, to the Golden Nugget for lunch, and back to my office.
I had always hated feeling chained to a desk and a computer, but I never quite realized how much I missed my daily courthouse visits.
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
Rolando Larraz is Editor in Chief of the Las Vegas Tribune. His column appears weekly in this newspaper. To contact Rolando Larraz, email him at: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at (702) 699-8111.
