On the Las Vegas tragedy, from one a little bit closer to the point of action - certainly not an expert, though.

We here in Las Vegas have had our collective hearts banged up to a very large degree; I can't talk about the events of last Sunday without getting choked up, and I am a pretty calloused individual - I have seen and been involved in more than a soul ought to be, so I ought to be iron clad, but I guess I'm not. Our community is dealing with this in an admirable fashion on the regular people level, and I never have felt this way in any place I have lived, but I am proud to be a part of this community, even with all it's warts; when the bell rang, the whole valley came together without any hesitation and took care of business. The local response from all of the agencies that are tasked with disaster response was absolutely flawless; there were police on the scene almost before the sound of the first volley had faded away, and from every corner of the valley, they went, sirens howling and lights flashing. I heard the sirens before the act was announced on the news, which we had on at the time - and we live fifteen miles from the event. I heard that at the first alarm, all fire stations doors opened, and the units were either rolled out and manned, waiting, or were on standby inside, and certain EMS units were assigned to standby in their stations/areas while all the rest headed to the scene. The ten major hospitals in the valley were immediately alarmed, and when the first casualties arrived they were ready; one anecdote from a guy who was in an ER waiting room went something like this: I was just sitting there waiting, the place was pretty quiet, not a lot of people, medical or patients around. All of a sudden, there were people, lots of medical people getting busy gathering stuff and equipment, quietly preparing for something, no panic or big show - then the first ambulance came in and the place was like a finely tuned machine, taking care of business. On the "civilian" side of things, many folks let the authorities know that they were available to do anything they could to help, but most just stood by waiting to be called. Later, some gathered supplies and took water, coffee, sandwiches, donuts and other things to the people working at the scene, and to the many hundreds of volunteers who were lined up at the four blood donation centers in the valley before dawn the next morning. The stories of heroism and caring are many and some great, from and of local folks and visitors to our town alike. As a community, we're functioning, but it is going to be a long time before we are "back to normal". Most folks who come here don't see the community, only the bright lights, but there are over two million people here who make all of those lights shine, and we are truly a community.

Most of what is being bandied about as "news" is pure bull****, conjecture, rumor, gossip; not much of it has any base in fact. The truth may never be wholly known. When the Sheriff and his PIOs change their story at almost each and every appearance to bring updates, it takes away a lot f their believability. And the stuff that comes from federal sources is virtually nonexistent, and often questionable because it is second, third or fourth hand or more. I am a dyed in the wool; skeptic, so I don't look at all of it the same way someone else might; I don't think there is much truth or fact being told about this calamitous event. Some say that it is unbelievable that that guy could have gotten those guns into that room without someone noticing: Well, consider that this guy was a known high roller, a multi-millionaire who frequented all of the hotels and casinos; all he needed to do was show up with a pile of "stuff", slip a porter a hundred or two and ask him to take that stuff up to his room. If it wasn't obvious what that stuff was, the porter would just haul it up and stash it in the room, no questions asked. So, it is up for grabs, as far as I am concerned - shades of November, 1963.

.